Arsenal gonna Arsenal - are Liverpool out of the title race?

0:00The Athletic FC

0:30losing points because of cash. That's not a 115 charges story, by the way. Could the Gunners' biggest rivals now be Bournemouth? All that and much, much more in this Totally Football Show.

0:43Sunday, 26th of October. Hello to you if you're watching on YouTube. Many thanks for your patience. Well, we got this one up and running. And podcast friends, thanks for lending us your ears. We've got some Daniel Story on the big screen. Hi, Daniel. Hello, James. in the studio here Ruben Pinder hello alright Ruben how's it going pretty good yourself yeah not bad excellent and Tim Spears alright James Tim's fresh back from Villa Park because you love going to watch Villa er sure ok then ok then but many thanks you had a long way back no long trip yeah I've been to see two of Arsenal's titular rivals lose this weekend Liverpool on Saturday night and Man City today, both in very different ways.

1:31Right, nice. It's been an interesting weekend. Right, so the GTEC as well, we'll be hearing about that very, very shortly. Of course, Ruben, you'll be telling us about a chastening week for Crystal Palace. Yeah, that 19-game unbeaten streak feels a long time ago now. Yeah, yeah. Daniel, you'll be talking about literally everything this week. Yes, I will be. Excellent. Everything you want me to talk about, I will. Good. Results from Premier League Matchday 9 are as follows. Arsenal beat Crystal Palace 1-0. And Brichard Eze, of course, against his old club. The Gunners extend their lead to four points at the top of the table over Bournemouth, but fully six ahead of City, with City losing 1-0 at Villa, and seven points, Arsenal ahead of Liverpool, who lost 3-2 at Brentford.

2:17Meanwhile, with Spurs 3-0 winners at Everton, and Sunderland winning 2-1 at Chelsea, the top four, now reads, quaintly enough, Arsenal, Bournemouth, Spurs, Sunderland. The City are down in fifth And who's this in sixth? Just a point off the top four Why? Manchester United After their 4-2 victory over Brighton Which was their third straight win Meanwhile, down the bottom of the table The other two promoted sides Leeds and Burnley Both beat relegation rivals this weekend Leeds defeating West Ham 2-1 on Friday Burnley triumphing 3-2 at Wolves Which leaves the Hammers now four points from safety in 19th While bottom of the pile Wolves are already six points away from staying up.

2:59Forrest have joined those two in the bottom three after their 2-0 defeat at the hands of Bournemouth and Fulham are in the bed nearest the door now, 17th after losing 2-1 at Newcastle. Crocky, that's the Premier League weekend. We're going to begin with the game which wrapped it all up. Sunday afternoons, Everton 0-3. This is the Totally Football Show with James Richardson, part of the Athletic FC Podcast Network.

3:35Sunday afternoon Thomas Frank's Tottenham went to Everton and became the first visiting team to win at the Hill Dickinson not sure if the the is necessary but the Hill Dickinson in this Premier League season first team to score against Everton with a set piece as well Daniel go on then what did you make of Spurs? Yeah, Mickey at the Hill Dickie, Mickey van der Ven, Tottenham's set-piece Kings and away Kings. They've taken four more away points than any other team in the Premier League now, which is really weird because their home form is poor. They've only beaten Burnley at home. I wonder if that's because Thomas Frank feels a pressure to play on the front foot at home.

4:20They only had 47 % possession at Everton. Maybe I'm being unfair to Tottenham fans here, but it feels like they probably wouldn't be that happy with that at home. And maybe away from home, they feel that they can kind of, Thomas Frank feels like he can play maybe more of sort of his Brentford football while he at home, he feels a bit more pressure to change things. I don't know if that's true, but they are very, very good, very efficient away from home and have looked really poor at home in recent weeks. And they were perfectly good value for this win. Yeah, they make the most of set pieces in a way they don't do at home.

4:53They dig in in a way they don't do at home. So, yeah, it's quite hard to explain. I suspect they're more likely to get better at home than they are to get worse away, which is a good sign given they're third in the league. And they are sort of, they're almost entering, quietly going about their business terms now, I think, Tottenham, because they're slightly inconsistent with the home form. They're third and yet they've played particularly well, consistently all season, which is a good thing, I suppose. Unless you do what happens to Liverpool, which is when we said, yeah, imagine what happens when they start playing well and then they just start playing loads worse.

5:27Indeed. Three goals from four shots on target for Spurs. Mickey van der Ven scoring the first two of them. He became the first Spurs defender to score a brace in 12 years. 12 years. Can I guess who the last one was? Go on then, Ruben. That would have been, what, 2013? Jan Vertonghen, I would assume. Never in doubt, Ruben. Never in doubt. What did you make of Everton then, Daniel? I mean, my main takeaway was when Everton left Goodison, I was really worried that we might lose one of the greats of English football, which is the way that booze in that stadium hung in the air. And I mean booze S rather than ZE.

6:12I think we can officially say now that the Everton fans are going to rise to the occasion in the Hill Dickinson because it was properly angsty and annoyed at the end. I think it was more at the officials than it was at the team and David Moyes, although I suspect everybody became a bit coated by the opprobrium. But yeah, it was pretty angsty towards the end. I went to that stadium for the 1-1 against West Ham the other week, which is pretty wretched. and this was poor as well. I know you say, James, this is the first time they've lost there, but it doesn't really feel like they've kind of had their breakout day at the stadium yet.

6:51Everton were, they dominated the ball in the second half and as Daniel mentions, the atmosphere has transferred. I think they've already broken the decibel limit, not limit, record in the Premier League this season already. So that noise has definitely gone with them. I thought it was, just going back to Spurs, the stat from Opta that I've just seen today Spurs have scored with their first shot on target in four of their five Premier League away games this season and they boast the best shot conversion rate in the competition this term with 18 % so if you can keep getting into winning game states early that does play into that kind of style whereas when in drawing game states or if they're losing I still think they struggle with progressing the ball through the middle with that Paulina Benton Kerr double pivot But we had a video on this on the Athletic FC this week, actually, about how over-reliant they've become on Pedro Porro's clipped pass down the right.

7:47Right. And, of course, they got their third goal after lots of Everton momentum, and they were really hanging on. There was a couple of great saves from Vicario. And then, obviously, when Everton tire, they hit them on the break, and it was a bit of a sucker punch. But, you know, a lovely goal all the same. Very, very nice indeed. Tim, you won't have seen any of that, I guess. No, but it is interesting that the Paulini-Bentancourt, it's been a poser for quite a while at Spurs already in terms of fans frustrated with them both playing at home you know do we really need two DMs when we're playing Wolves at home which they were a few weeks ago and looked hopeless chasing the game at 1-0 down with that sort of extra defensive player on there often Paolini is the one who then pushes forward I think he scored a few goals this season which you know wasn't what he was brought into the team for so yeah I just think aligned to what both Daniel and Ruben have said they're just far more suited away from him due to the players that Frank is selecting, you know, and the sort of counter-attacking full-backs they've got, the dribblers they've got, Johnson and Kudus going forward.

8:45But with a, I mean, it's with the grace of respect, with a fan base like Spurs, you wonder how that sort of lack of entertainment from open play can go on for, particularly at home. Yeah, the vast majority of their XG came from set pieces today, which won't surprise you given that Van der Ven score from two corners. But that's not just them this season either. that a lot of teams are prioritising set pieces as well. So true, so true. Spurs will be on the road again on Wednesday when they'll be at St James' Park to take on Newcastle. That's in the last 16 of the Carabao Cup. You're excited for round four of the Carabao Cup, Daniel.

9:19The other fixtures are Tuesday, Grimsby Town, your old friends, against Brentford. Wickham take on Fulham. Wrexham in an all Welsh clash against Cardiff City. That's Tuesday as well. Then on Wednesday, Arsenal-Brighton, another Welsh side Swansea host Man City Liverpool take on Palace and Wolves up against Chelsea Woof Yeah I'm off to I'm off to Grimsby for the first time since I went last season which sounds really obvious but it is the best football ground in the country I'm going to try and get up there for sunset which is not a normal thing you'd say about a football ground but if you go to the railway bridge at the back of Grimsby's ground Blundell Park and take a photo of a sunset it will not ever fail to sit as your screensaver on your phone because it is an absolutely magnificent view praying for clement weather for you wednesday what do you eat when you get there is there something special that you look forward to eating in cleathops well there there is i don't know if it calls itself or it has been called i think it possibly just calls itself although it is very good a fish and chip bar very near the ground i mean the ground is literally 150 yards from the see yeah there's one of those fish and chip shops the other one i can think of is at ellen road where like you go three hours before a game and there's like a hundred people in the queue for it so everyone just does it and chats in the queue it's almost like standing at a bar but everyone just does it in a fish and chip shop queue magnificent that plus the sunset plus grimsby it all says carabao cup two o 'clock on sunday in the premier league meanwhile there were four matches.

10:55In one of them, Arsenal won for the seventh game in a row in all competitions. That was 1-0 against Crystal Palace. Ruben, I imagine you were watching this. I was, yeah. Okay. To see Eberici Ezi, your old friend, opening his account for the Gunners. Yeah, and with a lovely strike as well. Yeah. From a Palace perspective, it feels sloppy to give away such a cheap free kick when Arsenal are so effective and so dangerous from set pieces. And that's how they scored again. A classy touch to see the away travelling fans applaud Eze off. Oh, that's nice. Yeah. The Palace fans have kind of distinguished themselves, I think, for classy touches this week.

11:37Ahead of Thursday's ill-fated Europa Conference League clash with A.K. Larnaca. Correct. They unveiled a massive homage to Dad's Army. Yeah, huge TIFO. Have you ever heard of Dad's Army, Ruben? I have heard of it, but I will admit that I had to Google the reference. Right. We are the boys who will win your little game. Yeah, it's a pun on the theme tune lyrics, right? Yeah, it's a slight variation. We are the boys, as Tim is already mouthing to himself, we are the boys who will stop your little game. Yeah. And then the map, the visual of the TIFO was a map to Leipzig. There you go. Yeah. There you go.

12:15Fingers crossed, because that was a pretty poor performance as well. Yeah, what happened on Thursday? Well, it's actually interesting to look at the Thursday game and the Sunday game, especially with kind of that 19 game unbeaten run that I referred to at the start, which now we're actually winless in four, of course, because we lost to Everton. but it's interesting to compare the two performances because in the Premier League a lot of Palace's best performances and a lot of their points have come from kind of having 40 % of the ball attacking really quickly hitting the space getting the number 10s close to Mateta and playing like really effective really efficient counter-attacking football and in the Conference League with the disparity in talent let's say not that you know Lanarka are terrible or they've beat other teams already in that competition, and they obviously beat Crystal Palace.

13:02But the talent disparity puts the onus on Palace to be the protagonist in the game, right? Is this a bit like Spurs playing at home? Yeah, essentially. So Palace have struggled to break down low blocks because they want to be the low block and counter, which is why they often pick up points against big Premier League teams, but struggle when they go a goal down. And again, a very sloppy way to go a goal down. So still plenty of chances in that Thursday game and not a terrible attacking display at the Emirates. But it was also surprising to see the contrast in reaction to this game, the Arsenal 1-Palace-0 game between fan bases.

13:43Because Arsenal were very complimentary of how Palace played out of possession, limiting them to very little outside of set pieces. Whereas Palace fans all seemed quite frustrated by the display. and it does seem like there's not quite been enough rotation between those two competitions. A little bit of fatigue setting in, which I think, as I said last time I was on the show, does concern me. Every time Daniel Munoz goes down, I panic. How much room is there for rotation for Oliver Glasner? There's a bit. You know, Borna Sosa came in to provide competition for Tyrek Mitchell in the summer. Uche from Getafe joined and they all came on near the 90th minute this weekend, which does suggest that Glasner is not too keen to throw a lot of them in.

14:26I guess the central midfield area is where he's more comfortable rotating with Lerma and Hughes playing on Thursday and Walton and Kamada taking their place back this weekend. But there will have to be more of it throughout the season if they want to go far in Europe. Okay. Arsenal, yet another 1-0 win. Anything new to note from that? Arsenal going to Arsenal. They love a set piece. Declan Rice's delivery, very good. So consistent as well. Yeah, exactly. And Saka was pretty quiet, but I think Arteta said after the game he'd been a bit unwell and had fought quite hard to be fit enough to play. So didn't complete the 90, but they just don't give anything away.

15:07And yeah, it is a very predictable scoreline, I think, from probably, you know, the best defensive team in the league at the moment. They're on track to beat Jose Mourinho's Chelsea record of the fewest goals conceded in a season, which was 15 about 20 years ago. So, yeah, no shame in that result. Arsenal were very good at what they do. Fair enough, fair enough. Daniel, did you catch any of this? Yeah, I did, yeah. I mean, yeah, just to follow up on the Arsenal thing. I mean, it's getting faintly ridiculous now. In the last four games they've played, they've conceded two shots on target. One to Thiago Almada of Atletico when they were already 4-0 up and one to Eddie Nketiah today after about 70 minutes, which, you know, it was a decent-ish chance, but it was hardly like a guilt-edged chance or anything.

15:51and that's it in four games. I think in 10 Champions League and Premier League games since the opening day, they've allowed next year of about 5.1 or something. So you don't need to be really good in open play. You don't need to be hugely creative if you're good at set pieces and you are incredibly tight at the back. And obviously the best results of their weekend came at the GTEC and Villa Park because they are now legitimately heavy odds on favourite for the league because they just keep grinding it out. It's interesting to note on a weekend that Arsenal won and their title rivals all lost. And you can maybe include Chelsea in that.

16:30Some people sort of had them down at the start of the season. All three managers, Guardiola, Maresca and Arnaz Slott, all complained this weekend that their teams didn't win enough second balls. They all said it, all talking about duels and second balls. And, you know, if the Premier League has changed, which it has, and gone all sort of anti-woke and rugged and long throws and whatever, then Arsenal just looked by far the best to cope with that. Arsenal seemed to have been a bit ahead of the curve in that tactical trend. Winning second balls seems to be as much about passion and hunger and those kind of things.

17:09And it was curious how so many of the big sides who were involved in Champions League action this week struggled. Arsenal won and Newcastle won, none of the others did. Oh, Spurs did. Spurs very much did. But yeah, in the case of Man City and Liverpool, that lack of fire in the belly, I don't know if that's coincidental, whether it's tiredness, whether it's distraction, but I did feel like that might be an influential thing. Yeah, and that definitely passes the eye test from what I saw. I mean, Jordan Henderson was probably the best midfielder in the Brentford-Liverpool game, and John McGinn was absolutely outstanding for Villa being Man City.

17:44Picking up those loose balls and winning those duels. In fact, the opposition teams in the games I saw, their midfields look far more balanced and up for that kind of match than City or Liverpool. We'll talk about Liverpool then, because that's who Palace have got next for the third time already this season. That's a relief, eh, going to visit your old pals. You beat them on penalties in the community shield and then beat them in the Premier League. And seemingly broke them because they can't win anymore. I imagine both teams will heavily rotate midweek in the EFL Cup though. OK. All right, we'll take a very quick break and then we'll get on to what happened to Liverpool away at Brentford.

18:32This is the Totally Football Show, part of the Athletic FC podcast network. The Athletic is the only place you can read articles by Daniel Taylor, Amy Lawrence, Phil Hay, James Pearce, Oli Kay and the very best football writers around.

18:57Brentford 3, Liverpool 2. This was the late game on Saturday. Tim, you're also at this one. What did you take away from? Well, I'll tell you, actually. I read your piece. It says, this time there could be no excuses for Liverpool. Well, you know, Arnest Lott's been making excuses and been quite obvious about it in his language. You know, against Man United last week, he just talked about, you know, low blocks and long balls from United. and he's said on numerous times that the way that teams are playing against us is a problem and everybody changes their sort of style against us and teams are daring to change their 11s and all this kind of stuff.

19:37So I was kind of watching the game and thinking, he can't come up with any excuses today. Liverpool was so inept for so much of that match. I genuinely lost count of the amount of times that they would just put the ball out of play. It happened time and in. The keeper was doing it. The midfielders were doing it. The defenders were doing it. Under some pressure, but not incredible pressure. Just kept putting the ball out of play. And putting the ball out of play in this Premier League season is a dangerous business. Well, they've got a pretty big warning sign with a goal inside five minutes from a long throw, but they just kept putting the ball out in those danger areas, which I found incredible.

20:14They're obviously, you know, Arnazlott said they'd worked on long throws more than anything in the limited build-up they had to the game after the Frankfurt turnaround, which is one of the excuses he did come up with after the game. And they may have worked on defending long throws but they didn't work about how to clear their lines because they needed a bit of, was it Boaz Myhill who sort of panicked against Stoke and was so terrified that he deliberately put out for a corner instead of a throw. They needed a bit of that energy and teams are going to have to channel a bit of that energy especially against Brentford.

20:45Cody's long throws are like cannonballs. They're such a weapon. But yeah, Slott sort of disappointing after the game did point to the fact that they've had five away matches out of their last six, even though, you know, you look at the respective games last season, they won at Palace last season, they won at Brentford last season. So I don't know, it's not a great excuse. And talking about sort of too much, too many changes in the squad, you know, okay, the 450 million pound record summer transfer, which is now turning into a transitional season. But then you look at Sunderland, who've got seven new players in their team and they're above Liverpool in the table.

21:20So I don't know, he was at pains to point out, I'm not making excuses, but, and then just made a lot of excuses. Whereas the performers that I watched, I thought they were out for, they were outplayed for most of it. I thought the scoreline flattered them. And more than half the team were weak links for me, from sort of the goalkeeper to the back two, to Kerkhez, who was painfully out of his depth. It was quite tough to watch at times. Did score? Yeah, he did, and celebrated with feeling. but he also was forced back towards his own goal and then cleared the ball across the face of goal and out for a throw-in on the other side which was just horrible.

22:00He did that at Selhurst Park as well where he actually should have cleared it with his weak foot but waited for it to come across onto his left and then put it out for a throw and then that long throw led to the winner. So he wasn't great. I thought Florian Virch was really weak in midfield and was harangued and had the ball taken off him quite a lot and Salah was just anonymous. There were so many performances. Although he did score as well. Yeah, he scored an incredible goal. An unbelievable goal. I don't think I've ever seen a goal like it in the flesh. Describe it. He took the ball down from so high with his left foot and then volleyed it in with his right foot with such sort of power and precision into the top corner.

22:37Came out of nowhere. He'd done nothing. I couldn't believe he wasn't substituted. So there were so many weak links in that team. I don't know how they turned that around, really. What about Brentford? Yeah, unbelievable. and not just long throws and set pieces. They were so dynamic and so direct, but not in a sort of old-fashioned way, like just shooting from 20 yards, which why the best teams with the best players don't do that more often is beyond me. They have the most skilled, technically gifted players to shoot from 20, 25 yards. And Brentford were doing it quite a lot. And Coyote, again, not just the long throws.

23:11He was so athletic and dynamic, the way he was dragging the ball from one half of the pitch to the other, and Liverpool just couldn't stop him. You know, Sir Bozlai was sort of carrying the team at times. But yeah, Brentford's were magnificent. And the period from, because obviously they went 2-0 up and then Liverpool get a goal on the stroke, well, beyond the stroke of half-time because it was sort of 75 seconds after the amount of time that was allowed. And the stadium was furious. And you're kind of thinking the tide has turned here. They're going to come out in the second half. It's all going to change.

23:41But from minutes 45 to 64, Liverpool didn't have a single shot. Brentford, you know, you think they might sort of, Keith Andrews would instruct them, you know, keep it tight. Don't give anything away. You know, we've got the lead. Let's quell any sort of momentum that Liverpool try and generate. But it was the opposite. They went at Liverpool. They went for the throw. They attacked. They were really brave. They got the third goal and they won the match in that period where Liverpool just offered literally nothing in that 20-minute period after the break. Last season, Liverpool's opponents attempted the third fewest long ball.

24:14So passes of over 30 yards or more, Liverpool ranked 18th for what teams did to them. So typically, because Liverpool had lots of control, when their opponents got the ball, they basically tried to keep it for a bit to relieve some pressure. They played short passing across the back and tried to build through midfield. This season, from 18th, they ranked top by an absolute mile for what teams are doing against them. I think 710 long balls have been attempted against them and seconds on something like 660. so like the secret is out is that is Liverpool's defence isn't set when they lose the ball Van Dijk and Canati are either the line's not flat you know someone will play you on side or the line's too high so if it goes over you you can get in behind them and it just looks so obvious that that's the plan against them now it's really interesting to hear Van Dijk after the game talking about you know we just need to want it more and you hear those sort of cliches but it doesn't really look like wanting it more it looks like people don't know what they're doing and that's a tactical thing, not a mentality thing, to my mind.

25:11Although not wanting it particularly did seem to be the case with Conati when he was strolling back. Was that the second Brentford goal, Tim? Second Brentford goal. Yeah, the second one, yeah. Kevin Sharder, yeah. And I think Mikhail Damsgaard deserves a lot of credit for his passing for that goal. It's a beautifully threaded ball that takes advantage, as you say, of Liverpool's sleepy defenders. I also thought Shada very smartly runs across Kanate, wants to kind of ensure that he can't put a challenge in and then kind of runs back towards his path again and has a very central opportunity. So the keeper really has to guess which way he's going to go rather than, you know, those opportunities from an angle where it's obvious which way.

25:57So, yeah, Damkard was brilliant. But the positional rest defence issues that Daniel speaks about, it feels like every time Liverpool go a goal down, Soboslai gets pushed to right back so that they can then get another attacking player on the field. And it might seem harsh. Arna Slott has obviously won a Premier League title, but their transfers did feel quite FIFA career-mody. They feel like a Galactico team now where they have a lot of talent that doesn't necessarily fit and they have a lot of round pegs in square holes. How much trouble have they been, Daniel? They're out of the title race. I think probably now, I just don't see how it completely gets transformed.

26:35The way that Canati looks, the way that Van Dijk sounds, the way that Slott sounds with the excuses stuff, it sounds like they're setting themselves up for a long winter of transition to try and sort this out and to hope that having bought half a new team, that then pays off next season. And there are ways of doing that without completely alienating fan base and putting your own position in jeopardy, which is to be really good in the Champions League. And they were really good in the Champions League in midweek. And English teams should continue to be really good in the Champions League until at least the quarterfinal stage, I think, particularly a reigning league champion.

27:13So there are ways of doing that. But I think in the league, I mean, they're light years different to Arsenal at the moment. I mean, they are almost literally an opposite team to Arsenal. Arsenal are doing what they did last season, which is get ahead, control the controllables, make sure you win games. It all looks very logical, but somehow is also really hard to stop, even though you know what the team is going to do. That was Liverpool last season and it's Arsenal this season. And they look a mile off that. So, no, I don't see how suddenly... I know it's only seven points, but it doesn't feel like seven points.

27:45It feels like, you know, it feels months away, not weeks. Seven points between Arsenal and Liverpool. Six between Arsenal and Man City. We'll talk about who Man City are this season next.

28:00Tim, in search of a West Midland side winning, you went to Aston Villa Man City this weekend and you were rewarded with a 1-0 win for the Villains. Yeah, yeah. Matty Cash. Matty Cash from a set-piece routine. Yeah, it kind of felt like it was going to be a 1-0 game going into it. That first goal was going to be very important. And yeah, Villa got it. It was fairly uneventful thereafter. It was a bit of a sort of an attack-free defence game. I was just sort of struck by how predictable City were, really. It was, you know, kind of, it's the first time I've seen them in the flesh this season and you kind of hear about how they're willing to be more direct this year.

28:39but I didn't see that. I saw City forming this sort of, you know, crescent around the Villa box and just playing it side to side and trying to get it to the wide guy and then play one-twos and get to the byline and cut it back incessantly. And Villa were very, very happy to deal with that. You know, Man City had most of the game but only created, I think, 1.06xg, you know, despite their sort of dominance. And Villa, to their credit, sat deep and defended brilliantly. It was a brilliant, proactive, aggressive defensive performance with real wholehearted commitment to defending, constantly closing down and pressing, clearances, blocks, throwing bodies at the ball.

29:22McGinn just typified all of that. He's got this amazing knack for changing the whole feel of a football match. The first 20 minutes were quite dry and City was just dominating possession. and then he just he he he surprisingly won possession when he shouldn't have and then sort of darted clear of two players and went forward 30 yards and the whole place just completely changed and the the team were lifted and then I think they scored you know sort of five ten minutes after that he's so good at that I'd love he's one of the players I'd love to have on my team and yeah it did feel like the Villa of old to me and the stadium felt like the Villa Park of old I remember when we watched Villa Nil Palace 3 here, was it, towards the end of August?

30:04And it just looked like, well, what's happened to this place? It was completely silent. Yeah, but by the end of this one, they were cheering Emi Martinez, claiming crosses, literally like they scored a goal. You could really feel it. It was great. And City, yeah, just interesting the sort of contrast with watching Liverpool the night before make so, so many mistakes and be individually so poor. And I looked at City today and I couldn't think of a single mistake that they made during the whole match really. But they were just trying to play this perfect brand of side-to-side combination football.

30:39And I was kind of like, you know, in this season of variables and playing the percentages in the Premier League, what are City's percentages and playing the variables? I don't see any. I think Haaland's goals have masked where they're at right now. they've lost 3 of 9 in the Premier League for the first time since 2008 carry that record for the rest of the campaign they'll lose 12 matches and today was the first time they went behind since Brighton in August and today was also the first time that they'd lost since then I think yeah for all the talk of City being different I'm not sure how different they are I think they're really good front runners and they'll be able to keep the ball and pass anything to death but trying to chase the game today I felt like they were really short of ideas and unless Haaland scores a half chance when he had a couple but didn't score, then I didn't see what else they had really.

31:28This was the first game in 12 between club and country that he had failed to trouble the score sheet. You call City predictable. Villa though, what's with their unpredictability? They had this, in fact, here's a stat from producer Charlie who I think got it from somewhere else. But anyway, Villa are just the second team, Ruben, in top flight history and the first since 1936-37, Preston North End by the way, to have a five-game winless streak at the start of the season and then win their next four. Plus, he added into that, this doesn't count for Preston, but they lost on Thursday to go-ahead Eagles 2-1.

32:02So they do really badly. Then they start doing really well, throw in a bad result in Europe. What's going on? No idea. It's an impressive turnaround. There was a lot of panic at the start of the season, especially in the context of Unai Emery's previous stints at other clubs when it started to go a little bit wrong. And I remember reading a lot of Jacob Tanswell's work after deadline day, and they're kind of very ad hoc transfer window, signing players like Jadon Sancho right at the end. Jadon Sancho made an appearance in this game, but not for long. Yeah, he came on and then was taken back off again.

32:40Rightly so. He was absolutely dreadful. And Harvey Elliott wasn't in the squad today either. No injury factor, like a proper hooking after. Yeah, he was legitimately hooked. But yeah, none of their new signings started today. Gesson came off the bench. Lindelof didn't come off the bench. It does feel like they've had the same back four for about five years, doesn't it? With, you know, Pau Torres or Tyra Mings, depending on whoever's fit or in form. But yeah, well played. I mean, we've got a video going out tomorrow on the Athletic FC channel. My colleague Alex Barker has noticed something to do with City's press where John Stones was apparently used, do you remember in 22-23 when they won the treble and he would step into midfield in possession?

33:22And that, according to Alex, kind of confused Mateus Nunes' responsibility out of possession if Stones hadn't got back into defence in time, which in turn allowed Emiliano Buendia a lot of space on the left to pick up the ball unchallenged. And that was where a lot of Villa's joy came from. I didn't watch the game, but Alex knows his stuff. So I'm just stealing his thoughts. All right, well, I will look out for that video. Daniel, anything you want to add on the Villa? I thought that Amado Inano was really, really good. He's had some pretty rotten luck since joining Villa. I think he's had five different injuries since joining Villa, four of which are hamstring injuries.

33:58It's always slightly worrying when you get those repetitive injuries in the same area. But when he's on it, he's one of those players who doesn't always look like, because he's so rangy and so tall, he doesn't always look like he's sprinting, and yet he seems to be everywhere. And I thought he was a game's best player today. He doesn't just do all the tackling. I think he only gave misplays one pass. He was just sort of everything that City weren't, as Tim describes. He isn't predictable. You're not quite sure what he's going to do. But today, everything he did do was good. Excellent. Oh, Tim.

34:34Just a very quick word on the worst kit I've maybe ever seen. Man City kit. Almost a bit odd, Jimbo. It's like Man United 97 grey, but with garish fluorescent green trim all over the place. It looks like a kid surfing wetsuit vibe, do you think, maybe? Yeah, pretty anti-fluorescent kits to begin with. And grey. Yeah, grey and fluorescent, both bad kit crimes, I think. Really? They scream... Follows at Newcastle this weekend. Yeah, and I appreciate it's a retro, but I'm not a fan of that either. It just screams substitution bib or referee or goalkeeper. You know, like made to stand out, not made to be the main course of the visual experience.

35:18I hear you, Ruben. I hear you. The closest rivals to Arsenal in the Premier League title race are Bournemouth, who Duncan Alexander sheepishly suggested, shyly, that they might be in the title race a couple of weeks back. and here they are in second spot, four points back off the Gunners, no Europe because that's a big thing. Hey, next weekend, Bournemouth are going to the Etihad to face Man City. That's going to be a key game. Daniel, what do you make of this cherries for the championship business? Yeah, I mean, Duncan deliberately undermined me because I think about three days before that I'd said on this show that they'd finished top five or top six and then Duncan swept in and picked them as title challengers.

36:05I mean, they are legitimately one of the two or three best teams in the division at the moment. They were so much better than Forest today. One thing I like about them is that we've spoken a lot about when the players have left. So Kirk has left and Truffair comes in and looks really good. And, you know, they sell a winger and Semenya steps up, etc, etc. The centre-back, Sonesi, and they had an 18-year-old kid today who just looked like a FM regen that was just made to be a Bournemouth centre-back. He was excellent as well. But it's the way that they can rotate the team and that still happens.

36:37So I remember last season when they were in kind of peak Iriola performance, they had a midfield of Lewis Cook and Ryan Christie. And we would talk about the energy and the dynamism and the way out of possession they hounded teams down. They were both on the bench today. They had Tyler Adams and Alex Scott and they just looked exactly the same. there doesn't seem to be any difference or any drop-off whenever he makes a change. So Evan Nielsen and Enezun Al are out. And so Kruppi comes in, who's a teenager who was playing second-tier France last season, and he scored three goals in about 200 minutes, including a brilliant one today.

37:12Just looks like a cheating. It's like, where's Iola got these Premier League management cheat codes from? Because everything he touches turns to golden goals at the moment. Yeah, they were miles, miles better than Forest today. OK. Forrest haven't actually had a win since the opening day of the season. Sean Dyche... Not in the league. Yeah, that's true. Sean Dyche coming off back-to-back victories, one in his inaugural press conference with his Clough sighting antics, and secondly then on Thursday in that 2-0 victory over Porto, which must have had hopes bringing to your breast. Yeah, I mean, Forrest, they lost 5-0 at Bournemouth last season.

37:53they've been routinely awful away at Bournemouth in the past. I don't know if they're the best team at the moment, because Arsenal are. I don't know if they're the second best team in the league at the moment, Bournemouth, but they're certainly the team I would like to play against least after playing on a Thursday night because Forrest only made one change and that was enforced with the injury and Savona also played in midweek. And yeah, it's the first time I've seen Elliot Anderson get hounded in midfield. Forrest just couldn't really cope with that Bournemouth press. Daesh was pretty it was interesting after he sort of hinted after the game that he had concerns about the squad's fitness that needs improving and while getting rid of Ange Postacoglu is a very very good thing, if the fitness of players is not what Daesh wants then there will be an inevitable hangover from that because that takes time they've got their first midweek off and they're going to need that full squad there this week midweek off, got Manchester United at home next weekend, Daesh has finally got a kind of full week on the training pitch.

38:54I think he's only had five training sessions so far. So there's a lot to work on. And Thursday night was really good. It was the best forest, the most complete performance forest to produce this season or since Brentford on the opening weekend. So I'm not reading too much into Bournemouth away, but I said it last week, they are in a relegation battle forest. They are not too good to go down based on the seven or eight times I've watched them this season. So they need to start picking up points soon because they don't have that promoted club buffer. They might have a Wolves and West Ham buffer, but right now they're five points behind Burnley and that's the reality.

39:29You could talk about the quality of the squad and the attacking players, but if you're five points behind Burnley come March, then chances are you're going to be going down. So that's what needs to be addressed. OK. Since we're talking about Forrest, they were a little bit unfortunate to concede that opening goal, direct from a corner, given that it wasn't actually a corner. And also, Devineers confirmed post-game that he didn't actually mean to score from there. No. I remember a few years ago, before I was in the Championship, they had a game called off at Bournemouth because of high winds. And there is something about the vitality slash Dean Court where if you catch a corner or a long ball right, because the stadium's small and the corners are open, it's the windiest stadium in the Premier League, I think.

40:12So, yeah, he said he didn't mean it. It was a really well-worked routine because Tyler Adams does a clever little push on Matt Sales, which is just about not enough for VAR to get involved, which I'm fine with. I think it was a kind of slightly incidental push, but it did make a difference. And yeah, as you say, it shouldn't have been a corner. But, you know, Dice said after the game exactly what I think, which is that from the moment the corner is given, you have to switch on. It doesn't matter anymore. There's no VAR for corner decisions. So you switch on. and Forrest didn't really and then didn't for the second goal as well.

40:43Two midfielders got in each other's way, central defenders backed off and Kruppi produced a... What we're starting to think is a typically brilliant finish. One week earlier, Kruppi display from Bournemouth. Forrest have now gone 448 minutes of Premier League action without a single goal. Ay caramba. Plenty of goals Sunday afternoon, meanwhile, at Molyneux and we'll hear about those and next from Natalie Jedra who was there to see Wolves Burnley.

41:18You're listening to the Totally Football Show with James Richardson. Now we do four times a week. Keep up to date with us on Insta and enjoy us in glorious Technicolor on YouTube at the Totally Show. Time in four, can't they make the most of it? Foster, he's going to win it! Oh yes! Oh what a finish! Lyle Foster, surely he's won it! It's a massive three points for Burnley. Wolves two, Burnley three Sunday at two o 'clock. Or by the time it finished anyway. Natalie Jedra joins us now to discuss. Natalie, you went to game of the day there at Molyneux. Who would have thought? Yes, I did. Well, it was dramatic and then it was a bit dark at the end for the home supporters and their manager.

42:04Yeah, it was just really eventful, much more eventful than I thought. The ending was a bit weird with Trent Larson and Vitor Pereira and the fans. And I actually spoke to both of them after the match. And they said that they understand the fans' frustrations. But Vitor especially, he mentioned that, OK, I get that the fans are upset with the results, of course, and we need to understand that. But they also need to see that the team really fought hard. And, you know, it's football. But it was quite a dramatic ending to that match. Lyle Foster with a 95th minute win. A huge goal potentially for both teams.

42:47Fortune's Burnley claiming their first away win of the season. This after Wolves had staged that dramatic comeback from being two goals down. And Tim Spears is here, Wolves supporter, who wasn't able to see the game. What can you tell him about his side's performance, Natalie? Oh, Tim. OK. Well, Burnley started really well. They scored the first two goals. And not only because they scored the first two goals, but they were very positive with the ball all the time. They didn't dominate possession because it's not their priority, let's put it like that. But with Wolves, every time they had the ball, They got a penalty, which put them back into the game, and they scored the second still in the first half.

43:32They showed more intention with the ball in the second half. The second half, they created really good chances, and they could have scored the third. They were much closer to the third than Burnley. Burnley actually looked like they were settled with a point. But then in extra time, Leif Foster scores the third, and then the Wolves fans, and I really feel for them. because at first they were supportive and then they were impatient. And then after the second Burnley goal, they were booing the team. And when they saw that the team was really trying and making up solutions in the second half, then they were very into it and very supportive.

44:13But you can imagine the frustration after the third goal. And Vitor Pereira, with some interesting decisions for selection, because he started Belegard instead of João Gomes, which kind of worked because Belegard had a really good game. But with João Gomes, it's interesting because he was the captain and Vitor actually criticized him before the match. And today the captain was Trent Larson and Trent Larson was the fourth captain this season. So he takes off João Gomes. Matt Doherty, who was one of the captains this season, wasn't even on the bench. And it was Vitor Pereira's choice. He said it before the game.

44:57He was apparently fit. So, yeah, now there's a lot of pressure around Wolves because, you know, nine games without a win in the Premier League, but around Vitor Pereira as well. I spoke to him after the match and I asked if he felt like his position in the club was under pressure. And he said, well, that's not really a question for me, but basically I'm doing my best to try to get the team there. and, you know, I'm very proud of the players. Yeah, it is a delicate situation for him. Tim, what's your take on what's going on at Wolves and the prospects of Pereira lasting too much longer? I mean, I'm interested to hear how proud he was of the players after losing at home to Burnley and not having won in his last sort of 13 matches.

45:38It's just not going to go down very well, really. Unlike Wolves. What was interesting today, in fact, Natalie, I was interested to hear what you think of how Vito was after the match. This is the first time they've turned on him today. It's been all against the owners so far, rightly so, in my opinion. But obviously, once the season starts and they're losing every single week, they're going to demand changes. And that change is now, despite the fact he only signed a contract a million weeks ago. The change will now need to be the manager, I think, at some point. Was he surprised at the criticism he got, Natalie?

46:10How did he take it? You know, Tim, he was very down and he wasn't reactive when I asked him about his future he was just he looked upset during the whole interview but he wasn't upset as because he can be a bit reactive he can be a bit I'm trying to make a point here and have a bit of a strong attitude but everyone was just really down and he was just really trying to give explanations when I asked him about the game he said yeah football can be very cruel because we really fought hard especially in the second half he was he defended his players he stood by his players and when I asked him about his future he just said it it wasn't up to him he he was just doing his best so yeah we just have to wait and see because managers sometimes when they are under pressure they can have the guards on and it wasn't the case with with the potato okay magnificent opening goal we should mention for burnley scored by the also magnificently named zian fleming which is basically ian fleming but with a z on the front i can't believe that's accidental which is much better you know ian with a z i mean zian zian just just has a kick about it right i think so as did he uh kind of on the volley, no?

47:33It was very tender, wasn't it? I spoke to him after the match, James, and about that goal, he said that he had a lot of time to think because it was a long ball. So he had time to make that decision, which is usually not good, but in this case, it was. It was lovely. And Martin Dubravka did really well for Burnley, especially the last save of the match, a shot from Santiago Bueno. He was brilliant. So, yeah, good news for Burnley finally winning away from home. Indeed. Up they go to 16th place, 25 points above the drop. Natalie Jedra, thank you so much for that report. Thank you very much.

48:22If Wolves fans out there are seeking solace, they might consider the fact that Wolves failed to win any of their opening nine games last season as well. And went on to survive once they changed their manager. Yeah, exactly. They had a really, really, really tough start. And there were some really rubbish teams that had come up last year. Yeah, and they had that guy called Cunha who could win a game on his own. Oh, yeah. OK. No solace. We'll move on. There's big wins for Man United and Sunderland in particular. And other teams too. We'll wrap up the rest of the Premier League weekend next.

49:07This is the Totally Football Show with James Richardson, part of the Athletic FC podcast network. Totally Football Show European edition is going to be out with you on Tuesday. Oh my word, there's a lot to talk about. El Clasico, Napoli, Inter and Serie A, loads of other stuff. Probably the biggest non-Premier League story this weekend anywhere on the continent though, I'm calling it the continent because it kind of is in spirit, is Hearts going eight points clear at the top of the SPL. Daniel, you went up to see them the other day, didn't you? Are they going to do it? 40 years since we had anyone apart from Rangers and Celtic win the SPL.

49:43It was certainly the best chance we've had pretty much in that 40 years. So for those people that don't know, about a year ago, Tony Bloom, Brighton's owner, invested, bought a stake in Hearts, which included the use of his data recruitment model which Hearts were already signed up to and since then the recruitment has been completely revitalised. You look at some of the clubs that they signed or even some of the countries and leagues that Hearts recruit players from this summer. They signed a player who had just recently played in the Italian fourth tier. They signed a player from Icelandic club.

50:19They signed a player from Estonian clubs. They've got a Kazakhstani international coming in January that they're really excited about. And it seems to have completely revitalised the Scottish Premiership. It definitely helps that Rangers have been, or were absolutely terrible under Russell Martin and Celtic fans are sort of in this weird existential crisis about either Brendan Rodgers or the owners or both. But Hearts have taken full advantage and were full value for the 3-1 win today. They were absolutely magnificent. And Tyne Castle, so I went to the Edinburgh Derby, which is obviously loud.

50:58But just the noise coming through from Tyne Castle today on the TV, you could just tell it was such a good atmosphere. And I think Hearts fans are still in the sort of this is amazing. We're just trying not to think about the serious aspect of maybe winning the title stage because you can kind of forget to smell the flowers if you focus on what might happen in May. but they've got a really, really good chance now because although Celtic will spend in January, they'll have to. Hearts can as well because they've got some added investment. Excellent. Celtic was that they beat 3-1 today to extend their lead at the top of the table.

51:353-1 victory, speaking of people extending their lead at the top of the table, for Coventry this weekend in the Championship, they've now won six league games in a row in the same season for the first time in their entire history. remarkable stuff from Frank Lampard's Sky Blues Watford beaten on Saturday the other end of the championship a mention of course for Sheffield Wednesday who went into administration on Friday with an automatic 12 point deduction and there was much rejoicing from their fans briefly Daniel why? Going into administration is not a good thing in terms of a reflection of your financial status but then Sheffield Wednesday fans knew that that was horrific anyway it's probably the only way of the owner being forced out, Desvon Chanciri being forced to sell.

52:21And there was also this really, really good dichotomy or kind of contrast last week, whereby they boycotted the last home game. I think there was 7 ,100 there for the last home game, of which the majority were away fans. And then on Friday, hours after the administration went through, the white seats that spell out Chancery in the main stand at Sheffield Hillsborough were removed and replaced with blue seats. And I think I'm right in saying it was 268 ,000 total viewers of that live video of those seats being removed, which is just amazing. And good on Sheffield Wednesday fans for how they've gone about this.

53:01The other thing very quickly to say is that when your club goes into administration, it needs all the help it can. So at the weekend, the ground was full. we're told I think it was Rob Statton of BBC Sheffield reported that the fans spent£200 ,000 in the shop in 48 hours in the club shop so they have gone about this exactly the right way, they've done all they can while remaining as decent and as civil and as non-violent as is appropriate and I really really hope they get their wish that the club goes to somebody else as soon as possible Excellent, well done Sheffield Wednesday yeah, 290 ,000 watching that live stream, which is the kind of thing we dream of, Ruben, here at Taddy Football Show.

53:43Incredible numbers. I would love those on our show as well. Yeah, I mean, fair play to Sheffield Wednesday fans for doing that. I just, when I saw that video, I didn't realise that he had his name in the stands. It's extraordinary, isn't it? For an owner, it's just astonishingly lacking in self-awareness, yeah. Off he goes. On we move to the rest of the Premier League weekend. Sunderland, who spent Saturday night in second place in the top flight. This following their 2-1 win at Chelsea, 3 o 'clock on Saturday. Remarkable stuff. The game won in the 93rd minute with Brian Brobby. I think this move started in about the 89th minute.

54:24He was stood there holding off one Chelsea defender while another one stood politely and kind of watched just in case something else might develop. And lo and behold, it did. Chemstein-Talby, is that right, Daniel? Chamsin Talby Tyby he hoved into view probably obligingly laid the ball off to him and then he nutmegged a Chelsea defender to make it 2-1 and there was much rejoicing as well lovely to have a goal like that where you can see even if Chelsea couldn't you could see what was happening way ahead and properly savour the moment I thought it was really important that the second runner came to take Rhys James away from the ball.

55:07It's that kind of effort and selfless running that makes a difference that late in the game when it's hanging in the balance. And there was a notable lack of Chelsea players getting back to defend that counter-attack or even counter-pressing the ball when they lost it. Understandably, they're knackered. But that difference in effort ended up making a whole difference in the points as well. And a great finish. Sunderland shut Chelsea out of the centre really well the whole game. And Le Brie has praised Xhaka as like having a second coach on the pitch. And, you know, a great signing that a lot of us were maybe surprised to see come off in the summer.

55:47A brilliant player, an excellent captain. And the sort of experience that maybe Chelsea, with their average age of 24, may be lacking. Especially in defence, I would say. Interesting. Your Hendersons at Brentford. Your Xhaka's at Sunderland. and great composure from the team. They went behind in this game. Chelsea had taken the lead, but Blackhands didn't panic. They rallied. They imposed themselves and took the three points. And they defended fairly comfortably, to be honest. It wasn't like, you know, Chelsea were really blowing the door down and forcing Rufus into a number of fine saves. In fact, despite all their sort of dominance, 69 % possession, Chelsea.

56:2916 shots to 10, 9-1 on corners. But Sunderland still muster more XG. than Chelsea throughout the game from the chances they create. And yeah, like I said earlier, Sunderland had seven new players in their team, which just shows you, you know, you do not need a transitional reintegration period if you know what you're doing with recruitment. And I think it's fair to say a lot of us weren't sure if we knew Sunderland had a good summer, but it was actually clear very, very quickly, it's clear from that first game against West Ham when they won 3-0, that they'd made a number of very, very astute sign-ins.

56:59I love the way they go about it. Young players with a decent amount of experience, hungry to make a name for themselves in the top league they're obviously all all bought to a specific plan a tactical plan that works for them the scenes were amazing it's right in front of the away end it's just it's one of the moments of the season by distance you know they know how to they know they know how to support their team they know how to celebrate and it's it's one of one of the also one of the most notable assists i mean you mentioned how long brobb is sort of in possession i counted up it's like six seconds he's basically in possession of the ball you know you if you want to you can count another two or three seconds where he's chasing it and it's clear that it's his ball but he's actually in possession for six seconds and Chelsea just watch him do it two players watch him do it I don't think Chalabra really does much wrong because if he engages he's leaving the rest of the penalty box right completely open but there are two of them yeah yeah I think Tosin maybe needs to engage a bit more but obviously he doesn't want to give away a penalty but you can't just let him hold on to the ball until support arrives yeah it's not like he was kind of jinking back and forth.

57:59No, exactly. He just stood there. So maybe Tottenham needs to engage a bit more, but also Chelsea need to get more players retreating to prevent him from using it effectively. Our colleague Nick Miller has been updating Sunderland's progress on Twitter, and he posted yesterday after this that they've now earned 59.3 % of all the points won by the promoted teams last season already by themselves. Wow. They've also made the best start of any newly promoted club to the Premier League. since 2008. That's the good news. The bad news is that in 2008 was Phil Brown's Hull, who second half of the season fell away after an ill-advised on-field tete-a-tete between Phil and his players, after which they got involved in a bit of a messy relegation scrap.

58:45I mean, you never know what's going to happen between now and May, but this Sunderland side, joint third best defensive record in the league, they look for real. Anyway, I'm sure, and I hope we'll have other opportunities to praise the Black Cats, we should also talk with pride about the Man United performance this weekend, their third straight victory, everybody. And this one, 4-2 against Brighton, I guess you could make a case that it's even more important than the last one they had at Anfield. What do you think, Daniel? Yeah, I mean, they have, I think we said it last week, that they've really struggled to back up good results with another.

59:24Brighton have been, I mean, let's face it, a lot of clubs have been Man United's bogey team over the last couple of years, but Brighton certainly have. I think it was four of the last five they'd won. But they are completely, effectively, become a reinvented side. I think there's two obvious things, which is Senna Lamans has really settled in as goalkeeper. He looks like the defence have confidence in him And they brought two proven Premier League attackers in Matthias Kuhner and Brian Embreimer, who look like they are really having fun now. I think last season was a sort of nadir of first half Manchester United.

1:00:03They led only five games at halftime, which was, I think it was few in the Southampton who finished bottom. This year, now, nobody has led at halftime more often than Manchester United. They've equaled that total from last season. So they're starting games quickly. That's the big difference. They're not sort of easing their way into games and finding themselves 2-0 down before anyone's decided to start playing. That's the obvious difference. And forgive me for kind of under-analyzing this, but I think that's just confidence. It just means that you're ready. You know what you're doing at the start of games.

1:00:37You don't need to see how things go and settle in and almost like acclimatise yourself for the first 20 minutes. They know what they're doing from the start. And they're not perfect by any means. Brighton had chances at 0-0 they had chances at 3-0 when United didn't really kill off the game as they would have liked to but this is good enough they've got two more games till that poor bloke gets to cut his hair and we don't have to keep seeing him and those games those games are against Forrest and Spurs Forrest in Nottingham and Spurs at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium so he's desperately close to that haircut what makes you think he wants a haircut?

1:01:18Have you seen it? No, but his entire USP is the fact that he hasn't had hair cut. Yeah, yeah. I mean, when the bit is over, then what does he do? Well, we'll see. Like Daniel says, it is definitely... CBD gummies. Like Daniel says, it is confidence related. I think that confidence bleeds into the execution of their tactics as well. If you look at kind of the average position maps and things like that, Bruno Fernandes and Casemiro are a lot closer to each other while not getting on top of each other's space, which has been a problem in recent weeks, close to Sesko when the ball goes up long to him.

1:01:54And Luke Shaw, they broke this down on Match of the Day, Luke Shaw was very free to follow Jorginho Routier and allow the rest of the back five to kind of plug those gaps, which I think has been a problem when Bruno Fernandes and Casemiro have kind of been isolated and outnumbered in midfield in recent weeks with no help from those outside centre-backs stepping in, which I think when you play that shape, is quite crucial. And also, if Shaw isn't doing that, then quite often I notice Cunha dropping back quite deep to kind of form a midfield three and make it more of a 5-3-2. And I saw Mount doing this against Liverpool as well.

1:02:29So for all the talk of Amrim needing to change his formation, I think subtle tweaks or better execution of his instructions has made a huge difference. The players doing what they're told. Exactly that. Right, yeah, OK. Well, there you go. So two big games coming up for Man United, who are now only a point off the top four, having already played all of last year's top four in their first nine matches. So all of a sudden, this is bewildering, the turnaround in prospects for United. Yeah, all of a sudden, things looking pretty rosy. Two other games this weekend. One was Newcastle beating Fulham 2-1.

1:03:09That is Fulham's fourth defeat in a row. Crikey. and Newcastle moving a little bit up the table, although they're still stuck very much in the middle of the pack. But a nice win for them. Another nice performance from Jacob Murphy, who opened the scoring. Bruno Guimaraes with the second after Fulham had equalised. And the other game was Leeds United 2, West Ham 1. And concerns that the advent of Nuno Espirito Santo on the West Ham bench might not prove the dramatic sop to their misfortunes, may well be founded. Who's worried for West Ham here? Well, you mentioned that he's not made a good start.

1:03:52That's a first in his entire managerial career, actually. You know, he comes in and he makes an immediate positive impact wherever he goes, which is why I'd be worried for West Ham, really. You know, he came in and won his first two games at Forest. Daniel will remember the Chris Wood hat-trick at Newcastle. He won his first three at Spurs, actually, before things went wrong. Manager of the month as well. Yeah, he won his first three at Wolves. He was unbeaten in his first 11 when he went to Saudi Arabia. He won his first two at Porto. Valencia won five of their first seven when he was there. He had to go all the way back to his first ever club, Rio Ave, in 2012, when he lost his first match.

1:04:26But then he went to Sporting away the week after and won there. So there's no coincidence for this because he comes in and simplifies things. He really sort of – he breaks things down to a few sort of basic tasks per player and he'll instill, you know, sort of a rigid defensive shape and gets his teams to try and control the game without the ball. He's very, very, very, very good at that. The fact he hasn't done it with West Ham at all, and they've felt even worse than before he joined, doesn't bode well. A couple of reasons for that, well, maybe the players just don't listen to him. Maybe he hasn't selected the right teams.

1:04:57I've seen West Ham fans slating his midfield selections. And also, what's curious is that he's had a very loyal band of backroom staff members who followed him throughout his career. There's only the goalkeeper coach that's there this time. now I don't know why that is I haven't seen why that is I don't know if there's a financial issue behind that he had trouble at Spurs getting in the guys that he wanted but he's taken on West Ham's academy of staff as his backroom team and he's got you know an assistant a couple of first team coaches as a psychological expert a rehabilitation expert who cut down the injuries at Wolves and elsewhere none of them are there so that would be that would be one of many many concerns I think that West Ham and Nuno have got right now.

1:05:37West Ham have two home games before the next international break, however significant that might be. They've got Newcastle next Sunday, who actually haven't won away in the Premier League this season, and Burnley, who, of course, defeated Wolves earlier on today. Leeds, meanwhile, have got a great record going at Elland Road. Very nice. Daniel, anything you want to leave us with before we wrap up today on the Totally Football Show? Not at all. No, thank you very much. Thank you very much Daniel. Ruben? I'd love to plug our episode on the Athletic FC's The Week in Football. We looked at Real Madrid and Barcelona who of course have played today at the time of recording that.

1:06:22So for listeners who want some broader context before the Euro show this week then John McKenzie and JJ Bull delved into kind of how the club's potentially swapping identities in terms of the super team of Galactico stars and the one reliant on a system. So go and have a watch of that. Interesting. Very nice. Anything you want to plug there, Tim Spears? I mean, you know, yeah, people can read my weekly column, Rosehead, every Tuesday morning. That's lovely. I enjoy Rosehead. Yeah, thanks Jimbo. Sort of a left field glance at the world of football, tongue in cheek, you know? Can't get enough of that in this mixed up world.

1:07:03Something to bring a smile to your face. Anyway, listener, Many thanks for being with us today, or indeed viewer. We'll be around with that Euro show, which you can get onto once you've done your homework with Ruben's friends. And then we'll be back with the regular Tony Football Show on Thursday. So, yeah, many thanks to everybody concerned, including Jake and producer Charlie in the booth and you at home. Have a great week. Until we speak to you again for now, for all of us, it's goodbye.

1:07:36You've been listening to The Totally Football Show, part of the Athletic FC podcast network. For more great podcasts just like this one, including The Athletic FC and our dedicated club podcasts, search for The Athletic on Apple, Spotify and all the usual places. We're also at The Totally Football Show on Insta and at The Totally Show on YouTube. The Totally Football Show is an Athletic Media Company production.

1:08:03The Athletic FC. Thank you.