Hindsight = 20:20 Vision | Man Utd’s Squad: Bad Planning or Bad Luck?

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1:20I never thought Santos was going to be the answer if I'm to be really honest with you. My point ain't about if they're the right players. My point is where you invested your money in the squad. That's my point. I would have just done one left back, one midfielder, one striker. Hold on, wait, wait. Steve, Steve, so you're going to start the midfielder? You're going to start the season with Kobe Mainu, right? Ugarte with a cruciate, right? And one more midfielder. So you've got two centre midfielders to start the season with where you've got more games than you've had in the last five years. But the issue is, you've got the labour, you got Tillemans and you got Santos did you need all three that's what I'm asking yes and more

1:58yes guys it's Real Presents and we are back and a lot's happened at Man United since our last episode of Real Presents but I'm back with Steve Housen and Joel Baer guys the 1-1 draw with Leeds which Michael Carrick called a fresh start Maduweke made sure that Arsenal kept in touch with Manchester City at the top of the league and it's just seven days to the biggest individual award in football the Ballon d 'Or is given. Yes, yes, for sure. But before we go back into it, Rio, I saw your guys, Man United players coming out and talking the talk. Lissandro Martinez, was he right or was he wrong with what he said, Rio?

2:35Let us know. Players speaking out against the club. What's going on at United? Mate, I don't know, reacts to this. And I was like, you know what? If he's spoken to the hierarchy who he was talking about, beforehand, then I'd go, you know what? Absolutely fine. But if it's the first that they're hearing about it, which is in an interview, then I'd go, you know what? You probably could have approached it differently. Gone to them, got your answers. And if you're not happy, then you can go public, I think. I don't think I would have done it like that, but I would understand then how even why he got to that point.

3:10But I think that's a question we have to ask this Andro Martinez. Steve, what's your thoughts as a fan when you saw that come out? Was you thinking, oh damn, this is about to pop off? And is there a way back for him? No, I think he's probably finished at United. It came out afterwards, didn't he, that he actually tried to leave to go to Atletico Madrid, ironically, in the summer. So I think this is probably him semi-drawing a line under his United career. Whether that means January or the summer, I don't know. United have got an option to extend him. I'm sure they'll extend him just so they can get some sort of a fee if he goes in the summer because his contract is due up in the summer.

3:47with the option. I'm sure the option just gets triggered no matter what. I agree with what Rio said in the sense that there probably is a better way to go do it, but this isn't an emotional player. So I also understand that he's going to kick off and he's going to put it out there. I don't disagree with what he said though, because all he said is what we've been saying as fans throughout the entire summer. We needed more players. We needed more, you know this that and the other and united squad last season couldn't cope with a single game a week we knew there was going to be more games a week this week what have we actually added you lost casemiro you bring in tealmans you lost ugarte you bring in santos so the only extra player we've really got is balaba like that's actually not good enough when it comes to it building a squad you're an injury away from the disaster that we're happening and we've got Benjamin Sesko up front as our main striker he's injured you you was banking on Luke Shaw having another flawless season like he had last season guess what he's already injured sound Dogu who you did have last season you know he was injured a little bit last season he's injured again as well like we hadn't we hadn't actually added to the squad so I think he's absolutely correct now yeah you can argue about whether or not he should have gone and spoke to the people that he was kicking off about beforehand.

5:15I think that's a fair criticism of what he did, but you can't deny that his complaint wasn't valid because it absolutely was valid. But that makes the current players feel a bit mad, isn't it? I'm just thinking about it from a workplace perspective. I think he's right, by the way, but in terms of like his colleagues... I'd be surprised if they disagreed, mate. I'll be honest with you. No, but I'm talking about if you're like a Tillemans or do you know what I mean, a Santos or... Because we all know what it's like and all it takes is to upset one or two or maybe even three players and your whole season can be kaput in it.

5:45Are you going to look at it and go, bruv, I've just walked through the door, bruv. Like, now you're making, you're putting all the heat on me. I think if you saw Tee Lewins' interview after when he was told, he looked awkward, man. He looked like, and I think the question from some of those players that have come in the door of this transfer window would be like, is he talking about me? Does he not rape me? Does his little crew that he's with not rape me as well? Like, questions just start coming out that weren't there before and you don't need that unsettling within the squad. And I think that's the, that's the biggest bit for me if he's had this conversation with the players and gone listen boys i'm not happy with this i'm going to say this like in a little while then listen and the squad go yeah cool that's fine that's that's that's cool i mean it's like wayne rooney when he came out and talked about uh questioning the club's uh ambition and stuff like that like there were players in the squad that would have gone to wayne like listen man that ain't really cool and then wayne obviously went and said something out in the media again to kind of go which which martinez has done as well since but it just shows you that it's not a perfect situation when that happens and no one's saying that you can tell you that the sentiment of what he's saying there ain't some truth to it maybe or some people are going to believe it some people are going to agree with it and some people aren't but you know what i think i've been looking at this as well right and like the makeup of the squad and like i feel people are speaking really with a lot of benefit of hindsight um and if you look at this graphic here i've got a graphic i've got a graphic of the squad before we went into the transfer window you look at it and you go well like Regate, by the way, done his cruise ship at the World Cup, so he's not going to be available.

7:13Obviously, we've lost Casemiro, but you've got Kobe Mania, the only centre midfielder at the football club. And people are going, oh, we needed a this, we needed a that. We needed centre midfielders at the football club. So we had to go and buy it and had to go and get them. And I think there was a little bit of negativity around Andre Santos when he signed from Chelsea. But other than that, I think when we actually got our moves done, everyone was looking at it positively. Steve, he was looking at it positively, going, I think this has been a good window. So like a lot of the fans. But now with hindsight, everyone's going, oh my God.

7:42And you've got to remember this interview. You look at, I mean, injury. You look at the game yesterday. You've got, you're missing De Ligt injury. You're missing Aiden Heaven injured, two centre-backs. You're four centre-backs, five centre-backs that you've got. You've got your other centre-back playing right back because Masraoui's had an injury. He's coming back. You've got Shaw and Dorgou, your other left-backs who are injured as well. Then Martinez goes off injured in the game. Like it's decimated the squad. I mean, if you look at the graphic I've got here last time, and we actually lost, I played actually at Ellen Road, my first game back at Ellen Road.

8:13Look at the squad there. Look at that squad. Like again, another decimated squad. Look at the bench. So it does happen where you go to places. It's not always perfect, but you've got to find a way through these situations. And I think a few people, a lot of people have been going, oh, Rio's too positive about the team all the time. And like, I'm just being realistic, man. Like, do you not think if Man Utd could have signed Anderson and Buradier, these type of guys, they wouldn't have gone and closed them deals straight away. But financially, it's absolutely impossible, incapable of getting anywhere near those deals.

8:43Let's start here, for instance, the backup striker. Because, Steve, I've heard you speak about the backup striker loads. And I think Danny Welbeck's situation when he went to Chelsea really put people's nose out of joint. And I was like, why can't we get that deal done? But the club couldn't get Zerzi out. And the club aren't in the financial position to be able to absorb big wages and wages that are in the squad and just let them sit there. You've got to use the flexibility just within your squad as well. You look at Mbemo, he can play up front. He scored yesterday against Leeds. Rashford has played up front many times.

9:13Cunha can play up front. So you've got to utilise that. So they're probably looking at it and going, we've got enough cover there, really. Not out-and-out strikers, but people that can cover if Cesc was to get injured. Rio, it was never going to be enough cover, though. Like, you could tell. Looking at that team, it was always going to be a little bit light. I don't know what the circumstances are. Joe, what do you mean it's going to be a bit light? You've got Zerksy. you've got Mbwemo you've got Cunha and you've got Rashford there's four strikers that can play up front there's four players who can play up front I can believe none of them are a striker though nah I was going to say what?

9:45Rashford Rashford is never going to be we've all known for years now he's not a number nine what I'm saying here I'm not saying these guys are number nines for the rest of their careers I'm saying if you wanted a bit of cover for a bit of time and you've got four players that have shown that they can play there for small periods of time with hindsight you go oh we should have got so-and-so. But when you look at it like that, you go, you know what? Actually, that's enough cover. I can spread it around. If he falls out of form or he's injured, I've got him there. I've got four people that can go and play in there who've showed they can do it.

10:15Rashford doesn't get on the scene and burst on the scene, left wing or right wing. He's done it as a centre-forward. I think the issue is, is we know Zertski ain't been up to it. So whether they can move him on or not, you're looking at him and you're already going, oh, that's going to be a problem. But Joel, that's not the point. The point is you can't move him. So if you can't move him, you're snookered. You've got to stick with it. You can't sit there and go, yeah, but Zergsie never was going to fit. Yeah. They've signed him. They've maybe found that actually he might not be fit for purpose.

10:45But the business element comes into football. That if we can't move him, we have to stick with him then. Man United aren't in a position where they could go, oh, you know what? We've got a player that surpassed the requirements. Can't get rid of him. We'll still go and buy another one. The finances are not allowing that. We had Laurie Whitwell on the debrief doing a deep dive into the finances. And what we learned is that there's not a lot of wiggle room when it comes to the transfers. And that's because of the debt that the Glazers have loaded onto this football club. And that's wrong. Completely.

11:11Obviously online, there's people saying that you need to stop yapping and calling out the owners, Rio. If they didn't see it last time, what did you say? Because you've got to take all of the things we've just discussed into account when you're analysing certain moves or transfers or situations around the clubs. and sometimes you have to be realistic about where Manchester United are now. Man United can't go and blow money like Liverpool, Chelsea, Man City. They can't. So sometimes you've got to do what you've got to do in the window. Like I want to stress this point again, if Man United could have paid the money for Anderson and Buadi, do you not think they'd have gone and done it?

11:46They couldn't. You can't blow your whole transfer budget, £115 million on Anderson, when you've only got Kobi Mainu as your fit midfielder there and one of the midfielders in that position where you need two players, he's the only one in there. And by the way, I don't think he's ever played 75 % of the games anyway. So you don't know if he's going to be able to do that. He's actually injured now, right? Unfortunately. But I'm saying, so the fact that they went and stacked amount of players in the midfield area, when you look at it, before you get your hindsight on, it actually made quite a lot of sense.

12:19Now, you can debate the quality or the type or whatever. I'm not debating that. it's more about the numbers that they put into those positions Man Utd started the season with Luke Shaw and Dorgue as left backs with Maz Rauwi who played for Morocco left back in the World Cup as another one you can cover and everyone's going oh my god we needed a left back we needed a left back before what? before centre midfielder? I don't know I think the issue is you man went for two centre midfielders I think that's what I'm hearing from you lots look at that hold on hold on Look at that squad before the transfer window.

12:58You've got Bruno and the Mount who can play in the 10. That's their best position. Mount who never finishes a season, by the way. Yeah, but that's not the point, Joel. Stop going on about stuff that's irrelevant. You've got Kobi Manu in there on his own. Kobi Manu's on there on his own. Ugar has done his cruise ship, right? So you're saying just buy one more midfielder? Is that what you're telling me? I never thought Santos was going to be the answer, if I'm to be really honest with you. My point ain't about if they're the right players. My point is where you invested your money in the squad. That's my point.

13:27I would have got a striker for sure. A striker or if not a striker, I would have just done one left back, one midfielder, one striker. Hold on, wait, wait. Steve, Steve, so you're going to start a midfielder. You're going to start a season with Kobe Maynou, right? Ugarte with a cruciate, right? And one more midfielder. So you've got two centre midfielders to start a season with where you've got more games than you've had in the last five years. But the issue is you've got Baleba, you got Tillemans, and you got Santos. Did you need all three? That's what I'm asking. Yes. And more. Wow. Wow. But look at it.

14:01Kobi Manu's already injured. All three of the signings played last couple games. But that's hindsight though, Steve. No, that's squad management, mate. We needed all three. If you're talking about squad management, why didn't you go get a left back then? Because we needed that as well. Joel, can you look at the squad there, please? I'm looking. The two left backs, Luke Shaw and Dorgou. They're both injured now. With hindsight, you go, oh, we should have brought a left back. If you've got two left backs, by the way, and Masrawi, who played in the World Cup for Morocco, who played left back there, right, as your third choice as well.

14:35And you've got Harry Amass as a young kid, right? There's four there. Why is everyone jumping on the bandwagon? We needed a left back immediately. Because I also look at players that are likely to not finish the season or likely to get injured. Shaw is always going to get injured during the course of the season. Scratch that off. then you can talk about moving Masraoui as a left back but then it means that you're still going to need cover for the right back and then on top of that you've got I understand Mason Mount where's Dogu where about Dogu he got bought as a left back can I speak he got bought as a left back but before he got injured Rio where was he playing he's been bought as a left back so what I'm saying what I'm saying is he can play left back go on Steve go on what's the point the whole point is you was resting your entire season on Luke Shaw staying fit and it was never going to happen then you had Harry Amas as his back up throughout the entire pre-season, Dogu was a left winger.

15:25The first time we saw him at left back was Manchester City. And that was only because of the injury. So we'd been spending all summer trying to play this guy as a left winger. And then he plays as, maybe because we thought Rashford was going, I don't know. But like, did we need those midfielders? Yeah, we did. Because we didn't have any. But we all, like, and the left back situation, I think it was because we all looked at Lewis Hall and went, that's a Manchester United left back for 10 years. And this is the cheapest you're going to get him at the moment and you solve that problem and you solve that position rather than being reactive like this football club has been for so long and the club's even come out and said that not getting a left back and a striker was a flawed plan for this summer no shit it was flawed so we all looked at Lewis Hall and went there's a player that wants to come to Manchester United there's a player that's gettable for Manchester United go get him it wasn't the fact that we shouldn't have signed the midfielders we should have done we needed them but we also should have signed that and we also should have brought in a forward and I know that You've got issues with contracts and wages and we needed to move this guy on and we failed to move that guy on.

16:25Yeah, that's a problem. But at the end of the day, what we've got right now isn't good enough. And I'm just going to read you out. And I know it's the benchmark, but for me, this is who we're supposed to be. We're not meant to be mid-table Manchester United. In 2008, I'm just going to read you the names of the strikers that we had available to us. And then I'm going to read what you just read to us. We had Cristiano Ronaldo. We had Luis Aja. We had Ole Gunnar Solskjaer. We had Carlos Tevez, Danny Welbeck, and Wayne Rooney. Woo! Are you fucking kidding me? Fire! And here's what we've got at the moment.

16:58Sesko, who's injured. Zerksy, who's shit. Rashford, who's a winger. Cunha, who's a number 10. And Brian Mbumo, who plays off the right-hand side. Different times, though, man. Yeah, better times. And there's a reason there were better times. They're nowhere near the level of the players that you just mentioned. That's a fact. Ain't that the truth? But you can't be judging. This off of that, our aspirations are to be a championship winning team. That's not a doubt. But sometimes you have to be realistic. Where are we starting from right now? Where are we? We ain't a championship winning team. We should be consolidating getting into the Champions League again.

17:35We're not a much winning team at the moment. That pains me. That pains me to say that, right? But that's reality. It's like Arsenal all these years ago saying we should win the league, we should win the league. They weren't ready to win it. They are now. They've built towards it. You've got to build towards these things. But how long is the building though, Rio? Yeah, as long as it took Arsenal, four or five years maybe. I don't know, right? But my point is, yeah, nothing is overnight. You don't win anything overnight. Success doesn't come overnight. And if it does come overnight, it's not sustainable.

18:04Look at Leicester, all right? So these things you have to build towards them and there has to be a starting point. And I get people going, well, where is the starting point? How are we starting? But to sit here and go, oh, we should have gone and bought a left-back for 60, 70 million pounds, which is what it would have costed, right? blow it all away, right? And then be light in other areas as well. We're only light in left-back area right now because all three were injured at one point. That's hindsight. That's hindsight you're looking at. We couldn't... Rashford, they tried to get rid of Rashford to Barcelona and they thought that was going to happen.

18:35They thought Xerxes was going. Both of that had been absorbed back into the budget, into the spending of the wages. Imagine if they freed up them type of wages and got that money, what that could have done for the transfer window. They were assuming that was going to happen probably. Steve, here's one for you. Would you make it a fact that Man United have had the fewest amount of minutes played by new signings of any Premier League club? I think the bigger issue is there's always money to pay the debt. That interest payment never gets put on a back burner until next year, does it? That's a different argument.

19:05And I totally agree with you, Steve. That needs to be fucking looked at. That debt needs to be fucking sorted out. We've wasted£1.5 billion in 20 years. And, you know, it's obviously grown and it changes. It's somewhere in the region of like 80 to 100 million a season. Imagine over the last three seasons, we'd have had an extra 100 million pound player. We're a different place. But here we are for 20 years, 21 years. This, this club has just been absolutely rinsed by the Glazers. And we're never going to compete while we're dealing with that. And I don't know how you get rid of it. You know, apart from some sugar daddy that just decides he wants to blow his cash all over the place.

19:47Loads of money don't equal good money. We've seen that. We've spent loads of money over the years. Shit. Ain't done nothing. I know there's money been going out of the club. I get it. But Man United have a machine that just generates money. We know that's a guarantee that Man United, no matter what happens, Man United generate big bucks off the pitch commercially, right? That ain't going to change, right, for the foreseeable future. But we've seen that we can throw cash at this, and you still fall behind, and you're still behind teams. Look at PSG. they threw cash they had Messi Neymar and Mbappe up front you know how much they was paying those man the amount of money they were throwing at that still couldn't win still couldn't get to the holy grail but they've got a ethos a culture an environment that is conducive to now winning that's conducive by the way and he's driven by the first thing at the top of the paper is hard work and I look at that and then if that ain't a model to follow and to go actually that That is actually a blueprint because that's just the fundamentals and the basics that we all know and grew up on.

20:52At any club that's successful, you've got to run more than their position. You've got to have intensity. You've got to win your 1v1 duels. You've got to be unapologetic with your behaviour of demanding from others in your team. You've got to have players in there that are willing to fall out with their teammates for the betterment of this squad. If it means I'm going to call you out every day for six weeks, I'll do it. Even if you ain't going to like me and all your little cronies around you ain't going to like me. but in six weeks' time, you're going to realise it's for the betterment of this squad to win.

21:19And I look at United now, and we need more of those types of people at the club. You've got to have people. That's why I said before, and I'm going to go back to it, at times when you're looking for players for this football club, it ain't about who does the best flicks and tricks and scores goals. It's who's the best human. Who are the right human beings that are going to drive culture? That's why I said Harry Kane at the time. That's why I said Declan Rice at the time. You can love him or like or hate him as players, or you can think he could be better at that. He ain't as good as him. But I'm telling you, the right type of people you want in your squad who are going to be drivers of good culture.

21:54I'll be honest with you, though. I don't know if now the culture issue is what it was before, though. What do you mean? I think this is an area where Emmerim will never get the praise that he deserves. I think he really wanted to come in and change a lot of that kind of stuff. I think now you're in a better place. A manager on his own ain't doing it, bro. A manager on his own can't go anywhere. Ferguson on his own can't change shit. Ferguson on his own. Pep on his own can't change shit. Klopp on his own can't change shit. You need lieutenants in there to carry that message with the authority that you've got as a manager.

22:28I think it's better than what it was. But you know what? Steve, I'm asking you, when you're looking at this worst start to a Man United season since 1987 or whatever the stats were that I was saying, would you have kept Amorim? Yes or no? hindsight stupid joe but it's a question it is it can be a stupid question though go on i want to answer make it make sense because right now man right but right it was time to move on man cool but right now and i and you know what i generally can see as well what carrick was trying to do but the stats are showing that would it have been any different what well yeah it could have been worse it could have gone down last season mate yeah realistically like it could have been way worse it could have been absolutely worse look I think Michael Carrick and you know we haven't even spoken about the match yesterday I saw some real tactical innovation yesterday from a man that was under pressure I saw two formations in the same game completely different and they worked and the only reason that we didn't come away with the free points in that game is the same problem that we've had since the Wrexham game.

23:39Crosses in the box. Crosses in the box. Can't deal with defending the box, which is not good enough still. But, you know, we had a 4-2-4 shape with the ball. We dominated Leeds' three in midfield with four players. And then we switched it into like a 3-4-2-1 without the ball. And we went man for man with their five across our five at the back. That is tactical innovation from a man that is being told he's getting the sack soon. So that takes some bollocks. but in terms of where we are this season it's the worst start since X it's the worst start since Y yeah you're right it is but is there no context allowed?

24:15we don't have a striker we don't have a left back we're still embedding our new signings in like we saw was it the first start in the Premier League for Santos first start in the Premier League for Balaba you've just mentioned we've got the lowest new minutes for new signings like there's some context to all of this Last season we had Bruno Fernandes, legitimately one of the best players in the world. I don't know who the guy taking to the pitch wearing his shirt is this season because it ain't the same guy. You know, where's all the context that gets given to this? If you sack Michael Carrick, who comes in now?

24:47You tell me which name comes in now and makes this any better. Antonio Conte. Shut up, Joel. It makes it better to the end of the season. You asked me a question and I answered it. But then this time next year, we're in a worse place because he set fire to the gaff. bro you don't know that if you know you do know that no because rio five minutes ago is telling us about standards and they have to follow the manager and what the manager says antonio conte is capable of doing that right man we got loads still to come right on this pod but we'll be back shortly after this therapy's biggest impact doesn't show up in some dramatic breakthrough it shows up in the smallest moments you bite your tongue instead of escalating you put your phone down instead of firing off that text.

25:33You say what you actually mean instead of what would hurt someone else the most. Nobody applauds those moments, but they quietly change your life. That's what growing feels like, and that's exactly what Grow Therapy is here for. Grow is therapy that works, covered by insurance. Sessions average$21 with insurance, and some pay as little as$0 depending on their plan. There are no subscriptions, no long-term commitments. you just pay per session. Grow connects you with thousands of high-quality licensed therapists across the U.S., offering both virtual and in-person sessions, nights and weekends.

26:09You can search by what matters, like insurance, specialty, identity, or availability. And you can book a therapy session in minutes and begin in as little as two days, not the national 48-day average. See if you could pay as little as$0 for therapy in seconds at growtherapy.com slash start now. That's growtherapy.com slash start now. Growtherapy.com slash start now. Availability and coverage vary by state and insurance plan.

26:43Hindsight is a great thing. That's the word we've been using a few times already today, right? But last season, Michael Carrick came in, the most winningest manager that we had, right? Done a great job, got us to Champions League football, right? Has a transfer window where there's constraints. Players come in, like Steve said, not bedded in yet. Still need time to get embedded into the squad, into the culture, into the club, et cetera. Loads of injuries, right? There's context for this, yeah. And then the manager's still trying to work his way through this, right? And I'm seeing people go, he should get the sack.

27:14He's not up to it. He's this, he's that. What are you talking about? You need time to build anything, right? And there's context alongside all of these things as well, which I think the problem in today's thing is everything's quick and clickbait. Look at it. And that's why I wanted to look at the squad and talk about the recruitment this summer. Because people are just thinking with hindsight and thinking quickly and going, I should jump on the bandwagon. There's more to it than this. And I think Steve's point about the manager in the game against Leeds, high pressure situation, spotlight, everyone's looking and looking for blood, paying for blood they were.

27:48The fact he's gone in and changed it up, moved things around in there and got a response physically and from application as well and the way they apply themselves, I think it's testament to him. We don't even get the credit for that, right? The players need to go out and do that, yes. But that's the difference that I saw in this performance. There was a work ethic, winning 1v1 duels, fighting, rolling their sleeves up before anything, before tactics, before they had to fight. You've got to earn the right Ellen Road to go and get a result. And they got a draw. Yeah, disappointing because we won't 1-0 up.

28:18You think we should have just been able to hold out, but we can't defend crosses. And this isn't anything new. So there's things that have to be worked. but I saw enough yesterday that goes, you know what, actually, he could actually turn this around with the players, get players back fit, get players back believing in themselves again with some confidence and you could see a difference in this team again straight away. I mean, just for context, Rio and Steve, United were actually sixth when Amarim got sacked. That was level on points with Chelsea who were fifth as well at the time so they weren't facing relegation.

28:45But I want to ask tactically, what does a pairing of Baleba and Santos give United? Let's talk about Baleba. but Leibar's got huge potential his upside is huge right but he still has a lot to do there's a rawness about his game there's an inexperience about his game so he's got to get coached he's got to see good practice good habits throughout from other players as well but I think he's got the potential to grow into a very very very very very very good player very valuable player for Man United if coached right and the environment secures him because all players need the environment to help lift them as well I needed it Wazza would have needed it All the players that signed for the club over the years need it.

29:24And these guys are no different. But he needs consistency of teammates and consistency of messaging across the board as a young midfielder to keep getting those messages and then implement them in the game. So I think Balebi, you're going to see ups and downs in his performance. On the other hand, Santos, I think he's a 7 out of 10 every week, Santos. That's what he's going to be. He ain't going to be no more or no less. That's him, 7 out of 10. If the game spreads and opens up, then he could go below that. Because physically, he could get overrun with big spaces. But this is a kid, by the way, who's captained, I think, Brazil at every level.

29:56He's now part of the first team squad with Brazil, right, as a young player. And when he was at Strasbourg, I saw many people talking about him being one of the top three, five midfielders in the country that year that he was there. As a young kid, even captaining Strasbourg, right, in France. Different league, I know. But I'm just saying, what he's shown is that managers tend to trust this kid because he's not doing the flicks and tricks. He wins it, breaks the line a lot of the time. Gets in good positions. And I think he's one of those guys who will turn out to be a player's player. And some of the stuff that the naked eye sometimes might just miss.

30:32I'm not saying he's going to be an absolute world-beater right now, but I'm saying that he's a solid player who I think he will be appreciated by his teammates. You and Giggs are always speaking about a Manchester United-type player. Is Biloba a Manchester United-type player? I think he could be, yeah. I think he really could be. I think his upside is huge. I think he's got so much potential. He can take the ball while being pressed in different areas of the pitch, can beat the press, has that yard of pace, has the physicality to hold up challenges and ride challenges. He can pass the ball nicely as well.

31:05But he's got to bring that all together. Them things sound great in isolation. It's about being able to bring that together as coaches and as a club to get the best out of him on a consistent basis, bringing all of those areas together. Yeah, I think the way he plays, I mean, he comes onto the pitch against Spurs and flattens someone instantly, and you think, I like that. He's got the physical makeup. He doesn't get on the ball a lot. I thought he would get on the ball a lot more than he has done. But he absolutely puts himself about. He's got the sort of qualities where you go, I think he could end up as a bit of a cult hero, to be honest.

31:40I think he's got that sort of quality about him. And it's early doors yet. Obviously, he's still managing his injury, I think, looking at the minutes that he gets. But yeah, I think he's been good. And I think whatever downturn season he had last season, put it behind him and I've been impressed so far. Rio, you've spoken about the inability to defend crosses. Leeds with wing bats, right? They put loads of balls into the box. If you were to rate the defence on how they performed, what would you say? Well, I thought Jorah was excellent in defending the box, defending crosses, especially on the back post.

32:20He played like a centre-back playing right back in the game, actually. You could see really good defensively, defensively for them first actions especially. But Steve said it loads of times. I've said it again. This isn't a problem that should happen this season. This has been going on for a long time now, over the last couple of seasons, that balls come into our box. First of all, it's too easy to get balls in our box. They're coming in a lot of the time unopposed or they're two yards off rather than being one yard off, getting the player on the ball's head down. And when the ball does come in there, I will give them a bit of grace in that there's that many balls coming in that someone's going to get a ricochet and a chance at some point to score.

32:58But still, I think they could do better defending the box. And I don't think there's enough pride taken in that art form anymore. Not just the main night, by the way. I think that's the whole of football. I watched Hakimi the other day. At one moment, he was the highest player on the pitch for PSG. And in the next breath, he was defending a 1v1 on the edge of his box against arguably one of the most sharpest and most dangerous wingers around at the moment in 1v1 situations in Doku and dominating the situation taking the ball off him like because he was willing to get close and engage and put the wingers head down and say right go on you're going to have to do a lot to get by me it was just these things I just don't think that pride in the art of being good at attacking but then equally the same at the back I don't think that's as prevalent as it has been in the past yeah but it's also about ability, man.

33:47There's only a few players that can do it like that at the highest level, innit? So yeah, it depends on who you got. Steve, what would your team selection be against Como? Go on, Steve. Well, we've got a bit of a crisis in defence, haven't we? I don't know what the situation with Heaven is, which is a shame because I thought it was fantastic against Atletico. Martin has picked up a knock at half-time. you're always suspended because of that ridiculous red card last week which I don't know how it's a 50-50 challenge one person falls over you get a red card alright noted so who've you got available you've got Aaron Maguire, Deleu maybe Mazraoui oh Johnny Evans is registered like I have no idea like I have no idea like it's a problem maybe you see Belaber at left back because we know he's filled in there before maybe you see him at centre half it's not looking good brev we might play Harry Amath Harry Amath might come in yeah it's going to have to be in it you haven't got senior players you haven't got enough senior players simple as that and then yeah midfield will shake out whatever happens in the back line maybe he does what he's just done and go fuck it I'll play Rashford left wing back I'll play Ahmad right wing back and I'll just put my three my only three defenders as my three defenders which would be what Delo, Masraoui, Maguire.

35:15But Heaven might play, though, because he was only ill against Leeds, so he could return. I hope he's all right, because, boy, do we need him. By the way, I'm looking forward to seeing how Como play football. Have you seen some of their clips, mate? Wow. They're playing soccer. They're playing soccer. They're saying, press us. Press us if you dare. That's what they're saying. And on top of that, off the pitch, they're stylish as heck, man. They're doing a good job. But let's move it on to the champions. I'm going to go through a tunnel. Let's move on to the champions. Oh, you know what? Joe, did you hear Madiweki?

35:53You said that the team showed champion spirit against Forest. Did you agree with that? Yeah, I do think so. But I also, I'm going to admit though, it does worry me that we're not slapping teams the way City are slapping teams. Like, I just, I want us to go there and just really, do you know what I mean? let teams have it. When you look at City's results, it's like, I know that they conceded two against Ipswich, but they were always going to win that game. It's three goals over there, three goals against Liverpool, five goals against Sunderland, five goals against Norwich. Do you know what I mean?

36:24You guys are probably the only team and Coventry that they haven't slapped. I want to see more conviction when we're playing these teams instead of like last minute winners. Do you know what, Joel? I know Madureka is going to get the headlines because he scored the goal, which is great. But what I will say, and you know what, from the bench, Bruno, Grumere and Madureke both making game-changing impacts, right? And from the bench. But yesterday, your defenders, Konza, they needed a pat on their back. I saw Declan make a great block as well. The block Konza made at the end of the game, oh my God, that's a match winner.

36:58He deserves a bump up in wages just for that alone. Huge, huge moment. It's quality. And I see people trying to hammer Konza. Why have we bought Konza? That's why. Because he's consistent, he's solid. yeah whoever's saying that mate they're drinking because even at villa i remember thinking this guy's really good and and i'm not i'm not lying i remember saying this on filthy fellas i said that i think he's better than gay uh i think the only difference is is that gay is younger um and i think gay's got better pr like shout out to gay i really do like him but i feel like konza was a bit if you knew him you knew him if you didn't you didn't despite him being an england international but when you see him at arsenal just like what you said rio that's why we've got him.

37:36So, yeah. I was going to say, Moreska, he became the first ever Premier League manager to win his first seven matches of a new season at a new club. Madness. No one would have said that. We're going out of pre-season. No one would have said Moreska would have had Man City top of the league right now. No one. Hopefully it all comes crashing down when they just relegate him immediately. But we can live in hope, can't we? Can I be honest? I turned it off when Madiwaki scored. Hey, listen, man. That's what happens when you got finishes. They're not subs. They're finishes. You know what I mean? You guys need finishes at your club, mate.

38:12That's what we have. Everyone's involved. By the way, Joel, did any of you watch the PSG game the other day? The first half was one of the best first halves of football I've seen in the world. PSG, wow. Wow, wow, wow, wow. But did you see when Boadi came on? Did anyone see him? This is why I mentioned him last season in the transfer windowed a lot. he came on and showed PSG. Listen, guys, you might have missed out on someone who was actually on your doorstep when I was in France because he turns 19 this month, right? His transfer fee, by the way, is the same as Santos and Telemans combined. 85 mil.

38:51Man United were in for him 100%, but the fee was just too much. And you see in that game, just that little cameo against Man City, you go, oh, Can't believe we missed out on that. Can't believe it. So gutted. So gutted. I had to go back and watch the game because Matisse was telling me how good he played. And I went back and I watched it afterwards. And Rio, he looked like he was on the same level as the PSG midfield. Mate, he's bad. So calm. So calm. Under pressure. Plays a simple pass. What do you do if you're Mariska? Because you've got Cherki, who's playing great football when he's on it. We admit, right?

39:30You've just got Enzo, who's your man, and you've got Anderson. Where do you fit in Boadi? Because he is that good. But, you know... I think they've got that many games they can share it about. Do you know what I mean? They've got that many games. Boadi's going to be in contention with Enzo and Anderson. That position there. He's a six or eight type player. So he ain't going to be fighting Cherky. But because he's of his age as well, you can afford to just dip him in and out. And just adaptation to the league. and you can use that for a little while. I don't know how long he keeps performing like that.

40:03That ain't going to fly with him because he's too good not to play. He's an unreal footballer. But they've got an embarrassment of riches in that position, I think. I think Enzo's a top player. Anderson, we know, is a top player. But this kid, Buadi, I think he could be the best of the three easily. Talk to us, Rio. Any new episodes? Wild one? Yeah, man, we got a little Ballon d 'Or episode with Giggs coming up. We had him on the show. I mean, when he talks about players and there's a few wingers that are going to be up for the award for the Ballon d 'Or. It's great to have him on and get in his eyes and he's saying on them.

40:39So, I was a bit shocked that he's top three. I've got to be honest with you. But, I mean, guys, Lamin, just this season, his stats alone, like, he's a kid. He's a baby. He plays the most minutes for Barcelona. He runs the least. He's walking 45 % at the time. but he's watched Messi growing up and he's seen what Messi's done I'm not saying he's as good as Messi or anything but this kid he's bringing a different feeling to the new camp he's bringing a different vibe to the new camp the last two games he played Champions League and the game at the weekend he's done two things in those games that you go they're masterpieces for people's careers like he is a flipping joke like and oh man i'd love to be able to take my kid to watch him every week but rio don't you think anthony don't you think him and like mbappe are probably going band for band for goals because surely you saw mbappe's goal yesterday when jude did the little flick and the nah nasty nasty but it's just you know what it is joe i think it's just styles of place like elise and yamal sit over there the way they play the finesse and the artistry and just it looks like it's just meant to be in the streets and then you've got mbappe who does stuff at a speed that's just like lamborghini ish you know it's a bit like r9 like i don't know if you saw it's a little bit of r9 in there you know the speed and power i know i know but but i'm trying If you're going to compare him to someone, it's like when players compare Laminya Mal, they kind of say Messi slash Neymar, and I can kind of see it.

42:26But I think with Mbappe, the closest person you can say is probably R9. Do you know who Mbappe reminds me of? And this is a madness. He reminds me of a blend of Thierry Henry and Anelka. He's not the same as Thierry, and he's not exactly the same as Anelka, but he's somewhere in the middle of those two, the mix. I thought you was going to say George Ware and R9. No, no, no. Bro, do you know what we're talking about there? I know you're talking about. No, no, you're talking about, you're talking about achievements and stuff like that and I, but I think, I think Mbappe is that guy, you know, I really do.

43:06I love it, I love him. I know you do. You just said George Ware and R9, do you know what that means? Do you know what that means? Yeah, I reckon Mbappe, his style of play Steve what are you laughing at? I reckon his style of play the power a little bit of finesse the skill the finishing he sits more on that side for me. I don't think I don't actually think he has the power of R9 or George Weyer especially George Weyer I don't think he has that I don't think he relies on that at all he's just pure speed he don't even need contacts he's just gone who rubs shoulders with Mbappe? tell me who rolls shoulders with him because you can't get near him.

43:46He's a joke, man. Let us know what you think in the comments. Let us know what you think in the comments. Rio, the episode with Ander Herrera, it came out last week. Good response to the channel. You told us there was like, we would have to wait for the Rio meets, but you just started rolling it out on a random. No, we just thought drop it, man. Because it was just poignant. Some of the stuff he was talking about are quite relevant for now and stuff. And just like the culture at the football club and just the way that things were run at the club. I think when he was there, he's been there more recent than me or anyone we have on the channel.

44:15So it's just really, I think, poignant to have him at that time. And so open and so honest. I mean, what a guy. He's playing for free right now, you know, for a team he played, the first team that he came through at. The amount of clubs he's played at PSG. The talk that he had around Mbappe, Messi and Neymar and Di Maria playing behind those guys at PSG. Like, the guy, he's had a really good career, man. And it's great to talk to him. He's actually worried about his English. I couldn't believe it. His English was better than mine, I think. Oh, man. You know what the mad thing is? We've done that one.

44:47We've got Tevez in a couple of weeks that's coming out. His interview is a joke. He's amazing. The detail he gives us on his fallout at the club with Ferguson, with Mancini, why he left Man United. He got stuck into me, by the way, about when he left and when he went to City and why I was upset, et cetera. the way he talks about Cristiano himself and Rooney is like you can see him just reminiscing going back and the nostalgia just seeping out of him his effort of talking English alone is worth the viewing Nah that's good and I love the bench cab stuff as well that you guys have been putting out like I saw this morning you and Vandasar on the bench and Berbatov and hey man some good content, you're busy No we're busy man, I'm doing another couple of interviews this week as well that are going to be waiting in the pipeline.

45:38So yeah, stay tuned guys. For sure, for sure. Listen, thank you everybody for watching. Please make sure you like, share, comment, subscribe, all that good stuff. Follow our social platforms. We've got loads going on. Whether they be in group chats, whether they be face-to-face, you keep on watching and we will be back soon. Joel Baer, Stephen Housen, Rio Ferdinand, signing out. Peace.

46:07Thank you.