Man City Saves Their Season, Romero Sees Red, Arsenal Stay Steady

0:10Hello and welcome to the Two Robbies podcast, your destination for in-depth discussion and analysis of the Premier League. I'm Robbie Musto. He's Robbie Erland. Here are today's topics. In a frantic and frenetic ending, Man City barely squeak out a 2-1 win over Liverpool in one of the matches of the season so far. Thomas Frank called Christian Romero's red card the perfect storm after a tumultuous week as Spurs suffer a 2-0 loss to Manchester United after a roaring Old Trafford and Arsenal saw to a 3-0 win against Sunderland after key goals from Martin Zubomendi and Victor Jocherez. That's what we've got coming up in today's episode.

0:46Well, it's a special episode, mate, because it's the two Robbies in one place. We're in Santa Clara. We're a few miles away from the Levi's Stadium. Lovely and warm, sunshining. A bit of sunshine, head of the big game this afternoon. I know you're into your... A little bit. A little bit. And I know you've got a stat that you've told me probably a million times already this weekend, but what happens if the New England Patriots... Well, it's kind of a big stat, isn't it? It's kind of a big stat. If the Patriots win, If they win today, the Pats, that will be seven NFL titles more than any other team.

1:18So I guess at some point the discussion will be with our guys, you know, is this the best team, the best franchise in NFL history? And it's got to be a yes on that. So in Premier League terms, we're probably saying they're the Man United. Have they had a Liverpool's tie? Yeah, I think United got all the titles, yeah. But this puts the New England Patriots ahead of everybody else. And kind of soon after the Tom Brady and Bill Belichick era, they're there again. So this franchise, they're doing something right. But apparently they're not favourites, are they? Talk to me about quarterbacks. So we've got Drake May.

1:49Drake May, the youngster. The Patriots, the youngster. A bit of a rookie, they believe. He's come in. He's done remarkably well. He's done enough well to this point, but just gone off a little bit in the playoffs. We were speaking to Chris Sims and a few of the NFL guys for us, and he's been outstanding. But in the playoff run, the last few games, he hasn't been particularly brilliant. He's been a little shaky. so there may be a sense that this game could be a very big occasion I don't know Sam Donaldson they call him a journeyman a journeyman not being a star anywhere this is his big moment us as footballers we're each journeyman by the way we're getting into this NFL thing I don't mind it we could send this to our bosses a bit of Sunday night football we can do a little segment two Robbies on NFL two Robbies on NFL there's a future let's talk about our football real football at Anfield Liverpool hosting Manchester City.

2:40I hope the Super Bowl is as good as this, by the way. No great first half, but second half, we had all the drama. Liverpool with a super goal. Bruno Silva, the little diamond, comes up with an equaliser. Erlen Haaland gets his first goal at Anfield in four attempts. He's a Manchester City player. And then we get the drama in the end. It'd be Zoberslai, Haaland, Tussle, Wazable, Red Card. Advantage he's played. Let's start with... An amazing free kick. amazing free kick again from dominic's obviously we saw one at arsenal this one was a little bit different i thought it was a little different i'm not sure i've seen a good i mean the knuckleball is what most players are going for now right where there's no real spin on it and it kind of moves around a little bit and it's hard to say this was a swerving knuckleball and i don't know whether he's seen that i mean there's been a few i think yeah a bit of carlos back in the day ronaldo had a sort of start but it was a bit straighter wasn't it it's a bit straighter um Sobba's like deliberately hit kind of the left panel of the ball, the left half of the ball, and it still had the knuckle, but it had this swerve to the right.

3:42I mean, Donnarumma, who's a magnificent goalkeeper, I mean, it was an incredible free kick. Is it anything to do with the ball? I mean, there's a Puma ball now that's the new official ball of the Premier League. Might it be the way that it's made? Well, I think the players are enjoying this ball. We've seen a lot of strikes from outside the box. We've seen this advent of Morgan Rodgers, the dippy, he called it. The same thing where you can try and impart very little spins so the ball moves through the air a little bit unpredictably. But just to add the swerve, I thought it was stunning. Brilliant, brilliant goal.

4:10When you've got a goalkeeper as good as him, just standing there like, wow, it was kind of coming towards you and then it swerved into the corner. Brilliant. And that was quite telling, Bernardo Silva getting the Eclosa, mate. You know he's my little damning. I probably get a 100-3-8 player every week. He gets a goal, apparently runs and gets the ball, tells Ellingham and then we're not celebrating. Get the ball down, we're going for the win. which they ended up getting with the penalty kick. I think we both kind of feel as though it was a foul by Alisson on Nunes. I think nowadays you've got to be careful.

4:40This is something different from three or four years ago where goalkeepers had a little license to have a little contact. They're diving. Maybe the momentum takes them into place. Not anymore. If you don't get good contact on the ball and you go through the player, that's a penalty. And I think the player should know that. Alisson should know it's a mistake from him. And the ball's placed on the spot and Erlen Haaland makes it 2-1. And that was late, by the way. It was 90 plus three minutes. And we got some more drama before then. But I want to sort of steer you to actually one of the saves of the season, mate, for me.

5:10With Alexis McAllister, volleys a ball from 18, 20 yards. That when you see from behind, is headed at full speed to the top corner of the goal. And Donnarumma somehow gets that big body over there, that big claw hand, and palms it away. and it's, again, that possibly saved Manchester City a draw at that point. It would have been points dropped. Yeah, I mean, by the way, the ball's behind him. It felt like the ball was behind him. He still managed to claw it back. Good point you make there because my underappreciated performer is Gigi Donnarumma. Now, I know he's a world-class goalkeeper and I know his history and I know what he's won with PSG.

5:49But do we think, I mean, I feel like there's not a lot of talk about him. I know Edison was good and I know they've signed other players that are maybe more headlining, but he's an incredible goalkeeper. It's an unbelievable signing. He's made so many of those type of saves, Rob. Isn't the current problem with goalkeepers that we kind of look right? Size, how he defends, does he die? Is he good with his feet? He does all that, but he's not great with his feet. So does that take away from maybe him being best in the world? Wow. The way that modern football is and everybody wants to play out. And there might be others out there that could argue different goalkeepers.

6:20In terms of filling the blooming goal and his wingspan and his ability to... It's almost got to be perfect to get past the guy. Like the free kick. Like the crazy free kick. Yeah, it's got to be something like that. But that save was important. And then we've got the big moment where Alisson's up in the attacking half. Yeah, to try and get something from Liverpool. Trying to get something from Liverpool. City win possession. Get it to Turkey, who's just in his own half. He hits a ball with enough pace. It's getting towards a goal. And then there's this kind of foot race between Erling Haaland and Zoberslai.

6:52Zoberslai pulls back Erling Haaland. Just Harlan's too fast. Too fast. And he's about to get the ball and roll it into the net. He pulls him back to stop him doing that. To stop him doing that. And then a minute later... Not a minute. Like three seconds later. Three seconds later, Harlan realises he isn't going to get the ball. Zobber's eye is going to stop it. So he pulls Zobber's eye. Zobber's eye goes to ground. The ball goes in. And I think everybody in the stadium and all the players were almost going, I'll just let that go. Yeah. One ball for another ball. is like, nah, one advantage and a disadvantage.

7:24Let it go. But Mr VAR has other... And the referees, in fairness, we have to... I didn't like it, I've got to be a myth, but also understand these rules and we can't dip in and out of the rules as we see fit. No, no. It's right because if we go through it real quick, Harlan's going to get to the ball and score. He is pulled back deliberately. Correct. But then the referee's like, well, okay, you get advantage here. It looks like you're going to score. Yeah, yeah. so and then the ball wasn't going to reach the goal and obviously i was going to sprint and clear off the line so arlen then pulls him advantage so that's a foul so the advantage is no advantage yeah so you do have to go back and say okay no advantage it's a free kick because you denied and obviously a scoring situation does obama gets a red card yeah and there's no goal yeah i mean i think they get they get it right with that yeah it did get it right it it was one of them where sometimes you think football common sense should allow us to do this but i get listen these rules and we can't play the rules sometimes and not when it suits it it was right you got it they got it right they did in the end get it right manchester city got it right rob because they they stayed in the title right and you could see what that meant to the players to pep to to to the the atmosphere after it it it felt bigger than i thought it was going to be But is it going to make enough difference to improve this team?

8:47Because they looked at 1-0 down, you know, we're writing headlines. This is it. Arsenal aren't, you know, they're going to get caught now. And then all of a sudden, little Bernardo Silva is a lifeline for them. Doesn't what happened give you belief that it was there? It's all right. And so do you trust that that's going to, you know, inspire Man City to go on a run? Because they've got to go on an amazing run now. Let me go to Premier League on air today. Ruben Diaz got back on the pitch because enough who hadn't got a bit of a knock, I think it might have been a concussion or they took him off for safety.

9:20To get Diaz and Gueye back as a centre-back pairing improves them, Rob. Improves them at another level. Mark Gueye quietly had another exceptional game back there. Gavardial, for me, is the important one to get back because he can play left-back. I ain't sure about Ryan Aiton, nor is the left full-back, Rob. You've got Matthias Nunez. O 'Reilly's not always going to play in the field. Maybe Fogum comes back in or Cherky could start. We could write a really good Man City team now. Semenyo's a good signing too. Marmouch is fit now. Everything's kind of there for them to go on a run, but when you're watching them play and I know there's a few more parts to come into that, but they still don't convince you that they're like, look at the city.

10:04They're still a bit of carelessness, but they're Man City, Rob. and they've got what they've got and they've got individuals who can have moments and they've found a way today when they didn't play particularly that well to get three points at Anfield, a place they don't usually do well. So they're still in the race. On Wednesday, they played Fulham at home, very winnable. And then the Thursday... They could be three points by then. Yeah. Three points behind Arsenal and Arsenal go to a very much informed Brentford. Yeah. Away from home. So we still have a race at this time. We still have a race.

10:35Yeah. We still have a race. What a game. What a finish. what insulin what's some quality that none of that was there in the first half to be fair and you know you see pep on the sideline rob he looks like pretty out down and out yeah and all of a sudden you know they're they're still in it so fair play to them yeah liverpool look better in the second half again disappointing for me in the first half liverpool come on don't don't be so passive yeah yeah i don't know what that was about maybe a little bit scared of that they've got a front four that's really exciting when you look at them and they have been a little bit stretched at times Liverpool.

11:05Maybe he's asking them to play a little bit more compact and that stops their possession and attacking prowess a little bit. But second half is what we wanted to see and what a fun game. Really, really great. So well done Man City, still in it. It's a big win. Absolutely a big win. Let's talk about the other Manchester team who can't stop winning. Four wins in war, four for Manchester United under Michael Carrick. This was a home game against Tottenham, a Tottenham team that had come back well against Man City in the second half of the game to draw 2-2. The Tottenham team that we know can carry dangers.

11:37We're still working out what Thomas Frank's trying to do with this team. But there was a couple of incidents, Rob, that changed the outcome of this one. I think we have to go to it first. It's a Christian Romero red card. It's a foul as he comes in on Casemiro. I'm afraid, unfortunately, we've seen this story before. It's Romero going in and then extending his foot and putting force into a tackle that he doesn't need to do. But knows what he's doing there, Rob. He knows what he's doing. He's hurt the player. It's a definite red card. And it's his sixth red card for Spurs. He's ninth of his career.

12:14As captain of his football club, I said, he's let himself, he's let his teammates, he's let his manager down. And listen, Christian Marano, Romero, is one of the best centre-backs, football centre-backs in the league. Well, let me stop you there. Is he? Yeah, yeah, he is. He is. If somebody could address... He's a super aggressive defender, right? And at times he makes these challenges. Yeah, it looks good. But as a whole package, like, is he that good on the ball? Yeah, he can play. I think he can play. I mean, I think he can play. I'm just trying to get to a point like, you know, this over-aggressive nature is obviously a downside to him.

12:51But is the rest of his game that good enough to like, you know, that's the way he is. Like, he's a bit aggressive. I don't know whether he's got a big future. I think in terms of a footballing centre-back, a modern footballing centre-back, he's in my top sort of six centre-back. Oh, I don't know if he is for me. I don't know if he is for me. Just on general. I mean, I love his aggression, but it goes over the top too many times, Rob. Is that nine red cards his career or something? Yeah, it has to be controlled. And, you know, he'd obviously come out with the social media stuff where he had to go at the club, but not spending money in the window.

13:27And nobody available to play. and now he's not available for four games. Four games he missed, he's included in the North London Derby. He's got to be more responsible, Rob. And at some point, Thomas Frank is going to have to deal with that. Well, let's follow on. Let's talk about that. Afterwards, Thomas Frank didn't really kind of fudged around it a little bit. And from Thomas Frank's point of view, maybe he's thinking, I've got to keep everybody on side for the time being. He has to, at some point, come out, be the boss and say, that is unacceptable for my captain of my football club. And then let's see what the consequences are.

13:57There's a feeling that Romero wants out a little bit. So we'll see. But that was from Spurs' point of view. And I just feel for the travelling fans. And, you know, like, it's a big game. And they started pretty... They started all right, by the way. Yeah, but until then, they're very much... There's nothing in it. There's nothing in the game. I look at little Archie Gray, who's gone to that football club. He's a good footballer. He's got a good career ahead of him. He's playing it right back. He's probably out of position. And then Romero goes and does that. Just rubs everything they've worked on.

14:26And I think those are the kind of things that we've got to do. Yeah. No, it's frustrating for them. Manchester United. Yeah. Not frustrating. Wow. And I know it's 10 men, but we've seen plenty of times teams struggle with that. I think the attacking intent of the team now is so different. And the balance is, even though it's one player, different. But the three centre-backs, there's two centre-backs. Luke Shaw loves to get forward. Dallow's the same. You've got Kobi Maynou linking things together really nicely. We've talked many, many times about that. and Michael Carr continues to touch the heart, wasn't it, Lissandro Martinez said, of some of these players and they want to play for him and he's making a very strong case and more evidence of what he can do with this team.

15:06Really, really great, mate. 2-0. Bruno, again, on the 38th minute. Bruno Fernandes with a clever little finish with the outside of his, well, his leg, really, his shin with Diego Dello. And a really nicely worked set-piece to start. Actually, I just want to say that on the set-piece that Michael Carrick after the game said, you give credit to Johnny Evans, who'd worked with the players on that. A couple of interviews I listened to yesterday after the game, there was two things that came out that two or three players said, and that was trust. They said trust is what Michael Carrick's allowing them, and to make their own decisions.

15:45A little bit in the old regime, everything's gone rigid. Guess what you've got to do with it? It looks like players, just by easing them up a little bit, are feeling a little bit more comfortable to play the way they want. Quite honestly, and maybe cynically for me, I'm still waiting for some old man United-isms with this squad to rear their ugly head. I'm still waiting for Manu to get caught out of position a little bit. I'm still waiting for Casemiro to be out the game. I'm still waiting for him defensively to be a little flimsy. They haven't done that right now. They're definitely more organised.

16:17They're definitely more compact. I ain't saying they're going to go and win every game to the end of the season, but it's so good for Man United fans to be able to have a smile, enjoy their blooming Saturday night and Sunday mornings. So it's part of why you're saying some of those things that we've seen in the past may come to the court. It can't all disappear, mate. It can't all disappear. I agree. But it's part of that then when we'll find out about Cary fixing those problems. That's when we'll be addressing it. Yeah, or how the players are going to react to that and the sense around the squad, around the fans.

16:48because they're not going to win every game. No, for sure. But right now, I mean, Dalo loves life at the moment on the right side, coming in with his left foot. Look, sure. I'll tell you what, if he continues to play like this, might find himself on a plane to the World Cup. Yep. Bruno Fernandes loves being number 10. Martinez has come back and been an absolute... Yeah, we shouldn't forget the players that are back now, by the way, and the ones that are away in the AFCON that the previous manager didn't have for a few weeks there. So, no, the good story continues. It really does. and we'll see how it goes.

17:19I mean, I like Michael Carrick. I know a lot of, obviously, people from Middlesbrough, where his previous job, and they liked his football. They liked what he did. He kind of ran out of steam a little bit at the end, but that's not always the manager. You know, the club was in the transfer market and they continued to build and grow. So that's a fascinating story, Rob. And again, you know, if these wins, the majority wins at the end of the season, he is a candidate. He is a serious candidate. He's going to have momentum. And if he's got momentum in a club like Manchester United, you're not going to stop that.

17:46And what might be a future underappreciated is Steve Holland. Steve Holland is number two. A great experience with Mourinho at Chelsea for four, five, six years. Was with England, with Gareth Southgate. He knows his stuff, Steve Holland. And the two smart, calm thinkers have got a chance for me of being permanent coaches. But we'll see. There's a lot of games to be played. Let's go to the Emirates. Let's go to Arsenal. Let's go to Arsenal hosting Sunderland. that's one of the tricky games in the Premier League now, so well have Sunderland have done. It was a 3-0 victory in the end for Arsenal.

18:24It probably wasn't... I didn't think it was smooth then. I know you were a little bit more impressed with me than maybe I was in terms of the performance. I thought they'd perform well. I didn't actually think they were going to lose, but I thought that Sunderland gave them the test that they had and they came out on top. Dibamendi, who's another one? Leo Diamond. he's a Bernardo silver diamond does all the stuff he needs to do in midfield he'll look like Gundogan type of underappreciated like there's all sorts of things in midfield and Jokovic comes off the bench gets a couple of goals it'll do him some good a 3-0 win a great day Mikel Arteta was particularly pleased he said in the way that his team went about it and I just thought Rob as well one of the things that stood out to me was Jokovic didn't play comes off the bench gets his goal we've seen Habits do that recently and I've seen Jesus do that.

19:15It's almost like every player's coming in and doing their part, whether it's I'm coming from the bench, I've got to do 15 or 20 minutes, or I'm starting like a deck on ice, and it's another 90-minute performance. It's like everybody's bought into what their success is going to be. You said there that you weren't maybe as oppressed as me, but you've said everything of what's great about Arsenal. They've got forwards, Rob, whether they start or come off the bench. Martina comes on and assists for Jochores, whether it's Jesus that starts. So they're doing that part of it. They're absolutely rock solid at the back.

19:46Everybody's fit at the back now. So defensively, they tick every box. We just talked about Zubamendi. We love Dak and Rice. And Kai Havertz now is a midfield goal threat. They've got, they tick every box. I didn't think their football was as good as they can play. I thought they were, I thought they got the job done. Again, so really tough, strong, defensively good Sunderland team. Absolutely, totally. But maybe we just look at it a little bit differently in what we see. Yeah, I thought it was incessant, strong, solid, focused, professional, gave nothing away. I thought I was as impressed of that as any game of Arsenal, given the opponents, given the pressure, and are they going to fold a little bit?

20:30I don't know. I just thought it was rock solid. And the squad, again, you see the strength of the squad. This is the best in the Premier League by some distance. So I thought it was impressive, that. Really, really strong. But based on what we saw today, they're in a race. Yeah, they've still got it. We're going to see if they can continue on all those. There'll be some wrinkles. Yeah. There'll be wrinkles, and that six points might get a little lower. Okay, those were the big games. Let's go to some of the remaining results. Wolves 1, Chelsea 3. This was all about a cold palm, a hat-trick. Two penalties, 30 minutes, 35 minutes, and then a lovely finish from a Cucuré move.

21:08They keep winning, Rob. Yeah. Liam Rossini, I mean... It's a good habit, isn't it? I'll tell you what he has said. He talked a lot in the round, getting the job right. And he did talk a lot about winning. We've got to win now. I know I'm trying to build, I want to get my... But we've got to win. I'll ask you as a question. Has he got more of a winning focus than Enzo Maresco? Yeah, way more. Way more. Like, let's win now. Yeah, Enzo Maresco's always talking about the project and, like, we're building in this. This guy's almost saying, we've got good enough players to do that, to be building and winning.

21:42And he's putting pressure on people to win, that mentality. And I love it. Yeah, I like it too. From the day he's walked into the plate, he's pushing people in. After the game, obviously, he's talked highly of Cole Palmer and he can be world-class. But he talked about the other bits around him and the players, the Cucureas and the Caicedos and the Enzos, who are all playing their part. yeah yeah i i mean it's so important for any manager at a club to go in and do well whether it's the sessions that he impressed the players with whether it's his meetings um but ultimately it's the results and the players if you're in the dressing room it's like wow this is this is you want to win don't you this guy want to win because a young guy comes in with swagger because he's got swagger the lads are like that job you know and wow we're winning like it's fun and his man management is very pally he's one of them yeah which is good yeah he's got there's got a bit harder side to him.

22:33Yeah, I think he's smart enough for thinking... What about when he had to go Arsenal in the cup about them coming into his half? Yeah. I kind of like that. You must like that. Yeah, it was him just putting it out there that we're Chelsea. Yeah, just a bit for Benoism to see that. So in the League Cup, before the game, you go out and you do your warm-up and one half of the field is one team and Arsenal, the Emirates, their warm-up went on to Chelsea's half and he basically stood there and said, what are you doing? Get in your own half. I liked it. I also liked Mikel Oeteta's response, by the way.

23:03It was just, oh, we apologised. We didn't want to get into it. No, we did not. Which I thought was really calm as well. But yeah, two young managers doing the thing. Good result for Chelsea. Let's go to Newcastle 2, Brentford 3. Really one of the performances of the weekend. Brentford again, Rob. There was no shot. He was suspended. Got a record last weekend. They go to Newcastle. I know Newcastle not in the greatest form, but Brockman scores to put Newcastle up. Yanel gets ahead of bat. Thiago, 17 goals from him with a penalty kick that was the right decision. Guimara gets a penalty back for Newcastle.

23:39And then with Toro, with five minutes left of the game, goes up the other end of the pitch, smashes the ball to Mitvo. And Brentford come away with a 3-2 win. They beat him at home, 3-1. They beat him away, 3-2. They beat Villa away. They beat Newcastle United away. Dango Wattaro, very close to mind, appreciated. I know he's a record signing for Brentford. He's really, really good. He's 23 years of age, Rob. is super quick, super pacey. We know the players at Brentford lost. And the fact where they are right now is one of the stories of the season. And I know this kind of changes, right? I mean, during the season, teams are up there.

24:10Sunderland was the story and we go mad on them. Right now, with more games under their belt, Brentford are seventh, aren't they? They're seventh. I mean, that's remarkable given. Yeah, European football for this football club. It's the same points as Liverpool. Yeah. Are we at a place where reputation and all those things. Leon Messina went into Chelsea and most people have already made their mind up. Keith Andrews got the Brentford job. Most people had already made their mind up. Are we in a... You know, Michael Carrick to a certain degree. I think people... You know, I think the United thing helped Michael Carrick going in there being an ex-player.