Arsenal win at Liverpool, Brighton beat City + are Man United in a relegation battle?

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2:11Live from downtown London It's the Totally Football Show

2:20Today, Anfield, rice on a plate for Havertz and Arsenal beat Liverpool to streak clear atop the table. We ask, who now are the Gunners' most realistic rivals? Elsewhere, Brighton triumph at the Etihad. City's problems now Seagull as well as Legal. Villa get upset by an F word, it's Fulham. And Man Utd finally pull levels with the teams in Europe. the bottom three that is of Palace Forest and Sunderland all that and more in this Totally Football Show Many thanks for joining us on this Totally Football Show perhaps you're with us live on literally Sunday evening where we've got Colin Miller in Hi Colin Hello Jims Hello to you Agent Clark's fresh back from comms Yeah good evening on the Liverpool Arsenal Absolutely yeah Yeah.

3:12All right. Yeah. Sitting pretty. All right. Whatever the result had been, you'd have been here with us. Of course I would. You didn't have anyone in reserve, did you? Make that clear. Make that clear to the listeners, please. All right. And also with us, Julien Laurent. Hello, guys. Hi, Jules. Hello. Lovely to see you. Big win for the Arsenal.

3:31Julien Laurens: Yeah. Yeah, big win. I think it's a bit of a statement, to be fair. They haven't won at Liverpool in the league since 2014, which is a very long time. Mikel Arteta himself had never won there. had had struggles, many of them. And I think to go there, poor performance were for the first time, I think, in Premier League era. Liverpool don't have a short target in a league game. It's pretty significant. This Arsenal team is the best by far out of position in the world. I think they showed that again today, the collectiveness, the togetherness, the solidity collectively, even the tactically what they did to frustrate this Liverpool team, I think was very impressive.

4:07Wow. The Anfield curse is over. says ears of the wolf. How big a thing was the Anfield curse? Quite big, yeah. I've been there and we've been spanked loads of times where we conceded multiple goals. It's not been a happy hunting ground at all. Even last year when it was a stinker of a game, it really should have been a nil-nil. Sob a slide goes and sticks one in the top corner. Yeah, it just not happened for Arsenal there. But this was different. I think Arsenal go in there as champions. They just back themselves. Once they got that lead, the game changed, obviously, and Liverpool came at Arsenal.

4:45But I don't think they were ever faced by that. I think, in a way, it suited Arsenal to sit a little bit deeper rather than have Liverpool counter on them. Because, let's be honest, Liverpool ran out of ideas, didn't they? So, yeah, it worked out beautifully. And look, the goal. What a goal it was. Let's not ignore that. That was a beautiful goal. Well, come on to that game. Many thanks to everyone who's written in on our YouTube comments section. And Producers Charlie rather provocatively put out a question. What's more likely to happen this season? Brighton winning the title. Oh, man, United going down.

5:19United, who are currently just goal difference outside the bottom three. Brighton, who, table to hand, are probably Arsenal's closest rivals. No, Man City are three points back. But I don't know how relevant that fact is. Brighton are five points behind. And Liverpool, with today's defeat, how far back are they? Nine. you've got Chelsea in there as well I think 7 points back is that right? a bit of a gap Brighton are the next best the next best team so which is more realistic as an outcome or are you going to say both? or neither or neither I think Brighton definitely yeah? I think if you look at the if you look at the numbers behind Brighton as well like their goal difference is 17 which is 7 better than City 8 better than Arsenal so it's not just like they're winning games but they're winning them really really well they've also had the toughest set of fixtures so far this is the incredible thing

6:07Julien Laurens: They do better against big teams than small teams. This is true. That is also true. But it is an intriguing thing that at the start of the season, Opta ranked everyone's fixtures in prospect, and the team with the most difficult first-time fixtures were Brighton, and there they are just behind Arsenal. And the team with the easiest supposedly set of fixtures is Man United. And look where they are. Yeah, and I think that shows you the counter at that point. It's true. They do statistically do better against the better teams because of the style. but Brighton are a team and a coach who learns a lot from game to game you can see that in those early defeats and how they've adapted since then so yeah I I wouldn't write it off like I don't think they'll win the league but but it's it's great to have a team up there who haven't challenged before ever really so it's it's fantastic for the league to have that I just don't know how sustainable everything is going their way like scoring from the halfway line the goals against Arsenal the first two goals for example the XG is much lower than the man they scored and rightly so because, again, they have had a super efficient clinical finishing in them.

7:11Julien Laurens: I just don't know over the whole season how much they can keep it up. But if they keep playing like this and if Europe doesn't take away too much energy, then, yeah, they will be amongst the best. They do have big players coming back. Quite a depth, you know, low-key. For both of these stories, Brighton and Man United, the January transfer window could be decisive. Take a Fanatic says United will survive once they bring in HAL, I presume. but relegation could be different if Hull, Coventry and Ipswich stay up. Is there, what's the latest word, Colin, on United's plans long term with Carrick? The athletics reporting has been that it's going to be, you know, Michael Carrick has been given time probably until the international break to...

7:55Okay, which is another two weeks? To turn his former... Yeah, I mean, look, it just very much feels like he's a Liam Dock at the minute, doesn't it? Is that because they think he can turn it around or because they just haven't sorted anything out? The official line would be that they think he can do that. I think the unofficial line is that they're not 100 % sure of what they want. They're not 100 % sure if they can afford what they want. And I think it's a very, very difficult situation for the club at the minute. I think much more so than a lot of people realise that the financial situation at Manchester United is not great.

8:27and I would imagine that a lot of managers who might otherwise feel like they could, you know, they can maybe take the risk in taking that job who are of a high status, they might just not have a package on offer that would be attractive. Are they not one of the richest clubs in the world? Where's all the money going, Colin? Yeah, but they, yeah, yeah. The debts have accumulated to such a point and not just that, I think since INEOS have come in and they've been responsible for a lot of very, very bad decisions, by the way, and they should not be absorbed from this, but they have adapted a strategy whereby they've seen the state of the finances and they've tried to really rein it in.

9:00They've seen the finances of the club and the unsustainability of the wages that were being handed out. And you look at the transfer fees that Manchester United pay out, and look, there shouldn't be anywhere near 17th, but they're not top three, top four clubs. The wages being paid have been scaled back. I mean, Casemiro was the highest earner and he's gone and he hasn't, you know, Marcus Rashford is now the highest earner, but these are all legacy contracts.

9:23Julien Laurens: Yeah. And again, Bruno Fernandes, probably would argue that he deserves to be the top earner. And I mean, rightly so. But that's what they've inherited. And they've tried to scale back. We've obviously talked about the redundancies, which are another issue. But Manchester United is a club. I think it's a lot worse than people realise. And I think it's a lot more difficult in terms of what they do next. And Michael Carrick, again, you can look to that appointment, even initially as an interim. It's like, well, that was a money-saving appointment. Ultimately, at the start, that was a money-saving appointment.

9:52It wasn't, you know, obviously the results came, but everything has been conditioned by that. So I would be quite worried about that long term. You've got one more week before the international break.

10:00Julien Laurens: I think you said two weeks maybe. So there's another round. And then it's the international break after that. Yes, two more games. Roma home in the Champions League midweek and then Villa home next weekend. Then it's the national break. We'll call it one week. Yeah. In the sense that, sorry, it's just two games. No, no, you're right. Save its place in a way. Excellent. Hey, let's check on the results then from whatever match day this was. Nine, I'm calling it? That's right, yeah. Match day nine. Saturday lunchtime, Chelsea beat Manchester United 2-0, extending the Red Devils' winless streak to 9.

10:30A 2-0 of popular scoreline on Saturday, actually, because Bournemouth also beat Leeds 2-0 that afternoon. That's now six wins in a row for Bournemouth in all competitions. 16 goals scored, none conceded. 2-0 for Brentford as well against Forest. Forest have now had two goals from their last 94 shots in five Premier League matches. as well. 3-1 for Coventry against Sunderland. Big game that. Battle of the bottom two. And a victory which saw the Sky Blues leap three places out of the bottom three. Hull had a 2-2 draw with Ipswich, while Manchester City lost 1-0 at home to Brighton, which was the Seagulls' first ever win away to Man City.

11:08Spurs made it three wins from three. Will they ever lose again? Beating Palace 2-0 while Aston Villa were held to a 1-1 draw by Fulham. And then, as you probably saw on Sunday afternoon, Liverpool lost 1-0 at home to Arsenal their first defeat to the Gunners at home in 14 years Adrian? Since 2012 2012 was the year So 14 years? Yeah yeah 14 years Okay Monday there's Newcastle Everton but in the meantime as we mentioned Arsenal have gone three points clear of City five of Brighton eight of Chelsea not seven as I said before and nine from Liverpool and at the other end United are 17th only goal difference outside the bottom three of Palace, Forest and Sunderland.

11:51All, of course, clubs playing in Europe, which may be a relevant thing there. Part one for us is going to be all about Liverpool. Arsenal, I think, more chat about them. Hey, let's get into it. First of all, Arsenal. First of all, Adrian. He's my middle name, yeah. What a way to bounce back from Fleetwood. We've not moved on from that. No, it was good of Arsenal to sacrifice themselves for the greater good, wasn't it? Keeping these domestic cup competitions interesting. No, that was embarrassing. It was. You can't sugarcoat it, but it was the right fixture, wasn't it, to come into off the back.

12:33And yeah, I just thought it was a really confident start from Arsenal. They sort of controlled the game, played with a little bit of a swagger. There was no fear. I didn't think there was any nerves at all from Arsenal. and it was a lovely, lovely goal. I think with Liverpool, there's a big weakness at tracking runners in the wide area. So Barker and Gakpo are fantastic wingers, okay, but they don't want to get back. Ngemo, you could say the same. Victor Munoz is slightly different. He's a very hard-working player, but even he switched off for a goal at Brentford. So I always thought before the game, we can get in down the sides with two V1s and Rice obviously spotted that he could do that.

13:13It was a brilliantly timed overlap. And just the quality of that ball in for Havertz. It was unmissable, wasn't it, at the far post? So, yeah, great goal. And then the dynamic changes. Liverpool react well. But for me, it suited Arsenal to sit back and protect their box because of Barcala and Gakpo. They want space to run into. Isak. And there was no space to really run into. And I think even though it felt like Arsenal might have been on the ropes at times, the stats would say that there was a distinct lack of quality chances. The only one was the McAllister header. He should score that. Saluted by that Arsenal fan behind the guy.

13:54That was great, wasn't it? Memorable fashion. The one stat above all, the one that you'd cited in the intro, chose the fact that for the first time ever in a Premier League game at home, Liverpool failed to have a shot on target. Plenty of possession, plenty of what seemed like promising possession, but what Arsenal's defending or Liverpool's decision-making or what?

14:13Julien Laurens: Yeah, more Arsenal defending, I think, because again, you know, no clear-cut chances, even if you can have no shot on target, but create a lot of chances. But apart from the McAllister header, which is still quite low XG, I think 0.15, the rest were shots either blocked, positions where there was a lot of bodies in that box in front of the people who were on the ball. Like Colin said, when we were preparing the show, forces you to do something different because there are so many bodies there that you can't have a clear even view of your shot. so I thought Arsenal played really well apart from that cross from Kirkhaz that leads to the McAllister header where Madweke is a little bit late after the defending What about the cross that almost found Alexander Isaac's head or Isaac's head except he was being pulled back surely by Duran Timber Yeah I kind of I don't want to go down the route of refereeing decisions I do think that should have been a penalty It's something that should have been spotted by the VAR Yeah I mean I didn't really notice it in full time I didn't appreciate the fact that it really impacted Isaac's jump towards the ball.

15:12Yeah, I kind of think Izak doesn't appeal for it. He doesn't really react to it. I find that a bit weird because, again, I saw it the first time and you can understand the on-field reluctance to react to that. But that sort of stuff shouldn't impact VAR. And it's, again, you don't want players to be diving. But had Izak have exaggerated that contact, I think... Don't do McAllister, you mean? Well, yeah, well, exactly. Yeah, much later in the match, yeah. But this is the thing, that there is an incentive if you do react, you're more likely to get a decision. And I think if you are going to have the AR...

15:44Who doesn't cry doesn't suck at their mother's breast. Okay. Okay, right. It sounds better in poetry. And this match, after the game, Mikel Arteta comes out and he speaks about suffering. And again, this is one of the things I find really interesting, especially Spanish managers, Italian managers too. Antonio Conte really went down this route of how his team suffer and that being such a virtuous quality. It's a Catholic thing. Yeah, I think a lot of people believe that it is rooted in this sort of religious kind of cultural element and linguistically too, because we say suffer in English, but it's being seen as a virtue.

16:17It's like this is what we're setting out to do. We're intentionally being like this. And you saw that celebration between Arteta and Ainset full-time, jumping up and down, hugging each other. This victory, not just the win at Anfield, of course, that's a huge moment, but the manner in which it was done, the conditions in which this game were played. is Arteta a better manager for winning titles than Arsene Wenger a better manager for winning titles than Arsene Wenger well we'll find out in a few years not yet he isn't what do you mean by that well in terms of the qualities that he brings in terms of what he does to the team dynamic I really love Arteta as a manager because he's across everything he's a proper manager so he has his fingers in all the pies and he has single handedly changed the culture of the dressing room.

17:04It is like a family. Which, to be fair, Wenger did back in the... He did, but he did it in a different way. He did it more in a hands-off way. He let the players sort of manage the dressing room a little bit more. But I thought the whole thing when Wenger came in that he was very much hands-on about diet, about... Of course, at the start, at the outset. But once that was in place, I think then he just got the right characters, the right talent in to suit the style of play. Arteta's had to build from a really difficult position and he's built brilliantly. I think that feeling of family comes across on the pitch because they're willing to fight for each other, cover each other's backs.

17:38They'll throw their body in the line of the ball. They'll do anything to keep that clean sheet. I personally was brought up on 1-0 to the Arsenal under George Graham in the 80s and 90s. And a lot of people my age, I think, get more enjoyment out of seeing Arsenal win 1-0, suffering, as you just said there, than maybe a swashbuckling 4 or 5-0 win. It's a funny thing to explain, but I personally really, really enjoy watching Arsenal tough it out. And that's what they did here. Do you think as well, Adrian, that that Fleetwood match? Obviously, that's painful, but Arteta almost seems to thrive a little bit on a bit of pain.

18:19It's almost like, you know...

18:20Julien Laurens: He would have used in his pre-match team talk and things like that. I think straight after the Fleetwood game, probably, they would have got a proper hair-dry treatment and then he would have used it all the way until today. Okay. I just want to mention Esri Konza. Okay. Right. This guy, what a signing. What a signing Esri Konza has been. I mean, he has not really put a foot wrong since joining. It's hard. Ville is a big club, but Arsenal is more of a global club. It's a lot more pressure. There's more eyes on you. And the way he's handled it, like alongside Gabriel, is I think admirable. And again, in this match, he was perfect.

18:58Julien Laurens: Apart from the mistake in the first half where bad touch and then Barcola gets the ball and Barcola, if his first touch is a bit better. Yeah, not perfect. No, no, but yeah, but you're right. But again, this is positions where maybe he's not used to and under that kind of pressure, but he's done amazing. Is there going to be a title challenge from anyone this year? It's only the start of November. We've got a little bit more than two-thirds of the season still to go. Can you see someone challenging? Yeah, yeah. I mean, whatever happens to City, I think City would be there. I'm kind of putting them in a separate bracket.

19:30Julien Laurens: If we put City off, I don't think Brighton will last the whole season. I think they will be there in a round, but I don't think it will be enough. Maybe top four. But I thought if Liverpool won today and come back three points behind, and they were showing progress, which again, today, I was a bit disappointed by Liverpool's performance overall. Even their press, I don't think was as efficient as it should have been or could have been. And it's another big fixture that the Man City won previously that didn't go their way, that they needed to go their way. And they perhaps were unlucky in that one more than in this.

20:00But yeah, they didn't get the win. So are they, what, nine points? Yeah, I think nine is already. Does that mean that they, I mean, it would be a big comeback.

20:07Julien Laurens: Yeah, but Arsenal still have to play. Obviously, they've played Chelsea. They've played Brighton, as we know that game. They play Liverpool now. And they've played Villa. But there's still some big games coming up. There's a North London derby not that long ago for Arsenal. They'll be United too. There's still those big games where you can drop points there and there. but they look so strong. The ominous season, 24 points from nine games is really high. It's really high. I think Arsenal, I don't think Arsenal have ever got more across the... More than last season. Haven't got more than that across nine games in the Premier League season.

20:38So, and who here thinks Arsenal are playing brilliantly? Like they're not, are they? They're playing well. There's been good bits. Right. But they're definitely not top tier. They're not in the top gear, are they, at the moment?

20:52Julien Laurens: And they're without Saka and Saliba for now and for the next few weeks. And I do think they will recruit in January as well. You do? Yeah. What will they get? I think they will get the forward that they could have got in the summer, but decided to wait for January. Which one, Gilles? Come on. No, no, no. I think they're looking at different profiles, including Antonio Nusa, for example, at Leipzig, who is the player that they really like. They want another winger because I think Tolis is a really good player. He's a team player. is very much of an arteta player. Yeah, on that left-hand side, they probably need a bit of cover or a different profile, which Nusa is to a certain extent.

21:28Julien Laurens: I don't think he's perfect. I think there are other players they're looking at. But the idea was very much not to sign that other forward in the summer and wait for January to see what's on the market, what they can do. And if they need somebody, then maybe they could move at that time. Okay. Terence Tibbs says, Brighton looked like the strongest team, I presume of the challengers. Terence Tibbs goes on to say, I'd love Brighton to prove this Frenchie wrong. Yeah, me too. But I think it's a great story. It's a great story. Jules, his name is Jules. Anyway, let's get on to Brighton and what they got up to on Saturday and next on the Totally Football Show.

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24:35Saturday's action where among the stories were Brighton beating Manchester City and Man United losing again, this time at Chelsea. Which one do you want to start with, Colin? The Chelsea Man United or the Man City Brighton? I think Man City Brighton. I think it's one more positive thing to say about the teams involved in that. All right, then. Yeah. So Brighton's first ever victory, like ever, away to Manchester City. What did you make of it? Yeah, very impressive. Again, from Brighton, they had gone there a couple of days earlier, had twice taken the lead, lost on penalties. So, yeah, those were much changed teams.

25:14But I think when you lose a game like that on penalties, it might then sort of, again, like the Arteta stuff, gives you that little edge in the next game. So I've got a question here, because that's their first ever victory in, what is it, in the league? Yes, in the league, to 17 winless visits. But Fabian Herzog is unbeaten against Manchester City in the Premier League. He's had three wins and two draws. So what is it that he does? What has he been able to do with Brighton? Yeah, I think, well, for this game, they adapted to this quite well, right? Because we can't talk about this by talking about the game at Liverpool the week before.

25:53and you know Liverpool won that 2-0 against Brighton but that was conditioned by the early Yassin Ayer miss which really had that gone in 1-0 Brighton would have been ahead and that everything changes Liverpool scored twice in succession on two mistakes by the way on Brighton but Brighton after that a lot of the ball a lot of the ball in good areas a lot of sort of half chances they were creating they played very well but they didn't they didn't really they didn't get that sort of stroke of luck that they maybe needed and we talked about them adapting and learning from that mistake so for this game they were slightly more cautious so when you looked and you can only really appreciate this when you sort of tactically analyse whenever they love breaking fast and vertically but they held on one midfielder further back so whilst they still Fabian Harsler's approach is that risking losing the match is worth it if we can win it and that has been the approach pretty much since he's come in it embodies Brighton and what they try to do very well but he does tweak it a little bit and he did here and Brighton only had nine touches in Man City's penalty area the whole game So that, again, goes to show that they weren't as sort of territorially dominant as they are.

26:58I know it's against Manchester City, but that was a different way of playing. They played with more width. And you can see that with a goal because it comes into De Kuiper, who then laid it back for Ayari to score. But yeah, they play with width. And again, they hassle and they don't let Manchester City settle. There's no fear. There's no fear. They're not intimidated by anyone. It's a reflection of the manager. Fabian Herzog is not intimidated by any other Premier League head coach. You can see that in the technical area. He's quite spiky, isn't he? And his team, I think, reflect that. And they get under the skin of opponents.

27:30But they're good as well. In this game, though, they did ride their luck. The goalie was unbelievable. Verbruggen, yeah. Verbruggen, sorry.

27:41Julien Laurens: They should have won on Wednesday. They were the better team and they had the best tech G and big chances. On this one, they got lucky. okay he got lucky he's good for Bruggan by the way yeah he's great they're probably somewhere in between those two City games I think in terms of going away and win at Arsenal for example I was at the game last season at the Emirates where they played really well they ended up losing 2-1 Raya makes an amazing save on I think a minty shot in the second half for example but somewhere in between is probably right between the game on Wednesday where they can go away and dominate even a Man City B team and play really well and yet they still lack a bit of something somewhere, maybe a bit of experience, maybe just a bit of efficiency somewhere because it's still a young team.

28:26Julien Laurens: The team that, apart from Pascal Gross and Luis Deng, the rest is quite young. Ayari is young. Gomez is still quite young. De Kuyper is young. Costoulas is very young. And, you know, Andres is really young too. And I think they still are learning like Hutzler is learning. But I think they are the teams that press the best in the league by far. They have the most high recoveries. They have the most high pressures. Their PPDA, which is the pass per defensive action, so how many passes you allow the other team to do before you recover the ball, is the best in the league. For that, they're incredible.

29:04Julien Laurens: And it's very difficult to play against them. Okay, but also quite difficult to sustain that level of play. Especially with Europe as well. I see. Despite the depth in the squad that we mentioned, with Ntoma coming back and Minte. okay, playing in the conference league, they will go far, they should win that. And in the league, at that kind of level, I think it would be difficult. But I think they've got a squad where they've got a European team and then a Premier League team at the weekend. Obviously, it's not fixed, but they do have depth. We've seen that in the League Cup whenever they play them against Manchester United, pretty much a change of 11.

29:34And they just make, what, seven or eight sign-ins every summer. Pretty much every single one of them just turns out to be a really good investment.

29:41Julien Laurens: You said Iab Lonek in Europe, for example, which was a little bit a bit more disappointing really even if this game they should have won they still drew nil-nil and that was a bit yeah a bit of a stalemate Man City played very well in this game this wasn't a bad City performance at all you could say that they actually played better in this and even against Villa last week when they lost a lot of their wins this season which were quite scratchy but you know Manchester City can do a lot of damage to teams and yeah they could have scored but I just think that victory and that result, doing so with a clean sheet.

30:15And talking about the goal difference, it's not just the goals they score, it's the defensive Brighton have become so much better. Six games in a row now. Not in a row, no. They considered it at Liverpool, didn't they? Yeah, two right. Sorry, yeah. I'm thinking Bournemouth, aren't they? Yeah, but they do defend well. But Verbruggen has been good. Looking at the numbers, he's made 22 saves from inside the box. It's the joint most in the division with the hole keeper and Man Utd's goalkeeper, Lomans. So he's having to work hard. he's keeping them in the games as brilliant as they've been and all those stats are true they do give up chances they're not watertight they're not watertight and I think sooner or later that'll probably catch up on them

30:54Julien Laurens: but we'll see we'll see City play Leipzig in Europe they do? yeah and I don't know why Scherke is not starting in a game like the one against Brighton because this is typically the kind of game where Scherke would shine and it's beyond me how Maharska can leave him on the bench and play Enzo as a 10 in a game like this well there you go they have Leipzig I think that's on Wednesday in the Champions League Brighton will be up against Getafe yeah in Madrid on Thursday trip to the dentist they call it in Spain do they call it playing against Getafe yeah I like that although it's not maybe the Getafe the best best Getafe that we saw before on the ball on us okay we're going to recap on their trip to the dentist on Thursday oh no we won't because they'll be playing on Thursday and I skip that Let's move on instead to the other game I mentioned, Colin, which was Chelsea's 2-0 victory over Manchester United.

31:46Normally, we would start by celebrating the winner of a game, but was this more about Man United losing this match? I don't think I've ever seen a match which was so a game of two halves. Manchester United could have had the game not... They couldn't just have been ahead. They could have had that game wrapped up with some of the chances they'd been created. Obviously, I had the ball in the net. It was offside. and Ahmad missed two or three really good chances. They were playing very well. They had a plan that was working. Chelsea, I thought, were alarmingly bad. Wesley Fofano... He had such a bad thing.

32:20He gifted them the chances

32:21Julien Laurens: more than United creating them. Yeah, I mean, I don't know about Chelsea. I know that they won this game and you can't go too harsh on that, but the first 45 minutes wasn't great. I just, again, the dynamics of the Manchester United dressing room here the sense that they can put in that performance for 45 minutes and then the second half to be quite abject and once they went 1-0 down there wasn't a response yeah no sorry you go ahead no and then you have the Sandro Martinez right why is he still playing for Manchester United I don't understand well he doesn't it just seems to me very clear he doesn't want to be there he should have been dropped for the Leeds game after what happened against Atletico and I think for me it was Michael Carrick's lack of authority okay of maybe being brave enough to make that decision of not playing him, leaving him at home.

33:11Julien Laurens: In the same way that he'd done with Bruno Fernandes the week later. Exactly, yeah. Which I think he probably made it for Bruno because you realise he made a mistake with Lissandro Martinez. Who would have brought him for Lissandro Martinez? De Liert was on the bench, Masrari was on the bench, Hayden was on the bench, Hayden Heaven was on the bench, sorry, which all of them could have did a better job. Lissandro Martinez has been terrible this season anyway. So if he had been good and you would have said, yeah, okay, he makes those mistakes or he spoke about the ownership and Wilcox and all of that but we need him because he's our best defender he's the worst defender in that squad who is by the way have a lot of bad defenders right and I can't understand and for me this is on Carrick because managers I know players are to blame probably mostly and fans still back Carrick okay maybe but the role of a manager is also to make the right decisions within your squad within your starting line-up right and for me we can say Lisandro Martinez let the team down Chelsea on Saturday, sure, but Carrick let himself down by starting a player like that.

34:10Adrian, what did you make? So it was 82 seconds between the two yellow cards. The first for basically hanging off the back of a Sky Sports expression of, who was it? Rodgers. Oh, yeah, Morgan Rodgers. And then, having received that yellow, completely taking out for fun with an elbow to the throat. He wasn't looking at the ball. He's just, he is a player whose head is gone. Lissandra Martinez's head is gone. Right. And I completely agree with Julian. I think he should be out of the team. What does De Ligt think sitting there on the bench? Like, this guy's in ahead of me and he's done it again. He's cost us again.

34:48He can't pick him again. Michael Carrick cannot pick Lissandra Martinez on Wednesday. He can't be suspended. Yeah, exactly. And he probably won't be there. He probably won't be there by the time he comes back from suspension. And, yeah, I completely agree. he's the worst player in the league at the moment like Vassandra Martinez there's no one worse than him is there in terms of form you look at all the goals man you have conceded it's almost always him that's there so yeah he needs to go but yeah it was a funny game but when they had that setback and this is where I talked earlier about that family spirit and togetherness that you need to be a top team when you have a setback that's when setback was at Fleetwood for Arsenal.

35:35United have a setback, start the second half. You're looking for a response. And that spoke volumes how they collapsed, basically. Speaking of collapsing, Asad D'Souza says, is it just the positioning of the camera on Adrian or has he decreased in height? Other people are questioning about a dodgy chair in the studio. That's actually another studio where we do have a chair that will go down depending upon the level of interest in your performance. But Adrian, I think it's just that you've backed off from the table a little bit. There's a little lever here if you want to bring yourself back up to...

36:07I'm comfortable. I'm not obsessed with my image. You're still big. You're still big as the podcast that got started. Yeah, I haven't shrunk. I haven't shrunk. I'll tell you who did step up who was big in this performance. Chelsea. Lavia. Really good. I thought he was really good. Because obviously he's not a regular. But when he's hot, he's a really good player. He just can't stay fit, can he? Yeah, yeah, exactly. Yeah, yeah. I know what he did there. He won four tackles. Yes. He won four interceptions. Okay. And he made 14 ball recoveries. Now, just to put that into some context, Andre Santos and Carlos Buleba, adversaries in the midfield.

36:46Right. They made two ball recoveries each. So that's, that's a big difference. Aye, aye, aye, aye, aye. We were discussing whether Man United could go down or not. Hasn't happened for a very long time. Currently, they are averaging 0.78 points per game, which would leave them with 29 or 30 points at their current rate of picking them up at the end of the season. 29 or 30 points will take you down to the championship. They probably are a bit better than that.

37:20Julien Laurens: And I think if you look at some of the stats, they probably are better than that. Like they were probably not as good last season when Carrick took over for some of the data and stats again. When? He was getting them 2.29 points. Yeah, but if you look at the XG points, for example, so when you look at all the XG points, they were not that good. And they were not bad, but they were just not, this is an incredible ratio. I hear what you're saying. And I think they're probably in between. but even that is too average for a club like Manchester United and that's why I think Carrick should go I've got nothing against Carrick I'm not saying he's a bad manager I understand why the fans like him some of the players clearly I think have switched off from him others are still probably backing him but I think overall he's just too average for me the fans certainly serenading him particularly at Old Trafford but I think that might have been more as a measure of respect for the work that he put in at the end of last season rather than they were saying goodbye exactly exactly United United haven't been down.

38:20Oh, sorry, not since November 1986. Have United been in the bottom three past August? And what happened then? Ron Atkinson was dismissed and they brought in a man from Scotland. Yeah, they have a big game coming up on Tuesday in Europe when they're going to be away to Roma, who are absolutely fine. Oh, they're at home.

38:42Julien Laurens: Of course they are because it's... Two games at home against Roma and Villa. Yeah, and it's a big game for Roma because Old Trafford, there's a 7-1. That's right. And it's a good Roma team, a team that plays with a lot of confidence, with a style of football that even if this United team, as we saw in the first half, is probably better in transition than having a lot of the ball and not really knowing what to do with it, I think it could be a bit tricky for them. Roma favours, do you think? I would say so. In terms of form, Roma, you know, second and ten. 5-2 at the weekend. Yeah, they were outstanding all the way.

39:15I don't know what Lazio have done today, but they were one point off the top yesterday. Yeah, Lazio won again.

39:20Julien Laurens: Oh, OK. Lazio are top, but it's a good season for Roma and Gasperini, and I think, yeah, it's a tricky game for United. And then who are they going to be facing now? Oh, look, it's Aston Villa. Aston Villa. Smaller club. Smaller club. What's what you say? That's what you say. Aston Villa, who's manager, a story which precipitated a lot of Aston Villa status controversy this week, whose manager Unai Emery has been linked strongly with a move to Old Trafford. Let's talk in a second or two about the possibilities of that and also all of that brouhaha about certain people saying certain things about Aston Villa.

40:01But before we leave this game at Stamford Bridge, we were talking on Thursday about what is it about Esteval that Xavi Alonso won't give him a game. And Lombardi gives him a start. What did you think of his performance? Very good. so exciting he gives Chelsea something different and I think that you could see the mood in the stadium at Chelsea wasn't great on Saturday but every time he got on the ball you think something's going to happen he's so direct he's fearless he's not a kid that's been overly coached at this point in his career so he does things that are a little off the cuff and that's not always the best in terms of decision making but it's the best in terms of making teams unpredictable and I think he had was it two offside goals he had in the game he had one in the first half at strike in the second, which was obviously very tight and very unlucky.

40:48But he certainly staked the claim to be selected going forward. And Chelsea fans love him. But he needs them to stick with a back four, doesn't he really? I mean, yeah. So they switched from a back three. He just thought, none of my centre-backs are any good. Let's just play two of them instead of three. He's almost wasting a player. So he brings in the extra attacking player and it paid off. And they got a clean sheet. Yeah, yeah. First one at home since January in the Premier League. Did you hear Penders scream when he made that save at the end. Yeah. Yeah, he screamed in sort of, I suppose, joy, really.

41:21Especially after the mistake,

41:22Julien Laurens: in Spurs, the weekend before, that precipitated the defeat. But when Joel Pedro comes back, plays, whether they keep a back four or not, then Neto could go back on that right-hand side. So it's Neto or Estevão. And you would think for a Xabi Alonso team, he would go with Neto, simply because he would work harder defensively and without the ball than Estevão would. When is Jean-Pedro back? We don't know. It could be a few weeks. So there will be, I think, a decent run in this team for Esteval. Six shots, two goals disallowed, and he got a hug off Shabby when he came off as well. Very good. Villa up next on the Totally Football Show.

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44:34So many other hijinks and shenanigans as well. Do give it a listen because it's a fascinating story. Also out with you this week will be a brand new Totally Football Show European edition. We should have that for you on Tuesday. We'll be discussing the big game of the Bundesliga. Borussia Dortmund taking on Bayern Munich. Harry Kane, Ballon d 'Or. Missing a penalty in that one. Also, the Milan derby, which both James Horncastle and myself were at. you were great oh thank you so much also Milan were great Milan were great Milan were great yeah weren't they good

45:11Julien Laurens: a lot of Paris born and bred players on that pitch too which five of them some Portugal born and bred players yeah but more Parisian than Italians apparently I was told so here you go there you go well Rabiot had a lovely goal didn't he? Rabiot, Mignon, Diarara my boy who played for Charenton where I played too before moving to Troyes and then to AC Milan you see voilà anyway we'll talk about all of that or some bits of it. And also look ahead to Champions League match day four, some of the games of which we've touched on already. One of the ones we haven't, though, is Villa's fixture, which sees them going to Barcelona.

45:46Ooh, Colin is a major aficionado of Spanish football. You will know the Unai Emery's bogey team. How do you say bogey team in Spanish, by the way? I don't know if there's a direct... Un equipo del... Yeah. Bestia Negra or something like that. Probably. Anyway, his Bestia Negra is, well, Barcelona. I think he's played on Czech's notes 30 times, is it? And only won once? Extraordinary. Well, there was that 4-0 in the Champions League that preceded this. Sorry, Jules. I don't know why you're saying that.

46:24Julien Laurens: When he was with Paris Saint-Germain. No, it wasn't. Was it him? No, but at various different clubs, when he's managed in Spain, parenthesis in France. Yeah, it's anyway, he's heading to Barcelona. That game is not sure Tuesday, Wednesday, check local listing for details. But, you know, it brings us on to Villa and the various different points that have been going on above and beyond their draw this week with Fulham. So first of all, how real is this talk of united interest in Unai Emery? How real do you think is the possibility that he might actually say, yeah, I will ditch my rather comfortable number with Aston Villa to head to the theatre of total nightmares that is Old Trafford?

47:11And also the kind of extraordinary scenes that followed Jamie Carragher's remarks about the relative status of these clubs. yeah what do we make of it all okay firstly on the United-Emory stuff I think there is interest I think there is 100 % interest I think I personally I think he's the outstanding candidate if there is candidates if there's you know I think you just need to go for the best guy available I'm not saying he is available I'm saying that he is the guy that potentially attainable in what Manchester United would perceive to be attainable I think it would interest him I'm not sure how realistic it is because he has a lot of power and a lot of status and a very big wage at Aston Villa I think Aston Villa are a little bit worried about it but I think that might come with a reaction potentially one way or the other of a further commitment to the club or not I think that's the stage that we're at I think there might be developments this week I don't know I don't think there's nothing as far as I'm aware that is imminent, but I think that is a conversation that is at both clubs.

48:23I think Manchester United have a list. He is there. I think Aston Villa are aware that he's there. I also think, by the way, Unai Emery himself might think Atletico Madrid might have an opening in the next 12 to 18 months. And I'll be the number one target there too. So there's all these things that are going on. And I just think Unai Emery, the job he has done at Aston Villa, he's a very different coach now than he was back when he was at PSG, back when he was at Arsenal. and that's quite a long time ago now. I think he's developed. He was never loved at any of the clubs he was at, even when he was winning Europa Leagues at Sevilla and with Villarreal.

48:55He was never a guy that had this great connection with fans. At Villa, he kind of does have that. But, and we're going to touch on Jamie Carragher's quotes in a minute, but what does he have left to prove at Aston Villa? If that's at Unai Emery, you're thinking, I've kind of failed a bit at PSG. It wasn't a great experience. It wasn't a great experience at Arsenal. I want to have another opportunity where I can win major trophies and I'm not saying that Attenborough can't but I think that there's obviously clubs that are interested in him that might think that they have a better chance and he might think that he might think he can be the guy that can stamp his authority on a club turn it around and take all the glory and essentially He'd certainly be the first big name manager to go to Old Trafford thinking they're going to be the person to turn that whole nightmare around and it's worked out of course so well for them I agree there I think what more could he do of Hiller?

49:46Like he's won the Europa League, qualified for the Champions League. Could he not make Aston Villa either Champions League or Premier League title contenders? They had a good run in the Champions League already. Are you saying that there is a hierarchy in football? Dare I say that? I don't know if I'm allowed to say that. So Jamie Carrier expressed that opinion. Honestly, on that, yeah. Yeah. So you wanted to... Well, just on that. But he also said, and I think it was perhaps the other phrase that was the one that triggered the threat of legal action from Aston Villa. I think it's a sad state of affairs, isn't it, that a club will threaten to sue an individual who's paid to talk about, paid to give his opinions on television or a podcast.

50:26I just think it's nonsense. And I think it actually sets quite a dangerous precedent. You know, I think part of what makes football such a great product is the healthy debate that we're all allowed to have. You know, we're all allowed to have strong opinions. It's hard to know exactly what charge they would levy. I don't think that could have. Except perhaps high treason, because he told Villa fans to shut the F up. And we learned just last week that Prince William regularly posts anonymously on Villa fans forums. So he might be one of the people that Carragher is currently telling to keep. I don't know.

51:02I don't know. The thing about Emery, though, is I think United have to be ready to give him the full power,

51:09Julien Laurens: which I don't think they are right now. Neither the Glazers, neither Sergium Radcliffe, Omer Berrada, Christopher Vivelle, Justin Wilcox, the T-Lady. I mean, they're not there, the T-Ladies, anymore. But, you know, whoever, I don't think they're ready. Because Unai Emery would only work if he brings his own village with him like he's done at Villa. And I don't think United are ready for that. I don't think they're ready to bring in 10, 12 members of staff that Unai Emery would pick. I think he would want his own sporting director, as in the sporting director that he would want to work with in there.

51:39Julien Laurens: which I'm not sure United are ready for that and if you if you go and get Unai Emery but not giving him all the chances to succeed then I think he's going to go wrong but the sport director is the one that's recruiting the manager so like it would be it would be a bit daft to go for him but we go again on this which we say a lot but your spine of your club from your ownership your CEO your sporting director your manager and to be fair probably your club captain have to be on the same line and put in the same direction if they're not which is the case at United-Reina is an absolute mess all around.

52:12Julien Laurens: But it's very much the case at Villa. It's very much the case at Arsenal. It's very much the case at a club like PSG, for example. And that's where your rebuilding starts. Whatever club you are, this is where it starts or your success starts. It was the same at City under Pep, obviously, or with Klopp at Liverpool. And so if you're not ready to have that, then it's not going to work. It's not going to work with Unai or with Conte, with Nagelsmann, whoever you are. and that's where I think the problem would be for United they're not ready for them Eddie Howe maybe maybe more than Unai if things stay like they are right now alright well Aston Villa still with Unai Emery this weekend only had a 1-1 draw with Fulham yeah yeah Fulham were great in this game I think they're really good in terms of how people perceive them I think Alvaro Arbeloa has come in he made a couple of mistakes early on he was far too open wasn't going to work and he's adapted and he's changed and they haven't lost the game by more than one goal all season got seven points from the last three they had the better chances in this match they could have won obviously they could also have lost yeah the Suzuki have not dropped the ball I think the problem for Fulham is that they've got two out and out strikers at the club Gonzalo Garcia who they spent a lot of money on hasn't scored in the Premier League since the opening day Rodrigo Munoz who's had injuries hasn't scored since the opening day of last season in the Premier League and like they don't have goals but we you know if you're going to talk about Brighton and Bournemouth and they had coaching changes um in the past 30 years but there's always continuity with that right so there's always like the same it's always the same kind of characteristics of coach that comes in and it's relatively flawless film's quite different marco what marco silva had was was a much different way of playing much less possession focus than what of our below it is there's also been a turnover of players they lost experienced players in that dressing room and really the guys that have come in weren't really Premier League experience.

54:07They weren't really necessarily the profile of what you would expect. But, you know, you're only in nine games into the season and already they're playing with a clear style. And I saw there was a report in Marca, and I think that's one of the Spanish newspapers that's pretty desperate for political reasons for Alzarabar below to do quite well, is calling it Arbaloa ball. I'm not quite sure about that. But they are playing well. And it isn't an easy thing to do, to put a style on the club and a team that quickly, especially in the Premier League when it's so results-driven. So look, I think they do deserve a lot of credit.

54:42Aston Villa maybe were a bit off the pace in this one. Yeah, they gave up a lot of chances, a lot of chances. And their home form actually hasn't been too great. I know they beat Manchester City last week, but yeah, there's still a bit of flux around them too. So yeah, I would say there's more from Fulham positivity than Villa negativity. Love that. Seven points from the last nine for Abelhoa's cottages. Also racking up the points these days, Spurs. Two-nil winners against Crystal Palace. Palace, where a little bit like Michael Carrick, there's an under-fire manager who saw one of his players pick up a red card and really cause his team problems.

55:23Jean-Philippe Mateta, who lunged at Van der Hecke with the... You know what? I didn't mean it.

55:31Julien Laurens: and watching the game I knew he was going to try to get there and he was never going to get there and you were thinking don't even try he tried I agree with Aide in the sense that I don't think he I think he's trying to get the ball and he goes for it without really thinking about it the problem is with Mateta which is really interesting because I think it's linked to Pierre Saj or Stonewise as the listeners know him obviously of course they do in this country Stonewise is that he could have done so much with Mateta when he arrived yes but Mateta got injured in preseason, missed the start of the season.

56:03Julien Laurens: But Mateta is such a leader in this dressing room. I mean, he's the leader. There's not even a leader. He's the leader. And to have him out when Saj, as a Frenchman, had another Frenchman there, who he knew even from a long time ago at Lyon, to just to try to get to win over that dressing room, which was not going to be easy because of Glasner. And Glasner's personality is so different to Pierre Saj's personality. Saj is so laid back compared to Glasner, who's so intense. He needed Mateta so much who wasn't there and then Mateta is back. Things are a little bit better to be fair and then Mateta does that after 11 minutes.

56:40Julien Laurens: Hacking Mateta. A bit like that. No, that doesn't quite work. No, it's not bad. Does it? Yeah. Hacking Mateta. Yeah. And then after that it was no game. Will the laid back Piersage soon be laid off Piersage? I hope not because I think he probably needs a little bit more time. Yeah. But I could see why if you're Steve Parrish and Mark Bright, who's still very influential at that club, and you're watching, not so much Saturday, because Saturday, once you've gone down to 10 after 10 minutes, the game is gone, you know. But it's not looking good. Not looking good. The table, Adrian, have you got the table there?

57:17Yeah. Where are Tottenham Hotspur in the table? Tottenham Hotspur are 8th. I'm sorry, what? You're looking at the table wrong. No, 1-3, drawn 3, lost 3, scored 10, let in 10 very sort of symmetrical numbers there for Spurs and yeah I mean they were always going to win weren't they well they've had three wins in a row against teams beginning with the letter C however there are no more C teams left out no that's it they're done for now yeah so yeah it was a good set piece goal wasn't it the Archie Gray one I thought yeah it was quite clever like because they definitely earmarked a flaw in Palace's set up right what did they do They did sort of what Arsenal did.

58:01They rushed from the back to the front. But the last man, they deliberately stayed there. And I think it was Tonali was the sort of blocker guy. So he just stood in front of the back guy. Archie Gray was all on his own. It was a really good header, wasn't it? That was only his third goal in 143 appearances. Palace have let in six headed goals this season. Double. The next closest. So it's a fragility that they need to sort out. I mean, they also let in another header practically off the floor, didn't they? Some on the floor, yeah.

58:32Julien Laurens: I think Opta said he's the first ever Premier League goal to be scored on the floor. Header scored on the floor. Really? As a sat-down header, yeah. Okay. Very nice. Another big mover this weekend were Coventry, who roared out of the bottom three thanks to that 3-1 victory over Sunderland. Frank Lampard's side clinical scoring three goals from just four shots on target and the next year just 0.7. That blows my mind. three goals in four matches for Jack Rudoni. He's a really good player. Yeah. What do you like about him? I think there's something about a left-footed playmaker type guy who's really easy to watch on the ball.

59:11He's got a really unique way of playing and he's come up through the lower leagues as well. And of Coventry's 14 players in this game, eight of them played last year in the championship. So unlike, certainly unlike Hull and kind of Ipswich at the same time, that Coventry have sort of stuck with what they had. They obviously brought players in, but a lot of these guys have been around the club for a while. And I think there's that sort of sense of togetherness and belief with what Frank Lampard had done there that has helped. In terms of like, they lost even in four games, didn't score a goal, were getting some heavy defeats, albeit it was a tough opening list.

59:44But that connection, I think, with the players and Lampard was always going to sort of last that. Had it been a new guy coming in or had it been a new set of players, things could have broken down and the relationships could have gone sore. but they've won what, three of the last five? They've just been a bit more positive now. They've been a bit more aggressive. They dispensed with the back five. They've gone to a back four which is what they used when they got promoted. So they've been a bit braver. The thing that they were great at in the championship was pressing and they were a bit scared to do it in the early weeks in the Premier League for obvious reasons.

1:00:15And they didn't do it properly. You'll see for the goals in this one particularly, I think the second goal, high turnover. They're good when they do that. And they did this without Bobby Thomas who's their regular centre-back and without Matt Grimes who always plays he was actually on the bench for this game so they were evolving but the goal I liked the most was Sakamoto's there was a little bit of a mess up wasn't on the edge of the box and it sort of bounced up and he hit it on the volley right into the court it was a beautiful beautiful goal from Sakamoto so yeah good times at Cov and yeah they can look up you know look upwards Indeed they can Sutherland can also look upwards because that's all there is teams above them I watched them in midweek.

1:00:55Sorry to interrupt. I watched them in midweek. They made 11 changes against Brentford. I worked in the game. And they played great. And there was a kid called Jocelyn Tarby, who was man of the match by far. I think he got three assists. He had a gold slug. He was magnificent. He was our new sub in this game. It blows my mind. You've got to play players when they're in form. Talking about hierarchies, he's clearly got a hierarchy in his head of this player, this player, this player. Go with the guy who was brilliant in midweek. He couldn't wait to get on that pitch, I'm sure. A couple of messages from people on our YouTube comments.

1:01:33First of all, Tirach Rezu. No, Tirach Rezu. Yes, you anyway. It said, Clarkie said Spurs would be fine on top 10 a few episodes ago. Nice one, Adrian. I think you wanted me to say they were going to be crap and get relegated.

1:01:49Julien Laurens: You could see they were getting better. Yeah. It was relatively the wins would come. They're always going to come good. Artemis2317 says, what is that stat called about recovering the ball? PPDA? Yeah. PPDA? Yeah. Exactly. There you go. So look for it. It's available everywhere.

1:02:09Julien Laurens: Yeah. Okay. Lots of other people saying they're watching the Grand Prix. Passes per defensive action. Sorry, that's what I wanted to say. Passes per defensive action. How many passes you allowed the other team before you recover the ball? The number. So Brian's 8.4. They're the best. Spurs 8.9 So 8.4 passes per they get 8.4 passes away before I as Brighton snap in and bust up their manoeuvre Yeah, the worst the worst is actually Coventry 21.1 What are Man United? Man U are 12.5 which is sort of lower mid table You could do that being a mid you don't have to be a super high block either it depends what you want but you could you could just it's just aggression?

1:02:49Julien Laurens: Yeah, it's just how if you don't let the opposition play. So often is you go high and you just don't let them do anything and they, yeah, they can't put their game in place basically. Exactly. Okay. Sunderland, rock bottom of the table. I have more points in the Europa League than they do in the Premier League and they'll be looking to answer those Europa League points when they take on Dinamo Zagreb on Thursday. Alrighty. Hey, if you're an NBA fan, slight parenthesis, check out The Athletic Live which is presented by Google Gemini. It is a YouTube watch-along on NBA game days. You like the NBA, Jules?

1:03:30Of course, I love it, yeah. It features the biggest and best beat reporters The Athletic has to offer. You can become part of the show in the interactive chat on YouTube. Again, this is very similar to, I think, what we're doing right now. Join the conversation throughout the new NBA season. That is The Athletic Live. Look out for that. what is remaining from the Premier League weekend to discuss well you got a 2-0 win for Bournemouth against Leeds they are the team who've had six clean sheets in a row Brent for beating Nottingham Forest 2-0 Forest's chronic inability to convert chances and Oliver Glasner's intriguing post-game declarations

1:04:10Julien Laurens: back to his best yeah by himself in the third person nice only Oliver Glasner does in the Premier League Well, Hull City also had a 2-2 draw with Ipswich, but Glaston is clearly intriguing you there. So he said after the 2-0 defeat at the hands of Brentford, which I think was a little bit unfortunate for Forrester. So many other defeats have been. So many shots. They've had 94 in the last five Premier League matches and only two goals. Glaston says no more compromises. I've probably been a little bit too accommodating since coming in here, but now they will have to follow and if they don't want to follow I guess a sixth manager will come in so he's my way or highway Absolutely he said I can have breakfast with my family which is great but you can still do that while being the Nostrum and Forest manager I don't know why and then he said Oliver Glasner basically so himself you know can find another club in two weeks I'm sure you can Le Havre looking for a new manager if Oliver Glasner is interested in France or Manchester United maybe I can see in a way where he's coming from.

1:05:17Julien Laurens: I don't like Oliver Gassner talking about himself in the third person to start with. It's never his fault either. Have you ever talked about yourself in the third person? Never, but maybe I should start. Adrian, you ever done that? No. Prior. I bet it feels really weird. No, that's the thing because I think like it's not that strange a thing. But actually, if you think about talking about yourself, if I was to say James Fiennes, the idea of talking about himself in the third person very strange, it is so unnatural. The way to project yourself as a concept Yeah, and his first name and surname. So it's never Oliver.

1:05:49Julien Laurens: James Richardson says. Exactly, which makes it even worse, more cringy. That's strange, you're right. It is, it is really. I think it's, but this is Oliver Glasner for you. Never his fault, again, obviously. But I can see in a way the fact that he also said in that press conference that they get outrun every game. Yes. And again, I've got a few issues with that, by the way, in terms of you don't run enough, so you're going to lose every game. You can't win without running more than the opposition. This is not true. No. There are games where the game doesn't request you to run more than the opposition.

1:06:21Julien Laurens: By the way, I think Liverpool, in terms of distance runs so far, they are the lowest. They're below United. I'd say the three lowest were Liverpool, ahead of this weekend, but Liverpool had run the least. Really? Less than Manchester United? Then City. Then Man City and then Manchester United. Arsenal are top. Fulham, Brentford, top three. So all this narrative of you don't run enough so you're going to lose every game is not true. Okay. But Glasner, clearly not happy by the lack of effort I think that's more what he meant than just we're running less than the opposition which is also on him so I don't know I'm curious to see what happens in the next few weeks for sure yeah there's one sort of thread that links those clubs in the relegation zone Manchester United as well and you can see the effect that confidence has on players of not scoring goals Nottingham for us is a prime example of this but Liam Delap who does have qualities but there's I mean when you spend 50 million points on him after a really difficult year at Chelsea, a really difficult environment for him.

1:07:20You know, that's a lot of pressure on him to be the guy that gets the goal out. And you've got Morgan Gibbs-White, who obviously creates a lot of chances, but there's no goal scorer in that team. And then once you go through two or three games where you're playing well, not in force have been playing well, but you're not getting results, then you start to force things a bit and overthink things. And I think you can see that in their style of play. And I know that those two goals they conceded against Brentford were unlucky. They were both in the Milinkovic deflections, but that again you sort of make your own luck in the sense that they were dropping deep for those moments right they were sort of being a bit last ditch and those things can then happen so you get into this cycle of negativity and I think it's the same with Palace not having an out-and-out goal scoring and struggling and Sunderland are the same you get into this little cycle and you look at each of those teams and you can probably include Manchester United as well none of those teams have a lot of change over summer they didn't spend a lot of money but they all have these extra sort of obligations of European football as well and that stretches the squad but I just think it's a confidence issue right and that that sort of stems throughout the club it's not just the players themselves it's throughout that club

1:08:23Julien Laurens: that's a good point because sorry just before so Gibbs White last season was Forest top goal scorer in the Premier League with 15 goals after that I think Igor Jesus maybe had four I think Chris Wood had two maybe Awunii had one or two so clearly the problem if you look back at the season if you're Forest the sporting director even Marinakis all those people saying okay one of our issues was not scoring enough, apart from Gibbs White. So what would you do in the transfer window like every club would do is you go and sign a prolific number nine or somebody you think would be prolific. And that's also on Glasner because Glasner gave the green light to the lab move for 15 million.

1:09:00Julien Laurens: But the lab is not that prolific striker. You know, and that's why I'm disappointed in a way in the sense that they could clearly see what the issue was already last season to what Carl just said. And that's how they addressed it by signing a striker in Liam Dillard, who has a lot of qualities, but being prolific was just not one of them. And they're paying the price for it now in the bottom three of the Premier League. A long way north of the bottom three are Bournemouth. On your table there, where do Bournemouth lie? Bournemouth are their seventh. Seventh. Level with Tottenham. But ahead on probably goal difference thanks to the incredible run of clean sheets.

1:09:41And Evan Nilsson as well. Yeah. Yeah. Evan Elson scoring loads of goals. He's and assisting. He's on fire. And I was wondering whether his form might make Bournemouth think differently about Kruppi. Now, Kruppi's back, isn't he? What an assist by Kruppi. Oh, it was beautiful, wasn't it? No, Megan. I love that. It was absolute class, wasn't it? Look, I'm Kruppi's number one fan. And I do want... Can't both be. No, it's so. I want to ask her to sign Kruppi. I want Arsenal to sign Kruppi because I think he would be fantastic for Arsenal. But I just wonder whether with Evan Nilsson's form, whether they might be more inclined to cash in.

1:10:22To cash in? To cash in on Kruppi. Because, you know, the other guys, he's better than he was. Who plays a 10?

1:10:29Julien Laurens: I think Clover will make way for Kruppi Jr. Okay. And the other thing as well, Alex Scott, sort of 100 million potential midfielder, isn't playing. He's not playing. it's just again these clubs can manage to do it right it sort of falls back on the system now one of the things about Bournemouth is we talked about who's at the top of different charts Bournemouth are the club who have used the fewest number of players so far in the Premier League and which may well be why they've had this run of results because start the season everyone playing together gets familiar etc but that's something that you usually pay for down the line especially with Europe because he hasn't made many changes in Europe either right and it's quite an intense style of play it is is very Marco like we could have continued on those stats but in terms of again PPDAs and high pressures and pressing and all of that they really they're in the top 5 or top 7 for all of them so at some point they might because their squad is not as deep than Brighton that we mentioned earlier who have a similar style certainly in terms of intensity I see just quickly they beat obviously Manchester United Milan and Arsenal 3-0 each space of the week.

1:11:39So the Manchester United managers past, present and potentially future. Nice. Very nice, Colin. Very nice. Follow Colin across social media platforms because he comes up with loads of those. Genuinely, all through the weekend. Well, Arsenal fans might not make it up. Marco Rosa. You know what they can do. Right. Oh, sorry. Yeah, no.

1:11:59Julien Laurens: Marco Rosa, who had a slow start because he didn't win any of the first five games. Ibrahimovic was the same, didn't win any of the first nine Premier League games when he took over. is good sometimes to just give a bit of time to managers. That's so true. All it needs is just a little patience. Just a bit of patience. Yeah, nice. All right, well, that was match day nine. There's still one game to go, Newcastle against Everton. They played on Thursday. What happened in that game? It's 3-1 for Everton. Ooh, a match that Jack Grealish was absent from. Was he at the pub? Oh, sorry, that was before.

1:12:33Julien Laurens: Sorry, sorry. because he failed to turn up for training. A breacher club discipline. Very disappointing news that because we love to see Jack Grealish and we love to see his career heading in the direction it should be heading. I like Jack Grealish. He's just, you can't tame him, can you? He's just, he's his own man. He's always going to have these little slip-ups. Before we wrap things up, I just want you to mention, what was the funnier goal? Was it Rodgers dancing through Manchester United where the three players just let him go? Or was it Dara O'Shea of Ipswich just sort of like a matador from distance allowing Iragunum to just walk through?

1:13:16I mean, that was funny, right? Like, I mean, I don't know. What was he thinking? He was basically thinking, you're not good enough to score. So I'm just going to block the pass because you won't score. And then he just stuck it in, didn't he?

1:13:28Julien Laurens: I can't believe at that level it goes like that happened. I've got a good Jack Grealish story to finish if you want to finish us off to take us home it's lovely because I don't know Jack Grealish at all he's not my friend or anything like that but I was coming down from Manchester one Sunday back to London and the Classico was on and I was watching I was in first class as you do sometimes Julian Lawrence travels on first class at times so I was watching the Classico on my laptop and at one of the stops not far from Manchester Jack Grealish and his family comes up to the train in my carriage right Were they also in first class?

1:14:02Julien Laurens: Yeah, also in first class. And they sit down not far, their seats were just not far from me. And Jack watched the Classico with me. Came and yeah, and we had a little chat and it was lovely. And his wife and the baby were there and another friend. And, you know, it was, yeah. How many beers did you get through? No, no, no beers. He looked so nice. He smelled good. He was nicely dressed. So was I, to be fair. So was Julian Laurence. But it was just, yeah, it was just lovely. Was he aware of Julian De Rolfe? I wonder. I almost asked him, do you know who Julian De Rolfe is? But I didn't because we were really into Kylian Mbappe and Barca and Real Madrid and all that.

1:14:39Julien Laurens: But it was lovely. Okay, and I bet it was lovely for him as well, Jules. I hope so. Jack, if you're watching, listening from the pub or anywhere you are right now, yeah, I hope so. All right, on your way home from training. Very good. Jules, thank you so much for that. And everything else that you brought to tonight's Totally Football Show. Thank you, James Richardson. Thanks as well. To Adrian Clarke and Colin Miller. Thank you. To Benjy, who's joining, producer Charlie in the booth tonight, and to everyone who's followed at home or wherever indeed you've been with us, it's been great to have you along.

1:15:10We've got Euro Show coming up on Tuesday and then reaction to the Champions League Wednesday and Thursday. So hopefully you'll be coming along for those two for now. From all of us here, it's goodbye.

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