Maresca out at Chelsea, Amorim gone at Manchester United, and Arsenal look unbeatable: Men in Blazers 01/06/26

27:00I think that is a legitimate thing for them to say. And two, presumably they explain that to Maresca and to Pochettino and to Potter. And I think Graham Potter was sacked for reasons that are reasonably obvious. I don't think there was any great mystery as to why Graham Potter was sacked as Chelsea manager. But it's nevertheless sad, but no one was arguing about it. But Pochettino and Maresca both came in knowing the model did they think that if they succeeded the model would change did Chelsea not make it clear enough that the model was not shifting was there a breakdown of communication if so kind of who bore responsibility for that I think that's a really important question I love the idea of professional football managers doing their negotiation and when the team are describing what their role is they're just hearing blah blah blah blah blah they're not actually listening to But yeah, they're just like, yeah, yeah, got it.

27:56Yeah, yeah, fine, yeah. Yeah, yeah, cool, details. I wonder with Pochettino, and I don't want to take, you know, I don't want to speak ill of Mauricio Pochettino, who's someone I like a great deal. I wonder whether someone like Pochettino, who's a little bit older than Moresta, you know, 10 years older than Moresta, a slightly different generation of manager, I wonder whether he might have gone in and thought, that's what you're saying. You're saying that it's all about the front office, but I know that if I do well, I'm better at this than all of you. I've got far more experience. I've got a track record.

28:23I will be able to carve out and do this a space to do this my way I can believe that Pochettino might have thought that and learnt to his cost that that wasn't going to happen Marest is younger he should have been able to understand that Chelsea meant what they said and when we come on to Manchester United Rog communication is also a problem there One detail I don't want to be lost in all of this because it's fairly incredible in the rise of Liam Rossegna is he's just the 10th permanent black manager ever to be appointed in the history of the Premier League The only other one currently, West Ham's Nuno Espirito Santo, only active one, dot, dot, dot, for now.

29:01Chelsea return to action tomorrow at Fulham. First of eight more games across four competitions during a quite packed January. Welcome to the Premier League, Liam. We do need to mention the Manchester City game for the weekend. Manchester City won, Chelsea won, only because the Chelsea interim manager for that game was Callum McFarlane, An under-21 coach. Having to go, as I said in the introduction, first senior game head-to-head. Only against 1 ,011 games managed, genius, perpetual trophy winner that is Pep Guardiola. Game was a slow burn. Chelsea sat deep. City eager to pass the ball around.

29:35Did so with good intention rather than true menace. Felt like a friendly, really, in terms of the intensity. City seemed to have won it on the streak of half-time. Reinders pouncing on a Cherokee through ball. Manipulated the ball quite beautifully. They lashed, bash, smashed it home past Jorgensen near post. Oasis won, Noah Kahn nil. Second half, Chelsea swapped Andre Santos in for Estevão. Match old enough to remember when Estevão was better than Laminia Malfa for at least one entire week. Went three at the back. And even though the game felt like it was petering out, slow, atmospherless stuff.

30:11Opposite of what I imagine the schedulers thought they'd done when they booked this game originally. Match drifting to the brink of the storehouse of history. But then, 94th minute, complacent City punished, ball into the Kenny Loggins danger zone. Enzo hacks, scuff, whiff the ball, I think twice before finding it somehow still at his feet and on the goal line with it beckoning. It was astonishing to see him equalise. It was undeserved, but it was just so, so comedic. Football, football is amazing, Roar. And by amazing, I guess I mean here quite hilarious. Yeah, the graphic that flashed up at the start or the end of the game of Guardiola's record compared to McFarlane's was...

30:51It felt slightly unnecessary, if I'm honest. It felt a little bit of a dig at Pep Guardiola. But it is a remarkable kind of achievement for McFarlane, who will be in charge for Chelsea. They measured his trophies, his games, his everything won against the one game. Zero trophies of McFarlane. But beautiful, man. Beautifully done. And he'll get another shot. we think Rossellini is not going to take charge of Chelsea's game at Fulham on Wednesday. So he gets to maintain his unbeaten record. Godspeed. I will say, for a moment when Enzo reeled away, Chelsea, happiness fleetingly. A really lovely moment at the final whistle where Callum McFarlane, who I don't know but seems quite an unassuming guy, was led over to the away fans by Rhys James.

31:33Really lovely human moment. Kind of revealed the still-beating human heartbeat at that club. but I do want to finish and button this by looking at Manchester City for a second. Pep's reaction to the Chelsea equaliser, quite incredible. He just turned around and barked at the moon. His team should have been well away. Instead, second drawer on the trot. City four points back. This Pep we're seeing, very different Pep, very meta in press conferences, often kind of in the zero craps left to give kind of mood. He's cutting, he's funny, he's face-pulley. he bats down questions if this is his last year the football on the field it felt at the beginning of Christmas as if City were the hunters Rodri back with his tantric sex passing Erling Haaland becoming Manchester City second all-time scorer which is incredible just three years at the club the bad news Josco Gavardy also undergo surgery after a tibial fracture but then they met the organised vibes of Sunderland draw the madness of Chelsea they promised to be very active in the transfer window Semenyo coming to warm the bench and disappoint before disappearing to Fulham or someplace.

32:42Rumours of Gahey bids to be launched. But Raw, City were meant to be inevitable. Instead, we've got this tight squad that Pep likes to manage. They always seem, you know, compared to Arteta's debt pool, they seem shattered. They seem fatigued. I think City have started just 15 players since November. We see City peak at this time. They seem to be stalling out a little bit. Is there anything about them in this holiday period that makes you think, wow, City are coming? It feels very much like the festive period has determined that this is now an Arsenal season to lose. City will put points on the board, they will put wins together, they will keep Arsenal honest, but if Arsenal don't blink, then they win the lead.

33:27It's over the course of, quite often it's over the course of these kind of two weeks that the lead kind of shakes out to how the rest of the season will take and going into Christmas you looked at it and thought Arsenal had a run of three or four quite difficult games games they dropped points in last season and you looked at it and thought this is the point where we find out if Arsenal are real or not City will keep breathing down their necks and if they can cope with the pressure then maybe they can stay the course in the event it's it's City who've buckled essentially Arsenal have have done what they had to do and City is unlikely as it sounds haven't really been able to keep up with the pace.

34:03I expect City to make a bid of£100 million for Harrison Reid imminently. Three, two, one, no doubt. From one side of Manchester to another, Manchester United continuing to rattle between Gloria's back and free fall. Those are the two modes, nothing in between. Backness and crisis. They have the injury list, they have the AFCON absences, They lost to 10 men Everton, which feels like it was years ago. They drew a weakling West Ham. They then beat Newcastle. Ruben Amorim fleetingly tweaking his sacrosanct 3-4-3 system, but then reverted, going to a limp draw with Wolves into this Leeds game, which ended 1-1.

34:45We'll talk about that in one second briefly. But it left United in sixth place. You could say he's still ready to challenge for a Champions League place as we enter the back half of the season where they want to be. But Ruben Amarim walked into his press conference and in the moment it felt pure Mareska-esque. It was measured. What he said was calculated, almost like a Mo Salah visit to the mix zone. The words were astonishing, but the way he delivered them, it was very premeditated. I came here to be the manager of Manchester United, not to be the head coach. I know my name is not Conte Tuchel Mourinho, but I'm the manager of Manchester United.

35:24It's going to be like this for 18 months until the board decide to change. I'm not going to quit. I'll do my job until another guy's coming here to replace me. I mean, we immediately heard there was friction between him, old bearded Rubes and Jason Wilcox, United's director of football. And then Monday morning, it was announced Amarim had been let go. Paid in full, by the way. What was it, Roar? Was it like he'd just watched Maresca and been like, that's the playbook that I'm going to follow. I'm going to burn it down critically, aggressively, publicly, pass the point of no return and see if I can strengthen my hand or just be let free.

36:03I think there are similarities. It's odd that they happened within, what, five days of each other because they do feel the circumstances are different, I guess. They've been talking. They've been talking. But it does feel a bit like they're kind of the same story. They're both... This has not been the nadir of Ruben Amarim's time at Manchester United. Like, Ruben Amarim could have been sacked at any minute over the last year, and no one would have been surprised. Like, he has felt as though he is on or close to the brink, basically since January last year. But if you're going to sack him for football reasons, because you feel as though he has sort of plumbed the depth in a way that he can't recover from, you surely fire him after you lose to Grimsby.

36:43You know, you fire him when they're in free fall, when they haven't won at home. You don't fire him when they've lost twice since September. I mean, their performance has not been great. I was at the Newcastle game, Rog, and I don't think I've ever seen, seen a lot of Manchester United in the last 17 years, but I don't think I've ever seen a United game played exclusively in their half. And Newcastle had no cutting edge whatsoever. They barely created any chances entirely because of their own shortcomings. But Manchester United just couldn't get out. They were totally penned back by a team that were in mid-table.

37:17So performances haven't been great. But results have been okay. a point at Ellen Road for Manchester United, this Manchester United, isn't too bad. Ellen Road, that's a difficult game for Manchester United. So it wasn't that they'd suddenly had this sort of massive slump in results. Like Mareska, Amorim has lost an internal power struggle. And he's lost it with a man who, as with Mareska, isn't really accountable, doesn't really have a proven track record. and it seems to have come to a head again, suddenly, but unsurprisingly. Yeah, I mean, the echoes of both stories are remarkable. In this one, the ownership group, in EOS, I think they're the true losers here.

38:01This is a massive black eye for them. So Jim Ratcliffe, for some reason, it seemed astonishing at the time. It seems more astonishing with retrospect, giving Amarim the three more year mandate when he'd been knocked out of the Carabao Cup by the Fish of Grimsby, within breathing distance of it. At the same time, you know, Amarim, a very calculated man. He kind of felt like he knew what he was doing. And it is hard to be hired as head coach. He too signed on for that more limited role where he's charged almost just with the training and the tactics and publicly demand to be manager with a fuller control of football operations.

38:36You know, more of a hand on transfers. When he got his record, which is astonishing, he didn't win the Club World Cup. He didn't win a European trophy, lost to Tottenham Hotspur, 14 months, 63 games with an average of 1.43 points per game. Lowest points per game of all permanent managers in the post Sir Alex Ferguson period. Lowest wins percentage, 38%. These are terrible, terrible stats. The only manager to lose more games than he did in this spell was Ange Postacoglu. That's not the company that gives you leverage, which made this astonishing. He was essentially asking for leverage when he had none, especially after he'd come 15th last season.

39:12Refused to bring in Academy talent, which is a big Manchester United no-no. Almost done, I think, like, is it 10 interviews for every single win? There is that same subplot conversation here as there was for Maresca about how the front office are silent, just briefing the press. The manager's left out to dry. But what now for United, Ruff? Can you get an adequate replacement in? Mid-season, there's rumblings. They're going to bring Ole Gunnar Solskjaer back to pad out the season. Manchester United's visit to Burnley on Wednesday They'll be led by former club legend. They love a club legend, that club.

39:46Turned current under-18s coach Darren Fletcher, who's also the dad of two twins on the cusp of the first-team squad, which you, as Britain's leading under-8 coach, can probably relate to, Roar. They're said to be possibly looking at a permanent hire for next season, almost writing this off. Crystal Palace's Oliver Glasner described as the top target, also a back three kind of guy, but less of a zealot tactically. and Doni Iroola, often linked, but currently floundering at Bournemouth. Now probably the worst time for him. Who will take this job, Roar? A chance to run Watamurim himself. These are his own words.

40:21The worst team may be in the history of Manchester United. When the club have had 10 managers in the 13 years since Sir Alex, here's what's crazy. They've tried everything. Manchester United, legends, foreign geniuses, young foreign geniuses, club legends. I don't know what you do when you've tried everything. other than like bringing Emma Hayes or something completely radical, Rob. Well, they've done what lots of teams have to do at the level that I coach at, Rog, and they've got one of the dads to do it. That is the way United have run out of... There's so few people want to manage Manchester United they've had to get one of the players' parents in.

40:58Copy Maynou's dad's probably like, wow, I was available. I'm around. Why don't you give it to me? Benjamin Sheshko's dad. Someone like that. Maybe they should take it in turns. One of them for home games, a couple of them for away games, make sure the players get there safe and sound. Manchester United is always an appealing job, Rog. But I think if you look at the reality of what a manager is walking into, it's a really challenging one. And the two names that are kind of being bandied around for a permanent position are Oliver Glasner, likes of three at the back, and Thomas Tuchel, although he's got a World Cup to deal with, which means that he might not be available.

41:31If the worst happens, Rog, he might not be available until July 20th. And by that stage, Manchester United will be back for pre-season. they will already be training. They might even have one or two kind of friendlies arranged at that stage. So that's not ideal. My instinct is Darren Fletcher, who's taking charge against Burnley, and I think for the FA Cup game in Ace Brighton at the weekend, is a really smart, really bright guy. He's been around Manchester United not just as a player, but since he came back as a coach and a technical director. He's been inside the club for five years. He knows a lot of the players.

42:05He's well-respected. he's got a very quiet authority my instinct is that if he doesn't lose to Burnley if he doesn't get beaten heavily by Brighton he will probably end up being in charge for the rest of the season as long as it doesn't go completely off the rails I don't think bringing in Solskjaer, Ralf Rangnick another kind of formal interim is a very good idea the problem is that United have this constant desire to go back 13 years in time and just anyone with any kind of affiliation with Alex Ferguson reminds everybody of the good times. How strong do United have to be not to give Darren Fletcher the job full-time in the summer if he does okay and just start the cycle again?

42:52Because that's the problem. They are trapped in this cycle and until they know what they want, until they know where they want to be and have a clear roadmap of how to get there, they won't be able to escape. and you mentioned the kind of front office element. I think the problem at Manchester United and maybe at Chelsea too is those roles themselves aren't set in stone. Jason Wilcox, who I think is technical director or director of football, he has to justify his position because it's possible that they might replace him or they might even change the role. United have done that before. So he's got to kind of protect his little part of the power base.

43:28That naturally kind of occasionally brings him into conflict with the manager. Someone like Thomas Tuchel doesn't really want that. Oliver Glasner might not want that. They need to know what the parameters are, what the boundaries are, what is their remit. And at United, it's really messy. And when things get messy at United, what they do is they turn back to the past and it all starts again. And it's not hard to see that happening yet again with Darren Fletcher. But anyway, one note, talking about United in the past, Man United is a footballing power still, mostly because the vast majority of pundits who drive the narrative conversation and the Premier League ecosystem are former United greats Gary Neville, Rio Ferdinand, Roy Keane, more and more and more.

44:10And they talk about United as if it's a God-given right that they will inevitably return to greatness. One more transfer window, two more good players, one more great manager. Life doesn't work that way. Me saying Sears will be a great company again or the blockbuster will rise from the dust. It doesn't make it so. United were massive in an era where they built a unique competitive advantage commercially. That was then largely erased by state ownership of football clubs, oligarchs, equity investors pouring in. And the only way United can compete financially is by signing commercial football players first and foremost, your Pogba's bringing Ronaldo back for the Instagram clicks.

44:51That's what they need for their model. And that makes it very difficult to build a competitive football team. Alex Ferguson himself over the holidays, this was a remarkable moment, said it'll take 10 more years till United win the title again. The very way United identified Amorim, flung him in, forced him to come mid-season, then let him linger and flail and be out-thought and out-thought constantly, keeping in place, it's almost a reflection roar. The operating culture there is still miles off the pace and that is not going to change just with a managerial appointment. No, the issue is structural at Manchester United And I think the parallel that's really interesting is Arsenal.

45:29Because when Mikel Arteta was appointed, Arsenal had kind of got into that same mindset. Wenger had gone, stayed on far too long. No one at the club had had any real kind of, had the gumption really to say to him, Arsene, it is time for you to go. By the way, just turning corners constantly to just circling around, always back, not back, back, not back. Deadwood contracts all over the place. And then you get Unai Emery in. And as soon as we can see now from Aston Villa that Unai Emery is a really good manager, but at the first sign of trouble, Arsenal think, no, this isn't working, the fans don't like him, let's go.

46:03And they bring in Arteta, and that first year under Arteta was up and down. Years! First, maybe two years, maybe even a little bit longer. And Arsenal had the nerve to stick with it. And it's absolutely not the case that if you just stick with any manager, that it will work. That is not true, it doesn't work like that. But it is very definitely the case that if you don't stick with any manager, this is what happens. You will never get anywhere if you don't have some sense of permanence. And I think the problem at United is nothing feels permanent except for decline. I know football is ultimately, we've always said, a reflection of our world.

46:40And our world is getting madder and madder. It does feel like football is getting madder and madder. I was speaking to a Spurs fan friend of mine the other day about how insane. He's like Spurs are the craziest team. Now Chelsea, Manchester United, like hold my beer. I've got to say the turmoil within football, the turmoil within our world. They are one and the same. And it is, I mean, it's a pulsating madness right now. We do need to talk quickly about madness. Leeds United won, Manchester United won. A game I love. Few clashes resound with more passion, history, hate. Pride of Yorkshire welcoming the Red Rose of Lancashire.

47:13An echo of the War of the Roses, which I believe are like 15th century. can you imagine, nothing gets Benjamin Sesko more motivated than 15th century battles, right? He's very much, you know, an anti-Yorkist. He always has been. Grown up in Slovenia, he was furious about it. I mean, he understands the tectonic plates of the Industrial Revolution that are also way through this game and then of, you know, the 1950s football history. He's furious about the canal. Yeah, I mean, still, don't get Sesko started about the bloody canal, right? But also the Busby Babes, you know, the battle with the mighty Leeds sides peaking in the 60s and 70s.

47:50This is a true spike game. And God bless Leeds. Daniel Farker's side. I'm beating in six going into this one. Didn't lose in December. Dominic Calvert-Lewin. Beautiful Dom. Born again in the process. Not just him, but the Robin to his Batman. I want to talk about Brendan Aronson very quickly. Opened the scoring just after the hour. Picking heaven's pockets into the keeper the wrong way and going the other. I spoke to Brendan at the end of last year. You can find this conversation linked below. He's just a really beautiful human being. Admits he feels things. He cares too much about what other people think about him.

48:22Watching his perseverance, his growth, the mental side of the game, watching him thrive now. This kid who had been run out of town by, let's say, Leeds fans, who I admire greatly. They are probably the toughest love kind of culture in the Premier League, probably the hardest fans in football, to win back, to watch Brendan stay and fight. and I'd say, I don't want to get too carried away, would you say he has a begrudging respect from the fan base at this point? It's pretty humanly remarkable. Yeah, I think it's not absolute adoration or it hasn't been. I think there is a respect for what he can do but an awareness of what maybe they feel he can't.

49:00He suffers a little bit for something that feels quite unfair which is just that people want him to be something that he's not and that's a really harsh reason to criticise somebody. what I would say and know enough about Yorkshire to say this with some certainty Rog he's started all for Leeds United against Manchester United that'll make him quite popular God bless you you footballing Chalamet body double Leeds dream big dreams for 2 minutes 55 seconds on came Xerxi instant impact set up Cunha for I think his 4th United goal Leeds held on for a draw on a weekend when all the cellar dwellers lost 8 points clear at a relegation zone the fact that Daniel Fark is still there to do this kind of confounds football consensus.

49:42His Leeds, now on the longest unbeaten top flight run since November 2001. And I am thrilled for you, Leeds United fans. From teams in crisis to the one team who were perfect over Christmas, bringing joy to the Hathaway home and millions around the world. Bournemouth 2, Arsenal 3. Yagunas have been top of the table at Christmas, forcing, of course, because we don't like nice things. Mikel Arteta then had to defend that the last five times the Gunners have been top at Christmas, they ended up not winning. God bless us, during a lump of coal out of something which is quite joyous, three points clear, facing the cherries in free fall.

50:21Arsenal just smashed, obliterated, absolutely stomped on dread rival Aston Villa 4-1, a thumping which we were told was a statement of intent. No way Arsenal are going to crack anymore to the pressure of the title chase. Yes, they gutted their way through lulls of own goals as they once had two corners. But on 10 minutes, I think it could only have been the pressure that cracked Gabriel passing the ball right to Evan Nielsen. A gift for the Brazilian to roll home. Tragedy in the air, but just for six minutes. Because then the Premier League writers scripted redemption for Gabriel. Madweke whipped off several Bournemouth players under pants as he crossed in.

51:00A number of Arsenal players whiffed to leave Gabriel to smash home with his meaty left foot of redemption. and Piers Morgan now losing his mind on Twitter about how Arsenal go through periods where, quote, we pass it sideways like crabs. It drives me nuts. So, of course, Arsenal go and score within minutes, and the goal scorer, Raw, this was tell me this Premier League scriptwriters without telling me this Premier League scriptwriters, Erdegaard with a stunningly weighted pass to tee up Declan Rice. His knee injury, I think, had terrified Gunners, who'd seen Declan tell Morgan Rodgers post the Villa game that his knee was, quote, effing massive.

51:37Cue fears. He'd be out forever, only for him to return immediately and just deliver. I love this man. And we all do. He creates, he hurts, he never stops. Arteta said to me, interesting post-game, he said, Declan Rice is constantly adding things to his game, constantly adding things to his role in the team. Declan Rice is proof that an elite player can continue to evolve and add new levels of eliteness. Yeah, I don't want to get into kind of working out who the most important player at Arsenal is is a really difficult conversation to have but that is absolutely right. If you think of the player that Declan Rice was when he arrived at Arsenal from West Ham he was a really, really high class holding midfielder.

52:18That's kind of what people thought Declan Rice was. That's why they assumed he'd been signed. He was a kind of defensive midfielder not a hard man necessarily but a linchpin that would allow other players to attack. But he's a vital element of the way that Arsenal hurt teams now. He is a kind of all-purpose midfield dynamo. He plays each of those roles in midfield during the course of every single game. And his level of performance, his consistency, is extraordinary. And I think the best gauge of that, Rog, is that no one mentions how much he costs anymore. Yeah, that is the ultimate bloody tribute.

52:54By the way, not just Royce in this game, Odegaard, over the holidays, came on our show earlier this season, spoke about his ever-growing hunger to improve himself. That interview, again, linked in the notes below. But he has absolutely stepped up and reverted to his QB1 kind of role that he plays on this team over the holidays. Arsenal's strength in depth, shown by the ability to bring on Saka, Gabriel Jesus, Trossard just passed the hour. Saka delivered the coup de grace, free by another casual Erdogan slip pass. Arsenal at their best, which they found towards the end of the holidays, are like living embodiment of that old Johan Cruyff classic.

53:33Playing football is very simple, but playing simple football is the hardest thing there is. They play that football beautifully. Junior Kruppi made it interesting late. Child warrior lashed home for 25 yards, passed a wrong-footed rag. Got nervy, very nervy, but that was it. Bournemouth, no win in 11. Story that brings me pain, awkwardly hovering in the wrong part of the table. But raw, Arsenal, apart from that, The one agonizing piece of flapping skin, Victor Jokeres, supposed to be their early Haaland, but it's been, let's just say, impotent enough for Arsenal diehards to spend far too much time marvelling at his decoy runs.

54:10Everything else is great. Erdogan, reborn. The defensive bedrock of Gabriel and William Saliba, immense. Jesus' back scoring and t-shirting. Bible Brothers going to do it. David Raya, superheroics on the routine. Eberichie Eze, a luxury. that you just bring on just to do the Spurs. Five straight Premier League wins, perfect holiday season, four games, 12 points, top of the Champions League table, winnable games to come. Christmas began, I think, with an anxiety around the place, crackling the need for four own goals will do that to you. But it feels dissipating or dissipated almost raw because of the Arsenal play, because of the returns from injury, because of the challenges falling away.

54:52Can we just say that? Nerves and fear be gone now or is that going to be a continuous narrative until the title is lifted? Well, to be honest, I think I've got a bit of personal experience with this one, Rog, because I remember around this time last year, it looked an awful lot to everybody else as though Liverpool were going to sail away to the title. And it felt to me like it was very much in the balance. And I think that is how Arsenal fans will feel now. That, yeah, they're six points clear of Manchester City and Aston Villa. They are the form team again in the league. City seem to have kind of built that head of steam and then seeing it evaporate just a little bit, Arsenal will know there's not a huge amount of margin for error.

55:29They can't take their foot off the gas now. But it is there for them. There is no one who looks like a convincing challenger to them. They've got Liverpool on Thursday, which, and this isn't my normal tempting fate thing, but that looks like a game that Arsenal should win. It's tricky, but Arsenal should win it. And that gets you to the FA Cup. And logically you'd think, OK, if they're six points clear at that stage, Arsenal fans should be able to relax a little bit, but it doesn't work like that. They will see nothing but peril until it is mathematically certain. One moment from the holidays that struck me as really profound about Arsenal's culture this season was at the 94th minute Oli Watkins scored to make it 4-1.

56:08They lost the clean sheet to what was really an inconsequential goal. Massive performance, massive victory against a team they feared, but won at the romp. And you watch that goal. watch Saliba Araya still furious on the field that the clean sheet had been taken away it's that to me that kind of intense competitive fire the opposite of complacency which do ultimately win titles and the other thing that's been really significant over the last two weeks is what a friend of mine calls scoreboard pressure which might be an American concept I don't know but it's the fact that Arsenal have put the points on the board and they've said to Manchester City go on then can you keep up and that changes the kind of timber and the tone of City's games because it makes everything feel really intensely pressurised and it may well be that it's those Arsenal wins that have put that extra little bit of burden on City that they've not quite been able to cope with so I think it's really hard to look at this festive period as anything other than an absolute triumph for Arsenal Talking of titles let's go to you're still defending champions Fulham 2, Liverpool 2, another the Liverpool game.

57:18Another failure to control or command the action after that quite uninspired 0-0 New Year's Day draw with Leeds United. Arna Slott's failure to take a sledgehammer to Daniel Falk's rearguard saw boos ring out from some corners of Anfield. What is this? Tottenham. And despite the Scouse cacophony of discontent, the draw, that bright side, Liverpool unbeaten to eight games all comps, held on to a top four spot, which for me, if I was a Liverpool fan, I'd see that as mission critical this season. But in come Fulham, on a low-key heater of their own, three wins in four unbeaten league games, drew first blood, 17th minute, the underrated Raul Jimenez lay off to tee up a Harry Wilson streaker, drove one past Alisson into the bottom corner, sixth goal of the season, cue the Craven Cottage choir belting out, he left because you're, quote, crap, he left because you're crap, Harry Wilson, he left because you're crap.

58:14And as I say, I'm there for that kind of Liverpool-shadden-freude, which is enough to turn even the most urbane, cultured, kind of librarian-esque fan bases into swearing heathens. And I love it. Florian Wurtz, God bless, crashed home the equaliser from close range. Second big boy goal. By the way, once the lines were drawn, still looks offside. Even Jamie Kerrigan couldn't believe the goal was given. But that was all lost in the exchanges of the dying embers. Liverpool, God bless Eketike, ground down almost by the clubs, quite unexpected. Let's call it Eketike dependence. Isak tragically broken his leg just after scoring a goal.

58:53Cue Gakpo, 94th minute, latching onto a delicious frimpong ball. Flashed it home before going. Bits out, shirt off at Teacook in the Men in Blazers Discord said. Gakpo, pull in the full Richarlas. I said, Roar, when will they learn you should never take your shirt off too early? Well, you shouldn't take your shirt off at all, Roar. It's a booking. And that's why. That's why it's a booking. It's in everybody's best interest. Yes, just to teach us. Stay focused. That's why they do it. It's not because they want the sponsors' logos to be seen in the moment of heroic goal scoring, is it Roar? It's for the player's own good.

59:30It's to offset hubris. Yes. Why don't put on... You can't put on wax wings after you score a goal, and you can't take your shirt off. Them's the rules, right? For the players' own protection. Funny, if the wax wins is a sort of thing Fakundo Sarva would have done, who was the player who used to keep a mask in his sock. That'd be amazing. You score, you strap on the wax wings and your mind just going straight to the sun. By the way, Richarlison, if you're listening, nothing's stopping you. So it looked like Liverpool had welcomed an inevitable winner back into their leathery arms to bring in 2026.

1:00:04But then, 97th minute. Probably one of my top three moments of the entire year. Five minutes after coming on as a sub. That ginger king Harrison Reid picked up a ball on the left, 35 yards out, completely innocuous area. But there's no heat check. More dangerous than a ginger heat check. No one closed him down. Set his lasers to stun and let fly raw. This is not me rubbing it in. Can you, in your own words, describe the purity of this strike? I've got to say, I'm grateful Harrison Reid. Because what's the point of football if I can't even hate watch it anymore? So thank you. Raw, the floor's yours.

1:00:41It was an absolutely perfect strike. The way it kind of swerves away from Alisson, but into the goal, and hits what I think is technically known as the postage stamp. There's the absolute corner, the bit where the back of the net meets the side of the net. So G-spot, the goal's G-spot. Gone through what my son insists on calling top bins, which I don't approve of. Teach him properly. See, son, that's the goals G-spot, and you'll call it that. You'll call it the goals G-spot. Oh, I'll take away the Sobbersly fake signed shirt that I wrote myself. Then I bought you. The Santa, Rog, thank you very much.

1:01:21Yeah, it was an absolutely extraordinary strike. I've got to say, if you're going to concede a 97th minute equaliser and drop two points that you could really have done with in the struggle to get an undeserved Champions League spot, you can't really complain at a goal like that and I know that there was a part of you find yourself applauding I think you have to be like that that's amazing I'd put it this way I'd rather have conceded that goal than a goal from a long throw um and I know that afterwards there was a lot there were questions to Arna Slott about about why Liverpool players didn't go out and close him down why he had all that time to shoot and I think that's a legitimate question for a coach to ask or to be asked and I'm sure that in the kind of post-match debrief stuff Slott will have said we need to get out faster there.

1:02:03But at the same time, if someone shoots from 35 yards who hasn't strolled for three years, if they put one in the top corner, there's not much you can do about it. You're such a bigger man than I could ever be, Ro. That's why I love you. Fulham, unbeaten in five league games, up to 11th place. Liverpool fans though, even though that unbeaten streak now at nine all comps, still frustrated. Back-to-back draws to start the year. in two games. You kind of thought you should win. Fourth place, but eight behind Villa in third. The clouds locked in a perpetual battle between the forces of darkness and sunlight.

1:02:43A bit like Liverpool, the city itself. Feels like, honestly, watching these games, a Liverpool fan that I know and love said we could sign Cocaine Bear this month and our build-up play will still be plodding and ponderous. Where are you on Liverpool? Very quickly in this moment. Half the season over, I feel to be on the slot, still doesn't know his best 11, anyone's best positions, what really they're meant to do. We're almost at a, how much do Liverpool miss? In fact, I think Michael Owen said Liverpool miss Mo Salah part of the season, which is really just narrative eating itself. I don't know if I can say it briefly, so I won't say everything I think.

1:03:18I go backwards and forwards. The Leeds performance really annoyed me. I thought that may have been the worst performance of Liverpool's season, despite the result. Did you find yourself booing, Rourke? I came very close. I wasn't there, but if I had been, I would have been very close to booing. I thought that the lack of ambition, the lack of purpose, vision, energy was really damning. Fulham, as I say, if someone stores from 35 yards, they store from 35 yards. There's not much you can do about that. I think... Is that your version of if he dies, he dies? Yeah. I think the big test now for me, I can see why Slott has gone for a kind of safety-first, ultra-tautious approach, that Liverpool have tried to turn games into relatively low-event spectacles and trust that they have enough quality to edge them and for the most part it's sort of worked you know they they got a good win at spurs they beat bright and they beat wolves um a point at fulham's not a terrible result the less said about leads the better and and they are fourth you know they've they've kind of steadied the ship a bit after after the absolute nadir of losing nine and twelve um but i think from now on there needs to be some sort of excitement it Anfield is silent whenever Liverpool are at home.

1:04:26There's sort of a sense of dread around watching them. They are incredibly ponderous in possession. They're really slow to watch. I think there comes a point where what fans want to see is a sense of where this is going, not just football that keeps the manager in a job. That is where I think Liverpool are. They could get a Champions League spot playing like this and it'd be underwhelming, but with the talent in the team, with the amount of money they spent in the transfer window, even with the injuries, the absences, and the fact that they do look short of players at the moment, I think you want to see them be entertaining in some way.

1:05:05And if they're not, and it keeps being like this, even if results keep coming, maybe not against Arsenal, but if they can keep winning, drawing, staying in that battle for fourth, if it looks like this, if it feels like this, I think a lot of the fan base will decide that maybe Arna Slott is not the man for the future. It's very interesting. I mean, the big issue there is one I want to get to through Tottenham now, because for Liverpool, Arsenal await this Thursday in North London, a game which feels seismic for different reasons for both teams and for the neutral. But let's talk about Tottenham.

1:05:37Tottenham won, Sunderland won, because the Blue Boys are out of volume at full time with this one, as that Spurs ponderous home record continues under Thomas Frank. These were two teams who had just gotten goalless draws, but one's fan base was borderline toxic. The others all pure running on vibes. Spurs opened gamely. Van der Ven and old man Ben Davis, two defenders combined to net Tottenham's first goal of 2026. The nerves began to build from that point on, though, for good reason. Ten minutes to go. Brian Brodby smashed a finely crafted equaliser with the fury of a man who proper hates the Spurs.

1:06:15Sunderland hit the 30-point mark. They're in eighth place, surviving the exodus of their players to AFCON. Still a point off the Champions League. But this one was so bloody frustrating for Spurs fans again. Had a holiday period low light of watching their team play fearful, negative football at Brentford. Thomas Frank's old mob. A game which was summed up by Vicario being booked for time-wasting 68 minutes in. Really, no greater sign of the negative, unambitious football that Spurs fans cannot stand under Thomas Frank. Their team, 13th place still, should be said in touching distance of the Champions League, but so poor when you watch a midfield.

1:06:52Can't summon a pass. Fans think boring, boring Tottenham. Third year in a row, Tottenham have sold their leading scorer from the previous season. Brendan Johnson, a fan favourite, gone. Does feel like a club limping to the finish line of the season already. fans pissed with the manager, the board, players don't seem happy, home form, really the apogee of the agony. Raw, I have no doubt that Thomas Frank must be the most relieved man that Manchester United and Chelsea are currently burning down their houses as a distraction. But it does feel like his job is less about summoning wins. It's more about finding a way to provide joy, which is a very impossible mission.

1:07:32This is the bigger point I wanted to make. So many teams in football right now. Liverpool, we just mentioned. Chelsea for sure. Tottenham, United. Football is ever more about identity rather than results in our new surreal reality. And Spurs and Liverpool right now are devoid of the I word. I don't know how new that is though, Rog. It's definitely new in the sense that it maybe didn't apply 20, 30 years ago. But I think that's been true for a while that for the vast majority of teams you're not going to win anything or you're certainly not reliably going to win anything or even be in contention to win things.

1:08:05As a fan, whether you're going to games and paying a fortune for it, or whether you're watching on TV and paying a fortune for it, you want to feel as though your team stands for something. You want to feel like you're on a journey. And we might not want to talk about it like that, but that's really important. And I think the problem that Frank has at Spurs and Slott in this moment has at Liverpool is the same, which is the fans can see that you're playing football to try and get results and those results aren't coming in the way that they need to to justify the style you need to be winning games convincingly really to for people to put up with it if there's no style the fans are like well what what are we watching this for what you're not entertaining me this is this is not good to watch and it doesn't work that's not a good deal for my thousands of pounds thousands of dollars I'm spending on tickets or on tv subscriptions and I think both managers and I really like Thomas Frank I think both managers probably have to reflect on the fact that it's probably better in football to draw 3-0 than 1-0 that is a better thing, it might not be what they want they might not like the risk, the high risk high reward strategy, they might think I want to control the variables and turn this to my advantage but unless you can go into games relatively confident you're going to win if you don't make them entertaining, the fans will give football should be more like World Wrestling Federation is what you're saying you punch me with a forearm smash I'm going to pretend to be unconscious I'm going to rise from the floor like the under I love it, I love it, if that is football's future, I want it by the way when it comes to identity Aston Villa 3, Nottingham Forest 1 all hail Aston Villa I'm in awe of what Unai Emery's doing this was a Midlands derby really a test of mutual bounce back ability Aston Villa's 11-game winning streak have been eviscerated, as we've discussed, by the mighty Arsenal.

1:10:02A bit seems of exasperation if we're being candid for Villa. Not an Emery handshake to be seen. Sean Dyche's Forrest come in, 17th place, three straight losses, including a sink without trace, 2-0 against Everton. Staggered in, demonstrating little ambition other than to sit deep. This game was very much like watching Lions play with their food, in which Villa topped 80 % possession, I think, for long spells without finding a way to break through. Oli Watkins, God bless him, infuriating to watch for long spells, good intentions, pretty awkward execution. And then 46 minute, just puts his foot through one in stunning fashion like sod it.

1:10:42Six goals in seven games, football roar, makes you sit through 45 minutes of utter crap, so bored. You can only just think about your own impending death. and then something magical happens that just gives you so much life. It's why I love it. And if you look at Watkins as well this season, he looked incredibly kind of devoid of confidence for the first few months and has suddenly just kind of blossomed into life. And it's not really clear what's changed, but something has, because he looks like old Ollie Watkins again. He's been watching Dominic Calvert-Lewin videos on YouTube. McGinn scored twice in the second half, second where the goalkeeper went all the A-Sports FIFA glitch walkabout.

1:11:19But McKinnon is giant buttocks. I do love that man. He creates poetry where pros could have quite happily have done the job. Villarromp, 18th win in the last 21 games all-comps. Just a phenomenal job by Unai Emery. A clear footballing genius, tactically a man motivator, conjuring constantly goals that confound XG addicts. The squad they rule, the depth or the lack of it. There's not a title challenge. Are we agreeing on this for real? How do we view Villa's prime imperative this season? I think finishing third would be amazing for Aston Villa. Finishing second would be unbelievable for Aston Villa.

1:11:58They could, in theory, emerge as Arsenal's bitter challengers. My sense with Villa has always been that once Europe restarts, they will look at the Europa League and think, we can win that. And they will look at that, the Europa League, and quite reasonably think we can win that. and that might just push the squad a little bit too far in the Premier League. But the way they're playing and particularly the way they came back from that defeat against Arsenal, that Forest game was sort of drifting into nothingness and they found an ability to go again to kind of lift themselves. And then with City drawing, it means they're leveled on points again.

1:12:33So I don't think we should rule Villa out of being a serious force this season. I don't know whether they have the depth to catch Arsenal and compete in Europe. God bless. I adore Villa and the joy they are giving their fan base. Nottingham Forest, by the way. What a club. We talked earlier about wax wings. I think even Icarus would look at them and be like, wow, they have soared so high. They've sunk so low. Really, for me, a reminder of how joy is fleeting in life and football. We should enjoy it when we have it. Also, the dictatorial ownership regimes rarely create consistent competitive football.

1:13:09But talking about relegation struggles, Brighton 2, Burnley 0. No wins in the last six. Brighton changing the flash here against quite a hapless Burnley. Pascal Gross, returning legend, coming back for his boogaloo. James Milner turning 40. Part of this win, really a win at a clip. Burnley now winless in 11. Hard to watch, six points away from safety. More worryingly, their manager, Scott Parker, talking about a lack of belief within his locker room, which is never very good. It's getting a bit darkness on the edge of town for them, Rol. Yeah, unless something massive changes in January, unless they can find a player who kind of galvanises everything, it feels very burnley.

1:13:49Newcastle 2, Crystal Palace 0, a clash between your reigning Carabao Cup and FA Cup holders. Now, two quite erratic teams. Palace gave a debut to freshly unboxed new arrival. Club record,$47 million. Brennan Johnson, a real reinforcement. I love this signing. For a suddenly stumbling side who've not won in the league since December 7th. Hard to watch, to be honest. The wait goes on in a grim game. Won by two second-half goals from Bruno Guimares and Malik Chau. Both from set pieces. Palace suddenly flailing. Small squad friction of the game after game. Regiment grinding them down. I think no one has played more than their leading 32 games already.

1:14:33That's not going to let up. more painfully are the last nine goals conceded by Palace eight have been via set pieces Roar you have Oliver Glasner he's a massive coach but they're almost turning into a reverse Arsenal Yeah I think the issue is as you've said it's the size of the squad and the intensity of the fixture list and that was always going to be an issue with Palace this season because of Europe first time a lot of these players will have been playing both domestically and in European competition and to be honest around Christmas around the holidays it catches up with teams like Palace, the fact that they've got all those miles in the legs and then they have to play four times in 14 days.

1:15:10This is the time of the season, the time of year when they tend to kind of be... The pressure becomes too much. The intensity becomes too much. Let's revel and enjoy where we can find it. Wolverhampton Wanderers 3. West Ham United 0. Your Wolves have become the first top flight side to go. 19 league games into a season without a win in 123 long years. No stronger evidence for the power then of astrology. The Wolves earning their first win of the season on the same day as it was a Wolf Moon Super Moon. I don't know what one of them is either. Game of goals and lols chance. The Wolves fans marked their first win in their 20th game by just unleashing the clip of hilarity.

1:15:52They sang, we're going to win the league after the first goal. Then sang, he's one of our own, to Nuno Espirito Santo. Finally, with Gallo's humour, they both traded off a West Ham or crap chant trying to outdo each other before Wolves sang you're nothing special we'll see you next year Roar you were there I mean this was just like one of the most kind of joyous collective sing-offs I think you call it a hootenanny or something rather than the football game that I've ever watched It was a really interesting example of how freeing it is not to worry anymore that's what I think that's what I took from it that you could tell that West Ham were almost kind of frozen with panic that they'd seen that as the game that they had to win to start to kind of turn their season around.

1:16:36They'd looked at it and thought, well, if we beat Wolves today and beat Forest on Tuesday, we'll be out of the relegation zone. Whereas Wolves were like, well, we're getting relegated. This is not something we can stop now. The humour at the dam. That train has left the station and they were like, well, we can just play. And all of a sudden, just as they had been at Anfield and at Old Trafford and to be honest, the Emirates, Wolves were okay like they stood within four minutes they were good going forward they looked relatively resolute at the back the second half was nervy once they had something to lose they got nervous again but there is a freedom to Wolves at the moment because they know they are going down they can kind of cut loose a little bit and the abiding impression was not so much sorrow or fear for Wolves because that race is run I think but West Ham was one of the most pathetic performances I've seen for a long time I was going to say Wolves are terrible West Ham actually always seemed more miserable yeah lesser club more of a perpetual purgatory a pit of I don't want it to be hyperbolic of despondency self-sabotage God bless Nuno his team in that game managed zero shots on target against Wolves reportedly close to becoming Nuno this is amazing the first manager in Premier League history to be sacked by two Premier League clubs in the very same season.

1:17:59Roar, how the hell has this not happened before? It's impressive that it's not happened before because the Premier League is not a sensible place. So you just have to hold your hands up to Nuno, to be honest. Fair play. I felt quite sorry for him afterwards. He seemed genuinely devastated. He said it was the most embarrassing day he can remember in football. And he's been in football a long, long time. But it was a truly abject performance. and yeah, they play Forrest not long after we record, Rog. If they lose that, not convinced that Nuno will still be in a job. And the fact that it's Forrest...

1:18:34By the way, Nuno, management, tough, period, he's been through. But his investment advisor must just be utterly thrilled with these severance checks. Yeah, there is a weird sort of incentive to doing well as a football manager, isn't there? Like the incentive program is a little bit upside down. To be doing terribly as a football manager, I mean. No, to do well as a Premier League football manager just means you have to continue to do well and there's more stress. Whereas if you do terribly, you get loads of money. I think this is at the cause of it. Manchester United had to pay Amarim out in full.

1:19:04There's footage of Amarim walking with his wife the day he was fired. He looks 10 years younger than he did the day before. He's got Hollywood sunglasses on. They're both clearly walking for the press's benefit, like he even daps up some of the press. But my God, the pressure off. And the joy of that enormous, I imagine it's like one of those game show checks you get when you're fired. Those huge polystyrene things. Here's your$12 million for failure. It must feel amazing. What they don't show you is the footage of Ruben Amarim going full Scrooge McDuck afterwards. Swimming on a pile of gold coins.

1:19:37That's where he was walking to, was to his giant pile of gold coins. Just to dive on in. Glorious failure. Kids watching, don't believe that failure is an agony in life. It can be bloody. It can be actually just financially incredibly, incredibly satisfying. Talking about failure, let's finish with Everton 2, Brentford 4. God bless Jack Grealish back from his mystery virus over Christmas. I think medically it's known as a hangover. By the way, I was so excited for this game, a Sunday in which I was just going to watch sports with my kids. Everton could have gone as high as 6 with a win. Yeah, we were just like, this is great.

1:20:15One of them said to me, it's great, Dad. Who are I? They were just filled with joy. We did start positively. So, of course, we crapped the bed first attack. Tark, gifting the chance to play the ball out the back, played it straight to Janel, had the state of mind to whip in the ball straight to Thiago, who stabbed home. David Moyes could not have been more shocked in that moment if Keith Andrew had slapped him across the face of a large, fresh piece of cod, which I'd also love to see. Brentford, got to applaud them. They're so bloody physical. They're so intelligent. They're so well-drilled. They frustrated us, baited us into mistakes, and we love to deliver them.

1:20:53I've watched poor Everton teams roar. I've watched outgunned ones. The hardest Everton team to watch is one where we are so stupid. Keane and Tark switched off repeatedly. Can I get a ruling? Is it technically possible to switch off if you never switched on in the first place? No, it means you are continued to be... You're just not... Yeah, you're permanently switched off. Switch them on, Moisey. Switch them on before you send them on. Second half, really an exercise in such philosophical questions as, why do we watch this crap? Why do we get our bed early? Why do we refill optimism? Why do we hope for anything in life, children?

1:21:30First Brentford, managed by the set-piece coach who couldn't manage a set-piece goal all bloody season, scored that first set-piece goal. Then we got carved open over and over. But Thiago, again, Beto gave us a bit of hope, shattered hope. Thiago killed off the game on a jailbreak to get his hat-trick. This is an amazing story. Dude signed for 38 million as an Ivan Toni replacement early 2024. I think missed the whole season almost through knee injury. But he's only going to become one of the players of this season. Only Erling Haaland has scored more than his 14 goals, which is unbelievable athletically.

1:22:07It's unbelievable tactically. It's unbelievable recruitingly raw. Keith Andrews was doubted when he gave a job. We wrote him off. He lost on Bumo, Wieser, Norgaard. Laughed that for wanting to bring in Jordan Henderson. But Brentford took 10 points from 12 over the holidays. They're seventh in the Premier League. Manager of the season, shout, Rul. He'd be a contender, absolutely. And I think what's really impressive, and this ties into, I guess, what we talked about with Chelsea and with Manchester United. Keith Andrews didn't start especially well. And Brentford knew their model. They trusted their judgment.

1:22:40And they knew that it would work, that they had made that decision for a reason. I think that their form will dip again, Brentford. I don't think they'll finish in the top six. But the fact that he has taken to Premier League management and made it look not easy, but made it look attainable, is testament to how solid the foundations are at Brentford. And that is the bit that people should be trying to mimic. It's incredible. It truly, truly is incredible. Again, young listeners watching, get your failure out early. That's the Keith Andrews story. Everton have now lost four of their last six at home at the big dick after that surging start.

1:23:18We are what we are right now, mid-table fair. I read a quote from James Baldwin over the holidays. He wrote once that people are trapped in history, and history is trapped in them. I think if you swap out Everton for history, you kind of get what I feel about now, which really just means it sucks that we cannot play Sean Dyches managed teams every single week raw we would be if we did I do believe the league's first perfect title winners absolutely if it was just Everton against whoever Sean Dyches is in charge of yeah absolutely why can't them be the rules of raw let's finish with a letter from a GFOP keep writing to us at meninblazers at gmail.com your letters which have poured in over the holiday period honestly have been one of the true joys of my December.

1:24:05And this comes from Steve Kramer from Minnesota who wrote, Happy New Year, Rog and Rory. Happy New Year, Steve. We've made it to 2026. Football remains one of the greatest joys in the world. A light in the very dark darkness. What's one thing you're looking forward to most this year? A crazy prediction time, maybe. Thanks for all you do, Steve. Oh, Steve Kramer. What a beautifully themed... Send us your email, your postal and we'll send you a beautiful Men in Blazers patch to freezing cold but still glorious Minnesota Raw 2026. What a, I mean, I like it mostly because it's not been ruined yet.

1:24:44When you look forward to all that is to come, what do you think, what surges your beautiful beating heart? Well, I think there's maybe two things that stand out. One is the kind of the magic of those smaller countries at the World Cup, particularly Scotland. I'm looking forward to seeing Scotland play Brazil. That is something that kind of has a kind of childlike, or sparks a childlike enthusiasm in me. And the other actually is Scottish related. I can see the Premier League becoming a bit of a procession for Arsenal, if I'm honest. I think it will be interesting in the Champions League to see Premier League teams play each other in the knockout rounds.

1:25:24I think that might be quite fun. But in the absence of kind of a shock title winner anywhere else in Europe, really, at the moment, I think if Hearts were to break the Glasgow dominance in the Scottish Premiership, that would be genuinely astonishing. It would be a wonderful story. 40 years after they came close, 43 years after Aberdeen became the last team to, not from Celtic and Rangers duopoly, to win the lead. If Hearts were to do it, that would stir my soul, Rog. God, it really would. And you've got an American-based legend to thank for it, Wilfred Nancy, in part. He's done his bit. He's done it and he's a remarkable human being.

1:26:03It's caused me no level of agony to see him suffer and flail in that Scottish spotlight. Look, 2026 could be the year. I mean, this is what I look at. And it could be dark. I'd say I was so excited to watch Everton this weekend. As I said, I was having a colonoscopy yesterday, which if you're listening, please have one. If you need one, get it done for you. It's a horrible prospect, but it's so important health-wise. But I thought the colonoscopy was going to be the low point of the week. Watching Everton made the colonoscopy almost feel like a joy. Watching the Chicago Bears lose, actually, too, that back-to-back was quite similar.

1:26:42But this could be the year when England win a World Cup. It's just astonishing to say that phrase. England win a World Cup and Arsenal win the league. You talked about a procession for Arsenal, which I've got to say, humanly raw. I would welcome both of those things feel crazy. England lifting the trophy, Arsenal winning the title. I will say, whether it's a possession or not a possession, I still think it's unbelievable to win after three years of second place mockery. Three years of toil, of dreaming, of Arteta being quite open about the goal, being derided as bottlers. I hate that phrase. It's so just awful.

1:27:24Those are the two things. You can either be a winner or a bottler. There's nothing in between. No space humanly to appreciate or marvel. You're a bottler. To rise again after the triple bottle, if you will, is humanly unbelievable, I think, unless you're a Spurs fan. If you're vaguely human, I think you've got to admire it, the great quality of tenacity, which I think we all need at the moment. But I'll answer your question, your beautiful question, mighty Steve Kramer. I think the real highlight of my holidays is finding this out, Roar, that the darts, I don't know if you saw this, the darts are going to come to New York.

1:28:00They're going to be at Madison Square Garden next June to be here on the very same weekend that England will play a World Cup game in this city. At No Escalators tweeted, if you are wondering where the drunkest people in the planet are going to be, dot, dot, dot. Just to think of Luke Littler and Cole Palmer together, Roar, on that weekend. New York City might not be big enough for them both. I don't think New York City is ready for Luke Littler. Luke Littler taking New York is going to be, well, it's going to be something to watch. Find your joy where you can, GFOPs. It is a joy to be back in your life.

1:28:38That is it for today. I'm in New York City this week, easing into the year. We've got a Bakayo Saka television special debuting on January 17th on NBC Sports, which is just... It's stunning. He lifts me up more than I can say. As do you, Roar, you beautiful human being. Thank you, man. I've missed you. It's been good to see you, man. It's been good to see you. It's so lovely to listen to you, you incredible human being. This is Rog saying, let's not take a second of watching football together for granted and courage.