Liverpool's 0-0 "win" against Arsenal, coaching chaos at Chelsea and Manchester United, and FA Cup Magic: Big Weekend Preview 01/09/26

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0:55It's Rog, in the wake of Liverpool's glorious 0-0 winner, Arsenal. Oh, we have the taste of the silver-polished glory that is FA Cup third-round weekend ahead of us today. We see scrappers live out their dreams and discover which Premier League also runs. Truly want to win a trophy and which are content to just break their aching fan base's hearts. Oh, Everton. I'll be honest, I'm jonesing for the Premier League. A midweek packed with cliffhangers in which the top four all stumbled. Andrew, culminating in the most fascinating goalless tie of the season, Between your Arsenal and Liverpool, the game played in drown-wrack conditions.

1:33The yellow cards on the bench and the off-the-ball scuffles were really the true highlights. Climaxing in the return of good old simmering Arsenal frustration, symbolised by Gabriel Martinelli going heel. And I'm delighted to break it all down, answer your big burning questions that you need answered ahead to prepare you for all you need to know ahead of the weekend's action. To welcome on Friday duty, my friend in pod, Yorkshire's version of the Michelin star. It's the Crown Prince of Harrogate. It's Mr. Rory Smith. It's very unsettling to be talking to you on a Friday. I know, but I love it.

2:06And, Rory, I'm just saying, all it takes is one decent Liverpool half of play and you demand to be back in our loving arms. So let's get this party started with the first question of 2026 from Mighty Ken. Hey, Rog. Ken from Buffalo, Arsenal supporter. Why does this draw feel like a defeat? I know it's only one game, but emotionally it feels heavier than it should. And what is going on with Martinelli at the end of the game there? Courage. Ken, you beauty. I've got to say, your very question makes me long for some spicy barbecue wings from Duff's. Let's dive in, Roar, to last night's 0-0 draw, which felt, yes, like a win for your Reds.

2:45And a bit of a damp squib nut punch for the Arsenal, which is mad. Because I'm old enough to remember when they just won 12 points out of 12 during a barnstormingly perfect Christmas. the game last night, it was wet there was a lot of pushy-pushy a lot of intrigue, it was more psychological than footballing and let's break it down first half, Arsenal so dominant honestly, at the beginning, the depth made Liverpool look like duffers no Isaac, no Eka TK for Liverpool, very blunt, Liverpool couldn't get out of their own half, and Arsenal could not summon a finish the Victor Jokeres narrative continuing one goal from open play in the last 12 for Paul Vic, 7th Premier League game in which he's failed to record a single shot.

3:28But then Conor Bradley hit the bar with some speculative entrepreneurialism and Liverpool became ripple muscle emboldened. Sobber sly, frimpong excellent. Second half, complete mirror to the first. Liverpool, I think, had 65 % possession. 207 passes inside Arsenal's half in that second 45, most in five years by a visitor. And yes, without a striker, they didn't record a single shot on goal for the first time in nearly 16 years. But I need to ask you, What changed in the game? Because that first half, Arsenal, inevitable. Second half, they were fraught, lost, incapable, substitutes no difference.

4:04The Emirates became really a haul of nerves. What changed? I think Liverpool kind of asserted themselves, to be honest. To me, that Bradley chance was a bit of a kind of watershed. I think at that point, Liverpool seemed to wake up and think, OK, we can hurt Arsenal. And whether, as Liverpool started to just build possession, pass the ball around a little bit, get their touch in, get their eye in. Whether Arsenal got a little bit fretful, a little bit anxious, I don't know. It seemed to me that certainly for most of the second half, maybe most of the last hour, Liverpool were the team who felt like they had more control over what was happening.

4:40Yeah, I've got to say, my bum was clenched. And remember, I don't support either of these two teams. There was the moment at the end that we have to talk about. Connor Bradley went down in the 95th minute, non-contact injury. It was actually hard to watch in replay. Really savage twist to the leg, challenging for the ball on the sideline with Gab Martinelli. The Liverpool fullback went down just on the cusp of the field by the sideline. And Martinelli ain't lost in the Red Miss frustration of the game vapours burning away. Mistakenly believed his opponent was time-wasting. First, threw the ball on the prone player and then tried to drag him a foot off the field so the game could continue.

5:19Two teams came together instantly for pushy-pushy. And in the Skycoms Live, Gary Neville said this. I'm actually came in with Martinelli. I don't know if two players go and absolutely whack him, to be honest with you. They took a red card. Absolutely whack him. Oh, Gab Martinelli. Later apologised on Instagram. Quote, Conor and I have messaged. I've already apologised to him. I didn't understand he was seriously injured in the heat of the moment. And I want to say I'm deeply sorry for reacting. sending Conor all my best again for a quick recovery. We don't know the extent of the injury, Raw. And honestly, I'm less interested in this Gab Martinelli heel turn.

5:59I'm more interested in your take on really the underlying frenzy which caused it because last night was a chance for Arsenal to throw down a title marker. Subtext was City had stumbled. I think many thought Arsenal could deliver the kind of hammer blow at the top of the table. Many Arsenal fans, many inside Arsenal believe Liverpool last campaign did not deserve to win. It was just the injuries, the bad luck, the dark magic that prevented Arsenal from entering their Premier League promised land. Whatever, we know that, you know, with Arsenal, there's always the lingering prospect of any little setback leading to psychodrome, angst, nerves.

6:37This draw was a slight setback. Jonathan Liu wrote in The Guardian this morning, Arsenal, we must remind ourselves, are the country's outstanding team right now. Five-point gap at the top, extended to six by full-time. They are top of the Champions League table. They have players who can blow the back of your head right off. And yet, is anyone in this stadium actually enjoying themselves? Roar, how do you understand it all? Yeah, I think what happened was Arsenal went into that game, not just knowing that City and Villa had drawn, got to mention Villa, Rog, but thinking that this was the reigning champions at the Emirates and it was a chance not just to extend the lead but to kind of make a statement and it had become pretty clear after, I don't know, 50, 60 minutes that even if Arsenal won, it wasn't a statement victory they weren't going to beat Liverpool 4-5-0 which is what some of us expected and that frustration, I think, overwhelmed the rational brain which is, point's fine, point is absolutely fine The rational.

7:37City and Villa have dropped points. So, all right, you don't want to draw the game, but there is no reason to panic. There is absolutely no reason to hurry. You just play the game and you assume that Liverpool will at some point give you a chance. And to be fair to Liverpool, they played well, they held firm, they didn't really do up any glaring opportunities. But I think what happened was that Arsenal had got into their own heads thinking we need to win here and we need to win well. So that by the time Conor Bradley goes down injured, Martinelli, like the rest of the team, like the stadium to an extent, is kind of worked up beyond where he needed to be in that circumstance.

8:14Because ultimately, drawing that game in the context is fine for Arsenal. They're not going to beat the allegations. It was like you saw a rake on the floor, the angst, the psychodrama, everything mental that we have to avoid. And they just willingly jumped on that rake, the banana skin, whatever. It is going to go down all the way through the season. Arsenal against their opponents. Arsenal against that last mental challenge, which is themselves. I think that's what we saw at the end of the game. By the way, at the end of the game, Arsenal still have that chance to win it. Gabriel heading wide from a corner at the death.

8:50Probably the first time this season that the Premier League writers' lines were not read exactly word for word by their actors. Arsenal subdued. One of my Arsenal supporting friends, Michael Cohen, not that one. texted me, very Arsenal-less, giving City hope when we should bury them. Arsenal play Championship relegation Duffers-Portsmouth this weekend, Sunday 9am ESPN. Liverpool are the only team who'd stopped Arsenal scoring in that 1-0 win back in August. Why? What a different world that was in every single way. And they did it again last night. Let's quickly look at what this means for Liverpool Raw.

9:27Quietly, in the midst of an undefeated run of 10 games across all competitions, which is amazing. Arna Slott himself was fascinating to listen to post-game. He said this. Yeah, I'm a bit surprised that people think this is a good performance because when we have 60 or 70 % ball possession against other teams, people find it boring. And now it's a good performance. But again, we hardly created a chance. And now we say, what a performance. I love it when Arna Slott or any Dutch person says, I've got to be candid. This to me was the kind of win draw that you can build off. But Arna, your man, he's slow rolling it.

10:06Yeah, that's a really good idea, Rog. There's win draws and there's lose draws. So last night was a win draw for Liverpool. Liverpool nil, Leeds nil was a lose draw for Liverpool. I thought it was a creditable performance. They kind of weathered the storm for 20 minutes. They built into it. They showed a lot of composure, a lot of maturity. There was some quite nice interplay. and although Slott's right, they didn't really create any kind of guilt-edged chances. They had plenty of moments of danger, especially through Frimpon and I think that psychologically that's probably quite a big thing. I mean, the fact they're 10 games unbeaten, I don't read too much into.

10:39It is the most underwhelming unbeaten run of all time. But to go to the Emirates, to get a point, to prove that you can match a team of that level, I think that will mean a lot kind of internally to Liverpool. That shows that there is still something there, that they still have that sort of ability and it is something they should be able to build on, although whether they will or not is kind of a different matter. The most underwhelming 10-game undefeated run of all time. I would bite your arm off. I've got to be candid. I would bite your arm off as an Everton fan to even experience that once.

11:11I'd bite you off for an uninspiring 10-game undefeated run in my lifetime and I do. I'm here. I've got to say, Jeremy Frimpong goes electric. I am here for that. Liverpool play League One, strigglers, Barnsley, Monday, 2.45pm Eastern Time. on ESPN Plus. On the slot, remember, made massive changes to his club's Carabao exit and was denigrated by fans. Dare he do that again, Rul? Not after that. Not after Plymouth last year when they knocked them out of the FA Cup. I think the way Liverpool season's gone, they could probably do with a Cup run. The issue is they don't have many players left. So there will be some kids against Barnsley, but hopefully with a few senior players in there as well.

11:48Well, it's a Rio breakout game. Everything is going to come at Rio.

11:57OK, want to be featured on our show next week? Send us a video with your biggest question about the weekend's games ahead. Use the link in the description below. And if you don't want your beautiful face on YouTube, feel free to call it in 646-450-9472 and leave us a voicemail. Next question. Hey, Raj. Mike from Denver here. My question is about Chelsea's new manager. Dude was just kind of picked out of obscurity and already given a six-year contract, which is pretty wild. So how do you think he'll do? And I guess more importantly, how long will he last as a Chelsea manager? Mike in Mile High City, let's Chelsea it up.

12:35Roar this Saturday. Charlton, welcome to Chelsea, Saturday 3pm Eastern Time on ESPN+. Cometh the hour, cometh the Leon Rosinha. The 41-year-old former Strasbourg manager, by all accounts, an intelligent, charming, ambitious, articulate young leader. Also undeniably quite random and inexperienced to be thrust into the crucible of pressure, dysfunction and win now spotlighted is the Chelsea job. Chelsea job which has destroyed far more seasoned men than he. What could possibly go wrong now? The new area and Rossegna was unfathomably given a contract until 2032. That boggles my mind. I do not understand that for the life of me, Roar.

13:16It begins now against championship relegation fighters, Charlton Athletic. It's our first chance to see who the new gaffer rates, who he believes in, and also the footballing formation. He wants to find goals when they've kind of dried out and re-energised Cole Palmer back to the pomp of his chippy-chips best. The manager is talking big. When you turned up at Stamford Bridge, it's going to be a really difficult day. I want to create that feeling here, and I want us to be intense. I want us to be brave and fearless, and if we do all of those things, we can have a really good time together. It is fascinating what he's going to change at the weekend.

13:50Lots of speculation from people looking at the way he played at Strasbourg, where, for instance, he had his goalkeeper press up and be an incredibly active part of the play. Pray for Robert Sanchez. What do you expect? And Mike in Denver asked the question, realistically, what chances do you give the fifth permanent manager of the Clear Lake era? How long do you think he'll last? That is the million-dollar question, isn't it? It might be the six-year contract million-dollar question. It could be the$12 million question when they pay him off. I'm with you on the stop giving people contracts that long it's nuts stop it you're not proving anything amortisation addicts you'll never sing that we just need to amortise this a little bit more Chelsea's power brokers will know a lot about Liam Resenia they will have seen him in depth at Strasbourg they'll have had communication with him they will have had chance to kind of see his strengths his weaknesses all that stuff and that should like offset the risk of his appointment but that said it's a huge step up as you said the other day Rog if there wasn't this link between Strasbourg in Chelsea.

14:46Would Resenia have got the Chelsea job, another top six job? Probably not. He is clearly talented. He's clearly bright. He's clearly from that press conference very confident. But that doesn't necessarily separate him from all the other managers who've been in Chelsea under Clear Lake. So I'd like to think this is the start of a brave new dawn for a talented young English coach. But realistically, the odds have to be that in a couple of years time, Liam Resenia gets a nice big payoff. I mean, a couple of years. I think he'd bite your own off for that. This is, I mean, I didn't just say, would he have got the Chelsea job if he wasn't there?

15:18Would he have got any Premier League job? You know, it's like Greg Berhalter when he was in the United States job. We were fascinated when he left. What is his real weight class? What job would he get next? You know, he wanted a Premier League job. Would he have got a championship job? Would he have got a League One job? What is Liam's true weight class? We do not know. To me, I was trying to think of someone who's just such an unexpected hero. And I can't think of, well, Other than Paul Blart Mall Cop coming in to save the day at the end of that movie, I can't think of anyone more unexpected.

15:49But God bless Chelsea Arsenal midweek in the Carabao Cup semifinal. Then Brentford next weekend. Godspeed, Liam. Quick mention, if you love this show, I think you'll love the Men in Blazers Discord, which is the single greatest second screen experience that exists. I mean that objectively. I'm in there on match day with so many of you in the Men in Blazers community reacting to all the action, all the stoppage time heroic, even the vaunted long throws in real time with like-minded football-loving souls like yourself. It's been a revelation on this. It's like Twitter used to be is what it feels like.

16:24Bloody funny. Come and join us. The link's in the show notes below. But we've got one more managerial change to Pro Bro. Question me up, Nurse. Raj, Vinny from Tribeca here. Happy New Year. Good tidings. I want to talk United. fans all over calling us a clown car and i gotta say i don't disagree in this moment ruben amram boof off but it looks like that's not the most concerning part what the most concerning part is how do we not have a backup plan after all this time you know you think the biggest organizations in sports the lakers the yanks these teams if they had a manager leave would at least have someone waiting in the wings it looks like we got nothing reminds me of your conversation with Brighton CEO Paul Barbera.

17:10The time you start looking for your next manager is when you hire a new manager. How are we left with nothing here? Hang up and listen. Vinny, how about them Yankees? But Raw, Manchester United host Brighton, Paul Barbera's Brighton, Sunday 11.30am Eastern Time ESPN Plus under the interim management, a former title and Champions League winner, Darren Fletcher. United remain in chaos, digging back to the vibes of the historic good old days. And by the way, that'll not bring back glory any more than getting a fossil and thinking it'll bring back the dinosaurs to life. But I digress. The midweek game, 2-2 draw against Burnley, featured many of the modern tropes.

17:51Leeds coughed up, clown car goal concessions. As you say, fan groups calling Jim Ratcliffe a clown car who must exit the club. The legend, Roy Keane, on Sky Sports yesterday. And he said this about iconic manager, Sir Alex Ferguson.

18:12Bad smell, baby! This is what it's come to. By the way, what is amazing is your question asked. Amerim fired Monday and there's no sense of the next step in this post-Amerim world that everyone must have seen coming raw. But no one seems to have actually, you know, planned for or communicated that plan for war happening. I would almost, almost defend United, Rog, if it were not for one thing. so I think you could make a case that if you sack Amorim and obviously until relatively recently that is not something they wanted to do the sensible thing to do is to find an interim who might kind of mollify the fans, has that connection to Alex Ferguson, can sort of has the DNA thing that's really important at United to see you through the season, steady the ship, I get that and then in the summer you can make a much more kind of ambitious much more permanent appointment Totally understand.

19:04Bit of a risk there, because obviously if the interim does well, then maybe there's pressure to give them the job, and we've seen where that leads before. That, I think, would not be a terrible approach for Manchester United, except for the fact that they appear to want to replace their current interim with another interim in the form of either Michael Carrick or Ole Gunnar Solskjaer. Or both. Or maybe both. Perhaps all three. Maybe it's just on a rotational basis. It's like a summer job. We don't know. Bring back Chris Ormas. I don't understand the point of that move. And I especially don't understand the point of that move if you haven't already.

19:41As you fire Ruben Amirim, as you sit there as Jason Wilcox and Omar Barada, the sporting director and the chief exec, you sit there firing Ruben Amirim, somebody else should be on the phone to Michael Carrick saying, Michael, we've got a bit of a vacancy for you. Do you fancy it? Or Oli Gunnar Solskjaer. That suggests to me that United are making it up as they go along. that they're trying to kind of ride through this apparently totally unforeseen circumstance. I think the failure is not having no permanent appointment ready to go. I can understand that this isn't the best time to recruit. The real failure is not knowing what you're doing until you can find that person.

20:18Yeah, it's amazing. And Ness, they've looked at, you know, what's worked best for United in recent years is the interim. The first, like, five weeks of an interim manager. and maybe the long-term plan is just to have interim, begat interim, begat interim. Just go through the greatest tips of legends, giving them all five. We'll get Ruud van Nistelrooy in. We'll give him five weeks. It's the next level advantage of the new manager bounce rule. Like a guest starring manager. Do you know what I mean? Like a special cameo role. That could work. Yeah, and introducing. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Like a seven-year-old come and manage them for a game.

20:59Before we get ahead of this, let's take one last question. Raj, this is George from Columbus, Ohio. It's FA Cup weekend. I'm going to be glued to my television. What games are you going to be watching this third round, and why is it Crystal Palace versus Macclesfield Town? Come on, you silk men. Hello, George. Hello, Columbus, the city that Wilfred Nancy built. By the way, I love your magical kingdom, and I still love Wilfred Nancy. But Raw, I don't know how you feel about the FA Cup. But for me, I kind of fear it because Everton welcomes Sunderland early tomorrow. Saturday, 7.15am Eastern Time, ESPN 2 to ruin my weekend.

21:39And I embraced for the worst just an early Saturday morning cataclysm that feels as if Everton's last chance of silverware for this season is utterly shattered for another year. Hello, darkness. My old friend, no Jack Grealish, no Michael Keane. His red card appeal was rejected this morning. The club is not pleased. Part of me is now just turning in to find out how will my boys find a surreal way to summon a red card this week? Slapping a teammate. We've done that. Pulling an opponent's hair. That was us. Sarcastic clapping. We're guilty of all these crimes and more. But what match grabs you, or I?

22:15It's not a classic FA Cup third round draw, Rog. I think we should all be honest about that. I love this weekend. I love the FA Cup. I think it's the sort of tournament that more teams should take seriously. As Crystal Palace proved to everybody last season, it's something that's really worth winning. There are two that stand out, and I'm going to plump for Grimsby. Giant killers themselves earlier this season against Western Supermare, one of the few teams in England that has Latin in their name, who are currently second, I think, in the National League South. It's very much a relative giant killing, because Grimsby are not proper giants.

22:47but for Western Supermare, first time in 138 years they're in the third round of the FA Cup. It's a really big day. I don't know where Western Supermare is. It's a name that's banded around in England once every couple of years and you're like, oh yeah, that magical place. I had to look up where Grimsby is ahead of this. Have you ever been to Grimsby, Roo? I have been to neither place. I believe that Western Supermare and Grimsby are two, from a British perspective, they're two punchline towns. That's what they are. Grimsby for kind of decay and decline, which is slightly unfair. But by the way, imagine that.

23:21In England, we're mocking a part of England for declaring. How did you choose one? But go on. And then Western Supermare is kind of a slightly hackneyed, like cliched holiday resort. I think that's how people think of Western Supermare. It's the place where people went on holiday in the 1950s. That's what Western Supermare is. It's down on the south coast. I think it's probably very beautiful. I would have thought it was way up. I have no idea. I did find out Grimsby, the Mariners, obviously, who slayed Manchester United in the Carabao, major fishing port for the year. I didn't realise it was kind of in the middle of the country, Ru, I've got to be candid.

23:52It's in the bit of the country that we forget about. Yes, exactly. It's like just a mist of time that hangs over it. Their mascot, Harry the Haddock, and the name Grimsby, this is interesting, listeners, comes from Grims Village, derived from the Old Norse personal name. A Grimmer, a Viking settler. Our roots have always been more complex than we know. But I'm going to stop coming over all Grey's notes to you on this one and go a bit, as you suggest, George. Macclesfield FC against Crystal Palace. Can't wait for this. Saturday, 7.15 a.m. Eastern Time on ESPN+. Magic of the FA Cup, Claxon. Six-tier Macclesfield.