Why I rate Amorim’s response to former player criticisms | Who is becoming Tuchel’s “biggest headache”?

0:00One thing I will tell you is I think that every individual pundit will be received differently when they walk through the doors of the club that they played for that they're talking about. And it all depends on the timing as well. Scolzi said something the other day in the media, him and Butty on their podcast. Shout out Scolzi and Butty. If they walk through there now, there'll be huge respect, no doubts. But there'll be, I'm sure, a few people going, hold on a minute. Like I would have. You know what I mean? I mean, Jamie Carragher now walking into Liverpool, my man's going to probably get told at the door, listen, it's not for you, mate.

0:30no matter what you've done. That's the one I was kind of like, I was tiptoeing around that one. 700 appearances. How do you think Jamie's being received? 700 appearances, don't matter what you've done, sorry. Mo has said that you're not welcome, so the doors are shut. That's what's going to happen.

0:46Hello and welcome to another episode of Rare Presents and we are brought to you by Crafted Man. Listen, I'm back in the studio. I'm loving it. I'm freezing. I am freezing cold, guys, just so you know. I'm not used to this weather no more. Thanks for the Christmas-y type jumper that you got me here, mate. Yeah, man. At least we got the memo. Where's the other guy? Where is he? I don't know. He's in Manchester somewhere. Why are you not here? Lazy. By the way, was you up here on Saturday? Yeah, I was. I was. No, no, you know what? It was, right? Remember you last time we saw Amarin on the tour with us and I said you don't ask a certain question and you asked it.

1:24I couldn't trust bringing you to character. No way. I'm joking. You had a game Saturday, no? Yeah. Well then. He would have asked you to go to the game and have a half-time chat with these boys. You know, Steve. I had to get back. Do you know what, like? Listen, roll me through this, right? We had 27 shots. Opposition had four. What score was it? 1-0. 2-0. Yeah, great. This is why you're not a Manchester United manager. Anyway, you said... Why, because I can create that many chances? You said you were in Carrington. What are you doing there? No, man. You know, it was brilliant. I mean, I went to the tour in the summer and I said at the time, you know, if something felt a little bit different, it was a really nice vibe there.

2:09This time I went to Carrot and spent a bit of time with some of the players, the coaching staff, the manager. And it was just great to kind of walk in there, unannounced really, to the players. And it was just good to just see how kind of jovial and happy the atmosphere seemed. It was just a really light atmosphere, which it seemed to me that has carried on from the tour. And it's really weird, right? Because Man United are doing better than we did last season. But the temperature from the fan base and the media and whatnot is still quite a negative in some respects, in a lot of respects, really.

2:48But building the training ground allowed me to go and see what they're feeling like, right? And it was really, really just calm and just like comfortable with where they are and what they're doing at the moment. It felt nice. It felt really good to be there. And also, by the way, a little exclusive for you guys. Got to spend a little bit of time with someone who I've been pestering for, I reckon, a couple of years now to come on the pod. No way. And yeah, man. For a meet. Real meet. Yeah, for a real meet. And I've got to say, man, it was an incredible, incredible insight we got. Any hints? really opened up about like on topics that we didn't even think were on the table.

3:24Got names? Can't name names yet. Can't name names. I've got just some great towels and insight into the change and what it's like there now. I know what it was like when I was there and we always go on about, me and all the ex-guys, we always go on about what it's like when we were there, but it's different. These guys are doing it differently and it was just great to get a little bit of insight into what it's like now. I'm going to ask you about more about that later on because I know that people listening and watching are dying to hear. Quickly, I just want to ask, what's it like when you enter?

3:51Like you said, you're there unannounced. Obviously, the club knew you were going to be there, but the players didn't. Are you treated well, like reception-wise? Because I'm not trying to start something here, but I know that with some ex-pros and, you know, the criticisms that's online, I don't know if they're all going to be received well at their clubs, if that makes sense. One thing I will tell you is I think that every individual pundit will be received differently when they walk through the doors of the club that they played for that they're talking about. And it all depends on the timing as well.

4:21Scolzi said something the other day in the media, him and Butty on their podcast. Shout out Scolzi and Butty. They walk through there now, there'll be huge respect, no doubts, but there'll be, I'm sure, a few people going on in a minute. Like I would have. You know what I mean? I mean, Jamie Carragher now walking into Liverpool, my man's going to probably get told at the door, listen, it's not for you, mate. No matter what you've done. That's the one I was kind of like, I was tiptoeing around that one. 700 appearances. How do you think Jamie's being received? 700 appearances. Don't matter what you've done, mate.

4:47Sorry. Mo has said that you're not welcome, so the doors are shut. That's what's going to happen. What's that about you and him on Twitter? Every season, right, it happens at least once or twice. Have you not seen the cycle? Yeah, yeah. But you know what? It was, right? I'm quite jovial when, like, it's a joke with me. Jamie, there seems to be... And you know what? If I show you my DMs, my man's talking to me, like, he wants me to come on his show and all this stuff, and then he comes and hits me like this with personal stuff. I feel like Mo. I feel like Mo Salah right now. It's normal. It's calm.

5:21And then all of a sudden I'm sitting there going, hold on a minute. This was jokey vibes a minute ago and now you're getting personal. And if I was to start getting personal, it could be lights out. I'm not that guy though, online. I'll do it to your face. If things are perceived to be a bit more personal, I think players take it in a bad way. And I've always used that as my kind of, listen I don't want to go beyond that line don't want to make anything personal so that's why I can walk into Carrington or any training ground around the world and feel totally comfortable because I know that I'm not personal with any of the players at all that's simple as that Rio do you have any pundits that were ex-United I'm trying to think if there was any on TV or anything when you were playing was Robbo ever critical or was there any of them like X United that was critical of you when you was playing?

6:15None of them were on any of the big, big platforms like Masha today. We were winning as well. So it was like, what are they really going to say? Do you know what I mean? That's the big thing. So it's very different. And that's why I always try and consider when I'm talking about the current state of affairs at the club, the environment and the atmosphere is very, very different. And I think Ruben Amarin's comments yesterday were really, really good in that that he was speaking about the relationship with the media, especially the ex-players and the legends of the club. And he was saying, listen, a lot of them have expectations and view the club and judge the club based on our time there, where it was very, very much a winning environment, much easier to work and navigate things in that respect.

6:58And I'm not looking at it from a point of where we actually are right now. And I think that's a really good point for Manorin. He could have come back and clapped back, but he was very, very measured and calm in his response. I thought it was a good response, to be fair. I didn't like his comments on the youth players, though. What did he say? Well, he sort of dismissed a little bit of, like, Maynus, basically. He lumped him in with Collier. He said, look, these lads have gone out on loan and they're all struggling. Collier's struggling. Like, Chido's not getting a lot of games. But Harry Amas is just one player of the month.

7:30Yeah, he got that one wrong, didn't he? I'm not having that in the slightest. And also, I think the framing of that, I don't want to always throw everything back to Sir Alex, but Sir Alex would have been like gassing these lads up about the future that they've got. And they've got a place, even if he's not playing them, he's going to gas them up. Whereas, why would you as a young player want to be going to United when they've got a manager that's not playing youngsters that he's got, slagging off the ones that are doing well when they're out on loan. In a championship, in a team that's in an absolute disaster.

7:58Wednesday are doing bad. Amas is doing bits. I really didn't like that. Amas is doing well at Sheffield Wednesday. A team's struggling. What division? Championship. Championship. Yeah. Man United's a different problem. Yeah, but I'm saying, they had him here. If he was good enough, he'd have been playing. It's not like it's a position where you're going, oh, it's Bruno's position where you've got a perfect player playing there. There's room for improvement in left-back area. Yeah, but he's saying he's struggling. And Amas was there. He's factually not struggling. He's just one player of the month.

8:25No, no, I know. But he might have made a blanket statement, but then one player gets missed. How many people do that? I don't think you could hang him for that one statement. I just think he shouldn't have mentioned the young players at all. honest. You don't need to do that. Young players at May United, May United is synonymous with young players. That's just a fact. So there's no getting away from it with him. There isn't. And also, you look at Kobi Maynou, right? I look at Kobi Maynou and people keep... I want him to play. I want him to be in the team, but he's probably got the two hardest positions right now to get into because it's Casemiro when he plays, we're better.

8:58The stats tell you that. The team, when you look at it, it tells you that. And Bruno Fernandes is the best player. And direct competition, he's direct competition is Bruno. So it's difficult for him. When are we just going to make a decision that Amarim doesn't fit Man United? Anyway, moving on. Squeaky bum time at Arsenal. What's going on, man? Joel, what's going on with your club? I thought we were skipping this section today. It was one of those games, it happens. You're going to have two or three of those games in the course of the season where it just doesn't go your way. It wasn't a great day.

9:35But the difference is two years ago, maybe three years ago, we would have either drawn the gate or lost it. So there's no defending it. I saw the group chats popping off, especially when they had equalised, et cetera. And I thought to myself, oh my gosh, this is not good news. Steve was quick. I ain't seen Steve so quick. Wolves have just scored three goals and lost 2-1. Yeah, I know. Home goals. Ha ha. I get it. You know what I mean? It happens though, man. Champions elect. Yeah, you was winning everything about four weeks ago. If I'm Rob Edwards, I'm going, all right, boys, this is the big one.

10:10Last week, we got battered by Man United, right? Let's show top of the league what we can do. Let's show people that we deserve to be here. And you can, it was a, I think it was an organised performance. They had 11 men behind the ball throughout the majority of the game. We had like 91 % possession, yeah? No, it's the truth. We had the ball the whole time. And it was really difficult to break down. You're like a paddock. saying that, I do think in those kind of games, that's where you want to start Odegaard instead of Eze. Because Odegaard's able to, when you've got so many men behind, like just blocking it, basically, he's able to weave through and find those passes, which is not Eze's strong point, if I'm to be honest with you.

10:48No, not like Odegaard. Not like Odegaard. It's the truth, though. No, no, you just said this, that's not Eze's strong point. Well, it's not if you compare it to Odegaard. Odegaard's intricacies and being able to, you know be nimble and it doesn't matter what you say the funny thing is yeah I'm a big Eze supporter get in the comments guys get in the comments please I'm a big Eze supporter and I said this to you a couple weeks ago I said he's still finding his feet and you were like oh I reckon he's done alright I was like nah you have to watch his performances even the last couple of games he was hooked up at half time wait wait wait wait you're changing the point we're not talking about form we're not talking about how he's doing at the club I'm talking about form no no you said his strong point isn't getting in the tight areas and moving in and then finding their little intricate pass.

11:32Yeah, not as much as Odegaard. Who's better at the two? Bro. Eze. Oh. I would rather, I'm not saying he's a better player. I'm just saying if I'm playing against either player, I'd rather play against Odegaard than Eze. Because Eze can beat me. Eze can make me look stupid. But that's not what I'm talking about, Rio. And Eze can make a pass and he can score. No, that's not what I'm talking about, Rio. Bro, they were camped. There was no getting through. It's not, oh, beat a man, run down and cross it. My point is, it doesn't matter about an individual game. I'm just saying to you, you're just saying in isolation, that game, it didn't work in that game.

12:07It's all about what you think a player can do overall. You're saying that Eze isn't good in tight areas and being able to unlock things. Not as good as Odegaard. Because Odegaard's got those magical nifty feet, but you see what he does there. Odegaard's nice. I think they're both great footballers, but they're different. I just think in those situations, Eze can draw a man out and beat a man whether he's done it in that game or not it doesn't matter to me but I've seen him do that countless times embarrass people and slot but that's not what we needed that game and on top of that it is what you need no not that game and on top of that if you see the way we started it was all wrong Rio my man started Hencape left back who he's been really good by the way where was Skelly man Skelly you've played Ben Hart Ben White has already had three games in a week three games in a week and you're trying to play him for a fourth time in 10 days.

13:01Like you should have put Timber right back. Just say you want him out again. We've already got you on tape a few years ago. Say it again. I didn't say that. When you don't win the league again this year, just nail your colours to the mast and say, this clown ain't good enough. I wouldn't say that about my manager. So, spent all summer gassing yourself up about this, either that you've just signed, running around the Emirates, doing this caper and looking like absolute dicks, like only Arsenal fans can make themselves look. And he gets hooked for City's backup dancer. What's going on? And you said this morning you'd actually rather have Gabriel Jesus playing instead of him.

13:38When did I say that? In the group. In the group. This morning? In the group. Rio, am I right? Raised a few eyebrows in the group because what you previously said, it just doesn't match up. You're nasty. I thought what we said in the group stays in the group. It does, it does. Not when it's ammo for the pod, it ain't. No, no, I think he needs to step it up. I don't think we're seeing the best version of Gokeres yet. I don't know what you think, Rio. I'm going to pass it on to you quickly. There's a couple of things. There's two or three things I look at when I look at Gokeres that he needs to understand.

14:09His movement. Saka's had the ball. I think they've had 30 crosses. One of the, I think, second most they've had, right? Yeah. In the game. And I'm watching him when the ball's wired. Movement. And I'm not saying he's got terrible movement. I'm just saying you need to understand who's on the ball. Who's on the ball, you move differently. Like if Odegaard's on the ball, he's going to move differently for when Saka's on the ball and vice versa. But I just don't think there's that telepathy there yet. There's not that understanding there of I've got to move here when Saka's there. And whether that's communicating that with each other and talking outside the pitch or just having that on the training ground, just doing those reps.

14:48One of the big things that I saw as a defender, he's allowing defenders to get their hands on him. Now, in Portugal, He was stronger and quicker than almost every centre-half he played against. So even if the defender had his hands against him, he was too close, he was shrugging people off and just slapping it in the back of the net, right? He ain't doing that in the Premier League. Centre-halves are as big as him and stronger than him at times, right? And he's enabling them to get their hands on him, and then he can't move, then he's locked down. So set himself free from them players, play on their shoulders where they can't see him, and just make little movements where they're uneasy, where they can't get to him.

15:23The moment they get to him, it's like he loses in that situation. Before you get to that third point, Rui, I have to give you and Jolien Lescott a shout out because you mentioned something similar along those lines earlier on. I thought you were just hating, if I'm honest with you. But, you know, I get it right. When I say I get it wrong, I'll let you know when I get it wrong. But I think that movement thing is a big one there. I think it looked different when he was playing because we saw the name Man City, especially that game. That's the one that you two were covering. And I thought, he's just playing the game City.

15:51But you were like, depends on the players. It depends on the league. Yeah. And I really do think that he's got to adapt in that sense because he can't physically dominate the defenders like he could in Portugal. And the third thing is, but another thing about physicality, he's missed a pre-season. He went on strike in pre-season. Isak missed a pre-season. There's no coincidence that these two guys who have shown immense quality, one will be in another league, was flying, are struggling at this stage of the season because when you miss a pre-season, it's very difficult, I think to people that haven't played as a professional footballer to understand how impactful a pre-season is for your whole part of the season.

16:33Physically being able to run, move, be robust. He just looks like he needs a pre-season. Isak more than anyone in football right now needs a pre-season and he's telling. Yeah, I can't, I'll be honest with you, I can't wait till Habits comes back, you know. I think. Steve, come in Steve. No, I do. I feel like I'm glad Gabriel Jesus is back. Come in, Stee. I just need a handful of words. Stee, you was right all last season. No, because I've got... It makes you tick. And I've never disagreed with that. You can't have a striker like Jokrez that just stands there waiting for chances. I wanted someone to be in the box.

17:13And I still do. Yeah, you got him. And he does this. And now else. It's this, Stee, by the way. You got it wrong. Gets about a shot a game off. Yeah, look, man, it's good to have options. And I'm really glad that Gabriel Jesus is back as well. And I think, look, before he got injured, he was in great form. Now, obviously, whether it was an own goal or not, he was in the right position at the right time. And we're going to need him. We're going to need him. Anyway, back to Saka. Star boy. World class. Basically got about the same goal contributions per night. as Casemiro in the Premier League. I'll be honest with you, Steve.

17:55Absolute myth of a player. No, no, no. If you brought this up three weeks ago, Steve, you might have had a little bit of a case. But since the North London derby, the guy has found form again. So I think you're three weeks too late. He's Arsenal's go-to player, there's no doubt. If Arsenal are going to produce a moment in any football match, Saka's that guy. Agreed. First guy. Yeah. He is, Steve. Come on. What does he do? What does he do? He doesn't assist and he doesn't score at any level. He's like Cody Gakpo with better PR. There's nothing about him that impresses me. What have you woke up?

18:26What did you take this morning? What drink was you drinking this morning? Just the usual. It's come out of shots, man. Yeah, because the reason why I disagree with that as well is you probably didn't watch the Wolves game, but he made every single... I mean, I was literally watching the Wolves, and you know I was watching the Wolves. But you must have been watching it with some hater tints on because he was playing the right ball every single time. Can I just say about Saka? The thing I asked of Saka last season to elevate himself to even better standards to what he'd set was his ability to go both ways.

19:02Now I watch him now and I don't know the stat on this. He must be going maybe 60-40 now either way. He's almost a 50-50 either way player. And for a defender, a fullback, that is like criminal. It's illegal. I don't want that. I don't want that uncertainty. I want to know that he's all left-footed. I'm going to show him this way and he's going to go down a dead alley. I've got him. When the player can go both ways, he becomes an absolute problem. And I think Saka right now, if you ask most fullbacks, he'd be one of the hardest players to play against. A hundred percent, man. And yeah, so I reckon, Steve, you're wrong with that one and maybe try again in a few weeks.

19:36The stats don't lie. He's played one more game than Casemiro. If Casemiro scores tonight, they're on the same amount of goal involvements in the Premier League. No one's out here calling Casemiro star boy, are they? You know what I mean? You know what I mean? I just, am I right or wrong? I know I'm right. I don't even have fun, so I'm right. You're not serious. So, Rio, before we look at the Mo Salah situation at Liverpool and obviously Morgan Rodgers absolutely tearing it up at Aston Villa, you wanted to tell us something special about our partners crafted. I can see you've got one of their bracelets on.

20:08Bro, I don't play much. You're not playing games though. Do you take that off? I've got a chain. You know what? I'm actually struggling to take it off at the moment. Yeah, I've got a chain. Do you know what I like is they've got blingy stuff on there which you got some go for but also just got the simplicity stuff as well which i like but i've actually been like friends with a guy behind it all for a while now so it's quite an organic relationship that's been built and um we're now in a time what i was going to talk to you about we're now in a time where we we've got no time us fellas don't really want to be sitting there doing all the rapping and all that stuff you can go online you can go on and go on their site have a look at what you want.

20:44Mish, mash, mash, mash, mish. And you can even get it wrapped up and sent under the tree so there's no work to be done. I'm going to show you by the way. Yeah, please. The link will be in the comments, guys. So go and have a little look. Look, I'm going to get you something. What, for me? This is how easy it is. Come on now. And this is something you can kind of tailor make for whoever you're getting it for. So here you can have silver or gold. You're a gold man, I can see. Yeah, yeah. There we go. That's nice, that. Yeah, man. look you've got loads of stuff they've got the pendants there they've got the different styles like that you know i think you need a double chain double chain double chain oh my gosh and you can go and get a nice little pendant i'm going to get you thest michael's one that you can read it you can read what it means after it's a lot it's synonymous with you and arsenal okay okay i like that okay i like that there you go two double chain and a pendant you know what rio wrapped up That's my Christmas done, bro.

21:36You know what I mean? All I need is Arsenal top of the league and that, and I'm good. I'm cushy. We'll see. I don't know if you're going to get the chain. I don't know if you're going to get the other wish. Yeah, nah. Right, man. We've got loads still to come right on this pod, but we'll be back shortly after this. I want to move on to Mo Salah, who was the hot talking point of last week and, of course, this weekend as well. How do you think Liverpool have handled the Mo Salah situation? We've spoken about Jamie Carragher. Steve stop laughing It's hilarious I think I just think they've handled it absolutely hilariously Like they've caused Basically civil war in the Liverpool fan base They're forcing them to either back a manager Or possibly I mean in fact it's not even possibly He is their greatest ever Premier League player And watching the backpedalling Like oh no Stevie G's our greatest ever Premier League player No he's not It's Mo Salah And it's not even close Like he actually delivered you some titles Not lost you some titles he scored a goals on a rate that just has not been seen he is by far and away liverpool's greatest ever premier league player not only did he win you a title he won you a title this year without his goal contributions this isn't someone that's five years past their best that someone went through a bit of a slumping form because your new manager was out too busy djing rather than concentrating on his job figuring out how he's going to retain the title has come back in spent half a billion, totally upset the apple cart, bought two strikers when he didn't need one, like, has just completely fucked it up.

23:06Do you know what I thought was really nice to see the fans, the support they gave them at Anfield? I think there's a lot of noise outside or on social media that sometimes people take as the gospel. And then you go into the stadium where the fans are going week in, week out. And I'm not saying they're better and bigger supporters because they go to the stadium, but it's a real indicator as to what the fan base is probably thinking when you look in the stadium. and the support he got was amazing. He'd done a lap of honour before he left because he's going to the AFCON. It was just really nice to see.

23:35I mean, I don't want to keep talking about Jamie, but Jamie was like questioning whether the fans would love him or not. I was like, like Steve said, he's the top goal involvement man in the Premier League history. Forget any other players above, Wayne Rooney, Alan Shearer, he's done an unbelievable job here, represented Liverpool in the best way possible. He's probably been, I wouldn't say troubled, but he's had probably moments where he's stepped out of the boundary lines probably two or three times in his whole career, in eight or nine years at the club. He's been a model professional football player.

24:07I saw Eketike talking about him. He's somebody I model myself on. He's a professional. He's one of those guys that you want in your camp. Not just for scoring goals or creating goals, but actually for showing young players, this is how you get to the top. This is how you stay at the top. So, again, I felt that... I'm just happy that... Listen, I'm not a supporter of Liverpool by any means, but I'm happy that he's been shown the respect in-house now with the fans that Mo Salah's career and time at the club deserves. Did you see Steven Gerrard's answer? Very good. I thought that was the way you answered that, Ria.

24:45Well, what I liked about Stevie's comments was that they were from someone who's been there. He very much appreciated that and was pointed to that fact similarities in some situations that he's been in, but also there was no personal attack. It wasn't a vindictive approach at all. It was very much like, this is the situation, I'm going to call it as it is without having to be personal. And I think that's the respectful way to do it. What do you think is the biggest challenge for slot moving forward? Managing. Steve! How do you spend £150 million on one of the world's top strikers and bench him.

25:26No, no. I think the Isak situation is more to do with him because I think Isak, again, refusing to train and whatnot and can't train with a team. No pre-season. I can't stress how hard it is to get into full stride when you haven't done a pre-season, right? So that's why I was like, Liverpool have to get this done quick. They can't let him miss pre-season. Get this done. Or I'd rather not take him at that point. Really? Because, look, you've got no player. I understand what you're saying. I just think if you look at the time, what Isak did last season, if he's available pre-season or not, you're taking it.

26:00When you're in the game, you should know this. You should know, you should understand. No one ever feels the same. No matter what, there's going to be an odd player here or there that misses a pre-season and comes in and flies. That can happen. But in the main, you miss a pre-season, you are fucked. I'm not having these excuses. No, I'm telling you, Steve. You can say that. They would get excused for signing a£135 million player from the same league and needing this entire settling in period. No other club gets these excuses, none. I'm not giving them an excuse. I'm not giving them an excuse. I'm just saying.

26:30I'm saying it's terrible. Liverpool fans are obviously sitting there going, what is going on here? But by the way, they've got Eketike to kind of soften that blow. So just have that. What a player. Unbelievable. He's softened that blow right up. So Isak's situation is not as glaring as other clubs because they've got someone coming in and just banging goals. So he can sit there and be on the bench and try and gather some fitness. Ain't going to get it this season. He's confident, sticking on Eketike. He's confidence, man. There's a World Cup, yeah, in the summer, just in case you didn't know. No, Eketike sitting there now and going to the manager slot.

27:07You dare take me out. Go on. You take me out if you dare. And these are the problems that he gets? Yeah, and that's the difference. Last season, he had a very settled team last season. Didn't have to rotate a lot. Had a really settled team. And he had, players that weren't playing most of the time, probably other than Trent, most of them were saying like, okay, I understand. That's the role that I play. Whereas now, he signed four players who all think they, or are expecting to play every game. And there's more players in that team who are going, I should play as well. I won the league last year.

27:41How are you going to bench me? So it's making it, it's a different type of management now. We're asking him, can you manage? It's true. So he's yet to answer those questions. If you're McAllister, you're thinking, what the heck? Did you ever miss a pre-season? I don't think I did. I didn't miss a whole pre-season, but I missed like three or four weeks and I'm playing catch-up and I'm having a panic attack every day, going into games, going, I'm miles off it here, physically. And again, whether I think I'm good enough as a footballer, that's not the doubt. If I'm physically not good enough and I'm not at the level I need to be, I'm not going to hit the heights that people are accustomed to seeing me at.

28:20And then you are playing that catch up. If you've done a good amount of the pre-season, you've got a chance. But if you miss the whole pre-season, we can do all the running you want to do on your own. You can fly about, you can run mountains, you can run in the desert, up flights of stairs in the stadium, you could do the lot, right? But if you miss training with a team and doing what the team do and the functional stuff and seeing the right looks every day in training. Trust me, it's an uphill task. And that's why we probably have to give an extra shout out to someone like Rhys James, who has had a horrendous list of injuries, but yet his level seems to have gone even higher.

29:00Rhys James' issue was always just playing continued football. I've never sat here and doubted Rhys James' ability. I don't think many can with what you see. If he put out a compilation of his passing, his assists, et cetera, He's up there with the best right backs in the world, right? Yeah. His only issue was his availability. He's now playing games and you're seeing now. Hakim is the only one I put on the same level as him. Hakim, for what he's done recent last couple of years, is playing at a level, I think, where he's been on his own. But Rhys, no one else is near him after that, on his own.

29:36Agreed. Aston Villa, there's a lot of talk about them recently because they've won nine games in a row in all competitions. Most informed team in the Premier League. Are they in the title race? Yes or no? Yeah, they have to be. Do you not think they are? Not really. I look at their last three seasons and they haven't... Forget three seasons. They haven't amassed more than 70 points. I don't know why you're sniggering, Steve. What's that got to do with anything, by the way? Because you lot let Leicester go and win the league when they nearly got relegated the year before on your watch. So the last three seasons means cock all, mate.

30:15It was longer than three seasons. Your last three seasons, you came second. And what? Yeah. How about win one? But you could see the progress. You see, with them, if you tell me, if you say they might win Europa, I'll take that because obviously that's Unai's competition. But in the Premier League, I don't even think their squad's big enough. They're in a title race. They're three points off you and they beat you. They beat you again. That means they go above you. My only concern with them when I look at, if you're comparing you guys and City, City are the only ones that have experience of winning and know how to do it.

30:48So that puts them at an advantage. City and Arsenal both have deep squads. Like you're missing Jesus Havertz, but you've got Galky Rasu sitting in there or Moreno can go and play out front. Whereas I look at Aston Villa, if Oli Watkins gets injured, could be banging trouble. if Morgan Rodgers who hit two at the weekend, they're banging trouble. Midfield quality for Tillmans, Onana, Kamara. That's a class midfield. Yeah. It's an absolutely class midfield. I'm not seeing Lindelof go win a title though. I'm not having that. No, I hear you. I just, I think overall squad depth is not, is not on their side.

31:28No, they need to get out. They need to get knocked out of Europe. A Europe, yeah. And they could be in the title ring. Exactly. So yeah, till then, I think you're chilling. I think, no, they're not. I think, I think they've got a really good manager by the way nah I think I think they've got a really good manager so we'll see I mean Morgan Rodgers he's they have a better manager than you? oh Steve he is they have a better manager than you? Joe's getting wound up Morgan Rodgers simple question isn't it so yes or no really there's not really shades of grey here no he's not he's not?

32:02Steve Rio do you think he's a better manager than Arteta? he's proved that he's a better manager over time, yes. But I think Arteta in the long run could go on to do more. Yeah, and I could win the lottery this weekend. Let's leave out what we've actually achieved, eh? Steve. Morgan Rodgers scored twice as obviously they beat West Ham 3-2. He's banging on form at the moment, man. What's his best quality, man? His best qualities are receiving the ball in tight areas, turning, And when he opens up then, I think he's almost impossible to stop at times. But if he gets going, if he gets motor, he's got a great frame, beautiful balance on both sides.

32:49All of that part of his game, taking players on, seeing a pass now as well. I think it's just delivering goals and assists. If he ups them numbers and stats, I think you're dealing with a player that can compete on a world level. because I think he's got so many factors to his game that you go, that's hard to play against. And when I look at midfielders, I always think about what would he do to me as a defender? If he gets in behind my midfield, I am saying, right, I need to recruit players to come and help me here. Because he can go both ways. He's quick, he's strong, he's got a bit of guile.

33:26And if you add that devilment that I saw in the game against West Ham, and I think one thing I would say, there's moments that can make careers he won the game for Villa there two goals unbelievable goal that game normally in those moments Villa in the last two or three years have been looking to one player really Oli Watkins they're looking to him and there's a moment where you go I can be the guy and then you acknowledge that and go every game when you get it when we need you give it to me and you start telling people and you start having that bit of a shoulders back moment listen I'm that guy man why you keep playing it there.

34:02And I think he seems to be morphing into that mode now which I think makes it makes it it could be terrifying for opponents and he's going to be causing Thomas Tuchel issues in the summer I think if he continues this form. Yeah, I mean his numbers and stats are really good this season. We should actually pull them up like you know it's been really impressive. I think he's scored more than Gokhiresh actually from from my memory but yeah obviously then you start by us as well. Unai Emery Unai on Rodgers he said he's growing up quickly and has a huge mentality now obviously we know Unai he's worked with the likes of Mbappe Neymar Thiago Silva at PSG that's big words man I like that comment more than I like anything about his goals at the weekend or anything because mentality is one of the biggest factors separates the top top top players from the good players we spoke to Carrick on the show not long ago and he had Morgan Rodgers there and he was speaking about as a talent.

35:01The kid's got everything. Great kid, got great people around him. And then when the manager's consolidating that we're talking about mentality, this kid's got a chance, man. I really, he's a player in modern football now today. I'd pay to watch. Yeah, he's exciting. He is exciting. Rodgers admitted to no longer feeling an unknown on the pitch as he struggled at the start of the season. He actually said it's been quite difficult. There's no hiding that. I suppose I might have been a surprise package last year, but people know me know about me and my game and they're trying to stop me and it's about how I can progress to the next level and combat it how much do you rate a player who has managed themselves out of that tricky period Rio?

35:44I think it's an issue for every new player to a league to a team or young player coming into the first team the first season you are a surprise package so you're never a talking point unless you're a Wayne Rooney or a Michael Owen or an Mbappe or someone like that, you're not a talking point in any way, shape or form other than he's inexperienced, get at him. You do some crazy stuff, you put your name on the map. Second season round, every one of those players that you faced last season, you were surprised to see you, have done a bit of homework on you and have looked at your weaknesses, looked at your strengths and now are approaching you differently.

36:27So Morgan Rodgers last year, he could get the ball in that little 10 or 8 position, turn, face your position and start running and get him full steam ahead. Because no one knew who he was. No one really knew what his biggest attributes were. Hasn't proved it in the Premier League yet. After last season, had a really good run, exposure. This season, he gets the ball in them 8, 10 slots now. People are going, you've got to get to him quick. Slow him down. So what have you got now where you're getting put in more tight situations? What are you now going to bring to the table? What offerings have you got?

36:59What have you worked on? What have you seen that you can go, okay, it's tight now. I've got to do this shift and maybe play a few bounce passes. And then someone, they'll step off me again and then I can turn and start running again. These are the little conversations and little things he's got to work out to the jigsaw puzzle. And the best young players or the best players that are new to a team or a country work this out quickest. And he seems to have done that this season. Did you ever go through that yourself? Like obviously, you know at one point you're you're an up and coming known centre back but when did you become Rio Ferdinand do you have any of those examples I remember playing against Coventry I think Dion Dublin said to me coming off the game and I actually played centre midfield in the game he said well it was Rio that was class and give me my props the next time I played against him he was elbowing me in my head coming up against me not giving me time on the ball like so you notice those differences and so you think I've got to get to the ball quicker I've got to approach Deion Dublin in a different way now and just adapt.

37:57You've got to be adaptable as a football player. And that's something you have to maintain throughout your whole career because the game changes. I think Cole Palmer is a good example of that. Steve, do you have any examples? Great example. I mean, obviously, when Cole started, you probably remember, it was a surprise, right? We didn't think he was going to do so well being bought for 40 mil and then all of a sudden, whoa, this kid's a superstar. The next season, even though he's still a great player doing great things, you saw that his numbers had dipped especially from January to like you know May it wasn't the same I think injuries have played a part with him but I think you know like you say his looks aren't going to be for as long as what he maybe was getting when he first went to Chelsea so when the ball was coming to him at Chelsea again I'll say the same thing he was being probably able to turn people weren't as alarmed weren't frantic and going right pressure pressure pressure whereas now Cole Palmer gets the ball within 30 yards of your goal everyone's panicking and going right get to him close him down and if you don't and he gets a shot off, someone's pointing the finger at the person closest to him.

38:57Why aren't you getting close to him? It's Cole Palmer. It's true. He's got it, man. Yeah, he does. I think Cole Palmer's Tuchel's biggest headache in the summer. Why? Because I'm not 100 % sure where do you fit him in. Bro, I'll be honest with you. You play him as the number 10. You play Jude as the 8. I don't care if Rice is in a 6. You play Rice as the 6. You're not leaving out Cole Palmer. You probably will, but in my team, as much as I love Bakayo Saka where does Anderson play? that team gets run over against Germany and France where does Anderson play? he sits down that's what he does Anderson sits down Anderson sits down I know it sounds mad and I'm not the England manager but you're not leaving out Cole Palmer you can't you can't I think it's such a hard it's going to be a hard time that's why I say it's a big decision but I think either Wharton or Anderson alongside Rice is how you go into that tournament you've got Drew Bellingham you play in the 10 then?

39:50Drew Bellingham plays in the 10 because he's going to get in beyond and Harry Kane's going to drop off always because that's what he does, right? And Harry Kane, there's no point talking about any other striker because it's Harry Kane, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah. But we saw the very best of Drew Bellingham at Real Madrid a couple of years ago when he was getting in, ghosting into that number nine spot. Yeah, which is true. And I think that just dovetails perfectly with what you're going to get from Harry Kane. But Colt can do the same thing. You didn't see his goal on the weekend. Yeah, but he's not.

40:15He's always going to live in between the lines. He's not really going to get in beyond. He did. That's how he scored his goal on the weekend. Swanson a blue moon though he ain't really going to do that whatever you decide whatever you think he cannot be on the bench I am not to me that is mental yeah and this is just Lampard Gerrard's goals again when actually Carrick and Hargreaves probably should have been playing instead of all of those three I think in the big games you've got to play Declan and Anderson but I think in the games where you're expected to win you can go with one of those and you can go with you could play Jude and Cole yeah that's different that's different one of Jude, Cole England win those games anyway Rodgers what?

40:53When you come up England windows earlier games anyway it's always when you come up against your French your Argentina your Germany the teams where you've got to actually respect them a little bit you have to go with a bit more defensive unit they have to and actually there's a shout that Rhys James should be maybe looking at number six Yeah I agree but at the same time I think what Anderson has shown I don't think Rhys James is ahead of him at the moment Rhys James has been unbelievable I saw him in that game but it's I don't know it's a tough one man this is why whether Tuchel's actually got a pair of bollocks on him or not and he actually picks the players that player system rather than just picking the biggest names because we've seen that for how long I think Tuchel's got the big enough cojones to make these decisions you've got Phil Foden as well that's becoming a big issue as well I didn't forget Phil Foden yeah I did but I'll be honest with you I'm looking at him now and I'm going rah Yeah, but he probably don't start either.

41:54A lot of people were saying I was miles off it when I was talking about Phil, weren't they? If you remember rightly. What, me and Steve? Well, it's funny because Pep's not happy about his performance. He said, well, not happy, but he said he could do better. What's he got at the moment? How many goal involvements in the last six or seven games? Seven in four. Seven in four. Seven goal involvements in four games. That's the difference. Yeah. You lot are out here absolutely fucking Vaseline-ing up Saka because he's got the same amount of goal involvements as Casemiro. Meanwhile, Phil Foden's out here doing double per nighty, what the output should be.

42:26And you've got Pep going, not good enough because Pep's a winner, not action man over here that thinks he's going to win some shit. All right, guys, listen, I want to say thank you very much for watching this episode of Rio Presents. I've got to get out of here very quickly. Yeah, thank you very much, Rio, because I know that whatever this interview is in Carrington that you don't want to dispose of, we're going to find out very soon. And everybody watching, I want to say thank you very much because we have got to over, well, this is overdue really. We're almost on 2 million. Only 500 ,000 subscribers late.

42:57Yeah, but there's a gold plaque at the back here. I want to say you don't get that without everybody watching here. And, you know, we've even got our people that have come from the Crafted Competition in the studio watching live. There's more of that kind of stuff that we're going to be doing. So please don't just watch. Press the subscribe button and the notifications. Get those comments in. Even if you think Steve's wrong, which he's wrong 99 % of the time, and you think I'm right, just write it in, whatever you think, let us know, man. It's great to communicate with everyone. Before we go, could you just get in the comments, guys, and let us know if you think Eze can take the ball in tight areas and can he slip people in?

43:30Joel says he can't, just so you know. Oh, my God. Just in one word, Emery Arateta is better. Guys, Joel Baer, Stephen Housen, Rio Ferdinand, signing out. Shout out to Crafted, sponsoring the show. Peace.

43:51Thank you.

44:20Thank you.