THE LAB| Why Spurs Fans Will Love Gallagher

0:00This podcast is part of the Sports Social Podcast Network. When Conor Gallagher joined Atletico Madrid, the move made a lot of sense on paper. High energy, aggressive, midfielder arriving to play under Diego Simeone felt like a natural fit. Early on, that seemed to be borne out. Gallagher was praised in the Spanish press for his work rate, intensity and ability to give Atletico lungs in midfield. And Simeone spoke positively about his willingness to adapt and compete. He made an immediate impression, scoring in La Liga and the Champions League, and quickly became popular with his supporters. But as the season wore on, his role subtly changed.

0:37While he remained trusted as a squad option, his minutes dropped compared to the previous year. Atletico's midfield became increasingly structured around players with very specific positional roles, and Gallagher was often used as a high-energy option rather than a guaranteed starter. Importantly, there was no sense of a fallout. Reports in Spain consistently suggested that Gallagher was well-liked by teammates and staff, but frustrated by the lack of consistent starts. Financial context also matters. Atletico have ongoing budget pressures, and selling Gallagher while his value remained high made sense from a squad management perspective, especially given the depth they have in midfield.

1:13From Gallagher's side, the feeling seems to be that he proved that he can perform at the elite level, but wanted rhythm and responsibility rather than rotation. His time in Spain added tactical discipline and Champions League experience to an already strong CV, even if it didn't end with him being a now-doubt starter at Atletico Madrid. And now, Gallagher signs to join Tottenham for a deal worth£34.5 million. And this episode of Lab is about what we can expect from the Englishman.

1:50Hello and welcome back to The Lab. Joined once again by Harry Brooks, football coach and now content creator. I don't like that. Don't say that. Well, look, if you're interested in football and coaching and becoming a better player or wanting to understand the game in a different way from a coach's mindset, then you can join Harry's Patreon, which does deep dives into particular, well, all kinds of things, really. But the piece that I saw was what we covered in the last episode, which was, fuck, remind me, what was it? Shit, sorry, Harry. Buscovich. Buscovich, of course it was, of course it was.

2:26I know, it just left my mind for a second. Which was fascinating, it was really interesting. But before we get into Conor Gallagher and what he might bring to Spurs, and why you, well, I don't know whether you think it is a good signing or not, but it'd be interesting to find out. Do you see, we might be getting money for Vélez. He's going to go back to, he's going to go back to Brazil and we're going to get 10 million euros for him. Wow. Okay. I'm amazed. I'll be honest, like, you know, I forgot he existed. He's been in Brazil. Yeah. But, I was, I did another podcast with Tim Vickery, which is a delight.

3:03Oh, wow. That's a good one, yeah. He was talking about the left-back, Sousa. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Actually, I asked my colleague about him, the Brazilian one. Of course, you've got a colleague over there, haven't you? Yeah, I asked him about him. Is he good? He says, oh, no, yeah, he's terrific. And he doesn't speak lightly. He said he's the best. What did he say exactly? Hang on. I'll get you up for exactly what he said. I think he said he was the best one out of that current Santos year, the 06s or 07s. Right, right. The 2000s. Yeah. very good mate the best of Santos generation 2006 and they have another left back that is 2007 that I think is even better so oh well there you go sorry Spurs fans well still still and yeah he I mean the reason why I bring Tim Vickery up is because he when we signed Valise said he's miles off it he's miles and miles and miles away from where he needs to be nowhere near Prem ready yeah and he got a lot of grief from Spurs fans because that isn't what we want to hear when we buy a player is it fans want to be excited about the new South American coming and signing.

4:06of course. Yeah. So I was kind of alarmed at the fact that we'd spent so long scouting this guy and then decided to, and then he turned up and you're like, Oh God, he's rubbish. And he is, I mean, he's just not at the level. Um, so rubbish is unfair. There's probably not in keeping with the tone of this podcast, but just not where he needed to be. It certainly wasn't worth the money we paid for him, but he, he talks, he spoke very highly of, of, uh, Jal Sosa and, um, and reckons he could definitely play in the Premier League. now, whether or not he'll be able to compete consistently. Generally speaking, I think you've got to look at every player in isolation, obviously.

4:42But if you're talking about cultures to sign players from, I think, you know, Ligue 1 in France is often a pretty, not a safe bet, but the French youngsters because of how they're brought up and their culture. And another one is the South Americans. These guys are killers. They break into first team early, regular. you know so no I'm looking forward to seeing how he does yeah I am yeah he looks good yeah and obviously there's a culture now is to go to South America and buy these players and bring them over very young look at Esteval at Chelsea but you know even Villez is an example of where it happened it's consistent from South America where it's just the culture now you get enough the money's sorry the opportunity to sign these players is available there doesn't seem to be a great deal of resistance Santos are in deep financial issues.

5:31They're in trouble with relegation. And one of the things he talks about on the pod was the fact that like obviously he's walking into a football club that's a little bit in disarray, right? The mood around it is not great. And he said that will pan into insignificance compared to what he's gone through at Santos this season. Hooligans turning up at the training grounds and shit like that. Let's talk about Conor Gallagher then because when we signed him there was a There was a rumbling of discontent from some content creators, some TikTokers who are friends of the show. And I was a bit surprised, but respect their opinion, that while Conor Gallagher perhaps is a good player, you can't deny that.

6:13He's the former every club he's gone to, including Pochettino's Chelsea, which we need to speak about as well, has always been consistent. There was a worry that perhaps Gallagher isn't the right profile for what we actually need. My argument is that if the opportunity to sign a player as good as him arises, then perhaps you shouldn't turn your nose up. And I'm quite excited by it. How do you feel? I think he's a terrific player. He's actually, not that this matters, but he's the first player that I ever done a scout report on when I was working in professional football. So my first ever, he was like Chelsea under 15s.

6:49And he was terrific. Not that it matters at that age, but he's what I would describe as like a proper footballer in terms of like plug in and play. Put him in, he's going to perform, right? Now, he's the kind of player that a lot of coaches and managers dreams because, you know, it's so difficult to find consistency, even at the very, very highest levels, right? So even if you look at like the other day, right? Vinicius Junior, this is an elite footballer, right? He scored his first goal for Real Madrid in 16 games, excuse me it's so difficult to find players that you can trust as people and as players to put in and perform and do the job you want and you expect from them again and again and again and Gallagher has a history of that right it's not fashionable for a lot of people especially with the situation that Spurs are currently in he doesn't fix some glaring holes that Spurs have my issue with the signing isn't that my issue with the signing is from a coach's perspective in terms of you know you can't just well you I mean you can and that's the problem but I don't like that you can just keep signing and hoarding players and then when it's not working perfectly you just go and decide to sign the next one if there's a glaring hole in your squad and it massively improves it and you haven't got someone in the building that you can improve to get there or you don't think will be there in enough time fair enough bring a signing in.

8:21But you know, what does this do for Sartre? What does this do for Bergfeld? What does this do for Gray? You've already got Paulinho on loan there. So my issue isn't with Gallagher at all. I think he's a fabulous player. I think he automatically goes in and will be their most accomplished number eight, if you want to call him a number eight. And he'll improve the team. If it's all that happens in the midfield, I think a lot of Spurs fans would rightfully say that it probably doesn't fix the key issues that they have. But Gallagher himself is a top, top footballer, a really outstanding footballer.

8:56He could, he probably won't, but he could start for England and it wouldn't be an issue. You know, and that's a big, big thing to say. Yeah, I don't, I'm really comfortable with it. And you kind of look at the situation at Atletico Madrid. You were most, you know, people listen to this, you recorded a kind of preamble before the jingle to just talking about what happened at Madrid and why he wasn't necessarily why he fell out of favour to some degree although he didn't really fall out of favour just the competition in their midfield is yeah he got Koke he got Barrios there is Lorente in midfield you've also got Johnny Cordoso who we were we linked to who had an interest in and not to say that he's playing every week or he's been chosen over Gallagher it's just that there's competition for places there is an opportunity to maximise the amount of money they can get from him unless, you know, if he's playing bit part football for the next 12 months then his value decreases significantly.

9:56So what they're doing at Atletico Madrid is the right thing in that they're maximising their value for a player they would have been happy to keep but also a player that wants to be playing football and that's what we're going to get. It was interesting, the fact that he's chosen Spurs over Villa. Now, you'd argue in terms of your physique. I saw your tweet yesterday. It made me laugh. I couldn't. I couldn't. No, I saw your tweet, but I saw the replies to it. It was funny. It was. Yeah, they didn't like it. I knew they wouldn't. They're a very sensitive bunch, the Villa fans. but I've never I've got to say after the Villa game I've never I've never been messaged or added on Twitter as much by any fan base other than Villa honestly not even Arsenal when Arsenal beat us I don't even get I don't get much maybe two or three yeah I would say I got about 15 maybe 20 direct messages not DMs necessarily but at from Villa fans just giving it and a couple of DMs actually from Villa fans I know really like you know in terms of they have interactions with them online yeah so they and I'm like that was unsolicited I haven't said a bloody word about Villa so two days later he's turning Villa down to join Tottenham Hotspur and you know this is my turn to give you some back and so you've seen the responses on Twitter it's pretty good they went in for us but some of the things that they were saying were he would never have started for Villa he was only going to be bought as a backup and he's only gone to Spurs because we're willing to pay the money and you live in London the London thing I understand he's from London he's spent so many time in developing his career away from London, West Brom actually Palace was one of them as well to be fair Charlton wherever he's gone on loan and he's developing he really impressed didn't he as a youngster yeah Yeah.

12:00He's a plug and play player. Sorry, you were going to ask something. Well, like in terms of you scouted him when he was 15 and obviously we all sort of acknowledged his abilities as he grew into a man. But what is it about his play that's... Plug and play, do you mean he just can play anywhere? He can do whatever you ask him to do? In terms of like you put him in and you can trust him to do the job you want him to do, right? Or you expect of him that he's proven he would do. You know, you can't, you know, there's some fantastic footballers, but you might look at it and go, okay, are they going to adapt straight away?

12:35Are they going to, will they take time to get used to the league, to get whatever, you know? And of course, you can, when I say plug and play, there's never a guarantee, but you can be pretty confident with Gallagher that he is going to go in and perform, you know, and he's going to be reliable and things like that. But when I watched him for Chelsea, whatever youth age group it was, he was one of the four players I picked out. Like, okay, right, that's someone a bit different in terms of, not different in terms of, like, I haven't seen that before, but different in terms of you look at the other players on the pitch and this is someone that he's already behaving and playing like a high-level pro.

13:13Like the maturity, the decision-making, you know, he was the best player wherever he was played. So I think he started off as like more of a number six. then they put him as the number eight then he went to center back etc and he was just the best player you know in each of those roles and just clearly above the level he was playing at and in terms of what he does he's always been he's not a he's not a technically gorgeous footballer in terms of like he can do everything with a ball but he's much more he's better than people give him credit for on the ball right now i don't expect to see him excuse me consistently threading you know either needle passes through um you know wedging gorgeous passes that die at the right moment or you know variety and disguise kind of what we that kind of player we kind and that's the problem a lot of these spurs fans have right um but he's not someone that like you know will cost you on the ball at all.

14:15And you can give it to him and you can trust him. And listen, of course, anybody can find a clip of him getting a pass wrong, getting a touch wrong, whatever it might be. So he's not someone that is going to disguise these passes necessarily, but he's very functional on the ball. He's not going to cost you necessarily. And he's good on the ball in lots of certain things. So, for example, people look at good on the ball and they expect it to be like a Petri kind of player. But there's different versions of being good on the ball, right? So if that ball breaks to him in and around the box, the opposition box, he's very good at generating a variety and high quality shots on goal.

14:57That is work that gets done on the ball. And that's a pretty important thing to be good at on the ball. You know, his first touch is secure. So, you know, I think the way Frank will probably use him is what we've seen before. I think Frank's probably going to use him as a high eight or a ten that triggers a press and runs beyond the lines. How he's kind of tried to use Bergvau, but Bergvau perhaps isn't a natural at it. Gallagher kind of is. Very similar to how Gallagher was utilised at Crystal Palace before. If I remember right, he would often be the one breaking ahead of the ball into the box, triggering the press.

15:35He's outstanding at those things, causing chaos. it's not going to be the one that necessarily feeds the ball through the lines and and there's the one that you know passes to that man but that's how I think Gallagher will probably be utilized yeah in terms of his style of play I kind of see him as a kind of Lampard in this you can see that he modeled or studied Lampard a lot I'm not saying he's not he's not Frank Lampard obviously but in terms of arriving at the right time late into the box you see him sort of goals for Atleti like that, goals for Chelsea under Pochettino like that. And it will be interesting and I want to talk about this shortly, but you know, that what you've got to remember is when Chelsea sold him and the reasons why they sold him were really nothing to do with his attributes, nothing to do with his abilities of a footballer.

16:23It was purely about generating income from homegrown player. And remember, they sold him as captain. He was captain of Chelsea. For good reason as well, to Atletico Madrid. And we were obviously interested at the same time. And it was interesting because he would, it kind of feels like the player that Big Ange actually wanted, but never kind of got. And now the irony is 18 months later, it's not even 18 months later, six months later, he's arriving again. So it was interesting what you were saying there in terms of where he would play. He's, if Paulini is definitely going to play now, he's going to start, it'll be his position now, given the injuries.

17:03he's come in it's the even when Spurs have a fully fit midfield I still think Gallagher walks into it I think he's Gallagher's Gallagher's gonna pretty much be a nailed on starter I think is how they're gonna use him yeah and it'd be interesting like so if Frank does stick around and we think he will till the end of the season at least unless things go really continue to go really bad but I think there's there is some sort of perhaps misguided but at least confidence that he'll be able to turn this around there have been moments in games in recent in the recent weeks which suggests that perhaps we can do something we can shift the momentum in our favor um but the way he the options that gives him in midfield are plenty because um if he wants to play him in the 10 which he likes to do sometimes against certain certain teams he he can you've probably got a player that's more adapt at doing that than Bereval and and Sar and Gray or they've all been using a 10 this season Sar actually out of all of them probably looks the most comfortable and probably offers the most security I think he's the most I think Gallagher and Sar are the two most similar profiles currently in the team Right I think Gallagher's most similar to Sar out of the current ones I don't know what this does for Sar to be honest my gut feeling now is he's going to get sold in the summer or something look I mean I didn't I like Sarah as well a lot and I think we will get attached to these players because they're nice kids but we've got to get to a point where we've got to get ruthless and and I don't think necessarily we can be sympathetic to if there's an opportunity to upgrade any player and you feel you can't coach them into being a better one you kind of have to be ruthless and what we're seeing from Spurs this window is is a ruthlessness in in in in selling players in Brennan Johnson Valise is going to be sold there was another one that was being there was another player linked as a move away yeah that's that's that's what left my mind yeah yeah you're right but yeah so so perhaps you have to be less sympathetic and if there's there's options to that will upgrade it then so be it but you know there's also plenty of football to be played this season and injuries never seem to be far away from the issue at Tottenham well it's funny isn't it how Gallagher's never ever had an injury in his life apart from being ill for five days where he still didn't miss a game.

19:30So, welcome to Tottenham. We are cursed. If he gets injured, then Solanke, I mean, Solanke's back now, so hopefully we'll add something. It'll be good to see him on the pitch on Saturday against West Ham. But yeah, so he does offer a lot in that midfield. So you just think, you think Gallagher makes Spurs' stronger midfield if everyone's a bit? Yeah, yeah, yeah. You know, I think, Bergvau, Gray, Sar are all excellent talents and players in their own rights. If you're talking about right now who is at the top of their game, then you would probably say Gallagher is the one that's the... Is it a midfield of Paulina, Gallagher and Xavi then?

20:17Hello? Yeah, I'm here. I'm thinking. All right. Give me a bit. I wasn't looking on the screen. I thought you froze. No, no. I think we'll see different variations of it. Yeah. So, for example, I think what you'll see quite a lot is I think when Ndogi's back, I think, because he's going to be the one a lot of time that provides a width, I think you'll see Xavi as an inside left and then Galaga as a 10 and then two midfielders behind him. Obviously, if they sign a player that likes to pass him all through the lines, then Galaga might be pushed forward a lot. So, I think there'll be variations of it.

20:51you'll probably see the Pelina and Gallagher pivot a fair bit as well yeah I was listening to Glasner talk the other day and he was talking about people who ask him why he isn't shifting his formation because they're currently going through the mill a little bit Palace have got bad injuries, they've lost players to AFCON and so naturally the question always seems to be, which I'm sure you find irritating is change the system, the system isn't working and Glasner said he won the Europa League with a 4-3, 3-4-3 with Frankfurt. He got Wolfsburg into the Champions League with a 4-4-2 and the other team he managed he played with a 4-2-3-1 mostly.

21:37He said the formation isn't important, as important as you think. It's about players understanding their role, being committed to that and buying into what you're asking. It's more about a collectiveness, a connected collectiveness and a general understanding of what they're supposed to be doing on the pitch. Much more than being fixated about where people are on the pitch and how many defenders you have. Because he also said that when the ball is, you play one formation when you don't have the ball, you might play two different formations during the game when you do have the ball. and because of the fluidity of it there is never really stasis in terms of how unless you're in a low block and just trying to soak up pressure does that all resonate with you yep completely it's what i've always said i don't believe in it's a bit of a it's a bit of a um the way i've said it it probably sounds like a bit of a like a clickbait thing like i don't believe in formations i don't believe in positions it of course they exist but it's the it's the overall general point which is exactly what glasner's saying like you know people make far too much of a deal about that it is about who you've got on your on the pitch and the relationships and the things you ask them to do now people talk about 10 and that is the best example of actually the number 10 how actually positions and formations are just they're just it's not it's not a locked in thing because Gallagher Javi Dele Ericsson you got four there right all completely different types of 10 so what do you mean they're a 10 that's just alright you can talk about the zones they roughly operate in but then even then it's different because Ericsson would operate in a very different zone to what a Gallagher would do as the 10 so no I think most football managers would agree with that it's just the formation and the positions it's more like it's an easier reference point for people to have in their heads right i think that's why they given a lot of that's why they're used obviously there's a reference point but people take them too literally and they're not literal they can't be literal you know it's too rigid a way to look at football completely completely too rigid away it's very rare that you have teams and players are so completely locked into a formation and even then it's not completely locked in you know it's about who you've got and how you utilize them you know as i've said you know you can call jack grealish a left winger but if you get in just to go down on the outside and cross all the time and be touchline wide well then he's not playing his position is he because that's not the best his best role so it doesn't matter if he's technically a left winger on paper so you know um i are completely aligned with what glasner's saying and i think most managers do you know you know when you look at the europa league final that wasn't about a tactical approach if I mean other than just do not let this ball go in the net yeah win at all costs because we there was no shape in breaking out we didn't even sniff Manchester United's goal for an entire half it was an intentional almost symbiotic decision to just play this way we are going to make it absolutely impossible and everyone had to buy in you saw you know van de Ven's um Van der Ven, save off the line is the one moment you think about on that final.

24:59And even Van der Ven, another moment I always think about, sorry, because I was at the game and I was quite close to the touchline and what you're saying is spot on and I remember like it was maybe 10 minutes to go or whatever it was and Jed Spence was about to be called on to come on and he's warming up and Van der Ven is screaming at Jed on the, saying Jed, concentrate now, you can just see like, and Jed was like, yeah, it's fine, I've got it, don't worry, but like, You can see they were all so completely locked in completely, like get this fucking trophy home. Yeah. So while what we're saying, I guess, is this combined mentality that works out and, you know, there is a system, there is a plan in place for when the ball is in a particular zone and you have to be in relative right position.

25:51But it's much more sort of fluid than that. And just on that then, like you mentioned, will he be taking up that space as an eight? Do you think he'll be used as a 10 or do you think he's going to be mostly sitting next to Paulina? What I would imagine they'll utilise Gallagher for is I think that sometimes Spurs' aggressive press looks, not saying uncoordinated, but it doesn't look committed. and it always looks like the opposition have quite a bit of space to build out from or spare man quite often. I think what they'll usually utilise Gallagher for is to trigger, which he's probably a top five player in the world for, that front foot aggressive press.

26:40Because that's probably the bin. What makes a player good at doing that? They've got to be able to read the situation and know their distancing. So you can run all day long, but if your distancing is wrong, it doesn't matter. You won't get there in time. So Gallagher understands distancing very well. He's got the engine to do again and again and again and again. He doesn't, he's not a reactive, well, no, obviously he reacts, but he's a proactive presser. So he's not just going to wait for like a certain thing. He will be proactive and lead it and then make the opposition go, fucking hell shit, like we got to adapt it.

27:17and um so yeah you've got to have an engine you're gonna have desired discipline you're gonna be able to read the game understand angles distancing of like how you press because you know you could be an aggressive presser if you want but if your distancing's all wrong or your angles are wrong they're just going to bypass you easily um so yeah i think you'll be utilized for that and then obviously it'll be those ones where like they'll want them to be on the end of things and be causing chaos but making the most of chaos in and around the box get shots away things like that and then have the desire to recover, rerun, and get back in position if it breaks beyond those lines.

27:49He's a leader as well. Having another one of those on the pitch, you know, you've got Romero, you've got Van Avent. He's an infectious player. He's infectious because when you watch Gallagher press, as a teammate and as a momentum for the crowd, it's going to be very difficult to not be like, okay, fuck, let's go charge with him. Let's go and back him up. is that he is. He is a leader in that sense and that is a big, big thing. You know, it's not necessarily an attribute that you would like score on football manager. That kind of like momentum shifter and that kind of like, right, let's go together, boys.

28:23But no, he will do that a lot and he will instigate a lot of that and I think that's why a lot of managers would love having someone like him in their team. I was watching Manchester City last night. Did you see the game? Oh, yeah, I loved it. Yeah. Brilliant game of football. Brilliant, brilliant. Yeah, apart from that fucking the VAR I mean we can't talk about it I am so sick to death of it and yeah I don't know I just think it's fucking I I'm not I'm not gonna do it everyone knows how we feel about it it's the worst thing to happen to football so let's just leave it at that yeah let's leave it at that um but they're I was looking at their press and watching them press no one does it as good as them maybe Arsenal as well right but but Man City like when when you was talking about the person leading the press.

29:07It's not just, it won't, the people have to react to the person who sets the press, right? Yeah, it's a trigger. You have to, it's the trigger. What sets the trigger off? Yeah, and I think we had the problem under Ange and we've had it under Frankie is that they don't either trust it, they don't, they don't, they don't understand it or that chemistry isn't there at Spurs or maybe just the experience isn't there. You've got Haaland, you've got Silva, you've got, you know, Cherokee coming off the bench but you've got Doku who they've been drilled and drilled and drilled to trust and believe when Haaland triggers that press or Silva does it on the right we're all going with him and they make the pitch so small and I was watching I was like that is an impeccably trained team you look at Man City sometimes and you think you know it's Haaland that means that they're top of the league or challenging for the league or it's it's been able to continually cycle world-class players that is a part of it but all these players come in and they buy into what Guardiola for obvious reason because he commands such respect.

30:10But it was just like I've never been more interested in watching a team press than I was last night. And I compared that to what I see at Spurs sometimes and what I've seen in the last 24 months. And we're miles off that. And that's fine as well because most teams are miles off that. But having the right players, I think Solanke was good at triggering the press when he was fit with Gallagher behind him. And perhaps, you know, while, you know, if you're relying on Tell and Odebeer, perhaps some of their limitations may be their inexperience or their lack of game time with the other players that they can't, you know, do it as well as we saw Manchester City do.

30:50But I just wanted to bring that up and see what you thought because I just thought it was just insane how well they were pressing. I mean, that's really interesting to hear because obviously we all like take different things from the game. So like what I take from the game there is like, listen, you're completely right. But what I took from that game is just how relieved or how refreshing, I should say, is to see sort of magical technical footballers able to just play with each other and play, you know, individually as well. And, you know, something that, you know, you know, me, I've been yearning for, you know, individuality and freedom again for ages.

31:22And, you know, that goal last night, the second goal was just fabulous football. um you know just talented footballers being allowed to play and express themselves it's just it's kind of that's what we need to see from motorbearing you need to be given the belief and space to be able to just play yeah a lot of it is so that is that is a you can't coach creativity you can either enhance it or allow for it or kill it right um because creativity is an instinctual thing it's not something that because when you tell someone to do something automatically the creativity is gone because that's not what the player's not creating, right?

31:59So you have players instinctively have that way of thinking and doing things, right? So Shirky, that is a completely you'd have to work really hard to kill his creativity. He's incredible, isn't he? I love him. I love him. I adore him. I absolutely adore him. Bringing it back for Tottenham related, unfortunately, Spurs fans, but Ndombele, that's the most creative football I've ever seen for Tottenham. Yeah. Pure creation, right? in terms of the know-how to just make something happen that no one sees coming, right? That is creation, right? He's genius, really. Absolute genius. He is a genius, right?

32:35Also, when you get geniuses, some of the aspects of their output is... And it's a fine line. It is a fine line because it's all well and good saying we want the desire from you, but then Marvel makes them the, what do they call it? What's the face? Is it the flawed genius or something? Yeah, yeah. is that thing of you can't trust them all the time, right? Gallagher's the opposite of that. You can trust him, right, to do his job. He won't be a creative person necessarily, but, you know, he'll do the job. But it was just, yeah, so it's interesting how you say that. But in terms of going back to the pressing you're talking about, what I know is it's a hesitation quite a lot.

33:12And I think the best example is the Villa game, right? Because it was a tale of two halves, right? Like the way they pressed in the first half, the Villa game on Saturday, the way they pressed in the first half, it was off of it, right? And you can't do that against high-level teams, especially with a team like Villa that are so good at playing through the middle of you, which I love. And I want more of that. They're the only team I see consistently in the Premier League that will go through them and Man City now, obviously, that go through the middle of you, which I love. That's how they scored their first goal, didn't they?

33:39Right, yeah. The goal's over there. Let's go towards it, right? I don't get this obsession with always going out wide. Like, why are we trying to go further away from the goal? I don't get that. I get that obviously the idea is to work back towards the goal. But if we can go to the goal earlier, why would we not do it? Anyway, that's a whole other story. But then if you compare to how they first started the second half and the press, that was like what you would see from like, you know, full commitment. And then they'd done that against PSG on the front foot. And Gallagher, I think they would bring in Gallagher largely to have games and situations more like that.