Big wins and big narratives in the Premier League

0:22hello and welcome back to the stadio podcast i'm me so kwanga i'm ryan hun Brian, how are you doing? I'm doing alright, thanks man. How are you? Thought I'd be happy for someone. Top of the league. Long way to go. This is not an Arsenal podcast. Long way to go. That's true, that's true. We'll get on to that. Hey, you're back. I am back, yes. That sounds like I just noticed. I was, okay, look, so look. How are you? Are you okay? I was managing an unexpected, an unexpected crisis. Not of my own making, I must add. Weird way to talk about losing to Brentford or whatever, but fine. that was not unexpected it's arguably not a crisis either um yeah it's all fine now in this context it's a good result it's all fine now two and two for two and two for seshko we're fine we're cooking yeah bless him for that i'm really happy for him um not an easy place to uh to make a name so yeah um thank you so much uh for the kind messages i received you were very poorly like when you when we did the show on monday i was like i don't recognize this guy you look really different when my friend said you look like you've aged several years in a few days and they were like yeah this is how i think you'd look when you're 70 like i honestly like i had um you know allergies change of season and the stress made like made my face like explode like it was really weird yeah my eyes were like okay yeah it felt like my eyelids felt like duvets haven't had that now so yeah but yeah all good now i felt like good though because i i was i was like take the rest of the week off yes i always wanted to say that to someone yes take the week off take the week off and i was like no i'm fine i'm fine on the wednesday morning i was just like so not fine i knew something was up when i texted you and i didn't get a reply for a day and a half and i was like oh he is out he is out cold anyway we hope everyone else is staying safe and well wherever you are a little bit of admin this week we are going to do a show on wednesday and we'll probably talk a little bit about the wsl and also the women's champions league is back this week so we will probably do that on wednesday and then on the friday episode we'll probably talk about a couple of things that we won't have time to go into today so we want to talk about barcelona and the lan liga title race i think we also might talk about Rasmus Hoyland who has just become another one in the in the line of Manchester United players who seems to be doing all right elsewhere Marcus Rashford by the way scored an unbelievable goal on the weekend they all look happy in other kits yeah Garnaccio is like such a Chelsea player like he just looks happy in that kit yeah we will talk about Chelsea in a little bit but we will maybe a lot any other oh don't forget London live show at the South Bank Centre tickets are on sale link is in the description and if you listen to this on the free feed and you want to sign up for stadio membership on patreon you get every single episode ad free just remember for just because i've seen a couple of people not realize that if you sign up for the podcast membership which is the cheapest membership you do get every single podcast now every single podcast in the podcast membership ad free in full or if you want to sign up for the stadio social and all other load of other perks.

3:45We're actually trying to arrange with everyone in the Stadio Discord at the moment the first official Stadio Social Club meetups in various cities around the world. Not going to lie, quite tricky. Yeah, quite difficult getting everyone on different time zones trying to arrange to watch a game together. Especially people who don't know each other. But that's going to be quite fun I think if that happens that'd be great. Yeah so anyway patreon.com forward slash stadio go and sign up I reckon that'll do us for admin it's going to be quite Premier League focused I think today I think we have to be.

4:21It feels like a big weekend actually. This is what the show has to be man this is it, Premier League Shall we start with Chelsea-Liverpool? I think we have to. You have to that's the headline game, Chelsea 2, Liverpool 1 This game okay so it's a huge result for Chelsea I think I feel like a big Saturday in general it's a huge result for Enzo Maresca not for Chelsea for Enzo Maresca I think because the go head to head with Arnaz Slaught especially given a couple of the indifferent performances under Maresca's guidance in recent weeks and conversations going on and to go toe to toe with Liverpool and to come out with a result like this when they bested them and actually they beat them 2-1 but it could have been could have been 3-1 could have been 4-1 like maybe a stretch but certainly 3-1 I would have thought in terms of the fairer margin reflecting how Chelsea bossed this fixture Chelsea looked unified and Liverpool didn't and this was at the end of a week in which Virgil van Dijk Liverpool captain comes out and says look we've lost two in a row don't panic now the problem of course with saying don't panic is that people start to panic and they shouldn't be panicking but to lose three on the bounce now.

5:38Liverpool have given their opponents something very, very useful, which is a blueprint of how to go at them. And the problem is they don't have a single flaw. There are multiple issues in the structure of this line-up, which Schlott is well aware of, more than anyone else, I'm sure. But the way that Chelsea conducted themselves in this game, the line-up they chose, the faith in youth, everything was rewarded. Really, really impressive performance from them. Remember when we talked to Neil a few weeks ago and he mentioned Moises Caicedo? Yes. And it was like, I was thinking, watching the game, I was just thinking, man, like, Neil really picked out the danger man.

6:17Very much so. I thought he was the key player for Chelsea. Genuinely. Because, I mean, obviously his goal was amazing, but I thought he kept control of a midfield that felt quite chaotic overall. It suited Chelsea, actually, the chaos in the game. It felt quite a broken but they induce the chaos with the gusto the gusto feeling gusto alongside caicedo you're not doing that because you want or necessarily can have endless ball control you're doing it because you are comfortable knowing that if it gets chaotic you're going to get you're going to catch whatever falls out of the tree once it's shaken because i mean gusto like just had a monstrous game and it was maresco obviously decided look the key to this game is going to be disrupting it as much as possible.

7:07And then we get whatever comes loose. And that is what they did time and again. And Liverpool just had no solution for that. That midfield configuration, like McAllister, it was the emblematic moment when Kayserder sized steps McAllister before scoring. That's kind of how McAllister was the entire game. Just on his heels, caught off balance, Gravenberg in the mix as well, who not necessarily, we've seen him have some great games this year, but this wasn't one of the best at once. And he was, they were kind of chasing Chelsea the entire match. and that's what Maresco knew it would be. And some might argue like, you know, well, this was an experienced Chelsea side, but I thought the younger players performed with real composure throughout.

7:44I was really impressed by them. And in those wide areas, Neto and Garnaccio effectively in this game looked like twins. The way they carry the ball at high efficiency into those dangerous areas was just spectacular. So I think this was a game of, you know, we're seeing the Premier League this kind of, we had the era of order and now we're returning to the order of the era of chaos maybe, where you've got teams going long, you've got teams not focusing on possession, building up from the back so much. Teams literally smashing it out of play from kickoff. Yeah, you've got a very, yeah, like kicking for touch.

8:16It's almost like rugby union now, isn't it? Like you had phases, you had rugby league football before, like, you know, phases of ball and recycling. Now you've just got like territory, put it in the mixer. So look, there's a thing that Clive said. was it the Arsenal Vision podcast where he said Arsenal did not play the game that was on offer and I think Liverpool Liverpool didn't play the game that was on offer they never quite came to terms with that and I think you know Schlott made the adjustments bring on Wietz we'll get to Wietz in a moment actually but again even when he did that we talked about the we talked about the problems of Liverpool in midfield Grauvenberg and McAllister getting overrun getting disrupted at getting beaten in the 50-50s a lot of the time or losing the recoveries.

9:04Gusto, I think, had almost 10 recoveries in this game. Shout out to Fottmob for that stat. But the fullback positions, the amount of times that if they'd crashed the box and funnily enough, Nicholas Jackson, I think, if Nicholas Jackson had been playing, I think this game is, if he'd still been at Chelsea, I think this game is over before the 90-somethingth minute because the types of positions Jackson took up, I think Pedro is great as a nine, but he likes dropping deep. and there were like three or four times in the second half Chelsea fans will know all of them and have torn out whatever remaining hairs they had after these the amount of times the ball flashes across the six yard box and there's not a Chelsea player just crashing this game should have been over before before injury time in my opinion and that's all credit to Chelsea actually.

9:48Do you think there was an element of the pressure that Liverpool had you know for example last season they broke out to that early lead quite comfortably it felt that they were always just out in front maintaining it. Yeah, yeah. A couple of weeks ago when we were talking to Neil, we were talking about that Brentford game, you know, where Nunez gets the winner and then Arsenal draw it home to Villa that evening. This felt like their equivalent of that in a way, even though that was later in the season. But defeat last weekend to Palace. Defeat in the week in the Champions League. Arsenal have beaten West Ham, going away to Stamford Bridge.

10:22It's just never an easy fixture, right? And I think then it's felt like the first time Liverpool have had to win to catch up. And the thing I found probably the most interesting about this game was the fact that when Liverpool got back into it, they didn't fully capitalise. And there was a moment where you thought they're going to win this 3-1 here. There's a pass that Rhys James plays, a diagonal that he plays to, I think, Garnaccio. Beautiful diagonal through the middle of the pitch. In the middle of a chaotic game, and I thought, it was interesting because I thought to myself, there's very few footballers that have the licence to play that pass.

10:56Like if you were in training and you were not Rhys James and you played for Chelsea, you'd be like, you don't get to do that. Like because the license to play that, the county opens up to. And of course, the only other person really in English football that can play that from that position is Trent, right? And in a chaotic game, this game was perfectly suited for three players, two of whom are no longer at Liverpool and one of whom is out of form. it was perfectly suited for a Mo Salah to take the game away from Chelsea by just becoming a supreme soloist for a Luis Diaz who is balling out at Bayern Munich and was a huge loss to Liverpool in the summer and to Trent like this game was perfectly suited for somebody that can take the pressure off switch the game and Liverpool don't have at the moment a get out of jail card right their victories in these games these tight games they're hard earned they're having to really really squeeze out these victories that's fine this is a team in transition again Schlacht knows that better than anyone else in the Liverpool setup he gets that it's just that Liverpool don't have that joker right so the emblematic moment you look at the the bit when Vietz comes on and plays with his first touch this astonishing pirouette pass into the feet of Salah and that is Pink Mo Salah that's that's that's a goal right either he takes it ahead of Kukurea or he cuts it back inside and clatters it into the corner.

12:21And because his radar is slightly off at the moment, for whatever reason, it's fine. It's football. It happens. Because you don't have him as a get out of jail, because you don't have Trent, because you don't have Luis Diaz, you then got, at the same time, a bunch of players all kind of finding themselves. Now you have Isaac's assist, which is spectacular. I mean, someone thought it was a fluke. I think it's one of these ones that was so good. Right. Was it though? It was reported by a newspaper as a fluke, but I think it was an exceptional touch. I think he just played it into his path. I think he just touched it into his path.

12:54Yeah, yeah, yeah. I just think that players of that quality, I think they earned the grace, actually. In terms of looking up and then just like tucking it into the path of Gakpo, I think it was an assist. This is not the Ronaldinho moment, which I think was, I think that was a miskick. Oh, the free game. Yeah, that was, yeah, yeah, yeah. But you see flashes of like improvisation, you see elements of how it can click for Liverpool, how it will click for Liverpool. But at the moment you have, much has been said of the fullbacks not quite creating, it's not as simple as them not defending as well.

13:36It's that what Liverpool did when they had Trent was you didn't bomb on because you knew the threat was coming in behind. You saw it with Sevilla against Barcelona. If you see the breaks at Sevilla were emboldened to make down the left flank because both Rafinha and Laminya Mal were out. Right. If you know those people aren't coming for the Scorpions thing is not there, of course, you're going to attack down there. Right. You're not going to have that kind of joy. So Trent, you can't push up too high because you knew you couldn't get in behind because that man would cook you on a diagonal. He'd cook you.

14:05that threat's not there anymore it's like it's open season I think Bradley getting a yellow so early on as well especially against Garnatio who's so good in those ball carrying situations and he's also very very good at buying fouls or buying like you know making fouls look worse than they are for example yeah absolutely yeah yeah one of the best at progressing the ball in the league in terms of young players so really it was a horrible matchup for Chelsea so it was a horrible matchup for Liverpool the worst possible time to play Chelsea just after the Arsenal win and actually on Arsenal very quickly.

14:36We'll get to them in a sec. We can move on to in a minute. If you hear what Nuno said about Arsenal, no higher praise. He said, it's so difficult to play against the way they're set up. There's no obvious gets there. Like, Nuno is someone that comes in at West Ham and I think he's one of those coaches that can very quickly. I think actually West Ham, the way they play, is suited quite well to him actually as a coach. I think it's a good get thing. I actually think they looked very good at points on Saturday. And that is to their credit and to his. You had a good West Ham team already quite organised struggling and he said it's just very hard playing against Arsenal who for me are I've said this maybe from the start but such a well-rounded team right we can move on to Arsenal in a sec but let's wrap up on the Chelsea-Liverpool stuff before we move there because I think from a Chelsea point of view this felt like a bit of a free hit because of just the personnel that they've got missing right there are still a lot of questions around Chelsea and you know Mayowa and I talked about this on Stadio last week when we were talking about Chelsea's identity.

15:36And I still think it's an issue and it will be an issue for a while. But yeah, I think a win like this at home against Liverpool is massive. And a reminder that no matter what Chelsea turns up in terms of personnel, there is always that element at Stamford Bridge of it's kind of Chelsea, man. I mean, can I say, Esteval came on with 50 minutes to go and was arguably man of the match. He wasn't quite, not enough touches, but everything he did was brilliant. defensively he was excellent he threatened before he scored his movement was outstanding held the line nice and high I thought he was exceptional beyond his goal and I loved what Romeo Lavia gave us in this game I saw Carl Palmer The two Chelsea centre-backs as well I think we need a massive shout out Achiem Pong in particular I mean both of them Badish Shille was great I mean he's a slightly he's a veteran in that team at 24 he's one of my favourite defenders about Isile but Achiem Pong I hadn't seen much of well actually most people hadn't because he's played what 17 17 games 17 league games for Chelsea 17 games for them in total in the last two years and a game like that and to come in as young as he is and and be that good I thought he was outstanding again so but yeah Romeo Lavia I mentioned him because Cole Palmer did an interview where he talked about him being an underrated player in terms of the skill set and watching him like just weave past players in that position it was like when they used to bring on Camavinga for like 20 minutes in Champions League games.

17:04You know that run they went on 2022 Real Madrid and they were bringing Camavinga and he would just change the game with like these amazing swerves through midfield. It felt like that actually and I wonder I wonder what his long term I wonder what his arc is like for Chelsea because him and Caicedo they do kind of different things. They complement each other but they kind of they can both I think step forward if they have to. The one thing I'll say with Caicedo actually it's not a criticism him there were a couple of moments on the Saturday where he wasn't shooting where actually the shot was on because he's such not it's a kind of a Pedri thing because he's an unselfish player he didn't unleash when he actually had a clear sight of goal and I just wonder if there's more there from him I think he also deserves a huge amount of credit for that because whenever he was whenever he got the ball in the Liverpool half half of Stamford Bridge were like shoot after the first goal that goal that goal is going to be like a highlight reel for years that strike was absolutely incredible unreal unreal there was a lot of talk about Mamo Dash really coming into the game because Alisson's injured he did well he did really well it was just not a factor like I thought he did really really well he came off his line very very well and he needed to a few times but I mean you would you could easily point to oh well you know we were at Alisson and neither goal was a two two Donnarummers do not stop that goal from Kai Sader three you know like one of those like you know those like decorations that people have at Christmas.

18:33Yes, the multiple arms all together. Could have had a keeper like that and just no one's saving those. Can you imagine one of those are just Donnarummers? That's a Christmas, there you go. Man City merchandise team for Christmas. There you go. Anything else on this game? Do you think, Mariska getting sent off because he was a bit annoyed that no Chelsea player had been sent off to keep up their run. So he was like, I'll do it, don't worry. Look, a result that, again, I maintain this, a result that's more important for Maresk than it is for Chelsea and all the same, absolutely huge for the football club just because these are the games which are your direction of travel.

19:12Like, look, I don't think Chelsea expect to be in the title race this year, but they do expect to be there soon enough. And this is the kind of result that shows you you're kind of on course when you're missing big players and you can still come up with a show like this. So yeah. And the loss to Brighton was really bad because they were just completely out thought in that one so yeah much respect back to back defeats for Liverpool and they host Manchester United after the men's international break but yeah I mean it's obviously very very early days only seven games gone we're not even a quarter of the way through the season yet but do you think that this felt like the weekend where obviously there was big narrative chat because Arsenal went top but do you think it felt like the weekend where the narrative normalised a bit for want of a better phrasing because for example the arsenal side that i'm seeing and i have seen in the last couple of games is no different to the one that took an absolute kick in after the man city game in the in the media let's say the thing you mentioned about nuno i thought was quite interesting because it does feel like at the moment they are the most complete team in the league like front to back well look at look at look at the defense look at the defense look at the attack and look at and look at the the tactical diversity right the range of goal scoring as well yeah yeah like what they've only they've only conceded one goal from open play which was the Erling Haaland goal in the league this season so yeah I mean how I mean obviously we're beating West Ham 2-0 on the weekend and it was comfy that run of four games after the Liverpool game if you look at that run of four games Forest at home City at home Newcastle away West Ham you were saying they're going to come through that unbeaten with 10 points people would have taken that massively.

20:55Oh, without question. It's funny, man, because I think it's been such a positive start to the season for Arsenal. The only negative side of it has not been the football, I don't think. I think it's been the injuries still. You know, losing Martin Odegaard to a medial ligament injury, which was just unlucky. He's missed quite a lot of football this season. But the main difference from Arsenal this season to last season is that they have bought in the summer to address that depth issue, right? And they can, and it's no longer, you know, Arsenal have played a huge chunk of the season without Martin Erdegaard, without Bukayo Saka, without Kai Havertz.

21:35And it's not been really discussed that they've been without three key players for a lot of the season, weren't he? Look who didn't come off the bench. Norgard, Mosquera, White. I mean, that's who didn't come off the bench for Arsenal. Zubimendi came off the bench for Arsenal came off the bench that is an interesting a player that a player that Europe was after for the last two years has been after the last two years it's the quality and we talk about depth with Arsenal but it's not just that it's the fit and it's the calmness of it not that injuries are ever a positive right but if you look just a couple of years back at a time when Gabor Jesus gets injured and everyone's like oh Arsenal season is basically done it kind of did They're not going to mount a title challenge.

22:21Whereas now, you look at them and it's really just, it's another universe. And this is no disrespect to Gabriel Jesus, just in terms of the quality of personnel they have at their disposal. And the way they're managing games. The way that people, like a Timber, for example. The way that Uri and Timber is, I mean, I don't even know how you describe this footballer now. Because what is he? Is he a fullback? Is he a midfielder? Is he an attacker? He's doing all of these jobs. and you've got like Rice playing as a six, obviously it's not a position he's best suited at, but deputising really well. Because we had a conversation about this, didn't we?

22:54And I think that this is a good, this is actually a really good example of when that works because you've got so much of the ball and you're so progressed and you also have someone else coming into midfield with you, right? Yes. So actually a lot of the time, like when Zubawendi came on, that then freed up Rice even more. And I think that does help. I think having, because the only thing that I think with Declan Rice in that position when you're the deepest and it was something that was an issue with Arsenal at points last season and that Zubimendi has immediately like progressed is the speed of progressing the ball and the speed of moving the ball around like I think Arsenal last season the main thing I think is that has changed from last season to this season and it's just eye test wise is the speed at which they move the ball around I think last season it got quite stale and I think what's happening It's like when Xavi got injured and Keita came in for Barca, it was the same thing.

23:48It slows right down. And I think that what's happened this season is that, and we've seen it with various tactical things that Arsenal have done in terms of, you know, when Arsenal went to Newcastle, for example, and you had that box of like Rice, Zubamendi, Trossard and Eza. Yes. Is that Arsenal are willing to progress the ball through the middle a lot more this season? And I think that that threat has been something that they haven't really had for the last couple of years. Because you know when everything happened with that Ben White, Martin Odegaard, Bakayosaka triangle down the right-hand side.

24:20And people just clocked it. If you could shut down that right-hand side, you shut down Arsenal. It's like Nuno said. You've now addressed one side, but they've also got threat in the middle. and they've got this back four, which is like, look, think how good Calafuri has had to be this season to keep Myles out of that starting 11. Dude, it's wild. And in a weird way, as frustrating as it will be for Myles, and I completely get it, I don't think it's necessarily a bad thing for him to come out of that being the first choice starter at 19 years old. Do you know what I mean? Because he will end up being a major, major, major part of this Arsenal side for a long, long time as long as he maintains his level which I'm sure he will do and progress I think is going to be a good thing for him in the long run.

25:08And also here's the thing like they're going to need all these players late in the season. They're going to need Hinkapier, Odegaard they're going to need Jesus they're going to need Havertz and Madiweke. These players it's unbelievable that these players are just waiting to come back and there's lots talk about the title race there's still 31 games of the league to go yeah this is what I will say about this the early stages of this league season it's very clear that points will be lost in unpredictable places when I was watching Juventus and AC Milan the other night play out very un... let's say that that is not the most rewatchable of games the nil-nil draw put it this way I was ready for that to lead the show today and me too it will probably not be talked about.

25:57I was thinking, how did Bournemouth do in this league? Given their style, given their quality and how they can hang tough with their very best teams, I was wondering actually how high did Bournemouth finish in Serie A? Just given the quality of the coach and the quality of the personnel, that whole, that wedge of teams underneath, well, frankly, underneath, no disrespect to Spurs really, Bournemouth downwards, right? The chunk of teams in there that are going to cause real problems throughout the season. and I think the thing that's strong for Arsenal the thing I is most impressed about them of all the big teams they look best equipped to navigate what those teams will throw at them and I include City in that there's a lot of talk about City being more conservative controlling games I'm not quite sold on them yet I think they have a lot to figure out and I think Pep knows that I think Pep knows they have get out of jail players it's why he is so thankful to credit to Pep Pep acknowledges this credit to Haaland and Donnarumma because he knows with all the quality City have they still have so much more to gel because there are some very smart coaches in the league that know how to unpick them and Brentford could still have got something from this game and arguably should have done actually with a Thiago chance they arguably even though Donnarumma makes a very good save he's still odds on to score that and I think especially with City taking the lead so early you would have thought that they would have been out of sight yeah they didn't put them away so I just think this we talked before you know we talked about United for example and I said they're not going to finish any higher than the certain league position because they do not have the ability to control games and Arsenal of all the teams I've seen so far in the league and I think I might say this is the start of the season even their ability to do that I mean look Arsenal had I've watched them a fair bit this year and they had one 10 minute period that I would actually criticise the only period I can really criticise them for is maybe 10 minutes after high time against Liverpool where I felt they could have raised the intensity and that's really it That is it.

27:54I would not criticise them. I mean, I was far more critical of them after that game than I was the City game, the one-all draw, which was a good result, I thought, for both teams, funnily enough. I thought it was a decent result for both teams. Maybe slightly, weirdly, slightly better for Arsenal because they came back into it. And that's not the kind of game that Arsenal, two and a half years ago, were coming back into, right? So I just think at this point, it's not, we can talk about the philosophy of what a title race means. We can talk about why title race is so important. I think that's because the Premier League as a product is a bit concerned that over time it's become a bit predictable and it's trying to create jeopardy where there's not actually jeopardy.

28:35At this point, to me, the teams that are best equipped to go the distance are still Arsenal, Liverpool and City. That's just my personal opinion in terms of the institutional memory in those teams and those squads and the quality. But it's just fascinating that this has to be, the title race seems to get earlier every year you know well I think this is the main thing because we're looking at this slightly from an Arsenal lens for this bit but I think this is why it's so important that Arsenal have shifted the narrative a little bit because what happened last season was on the pitch and off the pitch it kind of got away from them a bit it got away from them in terms of personnel it got away from them in terms of a few decisions that fed a lot of stuff off the pitch and it became exhausting and noisy and they were constantly scrambling.

29:26Yes. The anxiety has sometimes gone around in the discourse, not from Arsenal fans necessarily, but just in general. I'm not really seeing it on the pitch. And don't get me wrong, I don't think Arsenal have been fully fluid yet this season. I think there have been moments when they've played really well. I don't think they've fully, fully found their groove yet. However, the main difference is that they're top of the league without fully, fully finding their groove. And last season, they were already five points behind by whatever and they struggled to get that back. It's different to Liverpool though, in the sense that they haven't been getting results that have been masking any issues.

30:00I think that they haven't really been many issues with Arsenal. They've just not really fully... Liverpool's mid-range is bigger, you know. But Arsenal have done this thing where it's like lights out after a certain point in certain games. And I think City have that. City at their best. Liverpool at their best had that. When you, you know, Liverpool fans will know this, that bit where you just love the game like no no notes no hassle like where it's three it's three nil and the opposition score late and you know the manager's going to be enraged they conceded a goal that's what you want to get to as a team where it's such a clean victory there's no no fuss no blemish it's a bit dull it's a bit boring people aren't really talking about you kind of want that and this is that's people talk i think that's fine like because it was way it was way too interesting for too long people talked about 1-0 to the Arsenal and I think Arsenal learned the wrong lesson from that 1-0 to the Arsenal and it was oh boring boring Arsenal that was resentment it was resentment that Arsenal would not allow those games to become more interesting and we hate I can say this as a rival fan we hated that George Graham era because you knew you were going to get nothing from it yes and you know again like for those who haven't seen the Nuno interview after the post-match I think it's really great because first of all I love Nuno because I think that a lot of fans are going to see very quickly how hard it is to manage that club.

31:20The Forrest job is an extremely difficult job and there's very few people in football that can do that job well, right? And I think that's not a knock on Forrest, it's just the particular moving parts, the way that squad's been constructed. For Nuno to come in, and Nuno I think is almost, I mean, no one is quite as good as Tuchel as coming into a club and getting defensively organised, but Nuno is in that bracket just below in terms of coming into a club that has a defensive orientation and being like, okay, this is how we need to play. For him to come in and say what he said about Arsenal as glowingly as he did, that's a really great early-term report.

31:52Yeah, and I think that they've navigated this tricky opening section really well. The good thing is they have essentially four, they don't need to leave London until November. They have Fulham away, then they have Atleti at home, then they have Palace at home, and they have Brighton at home in the League Cup. Palace got beat by Everton on the weekend. And it was a really, really good result for Everton. It's Palace's first defeat of the season. It ends that unbeaten run, which is very, very, very big. Palace should have won that. Yeah, very, very big result for Everton. But, for example, Arsenal need to make sure that they pick up, you know, they don't drop silly points in those games and undo the hard work from the beginning of the season.

32:30Can I say, actually, while we're still in North London, let me just go across quickly to Spurs, who started the season so, so well. And I think, look, the Thomas Frank appointment was one that we really liked. And I think, weirdly, has his start been a little bit underappreciated? Only because, look, I know that Spurs signed very, very well in the summer, but they had a lot of change, right? Like the departure of Levy. There's a lot going on at board level. And for them to come in and to incorporate Xavi Simons, I think, you know, he's come in and looked exciting, impressive. There's a lot more to come from him, obviously.

33:04But I like what I've seen so far. We've only seen the very beginnings of what he can do. this is a really strong start from Spurs. Only five conceded, second highest goal scorers in the league. I think joint behind, behind City alongside Arsenal. Well, just one goal behind Arsenal. Sitting a point off them and looking quite resilient. I still think that, I'm not sure what Spurs' ceiling is. I think that in individual games, they can show out against almost anybody. I think that the league, I think will be the challenge in terms of the depth. But really, you know, nice string of results I think results like the draw against Spurs against Wolves make you think they're a notch below I think in terms of the very very top teams but a really great start for them and great to see Curtis getting her first goal too really happy for him he's looked really bright for them in these early games so yeah Spurs fans don't worry we haven't forgotten you Bournemouth of course creeping up in the outside rail Bournemouth man Bournemouth Palace after the international break is probably the pick of the Premier League apart from Liverpool Man United obviously but But in terms of like coaching matchups That's a real like that that could be that feels like a real fork in the road moment in a season you know those kind of fixtures where you know Palace Palace were really up there at the beginning of the season on that unbeaten run Bournemouth they've kind of normalized their position It's not normal It's not normal at all It's completely not normal not at all Yeah The thing in Bournemouth that's interesting though that classic mix of actually an underrated group of playing stuff, right?

34:38Those players are underrated. And then also just Iriola coaching them to the moon. Like, Iriola, Glasner, head-to-head, the terms of the quality there, these are like Champions League level coaches. They're truly elite. This is, I mean, we've talked time and again to the point of boredom. Apologies to the stadio listeners, but the depth of coaching in the Premier League is truly, is exceptional, man. And yes, that's because the money is the best around, right? we get that. And also, Iriola Glas in terms of a tactical head-to-head is... It's amazing, man. I'm so hyped for that game. Palace, again, like, look, shout out to Everton for that great late result, for winning that late.

35:20I think they would also admit, as many Everton fans, I think are great stuff to do so, Palace had the run of that game for the bulk of it and really should be second. Should be second, like... I think we should say our matches nighted. We should, we should, you know... I know it's only Sunderland, but Sunderland, you know, newly promoted club, but Sunderland have had an impressive start to the season. And I think... That's a great bounce back from the defeat against Brentford. A nice calm, 2-0 home win. It's felt like a while since something has been that chill. It felt like United knew what they were doing in this game.

35:56Seshko, really happy for him, I mentioned before, getting his first goal at Old Trafford. That's a huge, huge deal, and that will hopefully settle him a bit in terms of his confidence. two in two in seven now uh for united not a bad return actually and bumo just full of enthusiasm confidence and just thank goodness for a player with that confidence in the forward line mason mount looked good good goal from him and just united looking organized against a good sunderland side who've started the season as we say really really well still above united in the table which I think says a lot for the respective years both teams are having.

36:36Yeah, and Amarim just needed this badly. Badly needed it after that defeat against Brentford. Talk about the team kicking on. Didn't happen in the last match, but yeah, a good time for the international break to reflect on a good recovery. Any other bits in the Premier League? Very quickly. Villa recovering, they're dragging themselves back. Two for Daniel Marlon, man. Yeah, yeah, really happy for him. for them. The first one was a great finish. Yeah, really great. Other thing I'll note just quickly on, while we're doing a quick roundup, just Newcastle and Nottingham Forest, a slightly negative note, but Newcastle with a good win for them after a really strong win against Unianz and Giloua's Champions League.

37:18So six goals in two games for Newcastle. Volta Marder again in the mix with a great goal, great penalty. His penalty was unbelievable. Listen, someone said he hit it where the spiders are. the cobwebs it's not I love that that's a great that's a great phrase it's great look and look ordinarily a defeat at St. James's Park is not nightmare territory but for Ange Postacoglu now lost no wins in seven Ange look the footballing fit didn't like that didn't like it was bad from the start the style of football that he plays or likes playing it is best. And you look at the way this forest squad is being constructed, diametrically opposed.

38:04I think we should probably hold the Andrew Postacogli chat because I feel like there might be some movements. Yeah, well, there'll be more to say. It was reported by the Guardian that he is meeting with the board this week. And here's the thing. There's two things about that. The first thing is it's not great to be meeting the board that soon. The second thing is we shouldn't know about it. we shouldn't know about it yeah we shouldn't know about it we can talk about that when there's a little more in that because I think there will be I fear there'll be more to discuss they host Chelsea after the break so yeah that's not great to be honest that could easily be the game where he gets his first win it wouldn't surprise me with Chelsea I could see that being like 2-1 2-1 Forest some other managerial stuff Russell Martin has left Rangers and he left the game under police escort out of a side door with a waiting car after that was it a draw a draw to Falkirk I mean goodness me so Russell Martin is no longer Rangers manager I mean not surprising no no no surprise there at all I mean not a good fit no not at all we might also have to chat about Aberdeen soon although he did beat Dundee 4-0 on the weekend.

39:25Currently bottom of the league. Their first win of the season. I mean, let's not talk about Aberdeen because we, the last time we praised them, bad things happened to them. So, you know. Well, we should shout out Hearts who beat Hibs in the derby and remain top of the league. International break. Two points clear of Celtic. At my fear of shouting out people who I worry might then have a downturn in form. Ansu Fati with two more, two penalties at the weekend. delighted for him has he got five he's got five already for them I think so maybe slightly more yeah wonderful other bits to shout out we shouted out Marcus Rashford in another goal but that was a 4-1 defeat to Sevilla we'll talk about that maybe a truly bizarre game yeah really weird I think it was the first time Sevilla had beaten Barcelona in 10 years in the league in 10 years they beat them in the Copa del Rey that result was a long time coming I said this before the problem Barcelona have got to get they've got to get a lid on the chaos while we were actually talking about La Liga just very quickly Real Madrid coming back well from their heavy defeat against Atleti beating Villarreal 3-1 without a wild amount of incident Villarreal got back into it late after being 2-0 down but it was Real always felt like they had extra elements and Mbappe again popping up with another goal just the way he started this year man him and Harry Kane are locked in they're absolutely locked on that do we leap to the Bundesliga very quickly yeah let's do a quick Bundesliga shout out quick shout out there so meant to be a huge game ended up not being all that much of one Eintracht Frankfurt against Bayern Munich Bayern went there and just cooked a goal up through Lillias Diaz who's been brilliant since he got there within 15 seconds and that very much set the tone Eintracht have consumed a lot of goals in the last few they actually weirdly enough I mean Seb Stafford-Bloor who was on this parish briefly was concerned it would be a heavier defeat I think when I saw the final score I was like actually that's kind of par you know weirdly enough it kind of began against Gladbach it kind of began when they took their foot off the pedal against Gladbach they should have closed that game out I think it was earlier than that I think it's the Union game the warning sign yeah you reckon they've conceded 16 goals in the last 4 games I tracked they have the worst defence in the Bundesliga and they have lost three of their last four in the league and are now in seventh.

41:53Overtaken by FC Köln who beat Hoffenheim. Leverkusen beat Union and are up to fifth. No defeats in the league. Doing some serious work there. Yeah. Stuttgart also are in fourth still. RB Leipzig and Dortmund drew one all. Not a great game. That's foul beat. Mine's 4-0 and now over I've gone ahead of Sampauly Sampauly had their third defeat in a row away at Werder Bremen not a good result no no not at all but fun stuff in the Bundesliga do you want to shout out Serie A quick? the big game Juventus Milan was a big disappointment 0-0 and actually we were chatting in a discord about the number of players that were just slipping over themselves in this fixture which kind of summed up really not much to report from this one there's a lot of weird games like that this weekend because Porto Benfica was just not a great game at all and ended up 0-0 in Portugal I suppose it was probably a good result for Jose Mourinho going to Porto Porto who top of the league and going and getting a point there not bad at all what were the big results I suppose the biggest result was maintaining the place at the top I think Napoli winning 2-1 against Genoa Roma up to second They were actually momentarily top this weekend as well Which is wild Gasparini doing it man Really doing the work Fielding a player I absolutely love Corradio Kone in midfield Still one that got away for United Fantastic player Gasparini doing bits That's a big deal for Roma Yeah man And a cool squad They've looked like fun I've watched them a couple of times this year and each time I felt like they were on the verge of something.

43:49Now it's a question if Ferguson can get a firing, that's another story. Who knows if that will happen but the good thing is they don't need his goals yet and I think this Roma side, you know, they haven't scored many so far. They've scored seven and six, I think, in the league but there's a lot more to come from them. Just quickly, we shouted out the WSL, we'll talk about it but Chelsea drew Manchester United to stay top of the WSL. Man City beat Arsenal 3-2 in the big game on the weekend from Saturday absolutely wild game Arsenal not controlling games it's so strange it's a strange start to the season isn't it?

44:28Spurs beating Brighton 1-0 and Spurs are third Manchester United are fourth Arsenal stay fifth they host Brighton next week and London City Lionesses beat Liverpool who have started the season with four straight defeats and host Manchester City next which is of course coach Gareth Taylor's former club Yikes Women's Champions League is back this week as well so we'll touch on some of that this week Any other stuff you want to shout out while we're here? One last shout out Ruben thanks so much Ruben for the win asking us to shout out a win Please please please he asks shout out Heartful Athletic winning the USL Jägermeister Cup on Saturday Two years ago Worst team in the league Last year not much better Halfway through the season bottom of the table Wow We love to see it Oh wonderful Yes well I hope you're celebrating your style and responsibly of course hydrate please yes wonderful all right let's get out of here we hope everyone's staying safe and well don't forget if you want to sign up for the stadio patreon patreon.com forward slash stadio you can hear every single podcast ad free in full um or and that's on the podcast membership or you can join the stadio social club and get loads more perks including access to the stadio social club discord don't forget to share the stadio archers place on spotify speaking of which playing out on closer by codec anything you would like to And we saw Gwanga.

45:42Nothing further. Are you sure? Yes, absolutely. All right, everyone. Much love. Back with you in a couple of days. See you then.

46:15We'll be right back. Please don't shoot. Please don't shoot. We've got questions. Please don't. Please don't.

46:35Please don't.

46:40Please don't. Please don't. Please don't. Please don't. Thank you.

47:23Easy to do, but we don't need to say what we do. Easy to do, but we don't need to say what we do. Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.

47:45He don't say. She don't, he don't say. Please don't, please don't say