Manchester City vs Liverpool drama, depleted Arsenal continue to dominate, and has Carrick sealed the Manchester United job?: Men in Blazers 02/09/26

27:52Really what Gary Neville's talking about, the spirit of the law, I guess what he calls the smell of the game. Yeah, I would be of that view as well. I think I've always called it like a moral offside and people always laugh because they think it's a joke, but I don't mean it as a joke. I mean it completely seriously. I think most fans, when you're watching a game and when you've watched enough football, they understand instinctively when a player is getting an advantage from being in an offside position. And if it's just a sort of a toenail or a nose or whatever it might be, it does not feel to you as though that counts as offside.

28:22We used to have the concept of level, and because we can now watch everything in minute detail, you know, in ultra HD at slow motion, you can see that actually level didn't exist in the same way as there's always a winner in a horse race because you can take it to the photo finish. the problem is that that doesn't feel like offside to fans and it's the same with this one it's a really good example of it that to most fans liverpool city neutral seahawks patriots whoever it might be you watch that and think we'll just give the goal does i mean the the two fouls in your head that it's not that the two fouls cancel each other out it's the fact that they're completely irrelevant to what happens churchy scores so we ignore everything else that's actually right out the nfl the two fouls offset each other goal but here's the here's the thing i did think about if If the title gets close, dot, dot, dot, and comes down to goal difference, do you think the Premier League wants to award a title to a team with 115 charges against it on that goal?

29:16I'm sure that is not something that we could allege, Rog. But it's, yeah, I mean, there's a world in which the, yeah, City haul Arsenal back in and miss out on a title by one goal. That is possible that it suddenly, that decision costs Manchester City a title. I think that's not that likely, to be honest. But I guess what the Premier League might say is the opposite. can Manchester City win that title on a goal that technically shouldn't have stood and I get I get the position the VARs are in I get the position that Craig Pawson the referee is in that you have to go by the letter of the law but it just highlights to me this issue that we have now which is that in an age of VAR in an age of video and slow motion and forensic analysis where we have the tools we're gonna have to start thinking about the laws differently because to most fans that was a goal and it's insane that it was it was ruled out for two things that basically happened and had no effect on the ball going in the goal or not I mean they should have eluded it just for hilarity points to be candid because and low the game ended in just yuck yuck comedy and outrage um City winner Anfield for just the second time in Pep's 10 years and by the way he looked like a shattered man at the final whistle you see just how much all of this is taken out of him But City first, a broken team, a vulnerable City, a winning City.

30:34A City, as you said at the top, in transformation, kind words, that honestly feel so unpep in so many ways. Keep clawing on. They've got 13 games left to overhaul, a six-point deficit. Arsenal lead at the top of the table. I listened to the Sky coverage after the game rule, and it immediately flipped from City being vulnerable, must win, have to stay into two immediately. Final whistle goes to City know how to win titles. They put the pressure back on Arsenal. But the actual City that I'm seeing roar is a City who are much less potent, inevitable Manchester City title winners by right and more kind of like the KC Athletic Manchester by the sea variety.

31:14They're not a City as we recognise them. I think there's a real kind of cognitive dissonance around City that Guardiola's great teams blow opponents away and they're vastly superior and they produce these kind of complete performances that you can't pick apart. Controlling. Yeah, they control their destiny. Whereas this city are a little bit more chaotic. They are, as I said, much more kind of reliant on individuals to prove decisive, which is in keeping, I suppose, with the nature of the game in the Premier League at the moment. Which is just about tunes. Just about tunes. Who's got the best chance?

31:45Just give points for the best chance. No, I think there's a desire to construct a title race where it looks an awful lot like there maybe isn't a title race. That is everyone who is in the business of selling football for hits or for paper sales or whatever it might be, there's a kind of commercial imperative to make it look tight. I suppose, logically, it's six points and Arsenal still have to go to the Etihad. So it's not over. But City, I agree, are being judged by what they were rather than what they are. I think that's what's happening. We're looking at City and thinking, it's City, they can win 10 in a row.

32:17I don't think there's any evidence that City can win 10 in a row. Tenses matter. Past tense, present tense, dot, dot, dot, future tense. but let's touch upon Liverpool for a moment. Their fans experienced all of the emotions. Sobosani's free kick felt like it would be talked about for generations. But then two sloppy defensive moments allowed City to eat their way back to ultimately making the free kick irrelevant. That's some of the pain, burying it, leaving it almost as a gaping wound. The record fourth loss in added time this season. the theatrical added salt in the wound of Sobbo's eventual last second red card your defending champions are now four points off Champions League qualification in fifth place they are very much going from title defence for two outside looking in raw with severe financial repercussions if they miss out Yeah I think this is a really significant moment obviously you will be unsurprised to learn Rog I've had many thoughts about this in the last 24 hours they've got Sunderland and Forest nets both away in the league both of which are difficult games.

33:21Liverpool's record against Forest is awful. It's a really big game for Forest in a way that even United and Arsenal at the City Round isn't. Sunderland, obviously, one of the stories of the season. At the same time, United and Chelsea have found form. Villa are eight points ahead of them. Anyway, all three of those teams have relatively kindly fixtures in the next few weeks. It's a really unpredictable lead. But if you were to look on paper, you'd say they're going to pick up points between now and the start of March. I think Liverpool now have no margin for error because the gap is big and it's conceivable that by the time you get to the start of March they are nine, ten points off the Champions League places and at that point, and I don't say it with any great pleasure, at that point I think it becomes a real issue for Arna Slott because within the club there has been a real acceptance that this was going to be a kind of delayed transition year from Klopp and that's fine.

34:15I think most fans would have taken that, particularly given that they won the lead last season, but also given what happens in the summer with Diogo Jota, most fans would have said, yeah, look, fine, finish fourth, not really in the title race, not a problem, a little bit inconsistent, no issue at all, have to rebuild. I think missing out on the Champions League puts a lot of the work that they did last summer, and that I think they've been planning to do this summer, to retool the squad, to make the team younger, I think it puts it all in jeopardy. because they need not just the prestige of the Champions League, but the money from it.

34:47And it means that you might end up with this kind of half-accomplished rebuild. And that's a real issue. Bite your arm off for a half-accomplished rebuild, I've got to tell you. To happier places, yes, the Emirates. Arsenal 3, Sunderland 0. In that Granite Jacket Memorial Derby, at which the quadruple is still on. Step 1, mission nearly accomplished. qualifying for the Carabao Cup final midweek. Arsenal's first in six long years by clipping Chelsea. We'll talk more about the quadruple. A feat so impossible. Almost feels mythical, like the crock of gold at the end of the rainbow. But into this one, just two defeats in their previous.

35:30Is it 35 games? Arsenal facing Sunderland, who'd won just one in their last 28 in the league against Arsenal Football Club. Opening exchanges. By the way, after a week of new ridiculousness, There seems to be ridiculousness about Arsenal every single bloody week. This week, Arteta had to, in his press conference, defend from Paul Scholes' accusations that the Gunners would be, quote, the most boring team to win the Premier League. And I love this one because Arsenal, I think in the first five minutes, I counted three back flicks. Each one was just like a finger in a ginger eye. Sunderland, respect, gritty, organised exactly what we expected.

36:08They pressed high, boldly at times. Then Arsenal ratcheted up the intensity. I think Royce had a long-range finder from the left-hand edge of the box. And then 42nd minute, before the anxiety could crackle around the Emirates, Zubomendi stepped up from a similar place and furled a precise stroke of the ball with the touch of a tender lover. Clipped the post on the way in for Chef's kiss. It was fitting to me in the Granit Xhaka shadow game. There was a deep-lying midfield that scored the tribute goal for Arsenal. Sixth goal of the season for Zubi. never scored more than 4-4 what a player he is An incredible signing as well because I think in the summer you wouldn't necessarily have looked at Arsenal and thought that the obvious place to reinforce is the midfield but Arteta had wanted that sort of player for a long time someone who could dictate tempo a little bit better maybe than Dettlin Rice does someone who could kind of vary the range of passing he's made them not single-handedly but he's kind of taken them up a notch just his presence gives them a little bit of guile a little bit of smart that maybe they were lacking a touch of last year and he has thrived in that team.

37:11Yeah, and as precise and beautiful as the goal was, celebration, possibly even more so. Zubamendi's teammate and friend, Mikel Marino, in the stands watching on that stress fracture, keeping him out for up to four months and Zubamendi scored. And then of Ful Marino's trademark celebration, running around the corner flag, which Marino uses to honour his father, who was a pro and used to do the very same. It was really a poignantly beautiful moment. And also, I think, a reflection of the feel-good team bonding, which is ultimately for this massive squad, the engine, which is driving the title charge.

37:47Yeah, you need that togetherness, don't you? They've got a lot of players, and managing that depth is obviously a huge privilege. It's an advantage for Arsenal to have the strongest squad in the league. But it's also quite dangerous, because if you have players who aren't playing, if they're not happy, if they feel that they should be in the team ahead of somebody else, which all players will do, you need to kind of have them all signed up to a project, to an ambition, like a belief, to keep them on board. And it's difficult to do that over the course of a season as like resentment starts to build up and frustrations.

38:17And Arteta seems to be doing that so far. I mean, credit Sunderland. They really did make this game a rumble. Averable mix of muscle and ball skill. Defended set pieces really well in this game. Let the record share with confidence. Relief then. when 66 minute Arteta rang in the substitute sent on his finishers they inherited the game from his starters and did what they said on the tin two goals from Victor Jocherez first off his own heavy touch in the box second touch was that of really Thor's hammer slid in on his arse to Thunderhome we'll say the Sunderland defenders always gave him a guard of honour on that one repeated 93rd minute after a great break from a very generous Martinelli to kill off the game and Sunderland, really an awkward challenge, defanged ultimately with comfort.

39:05We talked about Jokeres last week, how his discomfort is kind of a human agony. I was really elated to see him score. Actually now in successive games, do is Bain Marcelli with increasing pride and confidence as opposed to a question mark. Suddenly, a little bit of crackling Big Vic energy, as they say, six goals in his last eight across three competitions. since clubs top screw in the league, with 8-13 for the season overall. Rourke, is it too early to change your position on Jokeres, a.k.a. what will Arsenal haters have to fling like mud into Arteta's eyes now he's a little more potent? I think the issue with Jokeres isn't so much what he's doing, he's been judged for being something that he wasn't meant to be.

39:49Part of the attraction for Jokeres, I think, to Arsenal, was an awareness that they want to have a variety of ways to attack. So you've got him, but you also have Kai Havertz who can play through the middle. You've got Gabby Jesus who can play through the middle. You don't need to have Erling Haaland. Because if you have Erling Haaland, you have to play Erling Haaland all of the time. He has to start every game. Jokerov was bought as an option. And look, he was very expensive for that. But he's kind of done what he's meant to do. As you say, he's got eight league goals. He gives them a slightly more physical presence.

40:20He's a threat in behind in a way that maybe Havertz isn't. Jesus obviously has had his injury issues. but he's more about kind of clever movement. Jokeres is an out-and-out striker. You don't always need an out-and-out striker in Arteta's world. So the criticism to me seems slightly misplaced. There's been a confidence issue over the winter. I think that's probably true. It looks to me a little bit like scoring at the San Siro in the Champions League maybe changed that a little bit. It was a lovely finish. It was a big stage on which to score. He's an important weapon for Arsenal but he has been for most of the season.

40:53You talk about the criticism of Arsenal. I do have a theory about why Arsenal derive so much hate from opposing fans. It is complex. There's micro factors, them being so good, then so vulnerable under Wenger, all the way to wonky T-fos and ridiculous accusations of over-celebration. But as I watch them climb that last step, the hardest step, after three consecutive second-place finishes, In a football world where many fans feel better about others' mistakes rather than their own team's wins, it is very, very healing for a lot of fan bases to unite and just say, oh, look at Arsenal, bottlers. That was like the football world's one shared truth.

41:39And watching Mikel Arteta try and fail and try and fail and try and fail and go again. I mean, I think that the thing that makes football fans ever more furious is kind of a sense of who do Arsenal think they are with their aspirations and making good on them? I think there's nothing more infuriating in English culture, also an English culture that's built on a legacy of the class system, than a person or an institution or a football club who don't know their place rule. And Arsenal's places, they're meant to suffer and they're certainly not meant to experience ultimate jubilation. yeah I think that's probably true for a kind of for certainly like a generation of fans because it's 21 years since they won the league and that is a substantial period of time in which a lot of fans will have come of age only knowing one version of Arsenal and I guess to yeah to me Arsenal are the third of the three big clubs that is their historic role but yeah if you if you are less than probably 32 33 you won't remember Arsenal being anything other than the team that came close, had these kind of slightly above their station ideas about how football should be played, and generally at the end lost.

42:52So it is a bit of a reset mentally maybe to have to compute the idea that they are about to not just win the league, but win it in a really kind of imperious and dominant way. It feels at odds with what people have come to associate with Arsenal, although I would say, Rog, just for the historic point of view, that is not what Arsenal's role has been traditionally. But who cares about history in modern football, the last five minutes of ancient history. A massive win, three goals from open play. Lovely to see Granit Xhaka, by the way, on the pitch after the final whistle, hugging Mikel Arteta. 13 games to go, six points clear.

43:31It's happening raw, I hope. And we talked about the quadruple up top. Touch upon it very quickly to win the title, the FA Cup, the Carabao and the Champions League. such an unprecedented feat. No one's done it in English football. Liverpool tried a couple of seasons ago, ultimately shattered them down the end, like almost like a march of folly. Takes an inhuman degree of relentlessness, of energy, of intense focus and a little luck. I think it would be a 65-game season. There's a 5 % chance, they said in the commentary. I don't know where they get that from. AlexCOG3281 wrote on our YouTube, after you and I discussed it on Friday's show, Alex wrote, people only bring up the quadruple because it's a new way to say Arsenal failed.

44:19I agree. And I thought that when it was hurled at Liverpool in whatever year it was that they went relatively close, 2022, I think. It feels like a thing that is brought up when the title looks like it's finished to set a new challenge. It's a secret level that you unlock when you are 7 to 10 points clear at the top of the Premier League. is, oh, actually, no, you've got to try and win a quadruple. I don't think Arsenal will be criticised if they win the league or the Champions League. I think that the season will be presented as a triumph. If, like Liverpool, they end up with just two domestic cups to show for it, then they will be criticised.

44:53As I said on Friday, getting close to doing a quadruple, getting to the stage where someone can say they might do a quadruple is a real achievement. The reason no one's done it is because it's almost impossible. Arsenal are better equipped to do it than Liverpool were in 2022 because their style is much more sustainable. They don't need... That Liverpool team will rely on that kind of manic-clop energy. Arsenal can control games much better. They don't need to be at their best to beat everybody. They're not quite as emotional in the way they play. I would be inclined to say that Arsenal won't do it, but there is more reason to think they could than Liverpool.

45:31We have Ben White joining us this week on YouTube. I'm going to talk about that to him, also find out the secret to the perfect suntan. Manchester United 2. Tottenham 0, more Arsenal joy. Haters will say Manchester United, coming in off three straight-interim-inspired micro-carat wins, are just repeating a cycle of caretaker bounce to bust. They beat Arsenal. They beat City number one and two in the table. They beat a in-form Fulham. How would they execute against a footballing minnow? Tottenham Hotspur. albeit Spurs undefeated in four and beaten in the last eight games against United including that Europa League final victory.

46:13United came out the box of ambition and aggression and Bumo bashing over within 30 seconds. Spurs found their balance. Simons and Gallagher cut, thrust, guile until essentially Spurs just self-immolated on the half hour. Kuti Romero attacked Casemiro's ankle with a stamped down ferocity that he normally reserves to assail Spurs ownership. Red card for the second time this season, his Spurs down to 10 men within half an hour. Again, their own worst enemy. We talk about Romero and the line always is that he always plays on the edge. That's his game. But this was so way over the edge. It was just a stunningly ridiculous act in its own right.

46:59But when you put it in context and you think about leadership, you think about a squad already so thin through injury, which Romero had been talking about a lot. At Slim in our Discord asked, is Romero quiet quitting, Ro? I mean, for me, it was less quiet. Is he angry quitting? Yeah, he's definitely not quiet quitting. I was at Old Trafford for the game. And what really struck me as being particularly painful for Thomas Frank is that Spurs were quite good for half an hour. They looked really well organised. There was a period of maybe 10 minutes where they were on top. and you thought it was bubbling.

47:33It wasn't a brilliant game at that stage but it was kind of bubbling into a genuinely interestingly poised football match because United have got this boost of momentum from Carrick. They're playing this style that suits them. But Spurs are smart and they've got some good players and on paper they're better than both their lead position and Fulham. And then Romero just does something totally unnecessary. Something that comes because he makes two mistakes in the build-up in terms of going to close down Mbwemo, I think, and then his position for when Casemiro receives the ball. And it just seems to be a kind of red mist descending that he's lashing out effectively.

48:10And then it's not so much that he went in with malice. I don't think he did. I think it all happened too quickly for that. But he's not able to keep his composure in those moments. And that's the issue with him. It's always been the issue with him. And it was interesting after the game that Frank was peppered with questions about Cristian Romero's suitability to be captain. And Frank, who's a very positive character, seems to kind of bat them all away as if to say, well, this is ridiculous. You know, he's exactly what we need. We need someone who's determined and passionate. But it seems so obvious to me that Romero's attitude is disqualifying from a leadership position.

48:45He's not suited to it. That was an act that, not willfully, but hugely negatively affected his team. And he does it time and time and time again. And that's an issue. and they'll now miss the next four games including the North London derby but back to this one United went for the kill 38th minute a corner that was straight off the training ground it was honestly like watching me play chess against Magnus Carlsen it was like checkmate in three move Bruno rolled the ball along the byline to Mainu with movement and misdirection just cut back to Mbumo 12 yards out that ball by choice caressed the ball with precision into the corner By the way, credit the Spurs players for not bothering to track a single move.

49:31It was honestly like watching their brains melt in full light of day. Highly choreographed, highly coached football by Johnny Evans, apparently the assistant. But raw, delicious, Carrick-era Manchester United football. And all in slow motion. It was like watching a VAR review of a corner. The fact that no Spurs players responded to what was quite obviously unfolding in front of them is extraordinary. It was, I don't want to sound negative about it. It was a really well-worked corner, but there were like nine people in the box who should have stopped it happening. God bless. That probably hurt Thomas Frank.

50:04Probably hurt him all the more that it was his old boy for Brentford who was his executioner. Second half, credit Spurs, kept organised, kept determined. And anxiety did crackle across Old Trafford. Remember they seen their side almost throw away victory the previous week against Fulham. Those fears quelled 81st minute. Dallow crossed, just missed Szczesko, but Bruno Farpo swept the ball quite artfully home. Watching him wheel away was delirious. 200 to United goal involvement. Only Wayne Rooney did it faster in the Premier League. Watching him so happy, Manu so potent, Maguire so dominant, man.

50:40I was just like, so many happy faces at Manchester United suddenly. Four wins in a row now for Michael Carrick. We are approaching haircut time. Roar, six weeks ago, Michael Carrick was rumoured to be going to Oxford United team in a championship relegation zone battle. Come at the hour, come at the club DNA. I mean, I don't like to be hyperbolic, but it's like watching an antidepressant at work. I mean, he could not have had a greater emotional effect if he was like starting Zoloft and Prozac at the back. What are you seeing that explains the difference? Because I'm wondering if it's possible to technically appoint him as permanent caretaker manager.

51:17That's what they need is the permanent interim. In fact, what they should do is sack him every month and then appoint him as his own interim. That's the solution. I think it's two things. One is tactical. He's playing a system that suits the players. And I guess because whether they're so relieved to be in a system they understand, whether because they're trying to prove a point that when they're in a system that works for them, they are all really good players. They're playing with kind of a lightness and a fluency and a belief that is self-repeating. So the more you win, the more you believe, the more you believe, the more you win, the more you win, the more you believe.

51:57But the other is that there seems to be a real connection between him and his staff and the squad. And as he said on Saturday, the fans as well, everyone seems to be kind of on the same page after several years, really, of absolute kind of disintegration and rancour and squabbling and infighting. He's kind of chilled everybody out a little bit. It just feels, he makes it look really easy. and look, Man United still have a difficult choice to make because they are in a false position. They're in a false situation. They're playing once a week, if that. They play West Ham midweek and they don't have a game for 10 days because they're out of the FA Cup.

52:36They should qualify for the Champions League. They should be much higher up the table than they are because without Europe, they're not playing anywhere near as much football as all the teams they want to overtake. That's a huge advantage. And Jason Wilcox, Omar Barada, the people who run Manchester United, will have to factor that in when thinking about Carrick. How much is this a sort of false position? What happens when you throw the Champions League into that? But at the same time, it's really hard to make a case not to give him the job. It's really hard to make that case. It feels like you are...

53:07The biggest reason not to appoint Michael Carrick is that it didn't really work when it was Ole Gunnar Solskjaer. And that's not a very good reason. Why are we not hiring you? Ask him, it was his fault. United have 44 points, more than their entire tally from last season, 13 games still to come. Perhaps just as important, you mentioned it, fifth straight win is possible next week. Please let it happen. That's so fair in our Discord. Said they're playing West Ham, who just about beat themselves these days. That is not the case anymore. What could possibly go wrong? Talking about possibly going wrong, Spurs, seven games without a win, no wins in 2026.

53:47Newcastle, then Arsenal next. I'd say poor Thomas Frank. I'm old enough to remember when he quite brilliantly trained Brentford to score within 60 seconds, three times on the run. He's that guy. And now he's coaching this slop. We're now in the midst of the third time in 13 months Spurs have gone seven Premier League games without a win. It hadn't happened in the 116 years before that. A season of misery, not only to Johnny Cash in her role. Yeah, and as you say, it might get worse. because Newcastle are collapsing a little bit so that might not be quite as challenging as it was as it would have looked like a month or six weeks ago but then the North London derby no Christian Romero just a sense of real drift and to be honest watching Thomas Frank standing next to Michael Carrick at Old Trafford it was really striking that Frank is an excellent coach he's obviously an excellent coach his career proves that he's a really good coach but he's not the right fit and I think with management more than, I think with management, what matters more than anything else really is fit.

54:51And it just isn't, it's not there with Frank and Tottenham. And I don't quite see how he gets it back at this stage. I find it very hard to believe that there's a world in which me and you are sat here in five years' time and saying, do you remember all that doubt in Thomas Frank's first of his six seasons at Tottenham? I just, I don't think that's a thing that can happen. It feels like a when, not an if. And then Spurs have to start again. We've been feeling, saying that for, I mean, this is the weirdest, this is the weirdest situation. And this has been very, very, very, very, very evident for a very, very long time.

55:26And I do believe, by the way, Thomas Ramp will be a very good coach somewhere else. And this will be just a blip, as it was ultimately, you know, Tottenham for Nuno in every single regard. But let's talk about another coach in a slightly surreal predicament. Wolves won, Chelsea three, had a wet and windy Molineux. Chelsea entered off that Carabao Cup loss to Arsenal. But Liam Rossini, this is incredible to me. Perfect in the Premier League. Three for three, facing a Wolves team who have essentially been treated the way dogs are treating New York City snow piles right now. This game, a breeze. Cole Palmer hat-trick, two penalties, three goals inside 38 first half minutes.

56:08Second goal, so Cole hit 50 in all competitions for Chelsea in just his 100th start for the club. Fourth Premier League hat-trick, most of any human in a men's Chelsea jersey. First Premier League player ever to score three first 45-minute hat-tricks during a season there, in which he's missed 17 games through injury, was rumour linked to a move back home to Manchester United during the transfer window. But the season he's been having, Ruhr, as much as Chelsea needed Cole Palmer, Cole Palmer needed this hat-trick. Yeah, it's been injury-hit, injury-ridden. it feels as though he's lost a little bit of the kind of energy behind him that was driving him for so long.

56:48He needs a big second half of the season, last third of the season maybe. My fractions aren't great, Rog, but whatever stage of the season we're in now, he's got a lot of time to make up for Cole Palmer. From a World Cup perspective, you're talking about? From a World Cup perspective, but also from his kind of, for what he wants to be as a player more generally. You know, it is a season that has passed him by, not through any real fault of his own, but he's barely been a presence in this Premier League season. He will want to make an impact on it for himself, for Chelsea. And yeah, in terms of getting into Thomas Tuchel's World Cup squad, that's important.

57:21But he's not really been a thing this year, Cole Palmer, and that won't sit well with him. Yeah, I did love Liam Resenia's post-match interview in which he was singing the praises of Cole Palmer. And then mid-sentence, he realised Cole Palmer was beaming just off camera, just like drinking in the praise, leaving Rosinha cracking up, proof that old Liam is really making Chelsea like the office shot for shot. Cole Palmer later said, life under Liam Rosinha is amazing. He gives us all confidence. He lets us be ourselves, play free. You know, in all of these words, there's real depth and subtweets, subtext, all of that.

58:01But we've got to talk about Rossellini. I find it fascinating, Roar, because the game began in the shadow of his great miscontrolling of a dropping ball during Chelsea loss at Arsenal on Tuesday. He tried to control the ball, dropping as many managers do. Unfortunately for him, it just bounced, ricocheted off into the crowd. No big deal. And unless you are Liam Vecina and the media are trying to take a bat to beat you, like Robert De Niro beating up a mobster in The Untouchables, Rod, there's the signal. Seven wins in nine games now for Vecina. And there's the noise. And there's a lot of noise.

58:38Vecina's already named LinkedIn. Liam constantly having to explain himself to the English media. Every press conference is a different version of how the hell do you get this job again? to which Liam has adopted a really a very postmodern kind of self-acclaim, self-aware, self-mocking, self-knowing kind of mix, all the selves. Before this one, he said, the lads have played it back to me on the video and we've had a laugh about it. He said, Estevão said he can't believe I was a professional footballer. It feels every single week, Roar, Chelsea win. And every week, Liam Rossini has to deliver some kind of moral telling of a version of you're going to laugh about yourself in life.

59:20He's never going to shake it, is he? He's always just one loss away from being absolutely tabloid buzzsword. Well, it's interesting because I wonder to what extent it's less the unconventional background now and more the, in English, the word manage is man age. I think that might be what's done for him a little bit because that was a really viral moment in the most kind of important meaning of that word, that that's what most kind of passing football fans now think of when they think of Liam Rossini, and that's a problem. The weird thing is, he's basically been flawless since he took the job. He's done not only better than you would have expected him to do having come straight from Strasbourg, he's done far better than you would have expected him to do if he had been Maurizio Pochettino, or Xabi Alonso, or whoever.

1:00:12Like, he has done as well as it has been possible to do. The two games he's not won both against Arsenal in the least important competition. He doesn't really have any reason for self-doubt at this point. He can clearly do this. Whether he wins a title with Chelsea, none of us know at this stage. I guess one of the things that you mentioned foreshadowing earlier, it does feel a bit like this is the thing that everyone has decided will ultimately cost him, this kind of linked-in, high-performance language. the sense that he probably knows what Mark Wahlberg's daily routine is. Wakes up and does the blue bottles of seltzer into the, that washes his face.

1:00:49He's got a big ice bath for his face. He's doing that on a desk with a computer on it, despite the fact that that's clearly dangerous. It feels like that is the thing that people have decided is slightly odd about Rossini rather than the unconventional background. But the problem is that the evidence that we've got doesn't warrant bringing any of it up because he keeps winning football matches. I know you keep saying, self-doubt, where does that come from? I mean, every press conference is, sir, would you like a truckload of self-doubt? I mean, it is amazing. And I'm laughing when you said the only two losses have come in the Carabao because there's that tweet that's out there, the great one of it.

1:01:25You know, do I care about the Carabao? Well, if you split the words, car, care, Abu, about, care about. I mean, God bless. He's never going to beat the allegations and all he does is just DJ Khaled it and keep winning. And I think it's really, really fascinating. Is Chelsea just one point off the top four? Leeds and Burnley at home in their next two before a tantalising tilt with Arsenal, which looms large. March the 1st up north to another curious manager city. This is all it is. The Premier League is just about songs and odd managerial situations. Newcastle 2, Brentford 3. Just an emotional seesaw of a tilt.

1:02:06Tiny, tiny Brentford, fourth win in five on the road. First victory at St. James' Park since 1934. Filled with shock and awe and narrative misdirection. Newcastle felt like they were going to win it after they fought their way back to 2-2 with passion and emotion. They tied things up late with a Bruno Guimaraes penalty. Appeared there'd only be one winner when that ball went in. But then the excellent Dango Atara simply went downfield, lashed home through Nick Pope's legs. and Brentford, a team who lost their manager, their captain, their two top scorers. The football world's entire consensus was Premier League doom for them before the season.

1:02:43Club with a$70 million payroll who keep defying the consensus that league table placement correlates exactly with financial might. They're currently raw. In seventh place, Keith Andrews. We laughed when he was appointed the set-piece coach. They've just rolled up their sleeves. Legitimate chance to bring European football to the GTAC next season. how do they do it playing to their strengths appointing well recruiting well always having a succession plan in place understanding their position in the hierarchy i think it's really important their recruitment's been really smart for a long long time they are like brighton like bournemouth they are not reliant on individuals they're not built around one player two players one manager they they kind of are a system that keeps grinding on regardless of the parts that are in place and it has been incredible to watch them.

1:03:34They are level on points with Liverpool which feels almost harsh on Brentford. Brentford are having a much better season than Liverpool. Brentford should really be above them. It's been an incredible achievement. Yeah, that's it. We're watching managerial appointments, songs and ideas of football. I'm actually the owner of Brentford, Matthew Benham who's a remarkable human being remarkable brain. Going to spend some time with him at the Sloan MIT data conference come be with us if you go in there. I can't wait for that. For Newcastle, oh, Eddie Howe. Talked about post-game how he was, quote, facing a harsh reality.

1:04:12He felt, quote, angry with himself, which was Newcastle's fourth defeat in five games, all comps. Newcastle 12th in the Premier League, 10 points from both Champions League place and relegation. Team were booed off. A lot of media rumbling about Howe's job security. I've got to say, the travelling Newcastle support, they were being beaten 3-0 in the Carabao midweek at the Etihad. They chanted Eddie Howe's name quite loudly, which was a very powerful moment. There's a lot going wrong. Results, yeah. Injuries, yeah. $380 million spent on six players this summer. A few of whom have had, let's say, instant impact.

1:04:49Fatigue, perhaps, from the pursuit of all those trophies. They head to a sad off that you mentioned at Tottenham on Tuesday night. Howe said, I'd resign if I wasn't still right for the job. I mean, Roar, where there's smoke, there's fire, where there's crackling sound in the media. Is the thin ice for nice guy Eddie Howe? Or is he the front man for a quite strange project? The Saudi owners felt like they came in, they saw, they raised hopes, and they kind of lost interest. Yeah, I think that's the big thing with Newcastle. Eddie Howe's made mistakes. There's been shortcomings with him. So I think that he is overly reliant on a core group of players.

1:05:30I think he hasn't been able to change his style to make Newcastle more kind of enduring when they're competing in the Champions League as well as the Premier League. There are things that he's not done as well as he might. But the bigger issue with Newcastle is the kind of existential aimlessness of it. There's a great piece in The Guardian about this by Jonathan Liu last week, I think. The Saudis came in promising all this stuff and they've basically not really done any of it. They've done the kind of low-hanging fruit bits of signing players, but that was relatively early on. Now there's a little bit of kind of drift setting in.

1:06:02You know, there's no new training ground. There's no new stadium. There's no plans for a new stadium. It feels as though they've not necessarily lost interest, but they've not had a plan beyond, we'll take this team from 17th to the Champions League. it feels as though the summer was lost partly because of a kind of self-damaging desire to keep hold of Alexander Izak for as long as possible no one has come out of that deal well the whole thing looks cursed to be perfectly honest but Newcastle have suffered too because it meant that they were getting their replacements in so late. Voltemada and Wissa haven't been they haven't been bad but they've not been kind of outstanding successes it does feel a little bit like they may be reaching a crunch point this summer and they have to make a decision.

1:06:45But I genuinely don't think the issue with Newcastle is Eddie Howe. I think the issue is deeper, further back, and more to do with the ownership and what they want this club to be and whether they know how to get there. I think that's the important bit. Back to Friday night. Leeds 3, Nottingham Forest 1. I think the awesome power of Leeds United at home. winner of 76 % of their points at the home ground, highest proportion of any club in England, coupled with the inevitability of Daniel Farker, their manager at night. Dude has 19 wins, three draws, zero losses at home as Leeds manager when it's dark, which is ultimately testament to the passion of the Leeds fans in that bare pit, which proved completely too much for Forrest, fell apart after conceding.

1:07:33The joy of the night for me, Dominic Calvert-Lewin, adding a diving Chester, I think I'd call it, to seal the deal. Ten Premier League goals on the season for Darmor, than the likes of Saka, Cole Palmer, Mo Salah. No Englishman has more goals in the Premier League this season. Phenomenal, endearing, resilient. Worthy of the Leeds fans chance England number nine. Leeds, nine points clear of the relegation zone. Are you willing to say they are safe, Roar, or you dare not tempt fate? No, I don't want to tempt fate because I'm too emotionally invested in Leeds staying up. I really want Leeds to stay up and I'm worried by what West Ham are doing.

1:08:09But yeah, the more games that the Premier League can rearrange so that they play them on Friday nights at Ellen Road, the more likely Leeds are to stay up. That feels like they should do that more. The bigger issue, I guess, from this game is that the team between Leeds and West Ham, the team occupying 17th in the table, a team that I think most of us have assumed will just get out of the relegation battle because they've got lots of good players and they've got a good manager, Nottingham Forest are really in trouble. Which good manager? I mean Sean Dyche, but you're taking a very Evertonian perspective on that, Rog.

1:08:39Sorry, I just genuinely didn't know who you were talking about. Bournemouth won, Aston Villa won. I'm old enough to remember when we're asking ourselves if Villa's title run was for real. Now we're all about, are they true? Champions League qualifier contenders. 22 minutes in, Morgan Rodgers thrashed home brilliantly. He felt maybe that yet again, And Irola would be undone by Bastadi, Unai Emery, who he's never beaten in nine clashes. But Bournemouth, I love this team. They're so admirable. They create chance after chance. Ten minutes into the second half, 19-year-old Brazilian Ryan freshly arrived from Vasco da Gama for$34 million.

1:09:16Dance through. Cue Samba and son cliches. He's arced home. Semenya replacement already banging in a goal with confidence. I look at Bournemouth with such a recruitment and scouting division, just pound for pound, the best in football. Yeah, they keep doing it. And to bring in a 19-year-old Brazilian who looks almost like an imprint of Antoine Semenyu, who has exactly the same characteristics, the same strength, the same kind of drive, the size I think is really important. Ryan is a big physical presence. That's a big thing in the Premier League at the moment. they are able through their recruitment to kind of take the 62 million pounds 80 million dollars ish I guess for Semenyo and keep rolling and that is incredible they had a difficult kind of Christmas period didn't they Bournemouth but they seem to have come through that now and they will be pushing back towards the top half of the table which is kind of where you you think Iriola deserves to be God willing and Tyler Adams on his way back please God in Another game's Burnley 0, West Ham 2.

1:10:22West Ham coming like Omar. Clean sheet finally for Nuno in his 24th game. Three points back from Nottingham Forest and survival, courtesy of goals from Red Hot Somerville 5-5. Tati, former NYCFC star, chipping in with a header for his first Premier League goal, which led to the West Ham fans. You talked about great songs. They sang his first name, Tati, to the tune of Lip Up Fatty by Bad Manners, which is just so amazing. Less amazing. Burnley fans started chanting, we want Scott Parker out. They're furious. I read a piece in The Guardian last Friday, Raw, about how Burnley fans feel about kind of ping-ponging up between the Premier League and the second tier.

1:11:00And the number said they feel proud that their tiny town is, you know, in the spotlight of the top flight, but can't stand the agony of being smashed every week, which creates, in their words, a numbing apathy. And one fan said this, I do actually enjoy going back down to the championship. You feel like you get up for the games. The atmosphere is better. I know some people said last season was the most boring promotion, but it was so good celebrating at the end of the year. It was fascinating for me to read that. We often look at relegation almost as a traumatic end of day's agony, but that fan, it's like a reminder.

1:11:37Sometimes it's nicer to be the biggest fish in the smaller, like dingier, murkier pond. the problem is that relegation costs so much money so that the risk is that you're effectively saying it's good to go down as we win some football matches but that might cost 50 people their jobs and that's not something that should be celebrated Burnley are very sensibly run as you know Rog my instinct would be that they budget to not be in the Premier League every single season they will not be thinking we are reliant on this money we have to spend all of it straight away. So they should be able to endure relegation a little bit better than some other clubs might be, West Ham, Nottingham Forest.

1:12:17And I get that. I've got friends who are obviously Leeds fans, Bournemouth fans, friends who support teams who've come up and down the divisions a little bit. And their view is the same, that it's not much fun being the team that is 15th best, 16th best, 17th best in the Premier League. And occasionally, it's quite nice to go in the Championship and be second best. Because it's much more, you know, even if Burnley weren't playing great football last season, but even if you're winning games 1-0, you're still winning games. There's tension, and sometimes it's happy. It's a happy tension. Whereas by this stage, after a long, hard winter, Burnley know they're getting relegated.

1:12:51They're not in that phase that Wolves are, where it's quite funny, because it's so certain that you're going down. You can't have gallows humour about it. It does just feel like this inevitable cloud that is gathering over you, and it must be hard to enjoy what you're watching, because what's the point of it? Which leads us to Brighton 0, Crystal Palace 1 in really the winter is coming derby. We've talked about this class before. It's curiously heartfelt, filled with spite and random rivalries full of huff and puff, but honestly rarely watchable from a neutral footballing POV. Highlighting this one of a very drab first half was Palace goalkeeper Dean Henderson, miming lifting the FA Cup trophy to wind up Brighton fans.

1:13:35like we've won something you haven't during a break in play. I'll just say mime shithousery, definitely top three kind of shithousery and Dean Henderson is the Marcel Marceau of Bantrup. Absolutely. And I think it's important to have that in your arsenal. You've got to have that in your locker. You've got to be able to taunt the Premier League's an international place. You've got to be able to taunt other people, other players, other fans in a variety of methods. Without needing duo lingo. Don't need words. Yeah, Dean Henderson in this one, genuinely what he did in goal was okay. What he did out of goal, just constantly as a wind-up merchant, was humanly awesome.

1:14:11Crystal Palace, 12 games without a win, started new 65 million by Strand Larsson, gave them a focal point. It's fascinating to watch that. In the second half, they rolled up field. New arrival on loan to buy from Aston Villa. Gesson cleverly fed the quite speedy Ismael Asari. Lashed home in off for Bruggen's nose to add to the spite. I mean, it was really remarkable. And what was more remarkable, Brighton in a spike game, needing to get back. Just a lack of fight. I think they had one shot on goal in each half. Just one win in 12 now. Game ended with Brighton fans singing. You're getting sacked in the morning to their child manager, Herzler.

1:14:49Really a team and a manager roar in real danger of just slipping into inertia. Yeah, and it's easy to kind of dismiss Brighton's fans' concerns because this is still historically the best Brighton have ever been. there's no real risk of relegation it's a bit of a nothing season for them there but they're safely mid-table it hurts to lose the Palace but at the same time they they see their team much more than anybody else does they will have more of a sense of of what it feels like to watch Brighton at the moment and yet it's not been great and I I wonder whether there's a lack of kind of direction to Brighton a lack of a sense of that they're going somewhere or even that they have players in that team who feel like the next big thing as they did when it was you know when it was Alexis McAllister, when it was Moises Caicedo in that midfield, you would have felt at Brighton a feeling of, these players are going somewhere.

1:15:39It's a privilege to watch these players. I'm not sure there's anyone in that squad at the moment to feel like that, or Herzl is not making them look like that, and that's more of a problem. Like Belieber. Like Belieber, who kind of was a thing and then hasn't really been a thing. But even if it's just him, that's maybe not enough, because Brighton do feel like they've lost a little bit of that kind of energy and that vim that was taking them up the table. It feels like they're treading water and generally fans won't tolerate that. Brighton minus vim equals Everton, which brings us to the final game.

1:16:12Fulham won. Did this happen? Everton Football Club 2. I hate it when we play Fulham. It's just like a parade of human beings. Marco Silva, Alex Iwobi, on the bench Anthony Robinson, all just Avenger assembling to like, you know, remind us that they used to play for us. We used to have them. I do. Laura Dern's quote about when Billy Bob Thornton left her to marry Angelina Jolie. She said it felt like a sudden death. Is that hyperbolic rule? But that's how I felt. I mean, I don't know. I wasn't involved in Laura Dern's marriage to Billy Bob Thornton. I feel like that's how she feels. It's probably legitimate.

1:16:48Well, you're not. I thought there were three of us in that marriage. I mean, Look, I mean, Fulham opened the scoring with a calamity-owned goal. Very Everton, excellent Pickford. Parried a sharp shot from Raul Jimenez, only for the rebound to hit poor of Vitaly Michalenko unwittingly on the knee and bounce in. Everton fans immediately start melting down about David Moyes, his missionary position football. Second half, though, God bless. We create, we press. Fulham couldn't live with us attacking from the front, and suddenly Marco Silva oddly didn't adjust, which he normally does. Mikalenko, I don't even know where this came from, started a charge down the flank, nutmegged, dish assist like Nikola Jokic, your goal scorer.

1:17:30And after all, you're my Dewsbury Hall. Then off a corner, under pressure from Jake O 'Brien Leno, own goal. By the way, second time Bert Leno scored for Everton. Also owned gold when he was playing for Arsenal, which makes him one of our most potent strikers. We always say, sign of a great team, is when they play poorly, yet still win. But Everton only play poorly, so are we the greatest team? In the weeks when you win, yes. Now look, it's striking, Rog. The number of times that we've said today, this team is now on one win in 12, or they came into this team only having one win in 12. Or you get the opposite situation, where Spurs went to Old Trafford unbeaten in four, lose, and now have only won one in seven.

1:18:18it's a really inconsistent league and you do get teams who suddenly click Fulham had their moment up until a couple of weeks ago Fulham were going really really well, it's Everton's turn now and it changes like that one result gives a team so much confidence it can build just a little bit of a head of steam that will carry you through 2, 3, 4, 5 games Everton, we said it before at the start we said it before earlier in the season Everton were on the cusp of the European places and they're the only team that no one says they're on a charge for Europe everyone just looks at Everton in sixth and goes it won't last and moves on but it's possible if they time their run they could potentially, I don't think Champions League but I think Europa League certainly Conference League, if Everton time their run there is that to play for.

1:19:05Raw Everton playing in any tournament has its own anthem I mean I'd bite your arm off for the Florida Cup again, all ones know what that is, is ecstatic. And I've got to tell you, I'm starting to believe. And that makes me so anxious. Like, all I'm going to do is talk about how I don't believe, because I don't want to curse it. So you're going to get a lot of me predicting Everton losses for the rest of the season. But it is fascinating. We've done the double over two teams. One managed by Marco Silva, ex-manager Fulham, and the other, Nottingham Forest, ex-manager Sean Dyche, which I love. Proof Spite is the rocket fuel of human motivation.

1:19:43But we are in the heady heights of eighth. Moyes got ripped apart on social media at halftime. Everton fans ended up chanting his name. He's won 11 of the 22 road games since his return, which is unbelievable. Even more unbelievable, he's done it without full backs and a real striker too. It is raw. It is. It's an incredible, it's almost blue sorcery. Yeah, and I think because Moyes is such an established figure, because Everton are such a big club historically, they're not talked about in terms of Brentford or Bournemouth doing something really unexpected but Moyes is operating on a probably more of a shoestring than either of those teams, when did Everton last go and spend a huge amount of money on a Brazilian 19 year old?

1:20:24Not for quite a long time Rog, it's been a really positive season in the round for Everton it hasn't always felt like that I appreciate but if they were to finish top half if they were maybe to sneak into the conference league if they were to get into the conference league they could definitely win it Rog that would be a real sign of progress and you hope at some point that Texas' premier Toyota dealer the Friedkins will put a bit of money into the transfer budget and allow Moyes to maybe get those fullbacks he desperately needs we all drive Toyotas now by the way if we do qualify for Europe the Moyes knee slide at the full whistle onto that field is going to be just I'm going to weave it in a gorgeous tapestry okay let's letter it up with a question from the mighty John Glasgow I'm sure in America they call him John Glasgow, with some important follow-ups from last week's podcast about great footballing celebrations.

1:21:16Roar, do the honours. Here is the letter. First, I'd like to say that this is my favourite show. I've been following and listening for several years, but we've crossed a line and entered into a new territory, a new appreciation for the show. Oh, we have, have we? I often feel as though we've crossed the line, Roar. Every father of a son, even before they're born, wonders how they're going to broach the topic and have the talk with his child as he grows towards manhood. This is taking a weird turn. I would like to thank you for creating a safe space for me to finally engage in a meaningful discussion with my 10-year-old son about firing ping-pong balls out of one's anus, a la Rodger's preferred goal-scoring celebration.

1:21:53There's the weird turn, Rodger. It's further definitive proof that Men in Blazers is not just a show about football, it's a show about life. Thank you. John Glasgow, California. God bless you, John Glasgow. Please email me and tell me if it is JohnGlasgowinAmerica.com they call you John Glasgow. That is a letter, Roar, of great profundity. And when he said a funny turn, it came back to us. It didn't turn away from us. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It leaned into it. It is a letter I would expect from a man named after one of the most magical cities in the world, a city that admittedly in my visits there found to be extremely non-rational in the best of ways.

1:22:28But what I think John's asking us, Roar, by the oft-used metaphor, obviously, of anus secreted ping pong balls, is what is football all about to you? I've never asked you this. What is it that you're watching, that you experience when you watch, that you believe it reveals it keeps you utterly, utterly obsessed with the sport? Well, I think leaving aside tribalism, because obviously you have a kind of loyalty to the team you support and that you want them to make you happy, to make you not be sad maybe is what you want your team to do. Like, please don't make me sad. Don't take away my sadness.

1:23:06Go on. It's a form of connecting to people. And, you know, obviously it doesn't recognise gender, but I think for men in particular, who've struggled to maybe talk about more emotional things, traditionally, than women, I think it plays a really important role in that. I've been in some of the sort of darkest moments of my life. It's football that I've talked to my family about, and that I think is really, really important. But the game itself, like more broadly outside of that, I think it's a sport of scarcity and it's a sport of complexity and it means that when something incredible happens, and that might just be any goal not only do you get this moment of wonder that the universe is aligned for that thing to happen but the thing that always gets me about football is the fans, the best thing to watch when a goal goes in is not the players celebrating I hate it, hate it Rog when they cut away to the manager I don't care how the manager feels Show me the stand.

1:24:04Show me what the people who travel all over the country, all over the world to watch that team, show me how they are feeling. Because you get this glimpse of unbridled, unaffected, unadorned joy. And if you think about it, you don't see many pictures like that. God, that's really amazing, man. We just did a film with Eberichie Eze that's going to come out very soon where I play chess with him in London. And he talks about that FA Cup final goal, that experience of just looking at the fans in that second, their faces and realising what he'd done had created for them emotionally, which is really, I mean, a beautiful refraction of what you're saying.

1:24:43Look, for me, anyone who listens to this will know this. So this goes out to the smarter tactical brains than me all over the place. Many, many of them. There's footballers who've been in locker rooms that can talk about, you know, what they think happens at half time with Mikel Arteta. But when I watch football, I do it. I experienced a number of things. You've hit some of them, Roar, that I think are, I mean, I know are really extra rare, rare currencies, rarer and rarer, unfortunately, in our life and in our world. The sense of profound connection to other people that you talk about. And by the way, that's a global connection.

1:25:16When that Dom Soberslice shot went in, you felt that, that sudden surge and you knew millions of people around the world were doing that. That's why I love the MIB Discord, to be honest. It's just like, that is that pulse that we're all sharing and driving. I'm also hyper aware. I talked about this a lot. I've written this book about it, about memory making, collective memory making that's going on in real time. But in the moment, Raw, I watched something. It was actually Martin Tyler. I interviewed him in 2010, head of the World Cup, and he gave me this construct. And I think it's true. He said, these are his words.

1:25:49He said, football stripped down is a game of human decision making. So when a footballer takes control of the ball, they've essentially got three decisions they can make. Do they run with it? Do they pass with it? Or do they shoot? And Martin Tyler said, simply put, the greatest players make better decisions more of the time than the merely good ones. And when you view the game like that, you're really just watching, and this is for you, John Glasgow, what am I watching? I'm watching humanity reveal itself in real time, second to second in the decision-making. By the way, transcendent creativity, yes, but also same in the hopeless self-sabotaging mistake moments.

1:26:26and it's that it's almost the mirror of human existence that revelation that that nourishes me in games great or everton um and i hope it will forever yeah it's it's a feeling of belonging but it's also a feeling of kind of outsourcing your emotions to these other people and hoping they get things right and i think that's nice to like to know that you're sad but it's not your fault it's their fault that's so funny I'm sad I woke up sad today yeah because of Bernardo Silva it wasn't it wasn't the shortcomings in me as a person or my failure to do any exercise over the weekend it was Bernardo Silva he made me sad so funny football ultimately as the as just an emotional transplant for people like me that have no emotions of our own thank you for your letter John Glasgow slash Glasgow Glasgow Glasgow that's how you say that in America please start saying his name just keep writing to us here meninblazers at gmail.com I do try and answer everything that rolls in that is it for today I want to give huge thanks to Bank of America official Bank of US Soccer and the FIFA World Cup 2026 for supporting the Meninblazers media network discover what's possible in sports and in life what would you like the power to do I'm headed back to Atlanta this week to come and do a thing or two thank you for all your food wrecks which I will try and visit well and wear Roar you're a beautiful human being we will rock it with you on Friday thank you thank you I'll see you Friday after another Liverpool defeat that's the spirit this is Rog saying let's not take a second of watching football together for granted and courage