Arsenal and Liverpool win in Europe as the Manchester derby awaits

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1:15Wednesday, Champions League. In Naples, it's Kevin at home and a lone goal for Arsenal while at Anfield, a McAllister sees off visitors with an improvised rocket. We round up the Wednesday action, the XGs, the OGs, the six goals for PSG. We hear about Chelsea and Leeds, nine-goal Carabao Cup banger, and we look ahead to the weekend, the Manchester Derby, Chelsea Hull, and so much more in this Totally Football Show. Thursday, the 10th of September, thank you so much for joining us on this Totally Football Show. Delighted to say that we're joined again by Duncan Alexander. Hello. Hi, Duncan. Also, Adrian Clark is back.

1:47Hello. Adrian, you were covering Arsenal. I was, yeah. That was a big game. Big game, yeah. And a man who was visiting Anfield, the ground, not the dog on... We don't know that. He might have brought Anfield along to Anfield, I think. What are we talking about? Daniel Story knows. Hey, Daniel. Hello. More of a cat man, if I'm honest. Yes. Well, famously. Remember you got angry with me saying I was going to get either two cats or one dog. You and Michael Cutt. I don't remember that, but it sounds very on brand. Okay, let's hold the Champions League chat. so what's the equation of two dogs is two two cats is one dog i was out with daniel and michael and i was saying i was about to get a dog okay and i said we were thinking of maybe getting two cats and to be fair it was michael more than daniel but became quite agitated by this ratio of like you know one dog is as important as two cats right which i think i think it's a perfectly fair ratio surely if you were going to get two of anything it would be dogs because they're social whereas cats tend to be quite independent you say that i've got three cats oh yeah yeah and with the reason we we went beyond the one and a half dog is the reason we went one but beyond the one is that we found out that our type of cat is lonely okay and did you name it after a ground that you scored loads of goals then actually the the oldest cat is named after jack wilshire um is it yeah why did you name your cat after jack wilshire i gave naming rights to to my son at the time my youngest youngest my oldest son rather and he went for he went for jack so there you know what are the other cats called um pearl and ives after saint ives which is a favorite destination for us yeah there you go no further questions your honor hey daniel you were at anfield and you weren't the only big name who was appearing there there was quite the kerfuffle in the press box i believe on account of your neighbor yeah so i put my bag down it's always busy when you get to anfield so There was one seat left and I realised my seat was next to the Andy Gray, who was returning after the dark forces had finally cleared years later to co-com's duty for TalkSport without his other slash better slash worse half, for which I think everybody present was pretty grateful.

4:03And it sounded like it went really well for Gray on TalkSport. They got what they wanted. Is that right, Adrian? They did get what they wanted, yeah. The iconic line, what a hit, son. for the McAllister goal. It was a great hit, wasn't it? It was a great hit. It was a great hit. Was there any off-mic stuff that you were able to hear there? No, no, there wasn't. I didn't have my voice recorder on that particular occasion. All right, just as well, eh? Well, lovely to hear him back and playing all the hits as well by the sound of it. All right. Oh, I had a little note here to have a moment of the Wednesday because there were some pretty special moments.

4:37Perhaps that's Daniel's. I don't know. We'll come back to him in a second. But Adrian, what was yours? I think it comes from the Barcelona game, which was it kicked things off nicely. Some great goals in that game, weren't there? Goodness me, high quality. But the moment for me was Rafinha's first goal where he's put through and then two defenders simultaneously slide in like two synchronised swimmers just in unison. and they just slide past said Rafinha, who does a lovely little dummy, and he sticks it in the wrong corner. It was beautifully choreographed. It was pure footballing art. And I understand that there's been some memes made of this already.

5:12Memes had been made involving canoes. Yeah, it was an extraordinary moment. I mean, that was going to be mine. So, yeah, I've been... Adrian's sent me flying across the room, sliding in a load of water. But, I mean, if we're going to go for people being fooled, then maybe Ronald Raho's back heel and Liverpool's equaliser was not equally delightful but still good. Yeah. Well, there were so many excitements, were there? 25 goals as well across the six games in the Champions League on Wednesday. Two more Premier League sides getting wins. Arsenal 1-0 at Napoli. Martin Udegaard with his fourth goal in five matches this season.

5:48Liverpool, meanwhile, coming from a goal down to beat Atletico 2-1 in the game that Daniel was at. Elsewhere, in the early matches, Barcelona put five past Feyenoord. It's the fourth time in five matches this season that the Catalans have scored. Five goals. Remarkable. Stuttgart early on, meanwhile, beating Viking Stavanger 3-1 with Irmoudin Demirovic with a 12-minute first-half hat-trick. Woof! The other evening games, PSG, then we know, they scored six goals against Slovan Bratislava, managed, of course, by Jaja Toure. Ferran Torres getting a hat-trick on his Champions League debut for his new side.

6:22And Sporting came from a goal down to beat Galatasaray 3-1. On Thursday, there are six more games, including Bayern Munich against Bodo Glimt and Manchester United against Saba. Or Saba, as it's pretty much mandatory to pronounce. Let's begin, though, with Daniel's excitement at Anfield. Liverpool 2, Atletico Madrid 1. Duncan, you watched this at home. Daniel saw it from the comfort of a, well, considerable excitement of a press box seat next to Andy Gray. as Andoni Uriola picked up his second straight win. Are things coming together then for his Liverpool? Daniel? I think there are two answers to that.

7:01First, tactically, I don't think so. The defence still looks weird. The full-backs, I can't work out. The midfield balance isn't quite there, although both central midfielders scored. And the front three is fairly impossible to pass because Rio Ngomou is playing on the left, which means Bradley Barclay is playing in his non-favour position, having arrived for 120 odd million which I can't quite fathom but that said in terms of spirit it's night and day so in the last 19 games of last season Liverpool didn't pick up a single draw or win having trailed in a match when they went behind they looked really passive and flat and weak and nobody looked like they were really fighting for on a slot and in three games this season they have trailed twice against Newcastle and drawn twice twice against Forrest and drawn and trailed here and won against a side that, let's remember, reached the Champions League semi-finals last season.

7:54So it's no mean feat. And I said about the Roars, Anfield, they did feel symbolic. You just didn't hear those last season. It felt like everybody was going through the motions a bit. And it felt a little bit like that before the game. It didn't feel like a big game. But as soon as Liverpool turned the game around, yes, there was a lot more feeling in it. And I suspect it is symbolic because of that. Well, so positives. Because Marcus Llorente, as you say, Atletico taking the lead, it was Marcus Llorente, owner of a dog called Anfield, has been widely discussed, including on the commentary, I think, on TNT.

8:26Yeah, Steven Gerrard said he was going to call his dog Goodison. It was a nice line, although I don't think his record at Goodison is maybe worthy of dog naming, but still. Call it what he wants. How many goals have you scored at Ives, Adrian? Plenty on the beach. Yeah. Oh, yeah, that's fair. All right. But anyway, yeah, so he scored and he's got a dog called Anfield because he scored five goals there against Liverpool in the Champions League. Yeah. Five. And in every other Champions League game he's ever played, which amounts to 54 other matches, five goals. So something magical about his trips to Anfield.

9:01Yeah. I mean, it's good. It's good that he's kind of, you know, signified it with a dog. Is that just a coincidence, Adrian? Or is there a reason why a player would score more at a particular ground? Not really. I mean, you do get a good feeling. Like, yeah, I had certain grounds where you thought, where you've scored before and you kind of look forward to going back there because you've got that sort of muscle memory. Is it a confidence thing? I think so, yeah. Everything you do in football is sort of based around confidence. It was a nice goal. It was sort of like a joint assist, I thought, from part Julian Alvarez, who played well and slotted the ball through nicely.

9:35The other part of the assist was obviously Kirkus. It was a terrible defender, not for the first time in recent weeks, months. it just doesn't look good enough for me. Kerkis, I think he needs replacing. And it's going to be difficult because Iriola is the one who got the best out of him at Bournemouth. Perhaps, yeah. I just don't know if he's... There's certain players just can't cut it when the pressure of playing for a big club is on their shoulders. That's what I see in him. I also think the fact that Bournemouth were able to then slot in someone else and he looks even better is a bit of a warning sign.

10:13Yeah, possibly, yeah. All right, well, you enjoyed that, Adrian. What about the response from Liverpool, Daniel? First of all, Dominic Slobbersly with the magnificent assist from Ronald Araujo, who's proving quite the revelation. Yeah, it was really interesting because the midfield is meant to effectively now be servicing a very attacking front four with Florent Verst staying high at the pitch, with that new front three or new-ish front three. And yet, Straubelsai was in the area plenty. Araujo, who's meant to be the defensive right back in comparison to Jeremy Frimpong, was playing the assist.

10:52Obviously, McAllister scored the second goal. Again, I thought that was really interesting. The Barkela thing I get in that you're saying, well, he's the best player, so if we haven't really got a right-sided forward, he's the one who will be able to work it out. I thought there were signs last night of how that's going to take time because Barkler missed three chances, all on his favoured right foot, but he's used to cutting in from the left and doing that kind of Thierry Henry, open up your body and curl it. For each of the chances he missed last night, he's having to go across his body. So it's completely, he just doesn't normally shoot that way at PSG because he's normally coming in from the other side.

11:30And it looked quite awkward for all three chances. He obviously missed the one-on-one by going to the keeper's left and putting it wide of the post. That I thought was really interesting. and Ngamou was really direct, which helped, but Izak was fairly anonymous. So it took those central midfielders pushing up to actually make the difference. I don't know if any of that is sustainable. I think we're just going to kind of have to find out on the job of what Liverpool are like. I think the idea, probably, going forwards, is to have Barker on the left and then Gakpo on the right, who has looked quite good on the right in recent weeks.

12:00Obviously, he was ruled out of this game. Yeah, it's definitely a work in progress. But I do think Irel has shown a really good ability, and he said this after the game, that Atletico set up in a way that they weren't expecting. And they tried to fix it during the first half, but he said we couldn't really properly fix it till half time. And it was quite an admission from him, but I think he's got the buy-in from the players and it was, yeah, it was incredible. Yeah, I think the balance that Daniel talks about isn't quite there because you've got really, you've got four attackers that are kind of really high up.

12:30So you would imagine you'd have a pivot of kind of more cautious players. but McAllister and Sobosak have both played a lot of their career as number 10s. You know, they're certainly box-to-box guys. So in effect, they have no hold in midfield unless Gravenberg plays. So I think it's something he will have to turn to in the end, Iriola. But at the moment, it's fun because, you know, they're going for it. Two wins out of two, their last two, and they've got Fulham at the weekend, which promises well because Fulham are having a bit of a rotten time under former Liverpool player Alvaro Arbeloa. Three defeats out of three for them.

13:04in the league was there something else you wanted to say duncan that's about alexis mccallis's wonderful strike with his wrong foot well yeah we should what a hit bracket son um yeah i mean it was particularly impressive because a it was with his weaker foot and b it came a day after he complained about not being a contract right it was a it was a nice moment timely yeah excellent right now that was one premier league side winning another one Arsenal were doing it down in Naples, although not for the first time this week. It took a while before they could have lift off, if you know what I mean, reference the transport issues, which may have played a part in their inability to find the back of the net despite an incredible, I mean, the stats, the level of their dominance is huge.

13:53They had the most shots on record of a Champions League match ever. Is that for an away team or for any side? It's like an away team. An away team. So they had 26 shots. Their XG was 4.05. Napoli's. It's very rare to see over four. Very rare. Napoli's was 0.22. Napoli only had one shot in the second half. Good Lord. Adrian and I were discussing this before we began. And I was just making the case that although that speaks to incredible dominance from Arsenal, they were the better team and that. and they eventually found the win over that incredible team move. Was it 29 passes? It was, yeah. 10 outfield players.

14:33And at the weekend, the goal from Havertz was the first and only Premier League goal this season where all 11 players touched it in a move as well. So, yeah, two memorable goals. Why would Nicola Drover do this? I mean, yeah. Artemis scored a set-piece yet. This is a dream start for Arteta in terms of shoving, the criticism down people's throats. So, yeah, I know what you're saying. Well, I haven't said it yet. So what I was going to say, we can come on to this in a second because what you're also talking about there, the dream start, it has a lot to do, I think, with Martin Odegaard. Yeah, I mean, Odegaard, I thought he was nine, nine and a half out of 10 against Chelsea.

15:18He was definitely nine and a half against Napoli. He was absolutely sumptuous. everything that he did was quality. I think he had the most touches of any Arsenal player. Most passes. Yeah, everything went through him. And so many of the passes were little threaded ones into the box, really clever. I mean, he's playing. And they were the passes that just weren't coming off last season. Yeah, and he maybe wasn't brave enough to play them last season because he wasn't feeling confident about his game. He would stop, go backwards and play it safe. And this season he's thinking, no, I'm going to try these things.

15:52and I think he's been man of the match in four of the five Arsenal games, if you include the Community Shield. He's been magnificent. And I thought it was a kind of nice touch that he did it on the pitch where Kevin De Bruyne was playing because it felt like a Kevin De Bruyne peak performance. Obviously a left-footed rather than right-footed player, but he's obviously been compared to De Bruyne a lot during his career. And De Bruyne was all right, but clearly not the man he once was. But Odegaard was just, yeah. He was next level. And look, I think the Napoli did hold a threat on the counter, but when you analyse the chances that Arsenal had, they really should have won this game 4-5-0.

16:32I think there's some massive misses. The shooting, if I'm giving Odegaard 9.5 out of 10 for his performance, Arsenal's shooting was 0.5 out of 10. It was that bad. They just left their shooting boots back in London. To be fair to Gokras, he didn't miss any shots. No, this is true. He didn't have any shots. obviously just a quick number on that napoli to counter this napoli clearly come out to defend and try and hit on the break yeah and nine tenths of that plan they followed pretty well they defended well they went on the break the finishing whether they have any shooting boots to then put on without scott mcdomeny whose absence i think was was huge and kevin de bruyne who had a very frustrating night and you could see i felt there was one time when he squared a ball that you felt he sort of shot but I think he he he was still thinking he was playing for a side that would have players crashing in on the box so someone was definitely going to put that away.

17:25Haaland would have been there wouldn't he? Yeah yeah and his look as he turned around and looked around at who he was playing with and kind of whether to be upset with them or just kind of go well here's this is where we are. It was quite telling wasn't it that look I did reference that look in in commentary as well because it because it was so telling but very quickly on on Jokeres um Erdegaard obviously He made a lot of passes. What I did find interesting was that he only passed to Jokeres once in the whole game. He passed three times to Kai Havers. And Kai was only on, I think, for about 15 minutes.

17:57So that in itself, is that partly victor in terms of his movement? Does it need to be better? Or is it a lack of trust on Martin Edgar's part? But he was passing to everyone else. Or is it the first salvo in a war between Norway and Sweden? We simply don't know. Yeah, it does speak to a chasm within the Arsenal dressing room. Definitely not crisis, sir. We're absolutely flying. A team riven by descent. It's sad to see that too. It happens to the champions a lot. It's a tough trip that awaits, another tough trip that awaits Arsenal this weekend as they head for an 8 o 'clock on Saturday night kickoff.

18:33I don't understand why games with two teams that distant should have this late. It's great for the fans, isn't it? I mean, they're going to love that journey home. So, 8 o 'clock on Saturday night, Arsenal are going to be at Sunderland, who not only have Granit Xhaka within their ranks, but also, I think I'm right in saying, the team that's conceded the fewest shots. Shots on target. Shots on target. Yeah, shots on target. Even fewer than Arsenal. Yeah, yeah, it's amazing. I think, see, it's three. Let me just point out, Arsenal only drew 2-2 at the Stadium of Light. One of the best games of last season.

19:05Was it? Yeah. Don't remind me, because... So Sunderland took the lead and then Arsenal fought back with Trossard putting them ahead and, you know, had obviously a lot of key goals last season. And it felt like a, you know, like Arsenal turned around at Newcastle and won the game. It was a big moment. But then 94th minute, physical Sunderland using their strength. Brian Broderby got the equaliser. And at the time it was seen as this huge wobble and, you know, Arsenal's mental and physical strength not there for the title challenge. So imagine this weekend there'll be a little bit calmer. Yeah, I remember the game well.

19:41Sunderland was super physical. They went long. So both their goals came from long balls, win the first header, and then it's scrappy. It was one of those nights. I think Arsenal will have learned from it. Yes, Sunderland have faced five shots on target in three matches, which is very, very impressive. Obviously, they haven't played, regardless, maybe top-tier opposition yet, the Black Cats. But that points towards a team that could make life difficult for Arsenal. They were very good, I thought, at Brentford. They were definitely the better team in that game. So it's a tricky one for Arsenal. But the way the team are playing at the moment, I think they wouldn't be worried about anything.

20:20Really? Okay. Well, we'll talk more about what awaits this weekend in the Premier League a little bit later on. Napoli, meanwhile, that's their third straight defeat in their three games in all competitions so far this season, having been beaten by Como in Naples, and then at the weekend, having been two goals up away to Inter. They lost 3-2 that game. So, yeah, not going too well for them. Como, incidentally, will be making their Champions League debut on Thursday night. Possibly it's already underway by the time you hear this, but that's a game that I think a lot of people are intrigued by. Yeah, yeah, Paz and Fabrica.

20:54I mean, I'm not having this Thursday Champions League fixtures. They don't feel right. And I'll tell you what else doesn't feel right. Oh, yeah? Arsenal with red shorts Okay Didn't like it Didn't like it No Looked like some sort of Bayern Munich knockoff Sam Well Not for me There are worse things to beat Other games took place on Wednesday We'll get on to those next

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21:57Valid through 916, while supplies last. Selection varies by location. See Lowe's.com for more details. Hi, I'm Jack Crivechi, Kramer, host of The Best One Yet. At T-Boy, we're always talking about small decisions that can have an outsized impact. One of the simplest is staying hydrated. Whether I'm traveling, getting a workout in, or heading into a busy day, I keep Liquid IV on hand. It's clinically demonstrated to hydrate faster than water alone and contains three times the electrolytes of the leading sports drink, plus eight vitamins and nutrients. It's an easy addition to your daily routine and helps support hydration when you need it most.

22:31Shop now at liquidiv.com. Liquid IV hydration that goes wherever life takes you. Wednesday's other game saw Barcelona get five goals and PSG scored six. Mittal it was against Slovan Bratislava. Foran Torres with a hat-trick on his Champions League debut. Also, Ousmane Dembele got two goals and two assists. So good stuff for a PSG team that hadn't won a game since that European Super Cup against Aston Villa and got beat at Hometen in Monaco at the weekend. And they currently residing seven points off the top of the table in Ligue 1. Barcelona, five goals against Feyenoord. Adrian, I know you want to talk about some of the stuff that went on here beyond that magnificent shapes to shoot and then dummies.

23:16Yeah, that was glorious. That was some great goals. Laminia Mar. He was on fire, wasn't he? trickery. Obviously, he scored a free kick. Mind you, it was one of the worst walls you'll see all season in the Champions League. It kind of went through the wall. But yeah, he was at his sort of impish best. Obviously, this was Rodri, his debut, alongside Pedri. Well, he played at the weekend as well. No, but as in Champions League, debut for Barcelona, alongside Pedri. And I think that axis has potential to be fairly strong in the middle of the park. And one sort of number that really stood out to me was Kabasi, the young defender.

23:51obviously he's class. We saw him at the World Cup. He finished the game with a 99.1 % pass accuracy. 108 completed passes out of 109, which isn't too shabby. A bit wasteful. But yeah, I was sceptical, and I still am actually, that Barcelona are worthy of favourites tag for the Champions League. They are the Bundes favourites. What's the knock against them? it's the tactics for Hansi Flick they've obviously got amazing talents and brilliant players they're scoring goals for fun I just don't know if a team that plays Hansi Flick style of football can win it I just don't know when they come up against clever, smart and talented opposition I just think they'll be undone in the knockouts I mean that's how I look at it yeah totally I would say they're the team to make sure you watch every one of their games but don't bank on them ending that 11 years of hurt or 12 years of hurt Daniel do you have a counterpoint?

24:48No, I completely agree. Having watched the semi-final against Atleti last season. But with Rodri. They just got outsmarted. Yes, if he stays fit all season and is able to kind of be at peak performance all season, there is an argument that the World Cup was Rodri managing to distill everything and having had some rest and recovery over the previous six months. I don't know if he can play a 60-game season at that level. But yeah, I just think eventually a team will outsmart them probably not until the semi-finals. But yeah, I think PSG are more deserving favourites than them. Karim Adeyemi, another new rival, scored a goal and then unleashed a remarkable celebration.

25:30Almost from standing still, he did a backwards backflip. Having first celebrated with his friends, then he motioned them away and just kind of flipped himself backwards. Yeah, it was impressive. Incredible. Probably as impressive as the strike, really. Yeah. Gabriels Jesus. Gabriels Jesus. He didn't get many headers for Arsenal. I can't remember that many. Barcelona have now scored 80 goals in 27 Champions League matches under Hansi Flick. But how many have they conceded? I don't know. But too many for them to have won. Final twice had the ball in the back of the net. Disallowed for offside, one of which was very...

26:05The Nacho Ferry. The words you never want to hear if you're late. But that speaks to Adrian's point that you will get these chances against Barcelona. Sporting came from behind after the concession of an early goal to beat Galatasaray 3-1. Probably the best goal was another glorious free kick, this one from Rodrigo Zalazar. And the other game on Wednesday night was Stuttgart beating Viking Stavanger 3-1 with that hat trick that we mentioned. On Demirovic, one of the kind of weirder careers in that he's got a really, really, really good scoring record at club level as evidenced by Wednesday evening, but has only got four goals from 44 caps for Bosnia.

26:43He's sort of seen as this like, they just want to shake him and be like, why are you not able to score goals? The Bosnia and Andy Cole are calling him. Well, that was the Champions League. Wednesday night's action has mentioned six more games to come on Thursday evening. But we're going to be getting on next to the Premier League weekend and also a quick mention of that amazing game at Stamford Bridge in the League Cup.

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28:45it's match day four of the premier league already this weekend as opening three rounds flew by among the standout fixtures there's a manchester derby at old trafford sunderland's uh visit from arsenal which we mentioned before adrian you got a left field choice you want to pick out i think villa forest is a really interesting game bmb classico it's the center parks classico surely it's gonna but then or is villa that would be forest for the Yeah. Villa Forest is... I see where you're coming from. Yeah. It did go initially over my head. But to your point. Well, but it's interesting because it's a huge game for Villa.

29:18I haven't scored yet. Another day one in the Champions League. It's a reunion of the Europa League semifinal. The last time Forest visited them, they got pumped 4-0, quite embarrassingly. But this time around, they got Glasner. And Oliver Glasner is kryptonite for Unomri. Seven meetings as a gaffer. Five wins for Glasner. Two draws, zero defeats. And I think in the last three games, Villa haven't scored against Glasner's team. And for one thing I've noticed clearly about Forrest under him, because they've had some hard games, tough fixture list. They're not giving up many chances. Really very few.

29:54I think their XG against is only, there's only Arsenal and City that are lower than Forrest. And Forrest have had some tricky games. So they are going to be hard opponents for Villa to beat, I think, this weekend. Let's go to Forrest Fandom's Daniel story. Daniel, are you filled with positivity? It's nice to hear an objective view of that fixture. Forrest have been routinely awful at Villa Park. Adrian mentions the 4-0. There was also the league game last season, which is when if you remember John Victor, the Brazilian goalkeeper, came steaming out of his goal to allow Villa to score and then went down with what looked like a fake knee injury.

30:33we haven't seen him since he's still on the books of the club so yeah there is some um there's some psychological damage to work my way through before sunday before uh saturday afternoon well we'll see how that goes sunday afternoon at 4 30 it's the big one man united against man city city who've had three wins from three in the league had a big win midweek in the champions league as well but they don't have a good record in Manchester derbies only one win in the last four this was actually Michael Carrick's first game in charge of United and he won that one or they Man United won that one so what do you think also is it a bit weird that with such a big game coming up on Sunday a Man City having played on Tuesday night a Man United play on Thursday night in the Champions League how's that come about I think it's an obscure UEFA ruling where if you only played 40 games in the previous season, it's been terrible.

31:30Then it can happen. Right. Okay. That makes sense. Yeah. They haven't scored in the last two trips there, City. Have they not? But you'd probably bank on them scoring in this game, looking at United's defending. Obviously, they've played Hull, they've played Ipswich, and they've played Everton. They could end up being the three lowest scorers in the Premier League this season, or close to. Right. And they've conceded two goals to each of those opponents. each of them so city yeah will pose a lot more threat so i kind of fancy city here again coming up at 4 30 on sunday over duncan of all fixtures in in the premier league this one leans into narrative more than any other so it it kind of always produces a result that kind of the narrative of our league needs so obviously carrick in this game last season came in everyone's like united terrible under amarin wins the game right and and throughout the basically since city became wealthy it's kind of followed those those patterns really so now with pep having done one what's the narrative well i think the narrative at the moment would be everyone thought city were going to be bad under maresco or less effective yeah they're actually going to go on quite a long winning run at the start and carrick obviously everyone thought well he's got the job now everything's going to be fine as the agent said they've not been super impressive so i think it The narrative gods are leading me to think it's going to be a semi-comfortable city.

32:53There you go. Daniel, you can write your piece early about this game for Monday's The Eye. Yeah, I'm torn. I still believe in the weird Michael Carrick, oh look, Manchester United have beaten a big club because everyone's decided to turn up for a big game narrative that has been basically going on under managers you think probably shouldn't be Manchester United manager for about half a decade now. I don't really see any reason for that to not continue. 4.30 on Sunday, we find out. Arsenal, as mentioned, will be going the night before. What are the odds that City will have a chance to put a bit of space between themselves and the Gunners?

33:31I.e., do you think Arsenal are going to come away with the win, Daniel? Yeah, I do. Yeah, I agree with Adrian. They just don't look like they're scared of anything at the moment. I suppose we're slightly yet to see some real adversity away from home recently. but they just looked completely in control against Chelsea even having trailed and just put their foot down so yeah I don't see any reason to be scared the direct football that Adrian mentions from last season I think is the one way still to potentially get at Arsenal if you've got a striker who can win headers and win knockdowns and get players to run through on them and kind of over I don't know kind of swamp them a little bit it's how Newcastle have done it or did it under Eddie Howe a couple of times but yeah I think they'll probably just win.

34:14Howell will be looking to extend their remarkable run of not having conceded a goal or lost a game so far this season they are going to be taking on the team one place below them in the top four remarkable sentence to be uttering chelsea chelsea who on wednesday night continued their uniquely entertaining start to this season when they faced leeds six three six three leeds go two goals up well they're a goal up so Xavi Alonso makes four changes at half time and Chelsea promptly go two goals down and then score six goals in 41 minutes it was nice it was brilliant it was just it was bold wasn't it again from Xavi Alonso we saw bold tactics at Arsenal leaving the four or five up from corners he's not afraid to make these sort of unusual out of the box ideas is he but yeah putting Rodgers and Palmer on was obviously the big game changer.

35:14And I did enjoy the interview afterwards. Did you see it? Where Cole Palmer got awarded the man of the match, but they were both interviewed together and Rodgers just wasn't having it. He was like, why have you got a man of the match? He's got a hat-trick of assists. He claimed in this video, I got four assists and you scored a pen. This is outrageous. He basically didn't want to give him the player of the match award. But I think he's really clever, actually, in terms of the signing as well. Obviously, they both work amazingly well in that system, don't they? Palmer as a right, number 10. Rodgers as a left, number 10.

35:48If they could pick one position they could play on the pitch, it would be that. But they're also mates. And I don't think enough managers sign mates. Right. You know, that can work together, that know each other. You know, know each other from the international teams, for example. I think Chelsea might hit on something. That's good. What other mates are there in football? Well, I don't know who's mates with who, but they are, aren't they? Yeah. There's some good buddies, I'm sure. Who was the best mate you played with? Who's the best mate that I played? Well, I played with my best mate or my best mate.

36:21Yeah, he is one of my best mates. I don't like to classify it, but yeah, Arsenal, Nicky Russell was a goalie. And we had this thing where he didn't even need to look at me. I knew he was going to hit a long diagonal to me on the left wing for me to sort of try and flick on to my mate. yeah it's little things like that i don't know if you if you're a left winger and you you're great mates with a left back nathan jones at south end i was really good pals with him when we played there on the essex riviera and and we we combined beautifully it was just one of those things i think a bit of chemistry it kind of works nathan jones was obviously in the news this week for another animal related incident oh yeah i see because charlton drew nilner with qpr and they had apparently a perfectly good goal chalked out.

37:06And Jones was complaining about the lines and looking down at him and said, the lines and look like I'd just volleyed his cat. It's a good phrase. Yeah. Not a dog, interestingly. Who was it who volleyed a cat? Yeah, it was Kurt Zuma who was rightfully punished for such act. How can you volley a cat? Yeah. Well, I'll try off. Falling half a dog. Half fully. Half. Half volley. Half colling. I mean, we're laughing, but that's terrible. Yeah. It should be volleyed cats. But that was a. Animal-related incident only in the broadest of senses, Doug. Well, in the sense that he mentioned an animal, yeah.

37:37He did too. Yeah, true. Anyway, so Chelsea's remarkable and very matey front four, three, whatever we're going to call them, three, are going to be the opponents for a whole team who haven't conceded a goal so far this season. Can the Tigers continue this remarkable record, do you think? No, I don't. I think that Chelsea will be irrepressible. irrepressible this has got classic 3-1 written all over it I reckon um I yeah I can't work out Chelsea at all they've conceded nine goals so far which is ludicrous um I just yeah I don't think I don't think this whole fun will last oh so long uh what interests me about Hull is is not them not conceding it's how they're going to score the goals when they do start conceding because Olly McBurney has been brilliant so far this season so it's like off the ball work but they just haven't really got a striker I'm convinced by so it's all good at the moment but 3-1 Chelsea you mentioned McBurney and he's got by far the most um high intensity pressures this season high intensity pressures because the way I love to judge a man right or woman in a game yeah and so what's this efficacy of pressing yeah like how close you get in how much you rush you're running around more like a dog than a cat to put it in right okay but I do think that's kind of indicative of whole start they're doing really well they're they're racking up some points early doors yeah they are clearly going to beat derby's record that safe um but they kind of need to make the most of this while they can because we saw the first time they got into the premier league they started really well one at arson one at spurs and just about hung on on the last day so i'm not saying they can't do that again but they do need to make literally make hay while the sun is still shining yeah or play football matches where the sun is yeah they work very hard don't they?

39:27Regan Slater in midfield is just charging around. Regan Slater? He is everywhere. I think the only player that's run further is Pascal Gross, which is really impressive because Pascal Gross is in his mid-30s now, which is really impressive. So yeah, we'll see. I mean, Chelsea won't get many opportunities to counter on Hull, will they? Because that's what Chelsea are really good at. That's not really going to happen too often in this game. We'll find out, as you say. Saturday three o 'clock that game. The tea time game on Saturday, I find interesting as Spurs take on Everton, who who are the last team that Spurs managed to score a goal against in the Premier League.

40:01Daniel, what's your take on this? It's really fascinating because Everton have been kind of labelled as this crisis club over the last week or so. And actually, I think they'll be absolutely fine. I think we said that on Monday that maybe that's been slightly overblown and that David Moyes probably quite likes to see himself as backs against the wall siege mentality. And Spurs are the opposite in that it should be everybody panicking and losing their minds. But does Erby say, no, no, it'll be fine. It'll be fine. we've got this, we've got this, we've got this. They have to have got this this weekend.

40:30If they don't beat Everton, then inevitably there has to be some panic because they've played some teams in great states of flux. So they've played Newcastle, who are in flux and loss. They've played Forest, who have got a new manager and fairly lucky to draw. They've got Everton, who are in this crisis. If you don't win these games, then people start asking where you will win games. I just want to see more from that midfield. I want to see more from a midfield that costs£300 million. I want to see some organisation, some invention, some sense that people know what they're doing, and I've not seen any of that yet.

41:08Okay. Although a lot of people say that the performances have been improving, even if the results haven't come yet. In news that we predicted last Sunday news, Michalem Mudrik is out injured. We had talked about the likely impact of returning after such a lengthy suspension. and he's suffered an injury. Not sure what the entity of it is, but he's going to be out six to eight weeks. Yeah, ankle. Ankle injury. Yeah. Only has two ankles. I don't have a cat or a dog that has four. But just for Daniel's point on Spurs, their next fixes after this game are Liverpool away, Villa at home and Man United away.

41:43So I'm not saying this is must win, but it pretty much is must win. Yeah. I said at the weekend that it wouldn't be a calamity season for Spurs and I don't think it will be. I do think that... As an Arsenal fan? Yeah. Yeah, like, I think they're going to be good. I think they'll be fine. Top half. Sorry? Surging into the top half. Definitely, yeah. They've got too many good players, but De Serbi is being a bit odd, like in terms of he's made a lot of changes, hasn't he? I think he's made more changes than anyone else. Archie Gray is a case in point. He kind of didn't build the team around him, but he had a good season in a poor campaign for Tottenham last year.

42:17He made him captain against Brentford. There was a lot of talk about that. what happened to him at the weekend Archie Gray on you sub it's quite the fall isn't it in the space of like a few days how's that going to sit with Archie Gray how's that going to sit with some of the teammates it's like it just feels a little bit erratic from De Zerbe so I think he needs to calm down a little bit as well. That's the Villa Nottingham Forest takes place at 3 o 'clock on Saturday you mentioned that agent already Liverpool at the same time taking on Fulham yeah they look wildly open you'd imagine Liverpool's if Barkley's recovered from his cramp in midweek, then he should feast.

42:56I mean, at least get some shots off against Fulham. Arboloh only lost one game as a Liverpool player at Anfield. Is that right? He might match that this weekend. OK. What is this about Fulham players, Alex Iwobi and Emile Smith-Rowe, removing Fulham-related posts from their Instagram? Daniel? Yeah, I mean, it sounds incredibly petty because it is incredibly petty. there's also Kevin who posted on Instagram the kind of say nothing see nothing hear nothing it was a sort of sketched version of the emojis which I quite liked clearly all isn't well they are players who are on the outside at the moment Iwobi was taken off to sort of ironic jeers from Fulham supporters last weekend which feels pretty harsh given he's been their best player for two years um but yeah clearly all isn't right and this was a theme of our below his time at Real Madrid and I think we all went Real Madrid players all behaving silly and kicking off and yeah maybe the same is happening at Fulham but once is never twice as always I'd say and so if that is becoming a pattern of our below a man management then he's going to have to sort it really quickly because he absolutely needs buy-in with how he's playing It's almost like a version of Russell Martin football with the defence, where you're asking players to take so many risks and to risk looking silly for the greater good.

44:18But if you don't have buy-in on it, it can fall apart quite quickly, I think. One other thing that's been reported, a Fulham fan claimed we saw Kenny Tete leaving on a line bike after the game last week and not being... Which, A, is absolute class, he should be encouraged. He's having a warm down. Yeah. But also, he wasn't very complimentary about the current regime. But it did remind me this week, it's obviously Adel Terrap. I was going to say, on the bus. A man who left Craven Cottage on the bus. On the bus. Many ways to leave Craven Cottage. Boats, even. Almost as many as there are. Your lover, famously.

44:53Crystal Palace take on Ipswich, which is the two worst defences in the Premier League, going head-to-head. Also, a clash of former Ligue 1 managers. Because you've got Pierre Sarge and Gary O 'Neill. who held PSR's 1-1 draw when they were in charge of Lons and Strasbourg last season. Big game, isn't it, for them? Both. Is it a big game? Because they'll look at it, won't they? They'll both look at it and think, could do the three here. Producer Charlie wants to know, Duncan, so there's a stat that says Crystal Palace, the Crystal Palace's Anan Kalayli leads the Premier League for both tackles with 17 and true tackles with 24.

45:34So, producer Charlie wants to know, what's a true tackle? And I want to know, how can you have more true tackles than tackles? This is good. Because a true tackle is a composite thing that brings in... Now, I really should have looked this up beforehand. But it brings in other factors. So, challenges lost, fouls as well. Those don't add up to true tackles. Yeah, because you can make a tackle that's a really good tackle. But obviously, it gets penalised. Oh, I see. So, tackles that are penalised would not be true tackles. They wouldn't be counted as a tackle in the raw data. So it's a more sort of holistic way of looking at the players who are particularly good at breaking up play and stopping opponents.

46:09I see. He's doing well. Happy? All good there. Bournemouth are up against Brentford. Marco Rose still searching for his first win as Cherry's boss. Adrian, it looks like you want to see something. They're two draw specialists, aren't they? No one's drawn more than these two. You can absolutely see a draw between Bournemouth and Brentford. Just a quick one on Brentford. Two of their better players, I would say, got hooked at halftime in the last game. Michael Coyote, who had such a good season, the long throw specialist, hooked because Angulo was destroying him. And Sangare, who we've waxed lyrical about, is a really good player.

46:47He got taken off at halftime as well. What does he do? Does he bring them back in or not? And I think they're both too good to leave out personally. So a little bit of an awkward decision maybe for Keith Andrews ahead of kickoff. Bournemouth have never beaten Brentford in eight previous Premier League meetings. Coventry, still pointless, up against Brighton. These two sides haven't faced each other since April 1983. What was number one, Adrian? I don't know. Daniel? What was number one? I don't know. I was going to guess dancing in the streets, but from nowhere. Ooh. Well, it wasn't. Oh, close.

47:25He wasn't, but he was close because David Bowie was involved with a track called Let's Dance. Let's Dance by David Bowie. Put on your shooting boots and, you know, dance all over your opponents. Yeah, that's the plan. That's your pre-match team talk, Frank. Well, both these teams have been in League Two not that long ago. Yeah. So, you know, they can celebrate together how far they've come. Put on your whatever shoes you want and beat Sky Blues. Personally, I'm interested this weekend in the vibes of the Premier League because obviously we don't normally have Premier League games this time of year.

48:01Normally we're into the international break. Right. You know, if someone wants to become the top Premier League scorer on September the 12th or 13th, here's your chance. Right. Okay, that extended international break coming up the round after this one. Leeds against Newcastle is on Monday. That's at Ellen Road, of course. Magpies have faced the most shots in the Premier League this season, averaging 20 a game. We'll see if that continues on. On Monday before that, though, Sunday night, we will be getting together our usual gaff for our live roundup of the Premier League weekend thus far. Daniel, you're not with us this weekend.

48:38Where are you going to be? Yeah, I'm otherwise engaged on Sunday evening. I am at Hillsborough on Saturday afternoon, Sheffield Wednesday versus Wigan, and then I'm at Leeds Newcastle on Monday evening. Excellent. Well, have a super weekend. look forward to hearing about your exploits in the eye uh adrian and duncan a super weekend to you both as well not sure if you're joining us on sunday you're not no i'm not no i'll be heading to layton orient on saturday are you winless wick and doom season with your new manager interim manager oh who's that then uh tom hounsell okay but he's 31 so that's very young Good luck to you And Adrian?

49:17Yeah, busy weekend as always I'll be working on the Sunderland Arsenal game So yeah, hopefully the Gooners can carry on their good work That's what we're all praying Are you? Good, excellent We're back, as I say, on Sunday Thank you so much for joining us for now From all of us here, it's goodbye

50:03We'll be right back. Online, valid through 916, while supplies last. Selection varies by location. See Lowe's.com for more details. Hi, I'm Nick, co-host of The Best One Yet. You optimize your workouts, your portfolios, and that rando startup idea that hit you in the middle of the shower. But if you're not hydrated, you're already playing catch-up. So we keep a stash of liquid IV in our studio. One stick mixed into 16 ounces of water is clinically demonstrated to hydrate faster than water alone with three times the electrolytes of the leading sports drink, plus eight vitamins and nutrients. Whether you're traveling, exercising, or podcasting, the best business news ever, Liquid IV makes it easy to stay hydrated wherever life takes you.

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