Salah’s Heartfelt Moment in Liverpool, Arsenal Strike against Manchester United, Manchester City Dominate: Men in Blazers 08/18/25

21:45Roger Bennett:And it did make it a strange and very charged atmosphere. I mean, the last time they were there, we remember what the scenes were like. I mean, that was important. The juxtaposition between those two. I mean, the juxtaposition between the collective mourning and the private grief. I spent time at Liverpool last week, spent time with Big Verge amongst others. A lot of the people I spoke to the club were very honest. They were like, it is a complete unknown how we are going to cope with this, how we're going to experience it, how we're going to process it. You know, you talk about opposing fans.

22:19It is very interesting on social media, even on some of the comments on our YouTube. Creeping in. I say creeping in. This is not a standard position, but, you know, there's an opinion, which is people die and we have to get on with it. In real life, footballers should too. And when I read them, I'm kind of... One person wrote a long screed about Lady Diana Syndrome, you know, about people projecting in these moments. All I can say is we almost lack the emotional vocabulary, I think, to process what we're witnessing at Anfield on Friday. Liverpool, for this entire season, it's the collision between the public and the private, the individual and the collective.

23:02This is not just an individual loss. It is a collective loss, one in which the human being is gone and the scarves and banners are then lifted. the songs are sung and at the same time I was looking at the Liverpool fans many of them weeping before kickoff no doubt experiencing the losses they've all had in their own lives that's what you do in those moments you project your own pain your own loss in these moments as you sing those songs the loved ones are the no longer there the loved ones you may have watched Liverpool may have watched Diogo with the wheels within wheels the reinforcement and it's happening for the players too who we've said this a lot already over the past two months these players are humans we have to say it sounds ridiculous to say raw um and diogo was not just a teammate for many of them he was a friend um and for them to hear his song sung in the 20th minute for the first time without him being alive to hear it um must have been emotionally devastating it was

24:02Roger Bennett:heartbreaking and look i this is an awkward thing to to talk about i'm the same i i i tweeted actually during the game about, or just after the game, about how kind of emotional Anfield felt. And most of the responses were heart emojis and all the stuff that you'd expect. But there were a few that were like, this is self-indulgent. And you think, I don't understand how that, I don't understand how anyone who has been through grief could think that any aspect of grief is self-indulgent. I just genuinely don't get it. I think it's something that has been, it's an opinion that is formed in your hatred of a football team.

24:34Roger Bennett:And I think that is deeply pathetic, to be perfectly honest. I think you can think that maybe the fans, you can probably rightly think that for a lot of the fans, it is a grief that they feel, but they can get on with their lives. And that is probably right. And that will present another challenge in weeks or months down the line, because at some point his song will be sung a bit less. That is the reality of the situation. I don't think it will ever stop being sung, but there'll be times when maybe the 20th minute will pass by and Jota's song isn't sung. It might be years, you know, five years time, but it will happen.

25:05Roger Bennett:Primarily for the players. And like you say, the people at Liverpool will tell you they have no idea what's going to happen this season because there are some incredibly talented footballers in that team. There are still issues with the balance of the team that we'll talk about in a sec. The defining thing about Liverpool, and we've touched on this before, Rog, is that how on earth are they meant to maintain the focus of an elite athlete? The level of focus required, which it's certainly more focused than is required in my job. I suspect it's more focused than is required in most people's jobs.

25:32Roger Bennett:How many people have jobs where 60 ,000 people are shouting at them as they perform it? Not that many. So I think there is a point at which no one can judge how Liverpool will respond, not necessarily in individual games, but over the course of the season. We've talked about this before at least once. It's going to be a real test for everybody in terms of how we judge Liverpool. But there is no question that those players are not experiencing grief like the fans are experiencing grief. They're experiencing grief like people who have lost a friend of theirs. So imagine what it would be like if your friend wasn't there anymore.

26:05Roger Bennett:And then that is how those players are feeling. And it's how they will feel for a long, long time to come. Yeah, I mean, your friend's not there anymore and you go to work and people hold up banners with your friend's name on and sing songs. Keep saying his name. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, it is like, it is football players need that focus. The only other occupation I can think like it is like lion tamers and operators of heavy machinery. Those are really the only three. But Liverpool did begin on motivated settings. The Bournemouth of last season exists in our imagination, our memory only. Three members of last season's backline, plus the keeper out the door.

26:42But Liverpool also a team in transition. The new front three, only half of the Liverpool story, that chemistry in the backline, that bedeviled them in the community shield. That's just a work in progress, to use Virgil's words in our interview. He goes, we're working hard. I was like, Virg, think about not working that hard. Take it easy, man. Didn't like that. But there is a creakiness in there, a vulnerability, which gave Bournemouth a flickering hope. They kind of positioned Semenyo in and around Kerkers, pressed so well. And Liverpool, for all their shiny new pieces, still developing chemistry all over that field.

27:16There is a vulnerability. They do play as if they're self-aware of that vulnerability. And they were frustrated for a good spell in that first half until Bournemouth switched off, handed Liverpool the lead. It was Eketike who picked up the ball, handed it off to Wurtz, demanded it back and then charged in on goal. Tried to nutmeg Seneci, who ended up essentially defending, I think like one of your under sevens, Ruhr. Ball bounced off him, back into Eketike's part. The finish was really born of muscle memory. It was a wicked, delirious finish. It was given the eyes. I think what Eketike gave was like, he gave the goalkeeper his cornea, his iris, his pupil, his retina, and then rolled the ball home.

27:56God, Ru, you've got a potent palming tree.

27:59Roger Bennett:It was a bit like a penalty, wasn't it? The keeper basically had to guess which side is he going to go. It had the same rhythm as a penalty. And you know how I feel about penalties, Rog. I think Petrovic is too tall to save them. No, it had that kind of same vibe. He just sort of found himself 12 yards out from goal in the middle of the box. And he had to pick, like, I'm going to go left or right, you choose. And the keeper dived the wrong way, Eketike scores. there's a real value in making a good first impression it's not just a Liverpool thing but for a big money signing in particular it's really important to do well I think I might write about this for my newsletter actually this week Rog that it's really important to do well but it's really really important to do well on TV I think that is an underrated thing that if you're if it's a game that's being broadcast particularly the first game of the season you know a lot of people have tuned into that because they've missed having competitive Premier League football on their screens for quite a long time.

28:52Roger Bennett:They will look at Eketike now and think, OK, that guy's a good striker. There's not the pressure on him from outside, I think, to prove anything. And we know we've done the Darwin Nunez parallel previously. I know, I miss him. I will say I miss it. I watched Eketike celebrate with the number 20 celebration and the prayer. And I do think I speak for all Liverpool fans when I say, I miss Darwin Nunez. Everybody misses Darwin Nunez. And if Liverpool don't sign some more strikers, then they'll miss Darwin Nunez as well. But I I think it will buy Eke TK a bit of time. Because he did, as he did in the Community Shield, he did have a couple of other chances and he did miss them.

29:28Roger Bennett:A lot of the sort of analysis from his time at Eintracht Frankfurt was he has the tools to be incredible, but his finishing is not that reliable yet. That's clearly still a work in progress too. But to make those good first impressions at Anfield, at Wembley, on TV twice, it will settle down a lot of the doubts around his transfer and that gives him the time to grow and that's important. Secret to life, young listeners. Do well. And if you can, do well on television. Four minutes into the second half, Ekotike, the provider, Fed Gakpo, who I think heavy touched his way right into the centre of the Bournemouth gut before whipping a roller home.

30:05That's harsh. Liverpool, nah. Liverpool play him. I mean, who do you think I am? Raw, I can only look with disdain and give no better. Yeah, very, very thick touch.

30:20I remember I watched Everton. That's all I know. By the way, the way Liverpool finish this season, it's like they've been told they can only score goals if they roll that ball home. Just kiss that ball home. Just pass it into the net. I texted you in that moment and wrote, imagine adding Isaac to this. Do you remember what you said back?

30:37Roger Bennett:I said, I hope he can play defensive midfield. Because even at that stage at 2-0 up, you could see, certainly inside Anfield, and I suspect on television as well, to be perfectly honest, you could see that Bournemouth were kind of ripping Liverpool open every time they counterattacked. Now, in Liverpool's defence, Bournemouth didn't counterattack that often. There were vast tracts where Bournemouth didn't really create anything and Liverpool had an ability to kind of get themselves out of trouble. But there were these huge spaces because Liverpool were pouring forward in such numbers. And you mentioned at the start that it's about the bonds of a team and those bonds take a while to build.

31:15Roger Bennett:So most full-backs traditionally, if one goes forward, the other will sit back. A football pitch tends to be, any system tends to be asymmetrical. Kyrgyz and Frimpon both just go the whole time. They're both just like, I'm a winner now, lads. I'm not one of these defensive full-backs. I'm going forward. And with Sobberzlai, who I think is a really kind of, he'll be really interesting to watch in that deeper role for Liverpool this season. I think he'll play a lot more as one of the two than he does as a number 10. But Sobberzlai is a very attack-minded player as well and he's got incredible energy, incredible kind of industry about him.

31:46Roger Bennett:Lovely touch, lovely technical ability. But his instincts are to go forward too. And even McAllister, I wouldn't really describe as a defensive midfielder. So my guess is that Ryan Ravenberg, who was suspended for this game, will solve quite a few problems. I'd also maybe expect to see, once Robertson, Bradley, Frimpon and Kirkes are all fit, I don't think both of the new signings will start all the time. I think that is what will happen. What was fascinating is Slott brought on Robbo and Endo, essentially, to try and bring in some experience in control. But he just emboldened Bournemouth. And just past the hour, Soberslow lost the ball.

32:25Brook scampered onto it. Down the left, delivered a stunning, flashing, arcing cross behind Van Dijk. That angled run from Semenyo was rewarded. And he slapped home. It was stunning. Not least because Semenyo, horrifically, had been racially abused by a Liverpool fan in the first half. A truly sorry scene. And I hate that we have to talk about it, but we do roar. A man, a fan in a wheelchair, was escorted out of the stadium at halftime by police. By the way, credit Liverpool's slot went to console Semenyo immediately after the final whistle. Virgil van Dijk being very outspoken about the incident too.

33:08But we always say football is always a mirror to the society that surrounds it. In this moment, it was abhorrent.

33:14Roger Bennett:It was. I mean, I suppose you have to say that the Premier League's kind of protocols worked, that Semenya reported it, the referee then reported it to both managers. I was watching actually as three police officers arrived, had the fan pointed out to them by a club official of some sort. I don't know who the club official was. And then the fan was sort of ushered out, I think has now been arrested and will be banned from all football matches, I suspect, for life. That will be the punishment. And it is exactly what the punishment should be. Semenyo said after the game, last night at Anfield will stay with me forever, not because of one person's words, but because of how the entire football family stood together, which were powerful words.

33:54I'd say, I mean, deeply courageous of him. It's still so hard to experience, but his ferocity in the second half was really inspiring. in. I watched that second half and thought, bloody hell, Irola, what a coach to take new pieces. I think there was a centre-back playing, Diakite, who'd only arrived two days ago, and have them gel so quickly. I do believe Irola's going to coach Manchester City one day. Such a resilience, such a belief in his players. And Liverpool, take it from me, an Everton fan, never, ever go 2-0 up over Bournemouth because Semenya charged, I think, three quarters of the field.

34:34It was like seeing Desmond Howard in his prime. Just kept on running. Used his teammates' decoys. He's never going to pass. Cut inside Canate. Fizzed it in. Stunning. Slot said post-game. He said, Bournemouth never give up. But the good thing, Liverpool don't either. They look shattered for a moment. Really, really, really shattered. All four new signings who started were subbed off. But who needs new signings? When you've got an old chestnut, This was an ecstatic moment that shouldn't be overlooked. The one new signing of last summer, Federico Chiesa. Armchair pundits, by the way, howled when he came on.

35:11How are you not putting on 16-year-old sensation Rio? Was the consensus. But 88th minute, Alisson freed Salah, who crossed Petrovic, flapped the ball clear. It fell to Chiesa, who was moving away from the ball. And it was balletic balance. It was balletic poise, slapped at home artfully, ran off. What a time to score your first ever Premier League goal. Even he looked amazed in the moment. You said last week, and I loved it, he was more a song than a footballer. He was like a human meme, and then he did this. It must have felt so great, Ruk.

35:46Roger Bennett:Yeah, it was an incredible moment. I think it will take some topping for Liverpool this season, which sounds ridiculous, but his song became the kind of soundtrack to the final month of the season. It seemed to catch on after they lost at Chelsea, which is the week after they've been confirmed as champions. And by the time it kind of rolled around for that final day of the season against Palace, the Kop was singing that as much as they were singing anything else. And Federico Chiesa was not on the pitch. Chiesa has done very little as a Liverpool player. I don't think anyone expected him to still be a Liverpool player this summer.

36:19Roger Bennett:And it felt like there was all this energy kind of invested in him. People wanted him to do well so they could sing the song. And then you get this incredible moment where he scores the winner. As you say, he runs away pointing at himself as if to say, hang on, I've just scored. I can do that. I'm good at football. And it felt like this great outpouring of affection and just sheer unalloyed delight. And I'm sure that it would have been similar had Salah scored the winner or had Sobber's last scored the winner or whoever, but for it to be Chiesa, to be this player who will always be associated, I think weirdly, with that month after the title had been won.

36:59Roger Bennett:like this player whose name was sung constantly, for him to straw the winning goal the first day of this season after most people assumed his Liverpool career would be over, there's a poetry to that. There is. We can hear them crying in Chorin. Federico, he's here to win. One chat with Arna Slott and he said, Ciao, F off Juve. I'm a cup fight now. You talked about Salah scoring. He had a very, very quiet game. But of course, he got the dagger late. amazing. You knew he wasn't going to pass when he got that ball. He ended up in tears before the cop at the final whistle as they sung the Jota song.

37:39Just an emotional exclamation point on the night roar that really captured the two, the collision pass between a victory, a joy, a relief almost, It's a cathartic victory, but the tears, the loss, the agony, the trauma, really colliding in that moment. Triumph and tears, I think, is what I'm trying to say.

38:01Roger Bennett:It was a really moving, incredibly moving thing to see. Most of the players had gone. They'd all gone and applauded the cop, as you'd expect. They'd said, well played, to Bournemouth. They'd kind of milled around a little bit. And I think it was Salah and Sobberslay who were the last two off. And Sobberslay eventually kind of walked off. And Salah just stood there and didn't move. and there was a camera in front of him and a camera behind him. And he was clapping along to the beat of the Jot-A-Song and it started getting louder and louder and louder because the fans realised that he was standing there wanting them to sing it, almost encouraging them, conducting them in singing it.

38:35Roger Bennett:And I kept looking at it thinking he will move because he will suddenly realise effectively, oh, the cameras are filming me. This feels like a personal moment, but it's not. It's being broadcast around the world. And he didn't. And he saw him take a step back a couple of times and he thought, okay, he's pushed it as far as he's willing to go now. He's starting to feel uncomfortable. And then he stepped forward again. I think he realised he wanted that moment with the fans, for himself, with his friend, regardless of all the other stuff around it. And I think it plays two really important roles.

39:09Roger Bennett:One is it showcases what the Liverpool players are going through. You mentioned the comments starting to creep in of people dying, got to get over it, get on with it. So Mohamed Salah stood on a football pitch the first day of the season in tears because of what he's enduring and what his teammates are enduring. And that's an incredibly powerful thing for a player to do. He didn't have to do that. He could have gone and mourned inside, but he wanted to do it with the fans. He wanted to kind of feel his emotions. And I think that's an incredibly kind of powerful symbol of how much the players are suffering.

39:43Roger Bennett:but the other is it gives the other players permission to grieve in public and I think that is really, really brave, really bold because it's something we're really uncomfortable with as a society and we mentioned those comments I think we struggle to talk about it as a society because it's basically quite grim it's horrible talking about death for Salah to do that publicly is an incredibly brave thing for a player in that position to do to say, I am in pain and I am willing to show you my pain which caps this game in all of its enormity. Liverpool, honestly, so hard to judge on a night which was emotion-soaked.

40:22In a way, I've not seen an English football game in a long, long time. If last season was about control, this game was about chaos. But I watched and I was like, if you can navigate this, not just from a footballing perspective, probably more impressively from a human perspective, Liverpool can navigate anything. One quick note about Liverpool to end on a more joyous note. I did spend some time with Big Verge last week. It was really, really lovely. I've talked about this before. Jen smells amazing. Raw, at the end of it, I shook his hand. And then for about four or five hours after that, I smell amazing too.

41:03He wears that much cologne. I actually went to Manchester. and then believe it or not everybody that i shook hands with started to smell like big verge tape i mean i'm not a cologne wearer at all i like a good balm um but verge wears so much and it's so powerful and so stunningly beautiful he wears enough for you and the next 20 people you meet it's almost like a bit i spread a beautiful big verge cologne virus across the northwest but

41:29Roger Bennett:that's really nice that that means that people will smell nicer and if you smell something nice you're in a better mood. I don't know if he wears a lot. All footballers smell amazing. It's the one thing that isn't captured on TV. Pep smelled very good. Pep smelled very good. Big Virg is like that times 10. They all smell incredible. They smell better than normal human beings. Fans don't realise that enough. It's not because they wear more. It's because they wear stuff that you and I can't afford, Rog. That's what it is. Is that what it is? I always think it's just they're constantly showering.

41:57Footballers just constantly. They're either playing or showering. Those are the two modes.

42:00Roger Bennett:Playing, showering. They do shower a lot, footballers. And I'm guessing that they're allowed to spend as long as they like in the showers. There's no one knocking saying, come on, the water bill's going up, get out. I think they're all right to just be like, all right, come on. I'm going to have a 25-minute soak here. They shouldn't be environmentally, it's terrible. Playing, showering, just two moves. Just what I'd do. Just what I'd do. To the other massive game of the weekend, United nil, Arsenal one. I'm not a United fan. I'm not an Arsenal supporter. But my God, I was so nervous for both teams going into this one.

42:29I not normally am. But like United after that, what's it? Enos Horribles, their worst ever Premier League finish. How would they respond? Arsenal second place for a third successive season. Spending time at Arsenal last week, it felt like I was visiting Sisyphus right after the rock had rolled down to the bottom of the mountain again. He was kind of like having a little powerade and thinking about, how am I going to get it back up? Oh, I know. I'll spend$271 million on players who can do me the rock rolling hand. United, fresh off winning the Premier League Summer Series. You'll never sing that.

43:05Old Trafford, as you said, crackling in the sunshine, full of noise. Noise is hope. And you know what comes with hope? It can only be shattered hope, yeah? And we saw that on 30 minutes, very first Arsenal corner of the season. Mikel Arteta had promised me his team would be a volcano. We didn't know if they'd be a dormant volcano. Mount Kilimanjaro, or if they'd be as eruptive as Stromboli. It was more the Strombols, because Rice curled in a corner right under the nose of Bayandere, the Onana replacement. He flapped at it, limp-wristedly. Has to be said, under pressure from Saliba, who, with huge respect, made the contact look entirely accidental and unintentional.

43:47It was intentional. They had practiced that casual kind of backing in, so bloody hard in training. Would have been an own goal, but Califiori stooped in like a god of mercy and headed it over from like a clone's whiff of the line. Arsenal and corners roar, a continuing love story. Manchester United and goalkeepers, though. It just feels like an agonising, unnecessary, self-inflicted recruitment trauma.

44:12Roger Bennett:Yes and no. So I'm delighted we can once again talk about Arsenal basically cheating from corners. That was a foul. There is no way that's not a foul. I don't understand why it wasn't given. It's all those fouls. By the way, it's because he backed into him. If he'd done that forward, if he'd done that forward, it was because he did the backstroke into the goalkeeper. It looked like, oh, it's just in the fog of war. I'm just standing here and this guy's behind me. It's so annoying. Did you hit yourself? Yeah. Oh, come on. Bayern does have to be a little bit stronger. The problem United have got is they want a goalkeeper who can play out from the back.

44:48Roger Bennett:They have one. They've got two, in fact. They don't have any goalkeepers who can save shots or catch crosses. They'd like one of those. But there aren't that many out there who can do both. So Emi Martinez was the kind of theory at the start of the summer. I think they might have looked at Donna Rummer, who seems to be leaving PSG. There is a risk that they go through the season with Anana and Bayindir as their sort of alternating first choice. I'm not sure either is quite good enough. But I've got to admit, Roger, I thought Bayern did quite well in this game. I thought he played relatively well.

45:23Roger Bennett:And I'm not sure we should be judging him by the goal, because I think the goal was a foul. God, Califiori. Karl in the Discord wondered if he intentionally has Deadpool, nice pool hair, which I just adore. Incredibly, three of Arsenal's last four Premier League goals against Manchester United have all come from corners. That's your challenge with this. You know, if it was just this goal, it would be very hard to judge. but it has been three different defenders. This was Califuri, and the last two were like Timber and Saliba. I've got to credit United because they responded bloody well. Mason Mount drove them forward.

45:57Cunha hungry. Dorgu lashing one from wide that thundered off the post. From an Arsenal perspective, I expect a lot more from Zubimendi. Let's write him off after 90 minutes on a team in which, I guess you could be kind as a Arsenal are still adapting to Jokeres, a number nine, a focal point, 54 goals, 52 games in Portugal. But Arsenal of your, and by your, I mean the last two seasons were all about control. Some would say over control. Here they were trying to play looser, more direct, which meant that they lacked any kind of control. What did you see different in what Arsenal were trying to do this season with that splashing new, long dreamed of number nine?

46:41I guess it's the fact that

46:42Roger Bennett:Jokic doesn't quite become as involved in play as Kai Havertz would have done had he been playing there, say. It's less like having that kind of false nine, that extra midfielder effectively. So there's less space, I guess, for Arsenal to kind of weave the patterns they did last season because there's kind of a player who's separate from it. Not that Jokic was kind of completely isolated, but he's not the sort of striker who will drop in deep. He doesn't want to be doing that. He wants to be leading the line. He wants to touch the ball three times and score three goals. that's the type of striker he is.

47:14Roger Bennett:But to be honest, it's hard to tell. I thought United were the kind of animating force in the game. It's always difficult to say whether one team is playing well because the other team's playing badly or whether the other team's playing badly because the other team's playing well. We don't know, Rog. That's a philosophical question. But it struck me that United, and I don't want to get into this kind of, it sometimes feels like we live in a post-results paradigm where the team that won actually won badly. Yeah, it's not a gangster's paradise, is it? It's a post-results paradigm. that's funny we're spending most our life in a post-results paradigm this could catch on it scans it does scan actually weirdly but there's this temptation to say like oh United lost but they played really well so they should actually be happier that's not true Arsenal won it was a really difficult away game they'll be delighted to have ticked it off their list so early on with three points you can always take the sign that a team that has won unconvincingly that can be a sign that maybe there are flaws but it can also be the mark of champions, famously.

48:13Roger Bennett:But I thought United looked like the team who were making things happen. Arsenal looked quite reactive to me, which isn't necessarily a bad thing. That's not necessarily a criticism. But that front three of United, particularly when Cescou came on, they will be inefficient in lots of ways, I think. But they will be an awful lot of fun to watch for United this season. And there hasn't been nearly enough fun at Old Trafford for quite a long time. Yeah, I want to get to United in a second. Well, let's button Arsenal. It's hard for Jokic because, you know, elite players like Beto make adapting to the Premier League just look easy.

48:44He looked for a long part of this game like a 38-year-old League One striker in the body of Ivan Drago. And it was curious watching Arsenal-led, Arsenal-won, but United were probably, as you say, happier watching their press, the cohesion, Cunha, the way they targeted space behind the fullbacks. It was an intelligence. Yeah, Jokeresh went off. No shots, no creations, four passes, three turnovers. Arlen B in our Discord said more hair flips than completed passes. I think XG hair flip is going to be enormous for him. Let's hold off on that human being and give him more time there. Although I will say he will have a week in which the British tabloid buzzsaw learns all about that.

49:30From their point, John Champion had an incredible stat during the game. He said, since Sir Alex Ferguson left in 2013, United have spent over a billion dollars searching for their own striker and only two have scored more than 20 goals for the club. At Canati FPL had a great tweet, Cescou is the worst striker I've watched in the Premier League since Jokeres 30 minutes ago. But at the end of it, Roar, the message that Amarim had was super positive. He almost claimed the moral victory. The fans did too. they applauded the players off at Old Trafford. Even though Ruben Amarim has now lost 15 of his 28 Premier League games, which is really astonishing.

50:13He's the fastest manager to reach 15 defeats in a competition without taking charge of a newly promoted side. He said post-game, the most important thing is we were not boring. I mean, Roy, is it like style points that are going to save him?

50:28Roger Bennett:They'll stave off the problem for a while. And I think, look, given where they were coming from, it's fair enough for Manchester United fans, for the team, for the club, to say, we finished 15th in the Premier League last season, I think. Arsenal finished second. They have been, as Mikel Arteta says, the best team in the country for the last three years, if you count it as three years rather than as three individual seasons. To run them that close, to feel like they were the better side in lots of different ways, those are valid and legitimate signs of progress. That's completely fair enough. But there will come a point where that won't be enough for Amorim.

51:03And the danger for United now is that they're away at Fulham next week.

51:08Roger Bennett:And Fulham aren't, they've had a very sort of static summer. They've not really signed anybody. They're very much the same team they were last season. That almost now has a must-win feel to it. Because if United start the season off with two defeats, then all of a sudden, for all the fieldward factor of Mbwemo and Cunha and particularly Cesco, it starts to look like Amarim hasn't actually solved any of the problems. I don't think anyone at Man United is thinking they have to challenge for the Premier League this season. But you can't be having these endless weeks of defeat. So as much as there were signs of progress yesterday, as much as it's fair enough for Amarim and for everybody else to latch onto those as perhaps a sign that things are going to get better, he needs it to happen pretty fast because ultimately, and I know you laugh about this, but Manchester United is a club where expectations are extremely high.

51:56Roger Bennett:The club is not set up for slow burn development. There need to be signs that things are changing and have changed pretty quickly or Amarim will continue to have a problem. Victory for Arsenal, one I think contractually has to be used with the adjective hard for. I think the clean sheet, the defensive performance, particularly in that second half, was really quite impressive. And ultimately not losing was their crucial truth. They now face Liverpool, Forest, Manchester City and Newcastle in four of their next five. Progress step by step. I'd just say, I think Joca Rez was signed for the season and shouldn't be judged on one game.

52:43To Saturday, and the most dominant performance of the weekend, Wolves nil, Manchester City four and low. Pep Guardiola's 10th City season begins. Teams walked out to a quite magnificent Diogo Jota, Tifo at Wolves. We'll remember you when you walk in fields of gold. Diogo played there for three seasons. Portuguese flag was everywhere at Molyneux. It was really emotional. Once the football kicked off, the emotional flipped through to the rational. And the City question of how do you follow up? Only the second trophy of the season, Pep has experienced in nine years at the club was answered pretty emphatically.

53:18Wolves, got to be said, were aggressive. They were organized. Xao Gomez, Munetzi seemed to delight in improving the space behind City's midfield where Rodri once lived. There was a moment where City's aura levels did feel like they were back to November 2024. Tiny bit of fear, tiny bit of existential creakiness. But just when everyone was delighting in writing off the team who's won six of the last eight titles, Wall's seizing initiative, City just went and scored twice in the blink of Pep's eye. First, Erling Haaland netted his richer looping day goal set up by Tijani Reinders, skating through the gut, then electing to float an almost contemptuously beautiful lob pass towards Rico Lewis, who rolled the ball for Big Earl to tap in.

54:01Then there was that lightning counter for Moskobob, real class Harlan and debutant Reinders ahead of him. Used Harlan as the game's biggest decoy. Shocked me that. There was some bold selection to choose Reinders and he met the moment with a stunning, quite instinctive finish, Roar. Debut goal. What a performance. I don't want to say KDB who, but KDB who?

54:23Roger Bennett:But again, the value of the first impression. Reinders, I really liked whenever I watched him for Milan over the last couple of years. He's kind of an all-purpose midfielder. He can play deeper and sort of control a game. He can burst forward in that, yeah, that De Bruyne or Lampardian way, if we didn't give it a proper adjective. He's really technically good, really silky the way he moves. I think he's the sort of player that Man City fans, that all fans will enjoy watching, to be honest. but you still need that good first impression, especially coming from Italy. He's not like a massive name.

54:53Roger Bennett:He's not a superstar. Certainly wasn't when he arrived, despite the profile of playing for AC Milan. He needed that good first impression. He needed to kind of get off to a start that says, this is not going to be a problem for me. And I don't think there was a more impressive individual performance this weekend, was there? There was no one who kind of stood out. Maybe Richarlison. I think Greal's on Monday night. I'm just predicting the future. But yeah, second. This is pre-Leeds defeat of Everton on Monday night. Let me still dream. Let me still dream. Oh, yeah. By the way, Leeds definitely going to do us 2-1.

55:25Roger Bennett:But Rinders was the standout player in the game. He looked like there was no kind of fuss about moving to the Premier League. He didn't look like he needed a period of adaptation. He will now be the sort of player that Man City fans will see on the team sheet and not only be excited to watch playing, but will feel completely confident about. And those are the building blocks of the team getting its aura back. City scored. unbelievably with each of their four shots on target. Second half, Reinders again and Haaland combining a little bit like Dutch Han Solo and Norwegian Chewbacca. Haaland thrashed a pullback.

55:58Two goals off just 12 touches total. Those are proper Haaland numbers. And an astonishing golden assist on his debut for Reinders. Last City player. I think the only other City player to do that in the Premier League is you'll know him. His name was Kun Aguero. I think this is going to be a season of multiple weapons for Man City. Turkey came on within eight minutes, rolled one home. He's going to be a problem. On came Kusinov as a substitute. I do believe, just floating this out there, City fans could get a free chalupo or like a slice of Papa John's pizza whenever Kusinov subs in this season.

56:30Just make it happen. Premier League put on notice. Clean sheet two, even without the injured Rodri. The fans sang City are back. I actually spent time with Pep for an interview that comes out on Tuesday. he was on quite electric and fiery form. I can't wait for this interview to come out because he was just so funny and wonderful. Feisty. But he did say, Roar, this is a good result. But no more than that. Last season, we started against Chelsea and won 2-0. Look what happened later. Where are you between those two? Exact opposites.

57:05Roger Bennett:I think the fact that two of the new signings seem to have settled pretty quickly in Rinders and Cherky, that's a really good sign. I think the thing with City is it's psychological. It's psychological for them and it's psychological for the rest of the league. If City can put a run together early on where they are scoring three or four a game, they're winning every match, they look like they are Man City, then the rest of English football will believe Man City are back. If there are a couple of missteps in the first, say, six weeks of the season, then that's the point where it becomes a real test for Guardiola, for his players, because other teams will think, hang on, they were vulnerable last year.

57:43Roger Bennett:We can still get at them now. And I think you need a bigger sample before you can crawl between those two camps. Essentially saying the greatest trick the devil played was to persuade the world he didn't exist or something like that. I've got to say, huge, huge love to Wolves fans. Their team actually played boldly and well, even while being on the wrong end of a hiding. They ended the game in the fans in remarkably rhapsodic scenes, 4-0 down. but the fans stood up and sang their Abba inflected Vulevu Diogo Jota tribute Diogo Jota running down the wing Jota hear the Wanderers sing and it was just a sad ecstasy to witness less exciting but psychologically gripping Chelsea nil Crystal Palace nil your club World Cup champions meet your community shield winners that epic beat down a PSG in New Jersey a month ago still shocks on a slot amongst those saying that Chelsea should be massive title challengers.

58:40I expected them to win last season already, he told Talk Sport. Should they be given that sense of expectation? Not really on the evidence of this quite constipated 90 minutes. Eberice, Eze starting for Palace, last dance style. Fabrizio Romano suggests his move to Spurs is poised to go through this week. The fans at Palace entertain themselves inevitably by singing F UEFA, F John Texter for about the first half hour. Their team defended corner after corner and then marauded upfield in a really remarkable moment, Roar. Got to talk about this. He's a thrashed A3 kit with power, velocity, passion, precision right through the wall.

59:22Fell in the moment. I was just applauding the Premier League ecstatic script writing. Well done, sirs. It had to be him. He dropped to his knees. It's quite fascinating. He didn't point to the badge. He didn't kiss it. There was nothing. He just kind of prayed. So, you know, Kremlinologists analyzed those things far deeper than I did, but then VAR stepped in. Saw that Gehi pushed Kukurea aside like an NBA set play, block or charge. VAR actually didn't mind because we had the referee tell us the goal was ruled off for the proximity to the wall. I did not know this. You're not allowed to be within a yard of the wall, new seasons, new emphases on rules.

1:00:00I do find it amazing how fans very quickly find 100 Chelsea goals scored last season that were very like this. Another one that I wonder for you whether it will be called all season. It did kind of piss me off in the moment that this beautiful poem, this farewell epic goal was ruled off rationally. It's got to be said, but it was very NFL no funly.

1:00:23Roger Bennett:Yeah, I suppose you can't allow goals just because of the narrative benefit. Although personally, obviously, I feel that should be that maybe they should count twice. But I didn't know that rule either. And I don't think anyone knew the rule that you weren't allowed. Does people stand within a yard of the wall all of the time? That I just, yeah, that absolutely, I'm not sure that that isn't, couldn't be certain, Rog, that that even is a rule. And I suspect there have been, well, there have been lots of examples of this in the past. I admire the people who can pull those examples up, like within seconds of outrage on Twitter.

1:00:52Roger Bennett:I mean, it's amazing what you can do with ChatGPT these days. But at the very worst, sorry, at the very least, it'll be the sort of rule that is quietly amended in about three weeks time that goal should have stood i don't it it was one of those that did feel like it was not ruled out for natural sensible footballing reasons chelsea we're going to talk about them quickly they look like a team of really really good individuals many great um but yet to cohere they're so young so new um really lacked an idea of football other than just get a ball to cole palmer let him do his magic palace with Wharton, with Eze, with Mateta, with my translucent hero, Will Hughes, just had multiple ideas of attack.

1:01:36What a manager Oliver Glasner is. I mean, the addition of Estevão, Chelsea's 18-year-old, 115-day new style that made them fleetingly more direct, but they couldn't get behind the five men of Palace. They barely conjured a shot on goal in this one. How did you understand it? Was it that Palace have had a whole pre-season, I think seven games, and Chelsea had the Club World Cup, then three games off and then jammed two quick pre-season games in there? And essentially, we've got to be patient with them, with this unknown reality of how the Club World Cup will impact their form.

1:02:11Roger Bennett:We absolutely have to be patient with the effect of the Club World Cup. I'm not sure it should necessarily apply straight away. It felt to me like Chelsea basically should have been ticking over pretty well since the Club World Cup final. You get to then ramp it up with a curtailed pre-season and you're back into it. I think the impact of the Club World Cup will be December, January, February, when you're really in the thick of the season. This, I think, is just testament to how well organised Palace are. We saw at the Community Shield that Crystal Palace are a really good football team. and I think we should all, as fans of the lead as much as anything else, the lead is better when there are lots of strong teams around.

1:02:51Roger Bennett:You should really want Eze and Gay to stay for another season. And I think Wharton will. Please God. Because although there's mention of Manchester United, I think Palace will be looking at it thinking, look, the season's started. This is no time to come and offer us£100 million for our best midfielder. But then it is£100 million. pounds. Gay, it seems to have slowed down a bit, the link to Liverpool, whether there's dispute over price there. Liverpool have already signed another central defender. Maybe he will end up seeing his contract out. I mean, it's cruel, bro. It's cruel. It's cruel is what we're saying.

1:03:24They've 10 games unbeaten against massive teams, two trophies in there, and the reward, modern football, is to have the heart of the team ripped out. We've got to very quickly say huge, huge respect to Chelsea. News that the club players have decided to give a portion of their 15.5 million Club World Cup bonus fund. About$500 ,000 a player to the family of Diego Jota and his brother, Andre Silva, following their passing. It's just total class. I always say you see the truth of people in the darkest times. And if this is their truth, it is magnificent. From a London team who couldn't score to one who was suddenly potent.

1:04:00Tottenham 3, Burnley 0. Thomas Frankira begins. Last season, European champions. But yes, seven-inch place. out of the top 10 for the first time since 2018. How would they respond? Would they have brains over buccaneering, nous over naivete? How would Thomas Frank cope with a lack of total control and some of that Spurs chaos, which we'd seen in the Super Cup, where they were so dominant for 84 minutes against PSG and then he got introduced to the history of the Tottenham. Mahama Kuda straight into the starting lineup. I honestly didn't know what to do with myself watching a Tottenham that did not play as if they were all charging a German machine gun pillbox in the First World War.

1:04:44It took just 10 minutes for them to take advantage of the 81 % possession they enjoyed. In the opening exchanges, pounced on Burnley, playing out the back. Kudus body-shaped the ball across the face of the goal to find my friend Rich Arleson, who pirouetted the ball, skipping past Martin Dubravka. first Premier League goal of the Thomas Frank era, scored by Richarlison. Spurs did ease up, Burnley were direct, I'd say simple, effective, actually outshot Spurs, I think, 10 to 5 in the first half. But finding goals is going to be the greatest challenge for them this season. And Tottenham made them pay with a beautiful goal in which all 11 players touched the ball.

1:05:25Kudis and Richarlison combining again, crossbound Richie, which, oh, I mean, this bicycle kick, You only see it, well, from Richarlison in the World Cup 2022 or from like speedoed Brazilians across Copacabana Beach on your average Tuesday. It is utterly stunning. Richie Golden Boot season loading.

1:05:44Roger Bennett:Could be. It's very much a cartoon goal, isn't it? It's the kind of goal that you see when people who don't know anything about football do some animation about football. Like Richarlison. Yeah, people like Richarlison. Do we think this, is this the rebirth of Richarlison, Rog? How much faith do you have? Does he need a rebirth? Did he ever go anywhere? Yes. He used to be quite good at football and then he was terrible. But now he's going to all again. When I did that Everton show about a month ago, in the drinks afterwards, every Everton fan in the bar who'd come over from Liverpool, I would say eight out of 10 put their arm around me as we talked about the show and would lean in and go, why didn't you ask Moise when he's bringing Richarlison back?

1:06:25And I was like, I didn't know that was a question, but I'd love it. I love it. In fact, I think for Everton fans, He never went anywhere.

1:06:31Roger Bennett:No, there's a curious bond between Everton and the player who left them, which is not normally like a thing that people are happy about. Everton fans seem to really just really delight in everything Richarlison does. He's had a tough time with injury. He's never really shone at Spurs. I think that's probably fair to say. It would be lovely to think that maybe he's got kind of a late blooming quality to him this season that Frank can get the best out of him. Don't get me wrong, he is a Brazilian international striker. He does well for managers with Frank in their name. That's all he needs. He just needs a Frank to motivate them.

1:07:06And six minutes later, Brennan Johnson finished off the game on the break. So for Burnley, you've got a bloody brutal gauntlet for the first seven games. They did have moments, but for a team who can see there was 16 goals over the 963 championship games last season, leaking three on that first day is a bit of a warning. For Spurs, let's get hyped. There's a lot of chat about them in our Discord. I did love this one from 3jam4tea I'm going to really enjoy this victory but I'm also going to remember what happened in Nuno's first three games that is the ultimate great football comment Nuno if you don't remember when his first three at Spurs and then was fired within 17 games and I read that and I was like oh my god is that what Spurs has brought you life that kind of just whoa it's just as an Everton fan I applaud it three goals Spurs pushing to sign up at J.A.Z with a real confidence that the deal's getting close.

1:08:01Roar, let's just say Spurs, future so bright, got to wear shades.

1:08:06Roger Bennett:It's been a really encouraging start from Thomas Frank. And yeah, the Nuno thing is fair enough that encouraging starts don't always lead into kind of glorious golden futures, but it's hard to know what more Frank would have done at this stage. You know, they ran PSG really close in the Super Cup. That is a PSG team who haven't really trained since the Club World Cup. and also like Chelsea, maybe a little bit of mitigation for Chelsea there. PSG also looks a bit kind of jaded and drained. They drew with PSG. I don't think anyone was expecting that. Lost on penalties. Should really have beaten them.

1:08:37Roger Bennett:They were 2-0 up with about 15 minutes to go and then they go and put three past Burnley, make it look easy. He seems to have sort of rejuvenated players. They've got a squad that's full of young talent. Archie Dre and Lucas Birdval both started. There are really, really encouraging signs at Tottenham. Thomas Frank is not a glamorous manager. He's not a massive name manager. He's not a kind of proven winner in that sense. He's never won a major trophy. But he knows how to get the best out of his resources. And that is exactly what Spurs need. Smart. He is a smart, smart, emotionally intelligent man.

1:09:10He's like Ange with a really, really deep footballing IQ. And I love both of those men. Oh, Tabur me. I'm Aston Villa nil. Newcastle nil. Less a football match. More really the Spider-Man pointing at Spider-Man meme of two teams who recently let themselves dream and aspire. And a bit like Whitney Houston, they're now left singing, didn't we almost have it all? For Villa, it seems to be profit and sustainability rules. Villa apparently can't spend more than$6 million net this summer. Or because for Newcastle, nobody wants to move that way up north, evidently. Really a game played in the shadow of who was not there.

1:09:48The ongoing Alexander Ezek nightmare. Dan Byrne, Newcastle's captain, I crap you not, told the broadcaster before the game, he said this, These are real words. He said, we're starting from zero. We've got a lot to prove, which I think is as close to a Tracy Chapman quote as a Premier League player has ever admitted. Ro, you're a Liverpool fan. How are you understanding this quite brutal, quite brazen$203 million standoff? I mean, it is one of the most overt get-me-out-of-hairs that I've seen in modern times.

1:10:21Roger Bennett:Allowing for the fact that he still hasn't handed in a formal transfer request, which is the bit that will cost him money. And I wonder if that's the thing that is deployed when Newcastle have found their replacements and then that's how you kind of bridge the financial gap. It's really unseemly. It depends a little bit where your loyalties lie. I think Newcastle fans understandably feel completely betrayed and let down by a player they idolised. I think it's really hard to make the case that Izak has behaved well. But the flip side is that Izak's camp's version of events is they told Newcastle several times he wanted to leave this summer, that this was going to be his last season, that he felt it was the right time to move on for his career.

1:11:00Roger Bennett:And they felt they gave them more than enough time to kind of get replacements lined up and to get everything ready. Izak's point of view is that he doesn't really want to have to stick around just because Newcastle can't get a deal for a striker done. That's not really his fault. I'm not sure about lots of elements of the transfer, to be perfectly honest. It's a lot of money for a player who's not got the world's greatest fitness record. it involves throwing another striker into that Liverpool team when as previously discussed they could really do the defensive midfielder I'm not sure I like quite how toxic it's become it feels a little bit kind of unnecessary the standoff between Newcastle and the player but at the same time I'm really uncomfortable with the idea that Newcastle can just basically decide well you don't want to be here but we're not going to let you leave that feels weird to me I've got to admit I think it's really strange there's a thing about football's transfer market which goes unsaid and it's that we don't need to ask too many questions about the way it works there's a weirdness at the heart of selling the right to a contract for a random fee that you've made up in your head we don't want to undermine that too much because at some point someone will say hang on this doesn't make any sense at all it strikes me that at this stage it is very clearly in everyone's interest for the deal to get done so that Newcastle can spend that money on strengthening in their squad.

1:12:18Roger Bennett:If you look outside the Izak thing, they've had a really good window. They've signed some really good players in Newcastle. They are stronger than they were last season. They have the depth they needed. It's just a shame that Izak has cast such a cloud over it. No shots on goal in the first half for the first time in a Premier League game in three and a half years. It became mildly interesting fleetingly when Ezra Contza dragged down Anthony Gordon as the last man. Filled it down to 10 men from the 66 minute onwards. But the biggest joy of the day for them was the ability for the fans to sing.

1:12:47there's only one greedy bastard really the taste that they were left with was their inability to score which is something that they've shown over and over when Isaac doesn't play is the thing that is going to haunt them they face Liverpool next week and we'll be glad that Aston Villa left Jacob Rabsey behind with them I think he is going to be a great pick up but well played Premier League script writers for scheduling that one in other games including what Barney Rene so wonderfully called the middle range of the Premier League aka Brightford Muth Maranakis Forest 3. Brentford 1. Chris Wood, we were told last season was a fluke dude.

1:13:21Fine to keep up with. Checks, notes with Charleson. Scoring twice in the first half. Elliot Anderson delivering just delicious assists in this game. Second goal and Doi, the record$45 million. Who came in from Bologna. Just an insanely angled header. Paul Kelleher getting the Aaron Ramsdale at Southampton treatment in his first B's starting goal. There was a late coda of an appearance from Jordan Henderson too. It's first for Brentford, but so much to fear for newbie coach Keith Andrews, the set piece coach stepping up to fill Thomas Frank's shoes. It was really a brutal baptism in the world.

1:13:56Roger Bennett:I think there's a lot of people who feared that Brentford would be in for a tough season who will be feeling that maybe that looked right, that they've lost too much this summer. Still, Johan Wisser probably to go. They are an incredibly well-run club. They are a smart club and you trust them to kind of make a fist of it. but that was a worrying start. But as you say, Chris Wood, the finish for the first is so delicate and so beautiful and you just think, well, actually, for all that Forrest are about to spend quite a lot of money, Omari Hutchinson, James McAtee, I think there's two or three more that will come in before the end of the window.

1:14:26Roger Bennett:What a weapon to have Chris Wood is. Two season wonder. Brighton won, Fulham won. Really a forgettable tilt between two middle-class teams still playing off the rust for Brighton, betting in a ton of new young prodigies soon to be sold off to Chelsea. Seagulls seem to have done enough. Matt O 'Reilly netting a penalty. Fulham barely clenched a fist until the 95th minute when, with seconds to go, Muniz, their striking unit, had been linked to Atalanta all week. Her finish quite beautifully from a corner. There was like a flick, a clinically invented precision finish, and then he wheeled away and lifted up a Fulham scarf over his head, proudly presenting it to fans.

1:15:07Surefire sign he's going this week. Brighton began like they left off last season when 22 points were conceded from winning positions. Let's move to Sunderland 3, West Ham 0. It's been 3 ,009 days since Sunderland's last Premier League game. A plunge into English football's nether regions for this truly proud club. Fell as far as a third tier, 10 managers, one Netflix documentary, three sets of owners, some of them skullduggerous. Shout out to Charlie Meshvan, the guy who wanted to make their workout music a bit more Ibiza. But that's past because this weekend, Sunderland back in the big time.

1:15:43Stadium alike looks amazing. Sunderland is a proud city. It's a coal and shipbuilding town. And like most coal and shipbuilding towns, it's searching for post-industrial meaning, relevance. But it is a working class town. But like Newcastle, it's dread rival, but near neighbor. Football is everything there. Can you just take a moment, describe what a Sunderland is, this town of proud defiance to someone who's never been there before.

1:16:08Roger Bennett:Yeah, do you know, there's a lot of places like Sunderland in the north of England where, as you say, there are traditional industrial bases that have lost their jobs, a lot of their firms, and with it, quite a lot of their identity. A lot of the things that bound the communities together went in the 1980s and 1990s and were never really replaced. And I think in an awful lot of those places, football has become central. It's the central thing that defines identity in post-industrial Britain, which in itself is a huge amount of pressure for the game, for the clubs. What Sunderland would say about Newcastle is that Newcastle has been through a lot of the same stuff, but has also been a magnet for investment, certainly from central government.

1:16:47Roger Bennett:There's been a real drive to kind of make Newcastle the shiny beacon of the northeast of England. Sunderland has a lot of the same kind of issues in terms of it's a long way from London, it feels a little bit more isolated, it's very much a place of itself. but without all of that investment Sunderland feels a little bit more left behind than Newcastle does and that has bred resentment and it poses various social issues but it puts the clubs front and centre in kind of how the town, the city feels about itself and whenever you go to Sunderland you really feel the presence of Sunderland AFC it feels like one and the same I'm not sure socially, culturally that's that healthy I think places should have more than their sports team but in the meantime before anything else arrives it makes kind of the the well-being of Sunderland the football team incredibly important 178 million dollars splurged on 10 new signings seven starters including new captain Granit Xhaka Arsenal cult hero back and what a performance against West Ham who it should be said could not defend basic headers massive meltdown for them Graham Potter meant to really have an offseason to show what he could do with this team from the disaster class of last year.

1:17:59But it looks dark there. Chelsea up next for the Hammers, but Sunderland organised, counted in moments, ran rampant down the flanks, found huge gaps in the back line of their opponents, delivered a dominant victory against a team who were a Premier League fixture. They played Burnley, Brentford, Palace next. Really a kind start that they're going to capitalise on. I will say for Sunderland, if only you can play West Ham every week, but it was joyful to watch Sunderland fans who deserve this after that agony in exile and talking about agonies. 3 p.m. Eastern time today. Everton will lose at Leeds.

1:18:36I'm both filled with so much joy and so much dread. I do believe Dominic Calvert-Lewin and Jack Harrison, I dreamt of this last night, they're going to do us. But we've got Grylls now, Raw, DJ Grylls. All the Everton fans where they get your calves out and get moving t-shirts. I got a lovely letter from Amy Lazaridis in Brooklyn who's a City fan. She wanted to know Raw. I'm a Ted Lasso fan. Fiction is becoming reality. Sudeikis and Brendan Hunt came on your show, talked about how Jamie Tartt was in large part based on Jack Grealish. Am I right that in season one, Jamie, of course, was a bit of a prick, representative of so many pro players, but then he got better and better and better.

1:19:19This guy deserves another shot at being a talisman. I'm really hoping your Moyes-Helmed Everton can reignite his ability to score joyous goals for you like Jamie Tartt. Will he rule?

1:19:29Roger Bennett:I think Grealish will have a whale of a time at Everton and I think Everton will have a whale of a time with Jack Grealish. Everton are not, we've talked about this before and you took it as an insult. It's not meant to be, Rod. Everton are not going to be at risk of relegation this season. They are not going to challenge for Europe this season. This is a year of mid-table, what used to be called mediocrity in Everton's case. Bite your arm off. It should be like refreshing and energising. but they also they're in a new stadium it feels we talked again we talked about this a lot it feels a bit like a kind of new dawn for Everton and you need to build that on something you need something to hook people in to make them excited about games that ultimately won't have any broader meaning in terms of kind of where they finish will it be ninth will it be 12th who knows and Grealish will provide that he's a player that people want to watch and I think he'll benefit from that love that adoration that sense of importance so I think a lot of what happened to Grealish at City can probably be attributed to the fact that he didn't really feel like he mattered very much.

1:20:26Roger Bennett:Yeah, a maverick in a systems team. You know, which means I'm rooting for his redemption more than I can say. He's such a lovely human being. Sweet, sweet soul. And we're going to find out exactly what did propel this free fall at City. Was he lost in Pep's mania? Was it the injuries? Or was it what they call lifestyle choices? I've got to say, I pray that it's the former. and the noise he can feel rejuvenated because Everton fans want to love. I spoke to Everton last week. One of the people there said to me, he knows the goodness and roar, saying he knows what the fans want to see and he can deliver that.

1:21:02And I say the world feels a better place when Jack Grealish is playing with freedom and joy. And I do wonder whether it boils down to what Jack Grealish wants to get into more, the England World Cup team or the pubs and clubs of Liverpool. And I pray, I pray, I pray for all of us. Shouldn't football have space for both, Rog? I was going to say, chip shops, yes. Clubs, you know, just take it to deep one until we get to mid-table. And after that, do whatever you want, baby. By the way, getting Everton to the safe, climb to mid-table is more impressive than getting City to the treble in many ways and deserves an Ibiza trip.

1:21:39That's, if I was Moyes, that's how I'd sell it to him. Roar, let's finish with a Raven from a GFOP, the mighty Spencer Hughes. News. Ro, do the honors.

1:21:49Roger Bennett:This is from Spencer, as you say, and it says, I just wanted to share a cool story. I'm a middle school band director. I love it. Teaching hundreds of children armed with noisemakers is my happy place. Besides football, that is. But for so long I felt like I was a closet soccer fan at school. I live in a suburb of Chattanooga, Tennessee, the heart of SEC country. I felt like me talking about the football part of my life was always met with an incredulous look, along with a line of, that's a stupid sport to like, from most students. You can't take kids seriously. But I have noticed a vibe shift recently.

1:22:21Roger Bennett:I've longed for this great game to get bigger in our country, and it's given me great joy to see more and more of my students wearing soccer jerseys to school. It's made me feel more comfortable to start sharing things about the sport I love with my students. So today, I was explaining a musical concept for their improvement, and used Lionel Messi as an example. When I mentioned his name, I dropped the line, Lionel Messi, the greatest soccer player alive, and then continued with my explanation. To that statement, I had a handful of students shaking their heads and even shouting out how wrong I was.

1:22:49Roger Bennett:At first, I was upset at their open defiance of their teacher correctly. Then the frustration turned to absolute joy. Joy that these kids like this sport enough to have a strong opinion on who its best player is. I'm looking forward to unpacking their best player beliefs in the future. Thank you for everything you've done to help spread the joy that is this game in this country. I'm excited for it to only get bigger. Spencer. Oh, well, I love this story. Spencer, thank you. And I know how you feel living in a hotbed part of the country for American ball sports and sampling the groove of football, soccer even there is, I mean, it's just the joy of my lifetime.

1:23:23With a World Cup coming from afar, everything feels possible here.

1:23:27Roger Bennett:It does, but then you read emails like Spencer's and it makes you realise how far America has to go because there's loads of people wandering around who think Lionel Messi isn't the greatest football player alive. That is an ignorance that in many ways I blame Spencer for. You think? Yeah, I think it's his fault for not to go. I'm desperate to know the one detail you left out, is what name did they shout out? Please, God, one of the kids, one of the, maybe the French horn players just shouted out the word Beto. Does it, do you think it divides along the lines of like which section of the orchestra you're in?

1:23:54Roger Bennett:What do you, so maybe like the flautists have won a really sort of delicate player. I don't know. And the guy with the bassoon is just like, yeah, whoever's the strongest and the biggest, that's all I want. The flautists are definitely like shouting out, Gio Reyna, Gio Reyna, man. Just the most delicate footballer. It is wonderful. It's great. It is fantastic. And it's testament, yeah, as you say, to the growth of the sport. And you and I actually disagree about this a little bit, Rog, but I sometimes think that it's more evident from the outside of the US, the growth of the game there, like how embedded in the culture it's become.

1:24:29Roger Bennett:I think sometimes inside the US, the soccer community kind of loses sight of how far it's come because they're so conscious of how far there is still to go. You know, I feel it. I do feel that. We're about to launch a new show, Switch the Plate, which has got the stars of the NBA coming on to talk about their love of Premier League football. I really feel this way, like Spencer articulates, when I'm with J.J. Watt, my friend, like this is a guy who's a child of Wisconsin, Rory, grew up playing what, like gridiron football and hockey, knew nothing about football, soccer. And to watch him this weekend go to Burnley first and then fly to the other team he co-owns, Espanol and watch some clip Atletico.

1:25:12Honestly, I look at the social media videos of him drinking beers with hundreds of delirious Espanol fans. To me, it was like witnessing AI. It didn't look real, but it is real. It's so bloody real and it's fantastic. As I just said, when we've got JJ Watt and we've got members of Spencer Hughes, Tennessee band, everything's possible. That is the collaboration we need to see.

1:25:35Roger Bennett:the Chattanooga JJ Ansman with JJ Watt JJ Watt God I bet you I bet you I'm going to find this out JJ Watt I bet you plays an instrument and we'll be able to like what's your money on I've got a what's is it like the tuba like the big whoa whoa what's the he could be a trombone guy he never wanted to be a trombone guy oh my god that would be amazing if in those half time interviews like genuinely I watched a lot of documentaries about American high schools though as a teenager American Pie Clueless, all these. It is my, Saved by the Bell, it is my belief that the jocks and the band people are separate.

1:26:13Yeah, but also the band people who always end up being the coolest. Can you imagine, one of the halftime interviews next weekend, Bernardo Silva just pulls out a trombone, answers the question like, wah, wah, wah.

1:26:24Roger Bennett:That would improve the on-pitch VAR announcements if the referee had to do a Muppet voice and then choose, get a trombone out and say, elbow sets offside. That's what you need, Rog. We brainstormed it. And then we just solved football. By the way, Premier League player, first one to just stop beatboxing onto the microphone. That was the first one I will love forever. Spencer, I adored your letter. Keep sending us your postal addresses. We'll send you a patch. Send your best questions to Rory and me, either in our Discord or to meninblazers at gmail.com. That's it for today. We've got a Pep Guardiola interview dropping on Tuesday.

1:27:05Martin Erdegaard later in the week. We're filming with Alisson, amongst others, this week. Roar, huge, huge love to you, you Crown Prince of Harrogate.

1:27:14Roger Bennett:Alisson is my son's favourite footballer, Rog. Is he really? Tell me what your son wants to ask him and I'll ask him to his face. I will ask Ed what questions he'd like to ask Alisson and you can ask them to Alisson. Yeah, yeah, from Ed. One quick note, we are launching a new show, Big Weekend Preview every Friday. video yourself asking your biggest question of the weekend's football send it in to us there's a link to upload it all over our socials we'll answer as many as possible email those videos to us at meninblazers at gmail.com we'd love them this is Rog sending you big big love let's not take a second of watching football together for granted and courage