Spurs' Perfect Weekend | Arsenal Tears, Xavi Simons Runs The Show & The Salah vs. Sonny Exit

21:04Phil:Fragmented, disconnected, and incredibly expensive. Odoo completely changes that. Odoo is a complete, fully integrated business suite where all your apps actually talk to each other. We're talking automated lead routing for your sales team, seamless AI integration, and intuitive point-and-click website builder. It's everything your business needs to scale, saving you time, headaches, and money. Stop piecing your software together. Go to odoo.com. That's O-D-O-O dot com to learn more. Are all batteries the same?

21:42Jack:That's like asking if all soccer players are the same. Take Messi, the most decorated player ever. Is there any other player who has achieved that? No, just him. Now take Duracell. Is there any other battery with power-boost ingredients inside? No, just Duracell. Remember, goats only trust goats because they're built different. And Messi only trusts Duracell.

22:09Phil:This episode is brought to you by Google Chrome. You think you know a browser, but Gemini and Chrome? That's new. It can help you with practically anything on the web, like restoring a vintage motorcycle from a 50-page restoration block or finally break down that long article you've had open for weeks gemini and chrome is here for it ready to make anything online make sense there's no place like chrome check responses set up required compatibility and availability varies 18 plus i think so and i think that you know when we were remarking about what players you think will benefit from frank coming and i think he was the obvious choice wasn't he because you know no less than the fact that because brentford wanted to sign him or Frank wanted to sign him at Brentford.

22:49Phil:And, you know, he's played in the middle a bit in the past and he hasn't looked quite ready. He's kind of looked a bit sort of out of place, but he did not look out of place on Saturday, did he? The way he kind of moved, the way he kind of read the game, as you say, his technical ability. And our midfield in the past and certainly the last few kind of months has felt very passive with no one really kind of stepping up and kind of taking that sort of leadership role. And he did that, you know, I mean, if you compare him to kind of Saar, who, you know, both you and I really like Saar, Saar hasn't seemed to have found that kind of ownership, as it were, of the kind of position or of the kind of his role in the club.

23:32Phil:It looked like that's what kind of we saw from Gray, that, you know, he was like, I've been sort of building up to this and this is kind of my chance and I know what I'm doing and I know how to do it. and I'm confident in doing it. And yeah, and I thought him and Benton Kuhl worked really well. And, you know, I thought Benton Kuhl was good as well, which isn't something I've been saying a lot at all. Do you reckon Archie Gray will be able to beat you up?

23:56Jack:Like being genuine, like 19 years old, he's quite baby-faced, but do you think he'll be able to have you?

24:02Phil:Absolutely. Joking, how tall is he? Probably six. Yeah, let's say that. When you look at these players on TV, even the short players, and you think, oh, you look at these, it's like a streak of piss or whatever. And then you kind of see them in real life if you have the opportunity to see them up close and you're like, they're all Adonises, absolutely like rock hard, like solid lads. Yeah, absolutely. And they're all just really fit as well, aren't they? That's the thing. Yeah, that's another thing. He could just keep me at arm's length while I blow myself out, like swinging into mid-air and just like, yeah.

24:37Jack:I think he runs a 5k. He said that when he only did his, remember when Ben Haynes was doing those videos when he was driving with the players, driving them to training and stuff. I think he said he runs a 5k in about 14 minutes. Aren't you, Gray? Which is outrageous. I mean, that is ridiculous. That is superhuman. I'm just, I'm really, I've been trying to sort of keep my powder a bit dry about him because I don't think we have seen enough of him. but I have always felt that like even in the little instances, even in the little instances we see of him, he does look absolutely quality and he is probably going to go on to be Tottenham's best ever player, you know?

25:17Phil:Yeah, I mean, look, he feels like he's getting quite a lot of support where other young players might not and that might be because he's got this, you know, dynastic thing about him and his family and, you know, the fact that he's kind of very sort of ingrained into the England side. So he's very much kind of being not thrown in at the deep end, very used kind of sparingly. I know he had to kind of play in certain games or a big chunk of last season out of position, which I don't necessarily think did him any favours, but it looks like it's not done any harm necessarily either. So, yeah, again, it's all hope.

25:53Phil:And I think part of this is that Frank has taken time to kind of find out what his best kind of combinations are in that midfield. We know that Bentico and Paulini, isn't it? he seems to realise that as well now because we haven't seen that for a little bit or a few games anyway.

26:08Jack:I mean come on you're staring everyone in the face wasn't it you know like yeah that's the

26:11Phil:thing that's when the frustrations get there like you think okay yeah it makes sense to play them because they're our two most senior we'll see how it goes it was probably two three games into you know two three games too many when we're like look we know this is not the case now this doesn't work there's a clear pattern here and that just took Frank a little bit too long to kind of um get hold of it you know maybe that's because Berval got concussed or whatever you know but still um yeah and again it's horses for courses right I'm sure Benton Coeur and Grade might not work against other teams but I think it looked really good for that sort of game and um it was very sort of positive and again like Benton Coeur we've all been like glue factory for him if not if not just in a ditch somewhere I think that he um he benefited massively from having someone a bit more mobile and a bit more kind of um technically sound around them which is seemed to be not not the case

27:05Jack:before it's just nice isn't it it's nice sort of having these i was just i just keep catching myself phil in the middle of us talking about all this thinking it's just nice to be talking about spurs after them having one you know like like not having to sort of dissect every oh what was that bit well what do we think about what are we taking from this bit just sitting here and being like that player's quality, that player's quality, like him. Oh, Bent Henker, yeah, no, we haven't got on with him, but yeah, he was all right. Let's give him a pat on the back. Fine, yeah, no, it's all right. It's nice, isn't it?

27:40Jack:If you are listening, Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, just do more of this, right? This is what us, the clay in your hands, you can shape us in many different ways. Stop turning us into, you know, willies. just shape us into something, shape us into a big happy smiley face, you know, let's do that. Yeah.

28:02Phil:Yeah. Again, we don't ask for much. We just ask for a bit of effort. And if you put the effort in, especially if you've got better players, then you usually win games. And that's what we've seen. Yeah. I thought we were very sort of unlucky to kind of

28:18Phil:draw the, well, maybe not necessarily unlucky to draw the game at Newcastle, but certainly unlucky with that penalty. Actually, it wasn't unlucky. It was absolutely disgraceful. it was so bent no no one's mentioned that at all have they um do you can i just say frame by frame

28:31Jack:analysis of it do you think that's on okay so a friend of mine when i when i speak to him george if you are listening he was saying the reason why the reason why this sort of stuff happens against us is because we don't kick off about it as a fan base we just kind of nod our heads and get on with it and i kind of thought oh bollocks mate like i'm not having that but then he was making the point that see whenever there's a bad VAR call against Arsenal, Liverpool, all that, you have their fans en masse going potty, making such a noise about it that the league inevitably always have to act. They usually have to do something, at least address it.

29:09Jack:Whereas we just kind of like, you know, we're the okay Wojak, aren't we? That all right, you know, we'll just get on with it kind of thing. Do you think we should be just more bratty about this type of stuff?

29:21Phil:I think so. But I think the other element, and we talked about this before, is that we've got no allies in the media, have we? Everyone's quite happy for us to be... Jamie O 'Hara. Yeah, well, exactly. And then what happens to him, he gets absolutely kind of torn apart. Even that bit on TalkSport, when you're speaking to... What's his name? Who's the other bloke on it? Kundy. Kundy, yeah.

29:41Jack:Have you seen... I don't like that. I can't stand it.

29:45Phil:I can't stand it. Even he was like, oh, you know, it shouldn't be a penalty. But the letter of the law, you don't get that. you don't get that with other clubs it's back it's it's it's a talking point for for for days on end and you know you get the pgmol coming out and explaining it or kind of um apologizing or whatever um but yeah yeah i mean again as you say if that happens to someone else then there's a huge scrutiny over it regardless if it's by the letter of the law which i still don't think it is um we just don't get that scrutiny we just don't get afforded that um and maybe frank isn't the sort of character to like kick off about it massively because certainly he was not not on sort of steady ground but um yeah probably shouldn't let's not let's not do one on that because i'm getting angry again i quite liked his actually and i wonder if this sort of plays into

30:33Jack:a bit you know because obviously the majority of his press conferences the past few weeks have been him sat down and a reporter in as nice way as possible as saying you're doing a shit job aren't you what do you think about that i kind of feel like he made one comment before this game which riled people but i actually quite liked when he was saying you know you can he was this isn't it verbatim but he basically said something to the effect of you can get rid of me if you want to but that's not acting like a big club if you want to be a big club sooner or later you have to stick with a manager you have to see something through that's you know being brave like that is the mark of a big club and you know obviously people are what's he saying that you know he's useless why is he saying our club isn't a big club but you know what i sort of thought at least there's actually a bit of fight from him and you're seeing that kind of spikier side of him and i kind of feel like you know if he's whole if he holds that back or not i don't know maybe he's not like that maybe his approach isn't always like that and he's been kind of forced into a position where he felt like he needed to say something like that but if we're seeing a fight reflected in the players so if we're seeing his fight reflected in the players i think it's it's kind of only a good thing isn't it you know because i think we do forget like at the very start pochettino's era we were on the verge of getting rid of him and it felt like things were coming to a bit of a head right and there was obviously there was the moment and that moment was the greatest player the clubs ever have coming for our academy and being really good so look you know we maybe have to temper our expectations to a degree but there was definitely again and i'm going back to this a sort of energy shift at tottenham where it felt like pochettino all of a sudden was like survive or die now like i've got to fight for this really and if frank is getting into that zone now if that's the adaptation he needs to make to be a so-called top manager to take the step up to this level then i think we should just sort of kind of maybe take a step back and be like fair enough let's let's let him get on with this because i think we do forget this is this is all a learning process for him as a gaffer as

32:44Phil:well right yeah yeah absolutely and again it just goes back to my sort of point about galvanizing we we didn't feel like we were galvanized at all before we felt like we were open we were unsure you know everyone was taking pot shots at us including the fans and then players taking a potshot at us. And this is all just part of building up some, you know, some barriers, you know, and pushing back a bit and not kind of getting drawn into it, not being sort of too effusive about other teams and stuff like that. And, you know, kind of being a bit meek with it. I did actually notice when he was doing his post-match on the kind of the Spurs uncut thing with Hainsey, he said, you know, playing against Brentford, they're a very, and it's almost like he wanted to say top team, but he was like, they're a very strong team.

33:34Phil:So, and again, I know I'm taking that massively out of context, but it's just that thing about, you know, the fact that everyone remarks on him saying that every team he plays, everywhere he goes, they're all great teams, they're all great players, they're all tough places to go. And he's saying maybe there just needs to be a kind of shift in that. Maybe that's what we're seeing to your point about what you were saying pretty much.

33:57Jack:Jed Spence was good as well. That was something nice to see. Yeah, he was.

34:03Phil:Again, if people haven't watched it, that kind of uncut video, it's kind of filmed from the touch lines around the ground. That bit where I think it's in the second half when he attacks and Kolo Mawani backhills it, tries to backhill it into his path and the player cuts it out. Jed Spence has a massive grin on his face because he's like, ah, that was close, almost got it. Then it bobbles to him and his eyes just light up and he kind of motors through. And that's when he has his shot on target that Keller made a good stop for. Just watch that. That was a lovely little bit of insight that I think you sort of miss if you're not at the ground or if you're kind of watching on TV.

34:46Phil:You don't necessarily see those bits of character. It's not really sort of apropos to anything, to be honest, but it was just a really kind of nice thing to see. But yeah, I mean, he has looked really good. And I think that, or he did look really good, should I say. And I think that Udogi was kind of threatening to kind of take his, take that left-back spot, I think, because I think that he was starting to improve a bit as well. Do you think that's what it could be though,

35:10Jack:the actual tangible competition now? Because I think, I know people will say, oh, he's actually a right-sided player playing on the left. I don't really buy that. I think he is a left-back. I think he always plays better in that left-sided position, Jed Spence. when we do stick him on the right it just it just never really seems to work out for him um he seems to be more effective on the left because he can either knock it out and go past a player down the down the flank or he can come inside and then use his right foot as more of a kind of weapon be more influential in a more sort of central position i just think it's i just think it suits him um much more but yeah he i mean he had started to drift off a bit hadn't he and a doggy coming back maybe I don't know maybe that's maybe that's some of that healthy competition having more than one good player in each position that we hear about other teams having right

36:02Phil:yeah and I think that's been a big problem of ours for years really right we've talked about before that yeah we've often had good players and we've often had kind of decent teams but our squad's never been good and that's you know partly down to the fact that you need to kind of replace players if they get tired or injured or whatever and if you don't have that depth in squad then it drops off but it's also the other side of it as you say it's like kind of the competition of places that pushes people onto that next level rather than just kind of be like well you know I'm good and I'm in this position no one's going to take it from me and I don't know it's just a psychological thing isn't it you're just not going to kind of push on you're just not going to kind of make that extra kind of two percent effort or whatever to kind of um make something happen because, yeah, you know that your place is safe.

36:47Jack:It felt like, one thing I did want to touch on, it felt like the personnel that we had on the pitch, especially in that attacking third, and I focus primarily on Xavi, Richarlison and Randall Kalamuani, it really felt like that was one of the first and clearest examples of a time when fluid positioning under Frank has actually worked Because I would say there were multiple instances of times during that game when any one of those three could be in like a rotated position around the pitch. It felt like they were all interchanging. And they've all got fairly sort of, should we say, interchangeable skill sets.

37:30Jack:They have their own sort of, should we say, their own sort of like quirks, if you like, or their own sort of, I can't even think of the appropriate terminology. terminology but they're all good at doing their own things but equally they there is a lot of overlap there's a venn diagram there isn't there where they all kind of meet in the middle being able to play both centrally and off the left can kind of influence play in the final third richardison perhaps in a more direct physical fashion xavi simmons in a more you know i would say technical fashion and someone like rando colomani somewhere in between the two of them but I felt like it kind of kept Brentford's on their toes it kept them always guessing it meant that they couldn't settle down and then you know whilst they're getting distracted with with those three out on the left hand side and centrally doing what they were doing you've got Mohamed Kudus there fixed pretty much to the right hand side but stop him if you can kind of thing right because he's so he's so brilliant it it almost like took the burden off of him to be able to play with the sort of expressive flair and invention that we'd seen from him in his earlier earlier Tottenham career you know a few a couple of months ago kind of thing um it just you know and I don't even feel like that's something that Frank has tried to do differently that to me felt like something suddenly clicking with the players and also probably the presence of of Xavi Simmons um I mean I know people don't come here for tactical analysis but that was my kind of garbled interpretation of what it was that I was seeing.

39:05Jack:Do you think that sounds fair at all?

39:08Phil:Yeah, yeah. Well, it's simply the fact that if there's a number of players... Please validate me, mate.

39:10Jack:Don't leave me hanging here.

39:13Phil:It's a simple fact, right? Not to say that your analogy was simple, but the fact that we've got a number 10 who's kind of picking up this.

39:21Jack:That was a side eye if ever I've seen it.

39:26Phil:We've got a number 10 who's picking up space near Mohamed Koudis, which means if the ball comes to him, he's not going to have two, three players boxing him out because you can have, you know, defenders of the midfielders have got to keep an eye on other attacking players. So it just frees him up, you know, because I think he's really good like one on one. And he can even do well against two on one. But if you've got three people like boxing him out, which is what we were really seeing a lot recently, then, you know, that's difficult for anyone. So it's all these just kind of simple things that, again, I think that we all sort of knew.

39:59Phil:If you've got to occupy this higher up the pitch and it just gives people problems. Yeah, so simple things. Long may they continue.

40:13Jack:We are in Champions League action tomorrow. How would you like to see Spurs line up in that one? We don't have Liverpool this weekend, do we? Liverpool's next weekend. So, you know, we're not facing the, you know, we're not looking down the barrel of, who are we playing this week? Forests. Oh, for fuck. Isn't it? They haven't been that good at home. Yeah, but you know they're going to be mean against us, aren't they? They're going to want to beat us.

40:45Phil:Probably, yeah. But Slavia Prague, how do I want to see us line up? I think we'll probably go as strong as we can attacking-wise. We'll probably see that front four, including Xavi Simmons. I don't know if we'll see Archie Gray. I think it'll be Bergvall, wouldn't it? I think Bergvall, yeah. Yeah, yeah. Probably, did Bentancourt play the whole game? Yeah, no, he didn't. He came off, didn't he? He came off towards the end, I think.

41:15Jack:60-something, 70-80 minutes?

41:17Phil:I think we'll be pretty much the same in terms of set up we're just like slightly different personnel just over who's fitter and we should be going into that very confidently because if we've got any hopes of qualifying for the next round even in the qualifying round then we need to be getting three points against these lot

41:39Jack:Yeah, because it's looking a bit precarious isn't it? The Champions League qualification because we will just, I mean, what would it be if we drop into that, the playoff thing? Is it just a two-legged affair and then we'll be in the hat if we win that? I think the issue is that it falls after a really sort of like choppy period

42:02Phil:for English teams. So you kind of want to avoid it because it's like, is it January? I think it is. So it's right after the kind of busy Christmas period. So there's that to contend with. at the moment I think there's some pretty sort of tough teams in that bit but so are we so who knows

42:20Jack:is it a straight up draw do you know or is it like a seeded thing as in like if you I don't know

42:25Phil:there's probably some bent sort of seeding isn't there going on that sees us come out not on top put it that way but yeah again I mean it's funny this kind of structure isn't it this Champions League league phase where it can all look fine and then suddenly like two goals can just two goals anywhere in any of the games that are being played can just change it all massively and suddenly you're like oh shit I quite like it

42:56Jack:you know I know people sort of kick off about it I really quite like it

42:59Phil:no I think it's good I mean I wasn't sure how it would work initially because I just didn't really understand it like I don't want to be taught a lesson about you know league stands I kind of understood the force the four team groups and stuff um you know and this idea that there's kind of no um jeopardy in it i think it's just more about the kind of it feels like oh we've got loads of games to get better but it is all jeopardy that's the point right it just doesn't feel like it is initially or it can seem like it isn't initially where you're like oh you know well we've drawn that game when we should have won it but we've got seven other games to kind of get our heads together and then you're like, yeah, but a lot of those games are against away at tough teams.

43:39So, yeah, it's really good.

43:41Phil:And, you know, the fact that it takes it down to the wire is really kind of good, even for the teams that are like, I think probably like the top four usually sort of stay around that because obviously they're quite good, but they might have pulled away a bit by them. But anyone else, it just kind of comes down to the day. Who's our final game? Is it Dortmund? No, Frankfurt, isn't it? Frankfurt.

44:03Jack:Yeah, yeah.

44:04Phil:again

44:05Jack:we've got a couple of tough games after this yeah

44:09Phil:and then is it Dortmund at home or is it Dortmund away

44:13Jack:I want to say it's Dortmund at home

44:15Phil:it's got to be at home isn't it because we've only played Copenhague no yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah so Dortmund at home and then Frankfurt away

44:25Jack:I mean Slavia Prague they haven't won a game in the Champions League this season yeah Dr. Tottenham and all that but I just I just want us to kind of get through that nicely, win it, get three points and just continue the momentum a bit, you know? Yeah. Like I'm not even, I'm not even looking for us to batter them. Just a nice, no thrills, two nil win again or something like that would be pretty glorious, wouldn't it?

44:53Phil:Yeah, it would be. I think that obviously goal difference does come into it, but I don't want to embarrass ourselves in front of Sonny coming back either,

45:01Jack:by the way. oh yeah I forgot about that are you tempted to go do you think you're going to go

45:08Phil:I'm tempted it would be an emotional decision which is again what football should be it's a tricky sort of time at the minute but yeah I I sort of toyed with the idea of going anyway I really you know I went to the Copenhagen game I had a really good time there so the Champions League is always a bit of respite but I am tempted to go and have to kind of yeah figure out how to make it work but I take it you won't be able to I am at work early

45:45Jack:I'm on a six o 'clock train to Liverpool the next day so no I won't be I won't be going but I would like to I really it's one of the games I sort of feel this year that like I don't know I'd like to say goodbye to Sonny you know ultimately give him a good reception he is one of the greatest players in the club's

46:05Phil:history isn't he and without a shadow of a doubt yeah you want to see him get that that kind of

46:10Jack:send off you have one new message

46:16Jack:translating disney and pixar's hoppers is now available on disney plus you could say that again critics are calling it pixar's funniest movie ever and a wildly entertaining ride Lizard Potato. It's certified fresh and verified hot.

46:30Phil:Now we party.

46:32Jack:This is incredible! Wow!

46:35Phil:I am clear in the rest of the day.

46:36Jack:Disney and Pixar's Hoppers. Now available on Disney+. Rated PG. This episode is brought to you by State Farm. You know those friends who support your preference for podcasts over music on road trips?

46:49Phil:That's the energy State Farm brings to insurance. With over 19 ,000 local agents, they help you find the coverage that fits your needs. So you can spend less time worrying about insurance and more time enjoying the ride. Download the State Farm app or go online at statefarm.com. Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there.

47:08Jack:These days, you've got two choices. Buying a new car or making the one you've got run like new. We know which one we'd choose. That's why at Firestone Complete Auto Care, we have thousands of ASE certified technicians nationwide trained to spot an issue with your car before it becomes a problem, no matter the make or model. Get more out of your car. Firestone Complete Auto Care. Call or go online at firestoneauto.com to book today. Would you advocate for a Sonny statue? Do you know what I mean? Him lifting up a... Because apparently, I don't know if you'd heard, apparently there is going to be some actual thought put into getting statues put outside the ground at the end of this season, whether or not that's the new or the existing owners trying to curry a bit of favour.

47:58Jack:I don't really care. I think we need that, don't we?

48:01Phil:Yeah, we do. And it feels like we haven't done that, which again, it's one of these like easy wins for a club to do. We didn't do that because Daniel Levy, again, this might be unfair, but my assumption is that Daniel Levy didn't want it to detract from the fact that it's an NFL stadium and not a football stadium. That's the only explanation, mate.

48:19Jack:It's the only explanation for me why we've not done that. And it's disgraceful, really, when you think about it. Yeah. Like we always say, mate, we fucking paid for that stadium. Like the football fans did, you know?

48:32Phil:Yeah. Yeah. Again, so I think those sorts of things. And again, why not? Like every club has it. It's not like it's a daft thing to do. like the fact he's won a trophy now there's absolutely no reason not to right it's it's a no-brainer um would you have to get a good sculptor to do it would you have a one day ramos statue androposicogli statue no players only tries only or what about bill nick yeah i've got a bill neck there don't you he's got a bust they're probably they're probably just building statue daniel levy out the front of it yeah i think arson got one of herbert chapman haven't they

49:08Jack:I kind of feel like that's what Levy has always sort of seen himself as, is like, I'm going to be the modern day Herbert Chapman. I'm going to be the guy that built this football club and turned it into this sort of empire, but then kind of couldn't be asked to actually make the football team successful, really, you know? Yeah, and then got the sack. Yeah.

49:31Jack:Just a few weeks after he'd done that interview, You've been like, I think everybody's going to remember me very fondly.

49:42Jack:What are you going on about, mate?

49:44Phil:Straight on the blower after that. You hear what he just said? We'll put that to the test. Get him out.

49:50Jack:Viv fuming somewhere. Do you know what I mean? How tall is he?

49:53Phil:How tall is he? He's not a tall man, is he? I don't think so, no. They should build a statue of it and make it just like an inch shorter than he actually is in real life.

50:03Jack:or put like a little block under his heel so it's uh i think alan sugar has uh you know when he's doing the apprentice i think they put him on like a little elevated platform or something like that um yeah

50:18Phil:i don't suppose you're doing a mural aren't they sorry for sunny just to add they're doing a mural for him very nice i thought we'd already i i actually thought we already had

50:26Jack:one but you know maybe it was just a temporary one or something or some ai ai hallucination maybe maybe one that's more befitting of his grandeur um i don't know if you've ever heard of a player called mo salah um but he had some he was quite annoyed um after he didn't play in uh liverpool's draw with uh leads and he well look i'm not gonna carry on with this stupid have you heard of mo salla thing um salla's quotes basically saying that you know nobody nobody ever mentions when harry kane doesn't score goals for a few games i found that a bit weird and it kind of peeved me a bit like that we are still we're still so rent free in his head and kane is in particular right

51:16Phil:he's a weird weird bloke isn't he let's be honest i know i think he's a very he seems very very strange um that was a very kind of bizarre thing for him to do in on one hand it's a very bizarre thing to do on the other hand it's a very clear i'm going to your afcon um i don't want to be at this club when i come back i've got my massive paid paycheck and i've just downed tools basically and you know all this point about him being dropped and i've been thrown under the bus mate whenever I've watched him this season he's been absolute dog water it's caught up with him

51:51Jack:hasn't it I think I think it's one of those things where it's easier he's he's hit that same thing that happened to Sonny where it's the uncomfortable truth of the matter time waits for no man right and Mo Salah's obviously he's one of the greatest Premier League players of all time nobody's denying that whatsoever but as you say when you watch him now you're just like he just doesn't have that same spark anymore he doesn't have that same snap and it feels like it's easier for him to just say all this sort of stuff in it um then have to accept the fact that he's just not as good anymore

52:23Phil:and that's why he's on the bench right yeah yeah and again if you look at kind of sunny like sunny um clearly knew that right otherwise he would have been like no sign and i'll sign here for the another two years for i mean maybe he wanted to stay on but the fact that he went to the mls i I think he's telling Sonny's state of mind, right? He knew where his kind of body was. And so he's dropped down at a good few levels and he's doing really well out there. So whereas Salah seemed really sort of arrogant and not kind of accepting of that. Because, yeah, I mean, I can't remember what he was like at the end of last season, but I feel like he was dropping off a bit.

52:59Or did he have a really good season last season?

53:02Phil:But I felt like right at the end, suddenly just his leg speed seemed to have suddenly gone, which is again something you kind of pick up on those sorts of plays you see it with Sonny as well he just his legs look really sort of heavy um but yeah weird weird bloke weird bloke and a um strange thing to come up I really do hate him I've got to say like I I've I've never been able

53:30Jack:to shelve you know that that rivalry we had for it for us for a small amount of time but you know him scoring in the Champions League final, doing that sort of goading celebration in front of the fans. And I just, I really don't like, I don't, I dislike him for his brilliance because there's an element of like jealousy there, but I just don't, I don't particularly like him as a bloke. And it makes me all the more appreciative for Sonny that he did kind of bow out in the way that he did just a bit more gracefully. And with a bit more, what is it? grace and decorum as that man said on that famously viral clip out the back of come dine with me yeah yeah weird james madison um breaking news not really uh he's he has been photographed

54:22Phil:training on grass phil on grass james madison has yeah training on grass which you know i kind of

54:31Jack:thought he was out for for the entire season but maybe that should give us hope that he could be back a bit sooner than expected um this does make me wonder though what the hell is going on with Dominic Solanke when you think about this have you heard or seen anything even if it's a trust me bro type thing do you have any idea what's what what is going on what is actually going on

54:59Phil:The fact that Kylo Mawani is suddenly looking really good, I think, and still got room to improve. Suddenly we're just like, who cares about Dominic Solanke now? And there's just no focus on him at all.

55:14Phil:This is surely just us as a club. I know we're all the same football clubs, but this is very much a Spurs thing. This seems to happen to us a lot. These kind of mystery kind of illnesses where players just go down with like, oh, it's just a knock. It's a twinge. It's a this, it's a that. And then I just disappear. I mean, he hasn't disappeared. He's opening Tops football cards on Instagram Live and stuff. So, you know, good stuff there. Doesn't really help us at the minute.

55:47Jack:Did that rattle you as well? A little bit. A little bit

55:54Phil:A little bit It was straight after a North London derby

55:58Jack:And you're opening top trumps What are you doing? Why? A little bit mate

56:09A mystery

56:10Phil:Just another mystery You see Kulisevsky jumping into an ice cold River or something Didn't look like it was in London because it was snowing. So I don't know where he is at the moment, but yeah, I don't know. Just it's all gone quiet, but I think people aren't even asking him about it anymore. Are they Frank?

56:30Jack:No idea. No, I think he, I think he got asked it maybe a couple of press conferences ago and he was just literally like, no, nothing, no, no, no word. I'll let you know when there's anything to report. But on Madison, I don't, I don't want to end this on a, Oh God, I've started so I'll finish. him doing uh he's sort of doing the the sort of standing on monday night football um tonight and i struggle i mean i don't know maybe this is a i don't know about you i barely ever watch all of the stuff around the football matches when it's on sky i simply turn the tv on when the match is starting so for all i know they often get like top flight players onto monday night football I just my sort of my gut reaction to seeing Madison a player who is you know one of Tottenham's main players he is a perhaps a player with one of the largest profiles in the Premier League to an extent I just find it a bit weird that he's doing a I know he's out for the season or that type of thing but I just I just found it a bit weird that he's doing a sort of presenting gig in the middle of a season it may be sort of in a pearl clutchy way worry about his focus a bit or made me worry about whether or not his injury is way worse than we think it is and he's already sort of legacy planning do you know i mean all this sort of overthinking stuff but the fact of the matter is he might you know he just he likes chatting about football and he got asked to do it and he's going to do it i just found it a bit weird that was all yeah yeah i mean i

58:04Phil:think that it is to my mind you don't get many current players if you do i think ben me was on it like last season or he kind of stood out to me as someone but that's kind of coming to the end of your career and obviously trying to just like try out media and kind of get your get your foot in the door as you say like a succession planning for the end of your career so that's why I'm kind of thinking Madison do it is he is he finished but again I will say that he is very sort of different in that sense and he's you know people often remark that he's kind of speaks very well about football and very unlike a lot of the other current players.

58:42Phil:So I'll be interested to see it. I'll be interested to see what he kind of comes up with. But it's, yeah, as you say, it's just a bit like, is there a subtle thing that's like, oh, I need to kind of amp this stuff up? Yeah, because, and again, I don't think it's actually out of the, I think we all had this kind of concern that a player at his age, the sort of player that he is having that sort of injury ain't good news mate and surely he knows that as well right but you what is he 29 or something certainly in his late 20s you're losing that kind you have an injury like that you're out for a season tough tough mate he is training on

59:24Jack:grass though right now so maybe it's not so bad maybe this is maybe this is just i don't know i I don't care. I just want him to be back playing, you know? I want to have all these options. I want to have loads of good players. I want Spurs to just win and keep winning. I want Arsenal to keep losing. And I want to do more pods like this, mate, where it's all just jolly fun times. Everything's great because Spurs have won and Arsenal have lost. Can I say that any more times? But it's good. It's good. It's a great feeling.

59:57Phil:It is good. Let's not pretend it's not good just because some intellectuals tell us so. we've all had enough of experts haven't we Jack we have James Madison though is either I want him to be back playing and if he's never going to be back I want to hear everything that was going on in the last two years at Spurs with him I want that tell all book I want to know everything about Levy I want to know everything that went on with Ange I want to know everything

1:00:26Jack:spill the what is it do you spill the tea or do you share the tea?

1:00:32Phil:You sip the tea and then you spill the beans.

1:00:34Jack:Spill the beans, okay. There we go. It's good, isn't it, when people of a certain age start trying to appropriate younger people expressions and things.

1:00:44Phil:Yeah, yeah, yeah. It probably is what people actually listen to your pod for. You're giving them everything today.

1:00:51Jack:For my lit takes on wavy ballers and stuff like that.

1:00:57Phil:Don't forget dusty ballers.

1:00:59Jack:dusty whiffy whiffy dusty ballers

1:01:02Phil:dusty ballers whiffy ballers

1:01:04Jack:Salah's a dusty dusty baller nowadays man

1:01:11Phil:oh good stuff see Spurs just win and podcasts are positive

1:01:16Jack:win and we can be jolly and we can be cheerful yeah alright well thanks for recording a podcast with me today Phil I hope you have enjoyed it I have enjoyed it

1:01:28Phil:I have also enjoyed it we are in agreement it was enjoyable let's see if the comments enjoyed it as well yes let's see I can't wait for the

1:01:38Jack:why are you going for Madison doing Monday night football yay what the hell's a dusty baller that's just Oli Lister I don't even know what that is that's just Oli's response right anyway come on you Spurs up the Spurs bye bye

1:01:54Phil:thank you bye bye

1:02:27Phil:The End problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER. 21 plus only. Must be physically located in Illinois. T-S &C Supply. In-app only.

1:02:34Jack:You can't reason with the sun. Trust us. We've tried. This summer, it's time to put that angry ball of fire on mute. Columbia's OmniShade technology is engineered to protect you from the sun's harsh rays that can burn and damage your skin. The sun is relentless, but so is our gear. Level up your summer at Columbia.com to spend more time outside and less time slathering on aloe lotion. You're welcome. Columbia. Engineered for whatever.