Manchester City on Arsenal's heels and De Zerbi's Spurs debut falls flat: Men In Blazers 04/13/26

21:44Roger Bennett:Well, this is the problem, though. this is why they've built the squad as they have done. They wanted to be able to last the course, to have the depth that by the time they reach the business end of the season, Saka and Odegaard, who were the only two creative players they had, are exhausted and suddenly everything grinds to a halt. And what's amazing is, obviously those two players were absent at the weekend, their reliance on Saka and Odegaard has been diminished. It's worked. They do not need them to be in the team to be a threat anymore. and yet it's got to April and it looks like the same thing has happened again and there was a lot of talk obviously after the Carabao defeat after the FA Cup defeat and there was I think a sense of these don't count that much because they're not the Premier League that's all Arsenal really care about we've talked before about how talking about the quadruple is set in an impossible bar that is designed to make a team fail but clearly there's been a psychological weight from those two defeats that it's allowed some sort of doubt to creep in.

22:46And I think Arsenal were built for the margins as a team.

22:50Roger Bennett:They were built to exploit tiny differences. They were an incredibly talented football team, obviously, but their focus was on, we can be a little bit better at everything than you. That's how we're going to beat you. And it's worked to get them to this point where they are still six-point clear, haven't played a game more, at the top of the Premier League in the middle of April. the danger is that the doubt sort of seeds into that mechanism that the doubt gets into the gears and everything just grinds to a halt because that's what it felt like on Saturday I'm worried Max Downman by May 1st is going to look about 42 years of age I was also slightly surprised Rog that Arteta threw him on so early that didn't look if I'm honest and I'm you know Downman's incredibly talented and Arteta will be judging who is the best player I can use in this scenario I think putting a 16-year-old on with 40-ish minutes to go, it does suggest that you're rolling the dice quite early.

23:46Yesterday, we tuned in to see if Manchester City would ratchet up that pressure. And yes, they could. Chelsea nil, Manchester City three. Pep rooting for his best month, praying that the month of April would once again do the Arsenal in, headed to Chelsea. Chelsea loses a four of their last five including that 3-0 humiliation at Everton which still feels box fresh a team seem to be hell-bent on self-immolating Enzo Fernandes suspended by the club for voicing displeasure with the project and hinting in the strongest way possible how much he loved Madrid i.e. come and get me in a very odd spot here as I hinted up top raw many Chelsea fans actually rooting for Manchester City anything but Arsenal winning the league or what is that phrase?

24:36The enemy of mine enemy has 115 charges

24:39Roger Bennett:or whatever that ancient proverb is. I think it's the enemy of my enemy is state owned and therefore I can disregard anything they achieve as being somehow different to me. Because that's the role that City play. City are the team that everybody else wants to win the title regardless of who they are going up against. It was the same last season with Liverpool. It would be the same if it was Manchester United. It might even be the same if it was Chelsea to be perfectly honest, that people would regard City as being the lesser of two evils. You don't know as many people who support them. They haven't won as many titles.

25:10Roger Bennett:You don't have like a deep reservoir of hatred for them that has been passed down through the generations. They're almost default setting. Yeah, it's a type of success, I think, that is easier to swallow because you can say to yourself, well, look, they're owned by a nation state. There's this investigation going on into them. the rules that they're playing by are different in some way to me because they have more money or their owners have deeper pockets even before you get onto the charges. And so you can say, well, it doesn't really count. It doesn't need to hurt me if Man City win the title.

25:41It doesn't come with a global glooting roar is really it. It doesn't count. Yeah, you'll get a Liam tweet. Yeah, you'll get like a Noel ignoring the Poznan around him meme. but like it's not like there's millions and millions of global City fans who will annoy you

25:58Roger Bennett:and give you sleepers night well I mean I'm probably not in the right position to judge this because obviously I live not too far from from that particular corner of Britain but most people won't know that many City fans they just there aren't as many of them as there are of the other teams and therefore it's not quite as in your face and so there's not as many of those grey uniforms with yellow luminous socks out there in the global fanosphere. Not for me. No, not for me, Rog. No, don't understand why that is a kit. You know, ultimately, when you're doing four or five a season, you've got to, you know, ultimately run out of ideas at some point.

26:38God bless early exchanges. Arsenal fans would have felt, hmm, Chelsea kind of able to match them in moments of mischief. Crown Prince of non-verbal communication. Cole Palmer, Gent, who moved through the City Academy from the age of eight, really seemed to revel early in the opportunity to drift, probe and hurt. But then Doku and O 'Reilly started a foray down that left, which they really targeted. And the game bent towards Chelsea holding on, attempting not to buckle. I think I wrote at 12.08pm Eastern Time Raw in the Men in Blazers Discord that this game has a Nico O 'Reilly winner written all over it.

27:16You just feel now that in gripple grapple games, he's like the marginal advantage in corner. And City started to get balls into the box over and over. Chelsea started to creak. Cherokee, player with, I believe, scientifically more confidence in the entire Arsenal squad right now. Got down to the byline, flipped it across ahead of Haaland from left back. Up popped Nico O 'Reilly. Snap his neck, muscle strong and true. Ten goals on the season for Nico. big goals, massive moments when he jumped in front of the City fans deliriously raw, again another one who'd been at the City Academy since the age of eight, must have experienced just such profound human depth of wonder as he leapt up and just presented himself to the faithful.

28:04Roger Bennett:Yeah I wonder what point it becomes normal, does Nico O 'Reilly like you say has kind of been City's saviour in quite a lot of big occasions this season The Carabao Cup final was effectively the Nico O 'Reilly final. That is how that game will be remembered to distinguish it from all of Man City's other Carabao Cup wins. And I guess it will still, he's still only 20. He's still in really his second season as a professional or as a kind of senior player. But he is, he has become a key weapon for City, an attacking midfielder who plays at left back, who can kind of invert but also not invert. I don't know what the opposite of invert is.

28:39Roger Bennett:Who creates those overloads through the centre that Guardiola loves so much, but can also win headers, kind of like Erling Haaland. He's been a really important weapon for them. From left-back, by the way, let's reinforce that. Which is not what he trained to be. Popping up where he pops up from left-back is as befuddling as a spectator as it must be for a defender. Within six minutes, it would get worse for the Chelsea. And for Arsenal, really. Chelsea started playing as if the half-time team talk was to remind them to wilt so that Arsenal couldn't win the title. Second goal was truly delicious.

29:14Cherokee playing at the peak in the crunch time of the season with almost a creative free will that he can impose whenever he wants. Ran horizontally. It was like watching a running back just run across the offensive line, trying to find that crack in the Chelsea back line. And when he found it, delivered a no-look pass, which was like a great NFL quarterback. This is Mahomesian at his peak to free Mark Gahey. Again, number one, former Chelsea Academy player. Number two, the way he finished last home, really like Mateta. City, let me remind you here, people, goal from a left back, 1-0. Goal from a centre back, 2-0.

29:53This was Guardiola, total football. And the most beautiful part, perhaps, is in a season that seemed like it was being defined by the corners, the set pieces, the wrestling. Suddenly, I feel like the winner of the league might just be the one team who have resummoned that sense of collective free play.

30:09Roger Bennett:And they've channeled it through one individual, because that's Cherky. And Cherky is the kind of antithesis of set-piece football. He is an out-and-out number 10. He's almost a throwback. It's a position that a lot of people thought had died out in its traditional form. You know, you don't really get free number 10s anymore. Players who can kind of roam where they want, who aren't subject to the structure of the team, who don't have to play a specific systemic role with really complex pressing instructions, who get to sort of mess about playing slightly overly elaborate passes to set teammates up or juggling the ball because they think it's funny.

30:47Roger Bennett:That stuff doesn't happen anymore. It partly doesn't happen anymore because of the football that Arteta has kind of made popular, which is very, very rigid, very systematic, very formatted. But it also doesn't exist anymore because Pep Guardiola didn't like it. He didn't want to have those players with freedom because the system is king. The system defines everything. Cherky is a free spirit. He's a maverick. And he's kind of reminded, I wonder if he's reminded Guardiola that football can be effective and fun, to be perfectly honest. Because when they signed him, it seemed like one of the big questions, probably the big question would be, can Guardiola break Ryan Cherky?

31:21Roger Bennett:Can he make Ryan Cherky do the work? Can he make him play as part of a team? But it's almost like the opposite's happened. And Ryan Cherky has broken Pep Guardiola and said, what about if we do this? Maybe it'll be much better to watch. yeah you're telling me that Jack Grealish died so that Ryan Cherky could live and save us save football don't like to be hyperbolic but I do believe there'll be coaches all over football league up and down looking at Ryan Cherky being like what we need an unset piece coach now what is football coming to I don't want to I'm conscious of the audience here Rog of you I wonder if Ryan Cherky is just a little bit better than Jack Grealish What are you talking about?

32:04He's like, what are you saying? Are you saying Grealish is good, Ryan Cherky's better, Ilyon Dyer's best? Is that what you're talking about? That is the ascent of man. Oh, Doku added a third. City playing with all the hunger, all the conviction, all the collective belief that Arsenal woefully lacked 24 hours earlier. Kaiseido, I think it was, later he coughed up the ball and boom. The cameras honed in. On a Manchester City fan. I don't know how this happened, whether it was pre-planned or what it was, how they found this guy so instantly raw, now instantly highly memed. This is not to go too deep on this, but let me remind you, people, this was a grown man who had pre-planned with quite evil creativity to bring a small Arsenal water bottle to the game in the hope, number one, that the score would deliver the right moment.

32:58Number two, that when that right moment happened, he would have the label facing the right way, which took him a second if you diagnose the film quite as deeply as I have, like a sick man. But then he had to pray that the cameras would find him, which it did. His plan came together. And there he was in a massive moment in the game, massive moment in the season, swigging from his little bottle of Arsenal tears. For him, a symbol of glory, a symbol of invincibility. an invincibility resummon roar, but also celebrating in that moment of joy for your team, the human fragility of what he hopes is a vanquished opponent.

33:37Honestly, when you look at it like that, does this moment deserve the Pulitzer Prize winner for poetry?

33:41Roger Bennett:Do you know what? The complexity of getting it together, that's a really good point. And it does make me think, like how many stunts are happening in an away end at any given time that the cameras are not catching? Yes, I know. You think there's like fans just pulling streams of handkerchief, in knotted handkerchiefs. Another guy's firing ping pong balls out of his anus and they're like, the director's like, no, go for the one with the tiny water bottle. Someone's taken in an entire mattress covered in their own fecal matter written with the word Arsenal. Yes. And they're like, right, the camera's definitely going to catch me out now.

34:12Roger Bennett:I don't know if we should encourage this. It strikes me as being a nightmare to police it. It's too late. Too late. The genie's out of the tiny Arsenal water bottle. The Everton fan. The Everton fan who brought the toaster to the game and the one we beat Chelsea seen there with like, what was it? like crumpets in one hand and a toaster in the other. Like what? How? Why? I mean, this is where we are. And we've only just begun in this realm. We'll project that forward five years. And you're right. It is going to be like Tracy Emin level. Here's my performance art with the tent of all the lovers I've slept in, which represents all the dreams I've lost as an Arsenal fan.

34:46Roger Bennett:It will be full on like art installations. They'll have to go in two to three weeks beforehand to put the pieces together to be like, well, this is where we need the streamers and the graffiti wall goes there, all for one piece. No wonder they're trying to get rid of season ticket holders. They need the space to put the art in. I love your point now. What are we missing? What details are we missing? It's like Ian Wright said, how many times did he wear the T-shirt under his jersey when he was trying to break the record? He wore it like how many times? It was half a dozen or something, yeah. Yeah, I mean, just like, how many T-shirts are there?

35:20Like Balotelli's Why Always Me that we just never see. We're only seeing the tip of the iceberg

35:25Roger Bennett:when it comes to football, Art Roy, is what you're saying. To do the Lampardian transition, Rog, and go very serious for a moment. That's a really good point. And journalistically, there's part of my brain going, hang on, I need to find out about this. How many players are wearing T-shirts with slogans on them that never see the light of day? How many new parents haven't celebrated the birth of their child by scoring a goal? And in that case, do you disown the child? Does a child become instantly illegitimate? I don't know these questions. I'll also say, you know, like Chelsea fans, will they be taking like Magritte-style Tifos, is this a football team, to their next game against Manchester United?

36:06I think this is genuinely, this is the next frontier for football in this country. God bless, if Arsenal ever win the title, the number of rockets are going to be fired out of anuses all over the Emirates is just going to be, how will a cameraman even know what to look at? But I've got to bring this back to the game. And in just a trip, we've talked about the avant-garde. This has almost become the traditional end of the season image. Pep on the bench. And you know he knows. He knows. Six points back. The game in hand. The vulnerable Arsenal are poised to tap out. About to visit. Bonnie Rene called him a serial springtime league title avenger.

36:47Your camera's cut to him. I mean, it was all mine. Eyes have seen the glory. A serial title winner. He's going to try and blow the doors off Arsenal next week, isn't he? I did think it was fascinating in his press conference, his tonal change suddenly. This came out winning once or twice. It's okay. But during nine years, being there all the time except last season, that defines the whole structure, bro. He's not just thinking of victory. He's not just thinking about this league title. He's already dropping the quotes of the Shaper's legacy when he leaves, probably now at the end of the season if City clinch as a winner.

37:20Roger Bennett:Yeah, if they get a domestic treble, I think at that point he would stick rather than twist. I think that is the perfect way for him to sign off. He'd have liked the Champions League. He will be really conscious that one Champions League for all his time at the richest club in the world. In fact, to be honest, one Champions League since he left Barcelona, given his time at Bayern as well, is not good enough. That's not what he would have wanted. That competition really occupies his thoughts. I would guess that he would look at a domestic trouble and think that's probably the best way to sign off, especially coming from behind to win it, to claim it, with this team that's still not fully rebuilt, I think, that still feels a bit like a work in progress.

38:02Roger Bennett:That would be the perfect way to sign off, or the best way to sign off that he is likely to get. That would be my instinct. And you're right, he just seems so relaxed all of a sudden, But it's because Mikel Arteta, his record in April suggests that he does freeze. That something happens in April and Arteta just kind of clods up. Guardiola is just, everything's hanging out. 32 games in the Premier League he has played in April since he became Manchester City manager. He has won 29 of them. Pep Guardiola is really good at April. I personally am not great in April. I need a little bit more sunshine, Rog.

38:40Roger Bennett:The British Spring confuses me. I love the cherry blossom. It's late May that I come into my own. But Pep Guardiola, he's an April guy. He just loves April. I do, I do, I do. I love an April. I've got to say, when I see a cherry blossom, my heart just soars raw. But my heart also sinks here and the Chelsea fans instantly froth with, are you watching Arsenal? Six-point margin, Arsenal are turning up. You know, a lot of people awarding City the title. Remember the title that was awarded to Liverpool after the first five games of the season, which is wild. I mean, wilder and wilder to me. Then it was awarded to Arsenal.

39:19Then it was taken from their steely grip, handed to City. And then we gave it back to Arsenal again. The funny thing is right now, no one is thinking about the game next weekend, especially no Arsenal fans that are now talking about how Arsenal will win the title next weekend. No one's saying that. But I do roar. I've seen enough of the flip-flop over who is, you know, peaked. It's done now. We said it was done after five games. I do think there's twists and turns to come. And I still don't fully believe that City are as good as our short-term memory tells us.

39:50Roger Bennett:No, I think you're right. And, yeah, you've been consistent on that, Rog. And I'm inclined to agree with you. I don't think this looks like a City team that can go and win all of its games. But then perception is so tricky because over the last six matches, the perception now is that, you know, Arsenal have been crumbling while City have been roaring into form. City have taken one more point in the last six games than Arsenal. That's it. There's not a huge amount between them. There has been a significant momentum shift. I think that's pointless to deny. Beating them in the Carabao Cup final, I think, was big psychologically.

40:17Roger Bennett:Arsenal blowing against Southampton was big psychologically. And now this, where suddenly City are... Well, both teams have control of their own destiny. At the moment, if Arsenal win all of their remaining matches, they win the lead. If City win all of their remaining matches and score more goals than Arsenal, then they win the lead. It is that tight. And that makes you think, I guess in that scenario it's forgivable to think the team that has got the momentum currently is the favourite and that means City. But ultimately all of these assumptions that Arsenal are about to blow the title do rest on City beating Crystal Palace in a game in hand and beating Arsenal.

40:53Roger Bennett:The big unsaid going into next weekend, and we'll probably say this ourselves on Friday, Rog, is Arsenal can probably draw and it's fine. Yeah, but the trouble is for that, they have to get their tactics right. And so many Arsenal fans, you're getting the choice between Andoni Arola spotting in to be your manager for next week or Mikel. Mikel is so busy, I believe, as Mickey4721Guna11567, like tweeting at Piers Morgan, tweeting at OptoJoe, just taking those memes out. Very quick word on Chelsea because this wound's been something to witness. Really self-inflicted wound in so many ways. I'm old enough to remember Liam and Resinia's first five games, which now feel more like kind of Maresca's DNA, staying in the player's muscle memory before burning off completely.

41:42They've now lost five of their lost six. The only win against bottom-feeding league one side Port Vale, empty calories in the FA Cup. Raw, they look ever more like a squad. There isn't really a squad. And this hurts me to say it, led by a manager who's not yet ready to be a manager. He's really just an interim with a really, really, really either a good agent or a long contract, isn't he?

42:05Roger Bennett:It's really hard at this point, and you never know how things will turn around. And it is possible that it'll turn around. There's a lot of good players in Chelsea's squad. Enzo Fernandes comes back in next week, which will make a bit of a difference. By the way, I bet you he will get around. I'm not a prediction market, but I bet you red card loading. But go on. But assuming they miss out on the Champions League, which I think now looks relatively likely, it's really hard to see how they can keep Rosinha and that is baffling and upsetting and a real shame for a man who seems like a smart very promising very kind of eloquent very erudite coach but in the last six weeks he's beaten two teams and those teams are Port Vale and Retson and Retson as much as they are a wonderful story and there'll be a lot of people here listening who've got a lot of affection for them they are a championship team they are not a team of the quality of the Premier League as yet they'll get there eventually without any question but they are not yet a Premier League team that's not really good enough given the financial results at Chelsea they just seem to keep on announcing losses given the fact that a couple of players now have spoken out about how unimpressed they were by Maresca's dismissal not necessarily the appointment of Resenia but the loss of Maresca It's a subtweet though It is a little bit but I think the two things can sort of be mutually exclusive the nice words like from Cole Palmer he's just letting ourselves be ourselves you don't hear those anymore Rook no it makes me think the thing that everyone thought at the start which is Rossellini is a promising coach but perhaps not quite ready for Chelsea just yet who would have thought which one yeah who would have thought and two why has he got such a long contract I mean these guys I do wonder if Graham Potter Maresca and ultimately you feel it's almost inevitable and Rossellino get together for an annual dinner like the First Wives Club, where they all bring those huge polystyrene checks that they were paid off with for like 20 million.

44:03I mean, he's going to get a, what is it, a six-year payout if he's clipped at the end of the season. God bless and God bless football agents. Even as managers, you win when you lose with that final payoff. But from the top of the table to unfathomably near the bottom, yes, Sunderland won. It's time. Tottenham Hotspur nil. What do we say to the god of death? Maybe today, as the Roberto de Zerbe era began, third Spurs manager of the season, inherited a team that had taken just 12 points for the last 20 games. That is crazy. In the bottom three, for the first time since 8th of August 2015 at this time of the season, a place de Zerbe had never been, the relegation zone, warning about his desire to inculcate the kind of football, the attack-first footballer Ange Postacoglu fostered, which was a fascinating choice of his to talk about that at his fleeting peak.

45:02Big question going into this one. We talked about it on Friday's show. As Roberto de Zerbe took the sideline after getting very heavy with the manscaper, dude always looks like he's just stepped off stage with some Metallica cover band. We wondered, A, what has he been able to teach in? Was it 10 days of training? And how would he set this team up between his fundamentalist, crazy zealot vision and the relegation zone battling instincts of the little Sean Dykes that lies within all of us. Would he be dynamic and bold? Or would he be pragmatic? Or would he, as you call it, would he go full de Zerbe?

45:37God bless. Packed the midfield with robust physicality. Frontline built on speed. Played all three strikers. But no Xavi Simons, at least until the 85th minute. What did you see in the early exchanges, Raw, between that pragmatism and that full deserve-yism?

45:53Roger Bennett:Well, I think he's made it very clear what he's going to do. He's only taken two assistant coaches with him, which for an Italian is effectively leaving 20 to 30 people behind. That is not a staff. That's not even really one job. Who's shaving the garlic? Yeah, for an Italian coach, that is, it's a guy to buy the cones and it's maybe another guy to look at the cones. It's an umarelle for the cones. That's what that is. I think De Zerbe has made it clear that not only is it not the time to be trying to kind of change the way Spurs play radically, but also his resources don't really allow him to do that.

46:30Roger Bennett:There's not a huge amount you can do to shape that Spurs team in the course of, what, seven weeks with half your squad out injured, everybody totally shot in terms of confidence. You can't be going in and changing every single thing about every kind of aspect of their play. I always thought it would be a little bit of a kind of more of a slow burn over the next few weeks than it would be had he started in the summer but I guess the problem there is how do you start to build towards something and make the little changes that maybe make a difference without getting caught between two stools and that's the risk for Deserby and Tottenham Sunderland tiring a little this season they're coming off three straight losses at the stadium they had little to play for to be fair and the open exchanges were encouraging for Spurs fans.

47:18Their team played through the midfield with an application and a commitment. One box tipped on our watcher's guide to the Zerbeism. Had he gotten the players to A, give a crap, B, show that they're trying? Do they care? Yes, yes, yes. But Sunderland under Regi Labris is so well coached. Xhaka, once an Arsenal boy and always an Arsenal boy drove that team on. He sent a drive just wide. I think Brobby was acting like a god of chaos. They really seemed to lock in, step up their intensity. Kinski back in goal for the first time. Since that quite harrowing 70-minute cameo in the Champions League, which would have broken less than a minute.

48:00I think it was Brobby that spanked a drive in on goal. And my God, what an incredible save. He uses testicles to stop a quite stinging, punishing ball roar. We talk about making yourself big. I mean, this was just a full-on Down Below's redemption.

48:14Roger Bennett:I mean, the testicles are an underrated part of increasing the size of the surface area of the goalkeeper's body. I think it's avant-garde again, Rog. What was amazing was he just jumped up. Like, no big deal at all. I just... When they say goalkeepers are a different breed, that was a very different breed. Neutered breed. Do you think that he's using the cricket box? I don't know whether... Is there an American equivalent? Do baseball players wear a box? You call it a cup in America. Do goalkeepers... I've never heard of that. I don't think they do, but at the same time, if I was in that position, I think I'd think about it.

48:47God, maybe he's just trained over and over, having like John Terry just smashed one into his nether regions. Goalkeepers, please let me know. I can't imagine they could. It's just the immobility. But what do I know? Second half, we've talked about how elite football is a balance between a hunger to win and the fear of defeat. Spurs suddenly seem to flick in two from the former to the latter. the final third threat just evaporated completely that second half Sunderland God bless Jose Mourinho we always said you can smell a goal long before it came this one I mean the whole stadium must have stank of odious rotting organic matter Mookie Eli channel Wayne Gretzky channeling Michael Scott cut inside as he drifted past two three four Spurs players and flashed an optimistic drive in on that and it flicked off Van de Ven with wicked mischief poor Kinski left just to stare at the ball like millions of Spurs fans around the world impotently in that moment.

49:45Raw, Sunderland fans, again, singing you're going down to Tottenham. Things you never would have dreamt if you went back in time to the first day and tell us that's what you'd hear this season you would never have believed.

49:57Roger Bennett:No, I still can't fully get my head around the situation Spurs are in. I find it really remarkable. and I don't know whether on some level I'm still not quite taking it seriously, but we are reaching the point where there are six games to go, Rog, and they are in the bottom three. This is not a flirtation with relegation. It's not a threat of relegation. It is a very real looming possibility of it. And as you say, it should basically be impossible. It's the ninth richest football team in the world. It is one of the most glamorous sports franchises on the planet, and as much as people like to laugh at Tottenham, that is objectively true.

50:36Roger Bennett:They've got a squad of incredible players. Some of the managers they've had in recent years are the greats of this generation. And yet, they're now not actually in control of whether they stay in the Premier League or not. It's up to the other teams. It's up to Forest, it's up to West Ham, and it's up to Leeds. Spurs could potentially, they won't, but they could potentially win all of their games and still get relegated. That is how bad things are. Well, I don't find this in it. I find I've still got PTSD from when Everton were in the relegation zone at a similar time a couple of seasons ago. I know the impotent sense of trauma and fear and just confusion it creates.

51:15It stings you all week, to be honest. You're working away, doing your thing, typing on a lot. You still feel in the back of your brain, oh, my God, the thing I love, the thing I dream of, that one constant, the store of all my memories is just a shattered dream. and God bless, we knew this was done because Spurs hadn't rescued a win from a losing position all season. You had an added agony, Brobby pushing Romero into his own keeper which is a real scoundrel's move. We've seen terrible injuries, brutal injuries. We've seen players knocked out of World Cups like that. Knee going on totally vulnerable, exposed knee.

51:52Romero in tears as he limped off the injury, the extent of still to be announced. But that was just a symbol of pain on the day full of it. Lasting pain now, their inability, total inability to dent the Sunderland back line when they needed to. I think the XG was 0.14 in the second half. So bloody toothless, so blunt. Seven defeat in their last eight, 105 days since their last victory. And what would worry me if I was a Spurs fan is after the goal, they showed almost nothing. No urgency, no idea, no ability to force the game. You know, Arsenal fans, you feel like you have a tough month. It's called April.

52:30Spurs fans are measuring their pain in calendar years now. 2026, three managers, zero wins. De Zerbe, just the second Spurs manager at the last 10 to lose his first game. The other one, you may remember him. I think his name was Igor Tudor. De Zerbe focused on the lack of confidence. The players are all suffering. They're suffering maybe too much. We have to find the energy. I think like watching Mickey Van Der Ven cry at the final whistle. There's still six games to go, lads. You've got Brighton at home next week, the Deserby Memorial Derby, Wolves away, Aston Villa away, Leeds at home, at Chelsea, and then final day, please God, Champions League headed Everton.

53:11We'll give you three points in that one, Spurs fans. Where do you see the points coming from?

53:15Roger Bennett:Well, it's difficult. I mean, you'd normally say Brighton at home, Leeds at home, Everton at home. That's your nine. And then that should, to be honest, keep them up. That should be enough. And if you need an extra one, then you get something on the road somewhere. But it's difficult this time of year because if you're Chelsea chasing the Champions League, you don't want to play Spurs in your penultimate game. Because Spurs have something to play for. They are trying to strap for survival. They will be up for that game, which makes that match considerably harder. I guess what you want at this point is you want to play all those teams in mid-table because they're the only ones who could potentially take their foot off the gas a little bit.

54:00Not this mid-table, Ru. Not this mid-table.

54:03Roger Bennett:Everyone's mid-table. The teams in mid-table can all get into Europe. We're all mid-table. We've democratised the mid-table. We have democratised the Premier League and now there's the top two and then there's the mid-table. So it doesn't really work like that anymore. I think it has to be... What does Erby will be looking at, I'm certain, is those home games. Those three home games which are all winnable. Brighton, Leeds, Everton. They're home game, so that is the problem. It's a trap for Spurs fans. It is difficult, but then I suppose that's why you bring in a manager who does play more front football, who can get the fans on board.

54:35Roger Bennett:He'll have a willing crowd, certainly in that Brighton game, a crowd that wants him to entertain them, that wants to be entertained, that is there to support. And if he can offer them something, then they will get behind him with a kind of level of delirium that might carry Spurs through. I still can't believe they will get relegated. But at the same time, it isn't in their hands anymore. And that's really dangerous. Yeah, I think it was Jack Pitbrook who talked about how De Zerbe and Posta Coglu, the club, have appointed two of the most front foot managers in football, which would be great if it wasn't that they banged in Igor Tudor and Thomas Frank in between them.

55:10That kind of makes you realise what a woeful lack of planning they do have. I will say Leicester City currently out there is the cautionary tale for all big clubs. 10 years on from that fairytale Cinderella Premier League win. They have 23rd in the Championship. Just Sheffield Wednesday below them. Four points from safety, four games to go. I do ask myself often, would you take a Leicester City experience? Dot, dot, dot. I'd probably take a Leicester City experience. I don't know what to tell you. That is the different agony for conversation for another time. But from London to the North West, talking about agony, Liverpool 2, Fulham 0, deflating Liverpool, limping in, vulnerable after back-to-back painful cup quarter-final defeat at Manchester City and Paris Saint-Germain.

55:55No league win since February. On the slot entered, talking about how he felt A, complete support from the owners and B, love from the fans. Two statements not needed to be said by anyone who, you know, felt complete support from the owners and love from the fans.

56:10Roger Bennett:Yes, sometimes the things that people say kind of answer the questions that haven't been asked. Yes, like that is. Again, not to keep harping on it, it is a bring your lunch, bring your dinner moment. But flailing on the field, Liverpool reinforced by a crackling sense of rebellion off it. The club's decision to increase most ticket prices by the rate of inflation for the next two seasons met with what can only be called a fan fury. Club had just posted revenues of£946 million, that's what the fans point to, which I think was a record. They also have the highest wage bill in the Premier League last season.

56:46Which is tough because the fans always, you know, sign the player, bring that player in, there's that push-pull. But it was hard to watch the Kop shone of its flags, its pomp, its banners in protest. That chaos on this day would be the only for Liverpool Football Club. Yes, atmosphere subdued at the outset, but Fulham didn't really cock a fist until they were 2-0 down. Anfield erupted two remarkable sights. First, 36-minute, smelled like teen spirit. Anna had talked about the noise, clamouring for 17-year-old Rio Angamoa to be handed a second league start and was rewarded when the kid only went and scored his first Premier League goal.

57:24And it was a banger, the composure to cut inside, outside, inside again, to create separation from a completely befuddled Timothy Castagne. And then with utter impudence, not teen impudence, just fearless impudence, unleashed quite dazzlingly to become the youngest league scorer ever at Anfield. 17 years, 225 days. I think Raz Sterling 2012 held the record, marked it with a scuba celebration to Raw. I don't like to be hyperbolic. It was like Mo Salah Esra.

57:57Roger Bennett:Well, that was a parallel that was made even more opposite by what happened four minutes later, Rog. Just the finishes are exactly the same. They're just in different corners. Yeah, God bless Rio. the creator here took on was it three Fulham defenders slapped the ball to Gap Poe, fed Mo Salah the look on the Egyptian king's face when he scored kind of told you all it was like relief more than anything his last dance finally feeling you know ecstatic last dancey rather than mournful his first Premier League goal at Anfield this is incredible November the 1st 16 years and 75 days between the two goal scorers biggest age gap between two in the same game in Liverpool's entire top flight history.

58:40Also most 256 goal for Liverpool Football Club. It's crazy to me. Commentator openly, instantly, wondered whether it would be his last ever goal at Anfield, which seemed harsh and premature.

58:52Roger Bennett:Yeah, there was a weekend for premature commentary, Rog, because when Alex Scott scored for Bournemouth, the BBC commentator said, and Alex Scott scored the winner, it was the 74th minute. I mean, that's not, it turned out to be the winner. Read the script, man. he should read the script but it wasn't necessarily the winner yeah Salah's had a couple of kind of high points at Anfield in the last couple of weeks the goal against Galatasaray which was very Mo Salah and then the one on Saturday again a kind of typical Salah finish I've been burned before, I've been hurt before, Rog. Dalitasser, I thought, might be a sign that something was turning.

59:27Roger Bennett:It turned out not to be that because they then went to Brighton and lost. It would be really nice if Mo Salah could finish his Liverpool career at least in a little bit of decent form in front of goal. It would be a shame if that was his last goal for Liverpool. He's got seven more games, presuming he plays against PSG, at least in some part in the Champions League. It would be nice for him to get a few more to that tally. Amen. God bless Marco Silva. Tried to make some adjustments at half-time to try and get Fulham. They really needed one goal to try and trigger an anxiety and make Anfield uneasy.

59:59It wouldn't come, despite the fact that they took control of the game. It was angsty down the stretch. Fulham couldn't find that breakthrough. Relief at the final whistle. First league win, as I said, since February on. A slot needed this. Glimmer of hope before PSG arrived. but there's a line roar from Downton Abbey that I think of when I watch Liverpool this season this Liverpool this shockingly suddenly stripped bare of aura Liverpool harsh reality is always better than false hope which I guess is asking do you start Rio again on PSG? Do you unleash the child?

1:00:35Roger Bennett:Yeah it's a difficult one and obviously there's been a lot of people talking about it this weekend here I think you can see the logic which is that he does give them a a little spark of unpredictability. PSG won't know a huge amount about him. It's a relatively small sample size. He is direct and he is fearless and bold. Given how PSG's fullbacks attack, he'll probably get quite a lot of space because Ashraf Hakimi, as much as he is a machine, will spend a lot of that machine-like quality going forward. But that said, I'm not sure it's the brightest idea to start a 17-year-old kid in a Champions League quarterfinal, no matter how talented he is.

1:01:11I think that is an occasion.

1:01:14Roger Bennett:They're not completely out of the tie. Look, don't get me wrong, I think there is zero chance that Liverpool make the Champions League semifinals. But they're not completely out of the tie and I think Slott isn't the type of manager to roll the dice and throw caution to the wind completely. I suspect he will. I think Undermora will play, but I think it will be as a second-half substitute. More on that in tomorrow's European nights and the Derby hanging on the horizon the next weekend. two other storyline of the game we have to mention Anfield serenaded throughout the game Mo Salah but also Andy Robertson who's just announced he'll be leaving at the end of the season two so dead-eyed Virgil walking towards the cop more relieved than anything the final whistle but Andy and Mo almost took a lap of honour transfer rumour heavily linking Robertson to Tottenham man I'd honestly prefer to be sent off to the glue factory than that but I wrote about this when the news came through.

1:02:10As an Evertonian, which 97 % of me is, Andy Robertson, just his dark arts wound me up, probably more than any other player in derbies. But since he arrived in 2017, for what was it, like$11 million, he's been utterly perseverance embodied in a key time for Liverpool. You can make it a case, actually, and a lot of Liverpool fans do. It's worth that $11 million just to see him ruffle Lionel Messi's hair during that 4-0 comeback win against Barcelona. He was fearless. He was determined. That hunger kind of embodied Liverpool at their best. If Mo was the soul of winning Liverpool, Andy Robertson was undoubtedly the lungs.

1:02:51You could extend it stupidly and say Virg was the heart. What is certain, Ruan, and we've talked about this for the past couple of weeks, that connective tissue linking Liverpool, winning Liverpool to this next iteration, the connection to the recent glory years, it's evaporating.

1:03:09Roger Bennett:Yeah, I'd actually say that Robertson represented the soul to an extent. I think he was almost the fan's representative on the pitch. There was that story which he hates. He doesn't like being cast as this sort of footballing rags to riches tale. He doesn't want to be a feel-good story. But I think people connected to it in a way that's quite rare nowadays, this idea that this kid was written off at 16 and he'd made his way through Queen's Park and Hull and he was now at Liverpool. And he never seemed to take that for granted. He wasn't a sort of cast-iron, ready-made superstar. The fact that he had to wait for his position in the team was really important.

1:03:45Roger Bennett:And then the endeavour and the passion and the grit that he showed, because I think the fans knew he wasn't the most... I mean, he's a technically brilliant footballer, Robertson, but he wasn't Nuno Mendes. He wasn't one of these kind of perfectly formed, wonderfully talented, obvious superstars from birth. He'd had to really work at it. and the kind of energy levels that he brought, the determination, the drive that he gave that team, the indefatigability, that partnership with Trent, who was always a little bit more refined than Robertson. Robertson's not an especially refined footballer. The memory I have of him that I think defined him, but also kind of set the tone for what that Liverpool team achieved, was in one of the games against Man City in 2017-18, I can't remember if it was a lead game or the Champions League game, but there's this press where Robertson starts out on the left wing he chases the midfielder the ball goes back he chases the fullback the ball goes to the centre half he chases the centre half it goes back to Edison he chases Edison and I was at Anfield that night and it was this 60 yard press and to be honest it was a bit pointless because he was never going to get the ball but it lifted the whole place and that's what Andy Robertson was he was the kind of representative of the fans the fans attitude on the pitch you could see yourself in him and I think it's vital for a team to have a player like that.

1:05:06Roger Bennett:I actually wonder whether Arsenal maybe don't have a player like that and that's one of the problems. But you're right that seeing him go, seeing Salah go, seeing Virgil kind of in a process of decline, seeing Alisson absent now quite a lot. He's always had injury problems, Alisson, but it's maybe more often than not that he's on the sidelines now. It is a reminder and it's a really hard thing for Liverpool fans to accept but also for the broader football kind of commentary at discourse to acknowledge. Liverpool had had a generational team and that team is now old and it is going and they are that is a really difficult process to manage and we don't know what comes next but we are seeing just the scale of that transition now the next season potentially there'll be two left there'll be Alisson and Van Dijk and that's it of this team that lives so large in people's imaginations that's a massive transition more than anything I think it was a standard setup and that's you've got to fear in this moment of transition, who replaces that?

1:06:03And he was also so bloody humble. There's that story that I love, that a young Liverpool fan once asked him for a signed shirt. So he sent him a signed Bobby Firmino jersey. And he said, nobody wants a left-back shirt. And so many Liverpool fans I know, when we told that story, he said, my God, that left-back shirt is exactly the one that I want. By the way, talking about full-backs at Liverpool, There's a really, really lovely interview on our YouTube right now that we did with Jeremy Frimpong. Shot it in Liverpool. Actually, shot it at the pub where both Liverpool and Everton were originally founded in the 1800s.

1:06:40I'll say his journey is incredibly inspiring. Full interviews are very honest about this season, how it's gone. It's on our YouTube channel and in the link on the show notes. To the Midlands. Nottingham Forest won. Aston Villa won. Two Midlands teams coming off the highs of midweek European football, second legs looming. Only thing more important than the potential European semifinal is their somewhat precarious positions at different ends of the Premier League table. Villa clinging on to force. Forest still relegation battle front of mind. The odd feeling of mortality at home this season as well.

1:07:18We think of the city ground as a fortress. I think they've failed to win at home since mid-December and that was against Spurs so it only counts half. This game, all killer, no filler. Really a neutral's delight. Traded goals in the first half. Villa open the scoring. Morgan Rodgers lashed a pullback off that giant Brazilian backboard. Murillo. Forrest hit back, 38th minute. Well-worked move. Beautiful finish. Nico Williams picked the ball up at the top of the box. Lashed a low laser off the slick city ground turf. Six points in six for Forrest's schemer. Vito Pereira. Quite fond of that, man.

1:07:53He's the ferryman they told you not to worry about. Forrest, point ahead of West Ham, three ahead of Spurs in that final relegation battle. Roar, when Vito Pereira rolled into Nottingham Forrest, a lot of people rolled their eyes. He was like, the guy who followed the guy who followed the guy. But he has drawn a quality out of this team that they woefully lack, Roar. They are scrapping.

1:08:15Roger Bennett:Yeah, he's got a real kind of fight about him, Vito Pereira. And I think the circumstances of his arrival were tricky because he's the second ferryman of the season. because their first ferryman was Sean Dyche. And you know that things have gone wrong when you're appointing two ferrymen in one season, same with Tottenham. But as much as that term has maybe become a little bit of a joke because of Ed or Tudor, I think Pereira is much more a traditional ferryman. I think he's more the thing that the Italians would recognise as the guy you bring in. He sets standards. He's a disciplinarian. He doesn't take any crap.

1:08:49Roger Bennett:And he can get a team organised in a relatively short period of time. And as much as six points from six games isn't great, it is enough to give Forrest a fighting chance. The risk for both of these teams, Rog, is that Europa League semi-final. If they both go through this week, that will occupy an awful lot of people's thoughts in both Nottingham and Birmingham. And I'm not sure what that does to either of their lead seasons. By the way, you talk about Vito being a fighter. I love this comment post-game. He said, we need to show the spirit of a champion. I know teams and players who prefer to be the victims we prefer to be the fighters be like that in life as well as football for Villa Chelsea's loss means and I've got a seven-point cushion for the Champions League spots rule it's pretty I mean that's quite a lot of padding despite the patch of form that see them take is it five points at the last 18 available I think that player of the month for April while Morgan Rogers fades is almost definitely the UEFA coefficient massive brummy size you could hear relief propelled when it was announced that five Premier League spots will be official in the Champions League next season.

1:09:59One of them may be taken by Brighton. This is crazy. Burnley nil. Brighton two. Brighton toiled in their fifth win in their last six matches. They're two points behind sixth place Chelsea. They are coming. I hate for Burnley fans. No home wins in over six months. That is a lot of darkness to witness. They retain moments to fight. They're actually quite admirable to watch. Constantly dented by VAR. I think the only benefit of a return to the championship, which feels inevitable, is that they don't have VAR down there. But to South London, Royal Crystal Palace 2, Newcastle 1. Eddie Howe changes the team at Newcastle, but the results almost stay the same.

1:10:37No Wieser, no Volta Marda. On the stroke of half-time, the gentleman he did start, William Masula, given the starting role, scored. I think it was in the goal of the season contest, there was a A subcategory for goals scored off your ass cheeks. This one might be it. Find it on our Instagram. Part football, part breakdancing, complete improvisational wonder. But then Jean-Philippe Mateta came on 65th minute. First Tyreek Mitchell set him up generously. And then the corner flag smiter slapped him a penalty in the 94th to deliver victory. For a Palace team suddenly surging. Again on the cusp of a European semi-final, which will be magical for them after the darkness they've experienced in much of the season.

1:11:17For the tune, third straight loss, languishing in 14th place, the noise over Eddie Howe's future creaking louder and louder. You always say, as Tonali and Anthony Gordon are rumoured to be headed towards the exit door, that a real problem is whether the club's Saudi benefactors intend to step up and make good on their promise of investment. But that old adage in sports, they just don't fire themselves, do they?

1:11:40Roger Bennett:They don't. That's the defining issue at Newcastle now is what happens next. It does feel as though that first phase of Newcastle's Saudi revolution has reached its end, that something has not broken, but it's just gone stale. I think Eddie Howe looks like he maybe has taken them as far as they can. They've been in the Champions League twice. That's an incredible achievement for where they were. We shouldn't underestimate how good a job Eddie Howe has done. However we feel about the uneasiness of the ownership situation, Eddie Howe has done a great job. the risk as always with having you know it's the PIF it's not the nation state of Saudi Arabia we should make that abundantly clear they're different guys Rog very different it's a completely different country to Saudi Arabia but there is a problem that you know the Middle East is currently in a state of fairly obvious turmoil and a lot of the people who are kind of making the decisions at Newcastle probably have other things on their mind at the moment so whether there is that direction that you need from the top I don't know this summer feels really key because if Eddie Howe leaves if Tonali or Jordan or both leave and I'm not saying they definitely will then you need to see them appoint an ambitious coach you need to see them start to retool the squad I don't know how much interest or appetite there is to do that but if they don't the risk is that Newcastle just continue to kind of drift and that would be a real shame This is modern football when the fate of your ability to sign the next great strike it depends on the streets of Hormuz Everything depends on the streets of Hormuz Rog It's true God bless including West Ham's future that's called the segue back to Friday night West Ham 4 Wolves 0 a cacophony of bubbles big win in a must win with former NYC FC Tiny King Tati Castellanos buccaneering shitting them in ex-Arsenal defender Mavrop Arnas turning Spurs hunter with an incredibly executed double of his own Nuno's squad ferocity belief at the crunch back from the death really There were 13 points between them and Spurs in January.

1:13:43They're now ahead of them. Bowen marauding. Chelsea discard. Reborn de Sasse. The defensive steal. West Ham soaked up Wolves early pressure and then gave the bubbles machine an incredible workout in the second half as the stadium rocked. Raw, the run-in's hard. Palace home. Everton, Brentford hosting Arsenal. Then to Newcastle and hosting Leeds on the last day. Let me ask you now, I suspended this from the Spurs part, who goes down?

1:14:14Roger Bennett:I'm really worried it might be Leeds, Rog, if I'm completely honest. And my logic is that West Ham have a bit of form behind them. Spurs, I just can't countenance a world in which Spurs get relegated. I'm not prepared. I lack the imagination to do that, which leaves Forrest and Leeds. And as much as you'd say Forrest, because of that potential Europa League semi-final, maybe that distracts them. Maybe they become the first team to get relegated to the championship and then play in the Champions League in the same season. But I'm worried that Leeds, who also have the distraction of an FA Cup semi-final, Leeds' form has just sort of ground to a halt.

1:14:48Roger Bennett:They play Manchester United, which is a massive derby, just after we record this. They won't be expecting any points from there. They've got a couple of relatively kind home games. They will have to win them. You think Leeds rather than Spurs? I think Leeds are more likely at this stage than Tottenham, yeah. God, that is, I mean, this is chronic and chronic. DCL is my player of the season, I believe. And that game this evening, United against Leeds United. Well, as you say, when we talk about lots of history, this history goes back to the 15th century War of the Roses. And also, as you're shouting at me saying, yeah, Brog, but it's also the post-inductual race for urban supremacy.

1:15:26Yes, this is who we are now. We're just highfalutin with the football, which leaves us with mighty Everton Football Club. And Brentford too. Everton too. In a week in which fifth place was confirmed as a Champions League spot, Everton. So these are three points off that dream promised land. Incredibly though, Brentford were ahead of them before this one. I watched this game in New Orleans at the quite iconic soccer bar, Finn McCool's, with an incredible crew of New Orleans Blues. Really welcoming, beautiful group of human beings. I was fully braced for darkness, I'm not going to lie. My reasoning rule, that post-coital glow from that 3-0 win against Chelsea.

1:16:06For 21 bloody days, we've been just, oh, soaring. It's the longest gap between Everton playing since COVID and before that, I think like the late 1990s. It's a huge time to have hope in your heart and obviously shattered hope nor in a way. So it didn't shock me that my dreams of Europe lasted, well, both longer than I expected, but also less. 90 seconds in Jordan Pickford brought down Kevin Sharder in the box and Igor Thiago that Everton smiter aka the good Igor converted the penalty losing hope

1:16:39Roger Bennett:that quickly Roar was it the most Everton moment ever Everton I think maybe it's just evidence that after 21 days you've had your fill you don't need anymore it's probably good for you Rog I've had enough it maybe starts to curdle after the time it goes off don't take away my losing is that what you're saying I mean by the way this weekend other teams like Bournemouth who had three weeks off, looked box fresh. We looked rusty. I've got to respect us. We found a way back into the game a couple of weeks ago. I had the honour of interviewing Brentford's visionary stats-driven owner, Matthew Benham.

1:17:09An incredible interview on stage at MIT Sloan data conference. It's in our YouTube. He told me on stage that he looks for strikers, the metric, how he gets this kind of biblical lineage of incredible Brentford strikers. He wants strikers who put themselves into position to score, dot, dot, dot, even if they do not. So as a joke, I said, oh, I can sell you Beto for 100 million. And he said any decent data model worth its salt would give Beto an upgrade. Against Brentford, he remembered he had three one-on-ones. And even though he didn't convert anyone, he loves Beto. He really, really did. And so on Saturday morning, we actually exchanged texts where we laughed.

1:17:47What if Beto scores today? Did we manifest the Beto goal? And God bless the power of prophecy, Ru. Because my man nodded home. And even though Igor Thiago scored again, incredibly, his fifth goal against Everton this season, most against us since 1959. I think he's on 21 goals this season. A Brentford record in the league where they have had great strike after great striker. Also great goalkeeper, Kelleher. Loves playing against Everton, proper hates Everton, an excellent goalkeeper. Some of his saves were breathtaking. But Everton never lose when I watch them in New Orleans. And it was a total delight.

1:18:21I was actually watching with a New Orleans Blue from Long Island. He kept saying, have hope, have hope. And I kept saying, God, there's not such a thing as Everton optimism, mate. I haven't had that in decades. But he was right. 91st minute. Kiernan Juiceby Hall last home. An incredible human being. Narrative game changer, really. Going into next weekend's derby. Raw, it's fascinating. Everton optimism is alive.

1:18:48Roger Bennett:And it's walking amongst us. and it's going to be boosted by the inevitable unconvincing performance but ground out victory in the derby the first at hill dickinson next week rog do you really think that oh yeah everton will win that game you're sure yeah of course I hate the derby we all hate the derby rog yeah but liverpool fans used to not it's not a big deal it doesn't even matter to us was the attitude really for much of the last 10 years this is the first derby I remember in a long long time where Liverpool fans I know are dreading it as much, maybe even more than we are. To be fair, I've always dreaded the derby.

1:19:25Roger Bennett:I don't like the derby because, I mean, just no good can come of it. Because if you win, you know there's another one coming along quite soon afterwards that you'll probably lose. There's no joy to be taken from it. I will puncture that a little bit, Rog, by saying I suspect that Everton won't make the Champions League. I think it might just be a little bit too far beyond them. But they're a really good shout for the Europa League. And that is, to be perfectly honest, where Everton should be aiming. and I've said this to you before and I will stand by it because they can win it and that would be a trophy.

1:19:54I was chatting to one of my greatest Everton support mates, Jamie, who went to the last goodness of Derby today. We're dreaming of the Conference League just kind of places where normally only arms dealers or people involved in just like shady realms of the dark web go to do their business and I cannot wait. Jordan Pickford postgame, hopefully we'll get the toughies on European tour. God, the Blues on the lash, Blues on the piss again. Renew the passport, blue bellies. In truth, this is crazy. Six-point separate, 10th place Sunderland from 5th place Liverpool. The middle of the table is just an all-or-nothing jam sandwich, which gives me pause for fear.

1:20:32Before we hit the mailbag, which overflow us, I want to raise my third first Michelob Ultra of the day to the new snazzy bottle of my favourite lager. It's more than just a Michelob Ultra. Our great friends at Ultra are rewarding fans with superior opportunities. Listen to this. They've always been supporters of U.S. soccer. So they've gone and made the U.S. Men's National Crest your chance to win World Cup tickets. Scan any U.S. soccer crest with your phone and then enter for a chance to win. My God, tickets for the World Cup, which is just incredible, most joyous of tastes. And a chance to willy wonky your way to a golden ticket.

1:21:10This is what's called a win-win. Big love. Courage. To the mailbag. Roar, do the honours. It's from Tyler Harmony from Winnipeg, Canada.

1:21:20Roger Bennett:Hello up there in Jesse Marsh country. And Tyler writes, Rog and Rory, I'm fascinated. Less by who your favourite teams are and more who your favourite players are. Because I think it tells you a lot about a person. That is true. Who was your favourite player when you were like eight years old? And who's your favourite player now? Do you even have one? What does the difference between the two say about you? Thanks for all you do. I listen to you on the way to football practice and you make my day, Tyler. Oh, Tyler, that is a beautiful question. I actually don't know the answer to this. Either young Rory or not, well, not old Rory, but Rory, Rory, tell us it was Martin Skirtle when you were a kid and now it's Alexander Azak.

1:21:58Roger Bennett:So, I mean, it's a little bit... So my memory's not my strong suit, Rog. So I can't be certain of... I can't be absolutely certain of who my favourite player was when I was eight. That was in 1990, to date myself a little bit. And I'm going to say, I think it was John Barnes, who was Liverpool's iconic winner and who was very much the star of that team. It was just after they'd won what would prove to be the last title for quite some time. But I think the first favourite player I had that I was really conscious of, this guy is my favourite player, was a long-haired Czech midfielder called Patrick Berger.

1:22:34Roger Bennett:I loved Patrick Berger. He had long hair. He wore a headband. They signed him after the European Championships in 1996. He only scored amazing goals. He didn't do anything that wasn't spectacular. He didn't do any tracking back, Rog. I cannot stress how little Patrick Berger cared about tracking back, and I adored him. He's a sexy, I mean, he was a sexy, sexy man. He was a really sexy player. I always had a lot of time for Steve McManaman, who was the right winner on that team. and then as I got older to be honest for a long time my favourite players weren't at Liverpool Juan Román Raquelme the Argentine playmaker and Pablo Aymar if it's an Argentinian number 10 I'm interested as a kid you were like that that would have been when I was like 17-18 that Raquelme and Aymar was that's a sophisticated choice so yeah that was kind of when I was my eyes were opening I think my favourite player now I wrote about this at the same time as you would dabble in with Gitan and just like you know polonex jitan berets yeah talking about argentinian number 10 um my favorite player now is a tricky one the the player who makes me happiest is archie gray i wrote about this in the correspondent uh a couple of weeks ago he's from he's from harrigat and he's got a really distinctive harrigat accent and they keep making him talk to the tv cameras after spurs have lost which is because when you're in a difficult moment what you want is someone from harrigat they will make you feel better so I feel like a connection to Archie Gray he went to the same school as my brother a long time afterwards and that makes me feel kind of like a kinship with him that I am certain he does not reciprocate my favourite player outside that this isn't a massive surprise Rog I was trying to think if there was someone else I should mention but I think it's relatively obvious will be scoring against Liverpool tomorrow night feature Tvaric Dellier I love him as well he is probably a part, Archie Gray is like a personal thing but Tvaric Dellier is my favourite player to watch.

1:24:33He's going to break your heart when he scores against Liverpool. So we've gone from one left-winner

1:24:36Roger Bennett:who doesn't like working to another left-winner who does like working, which shows that I have realised that off the ball is as important as on the ball. Do you not have a favourite Liverpool player? Tricky. Very down. My favourite Liverpool player is Ibu Granate leaving. I think it's Sobberslai. I think Sobberslai's my favourite Liverpool player, but he did annoy me with the little dig at the fans after the City game. I thought that was poorly judged. But yeah, probably Sobber's Lie. More importantly, he is my son's favourite player. Amen. I've talked about who my favourite player as a kid, Tyler.

1:25:12It was Bob Latchford. He's just a lumpy Everton striker. Blasted 30 goals in a famous season. His poster was above my bed. Had the kind of perm, which was, I think, de rigueur for footballers back then. Now more a common style for grandmothers. but to seven-year-old Rog, he was cut like a god. He was squat, got his head on everything, scored all of his goals from super close range when you look at him on YouTube now and that 30-goal season was just like sizzling because I think the Daily Express offered a bounty of$16 ,000, £10 ,000 for whoever could break that number. It was an enormous sum in the economically depressed Britain of my childhood and he did it.

1:25:54I've talked about him before but my grandpa knew a person who knew a person down at the meat slaughterhouse where grandpa was a butcher. He could get me into training to meet my hero. And to my horror, I was just sent right back by the receptionist into the locker room and there was Latch standing right in front of me. Seven-year-old me, stark bollock naked. And to make it worse, Scottish midfielder Asa Hartford, who was a real character, I think you now refer to them as glue guys in the locker room, thought it would be a good idea to try and break the nervous ice by showing me how to make his genitalia look like a seal.

1:26:29And he was just slapping around in the background,

1:26:30Roger Bennett:just going, ow, ow, ow. I had posters of both men above my bed. They were taken down shortly afterwards. Now, my favourite player, and I'd have a poster. Raw, I would put a poster of this man over my bed now if my wife would let me. That's how, I mean, I would. I've not thought about it. But not on the ceiling, right? What? Oh, my God. We'll save that for another podcast today in kink and Premier League football. I love Kiernan Jujbeho because he loves us, which is really, I think, really important. I think he's going to become a true cult hero, a real leader for this team. Jordan Pickford, club legend.

1:27:09I adore Jake O 'Brien because he tries so bloody hard, which ultimately is all I ask. Seamus Coleman because he is the club's very DNA. But above all, I love Elimin and I. to watch a human being do what he can do with the football, wearing the jersey that I adore so artfully, so avant-gardely. There's no player in the modern period. I said this to David Moyes, who can do what he can do on the ball, which is the other side of what Evertonians love. Look, we love tryers, we love fighters, but we also love entertainers in our hearts. My dad loved Dilly. Just watching a player who makes your heart sore.

1:27:49I'm getting ahead of this one because it's going to crush me when he leaves at the end of the season. It's going to crush me in a way I've only really felt when Tracy Chapman stopped making music. That kind of forever pain that you know you're never going to get over. And the difference between the two, Bob Latchford, Tilly and Di, is that I think when you're a kid, you just like, you know, you chase the obvious hero. And when you grow older, you just want to pay witness to fleeting moments of hope and joy and transcendent and divine. I think maybe one was prose rule and the other is poetry. Is that the difference?

1:28:24Roger Bennett:That might be it. Which current Everton player, if you were to meet Iliad Dye, do you think would make his genitals into a seal? Undoubtedly, James Tarkoski. No. I'm so pitford. I think pitford is nailed up. Wow, that's wild. I think pitford may actually have a seal penis at this point. I hope we just solved the Kinski-ish cue. but God bless that's it for today thanks for your letter Tyler keep sending your messages to meninblazers at gmail.com I love them try and reply to every single one want to give huge thanks to Bank of America official Bank of US Soccer and the FIFA World Cup 2026 for supporting the Men in Blazers media network discover what's possible in sports and in life what would you like the power to do we are going to go down to Philadelphia May 12th for Men in Blazers live from Philadelphia.

1:29:17I adore that city. Reminds me of Liverpool in many ways, the way it just doesn't care what other people think about it. It's a show presented by Verizon. We'll storm down Broad Street. We'll be at the Franklin Music Hall where we'll bask in the shadow of the World Cup, which is about to crash onto our shores. Just revel in your footballing wonder in that city. We'll be back with European Nights tomorrow. The final whistle on Wednesday. Come and join me in James Horncastle. The world needs a bit more orny. Here on YouTube, we'll take your questions after the Arsenal game. Believe Arsenal fans. Roar, thank you, King.

1:29:52Are you going anywhere this week, Bob?

1:29:54Roger Bennett:I'm going to Anfield on Tuesday, where I'm not expecting to see any miracles. And then I'm going to Blackburn on Friday night, Rog, where Coventry, I think, will be promoted back to the Premier League. Frank Lampard doing it again. Amen. I'm going to the Blackburn of America. I'll be in Tampa on Friday for a live show. with Rondé Barber and Alan Shearer. That is an incredible combo. Rondé's apparently proper Man United. We're proud to announce proceeds from that live show are being donated to Feeding Tampa Bay, supporting families, strengthening the community that's welcomed us so warmly. Come be with us before the Premier League takes on Tampa Bay all weekend.

1:30:33We'll be back tomorrow, European nights. We'll be back on Wednesday. Let's not take a second of watching football together for granted and courage.

1:30:44Roger Bennett:Enjoy.