I spoke to Scholes - there’s NO BEEF between him and Carrick!

0:0033 days, 33 episodes, no off switch. From the goals and the glory to the politics and the problems of the World Cup, if you want soccer analysis from a podcast that's been over-analyzing the game for more than 20 years, then this is it. Join me, Max Rushton, and our expert team of soccer journalists every day of the tournament. Can England end 60 years of hurt or will this be another year of falling just short? Probably. World Cup Daily, listen wherever you get your podcasts or watch full episodes on YouTube. Just for context as well This is what Patrice Ever said by the way I hope Paul Scolese's Instagram story is fake I hope he was hacked I'm not surprised that's from Scolese He was the quietest player I've ever played with in my entire career Now in the media he drops bombshells I really don't understand the lack of support behind Michael Carrick He's one of us and he's doing very well There's been negative analysis from Scolzi, but also from Roy Keane and Gary Neville.

1:04Yes, guys, welcome to another episode of REO Presents, brought to you by our trusted partners, Crafted. We have Mr. Stehausen in the house, and Mr. Joel Baer, with his shade, cigar, cheesecake, the lot, not available today, guys. But you know what? I'm sure he's left us something. Actually, I know he's left us a little something to kind of, just to nudge at us, just to poke the bear a little bit. I mean, Steve. But man, you know what? It's been a mad week, man. I mean, my old teammates, Patrice Evra, going at Scholes after he went at, allegedly at Michael Carrick. Downman, Max Downman, man, getting the opportunity and doing his thing.

1:46And Arsenal. There's a lot of questions about Arsenal. Not from me. I must add, not for myself, but there's a lot of people asking questions like, should their title, if they win it, have an asterisk alongside it? I don't necessarily agree with that, but I know there's another person on here that might have some comments about that. But it's been a good week, man. How's it going, Steve? I was doing vibing this week. Do you know what? It's crazy. I've probably had more lunches and dinners as a family with other families than I've probably ever had in my life consistently. You know what I mean? Over the last probably four or five days, we've been at friends' houses sharing food, talking about the situation, the conflict in this region.

2:30But I must say, man, that the information that we're getting and being kept up to speed with things by the government here and the leaders here has been phenomenal. You know, when you see sometimes there's situations happen all around the world, sometimes leadership, you look at it and go, well, where are they? The leaders here are in the mall. Yeah, I'm questioning our own leadership at the moment. I don't want to get political. I don't want to get into it. It's not a political show, but I understand what you're saying. But yeah, I mean, listen, there was loads of things put out in the media the other day.

3:07Rio's scared for his life and he's in the basement. I mean, his missus won't come out. Load of rubbish. Chatting rubbish. It's been, it's been, I went, I went to the cafe the other day, bumped into Iniesta. You know what I mean? Just sitting there having a mad random link up. We had a little link up, had a little bit of coffee together. Is that the closest you've ever done to him? Exactly. And I think the first time I've actually got to look in your eyes because he's always just been a blur. You know what I mean? But I was talking to Scolzi because he said to me, listen, make sure you tell Scolzi, I love him.

3:37I love this player. But I was, I messaged Scolzi about it and Scolzi was like I said to Scolzi I wasn't sure if I was whether to hug him or to strangle him do you know what I mean after what they'd done to us and Scolzi said no no you leave that man alone so the respect between two top top tier midfielders is obviously they're alive and kicking but yeah that's how it's been going man it was good been a decent week they could have literally interchanged I reckon different way of controlling a game but I reckon one could have gone and done what the other did but they'd have both looked brilliant in the other's shirt Yeah, one thing I do realise when I travel the world and I'm seeing a lot of these players that were played against over the years, Scholes is probably the most consistent name that comes up from all those players as to say, like, what's Scholes like?

4:19How was he? Like, really curious about what he was like and was he really that good? And to see Iniesta's eyes light up the way they did talking about Paul Scholes was, like, really telling. And is the answer, unbelievable player but Christ, a miserable pundit?

4:36that did come up as well did he talk a lot he was the quietest teammate what's his name Patrice Everett had a bit to say about it this week with Scolese just to give you a bit of context guys if you're not up to speed with this Scolese had done an Instagram post about after a Newcastle game and this is what he said he said Michael has definitely got something special about him United have been crap the last four games. Night. Everyone was saying like, what's Scolzi doing? Is he drunk? Has he had too many to drink? To be honest, I actually texted him and said like, what's going on? And he was like, Scolzi's Scolzi.

5:18Scolzi don't mix his words. You know what I mean? Scolzi said, listen, I said he's special. He's got something special. What do you mean? But we have been rubbish the last four games. And you know what? He actually isn't wrong. We have been rubbish the last four games in terms of like performance. It hasn't been top. I wouldn't say rubbish, but it hasn't been where you're going, oh my God, I'm going to pay to watch that again next week. No, it's been flat. It's been flat and it's not been good enough. And we've played poor. But I think people are more like, Michael's definitely got something special because we've been crap.

5:44It's that part I think people go, what's going on there? That's been the issue with people. I think they're going, well, I thought he was his teammate. I thought it'd support him a bit more. I thought, did he need to say that? And they're obviously the questions people are asking and saying, is there a little bit of beef between them? Listen, there's not beef between them two. They're two really placid guys. And Kham and Kharaz has the utmost respect for Scolzi. And Scolzi the same. I think it was just interpreted differently to the way Paul Scolzi meant it to come across. Scolzi just being honest and brutal.

6:21One thing I would say about Scolzi, he didn't say much in a change room. But when he did, it was normally a cutting comment. So I'm not surprised with how he is as a pundit right now. and just for context as well this is what Patrice Ever said by the way I hope Paul Scolese's Instagram story is fake I hope he was hacked I'm not surprised at what that's from Scolese he was the quietest player I've ever played with in my entire career now in the media he drops bombshells I really don't understand the lack of support behind Michael Carrick he's one of us and he's doing very well there's been negative analysis from Scolese but also from Roy Keane and Gary Neville I don't think people have ever watched our show if they think I'd lick your arse because that's clearly not the case but you're probably the only one that I see outside of like Owen Argreaves is relatively neutral I would say to positive but there's not really any positive United ex-player pundits out there Roy Keane is not a United fan he was our greatest ever captain but he is not a United fan and Gary Neville has gone so far who clearly is a United fan has gone so far to be neutral that he's anti-United Paul Scholes I can imagine playing with Paul Scholes all he does is drop little slide little one-liners to you that make you crack up like proper sarcastic I imagine Scholes he is and dry and he speaks like the difference is Paul Scholes communicates like every single one of my mates or my dad right that's exactly how all of them communicate right every single one of them says exactly the same thing as paul skulls the problem is paul skulls is one of the most respected and greatest footballers of his generation so when he says it it ain't the same as me saying it i don't think he said anything even close to as harsh as i would say about half of our players on the team but i'm not paul skulls and being paul skulls comes with a responsibility, I think.

8:22That's my opinion, I think. Yeah, and I've always approached this thinking, like, what's it like being a footballer? Like, how's that going to be received as a footballer? Like, I'm not here to tear anyone down. I'm not saying Scolese is tearing anyone down, but I'm just saying, I think you've got a responsibility to also, like, I understand how powerful my words can be and I don't want to be swaying an army of fans with certain comments sometimes that sometimes I can put in a better way that will be digested in a better way and will hit home. It will still hit a point, but it won't become a divisive comment and it won't become a toxic comment.

8:56And I think that's where I stand on being a pundit or somebody talks about football. Listen, there comes times when you've got to say things and you have to say, but I think a lot of the time it's the way things are positioned and said have a real kind of difference in the way that the comment does impact an individual, a team, a club. so but we got no Joel man it feels different I know you was ready to get into him but you know what he's done he's left us a clip let me just run the clip and just play the clip for us yes boys everyone watching Joel Baer here hope you had a good weekend FA Cup and that anyway listen everybody's telling me that if Arsenal win the Premier League title there should be an asterisk next to it two things first of all we are going to win the Premier League I've said it here first yesterday secondly it actually like drives me wild man because when it's arsenal there always has to be something with it oh no they've won it and it's and it's it's easy everybody else should be winning it's it's like they don't want to give us credit and it's easy for us saying it people who are not playing in the actual league itself but i spoke with declan rice regarding this and he told me directly that it's actually the hardest and it's hard because anyone can beat anyone you know I generally asked him because I said is this true all of this all of this stuff where you feel like it's easier he goes no because you've got to be on it every week not to say that they're not on it in other weeks but it's it's much harder now than it's ever been and I'd rather listen to the guy that's playing the best football in the Premier League at the moment I don't know what you guys think watching let me know and let us know in the comments as well please right look no there's no asterisk there's no asterisk goes along it right but I don't mean we have to respect it either I think that's fair yeah you know you You can just be honest about what it is.

10:47Right? I got clipped up about 10 years ago, right, for saying City might as well be Celtic because they've won a crap league because United came second to them. United are probably going to confer to them and we are crap. Right? I don't have to respect you. I can say, well done, you've won a league. Right? But you might as well be kind of the All Blacks or something because it's just not football, is it? And this is the problem. It's Arsenal fans. Pick and choose what they decide matters Years ago when they weren't winning I guess they're still not yet But they probably will win the league this year But when you weren't winning It was all about this moral superiority That you were trying to do it the right way Now that you might win one You've just completely abandoned all your principles And we're going to talk about this in a second I'm sure They're going to enforce the laws differently They've already said they're going to enforce the laws differently at the World Cup and we're not going to have this shite that we're seeing at corners.

11:44You don't need to change the rules. You just have to enforce the rules. The rules already exist that if you stop, you hold, you grab, it's a penalty or a free kick. But they're just choosing not to enforce those rules at the moment. That's going to change next season. The problem is Howard Webb's come out and said, oh, we can't just steam in there and start handing out free kicks. And yeah, you can. What a lot of bollocks. Like if you can take seven minutes to decide whether someone was offside by their nose, you absolutely can start ruling goals off for this nonsense. Look how soft the push, which wasn't even a push in the Spurs and Arsenal game was on Gabriel.

12:21If that's enough for a free kick, then there's 20 free kicks. And all you've got to do is the first corner of a game, free kick, free kick, free kick. Dash a yellow card out. Guess what? Don't happen again. Set the standard early. Just set the standard early. I think that's a good point. But what I would say, I just think it's a bit much. all of this like everyone's getting at Arsenal because they're doing something that every other team could do if they chose. Well they are doing now, it's a copycat league innit so everyone's gone, well they're getting away with it, we'll do it as well. I mean it happened in our game this weekend, level 12.

12:59Steve, what do you, we played against teams, we went to Roma, we played in the olympic stadium in in rome against that a really good roma team with totti our team talk was more about their quick throw-ins than it was about totti who was their main player they they were they're the really quick when the ball went out of play the ball boys with their job was to get the ball back to the player immediately so they could take quick throws that was about it wasn't we weren't moaning and saying that's not fair that shouldn't be done we should change the rules it's like going stoke and they've got they've got towels around the edge of the pitch when there's a little bit due on the pitch while it's raining.

13:35No one was saying they're not allowed, they shouldn't be allowed, the rules have got to be changed. You just adapt and go, okay, right, Rio, you mark Crouchy, Vida, you're free, just attack anything around it. You just adapt and you work towards it. I don't understand why now... They are playing within the rules. The problem is that what we're seeing is against the rules and is not being enforced. That's the ref's fault, it's not Arsenal's fault. Totally agree.

14:0433 days, 33 episodes, no off switch. From the goals and the glory to the politics and the problems of the World Cup, if you want soccer analysis from a podcast that's been overanalyzing the game for more than 20 years, then this is it. Join me, Max Rushton, and our expert team of soccer journalists every day of the tournament. Can England end 60 years of hurt? Or will this be another year of falling just short? Probably. World Cup Daily, listen wherever you get your podcasts or watch full episodes on YouTube.

14:35people are only getting on at Arsenal because they were the ones that seemingly were the most effective at it and then forced everyone else to sort of adapt they spotted a gap in between the enforcement and the regulations and they're living in that little gap at the moment and no one's correctly shut the door they're not playing in the spirit of the game and on one hand if this was vintage Jose Mourinho you'd be like, that's what he stands for win at all costs, the only crime is getting caught but that's not what Arsenal are supposed to be about. And they will shut a door on them next year. They will.

15:06They have to, because it's killing the game. People, like, do you see what Peter Schmeichel came out and said? No. Basically, like, this is just, this is not football. I mean, that was a man who was a physical specimen that used to bully people within the rules. So when he's coming out and saying, this is too much, you know it's not right. Yeah, but then I just look at it like, if I'm in the Arsenal dressing room, I couldn't care less. you're not going to keep moaning. I'm actually happy you're moaning because when people are normally moaning about you, it means you're doing something well. And they are doing set pieces.

15:38They're doing it better than anyone else. And they're on their way to winning the league. Do you think them guys are going to be bothered? Do you think Mikel Arteta is going to... Listen, ideally, Mikel Arteta and his team would love to play the way Arsene Wenger's team played. But everyone was calling them soft at the back end of Arsene Wenger's time. And since then, they've been said, oh, they're too soft. They're a soft touch. They lose at the tough grounds. They're not consistent. They're always going to give you a chance. now they've gone completely the other way and become a hard to beat hard to play against in both boxes they're aggressive and they're a really tough team to go and play against and they don't drop many points right don't give much away but they they haven't found that the middle ground but they've gone to another extreme from where they were and they're going to win the league so I'll make them right get there and then come back and maybe you can pull it in and be balanced and bring a bit of balance to it and have a bit of both sides of things but sometimes oh yeah I get it from their point of view they're not going to care like would you be on the open top bus going tell you what we don't deserve this no you won't you'll absolutely be saying we're champions and that's what the history books will say but the reality is they've helped usher in this period of something which people don't want to see yeah it would have been the same when whoever it was that was the first major diver in in the league right they would have got loads of shit does that mean that everyone goes and dives yeah because people are not enforcing the rules that already exist and they completely exist people are just not enforcing the rules you look at the rules it's there in black and white that if you prevent someone moving if you wrap them up it is if you hold their shirts it's a foul look at the the own goal that Lissandro Martinez scored against Arsenal when we played them the other week that's a foul by the rules wasn't given us a foul 1-0 Arsenal and the problem is when you go back to the Chelsea game the other day there's countless amounts of fouls in all of those goals and it's both teams not saying it's not both teams not saying only Arsenal are doing this saying it's annoying and it's not football yeah I think it's a bigger picture I think it's not I wouldn't put it down to Arsenal I just think because Arsenal sometimes their fans creates the hysteria that people then aim it all at Arsenal I think football in general has taken a backward step because it's become really robotic.

18:00Everything's around stats and data and everything's really structured and it's taken away that kind of maverick player or players to decide and work things out. So there's not as many number 10s in the game anymore. There's the Luminium Owls, but for every Luminium Owl, there's a hundred other robots. So it's different in that sense. But I just think that this Arsenal team, again, I think if you go around Europe and you talk to teams around and people that are in the game in Europe they're talking about Arsenal and they're like that's a hard team solid team don't want to play them more than how they're being talked about in the UK I think I think they've got more respect around Europe than they have in in the Premier League in England but asked but you know the mad thing is as well I've said this about about Mikel Arteta.

18:56I want to see him play young players. He started Max Dalman. We spoke about some of the most talented young players we've got in this country and two of them out of the four started for their first teams. Rio started for Liverpool. Max Dalman started for Arsenal and Jesse Derry actually came on for Chelsea. Did you see any of their games? Yeah, Max Dalman's a joke, mate. It's interesting because you can't help but try and project where they're going to be like in five or six years time when he's only just going to be like 2021 which is bananas but you i don't actually know if you you really do improve much from being a young player or if you just get more consistent experience and more physical you know what is you you you can add elements to your game but just from a physical standpoint you're able to ride more tackles you're more robust you might get a gain gain a yard of pace even, the ability to have more stamina for games.

19:58But the experience is a big thing because you're seeing different looks in a first team. And the first time you see them, it's never going to be as good when you see them 10 times. When you see them 10 times and you're used to it, it's like, well, you can deal with things a lot better and quicker. So the story only gets brighter for these types of players, I think. I think Nissen Dallman got himself into some ridiculous parts of the pitch, had some good chances to score another day, probably gets two goals. But just the way he's able... But doesn't he play football the right way? That's what I'm saying.

20:27It's the way that these boys are playing football, the way that they can just create a yard out of nowhere. And they're replicating what we've seen them do in the youth system all the way up now to the first team. As academy players, I watched Rio when he was at Chelsea playing against one of my boys. He ain't doing a lot differently. What's definitely, definitely changed is his decision-making. when he releases the ball in the final third trying to impact the game in different ways rather than just dribbling, dribbling, dribbling that's all he was as a kid but you saw a star there somewhere a rough diamond and he just looks magic Max Darlman what he'd done in the game at the weekend you could go and get countless clips of him doing that in the academy since he was like 10 years old probably and he's just transferred that into the first team that is the sign of the top players who can do that and Jesse Derry he'll be doing the same thing when he's given more time and more minutes He was more of a mature role that he played in terms of doing things a bit more simple.

21:23And sometimes the game doesn't throw opportunities at you to produce. And that's what I think is the sign of good young players. The ones that aren't trying to create the moments when the opportunity is not there, when they're desperate to really show what they can do and they're doing it at the wrong times. Having that matureness to go, no, I've got to play one touch here. I've got to just keep it ticking. You've got to just keep passing the ball around to create space and see where it pops up at the right time. But I'm just really excited to see. I love seeing young players play football, and I love seeing kids go in there fearless.

21:57And these three, along with the kid JJ Gabriel, because I saw two of these goals the week, and they were tap-ins. Did you see them? Did you see them? Has he ever scored a bad goal? I don't think he has. Every single goal he scores is like a highlight reel, isn't it? Unbelievable. Darren Fitcher said something. Do you think there's something broken in... Obviously, I know you've got two bars in the academy for now. There's clearly something wrong because you're going from under-16s, which is literally high school football, to under-18s. And a lot of these lads are making massive waves. Kai Rooney is another one that looks like an absolute joke in his first season playing under-18s, and he's still got three seasons of it.

22:39when they graduate from under 18s there's not a lot that will go and play 21s football that end up being at the very very top they seem to be breaking through at 16 17 and going straight into first team and first team minutes where's the disconnect there and i know it's not one size fits all but what why is that and obviously you were someone that broke in very young as well for The centre-half, that was really young. I don't like 121 football, I've got to be honest. It feels testimonial vibes to me. The pace of it, the intensity doesn't replicate anything like the first teams, especially if you're going to go into the lower divisions, Championship and Div 1, Div 2.

23:20The intensity, the aggression, the type of football that's played is nothing like where a lot of those players are going to end up having to go before they make the step up. so you see a lot of them end up struggling because it's like well this is a new this is a new sport let alone new new type of football it's a new sport basically and I said even young centre-backs and because I played there I really do focus on that a lot and I look and look at it and go even under 18s football academy football now is if you're in a cat a team cat one team right the top teams and you're playing and then all of a sudden at 18 19 years old 20 years old you're going on loan they probably if they go on loan for three months they probably head the ball and defend the channels more in that three months than they had in their whole academy life.

24:05And we're expecting them to be able to cope. So I just feel that sometimes there needs to be some training during the season where you train them, getting them ready for those loan spells that are going to be very different in football, in environment than what they played. I went on loan to Bournemouth as a kid. I actually went on loan to Bournemouth reluctantly. What level were they? Because they obviously weren't top five at the time. They were division two at the time. But I went on loan. reluctantly because it was like I don't know what that is like but you go there you roll your sleeves up and luckily I was able to adapt right but not everyone can and careers are lost in their moments because confidence is shattered belief self-belief is shattered and I think we're losing far too many players to to from that experience because they're not prepped enough in that learning phase of the the under 18 team and the under 21s prep them get them ready and i think there's a real real i think there's i think there's a more of a need to go because listen like you say not everyone's ready at that age to go and get in the first team of the club that they're at they normally have to take a couple of steps down on loan or actually take a couple of steps down permanently to come back up again yeah so get ready you think there's more in like you know step step one for a lot of players is probably a bridge too far I think National League is a bloody hard level I think but step two step three step four I think there's some incredible talent I mean look at Macclesfield like look at the players that are playing at Macclesfield at the moment and the bits they're doing I think going playing at that level at 17 18 19 is a unbelievable opportunity if you're playing to then move back up into Championship Premier League level football I mean what would you do if you so you know obviously without touching on your own boys journeys but if you was say um a premier league club and you was a you know an academy director or director of football and i said to you i need you to be developing players more consistently because it almost feels like lottery whether someone makes it or not if i said to you i need you to develop more so we can have more first team players coming through the academy are you looking at non-league yeah as an opportunity or are you thinking something more in a hundred percent looking at non-league because i I want them to be able to be robust and play different types of football, combat different types of approaches from other teams as well.

26:25Is that what Academy likes? Yeah, because... Is everyone just playing the same brand? But also, like, most of these kids, their first opportunity in the first team, where is it? When is it? If you play... 20 minutes in the cup. In the cup, against who normally? Yeah, it'd be a lower league team. Who play how? Pick a colour. Yeah, they're putting the ball in the box. they're putting the ball down the pipe can you head it can you clear it can you get second balls it goes a bit old school like that but we're not we're not prepped for that on the ball it's a different story we're going to play we're going to get we're going to the rotations all this stuff yeah we understand that but as a young kid half the time you've got to get through off the ball stuff first before you even get any chance they have any merit with the ball and so it's being able to deal with those different things and it's i was lucky i had in training people like ian Dowie and John Artson, they would ragdoll me for ages, for a good year or so, even more.

27:19I was getting thrown about. I was probably 20 kg lighter than them. They wouldn't like me to hear that, but it was a fact. 20 kg lighter, and physically I couldn't do with them. So you've got to work out ways in which you can do that. Lenny Eurow's doing a bit of that learning on the job now, isn't it? Yeah, and Lenny Eurow's a unique case. Like you said, young centre-backs, how many young centre-backs have come through at Manchester United and played consistently for the first team? Man Utd in the last 10, 20 years. Man Utd, Chelsea, Man City, Arsenal. Go on. You've got to go on, Ron. Who have they brought through?

27:54I'm saying Liverpool. The top teams. What centre-backs have come through in those clubs and played centre-back? The last one... Joe Gomez and a company player. No, he comes from Charlton. The last one that made Liverpool was Jamie Carragher, I would say. The last one who played consistently. The last one at Chelsea was John Terry. Man United, probably Wes Brand, but didn't end up playing consistently. Johnny Evans didn't end up playing consistently. No, they both went out alone. Then Man City, they still haven't bought for a centre-back who plays in the first team consistently. Like, this is an area of the pitch where I think it needs definite precision coaching, precision planning for these young players to be ready to play in the first team.

28:40what's the biggest obviously as a centre half coming through and probably with a bit of an eye on Lenny Euro clearly got the technical ability the strength and the reading of the game is that just something that just takes time and games to get to? Yeah, strength and reading the game they're the amount of minutes you get on the pitch the reading of the game you see these situations in all parts of the pitch there are certain situations for players in those positions that are consistently being thrown at you that you see the same picture a lot of the time. There's variations, but then you see it very similar, right?

29:13Things like if the ball's wide, you've got to have a certain body shape to be able to see ball and man, right? If the ball's getting thrown into a forward's feet, how are you going to combat that? But I think with young centre-backs, it's like sometimes they get overzealous. I spoke about this last week. Lenny Oro right now is trying to fight too many fights in a game when physically he's not starting at the same place. They're all much more physically developed. Most of the players he's playing against and number nines especially are stronger than him. So then you've got to pick your battles.

29:50Pick your dual. Which one are you actually going to have if you've got a 60-40 in your favour? Then you go all in. When you're a 50-50 or you're a 60-40 the other way, if you're not one of those who's physically dominant like Leniora right now, you pick your punches, right? If he goes back where that ball came from, he lays it off and he goes to spin, but I've got a yard on him. You've done your job. But these are just coaching points, I think. And I think Johnny Evans being there as a coach, Jonathan Woodgate being there as a coach. I think these are the little details. I'm hoping and I feel they will be helping someone like Lenny Oro.

30:22But I think this goes across the board at all clubs because I know Man City are struggling and they've struggled to find young centre-backs. They've had the best young centre-backs in the country year on year from under 14s all the way through to under 18s. But none of these boys get in the first team and produce. So there's a reason why that is. They've got to get to the bottom of it. When does the talk come in? You couldn't have been, you didn't break into the first team and talk, should I? Nice experience. I only started talking, you'll find this funny, I only started talking with conviction and real belief and all the time I became a nuisance to my teammates at the 2002 World Cup.

31:03Right. I remember Nicky Butt turning around in the game and said to him, I think it was against Argentina. He turned around and went, Rio, fucking shut up. I'm trying to play the game. But me shouting at him, shouting at Danny Mills, shouting at Sol Campbell, shouting at Butty in front, etc., meant I was in the game concentration-wise. And some of the stuff I was shouting was rubbish, maybe. But it was up, it was small and quick and sharp bits of information that was helping them move in positions to help me and help the team. How important do you think it is? I personally think it's massive, especially from a centre-half.

31:40Mate, it needs to be put into the vocabulary of a coach, I think, from like young as 12 years old. Like, it should be... When you're talking about your first touch or your set or a pass through the lines, communication should be a part of that conversation all the time. But drilled. You get, oh, tell him he's got a man on and all that. No, no, there's more than that. Tell him to press. Tell him five yards. give me five get up five yards come to your left now stop a ball in that in that passing lane like there's loads of stuff talking that makes your team makes job easier makes your job easier you're running less but as a whole your team function better hugely important alright let's wrap it on this Aston Villa weekend chance for character to bounce back he's had what 12 days or something like that or something to work with him yeah it's a tough game because Villa have got weapons.

32:35But I think we're probably better against the teams that have got weapons that are going to come out against us and come at us. So there'll be spaces, there'll be gaps, and I think we'll be able to exploit them. And it could become a shootout this game. It could become a shootout. I don't envision it being a nil-nil. But I'd like to think that there's been a lot of time on a training ground. There's a lot of work being done, and then we'll see the benefits in the game, fingers crossed. I'd just like us to see Martinez and De Ligt fit together. for one game, me. I think that both of them have looked incredible at different parts of the season, but they've not played together.

33:09Yeah, early on, De Ligt played really well, didn't he? He was consistent, probably the best defender we had in the early part of the season. Yeah, by far. No, I'm looking forward to it. And then Martinez come in and shown us what we're missing with the ball and even some of his defending. And then we've not had either of them. I mean, Harry Maguire's not looked bad, to be fair to him. He's looked pretty good. But I think there's another level in, if you had a fit and, you know, match fit De Ligt and Martinez, I think that's an unbelievable base to build from. And it just creates competition. Competition is good.

33:37You need it. You need that. So, yeah, man, I'm looking forward to it. I can't wait. So, popcorn will be out, mate. A few chocolate biscuits. Bob, do you want to go? All right, listen, good to see you, man. Stay in touch on the WhatsApp group. Let me know what you're thinking, what you're seeing. You going to the game? Yeah, I'll be there soon. Yeah, let's know what you're thinking during the game. It's good to always like to see where you're seeing it from. You see behind the goal, the Streatford end, don't you? yeah tier two of strep friend honestly it's like having my my little tactics board you can see everything about moving your head and it's it's a different feel like my experience of coaching and being on the sideline and having that angle i'm amazed that sam allardyce used to do it didn't he where he went and sat in the stands i'm amazed more managers don't do that you know i agree i can't see it from down there i need to be up elevated to look down a little bit all right Steve, brilliant.

34:28I miss loads on the sideline when I'm doing that. But yeah, take it easy. Take care, mate. See you in a bit.

34:4233 days, 33 episodes, no off switch. From the goals and the glory to the politics and the problems of the World Cup, if you want soccer analysis from a podcast that's been over-analyzing the game for more than 20 years, then this is it. Join me, Max Rushton, and our expert team of soccer journalists every day of the tournament Can England end 60 years of hurt? Or will this be another year of falling just short? Probably. World Cup Daily, listen wherever you get your podcasts or watch full episodes on YouTube.