World Cup Daily - USA Progress, Scotland Aggrieved, Turkiye Out

0:07Music

0:25And just like that, all the hosts are through to the next round. But for Scotland fans, maybe feels a little bit like Arsenal of the previous season. This is the Arsenal Vision World Cup Daily. My name's Alex Pithik, Black Manger, Ian Gunner. That's right, we had VAR controversy, VAR-traversy, or I guess actually just ref-traversy, because VAR didn't get involved in the Scotland fans feeling aggrieved. But if you're an Arsenal Scotland fan, you just got to rewind to the 24-25 season, right? Yeah, that's the one. And then you'll feel nice and at home. It's like nothing's ever changed. But yes, all the hosts are through.

0:55America is qualified. and I will tell you we're recording this in the evening Friday Timsey uh in San Diego for the

1:01Michael Timbs:weekend so we're pivoting around the schedule yep how are you I'm very good thank you I'm a I'm sunkissed which is nice I I I go from white to like pockmarked and red and peeling and stuff so I become that that uh sort of meme of the guy who's just always covered in like zinc sunscreen when I go anywhere where there's sun because I've just learned that that's the only way for me to get through it. I should have done that today as well. But I'm glad to confirm World Cup Fever has actually reached a city that isn't hosting any games. It has reached San Diego on a naval base. So yeah, I mean, you really look, I think it's great that you celebrated the US winning, but like going to a naval base to show your support of the US winning a game that might be a bit too far.

1:50We're gonna let you in the country, mate. It's fine. You're already here. you don't have to go the extra mile um okay well so so a few things i should let you know uh lewis is coming on to do director of football for patrons tomorrow so or i guess today as you're listening to this so if you want to hear lewis's director of football episode that's on saturday and we just did a fixtures episode today that i would love for you to check out because you can find out who we play this season i don't want to do a spoiler but it's every team twice so i saw i

2:16Michael Timbs:saw that i saw the first game being us against uh coventry so that's gonna be interesting yeah on a Friday night. You want my hot take, Timsy? My hot take is, based on the run-in in our last nine games of the season and where the games fall, I don't think there's any scenario at all whatsoever, even remotely possible, that we come out of March without a chance to win the title. Because I don't think anyone would be good enough. We have a straightforward enough run-in that even if we're seven points back going into April, you win those nine games, you're probably going to when the title is my take so and then maybe with with pep leaving we become the new man city machine that changes teams down despite how we've played in the first half of the season like maybe oh i thought you were going to say invest in an army of lawyers to tie up the league in litigation for years but also just going on a dynastic winning run would be great too without both would be fine yeah yeah as a former lawyer i'm always fine with lawyers making some money but you know let's let's go for the dynasty all right uh enough of this i think they call it witty banter I don't know.

3:18Your mileage may vary on that. Let's talk football. And I will tell you, we are recording this. Like I said, we're shifting around schedules for the Timsey in San Diego experience. That means we're recording as Paraguay, currently lead, Turkey 1-0. They got off to a blazing fast start as Julio Enciso.

3:34Michael Timbs:Is it Julio? Did I get that wrong? Nah, I gotta check. Yeah, it is Julio Enciso. Thank you. Former Brighton player, screamer from outside the box to make it 1-0. And with this scoreline, Turkey would crash out. And I'll just say one thing I learned relatively recently. Tim Zee, I want to get your take on this before we dive into the proper podcast. The first tiebreaker in this tournament now is head-to-head record. I really, really like that. Because I think the idea that you can beat a team, but then finish behind them because of goal difference doesn't seem equitable. But the byproduct of that is that we may have more groups that are decided before the final day.

4:12again if turquia fail uh or lose this game to paraguay they're out they can't get past any of

4:18Michael Timbs:the other teams because they're head-to-head record yeah i mean i would agree i think uh depending on how kind of weighted the groups are i think yeah having a head-to-head is maybe a bit more fair than it basically comes down to if there's one kind of dud team in your group how bad can you beat them down and okay well we beat them by six you beat them by four even though your team beat our team you know it just yeah it doesn't it's i don't think it's equitable it's fair yeah yeah but it does mean that some groups may be decided early and the usa group is one of them where turkey could be out by the end of tonight and and i'm i'm not surprised by this by the way i think i said in the preview show that turkey was was very hit and miss and historically has been oh it's kind of a talented team it could be a dark horse and just hasn't hasn't delivered and I will call out our dear good friend Rob Holding for his pre-tournament prediction of saying he thought Turkey were going to be dark horses and make a little bit of a run because they're very talented I accept that his judgment of footballers much better than mine he is a professional footballer well but I'll take this win because I didn't think Turkey would do that well I do think And Phil Costa had them as a dark horse as well.

5:32So ball knowledge in the gutter all over the place from former footballers and non-former footballers alike.

5:36Michael Timbs:And that's why you're listening to Arsenal Visual Podcast. That's it, to get the real stuff. And I will just say that what's been the problem for Turkey, and again, it has looked that way tonight in the game as far as I've seen it, we're at halftime now, is that much like against Australia, they have some promising attacking moves, but the minute there's a counterattack against them, they're just all over the shop. And Australia obviously hit them twice on the counter, and Paraguay looked like they could do that as well. So we'll keep an eye on that as we record. But we're five minutes in and we haven't hit the headlines.

6:04And I will allow you, Timsy, to go full red, white, and blue if you want to. But what is your headline?

6:10Michael Timbs:I think I have to go in keeping with the last 24 hours that I've had. I'm, one, very impressed by the US. But two, really happy that they're actually delivering because it's been a long time coming. obviously I know they've earmarked this tournament as one that they could do well. They've always had a talented enough team to do better in tournaments than they have done. And the fact that they are starting to deliver, they've confirmed their place in the knockouts. And they've done it the most convincingly of teams that have had basically two games to play, or who have played two games, sorry. They've looked really good.

6:53Michael Timbs:I would say I've just been really impressed by the way Pochettino has them set up, their work ethic. It feels like, as they were doing in the first game, they're really riding that wave of being the home favourites, having that support. I mean, in Seattle, if you know anything about soccer in the US, you know that Seattle is quite a hub for almost European football fandom. and the fact that they got that because they they played well and they they had almost like a premier league moment of scoring that second goal oh my god it's not a goal and then the var re-celebration it felt like a european football game hashtag against modern football but yeah carry on but of all the things that i hate about var and i don't like var that is a nice element to it um when it happens that way and to see them celebrate that second goal it was enough of a buffer where i think they they knew you know the second half wasn't as good but uh yeah they they're fully deserving of their their six points and um i think it's great that the fact that we're gonna see them regardless of what happens in the next match which i think to be honest they'll do well in anyway um that we're gonna see them in the knockouts i think it's good for the tournament it's good for the us it's good for the world cup and uh yeah i'm this is as patriotic as i've ever been in terms of being a u.s fan so well my only comment on var is after review west ham number 19 commits a foul on the goalkeeper final decision is a direct free kick forever ever etched in our minds i love it exactly amen amen amen um and so uh i think i have to give you a headline the only thing i'll just say about the usa game is like i have had this weird experience of watching usa not only win these games but be the better side and command the game and dominate the territory and stuff having said that i think this is where you see that pochettino is engineering a lot of this obviously pulisic wasn't available but the second half when the game was decided and the u.s maybe was in more of a mode of control it you saw there really wasn't a plan b to control it and i don't think the U.S.

9:03did a really that effective a job of just keeping the ball taking the heat out of the game it got very physical it got very bitty there were balls being served into the box there were diving challenges and last minute clearances and I think that's where you see that a lot of what makes the U.S. good is this Pochettino system of pressing and harrying and getting up the pitch and and staying high up the pitch but when it was time to tone that down a bit and just keep the ball or also when the U.S. had to dip into its bench and go away from some of the more known elite players I think the level noticeably dropped and you know what that's fine it's still a win it's still qualification depending on how this goes the U.S.

9:38will top the group if Turkey can't get back to win this game so fine by me um I owe a headline I don't know whether to do this in stock falling in the headlines I'm gonna give it a headline I'm gonna say Scotland feel aggrieved I think Yeah. Yeah. I mean, look, on the one hand, I don't know that Scotland played great football. I think they started out with a very defensive approach. They, I think, went with a back five, took a forward off. You know, maybe they were trying to keep the game tight. Obviously, that blows up immediately when Saibari scores a screamer to kick the game off. And then they had to pivot.

10:20But they had two penalty shouts. They had a last man challenge shout. And like, I want to get your take on the penalty shouts because I think, I think they're both maybe penalties, but I think the McGinn one actually, I can't say, I think that's a pen. I do. Yeah, yeah.

10:38Michael Timbs:I think I was a bit, I was more unconvinced by the McTominay one. It's hard for me because I was kind of watching it or watching the highlights anyway, where I wanted them to have the penalty. So I was kind of, you know, maybe a little bit biased in that regard. Yeah, I think the McGinn one for sure was more convincing. and yeah I'm a bit torn by Scotland just because I want them to do well and I think the tournament's much better off with them in the in the tournament but yeah but they weren't they weren't amazing against Haiti anyway they were poor against Haiti, they were very poor against Haiti you know they won was it 1-0 I think and it was like you know a McGinn relatively scrappy goal and so I'm not surprised by this I think they did deserve more I think if if it was a draw you wouldn't have thought it was unfair or unjust and maybe they can feel a little aggrieved the fact that they didn't get a a point out of it but equally they definitely didn't do enough to win and if any side kind of deserved to win I think it was morocca like even the for their goal is obviously sabari great finish defending was pretty awful like second minute of the game and you're just going to see like the sabari like peel off the defender the defender i don't know how he's trying to think that he's gonna raise the the the back line and like catch him offside when like no one else did that move and it's just like fairly elementary stuff i don't know what we were kind of expecting with scott whether we expect them to be better than they are maybe this is the level um but yeah I think I think it it was they can maybe feel a little bit aggrieved with the general standing of effort because I feel like they were harsh there were quite a few times when a few of the midfielders I think like maybe McGinn and definitely McTominay a few times got like basically fouled in midfield and it caused quite a few Morocco counter-attacks that were quite dangerous and could easily have led to goals that I did think were like they are just fouls just give out they're not totally decisive but they could have led to something um quite important in the game and they just didn't seem to get those sorts of decisions and as Arsenal fans at the Champions League final in that second half we have I feel like we can judge fairly in these regards where like we had our fair share of that as well and like you know those do those individual uh refereeing errors if we can call them that individually they don't lead up to anything decisive but I think adding them up over a half does make it a lot harder for you when you know it individually it doesn't actually make that much of a difference and I think just having to battle against that as well as like a good Morocco side just makes your task a lot harder um so I do feel a little bit for them but I also don't because they they didn't they definitely didn't deserve to win um and really the kind of only chances they had to score were from those sorts of uh those sorts of moments so yeah a weird one because yeah obviously I do want them to do well but I I hope that I know that their place in this the knockouts isn't certain but I I do hope they can they can get something or even if they just end up on three points enough it may not be and they obviously have brazil next but that may come up in my stocks section i do want to say i lied to you listener and i think it's important that when i lie i come clean i said it was halftime of the turkia game uh it was not quite halftime it was nearly halftime yeah but miguel almirhan was sent off at the end of the first half for, and this is a big World Cup moment.

14:37The first player sent off for covering his mouth with his hand while speaking to an opposition player. This is a new rule. It's called the Prestiani rule. Relates to a player speaking to Vinicius Jr. And Miguel Almiron covers his mouth to say something to the opposition player and has been sent off for it. Interesting. I don't, I have to say, right, Like that sounds completely ridiculous, but the players must've been well briefed on it because the interesting thing is the Turkey a player, the minute Almaron did it, the Turkey a player made the covering his mouth gesture and pointed to the ref and said he covered his mouth.

15:15So they must've all been very briefed on it. Almaron losing his head. If you can even call it that crazy, crazy way to get sent down to 10 men from Paraguay side, beating Turkey as of that moment. but now we'll have to play with just 10 men. So really, really crazy moment there at the end of the first half, which is now at halftime.

15:36Michael Timbs:It's crazy to think, but as they say, them's the rules. And as we saw for England against Croatia with the penalty, it might be a very fine line, but that is the rule. And if you go by by that, then you're going to get punished. You're just begging me to break back out the, he touched the ball. He touched the ball. Declan Rice, he touched the ball uh okay um let's carry on i don't know do you have another another headline here i i could probably pick one uh controversial one out yeah yeah go for it i like controversy so okay i'm gonna say brazil still have big problems is a headline um okay yeah yeah yeah so so here's what here's what i'm gonna say about this brazil are not a team where it's like oh they just need to make the round of 32 mission accomplished brazil fans are gonna be furious if they don't make a semifinal or win the whole tournament i mean maybe it's a little different and those aren't the expectations but i think people who didn't watch this game closely are just going to see three nil and think okay brazil are fine haiti had chances haiti looked decent this is haiti by the way right i mean we're not talking about a powerhouse here they look decent they were in the game rafinha went off with a hamstring injury and i don't know how serious but even the non-serious hamstring injuries are 21 days so unless something's been said post match to say it was just precautionary.

16:55When you grab your hamstring and you go down, it's rarely the case that you're going to play again in a tournament. Now, I will say Martinelli came on and looked great, by the way. So kudos to Gabby, who might get a look in. But this was still a weird Brazil performance. There was some nice play from Cunha up top. I mean, credit to him. Vinny slipped him in a few times. Vinny was slipped in himself. They created some moments from a sort of oddly high line that Haiti was holding, and they got the goals. but I still think that there was enough unconvincing play and the injury to have been ya kudos to Tim there for teaching me how to say this have been ya thank you that I I think any suggestion that Brazil are fine because this was 3-0 maybe kind of misunderstanding what this what this game symbolized for me anyway yeah I did I didn't really think about that to be

17:48Michael Timbs:honest because i just thought you know three nil job done not too much to kind of glean from that but i guess yeah i i guess i agree because depends on your ambitions right if you're brazilian big ambitions and i think that the rafinha injury and the way they played today that doesn't doesn't do much to instill confidence for me maybe it's just because as a as a non-brazilian and looking at their squad and just their kind of the the makeup of their team i didn't really consider them one of the favorites anyway and I know that's probably a very un-Brazilian thing because as you say like that the expectations must be to get at least to the last say the last four teams to get to the semi-finals or obviously win it but maybe because I just consider them very distant favorites if you want to call them that then I'm kind of I kind of just think like maybe this is their not their level they're obviously better than this but you know they're just maybe this is what they should be doing, just getting the job done and then just hoping that when it goes to those tougher games against the bigger opposition, they can somehow fathom something out of thin air.

18:56Michael Timbs:But yeah, I didn't have that down on my list, but I tend to agree with you. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, and look, other people won't agree with me, but that's not the most unusual thing that will happen today, I assure you. So let's hit the stocks. Who's your first stock rising? oh my first stock rising i'm tempted i have one for brazil which i think it was probably not a surprise but uh i i would go with um flo balligan again i thought he was great i know he got pretty but again like he's australia tough opposition as they proved in their first game and you know maybe if you're if you're kind of riding the wave of energy from the first game and it's maybe a bit more of a relief and and uh yeah just just getting over the line and making sure that you get that win but this like a sterner test and without Pulisic as well obviously because he's still I mean I'm the whole I'm guessing the whole of the US is on tenterhooks to wait for any news on his uh form and his fitness but you know without without the usual left wing there and he was just again like a real handful and and played like a kind of complete striker where he unselfish runs and you know just was a threat in front of goal and it just yeah doing that as well as like you kind of can't forget that this is like the US and it is Flo as well like he's not a world beater the US aren't a world beater in football and so two like back-to-back wins and him scoring both it's it's impressive and um yeah so i've got to give him some kudos so i think if if stock risings uh you know is a thing i think you have to have to give it to him i like it i'll stick with one from that game too and i'll say alex freeman um played right back for the u.s for the second game running i have not i was not super kind to him in expressing that I thought the United States defensive group could be a vulnerability.

21:04And while I still think that could be the case, Freeman obviously scored a goal. He played really well. I have to say it's one of those, I have to apologize. I was not familiar with your game. He looks good. And he's a young player. I think he's 21. So, you know, still developing. But physically, the gifts seem to be there. quick, powerful, great leap has looked good in both games and so yeah I think he's a fair stock rising and in fact I think that whole right hand side because I think Sergino Dest had a good game wasn't impressed with him in the first game so much and I don't think of him as a wide forward or a wing back whatever role that is but he was good in this game, he was really good he was kind of toying with the fullback for Australia at times so kudos to two players who I maybe wasn't super generous to who have played well and helped the United States get into the knockout round.

21:59So who's your next stock rising?

22:01Michael Timbs:My next stock rising would be Kunio. Yeah, you kind of have to pick it right. Even though you are bitterly disappointed with the whole makeup of the Brazil team and their chances, rightly so. No, I think it has to be Kunio. Obviously, just a straight swap and his goals as well. I say his goals, his first ones, whatever. But the second goal was so well taken. And just we've seen him do it for the Premier League. We know how much of a handful he is. And just even just looking at the way they're attacking as well, it seems like Vinicius maybe enjoys it more just because there's a lot more fluidity up top.

22:40Michael Timbs:Like the movement in behind and just even in front of the defence and being able to drag defenders either side. It's just basically what you would expect and what you get with Kunia. But to see that translate to the international stage as well, yeah, really impressive. And like, I mean, he's a shoo-in now. You just have to play him. There were probably question marks over Ancelotti's choice in the first game. But seeing him rectify it for this game, if you're going to do it, do it against Haiti. It's almost a free hit. But the fact that it did pay off and he did play well and it seemed to free up the rest of the front line.

23:17and it was just a far more convincing like uh forward performance from the forward sorry and

23:24Michael Timbs:uh yeah i think his stock right he's i mean i think for a lot of people anyway his stocks already very high but the fact that he did this and delivered when he needed to as well is um yeah it's impressive yeah i don't like him but i rate him oh no no yeah and that surfing i hate it seeing that yeah yep i hate it um he's really good to my point though right again against Haiti, it's eight shots for Brazil, 57 % of the ball, 1.56 expected goals. You know, it's like, I'm not trying to make this just about the data, but like, I don't know. Were they convincing? Maybe they were. Maybe I'm nitpicking.

24:04Michael Timbs:I don't know. But again, I think it's like, this isn't, you look at the team and I don't think it is a convincing team though. You know, Maybe it's just because I think this is what we can actually expect from this. It's not the Brazil of the past. And yet to see what happens with obviously Neymar and if he's still got... I don't watch the Saudi league, so I have no idea. But is he back in Brazil? He is back in Brazil. He is back in Brazil now. The Brazilian league, sorry. But I kind of just think this is what I expect to see from them where they should be good enough to dispatch Haiti. and just even they're just seeing a little bit more industry and imagination going forward.

24:44Michael Timbs:And obviously it's not world beating form or a performance on the pitch, but it was enough at least for me to see they're going in the right direction. Who knows? They could just lose the next year. I mean, I hope they get obviously against Scotland, but it's a better performance and I think Kunio was a large part of that. Note to self, not going to have Timsey hosting either my Saudi league or Brazilian League instant reaction shows coming up. I get mistaken between the two. It's just the language and the culture are just so similar. Okay, I'll do one more stock rising quickly and that's Ismail Saibari now has netted twice.

25:21Spectacular goal in this game. Nearly another spectacular goal in the second half of this game. He's off to Bayern Munich. Big money move for him for next season and he has been the star man for Morocco that had other players that I thought would be the star men for Morocco. Not the name that I was as familiar with. It will shock no one to know that I'm, you know, not keeping close tabs on all the players everywhere. But despite the fact that, you know, he plays with Brahim Diaz and Ayubouadi, obviously, and El Kanoush, who, you know, we're familiar with. I think he's stood out and he's been great for them.

26:02And it wasn't, by the way, I didn't think it was a great game for Bouadi, by the way, who comes down a little bit from the high of being celebrated for his game against Brazil. This was less good for him. But for me, Saibari, his goals, crucial for Morocco and a player that I think deserves plaudits in a team that has other players that may be more favored in the media, shall we say. Let's hit the stocks falling. I think there's a couple of interesting choices here. Gosh, I'm torn in a few directions. I'm just curious which way you'll go.

26:34Michael Timbs:I'm tempted to go Scotland has a few and I know you've thought of a few of these as well I would say it's easy to say the referee but I also don't think it was solely his fault I just think Scotland weren't good enough either and as much as I feel a little bit sorry for Scott McTommy goal for when he you know I think unfairly got taken down a few times and caused a bit of trouble on the counter I also think like in those moments in those tight games as well you do look to your best players and aside from maybe John McGinn but I think he is you know their best player and they're their talisman so to speak and you do need those players like if you you know your team isn't amazing you need your big players to step up in those moments and even just it's not like he has to score he doesn't have to replicate the form of Napoli but you need to be a presence and I just think he he's just yeah failed to be that guy in midfield and you know he can't rely on on the other players around he needs to be the person that everyone else relies on and I just think he struggled to be that today so referee didn't help the rest of the team didn't help but he almost he also didn't help himself in that regard.

27:54Michael Timbs:So as much as it pains to say me, because I had to say for myself, like, I really do like him since he's left the Premier League. But yeah, it wasn't one of his finest games. So I think his stock has fallen in that regard. Yeah. Yeah, I think that's a fair shout. I'm going to take a big risk. This is probably not good podcasting, but I'm going to do it anyway. And I'm going to stock fall Turkey because they're currently trailing to Paraguay at halftime. they lost their opening game 2-0 to australia this is a team that a lot of people did have as a dark horse not just rob holding him phil costa non-ball knowers but actual ball knowers also i'm kidding i'm kidding had stopped had them as uh dark horses and like they they just have not had it they've not looked great they've looked incredibly bad defending counterattacks now to be fair to them they've just not been able to put the ball in the net they've they've definitely had the opportunity to put the ball in the net on a couple of occasions.

28:52I think they got the lineup wrong in the first game, starting Yilmaz over Yildiz. Easy to maybe get that confused with the names being similar, but as the manager, you should know the difference between the two of them. Yeah, I mean, if they don't turn this around, and they may well turn it around, and it may be 5-1 at the end, and people go, well, that was great podcasting. I'm like, touche, fair enough. You know what? These are like London buses. There'll be another one tomorrow, but they will be out of the tournament if this result holds um and with one half of football to save their world cup that's not where anyone would have expected so i think you'd have to say through three halves of football uh disappointing from turkia who's your next stock following oh it's a weird one it's not

29:34Michael Timbs:a player it's not a team that's okay can be a theme can be a concept can be a song could be a feeling i i'm gonna say the red cards and i guess that means the officiating not that i think the officiating has been bad we've seen way worse of course yeah and i i think generally speaking as well just because there's so many eyeballs on a world cup it probably gets undue you know disrespect and kind of it looks it looked on uh badly but i i don't like how many red cars there are because i feel like out of all of them anyway i've yet to see the the the power i won and i know yeah it's the rules um but you know Qatar Bosnia I'm just going through them now and Mexico South Africa I just feel like there's there have been a lot and it's not just it's just nowhere near as football in general like watching it as a neutral as well you want to see two teams fighting at their strongest and then whoever wins wins like I just don't like the fact that there has been a lot and from my memory as well a few very much deserved and a few just just very avoidable and uh i don't want to say unnecessary but just just spoils the game a little bit and there is i do feel there is obviously it's a very hard job and there is nuance to refereeing and making those decisions but there there are times when the same tackle the same incident isn't isn't a red card depending on the game and depending on you know and i just feel like maybe there could be a little bit more uh sensitivity around those sorts of decisions so i just don't i don't like from a personal point of view i don't like the fact that there has been so many red cards yeah i'll um i'll hit something that's not a player either but i and i realize look you give this every episode but it's it's on my mind today so i'm going to give a quick stock following because we haven't spoken about it enough to the hydration breaks which are now match breaks they're not even they're not even pretending anymore and it's a little scary because if you're allowed to just have match breaks at what point you just drop the pretense that it's about the weather i think match breaks are here to stay i think they could be having this tournament in the arctic circle and match breaks would be here to stay because candidly you know in dallas it's indoors in sofi it's essentially indoors in seattle it wasn't that hot we've had games played in 65 70 degree weather which is i don't know what is that 20 yeah 20 celsius or something i mean it's most of these games ironically have not needed a hydration break they've dropped the pretense of it being a hydration break the u.s broadcaster is going to commercial and i think this is it you can feed football fans shit and we will eat it with a smile on our face because we just want football and they keep trying to make us not watch the football by doing things to destroy the football and football just keeps being too good that these people who run it who seem determined to kill it cannot kill the football but I gotta tell you Timsey of all the things they've tried to do to football to kill the football these match break things they really take me out of the game and from a footballing standpoint for people who think I'm grandstanding I will just say a number of these games have seen a substantial change in the momentum of a game around these match breaks i mean people got mad at michael arteta for david raya going down with a quote injury to get himself by himself a little time to reconfigure a defensive structure or make a little tactical tweak these are having an impact on the football they are fundamentally changing what football is yeah i mean we've we've said this um we picked up on it very early that these are not good for football.

33:26Michael Timbs:And I think I said to Lewis as well, this could be one of the worst things to happen to our game. Genuinely one of the most detrimental things to what makes our game so good in years. And I don't even think... VAR has, I say, ruined the game, changed the game a lot since its introduction. But I don't think it doesn't put into question the very nature of what makes our game so special as much as these hydration breaks because you are literally splitting the half in half and making it not two halves of football because now it's literally not two halves of football it's four quarters and what makes it what makes this game so is that it's so intense for for two large periods there is just the players on the pitch and the tinkering you can do with substitutions but that is it like you are just left to your own devices and whatever whoever the best team is will win the game like that is what makes it so good and it does beyond the commercialization and just how kind of showy it makes everything and all of this stuff it's just the fact that for me as a fan watching it you you want is the very essence of our game i think this is just unadulterated un tampered with 45 minutes of controlled chaos that's yeah and i just hate the fact that even quietly in my head i'm like look they're only just going to do this for the world cup maybe it becomes a permanent fixture in a world cup i hope it is obviously got rid of but if it has to be there just keep it for the world cups fine i don't care but just leave the premier league leave the european leagues alone leave the champions league alone because it will for me anyway ruin the game the only thing i can hope is that it's so toxic that advertisers don't want to be associated with a hydration break or a match break because it's actually bad for their brand.