Manchester City's Carabao triumph over Arsenal and Tottenham's relegation panic: Men in Blazers 03/23/26

23:16Roger Bennett:Yeah, one Igor doing to another Igor the sort of thing that Idors shouldn't do to each other. But they do, those Igors, don't they? You just can't rely on Idors. There's very little solidarity amongst the Idors. A lot of good footballing Idors, actually. Igor Protty is one for the heads, I think. One for the true heads. 1990s Italian striker. Send us your favourite footballing Idors at many places at gmail.com. There must be more. It's a huge feature, Igor of the week. I wish I had a fifth child just to call him Igor. Go on. It was a great header. It was a really good header. And I guess we talked about the psychological test of Arsenal.

23:50Roger Bennett:That put Spurs in an incredible position because you go into half-time, being the better side, I think, pin Forrest back a little bit, go into half-time, 1-0 down. You can feel the cold breath of the dotted line on your necks, Rog. And you have to respond. That is the point where you do have to match the energy that the fans have shown on the Seven Sisters road, where you're suddenly aware that you're Tottenham Hotspur, you've got one or two players coming back, Lucas Birdvall back in the team, the quality level is going up and you really have to stand and deliver. That is what you have to do in that scenario.

24:22Roger Bennett:You kind of have 45 minutes to save yourself from a relegation battle and they didn't. And that's the problem. Instead, Spurs did what they've done. I mean, it's really been the trope of the season, the merest hint of adversity and almost fold. Whenever they've been challenged this season, the response has been tepid and here it was another wilt. You felt it, the Spurs energy in that crowd, it kind of flipped. There was a headline in the newspaper this week and it reminded me of Tottenham self-destruction, that really the front office, just that lack of strategy, that lack of leadership, that lack of decision making, which is almost impossible to fathom.

24:55There was a headline about a Utah woman who wrote a book on grief after her husband's death and then was found guilty of murdering him. I'm not quite sure. It just reminded me of Tottenham and the fans agony and it was doubled just past the hour. Those bastards, the guys that write the Premier League script, they had to choose as the protagonist, as the man to wield the knife. The gentleman that was signing for Tottenham, that wanted to sign for Tottenham, so we were sold in the summer, only for Forrest's owner, Mr. Maranakis, to, quote, persuade him to stay. All of that narrative, ball fell to a Munmark 10, was it 12 feet out, and he just shot it, almost like Patrick Swayze's ghost, through Vicario.

25:37I think the technical turn is it Robert Sanchez threw Vicario into the net, 2-0. And at the death, simple Forrest's long ball, havoc at move, said in the Men in Blazers' discard. Spurs defend like it is the NBA All-Star game. Couldn't cut out a single cross in this game. And one year, made good of a fine delivery from Nico Williams again to unfurl his God is the greatest T-shirt. Vito Pereira reeling away in utter joy. His first win, queuing an exodus from Spurs fans who I think had really only waited around, mainly to get back to their booing ways rule.

26:11Roger Bennett:What struck me about the crowd at Tottenham yesterday was the lack of anger. was the sense of all those kind of lingering shots of fans. It was really striking. These lingering shots of fans just looking totally dismayed and confused and baffled. A couple kind of laughing, which I think is a real sort of shock reaction. Because they'd stood up, they'd done their bit, they'd turned it into an occasion, they'd shown their support, given all their team has put them through this season, that in itself is admirable. and then to see Spurs wilt in that fashion, to see them so limp, so kind of flaccid and the third goal was bad but the second goal is awful.

26:55Roger Bennett:The way Forest build up to that goal, before Hudson-Odoi puts a little bit of speed into it, a little bit of kind of jet heel into it. It's really slow, it's really methodical, there's no danger, they're not even particularly trying to cut through and they just sort of walk through Tottenham Hotspur and what struck me watching the fans was the lack of kind of energy in the crowd the sense of deflation the sense that that they've almost given up I'm not sure I've ever seen a crowd that looks like it's it's lost heart so much and that's not criticism at all of the fans I get it um that's what the team have brought them to but they were leaving almost almost apathetic almost like they they'd gone through sadness and come out the other side.

27:41Roger Bennett:And that's really worrying. They can give no more. You know, they've done their part. I mean, I understand it because it is so utterly, unbelievably befuddling to welcome a team that is a relegation rival, give them their first win in a really massive three points, let them leapfrog your team, the first win for their manager. By the way, it's a team that still have many battles to come, Nottingham Forest. I think they still have to play Aston Villa, Chelsea, Newcastle, United. But Spurs were that woeful. It's fascinating hearing assistant coach Bruno Soltel talk about how his players, quote, cracked under the weight of the game, which is human poetry and agony.

28:20To remain winless in 2026 is an even deeper agony. To do that almost three months now is really evidence A. There is no fight. To make it even more traumatic, Igor Tudor found out post-game, and I do wait for him. I can't imagine this state of mind right now that his father, Mario, has passed away. Our thoughts are with him, but it makes everything just so much more complex, so much more painful. Footballingly, Tudor has one point out of a possible 15. Spurs have one point off West Ham in 17th place. 30 points from 31 Premier League games, something they've not done at this stage since 1914-15.

29:01This is where we are. This is who we are. That's what I saw in the fans. Is this who we are? How did we become this? The damage to the goal difference in this game, the damage on the table, the damage to the fragile psyches of the players who are these fans' heroes, Roar. I mean, the good news of the weekend, well, the Arsenal lost, but West Ham losing. But where we are right now, Roar, you know, we spent, I think, five weeks being like, are Tottenham really relegation possibilities? That conversation has stopped completely, right? They are in a brutal, it's not even existential. essential. It's a very real fight for their Premier League life.

29:36Roger Bennett:Yeah, I've had that same sense, Rog, that it felt theoretical to me, like Spurs could go down if all these things happen. And you look at the fixtures that remain and you're like, oh, we'll be fine. They'll win that game. They'll beat Forrest at home. They'll turn it on. They'll find another gear. They won't have a glorious season by any stretch of the imagination, but they'll get out of it. Whereas now you look at it and think, well, hang on, Forrest are now above them. It's good that Leeds are really struggling to win. That brings another team into it. But West Ham have been fine for the last couple of months, West Ham have got a little bit of momentum and all of those clubs and that's the other thing that I think might be related to the fans reaction all of those clubs, Forest, Leeds, West Ham, they will have gone into this season with either some memory or mentally prepared that they're going to have to scrap, that they're going to have to cherish every point, they're going to have to try and find momentum and spirit wherever they can that it's going to be difficult, they will all have known that in some way or they will remember what that is like.

30:31Roger Bennett:Tottenham seem totally unequipped for it. The players, the fans, the board who've appointed Tudor, everyone involved with the club doesn't seem to... They don't have any experience of this. They don't know what this feels like. They don't know how to cope with it. And we've seen at Manchester United say in the last few months that the intangible can have really tangible impacts. I wonder if that makes a difference with Spurs. Because for the first time in a long time, in fact, I think for the first time in my life, Rog, I think Tottenham might get relegated. You know, if you take it from me, an Everton fan, want to get serious about avoiding relegation, stop bringing large dogs to games, stop bringing toasters to games, that's the kind of tactical reality you need to change things around.

31:17Here's the game's rule. Sunderland away. I mean, you can build a narrative. This is, I think, the painful thing if I was a Spurs fan. Game by game, it hurts. Sunderland away. Brighton at home. Wolves away. Aston Villa away. Leeds at home Chelsea away and then Everton at home on that final day how many of those games do you look at and think yep three points there

31:39Roger Bennett:you'd look at Leeds and Everton at home and think those are two games that Spurs should win but the agony is home they've won two games at home all season yeah but then you go through the others and you think well Sunderland have just beaten Newcastle in the derby Brighton are suddenly in form Chelsea would love to do damage to Tottenham Hotspur Aston Villa are going for Europe there aren't there aren't lots and lots of points there there's no sure things there I don't think. Even Wolves. Wolves are playing with this sort of gallows freedom at the moment that makes them really dangerous. So all you see in that list of fixtures, there are games that in theory Spurs should win but as you say they can't win at home.

32:13Roger Bennett:Leeds may well go into that game in London needing to win it as well. They've probably got a little bit more spirit and fight about than the Spurs do. Everton at home on the final day when Everton will probably have nothing to play for but what if Everton are going for Europe? There's your three points Spurs fans. I'm contractually obliged to say that though, Ror, aren't I? All I say is I feel your pain. Give your Spurs friends a hug tonight. New Balance is a brand I've loved dearly for my whole life. And as if I couldn't love them more, they're now an official sponsor of the MIB Media Network.

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33:20Roger Bennett:slash soccer From darkness to light. Oh, and we just mentioned Everton. Did this happen? Everton 3, Chelsea nil. A game really played in the shadow of the memory of Everton's trauma of just point deduction after point deduction and use this week. Chelsea would not receive a similar punishment. A mere$14.3 million fine, suspended transfer embargo, nine-month academy transfer ban. They're really trying to throw things in to clutter it and make it confusing, Roar. For what? For cheating over a seven-year period. Oh, and we'd say only went and won two Premier Leagues and European trophies. I mean, very, very quickly, this added a real spice to this game from the off.

34:04But it's extremely hard to fathom the leniency.

34:07Roger Bennett:Yeah, it doesn't make a huge amount of sense, if I'm honest. It's almost as though the Premier League have misunderstood the nature of the problems. Their defence is, it obviously helps that Chelsea self-reported. So Chelsea's new ownership, Tom Bowley, Bedard-Ed Barley, Clearlake, They found these issues over the course of doing the kind of paperwork of the takeover from Roman Abramovich. They told the Premier League about them. So to me, that is red flag number one, because it makes you think, well, hang on, if the Premier League can't find out about this stuff unless you actively tell them, that's not ideal.

34:38Roger Bennett:And that seems to have diminished the punishment, and I think that's probably fair enough that that should be taken into account. But the Premier League's other defence is that even if those payments had been disclosed, it would not have affected Chelsea's PSR situation. But that's not really the point. The point is that they were making illicit payments and you know that they're making illicit payments because they hid them, therefore they are by definition illicit. That is the problem, not whether it kind of means they fit into the books or not. And you can make a very easy case that the players that they signed as a result of it not only led directly to trophies, Eden Hazard was the best player in the Premier League for about five years, but also helped to change Chelsea into the valuable asset that Clear Lake buy in 2022 after the start of the Ukraine war.

35:24Roger Bennett:So I'm not really sure a£10 million fine, which is what, a fifth of a Mark Kukurella. Not sure that really cuts it, Rog, if I'm honest. All of it in the short term just added two levels of spite in a game already overloaded with storylines, a visibly fraying at the scenes. It is remarkable to watch him now, remarkable in a quite human agony way. Liam Vecini arrived. Chelsea leaned just five points in their last five league games, eviscerated in the Champions League midweek by PSG. They did the huddle just off centre this week as the referee stared them down. That huddle has become one of the tropes of Chelsea present.

36:00The other, totally vulnerable defending. Every single Chelsea back pass to the keeper in the early exchanges felt like a grenade tossed without a pin. While Chelsea had all the possession, I think it was 61 % in the first half, they did almost nothing with it and a determined, organised Everton deliciously stung them, took advantage of their propensity to defend quite brittily. James Garner freshly called up to England for the first time. I think Thomas Tuchel wants to up the number of players in his squad who look like a medieval pikeman and filled a perfectly weighted ball through to what? A speeding beto caught for Fanna sleeping.

36:37Sanchez came out to close him down and our big man, this was a delicious moment. I've always said no one's more surprised than Beto that Beto was scored. But this Finnish roar, he was like the bastard offspring of Eto 'o and Bebeto and it was exquisite.

36:51Roger Bennett:It was the perfect finish, Rog. It was artful and creative and unexpected and genuinely jaw-dropping and breathtaking with just the slightest hint of me wondering whether he meant it. Wash your mouth out, just shut that down. God bless you, Beto. Two goals and one assist. Listen to this man, not that man. But one gentleman who was undoubtedly great and I don't think gets his greatness afforded to him. His lord of the rave, Jordan Pickford. There was an Italian coach on a very bad modern Italian national team. I can't remember when it was, but I remember him saying, he was asked, who's our creator?

37:29Who's our fantasista? And he said, oh, our creator is our goalkeeper, Gigi Buffon. And I'm starting to understand the meaning of that truth, watching Jordan Pickford just perform heroics week in, week out, 36 minute, just another save of the season contender. I think it was actually Pickford initially flapped at the cross, got back across his goal. Was it Enzo? Just a mortal blast that Jordan Pickford was delighted in miraculously clearing away with the strongest of wrist. Rob, complete this sentence for me. Jordan Pickford is blank.

38:05Roger Bennett:Sometimes he is. Yeah, that's true, Rog. I think in the last few weeks, he has produced two or three genuinely extraordinary reaction saves. Pitford is an underrated goalkeeper. You are completely right. It's a little bit because he's England's first choice, which means that he's there to be shot at effectively. Is it any place for us, Ru? Or is it just like his persona? It just doesn't garner the respect in English culture. He's almost like the supernaturally gifted jester king. Yeah, that probably doesn't help. The idea that he is the Lord of the Rave, the fact that he's this kind of larger than life personality, that there's an element of Jack the Lad about him, makes it easy to diminish him a little bit.

38:49Roger Bennett:I think he's also the sort of player that opposition teams don't like. So if you had Jordan Pickford on you, if he was your goalkeeper, you'd love him. But because he is a little bit kind of out there as a character, he does draw attention. And normally in the tribal world of football, that attention will be negative. And I think that counts against him as well. But there have been, it's almost on a weekly basis the last, yeah, the last month or so, he's making at least one save that defies physics. And obviously that Thomas Tuchel's named the biggest England squad in history for this international break.

39:17Roger Bennett:I think apart from Harry Kane, the only person you could look at and say that their position is absolutely definite for the World Cup, barring injury, is Jordan Pickford. And he's been England's first choice for years. Almost 10 years now, Jordan Pickford has been the first choice goalkeeper, which is an extraordinary achievement in itself. And yeah, this is hard for me to say, Rog. He doesn't get the credit he deserves. He doesn't get the respect. It's one of my favourite interviews of the year when I asked him why he pulls the faces after the incredible saves. and he said something along the lines of, the faces are there for me.

39:49I thought, yeah, I asked him, do you do it for the fans, the cameras? He said, oh no, the faces, they're for me. I mean, Pickford's one of many players on that Everton team. The Chelsea players are coveted. Chelsea players have heat. Everton, their players less so, but my God, what David Moyes has done right now, he's forged them into a true team. They run, they're full of character and leadership. Kiernan Juice Bihal, and this one out for Chelsea revenge. kept probing down the left alongside Ili and Di. Beautiful, beautiful Ili. Took every opportunity to wind up Enzo Fernandes in this one. Game stretched.

40:24Everton pounced. 62nd minute. It was gone again. Swooped on an Andre Santos. Loose pass. Drove forward 30, 40 yards. Played a beautiful little straight ball to Beto's diagonal run. And Beto kind of swiveled. I'd like to pretend fast. It was one of the slowest swivels I've seen in a long time. Lashed it right through. Quite humiliated Robert Sanchez. He's almost dragged the ball over his own line with his body with him. You can actually see his heartbreak. He's almost like a goalkeeping Milhouse in that moment. But it's also lovely to see the opposite set of emotions. You saw Beto feel a sense of vindication, a sense of potency again.

41:01You saw his teammates. If you watch this goal, watch the way the teammates react and kind of force him to soak up the fans' love in this moment. Cue the silencer. But we do have to quickly talk about Robert Sanchez. He's going to become a totem of this Liam Rossini will. There's moments in sports that even when it's your team, this was joyful for me, but I did. I felt a sense of sorrow. Watching Sanchez's reaction, I mean, he looks absolutely broken in that second. And I know we talked last week in depth about goalkeepers, having the memory of a goldfish when they're good. They immediately rebound.

41:36They immediately focus. He looked like a man who's remembering everything, and he is incredibly haunted. Not Goldfinch in our Discord wrote, Risenia destroyed the confidence of both our keepers. Well done.

41:48Roger Bennett:Goal keepers do have to have that ability to kind of forget. That is absolutely right. The problem is for Sanchez, he's trapped in that loop where he doesn't need to look back too far to have that kind of echo of humiliation of a mistake. His confidence looks like it's completely shot. And it's shot because he's making a mistake roughly as often as Jordan Pickford is making a jaw-dropping save, to be perfectly honest. and that makes it really hard to kind of get out of it and to kind of reassert yourself, to reassert your own self-belief that you are a top-class goalkeeper. Whether Jordansson can recover from what happened in Paris, I don't know, but it does feel now as though neither Chelsea goalkeeper is reliable.

42:26Roger Bennett:But then you have to question, Rog, is that Liam Rossini's fault? Yeah, I mean, it is. It feels like they're just highly attuned to the shiny, shiny attacker and have left that position, that crucial position. let's just say, understaffed. Ily and I took advantage to close out the game, went the toppest of top bins, an incredible finish. 3-0 Everton, a back-to-back wins at the Hill Dickinson, the big dick for the first time ever. And in that moment, the stadium roared and it rocked as if it was Goodison Park or as if it was the soul of Goodison Park that's filling the new gaff. Commentator had a great line, he bellowed, it's the moment the new house became a home.

43:08I'll be candid. It's been so long since watching Everton Football Club felt so bloody good. I was absolutely buzzing watching this. Every blue in my life, family or friend, is starting to dream, checking the passports are not out of date. Watching Everton play, I'm interested as a neutral rule. To watch the players laugh together, to savour together. Watching David Moyes, you can find our most recent conversation with him in the show notes. He talked about how hard it's been to adjust to the Hill Dickinson. We watched him after the game sing along with the fans post-game with such glee. They almost remind me of the happiness that five-year-olds have when they first play the game.

43:51They genuinely enjoy it together, Roar. They enjoy each other. It's very, very rare in the modern game. When you layer in how hard it's been to be Everton over the past five years, even in your hardest heart, even in your Liverpool-est of heart, even in your dead stone heart roar, it's pretty hard not to be happy for them, right?

44:10Roger Bennett:But what's really refreshing about Everton is partly that sense that they are enjoying it, that they're a team that are eighth, they're aiming for Europe, but it will still be a good season if they don't make Europe. It's the fact that because they've been put together on a bit of a shoestring by various different coaches and that as a squad, they don't really make any sense. And yet, they're producing these performances and they are, look, they're a bit up and down like everybody in the Premier League. It's a giant mid-table Premier League. Between 3rd and 20th, it's glued in 19th. It's mid-table, the Premier League this season.

44:40Roger Bennett:Everyone's the same. But Everton have not had kind of 120 million quid spent on signings who are underperforming. They've not had this massive kind of wage bill to run. They are a little bit of a patchwork, which is testament to where they've been. And there's something really heartening about seeing a manager, especially a manager who's been around for so long, that is an element of it, just turn them into, as you say, turn them into this unit. And it's really heartening. It's maybe, look, he's not the win manager of the year or anything like that, Moise, but he should probably be in that conversation for the actual work of coaching that he's done.

45:17Roger Bennett:There's a little bit of a reminder there with Everton that if you get the kind of right person in place and you get the right spirit and the right, what people now call culture, into a club, it makes a huge difference. And that's really nice to watch, whether you support Everton or not. Yeah, I think the fact that the squad is so inherently tactically limited, no fullbacks, God bless you, beautiful, beautiful Beto, no real, reliable, consistent striker, makes it all the more magical. I will say I was quite drunk Saturday night. I think it was two o 'clock in the morning. OK, it was Sunday. You know, I said to my wife, I'd hugged her, I said, babe, we're three points off the Champions League places.

45:56And she just patted me on the head and she goes, oh, poor love. She said a true, this is a proper quote, she said a true Everton fan would both look at how far you can go and how far we can fall at the same time. And like genuinely, I didn't get to sleep that night. But Chelsea, my God, we're going to talk about that quickly because it is one thing to be utterly cut apart by PSG. To be thumped by Everton Football Club, I think it's another altogether. First time in 33 years, Chelsea have lost four games in a row in the league. And we said this from his very appointment and his initial success, Liam Rossini, truly going to be tested in a time of challenge.

46:36We said this when he was appointed that we'd only really know the true measure of Liam Rossini, a very raw coach. He'd been hand-selected, appointed way out of his depth, given an enormously long contract. We said we'd only know his truth in a time of challenge, how he reacted to adversity. This has honestly been like watching one of those Roadrunner cartoons where Wile E. Coyote goes over the cliff, and his legs keep kind of running, that five-game undefeated streak before he plummets into free fall. It's a bit like slot, but in fast motion. You could make the case that the Mareskerism of the team just kept functioning.

47:13That blueprint kept carrying them through, and then, boom, this. It is looking more and more as if that five-game run was almost a death rattle in Maresca's memory. And all that's happened since, that team that can't defend, that is bereft of confidence, that lacks a true idea of the football they want to play. Not to go all Logan Roy on your ass, but Roar, Chelsea right now are feeling they're not like a serious person.

47:34Roger Bennett:The way that it's collapsed in the last, what, month, five weeks, is alarming. Is it surprising? No. It's interesting that the players now are kind of talking about how Moresca, or privately kind of suggesting that Moresca was that they felt Moresca's dismissal a little bit more personally, a little bit more keenly than maybe we thought you said all along Roger, I will give you the credit you deserve for this, that the test for Rossini would be what happens when something turns, and the answer is that it just seems to be gathering speed now, that as you say, they're out of the Champions League, they went out with a whimper, having produced a decent performance in Paris for 75 minutes.

48:19Roger Bennett:Every decision he makes seems to be backfiring. He's obviously really smart. He's obviously very personable. He's very ambitious. He will have a long career in coaching if he wants to. That is clear. No one is questioning his kind of talent as a person. The question is whether he was the right person for this context at this moment. It's really hard to see whether that is the case. And the thing that baffles me more than anything, why is he on a six-year contract? It's that. It's that. So it's possible there's like a break in his contract that if he doesn't meet certain targets that that means Chelsea don't have to pay him up in full.

48:58Roger Bennett:But if you're doing that and he already works for you, why not just give him a shorter contract? Why commit to him with a six-year contract? What is it about football and Todd Bowley and Clear Lake, mainly Clear Lake now, Why do they want to give everyone such long contracts? It's really weird. Stop giving people long contracts. Just give them normal length contracts like everybody else. You're not being clever. There is a world in which Rossini turns this around, Rog, and that Chelsea finish the season really strongly, they finish in the Champions League, and they start to build something. He clearly is a bright guy, a promising coach, but they don't have to be really good to overcome the doubts around him that have now set in, not just amongst the media, who, you know, as soon as they smell blood, will go for it.

49:42Roger Bennett:But among Chelsea's fans as well, and increasingly, possibly the players. And that's the problem. Yeah, I mean, I will say it's hard to watch. He looks like a character that is reading his social media. He's feeling it. We saw it already with Graham Potter. You know, psychologically, his last couple of months at Chelsea were deeply, deeply fraught. He felt it. To watch this immediate down cycle, almost an implosion, is, I think, humanly deeply difficult to watch. It was Arsene Wenger that actually gave me that framework rule the first time I interviewed him. He said the true key role for any manager.

50:19You know, winning games is important, but the key thing is not to lose two in a row. He said you'd never want losses to become free-fall. That's essentially the key. That's ultimately the key mission for any manager. And right now we're seeing Liam Resinha fail that at the very first opportunity, and it is a darkness. to the race for the top five, Brighton 2, Liverpool Football Club 1. Liverpool down to the sunsplash south coast, riding that high of a 4-0 splashing of Turkish team Galatasaray in the Champions League midweek. We were told footballing consensus was Liverpool were back. I'm old enough to remember the roar at Anfield, the feel-good vibes, Moe unleashing heaters, slot ball.

51:04We were like, oh, he got it, man. He remembered. You know, a reanimated on us, Edwin. We have to play every game as a final. Brighton, though, resurgent winners in the room. I think they won three of their last four before this one. Baby manager Fabian Herzler started four players with an average age of 35. I mean, these are old gents who can answer BuzzFeed questions about, do you remember the 1990s? Liverpool, crucially, without Alisson, both recovering from injuries. And in the eighth minute, the pride of Hugo Eketike's service. It was fascinating. This French striker looked utterly bereft, found out later that it was just a dead leg.

51:41But when he went off, he looked utterly emotional. And so were Liverpool fans when Slott chose to replace the striker with dot, dot, dot, Curtis Jones. And Raw, 17th minute, Liverpool served an acute reminder of just how disjointed their play was. Mamoshvili in goal, over hit a pass. Canati let it go under his foot. And from the resulting throw in, deep cross, headed back across goal. an 87-year-old Danny Welbeck, unmarked clinical. We had Kerkhez quite brilliantly anticipate. I think that was probably coaching, lurking instinct reward to get Liverpool back into it, swooping on the back header.

52:14But second half, come at the hour, come at the Welbeck again. Yacouba Minte found Gerard Hinchelwood on the back post, cushioned the ball beautifully for Danny Welbeck to finish. His 12th goal of the season, no Englishman has scored more. This is the tabloid drumbeat now. Danny Welbeck, is he 35? Not made in England appearance since 2018. Not named in Thomas Tuchel's 35-man roster. Ageism, the man sparkles. The man crackles with a vibrancy and a potency. Why do we overlook what he does week in, week out at the international level, apart from man is old?

52:52Roger Bennett:Well, I mean, to an extent, the reason it's come up, again, isn't just his form. It's because there is this apparent English desire to have as much novelty in the squad as possible. You have to have the youngest guy get Max Dalman on the plane, the oldest guy get Danny Welbeck on the plane, get someone tall, someone short. Have to have one bald man, maybe someone who's never played football before in their lives. They should be on the plane. Just as you need to have these storylines, otherwise what we're going to do for six weeks in the summer is England, unfortunately, win the World Cup. I don't know why Welbeck is overlooked.

53:23Roger Bennett:It strikes me as slightly odd, because his form has been like this for two or three years. And as you say, there's not... Obviously, the first-choice striker is fairly obvious. It's Harry Kane. But behind that, Oli Watkins has had moments where he's an obvious claimant. Calvert-Lewin's had a great season, so he's back in contention. But it's not like there's a really obvious two or three players ahead of Welbeck. You'd have thought someone would have said, that guy is worth having around. And also, you speak to anybody about Danny Welbeck, you speak to Danny Welbeck himself. He's clearly exactly the sort of character you want to have in the squad.

53:59Roger Bennett:he would add something there's this concept that we borrow from cricket that you might be aware of but most listeners won't be of being a good tourist it's someone who you can spend three months on a boat with and not want to kill danny welbeck is that kind of character he would be he would bring additional benefits away from just his finishing it's five sky glue glu in in america you call them what do you call them a glue guy a glue guy the um that sounds like someone who's selling you like illicit products or someone who knows what to do with the offcuts of a horse. But it is weird. Comes from the NHL, so maybe it is.

54:39Roger Bennett:But what do I know? But it is weird that Welbeck's not been called up, at least at some point, because you feel as though he's kind of proved his point now. This is not a kind of last hurrah. It's been going on for a while. Godspeed, Danny Welbs. And thus, Brighton win their fourth game in five. End the weekend in 10th place, three behind 7th place, Brentford. European Dream still very much alive, which is incredible because it's a little over a month ago that they lost to Palace and the Brighton fans booed Herzl and it felt like it was over for their boy King. Do wonder how they feel now. Those who boo last, what is the old football adage?

55:18I can't remember. We're going to talk about Liverpool. That statistic out there, that I think Brighton had run five kilometres more than Liverpool. Also added that Liverpool had been outrun by their opponent in 26 out of their 30 games. Really a sign that the problem is that Liverpool run deep raw. Here, no late goal drama, but I see the familiar feeling of defeat. Tenth loss of the season with seven games still to go. Liverpool remind me of that quote from the Mafia wife, is it Karen? In Goodfellas, where she just said, and after a while, it got to be all normal. Losing has become normal, Roald.

55:51The lack of ideas is in danger of becoming normal. The lack of pace, the lack of confidence, the lack of identity. It's truly shocking, even for me to watch. One win out of the last nine in the league, an FA Cup clash with City upcoming. PSG in the Champions League, gulp. You know, project that through. Lose that game out of Champions League. And I do fear the fan approach in that moment from an on-the-slot perspective.

56:17Roger Bennett:yeah and it's not pleasant to contemplate because Slott's doing his best he won the Premier League title in his first season there have been as we know like difficult circumstances around Liverpool this season that have to be taken into account similar to Resenia it's not Slott's fault that he was given a squad that was too imbalanced to achieve what it was meant to achieve but yeah I had the same thought over the weekend Roger exactly the same thought that no one expects Liverpool to win the Champions League getting to the quarterfinals of the Champions League is probably fine for Liverpool this season that's not a bad not a bad showing at all it's unfortunate for slot that they got that cup draw in the FA Cup because if they got Port Vale at home Southampton away even kind of West Ham at home or whatever then then you'd have been looking forward really to a to an FA Cup semi-final and possibly winning a trophy this season and it would have felt like okay maybe maybe it's not all been a lost cause as it is the likelihood is that by April 20th, at the latest, Liverpool's season will be over.

57:16Roger Bennett:They will have lost a third of their games in the league, or thereabouts. They might well have just lost the first derby at the Hill Dickinson, because they play Everton around that time. Fourth place might have gone, third place certainly will have gone, fourth place might have gone, fifth place might be hanging by a thread. And at that point, I think there's a very real chance it turns very, very toxic indeed. because for reasons that I think are quite interesting, there's no real affection for Slott. And I think that's not his fault at all. It's the kind of context of the club that he walked into in 2024.

57:48Roger Bennett:But the results have been poor and the thing that will count against him more than anything is the fans are bored. They're bored of the results. They're bored of the same problems causing those results. And most importantly of all, they are bored of how they're playing even when they win they're not good to watch, they're not entertaining there's no real spirit, they look as you say, bereft of ideas and pace and creativity and that really curdles into something quite nasty so I think there's a very real risk and I say this with no pleasure whatsoever that the last six weeks of the season will be very very hostile at Liverpool and it will all be directed to Slott when it probably shouldn't be he should take a share of it but not all of it God, I think you've articulated it really well.

58:37A producer, Jalisha Castredale, is a Liverpool fanatic. And after this game, she just texted me a version of the Simpsons meme where she just said, this is the worst Liverpool performance you've seen so far. There's worse coming. Godspeed. I did love you describing what's going to happen at the derby. God, I wish, I wish. And I don't share that confidence, but my God, it would be humanly beautiful. Manchester United 2, Bournemouth 2 back to Friday Night Lights on the south coast. Old Peacoat column. Michael Carrick face up to another epic Manchester United challenge. Could they beat Bournemouth for the first time in six long games?

59:13Andoni Irola working out if he should sign a new contract for the Golden War Cherries or look elsewhere. Athletic Bill Bow adding their names to quite a long list of possible suitors. His team, this is a good spin. Ten games unbeaten in the Premier League. Let's ignore that five of the last six have been draws. We'll never let the facts get in the way of a good story on this suboptimal show Raw. Game came alive at the second half. Goals flying in for more points. Penalty's given, penalties not given. United went 2-1 up. Bruno's in swing, smashing off the head of Bournemouth James Hill. Under pressure from Harry Maguire.

59:46And it looked in this moment, as that own goal flew in Raw, that Harry Maguire was having the best week ever. You talked about how the England squad, they're trying to get one of everything. Let's exume a reputational grave. Oh, and back he comes. for his first England call-up in 18 months from Thomas Tuchel. But Raw, 78th minute, proof his slabhead cannot have nice things. Tugged Dev Nielsen's shoulder as the Brazilian took a quite sublime touch when he was two on goal. Foul, penalty, dogs out, red card. Harry Maguire's another player, Raw, that defies opinion like very few other footballers do.

1:00:24What is it about him that causes so many human beings to feel incredible glee in his mistakes. He's almost like a human meme.

1:00:33Roger Bennett:I think part of it is the meme of Harry Muguire. It's the thing where he's leaning next to his partner and looks to be mansplaining. I'm sure he's not mansplaining, but he looks like he is. For all we know, he may have been saying some proto-feminist philosophy. I'm certain he was saying some proto-feminist philosophy. That man looks like he is single-handedly trying to bring down the patriarchy with his head. I think there's just a lack of refinement to Maguire, it's a sort of you could write a really interesting in fact maybe I will actually this is quite a good idea Rog there's a sort of self-loathing anti-English snobbery about Harry Maguire that's what it's rooted in I think that he looks like a big sort of potato shaped like English rustic farm boy and there's something about that that makes middle-class intelligentsia-type snicker, I think.

1:01:32Roger Bennett:And there is a sort of clumsy streak to him. I wonder whether you could make... Could you build a thesis? I can't do it on the fly, Rog, but I'll come back to you soon with a thesis about what our attitudes to Jordan Pickford and Harry Maguire say about England as a nation. There's definitely something there. By the way, it's definitely a huge element of classism in it. I just have an English teacher that used to balk out, Englishmen only have six kinds of faces. and most of them look like they've been scooped out of baked potato, which is just like an awful thing to say about those around this.

1:02:04But there is also an element to him, I think, that is almost like Peter Parker was bitten by a spider to get his superpowers. Harry Maguire's almost been bitten by Phil Jones, got some of that Phil Jones DNA, that model of a defender that tries so hard, that gives up so much, gives his utter everything. And it makes him almost, in the moments it doesn't work, but just objects of deep, deep, deep score.

1:02:28Roger Bennett:Yeah, I do wonder whether part of it with Maguire, look, the transfer fee to Manchester United has been an issue, as has Manchester United's comparative lack of success since that transfer fee was paid. He had that reputation of being overpriced, and I think people looked at that and used it as a stick to beat him with every time he made a mistake. But I also wonder to what extent he has been affected by being a player in a society built around memes. I think that is part of it, that he's quite a recognisable character. He is an archetype. And he does, because he is the kind of trier, he's the sort of defender like Phil Jones who is always trying and sometimes failing, but he tries in a very visible way.

1:03:11Roger Bennett:Whereas lots of defenders, like when, I don't know, like Wesley Fafana, when he tries, he does it with an elegance and a grace, whereas Harry Maguire doesn't, which makes him memeable. And I think that has been a problem for Harry Maguire. You think of Phil Jones, an incredible servant to the club, but genuinely I bet anyone that actually remembers watching him play, when you say the words Phil and Jones, you think of a man who tried so hard he flung himself on the floor and tried to face the ball. In the same way, when you think of Harry Maguire, a man who has given his all for England and Manchester United, you think about him doing that warm-up where he does that weird kind of scorpion kick stretch and then minutes later in the match does it desperately to try and clear the ball and succeeds only in kicking his own teammate in the back of the head.

1:03:58There you go. I've answered my own question. Just like Junior Kruppi, then answered by converting that penalty. Ninth goal of the season, by the way. 90-0 is the highest scoring team in the Premier League. If only, oh, he'd done Everton. Oh, he has. God bless. That is the man who is the leader for the peewee golden boot testament. Really, I watch him play. That consistent strategic recruitment that they do, which is, I think, peerless right now. Fandemar, the French second division playing for Lorient. But, well, that's how it ended. 2-2, breathless game of football between two teams who like to choose their moments to take risks and are quite unafraid.

1:04:35United end the week in third place. One point ahead of Villa. Carrick, 23 points now of a possible 27. Better, I have to say, than Arsenal and Manchester City during that stretch. The other fascinating wrinkle, you've talked about this, three times under Carrick United, haven't had their full seven-day prep cycle. Is it draw, loss, draw now? Almost a testament to, yes, Carrick's resurrection, but also the fact that they had no European play, no domestic cup play, and were able to just focus on league game, league game, league game. But Roar, other than Arsenal, if they win it, it's hard to imagine a fan base with the potential for feeling better about themselves on a bigger emotional high than Manchester United.

1:05:17Roger Bennett:yeah Carrick's restored them and there is a there is a totally legitimate question over to what extent it's a slightly false sample because they'll be in Europe next season they will have the same issues that everybody else does where everyone is exhausted all of the time they're not you're not able to train you can do like 20 minute recovery sessions that's it that is a legitimate question that they will have to take into consideration before they give Michael Carrick the job because they don't really have a choice otherwise now I think but but he has he's given them belief back. He's done what Arteta has done at Arsenal.

1:05:48Roger Bennett:It's taken Arteta slightly longer and Arteta is obviously much further down the road. But Carrick has done that. He's given them a purpose, an identity, and it's one that the fans recognise and can get on board with. And ultimately, I'm not sure what else a manager can do. Beautiful statistic for Bournemouth fans. They've been behind United five times and come back each time, which is, I think, the tenacity that is baked in to that team. 11 games undefeated now, but five draws in a row. I think they need two ties from their last seven games to equal the Premier League mark for the most in a 38-game season.

1:06:23Oh, most draws in a season. You'll never sing that. Both clubs have two weeks off because of the international break in the FA Cup. The next time Harry Maguire will play a game, Raw, will be May.

1:06:37to one big team that finally won Aston Villa 2 West Ham 0 finally a team that took advantage of their peers struggles Villa back to fourth place of the game ending is it three consecutive Premier League games that ended in defeat five points clear now of fifth place Liverpool which must feel so bloody good as the goals from that big buttock demigod John McGinn Ollie Watkins answering his omission for the England squad by scoring his ninth goal of the season with some instinctive slot clearing up. Also, I think the joy of Uri Tillemans coming back from injury for the first time since January, which is also a symbol of the fact that a bench which has been frayed during this recent dark, turbulent spell is getting restored and refurbished.

1:07:24I'll just say West Ham in this game did not look like the team that had taken 15 points from their last 27. They got a very tough run of games ahead. Spurs fans, you'll like this. They have to play Arsenal, Newcastle, Brentford. I think they have a last-day rumble against Leeds, but a massive week for Aston Villa. Big win in Europe. This return to forward momentum again, Roar. We'd written them off. We had written them off. Here's three points, clean sheet, bench filling out. Really a sense of, is it prevailing panic, which really took a grip over the past month, starting to retreat to recede.

1:07:59Roger Bennett:Yeah and they've been helped by the fact that Chelsea and Liverpool have been completely incompetent in trying to punish them for their drop in form There will be an element of hanging on about Villa now because they have the Europa League to think about as well Potential all-English semi-final in the Europa League which would be extremely compelling but also sapping for both Forest and Villa There was a point earlier this season where Villa's form was slightly illusory that they were Like if you looked at their XG they were massively outperforming it but equally I think that the slump in the last few weeks has been slightly illusory too they have deserved more than they have got they should from this point finish comfortably in the top four to be perfectly honest and that for Villa might feel a bit of an anticlimax given where they were in January 2nd potential you know challenges to Arsenal but it's a huge achievement to qualify for the Champions League for the second time in four years what six years after getting promoted that's amazing for Aston Villa and it shows that they are continuing to grow kind of organically and sustainably, which is what you want.

1:08:59In other games, Fulham 3, Burnley 1, come from behind win in the Scott Parker Memorial Derby. Former Fulham manager showed no mercy. Fulham really romped. There was a moment of real memorable beauty. Mexican striker Raul Jimenez was reduced to tears after scoring from his favourite, the penalty spot. It was the first goal since the passing of his father last week after converting in his stop-start-faint style. Jimenez just broke down in tears, dropped to his knees, pointed at the sky with both hands and just sobbed. His mourning continued after the final whistle, consoled by his teammates. By the way, Jimenez, incredibly, I think, scored all 14 of the 14 penalties he's ever taken, which is the record to maintain that 100 % conversion rate in Premier League history.

1:09:50But seeing him just utterly consoled by his teammate is reminder number 11 ,273. The football is a human and we wish Raul strength and love at this time. Leeds nil, Brentford nil. Late Saturday evening game. So devoid of remarkable action. I think Brentford are worn down at this point. Their squad so thin, they had almost no attacking intention. and God bless Leeds manager Daniel Farker left to explain, a relegation battle is a battle. It's not like an easy cruise to the promised land, all that matters. Ultimately, I think for Leeds is the point. Raw, six game without a win, though, four straight without scoring.

1:10:31Every single point just drags them a little bit further away from that moon door of relegation. Though Raw, Leeds may never score again.

1:10:40Roger Bennett:Yeah, I suppose what you've got to look at, and obviously I've got a lot of friends who are Leeds fans who are very emotionally invested in Leeds' survival, they end the weekend a point further away from West Ham that's what matters but the sense with Leeds is they need to get a couple of wins Leeds should have actually quite a pleasant end to the season if they can win a couple of games in April that will put enough distance between them and 18th place for them not to need to worry they've kind of the gears have got gummed up at exactly the wrong time and that is making things very very nice nervous not to score for four games at this stage in the season is a bit of a problem, I think.

1:11:22Let's close by going north of the wall. Newcastle United 1, Sunderland 2. A game played with, I mean, it is one of English football's most passionately lived derbies. I mean, it is a battle. These two clubs, we've talked about how both of them are almost civic institutions in that north-east corner of the country. Towns built on hard industries. coal, shipbuilding, industries that have left. But what's been left behind is that sense of pride that football matters. There's also been scars, promotion, relegation, years without trophies. Seeing the other ones soar when you were down. I think nothing means more than this clash locally, Raw.

1:12:05You saw that. There were skirmishes across the city amongst rival fans ahead of this one. Sunderland had won the earlier meeting, Nick Valtemar, that own goal, which began almost his turn of a season. We unpack this a lot, this rivalry back in December. But, Roar, I do love it. Just give us a blast on the quite singular place this game occupies in the English footballing mentality.

1:12:29Roger Bennett:Yeah, it probably is the most fiercely contested derby in English football. There's a couple slightly lower down the leads that might be contenders that are surprisingly toxic. But this one, because the North East, I mean, it sounds silly by American standards, Rogers it's also close together but it does feel a little bit like a country apart it's it's a long way from anywhere up to Sunderland and Newcastle and that but they are very close together it's it's a regional rivalry but it's also an extremely local rivalry um and it's incredibly fiercely felt the fact that it's relatively rare for them to play each other probably feeds into it as well they don't they don't face each other all that often or they haven't in the last few years which means that when they do it takes on this really kind of seismic feel because you know historically or sort of in modern history you might not see each other for another five years and that's a lot of bragging rights to be playing for so it it has become most derbies I think in England have become a little bit more anodyne in the last 10 years say Arsenal Tottenham maybe a little bit less so that still seems sort of suitably petty but you know Manchester United and Manchester City play each other all of the time.

1:13:38Roger Bennett:It's constant. Even Liverpool and Everton, which is an angry derby now, it's not the family derby that it used to be, isn't quite as hostile as it was maybe 10 or 15 years ago. Newcastle and Sunderland has got worse, I would say. I think it is more hostile than it's been for a long, long time. And that is that combination of how much it means to each of them. The fact that neither of them are really playing for trophies, I think is probably a factor as well. But also the rarity, the fact they don't see each other that often, kind of all combines to make it this particularly virulent occasion. And you saw it in the pageantry before the game.

1:14:12The noise inside St. James' Park was just clad in black and white. It felt almost like a march into battle. I honestly was watching. I wanted to leap on the train and just get up north, rip my shirt off on the way, just smashing the lagers with the lads. Eddie Howe's midfield missed Tonali out with a groin injury. Already had no Bruno Guimaraes, no Lewis Miley. But he did play an attacking line-up, rewarding just the 10th minute. Sunderland keeper, Malka Elborg, played an ultra-short goal kick to Luke 09. Did eight for him. He's a character. I mean, he really is the essence of the club. Joined them in, was it 2018, when they were in League One?

1:14:50And he's become the captain. And it was his ill-advised ball right up the middle. At Valtemar, they stepped up, intercepted, steered it to Anthony Gordon, slotted it home, 4-0-1 they'll lead. But Newcastle's story of the season is letting 22 points slip from winning positions. It's almost no surprise. 57 minutes when the visitors answered. Corner slop, 20-year-old Moroccan international Chesdine Chalbi finished out. And the noise from both sets of fans went to crescendo levels. 90th minute, just utter cinema. The Sunderland midfield maestro Enzo Le Fay drifted to the end line. It looked like he'd almost hit a dead end, but he stayed calm.

1:15:27and a moment that will be part of the tapestry of these derbies. That ball that he played to find Brian Brodby in the centre. He finished at the last. Shirt off, explosion of noise. I mean, what a sense of feeling. I mean, you saw the virulence of the game that was captured in the darkest of ways, Raw. The ugly reports of Black Cats' Luke Shirell, Gertraude had been the subject of racist abuse from the home fans, which is going to be investigated by the Premier League. but for it to end in such a cacophonous moment, just such a delirious day for Sunderland fans. And we're going to say a season of wondrous moments.

1:16:03They've now done the double over Newcastle, leapfrogged them over the table, 43 points for a newly promoted side roar. It's just an immense leadership achievement by Regis Labris.

1:16:13Roger Bennett:It's been an incredible season and it had looked like it was just starting to dwindle slightly. Their form in the last, probably in 2026, their form's not been great. And I think my friends who are Sunderland fans had started to become a little bit more circumspect on how good this team was and how good the season had been. And their view basically was, we kind of outperformed our XG, we kind of overdid it a little bit the first few months of the season, and since then we are tracking like a promoted team. But the last couple of weeks they've just found it again. They've found another little bit of momentum.

1:16:45Roger Bennett:Look, staying up for Sunderland was the main thing. That was absolutely the main thing. Staying up with ease would have been a dream. Staying up with ease and beating Newcastle twice, That's as good as you can possibly have asked for. And as much as the wind delights, I think the Geordie agony, probably. You know, the pain of your enemy is always even more delightful. That wound for the midweek humbling by Barcelona in the Champions League, still tender, to then go and lose for the second time this season to Sunderland. It's almost unfathomable, Raw. You know, you see Newcastle, there are so many quality players there.

1:17:21Even though Eddie Howe tries to play it down, they have spent a fair amount of money too on the likes of Volta Marda, Alanga, Visa. Not all of whom are bedded in in an impressive fashion. There is such a singular fan base there. The expectations are more than just the 12th position that they're in. They're out of all the cup compositions. It feels like a club, not exactly going in reverse, but it does. I mean, if you're being kind, it feels like it's stuck in neutral role. and I'd say to lose twice to Sunderland is something that's almost the deepest humiliation. Do you see Eddie Howe being given the chance to rebuild or do you think the ownership will say this is a moment to start afresh?

1:18:00But to me the bigger question over the ownership itself

1:18:03Roger Bennett:rather than Eddie Howe I don't have much sympathy with either Newcastle or Villa, Rog when they complain about how Eddie Howe did it after this game how they've been held back by the rules. They've all spent loads of money. They've all spent so much money on players. All right, they could have spent more, but do we really want a sport to be defined by how rich your owner is? I'm not sure we do. They've all spent plenty. The problem that Newcastle have had in the last year or two is there doesn't seem to have been any real direction from the ownership. So when PIF, the Saudi investment fund, it absolutely is not the Saudi government, Raj.

1:18:36Roger Bennett:Let's make that clear. Two different things. Two very... Same guys, different jobs. Different initials. They promised a training ground. there's no new training ground they promised a new stadium there's no actual progress on the new stadium the club has not manifestly changed beyond them putting a few hundred million pounds into players relatively early on that's not on Eddie Howe and yeah the fact they lost yesterday is partly the passion of the derby and partly the field would factor around Sunderland and this season but it's also because as a team they're totally reliant on Sandro Tonali and Bruno Gemara you could have reinforced that midfield I personally think that everybody connected to the Alexander-Izac transfer in the summer came out of it badly and it seems to have cursed all three participants in it but Newcastle didn't have to play it like that, they didn't have to wait until the last minute to sell him, they could have done a deal early for a similar amount of money and spent that money, they chose not to and that has backfired for them so I think the issues at Newcastle are structural and I'd actually frame it the other way, I wonder whether this summer Eddie Howe might decide I've probably taken this as far as I can everyone maybe needs a break let's go and do something different there might be a job at Tottenham oh that's like welcome to Zlatan level reframing raw I'd love oh god Eddie Howe at Tottenham would be back to the championship for Eddie Howe Tottenham depending on who gets relegated yeah fair point for Everton fan by the way I'm just saying quick note before we take your letter of the week I want to raise my third first Michelob Ultra of the day to, well, this can very, very fetch of Michelob Ultra in the colours of the new US jersey, which I love.

1:20:20The green shoots of the World Cup cropping up through the March madness noise. A reminder that we're just over two and a half months away and that the final round of World Cup qualifiers take place around the world this week, including in UEFA. We've got previews dropping on Wednesday and Thursday. Clearly a quite delightful interview with Republic of Ireland, Icelandic dentist manager, our old friend Hamill Hal Grimmsson coming back. I cannot wait to break it all down with your roar. Big love and courage. Let's wrap this up. Oh, baby, baby. With a letter, we've had a mailbag bulging with suggestions as to how we should name our new dog logo.

1:20:59Keep sending in your suggestions to meninblazers at gmail.com. This baby is from Caleb Schrockhurst. Ro, do the honors.

1:21:07Roger Bennett:Greetings, Roger and Rory. In a time of global darkness, I'm happy to share some good news. This time last year, I wrote to share my cancer diagnosis, and I'm glad to update everyone that I'm now cancer-free. Chemo is indeed as bad as playing under Jose Mourinho or Sean Dyche. I feel like it's probably worse, but I'm grateful for the many doctors and nurses and my family and friends, especially my wife, Stephanie, who has been by my side with unbelievable grace through the fit and the thin of the last year. I'll spare you most details of the cancer except that yes, my hair did fall out while it was an honour to temporarily ride with Team Bald my hair has come back in now curly rather than straight which still surprises me every time I look in the mirror in the great beyond, Rog I'm sure you'll have the luscious updo that you deserve that is quite a thought anyhow, I have a suggestion for the new logo dog's name I remember frequently your interview with your father where he said the world is made up of winners and non-winners and while I do think non-winner would be an amazing name for a dog, seconded.

1:22:05Roger Bennett:I think your dad was getting after something Jurgen Klopp put just slightly more diplomatically, that the world is not primarily made up of winners, but of triers. I do wonder if this might be the right name for this dog, trier. It can remind us of the core goal of the MIB community, trying, together, to be the best people we can be, both in and out of football. Per your encouragement, we try not to take watching football together for granted, relishing the good moments. We try not to dwell on the schadenfreude of our rivals' failures, Rog does not do that. I just want to make that very clear.

1:22:35Roger Bennett:Even if they are objectively hilarious. Tottenham. And we try to make the world a better place in whatever ways we can, both large and small. As Klopp put it in the relevant quote, the world is not full of winners. The world is full of triers, hopefully. And I try, and sometimes I win, with other people, together. I'm happy with that. We cannot do more, and I can enjoy that. With gratitude, here's to trying. Caleb Schrockhurst. signed off as an Arsenal fan, as if we didn't know. Ro, that is a very beautiful letter on so many different levels. I think non-winner is a lot of name for a dog, says a man who called his actual dog Martin Scorsese, which is also a lot of name for a dog.

1:23:17What is your position? I've thought about this a lot, because watching Everton this weekend, I found it very moving. The joy it brought to my kids. I also miss my dad. He would have loved Kiernan and Juice B. Hall. He would have loved watching this team, mostly because they tried so bloody hard for each other, which he really, really adored. But as a person who's watched their team win so much, what is your position on trying, Rory? Is it enough for the Rory Smith side of the operation?

1:23:44Roger Bennett:Oh, trying is all you can do. Yeah, absolutely. I'm fully on board with trying. It was a beautiful and really kind of heartening email. It was really, really lovely to read. I don't know if I'm getting behind the name Trier itself on the grounds that we are a club neutral. podcast, Rog, aren't we? We don't support anybody. We're hands across the Mersey. Objective. No partisanship here. And I don't want people thinking that Men in Blazers institutionally supports SV Eintracht Trier, probably pronounced Trier, who play in the regional leader Sudvest of Germany's squat football pyramid. They will have rivals.

1:24:22Roger Bennett:We don't want to upset those rivals, do we? We don't want to pretend that... We don't want people thinking that we're... Bias. Bias towards SV Trier. Finger on the scale. Exactly. So I think that might rule it out. But I do like the theory. I feel as though Caleb is very much onto something. All you can do is try, really, isn't it? That's a horrible cliche, but it is absolutely true. There's something about calling your dog Wynn, as Arsenal have, that I think is a little bit kind of on the nose. So I'd be on board with workshopping around the concept of trying for the name. I 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.

1:25:03Discover what's possible in sports and in life. What would you like the power to do? Dear listeners, keep sending in your suggestions. We will give a beautiful, beautiful prize. We'll give the very first patch of the once named dog. So keep sending in suggestions to us at meninblazers.gmail.com. And honestly, your letters fill us up in these dark times. I try and reply to each and every one. They do fill us with joy. That is it for this week, Roar. Where are you off to this week, baby? I am going to Rome, Rog. But I'm talking to you first. Tell us what you're doing, Roar,

1:25:37Roger Bennett:rather than taste the menu, pizza menus. Well, obviously, we're talking on Tuesday, Rog, ahead of the UEFA qualifiers. I am not going to the UEFA qualifiers. I'm going to watch a selection of Italy's finest players from the 1990s playing a five-a-side tournament against each other. Is one of them Marco Matarazzi? I think he might be, yeah. There's some great names. Led by Francesco Totti, but there's some great names featuring. God, I met Marco once. That man is, I think it was self, I can't confirm what I'm doing. I think it was self-tattooed. He's got an enormous, just below his sock line, so no one could ever see it on the field, an enormous penis tattooed.

1:26:14I think down his right leg, could it have been? I can't remember which leg, but it was genuinely a fascinating, I'd say a fascinating choice. So I hope you get to witness marvels like that

1:26:24Roger Bennett:whether you're over there. What's the message there? What's he trying to say? Again, listeners, meninflations at gmail.com. Send us in your explanations. What does Marco matter? He's penis-to-to-me. Let us know. Maybe we'll name the dog your answer to that too. It's a joy to be with you. We're all off to Atlanta. to come and have a beer with us again at the Eastern on Friday night. This is Rog saying big love. Let's not take a second of watching football together for granted and courage.