Heartbreak vs PSG, Richarlison & Kudus Shine, Eze Transfer Impact | With The Athletic’s James Maw (Q&A)

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1:52Fakimi plays it on, Den Vellet across, with a new goal! 2-2, Gonzalo Ramos, right in the deck, in front of the Paris Saint-Germain supporters, and look at the celebrations! Hello everybody, welcome back to Rule the Roosh podcast. Welcome back. Yeah, it is back, yeah, I've had you a couple of times, haven't I now, James? Welcome back, James Moore. What an intro! Yeah, great, really decisive stuff, yeah. Only the second time as well, by the I should say. Thank you. What I meant to say the first time was and this has less impact now, it's not really true. But I couldn't believe before that that you and I hadn't done a podcast together.

2:34Of the many Spurs podcasts we have both done over the last decade that we hadn't aligned. I don't know if I'm buying that. I swear I'd had you on maybe an archaic rule the roost is it not we never you're kind of implying that i would i'm so big time that i'd come on and forget but i'm pretty sure that's not right i did uh what was the one that anthony costa used to do with uh with crackers do you remember what that was called i i know i don't remember but i did i did like that podcast actually so i i went on that one summer it's the one i worked at 442 and uh they they obviously had me on to like talk about transfers to give insight into transfers.

3:17I know this may be a theme we come back to in a minute, but I had no idea what was going on. So they were asking me all these questions about like all these players supposed to be linked with. And I was like, yeah, I don't know. Sorry. And they were clearly, nearly a very unfortunate mispronunciation for me there. They were clearly quite disappointed. And that was hammered home by the fact the previous guest they'd had on the pod was David Ginnola. So it was like a real dropper. I know you had Flav on last week, so I'm not going to make that comparison this time. Well, you know, I'd say... I'll let you know afterwards.

3:51I'll let you know how the numbers play out. How are you feeling after last night, mate? Are you just nothing friendly, pre-season friendly? Is that what it is? I don't really want to play into the kind of the Spurs-y narrative, but it did feel very Spurs to create this situation where we suddenly cared about a game we previously hadn't cared about. I know a lot of people have said that. I was very relaxed going into it. I think you said last week, it was a bit of a free hit. It felt like if we win this, it would be absolutely amazing. If we lose it, we're unlikely to be too fussed. And obviously due to the nature of it, it does feel...

4:30I wouldn't go quite as far as to say it's heartbreaking, but it's a bit annoying. I was way more... Because like you said, it's heartbreak adjacent because I was gutted. When they scored their second goal, I really was gutted. I was really not even annoyed. I felt quite sad. I felt quite sad that we were on the cusp of having this actual kind of semi-legitimate case of singing that we were champions of Europe. Right, right. I said on V from the Lane last week that if we had won that, it would properly ratify that chant. I'm a bit unsure about it. Sing it against West Ham because they sung it when they won the Conference League, I think it's completely fine.

5:13and obviously it's going to happen against Arsenal. Can't really do it against Chelsea now because of their Club World Cup thing and they've won the European Cup. But winning the Super Cup would properly underline and give real credence to that chant. And I know people are still going to sing it and that's obviously completely fine. But yeah, it's not quite the same for me now. I feel like we've really missed out on the opportunity to add a proper bit of gloss to that. I had a couple of comments last night when I was doing my little post-match pod that were to the effect of I would have rather been battered as a lot of people expected to happen than losing that fashion.

5:55Do you do you take anything from that? Are you actually because I'll be honest, like as gutting as it was, I still have a weird amount of pride, actually, as to how well we played against the team right as well. yeah I mean I think Spurs could have lost that game 3-0 we would have got less stick than we ended up getting last night like also like all these people on social media going on about classic Spurs I suspect haven't didn't see any of the game like the Super Cup isn't that's not some like game that everyone sits down to watch is it it just kind of exists in that week now before the start of the season I don't it's not like kind of you know a thing that's on the calendar for months and months and everyone knows he's coming and they kind of organise their week around watching the Super Cup.

6:39It's not like the World Cup final or the Champions League final or whatever. To neutrals or to anyone else. So I definitely wouldn't rather have lost three now. I think we could take so much from that performance. Just the difference between I mean the closest comparison to PSG you can make in the Premier League or in last season's Premier League would be Liverpool. And if you look at the two games against Liverpool last season or the two Premier League games against Liverpool last season or even the away leg in the League Cup as well I mean Spurs got absolutely torn to pieces and like the difference between those performances and this one I admittedly what there was a similar performance in the home leg in the League Cup um I mean it's they're completely disparate aren't they it's it's a nuts difference we have a very similar group of players bar one extra um in kudos so uh yeah look it's it's it's very disappointing to lose a game like that like on the eve of the premier league season but actually i almost kind of look at it and think there's so much to take from it that it should i think kind of serve as a positive rather than a negative just in terms of like the belief it should give players maybe not so much for a game against a home to bernie but like a way to man city the week after when you've gone when you've you know played PSG the champions of Europe and held them at arm's length for so much of that game um and like I mean Frank has done a bit of a tactical number on Enrico really there for the most part I mean the way he spoke about it afterwards it was like they've been planning that for a while the way they set up I don't think they're going to play a back three in every single game I think it's going to be we're so ang-pilled Conte-pilled that like we kind of forget that managers can change systems we haven't seen it for the last and Mourinho probably did it So we probably haven't seen it for like five years or four years.

8:28And that's Frank's big thing, isn't it? Right, exactly. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And if you look at the evolution of Brentford over the time they've been in the Premier League, I mean, not necessarily always game for game, but over the course of the four years. But they changed system and style quite a lot over that time. So I don't think it's impossible. We play maybe in general, slightly more conservatively this season. And that then evolves over the next couple of seasons, assuming we don't sack them after two years like everyone else. Are there any examples of really top-draw teams at the moment that are, say, tactical chameleons, if you like, in the same way that...

9:01Because I just wonder, because it feels like there's no clear line, no clear dividing line on whether or not it's actually a good or a bad thing for Tottenham to have a manager like Frank, if he is going to continue in that way as he did with Frankfurt. I think the thing that we discussed a few times last season was the best thing Slott was doing at Liverpool, with more or less the same group of players they'd had the season before, was being a bit more tactically flexible. They were a bit more pragmatic as well. They were kind of adapting to their opponents. They weren't going gung-ho all the time.

9:36I know Liverpool had kind of moved away a bit from the heavy metal football of early Klopp, but clearly the kind of intensity was still a big part of how they played and they were a little bit more kind of reserved, I guess you'd say, last season. But yeah, there probably isn't anyone right at the top end. I mean, I'm sure there's some hipster bloke in Italy or something that's doing it, but certainly not the Premier League at the top end who's alternating between a three and a four regularly. It'd be interesting to see how that works if it does happen. Who particularly stood out for you last night, mate, as impressive?

10:15I mean, actually, he probably... I mean, definitely wasn't the best player on the pitch, but I was really impressed by Richarlison. Like that job that he did, which I guess we shouldn't be surprised by given it's kind of what he did towards the end of the Europa League last season. But like being that outlet, you know, being able to hold up the ball, being able to win free kicks, being able to bring other players into the game, being able to like enabling the whole team to shift up the pitch a little bit. That was such an important thing. I mean, obviously Kudis was amazing, like really, really good.

10:49and I think he's obviously good at like holding onto the ball in a slightly different way in terms of like dribbling and whatever and I think you saw once those two went off I don't know Pelini went off as well and that did make a difference but I think once those two up front had gone off in those last like 15-20 minutes like Spurs just couldn't make the ball stick at all like Solanke and Tell just couldn't couldn't hold the ball up anywhere near as well and it just kept coming back and back it's not you know it's not like it was kind of, I suppose, pending their own penalty area for the entire second half or from 2-0 onwards.

11:26It was literally just the last 10 minutes. It wasn't a horrible game to watch until the very end, was it? It wasn't like, even that Europa League final, I suppose, were probably pending more than they were last night. Yeah. And I think you can expect that to a degree. It always felt like PSG had a few gears they could kick into as the game was going on. But just in a sense check way, it didn't just feel like PSG were putting on pressure because that's the natural ebb and flow of a football match. You really could feel that Spurs just had less of a foothold. It felt more like those sort of late stage Conte matches where we just couldn't really get a grasp on a fixture, really get a proper grip on anything.

12:14Or there's like a run under Mourinho where they kind of intentionally sat back with a one-goal lead, like in every single game. It's after West Ham, wasn't it? Yeah, yeah, yeah. They kept conceding late goals. But I don't really think... I mean, this probably brings us on to transfers and stuff, but I don't really think that was by design. I think Frank probably would have liked to have brought on Eze or Savino or whoever for that last 15 minutes. If those players had signed last week and you could put players like that on, then I suspect the end of the game would have been quite different. I guess that does.

12:52Let's just talk about it. I do want to talk a little bit more about last night, but did you feel that sort of the... Because I looked at the way Kudis and Richarlison linked up together, particularly effectively at different times, and I felt like they continued to open up pockets of space, and it was pockets of space that really we didn't have anybody exploiting. and I was looking at last night thinking god man if we had like a there was a part of me honestly there were a couple of there were a couple of moments I thought I think even Sonny could be doing something here right now I feel like he could be exploiting a bit of the space making a few more kind of should we say like I don't want to use the word penetrative but I've said it now So attacks on PSG's backline.

13:40So is Eza the guy that's going to do that? Like we are heavily linked with him constantly. It feels like the sort of deal is, you know, some people are saying it's going to be him and Savino. I personally would be very surprised if Tottenham did two sort of deals in one window around£70 million, considering we've also signed Kudus as well, which people seem to have forgotten about a little bit. is he sort of the guy that you would have rather has on the pitch last night versus Savinho if we can tell you? It's difficult to say isn't it because the balance of that team like for 75 minutes like felt entirely right for that game you know but like who would you take out of that team to put Eze or Savinho in I mean obviously you'd rather have them in the squad you'd rather have players of that quality available but on the basis of what we saw like you're not going to take Pelina out of a team you're not going to take Benton Kerr out of a team like Asar was amazing last night so good taking a second half like so you don't really want to lose any of those then like I mean Spence was great at wing back Porro you know very good as well that back three was so solid for the most part and you know he just mentioned that front two were both really good too like it's more like I think it's more an issue of depth with Spurs like I actually think where we are now we can put out a pretty good starting 11 the problem is just the quality just dips so quickly after that and I think unless they do sign players of the kind of requisite quality like established Premier League players or the kind of equivalent that will be a problem again this season in terms of like managing the flow of matches twice a week so I didn't look at that game last night and think if Eze had started this game we would have won I did look at it and think if Eze could have come on for the last 20 minutes we would have won I do like you know I'm going to be a bit proper football man about it as well mate I kind of look at somebody like Eze and I just think he's somebody that can just do things yeah it's great it's just a good player to watch that's what you want right like effective players that are good on the eye it's like sometimes all you need is the eye test isn't it you don't want to get into pie charts and whatever i don't need p pda or whatever else i i just want to see a guy you can like you know drop a shoulder and beat a man and score a sexy goal every now and then and i don't think we i mean kudis probably has it in in him to be that player but we do kane and son are gone now we need a difference right you know yeah you need we need like a you need like more than one player that can do that and obviously like you know madison is probably in that bracket or approaching that bracket.

16:28But we're not going to see him play now, I suspect, until the last quarter of the season, our best probably, unfortunately. And Kulosevsky, slightly different type of player, but he can make things happen. But again, I mean, his injury situation, I'm not sure he's great. He's certainly going to miss the start of the season. And I do wonder if that's going to kind of roll into the kind of autumn or whatever. So, yeah, to me, it seems obvious that you need like a player that can create chances out of nothing for himself or other players and i mean sometimes you just got to go and get go out and get a good player that's what big clubs do and spurs have kind of appointed themselves as a big club by dint of you know building this big stadium and trying to get into the super league and whatever else you know getting amazon to come in and do a documentary like big clubs signed big players and spurs haven't done that enough over the last i mean this is the thing we've been moaning about spurs fans for like over a decade isn't it like the club has the stature of a club has like massively increased but the way they behave in the transfer market hasn't drastically changed like i mean i'm not like comparing you know or maybe i am but you know bergweil and gray to like huddleston and genus or whatever but it's like the policy there isn't necessarily hugely different like the scope of the scouting maybe years you know going getting players like Odogie and Sarr and whatever but signing young players with a view to developing them to minimize the risk into like the financial risk is what they were doing when they were signing Huddleston and Lennon and Wayne Routledge and whoever else but you know as you're saying those Spurs have they have willed into reality the fact that they want to be this super club they want all the trappings of that and what comes with that is this fairly look it might be trite it might be games gone stuff but what comes with it is this idea that it's also not just sport it's not you know hackney marshes anymore it's it's entertainment it's a it's a form of theater isn't it and what comes with that is just signing big players signing big personalities it's great to have a five-year plan it's great to get a load of youngsters in i don't i don't lose my ass over that i don't really get annoyed about that i quite like the idea we sign players like fuscovich and bergval and stuff but equally when you're operating at this this level of football and when you're charging fans the amount that they do sometimes you just need to spend big money on a big player a household name that people know so you can stick him on programs and stuff like that it's it's that kind of franchise player thing isn't it you do need like but like commercially and footballistically you do need like players that everyone can turn to on and off the pitch that can kind of carry a football club and you know we've had we've been blessed with massive ones in Kane and Son Bale before that I wouldn't say in terms of like their stature in a kind of marketing sense or whatever like Modric or Berbatov were quite the same but obviously they were like big players within the Premier League and two-powered footballers.

19:33But now it feels like we've got a lot of good players on an upward trajectory, which is obviously good. But there isn't like that kind of guy you can hang your hat on in terms of like getting this, like marketing this club globally or like winning a football match out of nowhere. And like you say, the closest thing to that is James Madison and he's out for a season. And I've got to say as well, his sort of open letter was pretty, pretty horrible. I'm quite harsh on James Madison, to be honest, and it tugged at my heartstrings a bit. I did feel really bad. It is really bleak. When you think, like, obviously he missed the Europa League final.

20:10I don't know if you remember, but when Leicester won the FA Cup, he didn't start either. So he sort of effectively missed out on that as well. And yeah, missing this whole season, or most of it, and I hadn't really considered the World Cup at the end when obviously he went to the last World Cup and didn't play a minute. That's pretty, I mean, he's got no chance of getting in now like he'd have to have a really really good season to get in and it's just not like there's just not going to be enough road bin to do that um so yeah it is like especially at this point in his career because what is he like 29 30 he probably turns 30 this season i think like it is a bit like yeah it is bleak and i know like i mean i get frustrated by him sometimes because i do think he is quite inconsistent but that is just the thing that comes with being like a kind of very good player, but not one of the absolute elite, I think.

20:59You know, you can play incredibly well some weeks and then the next week you're just not at that level. But I don't buy this thing that he's not a good bloke. Like people at the club clearly absolutely love him. Yeah. And I do think like things like that do, for that to come straight off the back of Son leaving, I think it's probably quite a big bloke to like the players on an emotional level. And I do wonder again, you know, we're talking about big players and big personalities being needed, that's probably another reason that they need. Getting someone like Asai through the door is going to be quite a big boost to the other players, I think, now.

21:34I particularly like the performance of Jed Spence last night. You touched on him there. Is it wild to say that he probably should be our starting left-back? Because I really rate Adoghi as well. I think Adoghi's a brilliant player as well. But there's just something about Jed Spence, where I just think he's amazing. I actually think he's really, really good, mate. I think he's really talented. Before the season even kicks off, soccer fans are already making predictions. Who wins the league? Who qualifies for Europe? And who's lifting the trophy at season's end? On Calci, America's number one prediction market platform, you're trading against peers in a live market, meaning there's no house.

22:17And as the probability changes, you can buy in and out of your position. For a limited time, download the Calci app and use code CUP26 to get$10 when you trade 10. K-A-L-S-H-I, Calci. Trade the beautiful game. 18 plus only restrictions and eligibility requirements apply. Event contract trading involves risk and may not be suitable for all investors. Prices, values, and available markets may differ from those mentioned. For more information, see calci.com slash regulatory. Membership means more with American Express Business Gold. Earn four times membership rewards points in your top two eligible spending categories every month, including eligible U.S.

22:51advertising purchases and select media and U.S. purchases at restaurants, including takeout and delivery. What are you waiting for? Get the card that flexes with your spending every month. Terms and points cap apply. Learn more at americanexpress.com slash business-gold. MX Business Gold Card, built for business by American Express. I think the difference between Spencer and Udoge, like I think Udoge is about a footballer, I think, like on a technical level. but I think Spence like I don't know if it's something in his personality but I think he really relishes the battle with like the opposition winger especially bigger players as well and you saw that last night with Hakimi obviously a ludicrously good player and ludicrously quick but for the most part I mean obviously right to the end he got kind of undone a bit but I mean he was incredibly good the key thing I would say there is like Udogi in the last two years I mean it's probably an obvious point but like the way Spurs have played and the intensity that he's been kind of asked to play with on and off the ball, I think it's taking a real toll on him.

23:55And clearly, like, I mean, actually the injury he's had at the start of the season has been different because he had hamstring injuries before. And this is an, is this something else? It's a knee or something. I think so. So it's not like a recurrence of the same thing. But the idea of him having to play like 50 games again this season plus wouldn't be something that I'd be massively enthusiastic about. I mean, Porro and him would probably be the two that I think their minutes probably still need to be managed off the back of the last couple of years. So the idea that Spence could fill in either of those two positions, I think, is such a big thing.

24:33Yeah, and you're right. I mean, I don't really like the idea of a right-footed player at left back or left wing back. It still seems a bit ugly to me. but he's doing the job so good luck to him he just like you said he does really back himself doesn't he and it does yeah it obviously does him the world of good because he's I don't know I just I think it's the same thing within him that kind of has caused him problems before like it's like this kind of sense of self-belief but I mean that is a thing that like elite footballers need you need to be really sure of yourself like he's kind of bounced back really from quite a few setbacks in the three years he's played for Spurs in terms of managers like clearly even not rating him or quickly deciding they don't want him in the team um and he's shown quite a lot of resilience I think to come back every single time and yeah I mean I agree with you I think he's going to be like a big player for Spurs this season as much as anything else because he can play in those two positions or four if we're including wingback as well does it concern like do you think we've got enough cover there?

25:41Does it bother you the idea? No, I don't. I think we didn't. The fact that they should have signed Walker Pierce, it's amazing they didn't do that to me. I mean, again, that still gives you three right-footed full-backs. He was available on three, wasn't he? Right, exactly. And that homegrown thing, which I know people are bored about, but it would basically make, it's kind of like a free hit, really, for the Champions League squad to get him in. Yeah, to me that seems nuts, because I suspect he would have been happy to come back and be a squad player. I mean, could be wrong there. but like I was really surprised that that didn't, that they didn't make that happen.

26:16That just seemed like a really obvious choice to me. Like an ease, a very kind of Spurs thing as well to get like a player on a free transfer just to pad the squad out. Cause that slightly ominous line wasn't there from Frank talking about Ben Davis having a big part to play this season, which was your, what's your take on Ben Davis? No, I love Ben Davis. I think he's, I think he's a great guy, a brilliant club servant. I think he, you know, gives us, I think there's so few occasions on which Ben Davis has really made a massive error, made a huge error that's led to something for us. So I think people are very harsh on him.

26:53He's just, you know, he lacks the physicality, doesn't he, really, to give us that dynamic edge from that position in the sort of football that we want to play, or at least want to play definitely under Andropos de Coglu. Although actually, I mean, if they're playing a back three, I mean, I think generally his best position is meant to be on the left of a back three, right? And that's where he's mostly played for Wales. And I guess he must have played there a bit for Spurs in various points. Did he play down to Conte maybe? I feel like he probably mostly played left wing back when Spurs played a three under Pochettino.

27:28Did we have to play a back three under Mourinho as well at any point? Yeah, probably. I feel like they must have done. because I feel like we've seen Ben Davis and there's a few iterations in a left of a back three. But yeah, I mean, they're definitely short of a defender in that squad. I mean, the suggestion is that Vizkovic is going to go out on line and I know some people aren't happy about that, but I think if a decision has been taken that he needs to play more football and he's unlikely to get that at Spurs, then I kind of think that's a, like a sacrifice worth making really. It's hard, isn't it?

28:09To sign Danso for 30, 40 million, drag us in for a similar amount a season before and then tell them, sorry, no, you're not going to play because we've got this child come through who is massive and really good, but still. And Danso's great. I think Danso. Yeah, Danso's really good. I mean, I guess the thing is if they play a three regularly, then they probably do need someone else. And I think actually we reported on the Athletic that they are looking at centre-backs still. And that isn't, you know, if Romero leaves or whatever, they want an extra one. And I mean, I think the solution there would probably be you replace Davis with, like someone that can play left side of a three, someone that can play left back, someone that could play as the left of a two centre-backs.

28:59like someone with a bit of flexibility, left-footed. I have no idea who that player is. I think that there's a guy called Bisagli or Bisagli who went to Brighton on a free, who I think basically is that player. He plays left-back, left-centre-back and in a free. But yeah, they didn't get him either. Were you surprised to see Romero giving the captaincy at all? With the fact that, you know, there's been such an open courtship of him this summer the one point where I was a bit unsure was the day before yesterday when we were told they were going to announce in the press conference who the captain was and then suddenly they said actually we're going to announce it before the game for whatever reason and Davis did the press conference by the way and I suddenly thought oh shit are they going to make Davis a captain and everyone's going to moan about it but obviously we didn't do that

30:01no not not really I mean I I think what people said two years ago about him responding well to being made vice captain was was true and I know he still had a couple of issues but generally I think like if you look at the suspensions he's had in the last two seasons I mean it's from his like lack of availability in the last season and last two seasons have and down to injury rather than suspension. I think you and Flav talked about that last week, right? Yeah. So maybe it has made a difference. So I just don't see there were loads of like, I think if you have a lot of young players, you do want your captain to be someone with a big personality, be that like kind of tub-thumping shouter or...

30:43Yeah. But someone like Sean, who's like respected and loved by all the players who can kind of lead by example. So I mean, there aren't loads of like huge personalities and that's what I don't think. And I guess there's that lame again, that level, that magpie effect of like demonstrably successful world card. Right, exactly. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, and then, you know, you're man of the match in the Europa League final and whatever else. It kind of, yeah, you can point to those things. But I mean, on the discipline thing as well, it didn't stop McCoy going on about it. Last night, constantly. Last night.

31:16I mean, this is obviously like really paranoid Spurs nonsense, but I really had it in my head that Fletch was desperate for PSG to equalize. At 2-0, we've like 10 minutes left when we were already starting to panic a little bit because PSG had loads of the ball. And he was saying, a second trophy in 12 weeks for Spurs, if they do it. It's just like, cursing it, mate. My head was on Mars last night watching the commentary, mate. I found it so irritating. I know this is very pearl clutchy and everything, but I just I found it very disrespectful the way they were talking about Spurs like we were we were out playing PSG for large parts of that game and they were just they're having a good old laugh about it just every now and then they did check themselves because just before half time or maybe just after half time they like showed their like shot stats and they said well if you think Spurs are getting battered here or whatever actually look at this and we had had like way more shots or shots on target at least in PSG in the first half um so they did kind of every now and then they did acknowledge that actually Spurs were playing really well but yeah I think they they made it seem like more of a back to the wall job than it was for the most part obviously that did change there was what you could tell there was one like quite funny moment as well where they started off almost doing like a bit about Daniel Levy having a laugh about the fact he wasn't at the ground and you could almost you could almost hear them like the cogs wearing as in like maybe he's not at the ground because something bad's happened like maybe there's like a family situation and they kind of went quiet on it and then maybe two or three minutes later like oh his daughter's gone to university that's that's why he's not here yeah I think it's okay to say this I mean the club put that out yesterday uh to like media yesterday yesterday morning because they kind of appreciated I guess that it would be a thing that would be noticed after the game or during the game in fact so I mean they should have if they didn't not if they were kind of told in here during the game they probably should have known beforehand well you I'm not going to talk about how Ali McCoy does or doesn't do his job, mate.

33:16I'm just going to sit here as a wobble-headed fan and say, stop going on about our club. Yeah, stop criticising Daniel Levy, yeah? Bloody Arsenal. Is that what you're saying? He loves Arsenal. Daniel Levy pays our wages, remember? We're Spurs podcasters. That's true. Not me. Not me. I'm too much of him. You're wearing that. Can we talk about that T-shirt you're wearing? Go on then. Merch. listen I mean I could go and get mine I've got one as well but it's cursed isn't it so like you when Spurs released a t-shirt that had Spursie written across the front in the wake of the Europa League final like caught up in the emotion of that and how we'd finally vanquished this hideous terminology yeah I went out and spent 30 quid on a t-shirt that had a word written on the front I couldn't have bought it more quickly right no exactly the same and I would have preferred Warra Trophy or Johnson again but they went to Spursley so that's fine are you doing Warra Trophy do you want to plug your t-shirt no your Warra Trophy t-shirt that's alright I'll keep it cool I'll keep it cool but anyway yeah it's cursed isn't it like it's obviously going to mean we don't mean anything for like longer than 17 years now I mean I really hope not obviously obviously same yeah I'm very superstitious about this kind of stuff and for them to be so brazen about it with the benefit of like 10 weeks hindsight uh there's a bit of that though i mean you can definitely feel there's been a there's been a like a passing of the torch in the way like i mean i'm not gonna speculate as to how much control donna colin had i'm joking by the way just to be clear on that like i'm not being entirely serious but but i mean if i just look at like the social media output and everything like that from the club yeah yeah yeah it has shifted somewhat um and i tell you what this is probably a good time to bring up the sort of the abuse that mathis tell faced last night um you know whatever anyone it goes without saying doesn't it whatever his performance is mr penalty or not like i mean going on racially abusing uh well anybody it doesn't matter if he's a 20 year old player or not tie myself in knots here don't be racist it's not very nice it's shit it's horrible and the club statement um on it was was strong did you see it i haven't i i knew i've seen that there was a statement but i haven't actually seen it if you know what i mean they uh i'm gonna i'll read it verbatim they effectively call people cowards um we are disgusted at the racial abuse that mathis tell has received on social media following last night's UEFA Super Cup defeat.

35:54Mathis showed bravery and courage to step forward and take a penalty, yet those who abuse him are nothing but cowards, hiding behind anonymous usernames and profiles to spout their abhorrent views. We will work with the authorities and social media platforms to take the strongest possible action against any individual we are able to identify. We stand with you, Mathis. Strong, good, and it's good to see. Football has this weird kind of sense of like not wanting to seem too emotional not wanting to seem too human they they kind of almost like treat themselves as like some kind of civil service kind of bureaucratic institution somewhere sometimes the club in capital letters exactly just pile in on it just just call it out for what it is and i i think it's great to see the club doing that personally yeah i mean i i mean obviously racism is something that really really annoys me it's like i mean again i'm gonna tie myself in not saying the same thing as you but like these people are complete dickheads like i really really i i don't really have enough words for how much i get annoyed by this because and it's like kids as well for the most part i reckon like hiding behind i mean like i know you use your elephant emoji or whatever um i'm not suggesting you're racist but you go ask questions why you can't beat your face up.