S15E31 - Spurs, Spontaneous Combustion And Other Stuff

0:00If you're a small business owner, you'll know just what it's like to be the chief everything officer. HR, payroll, employee benefits well Gusto can do all of that for you Gusto is online payroll and benefits software built for small businesses it's all in one, remote friendly and incredibly easy to use it's quick and simple to switch to Gusto just transfer your existing data to get up and running fast try Gusto today at gusto.com forward slash locked on soccer and get three months free when you run your first payroll that's gusto.com forward slash locked on soccer The world's biggest soccer tournament has arrived and you can trade the entire tournament on Kalshi.

0:38On Kalshi, you can trade every match from the opening stage all the way to the final. On Kalshi, you're trading against peers in a live market, meaning there's no house. And as the probability changes, you can buy in and out of your position. For a limited time, download the Kalshi app and use code CUP26 to get$10 when you trade 10. K-A-L-S-H-I, Kalshi. Trade the beautiful game. 18 plus only restrictions and eligibility requirements apply event contract trading involves risk and may not be suitable for all investors. Prices, values, and available markets may differ from those mentioned. For more information, see calshe.com slash regulatory.

1:32multiple entry periods, visit www.mclobaltra.com slash superior access slash FIFA World Cup 2-6 for free entry, entry deadlines, prizes, and details.

1:56Ricky, do you want to apologize to me and John? No, I'm not going to apologize. Why wouldn't you apologize? guys because it's not my fault what isn't you were late in traffic i heard as well oh i made clear you sent you sent the link at like nine minutes past four we were supposed to pod at four i looked nothing had come through you didn't even confirm we were podding so i was like all right fine no i did i carry on i carry on doing what i'm doing my message to you ricky uh let me see uh 20 past nine this morning which says pod today at 4 p.m with john boy and you said just seen this i'm about shaking hands emoji that's shaking hands that's a deal that's the minute your agreements we made you need to do a little thumbs up to say okay done what so you just assumed because i didn't give you a thumbs up it just wasn't happening you you made the assumption no no no i've been sitting i've been sitting at my laptop waiting four o 'clock nothing came through no you haven't one minute past four nothing came through i was late five Five minutes past four.

2:55No, nothing came up. Seven minutes past four. Is it happening? I can't believe, Ricky. I can't believe after 15 years of doing this, this is your attitude. It fucking stinks. John, how are you? I'm all right, mate. I'm all right. I did have quite a stressful five minutes before you joined the call. Because I spoke to you earlier and went, yeah, I'm chilled. Take your time. i'm just playing fifa yeah i was literally just minding my own business playing fifa i thought i got my work done this morning it's fine and then i had a phone call from you going i'm going to be a few minutes late and i thought okay that's fine then you're like can you message ricky to tell him i'm going to be late and i was like okay yeah that's fine and then in the middle of that i had a phone call from someone else to do with work like unexpectedly and then we've got someone like our cleaner is in today because we've got family staying and like the house is in fucking disarray and the hoover breaks so then re my wife's like can you can you go to our friends who live around the corner in the fucking rain it's a storm by the way can you just run that can you just run around there and get their hoover oh yeah i'll just pop out shall i get a fucking hoover you have a laugh and then i was like how do i get out of this scenario so it's like can i just order one on amazon same day and i'll just the fucking i'll just do the hoovering later because this is mental so it just went from zero like perfectly chilled to me absolutely losing my fucking head stressed Eric that's what I was mate stressed Eric has this been the aggiest start to a podcast in our history probably has yeah maybe if you don't if you don't apologise Ricky I'm never speaking to you again I'm not apologising you always tell me to double down don't apologise Rick don't do that don't double down with me double down with the people we're talking about it's it's a Q &A podcast because it's international break fuck international breaks by the way I know we've said it I've always said it, shit, shit, shit, shit.

4:54But we still wanted to touch base with you lot because we thought we'd do a little ticking over podcast, Q &A podcast, always relaxing and a little bit of fun, aren't they? So here we are. It is Friday evening. Well, getting there. And we are on the back end of a storm that has seen a lot of rain. Unfortunately, though, for me, they've dredged the side of the road. so there's no massive floods to drive through, which is like my favourite thing. My favourite thing is driving my car through thinking, am I going to fuck the engine or am I not? It's like the best. It feels really deep. Am I going to fuck this engine up?

5:33And then when I get through, I know it. It's like a danger wank. Six grand risk. Six grand risk, hey. Yeah, it's a danger wank for people that live in the countryside. Yeah.

5:46So did you see Odor Bear's comments yesterday? talking about, well, he's just saying, I don't fit in in this football club. I'm not sure if I'm in the right club. And he's been looking for a move in January. Are you having a laugh? Yes, I am having a laugh. He said, I need to take more on even more responsibility, I think. I'm not really setting myself a goal target and then any assist is fine. I'm going to do things right and win matches. And what motivates me? And me and Rick, we recorded after the draw with Man United last weekend. and one of the highlights from that performance we think was Wilson Odebeir.

6:25Do you think he's starting to grow into his role? Do you have doubts? How do you feel about him? I really like him and I feel like he's kind of what we've been saying we need. Now arguably we want someone more established like an established version and let's be optimistic and say like we might get one right like in January or next summer we're going to get an established first team choice. he is the person that you want as like a an understudy someone that's going to step into that role in the future and it's going to be you know really effective there I think like this season he's shown some flashes of having a lot of talent having a lot of ability I really like him I think um for the meantime he's got to be first choice in that position for me like we've got to try and get him with as many of our other technical players on the pitch as often as possible I think I said to you boys in our WhatsApp group you've got to try and get basically Odebeir who would have been Mwani who's now had his face smashed in like he's bumped into me on a Saturday night in Luton Simmons and then Kudus right if you can get those four as your front four as many games as possible then you've just got like a much better technical level at the top end of the pitch and I do think you know that's where we've been we've had some issues you know in contrast to the Richarlison's of this world, where it just sort of bounces off him.

7:44So yeah, I really like him. I like him a lot. So yeah, I want to see him continue to get time and improve. He's done it again, isn't he, Frank? And not just Frank, Ange before him. He was talking about the Moani injury. He actually struggled a little bit, but nothing big, he explained after the game. And in like three hours later, I broke a jaw. Probably will never speak again. He'd be on liquid food for 14 months. it's like fucking hell it's just starting to get a feel for him as well everyone's feeling a little bit like there's a player there and Lucas Berrava as well has gone to Sweden they said right you can go to Sweden but no Edwin he was on a header ban weren't allowed to header trained a bit and then they went no he's fucked he's got to go home gone left Sweden and come back because he's got a concussion Kulosevsky said and this is not I'm not being critical here right I'm just being I'm just being anxious at the fact that given our luck with injuries that like for tonkin said he had in headaches and sickness for nine months yes man um have you um have you boys ever seen the movie just hit him on the side of the head i don't know what's going on what's in them balls have you ever you boys ever seen that film iron claw have you heard of this movie yeah i think sorry i would like i just think that might be the most depressing film i've ever seen i'm just gonna leave it with you yeah but so for those who haven't seen it it's not really a spoiler it's based on a true story but basically it's like this family of wrestlers and there's just a series of unfortunate events that continue to happen to this family and at the beginning of the movie the the sort of dad says like there's a curse on this family that will remain forever and like we just have to live with it and deal with it i I feel like Spurs are basically the family in this movie.

9:33It's like whatever happens, it just gets exponentially worse and worse and worse. It's like, oh, Mawani's broken his jaw. Oh, no. Is he going to be back in a couple of weeks? No, we've had to remove his entire fucking head. Oh, right. This is the thing. Oh, Mawani's took a knock to the face. Oh, okay. Well, that's probably uncomfortable. Can't play. No, he's broken his jaw. What the fuck? just can i just say people um who don't want to be don't want iron claw to be spoiled turn the volume down now however let me just before actually before you do that if you're still here the don't watch it it's a fucking miserable experience the whole thing's miserable it starts miserably and the end's even more miserably and then and then it fucking ends so don't bother watching it however turn the volume down now you know there's you know three of the brothers died or committed suicide right i'm not gonna say traffic accident i think one geese lost his legs yeah um there's a couple of suicides yeah it's almost unbelievable yeah right there's so much death do you know how what they did there was another brother they didn't include in the film who also killed himself yeah and they were then it's too unbelievable but it actually fucking happened i i watched it and i don't know why but in my mind i thought it was based on like the Hart family so I was like I was going to end up with like the sort of Owen Hart character something's going to happen to him and then when it ended I was like oh okay it's really different I'll google it and then I read the real story and I was like this is absolutely mental this is mental and then that is like if someone was to know nothing about football and then they were just to explore Spurs injury record they'd be going there's no way you're gonna have like all these injuries there's no way this player's going to have a knock and then turn into basically having his fucking entire knee replaced like what it's it's almost unrealistic our injury list it's mental um sorry talking about the uh the injury list i was um i was doing something and then out the corner of my eye a little whatsapp message came along and it was uh from the football london broadcast messaging Ali Gold has dropped something I was like hello and in bold Spurs v Arsenal boost I was like right fucking hell better get on this and then the and then the kind of subheader Thomas Frank can unleash Tottenham's forgotten man at perfect time against Arsenal I was like fucking hell who is that come on yeah clicked on it and it's slanky I was like he ain't fucking gonna play I ain't even seen him on grass yet what the fuck not on the grass again I think he's been on grass but mate I said Solanke as a joke because obviously it couldn't be him I was thinking who could it be and they reckon it's Solanke yeah he might do he might do he might do he might do did you see the UK billionaire Joe Lewis our owner sort of owner he received pardon from President Trump so I think that's I don't know is that good I'm not sure it's never ticking the box excited no one ticking the box for trump he's you know he's ending wars and looking after solemn hotspur mate he's all right by me son um yeah and uh you know i don't agree with what john says so please don't stop listening to this if you're you know anyway i don't know why i brought it up i don't have a bad idea uh final thing before we move on to the questions fabio paratici has said i blindly believe in director coach relationship you as a director must almost cancel your football ideas to marry those as a coach you have my football ideas today are that of Thomas Frank.

13:08I remember some talk about him being quite defensive-minded in his philosophy of football, which is not strange given the fact that he's Italian and his age. But I think Thomas Frank would align quite neatly with Perattici. But it also gave me pause for thought because I remember when Joe, what was his name, Langer, spoke to Dan Kilpatrick for, he gave his only interview pretty much for The Standard. And he said, I know the philosophy has been set by the club and the manager, Posta Coglu, is a current sort of incumbent and will play out that philosophy, but it won't change depending on the coach, which obviously if they abandon that completely or he's a fucking liar.

13:54Probably not. I don't know. Who's it? What's it? I've forgotten his name. West Ham manager. Nuno. Yeah. Apparently, Paratici was behind the Nuno managerial signing and showed Levy all the clips of when he managed at Valencia, the more attacking side, to convince him that Nuno was the guy to bring. So... I don't know. Daniel Levy was convinced. That was all it took? Yeah. Clips of when he managed Valencia? Yeah, apparently. Doesn't sound right, Rick. Well, it's out there. Do you remember the interview with Conte he gave when he was talking to Daniel Levy? I think it was in, it might have been in order or nothing.

14:37I don't know what it was. No, it wouldn't have been that. And he went, yeah, no one would play aggressive front foot football, you know, attractive football, attacking. And then he got here and he thought, we can't do that. They're all shit. Let's play defensive. We've got Son and Kane. We'll do it this way. No, you know, he managed Valencia. I think it was Valencia yeah he was at Valencia before he came to the Prem before he was at Wolves oh yeah so he was yeah there you go I'm just asking I'm doubting you

15:15alright let's do some questions shall we seamless podcasting I've clicked on the wrong button and now I've got them now I've got them now I've got them okay BN a Yid said last week you started to tell a story about that time you worked with Ty from AFTV and what he was like to work with, but you got distracted from finishing it. So what was he like to work with? What do you think? I don't... Do you want to get that, John? It's not me, mate. It's me. It's not me. Fucking apologise. Apologise, Ricky. No. Who was it? Who's ringing? I'm going to get my missus to ring me back again just so... Take the call, Rick.

15:53Go and speak to her. It might be important. She might have crashed a car or something. so what do you think what do you can you imagine it would be like working with ty from af tv a fucking horrendous uh you can go and watch it actually it's fine you can find it it's on sport bible or lad bible one of them to agree to disagree and it was just like it was like debating with a fucking toddler uh and you look at him you're like you're 50 you're probably nearly He's 60 years old and he's still getting involved in arguments with other fans and whatnot. So you can guess what it was like. It was a bloody nightmare.

16:31It was like the longest hour of my fucking life. It's a bloody nightmare. It was a bloody nightmare. Mate, you can't play chess against a pigeon. That's what it is, right? You're there going. You can't play chess against a pigeon. Yeah. Is that insane? I like it. Yeah, think about it. Right, you sit down. All the pieces are there. And you're like, right, I'm going to make your first move. and he just fucking pecks everything, smashes it over. And you're like, well, I can't win because all the bits are everywhere. It's shitting on the board. It's picking up pieces. You can't play chess against a pigeon.

17:03That's what it's like. There is no rhyme or reason. There is no method. There's no logic. There's no strategy. You'll never be able to have a reasonable conversation with him because he's fucking mental. Easily the worst person I've had to deal with in this space. Yeah. You know, others depend on their football club. you know it can be a challenge but yeah him and dt easily the two worst people i've had to work with oh god that's a nightmare i don't end you doing that shit yeah fuck that it's hard enough like working with us lot let alone with those pricks yeah for sure uh john howick says would you take son back on loan in january just for the vibes it would probably only be six to eight weeks but it would give us more options of a little downside he says what do you think about that rick uh personally i would not take him because i don't want him to come back and we put him on the left wing and he performs the way that he you know where that drop-off was and if there's even more of a drop-off that we start groaning and like oh this is why we got rid of i don't want him to tarnish his legacy like he's a fucking god for me and so and i'm quite happy with the way it ended him lifting a trophy and having his farewell he is welcome back anytime i'll give up my seat like you just sit next to my dad like if if you want to come back every game do that but um i do not want him to come back in the um the winter transfer window imagine he um rick imagine he did take your seat it's just um your dad and sonny down enjoy caf i was about to say that he drags him to enjoy cafe what a day out it's only he's got he's got to go to mk meet him at the train station start the whole day what time will you be at enjoy cafe when on uh the next time's first play at home rick so three o 'clock what time do you arrive about 12 yes exactly that yeah be 12 so if you want to meet ricky while he's eating breakfast oh fuck off mate for sitting with his dad you're a cock also we can we can we can brand this you know like for celebrities when they do like comic-con or whatever they have a meet and greet this is an eat and greet i'm gonna have your breakfast meet ricky there's nothing to do as well as like when you're having a you know you're trying to eat your dinner and then um or your lunch or whatever and then you're having to field questions about whether or not you should bring son back to a ton um yeah so yeah he does frequent that i won't be there at 12 i'm gonna have to change my plans now brilliant uh have you got your picture up on the wall right you know like in new york they have like pictures of celebrities famous people yeah patrons you should just walk in with a signed picture and go yeah if you want to put this up lads just put it up by myself don't even ask just fucking banging down in the wall rick has a pile of signatures that he just when people come over he just pushes the signature over about saying it works it's a stack of pictures it's like a picture in a gold pen just having his breakfast and in between mouthfuls of his sausage he's like yeah mate just signs it off slides it across who am i making out to darren yeah there you go ricky's uh ricky's right about son though isn't he he's just it's yeah there's no word i think we caught up in the idea what son was it was the right time for him to leave so it's good and he seems to be enjoying himself looks very happy playing football at that level which is fine it's absolutely fine Quiz Dave says have your listeners stats changed much now everyone uses a VPN does a listeners location affect ad revenue no real change the only thing that changes whether people listen to it is whether spurs are any good or winning games and everyone feels happy um uh so no the stats haven't changed yes if you say if you listen to a podcast and you vpn say somewhere in africa uh please don't do this but yeah so you used lagos in nigeria that is right isn't it yeah yeah um the ad revenue in there in that area of the world is much much less than it is here and for obvious reasons right so that the your audience is gauged by how likely they are to be able to spend money and so yes if someone's using an african a vpn to access the content via an african country for some reason then that would affect our revenue but it doesn't i don't think i don't think anyone would do that why they would do that i have no idea um mark hudson says should richarlison be reported to the police for robbing a football career from someone else.

21:52That's a bit harsh, isn't it? I feel bad. Now everyone's turned on him in a big way. I think he knows it as well. I feel a little bit bad. Is there an redemption arc, John? Is there? The thing is, look, he is kind of what he is, right? His actual assists and goal numbers, they're actually pretty decent. Isn't his shots, his goals per shots is pretty high as well? Yeah, and his goals per minute and all this. It's actually pretty decent. but this is the thing about stats and data, right? It's like they don't always tell the full story of how that contributes to the game and the team. And yeah, he's like, he can't hold up the ball.

22:30It bounces off him. He makes like bad decisions. He just doesn't like mad stuff. And that has a detrimental effect. So it's one of them things. Will there be a redemption? Like game to game, like, yeah, he'll score a goal in a game where we really need him to. And we'll all go, oh, brilliant. Maybe he's the answer, right? Like we did in other times throughout the last couple of years when he's played. And then he'll get injured for ages, and then we'll be like, oh, fuck him, we can't rely on him. He's shit. Then he'll come back, and he'll score a goal, and he'll go on a little run, and we'll be like, oh, maybe we can make do, and then he'll be shit again, and we'll all go, oh, actually, he's rubbish.

23:00That is the cycle. Like, he's not getting any better. He's 28, is he? 28, 29? 28. This isn't a 21. It's not Tell, right? Like, with Tell, he's had a couple of games recently that have been decent, and you go, okay, there's more to come from him, right? So in my opinion, you should get a lot more grace. But Richarlison's supposed to be like the guy. We spent, was it 60 million on it? Or like 50 million? Like a fuck ton of money. And I know the modern era, like prices are inflated. But even if you scale that back to any era, you're expecting results for that. And he's not quite matched what we were hoping for.

23:34So I've got no hatred towards the guy. He's not my type of footballer. And there's a lot to like about him as a person. but I'm like, we just need to move him on. Like, we've got to get him out of the club. Yeah, if you had to send another player with him. Rick? John? Yeah, go on, Rick. You say. Just one. They can go just like that. Like that's like Thanos. They're just gone. I feel bad saying it because... Don't feel bad. Say it with your chest. If you believe it to be true, double down. Say it, Rick. I'm probably going to say Brennan Johnson. Yeah. I'm probably going to say like... Hang on a minute.

24:15Sorry. He won us the Europa League. The team did. He scored a goal. He scored the winning goal. Did he score it? I'm still not sure it even went in. You watch it and you're like, was there a goal? Did everyone just celebrate it? And the ref went, well, that must be a goal. There is no angle where you see that ball go in the net, I don't think.

24:37When you was in the ground, Ricky, and it went in, you weren't celebrating because you saw the ball go in. you celebrated because everyone else celebrated be honest no i saw the save but then you see um anana kind of fall back into the net like clawing behind him almost and and then obviously the crowd noise and you're like it was mainly the crowd yeah it was mainly the crowd yeah i was well i would i it took me about 10 seconds to start celebrating at the social just i was like didn't go in like why is everyone going mental pretty much the balls anyway um you are you you saying glennon bonson yeah like i was i was a hater early doors with brennan i remember we had a social uh it was arsenal game and it was like one of his first games for us and i just i said to to drugs nick i was like he absolutely reeks of setting on i was like that's what he reminds me of like scared little boy lost in the headlights now look he's gone on and scored actually quite a lot of goals for us and he's actually done a lot better than I thought he would that being said he isn't what we need and there's so many limitations and it's a bit like Richarlison right they're quite similar in terms of like the category of issue that we've got which is they do enough where you go like they're all right actually like maybe this will work and Johnson particularly will pop up with goals and I know goals are so important, it's the end result of football, that's why it's so valuable but he does he actually costs us a lot in terms of like the way that we can play because he's just so limited, like he's so limited and it's actually really quite mad that he's so limited considering his attributes and what he should be able to do so yeah he's another one we've got to be more ruthless like we have to be more ruthless we we as a club I think tend to hold on to players way too long and I don't I don't like using them as an example but the scum in this sort of Arteta era have been fucking ruthless with moving players on like they just they don't think they're good enough they just get them out the club and move on even if they've done all right because they realize that there's a space in the squad and a finite amount of wages that you can you can spend and if they're not going to be part of the bigger picture i guess the issue that we've had is we haven't had a manager long enough to like make more strategic decisions about what we do and i think that whether it's you know like the thought process around frank i know some people aren't sure but we do at some point have to give someone enough time to start thinking strategically and again arteta is a kind of a good example right because there's always this argument of like yeah you do need to stick with someone but not the wrong person it's like yeah but that's a chicken and egg scenario because you don't necessarily know if they're the right person if you don't stick with them long enough to find out and they had a couple of shit seasons under our tear but they were able to look longer term and build strategically a squad that is now competing i think at some point we have to do that and so players like johnson richarlison there are others in the squad we have to move them on we have to be ruthless and start up inequality imagine buying your kid a toy only to find the batteries aren't included or buying furniture but missing the tools to build it.

27:53Frustrating, right? Now imagine the exact same feeling, but you're paying way more. That is what buying business software usually feels like. Fragmented, disconnected, and incredibly expensive. Odoo completely changes that. Odoo is a complete, fully integrated business suite where all your apps actually talk to each other. We're talking automated lead routing for your sales team, seamless AI integration, and intuitive point-and-click website builder. It's everything your business needs to scale, saving you time, headaches, and money. Stop piecing your software together. Go to odoo.com. That's O-D-O-O dot com to learn more.

28:35Heat up your 4th of July at the Home Depot with our wide variety of grills under$300 and make every gathering one to remember. Give your outdoor space a glow-up. Whatever your budget is, the savings on seasonal plants starting at$5. With the grill fired up and your backyard set to perfection, you'll be able to invite friends and family over to kick off the party. Start celebrating with low prices guaranteed at The Home Depot. Prices may vary by store. Exclusions apply. See homedepo.com slash price match for details. So good, so good, so good. New summer arrivals are at Nordstrom Rack stores now.

29:11Get ready to save big with up to 60 % off brands like Rag & Bone, Levi's, Adidas and Free People. Join the Nordiclub to unlock exclusive discounts, shop new arrivals first and more. Plus, buy online and pick up at your favorite rack store for free. Great brands, great prices. That's why you rack. I think given the amount of numbers that have come through the door, that definitely will be a part of it. Especially, you know, given the fact that PSR is a massive thing. we paid off the vast majority of of Richardson transfer because it was amortised over 5 years his 5 year contract, 10 million pound a year 50 million pound in total so it would be down to 40 million so essentially if we were to sell him for 50 we won't get that but if we were to sell him to 50 that would be like plus 40 million in the balance sheet or the PSR balance sheet, not in real terms obviously I think what we'll say about Johnson not that I'm like going back on what I said but like on that right hand side if you've got Kudus and you've got Kulisiewski like Johnson should be like third choice competing I think we I think you really see kind of um when he's had a run of games and he's playing there for 90 minutes you can really tell where we're lacking and how we're unable to sustain attacks over that side drag defenders out.

30:39They're just not as worried about Johnson and yet he does contribute by scoring goals. But you need to, it sounds weird saying you need to contribute more to the team than just score goals. But I think he's a useful squad player because he brings something different. But starting in our 11 on that side is just a no for me. I feel mean. Why do I feel so mean saying this? He's a nice guy. Yeah. He's a nice guy. He's done these nice goals. This is the thing. What are the most important metrics? No, what is the most important statistic in a game or across a season for an individual player? It's for attacking players, how many goals and assists they've got.

31:31And the irony here is that you'd rather have Kudus and he's only scored one goal for Spurs thus far this season. do you know what I mean? Like Kudus is not going to put up the same numbers as Johnson, you don't think, because he's a different style of player, but you pick him over Johnson. I know what you're saying. I think Johnson is the correct answer or Basuma, but yeah, I think when Kulishevsky is fit and Kudus is fit, that there won't be a great deal of room for Brendan Johnson. You think about the forward line that Frank had at Brentford, different variations of it. It would be Ivan, Tony, Oli Watkins, Vissar, Bwema on the right, and Charder has just been called up to the German squad on the left.

32:10You know, that's an attacking team, attacking system that was born in his image and Cochrane's image. And it took him time to get there. Like no one even had even heard of Visser before. Imagine if we'd signed Visser before Brentford did. We were like, what the fuck is this, geezer? And now we're like, maybe we should buy Visser at the end of his Brentford career. So he's just gone for big money for Newcastle. So, yeah.

32:38Santiman says which of the current long term injuries would you most and least like to have and Burger Destroyer 7 says Koto Takai evaporated off this plane of existence so that sounds like it might be kind of fun to try it's like it doesn't exist that man do you know what until you just said it I we could have been here all night listing our squad and I never would have mentioned his name I completely forgot he existed like genuinely when you started saying his name I was like what the fuck are you on about and then I was like oh yeah what has happened to him do we know what's his official injury because he doesn't say on like Opta like vanished off this like I think it's a little foot dog innit evaporated little foot injury no doubt playing consistently for Kawasaki yeah of course he was he never had an injury in his whole career yeah so like I was talking to a Bournemouth lad on another podcast I do called Football Between the lines and he said it's bizarre to him that Solanke was like you nailed you would now it was nailed on that Solanke was starting like you wouldn't even consider him as an injury risk when he was at Bournemouth and he comes here and he's just like not even got started a couple of months he spent 65 million pound it's like the other thing is like you know you look at what other clubs are doing and they're succeeding and they're doing well and you know and then you look at the challenges that Posta Coglu and now Frank has had it's hard to legislate for this stuff it really is a forward line that started against Man United was Richarlison Mouani and Brendan Johnson I don't think they played a minute together as a three so yeah everything's fine Frank's everything's fine Rarad277 says not much of a question but just to let you know that every time I hear Brennan Johnson's name, I think of when Flav called him Glennon Bonson by mistake, and it still makes me laugh.

34:41Yeah, it makes me laugh. This was well over a year ago, but it has jarred wood itself into my brain. Is that a word? J-A-R-D-W-O-R-E-D. I've never heard it. It doesn't mean it's not a word. That ain't a word. Him floundering. It's me saying that. him floundering with it the ex the exasperation in his voice the fact it was somehow a spoonerism of bj's name as well as a mash-up with glenn johnson all at the same time just so good and it makes me smile two or three times a week still glennon bonson there was also rick there wasn't there was a there's a guy who it might be this guy i don't know and he because glennon bonson sounds a bit like a detective's name.

35:31And every time Brennan Johnson would score, he would create this sort of like book or mock-up. It's a book. If he had scored and we'd beaten Brighton, he would like, Glennon Bonson, the Slayer of Seagulls. Something like that. He still does it. He posts it on Blue Sky. Does he? Yeah. What, still? Yeah. Yeah, wasn't it? I think I found it. Is Chris Campbell? Is that who sent the question in? If it isn't... It just says rare ads on this one. Okay, big up Chris Campbell for putting those covers together because they always fucking crack me up. Anytime he scores, he'll just at me with a new cover.

36:09It's well fun. While it's all fun and games for you lot and you enjoy it and rare ad lasts two or three times a week, for me, it's just... It holds up a mirror of what a fuck we are going to be at times. um big ang boster koglu says who do you think is the worst and best smelling player in the squad vandervent hands down well snuffle says worse is probably frank yeah like old spice old spice uh right okay this is good wise improvement says rank the top five players in our squad in order so who's number one all fit best player in our squad is probably Romero yeah right it's like that's who I thought first of all he's like a world class centre back he's a world class centre back isn't he Romero in his position he'd be in the top five in the world is that fair five top ten at least probably top five so he's got to be okay Flav I was listening to oh god his podcast was I was like, listen to so many fucking Tottenham podcasts.

37:21I don't know who says what anymore. Just mould into one. I was listening to one. Maybe it's Rule the Roost that you're on. I think it's Romero when we had the day before the Europa and normally you'd see players joking around and playing table tennis and stuff like that. And he was like, we're not here. This isn't a holiday. We're here to fucking win. So everyone dial in and focus and everyone be serious. and when I heard that I was like fucking oh god blood rush to places I tell you yeah I still didn't I still didn't put him in my best Premier League Spurs lineup but he was close he was close would you put King in we had the back four I put Jan as left back because I wanted to squeeze I wanted to squeeze King that's cheating you haven't played left back for Spurs I know what you're going to say John because I know what you're about right I've spent enough time with you right but you can't bend the rules.

38:17It's like my brother Adam, right? He would play, when we used to play Pro Evo, he would put Roberto Carlos up front. Yeah. You can't. You can't do that. Like, it's against the rules. He isn't a striker. Yeah, what you're forgetting, Flav, what you're forgetting, mate, is that the Glennon Bonson version of that, Pro Evo, if you remember, it wasn't Roberto Carlos. It was Roberto Larkos. And Roberto Larkos, despite being a left-back, Like, what's the best striker in the world? So we would play and he would play, you'd be Real Madrid. And you might be listening to this ad. So if you are, I still think you're a cheating fucker for this.

38:57But we would be Tottenham. He would choose Real Madrid. And then he'd go, all right, I'm putting, you see them doing their first 11 and suddenly Roberto Collins' name would click up and then suddenly he's up top. And you're like, Adam, you can't do that. And he would just go, good management. Good management. That's good management. I'm with him what do you want from me he's good management and he would he would get the ball he'd fucking hit square and the fucking ball would fly into the net and you're like you can't do this Adam what he's good manager you can't blame me for being a good manager Adam if you're listening mate I'm with you 100 % Larkos up front was an absolute boss look think about the think about the modern game mate Vertonghen a left back is what would actually happen in today's football right it'd just be a centre back who can play left back really well that's what he'd be there and then it was basically King and Toby because I wanted Toby and Jan because I still think that's the best partnership but you can't not have Ledley-King.

39:51So Romero was a close addition but he didn't make it. So you'd have Jan and Adler-Werrod over Van der Ven and Romero? Yeah, 100%. I'd have them over King and Dawson not because... Oh yeah, yeah. But the best defensive unit we ever had was Danny Rose Vertonghen, Alder Vareld and Walker. That was fucking mustard. That was so good. Arguably the best backline in the league and one of the best in Europe. And yet Jan and Toby, and Toby doesn't get the same, I don't think, wider appreciation as Jan does, which I think is weird. And I think it's because he's basically just like, he was just a very unassuming, silent, quiet, just went about his business.

40:36Obviously he was Lord of the Pings, which is like, you know, he had that little bit of extra sauce that people like to sprinkle on top. And as I've said many times before, I always find it difficult to put in current players over players who've had their whole career. If you had suddenly had now a player, like say Kudus just scored 30 goals now, people still go, is he better than Son? No, fucking course he's not. What are you talking about? Even if he suddenly was going around a player every week, teeing it up and smashing volleys in from 40 yards every goal, I'm like, well, yeah, but next season he could be fucking shit.

41:08So I'm not going to start doing it. Toby and Jan consistently for a consistent period of time were mustard. So I had to get him in. We were mustard then as well. We were mustard then. But right now, Romero is fucking quality. And he's got to be number one. I don't hate it. Romero number one. For me, Madison number two. Yeah, I would probably. Yeah, I'd probably. I'd agree. Yes, I am going to go Madison number two. Yeah, I'd agree as well. When everyone's fit, when he's firing, we are so much better with Maddison in the team. Again, he's almost the opposite of what everyone always says, which is when players are injured, they get better.