Arteta takes on Carrick in the Premier League as English clubs dominate in Europe

0:00The Athletic FC

0:31Totally for Bouchard. Frank, secure a vital away win at Burnley. Stand by for drama in this Totally Football Show.

0:43Thursday, 22nd of January, and on board today's show, he lives. Duncan Alexander. Just about. Hello. Duncan, welcome back. Thank you. Crikey. Yeah. How are you feeling? Yeah, getting there. Good. Went to a few dark places, but I've bounced back. So, yeah, we go again. Natalie Jedrov Sky Sports is here you've been to some dark places haven't you not really just football grounds yeah it depends on your perspective but hello happy new year happy new year Mark Carey hello how are you James I'm very well and yourself you look well I'm good yeah fighting fit I'm not ill but I'm a bit achy I went to the gym yesterday and I've got a bit of muscle soreness for those interested just to which is very relevant to the first game we might be talking about I'm sorry, what is?

1:34Doms. Delayed onset muscle soreness, but potentially relevant to Liverpool versus Marseille. You tease. All right. Well, that game is what? Marseille-Liverpool, is it? Yeah. All right. One of the three, as mentioned, victories for Premier League sides on Wednesday night after Tuesday's Man City upset. It all went well for the Premier League teams. Let's check through the results. Liverpool 3-0 winners at Marseille. Newcastle also 3-0 winners. at home to PSV Eindhoven, while Chelsea were 1-0 winners eventually at home to Paphos of Cyprus. Elsewhere, Barcelona came from behind in the Czech Republic to beat Slavia Prague 4-2.

2:17Juve beat Benfica for the first time since 1993. Woof, that was 2-0 in Turin. Bayern got past Union Saint-Gilouard by the same scoreline, 2-0. In Baku, early on on Wednesday, Carabaig beat Eindracht Frankfurt. while Atalanta lost 3-2 at home to Athletic Club in Bilbao and Galatasaray held Atletico Madrid to a 1-1 draw which all means we're just one match day to go of the Champions League league phase. Bayern and Arsenal are the only sides that have confirmed a top eight spot. Below them, there are still just three points separating the team in third who are now Real Madrid and Juventus in 15th.

2:58Three of the top five currently, Natalie, and five of the top eight are Premier League sides, the exception being Man City, who are down there in 11th. I actually saw an interesting chart, or I found it interesting, comparing English clubs' win percentages and goal scoring in the Premier League and in the Champions League. And as you might expect, it's hugely improved when they go and play in Europe. Around about 40 to 50 % better win percentage in Europe than in the Premier League. In the case of Liverpool, it's actually 57%. Spurs are whopping 80 % better. Goals 4 as well. Arsenal 57 % better in Europe.

3:39And Newcastle 96 % better. Just easier, isn't it? It's like the Johnson Paints of international competition. It's remarkable. Man City, though, are actually doing marginally worse in both. Hence them having to reimburse their travelling fans this week. That was a nice touch. It was a nice touch. Well, we can go into it in a bit more depth, but I do think that the fact that teams in the Champions League, irrespective of whether you think the strength is maybe arguably stronger in the Premier League, even among the bottom half sides, that teams do go toe-to-toe with others in the Champions League.

4:13And it's been a theme this week, really, with Arsenal against Inter Milan, Liverpool against Marseille to a certain extent, and all of the English teams, I suppose you could extrapolate it to, aside from Manchester City, where when they do go toe-to-toe, often the cream rises to the top and the stronger teams are maybe able to flex their muscles a little bit. But often teams in the Premier League have the antidote to the top teams in the Premier League by sitting in a low block and trying to stifle them. It actually becomes quite effective. It's why maybe it's been a theme of the Premier League that has maybe been a little bit boring because we haven't had much of a slugfest, whereas in the Champions League, the games are open and often the best players are on show.

4:51Why are continental sides open against the visibly very strong Premier League teams? Well, they have their own style of play and they have their own philosophies and that's very marked throughout the season. These are all things that we used to say about Premier League sides in the 90s when they went to Europe and got regularly ahead. I can remember, like, you know, you get these teams, Manchester United going away in Europe in the 90s, and they'd be terrified, literally. They'd smash Norwich on the Saturday and then lose to Galatasaray on the Tuesday. Because they didn't adapt their game. Yeah, partly, yeah.

5:23But sorry, Natalie. Yeah, no, and now Premier League is a low-block fest sometimes, which is not the most entertaining thing. So, yeah, you get better quality match-ups. You get better quality match-ups in the Champions League. It's also like a heritage thing, because if you're Inter at San Siro or Marseille at the velodrome, you can't sit back like Burnley and try and grind out a nil-nil. Your fans, they won't have it. They're not having that. It just makes for a good league stage and sets up our favourite day of the season nicely next week. This is the Totally Football Show with James Richardson, part of the Athletic FC Podcast Network.

6:08Somersle goes low and catches out the keeper.

6:15Well, that's a different way to take a free kick. Let's hear about what happened at the Velodrome then. Mark, you were watching Marseille 0 Liverpool 3. That's how you do an away game, isn't it, at a difficult venue? Yeah, it did very much feel like a strong away European performance. I think because of maybe the shadow of recent games for Liverpool, where they've drawn more than they should have. It was maybe, it's funny what the perspective can do. It's maybe that they ground out the win rather than it was a very mature European performance, which ultimately it was. Liverpool set up slightly differently, which was interesting to see.

6:53Slott has been trying to still figure out what is his best 11, his best system, whatever it may be, but set up with four midfielders, which he has done before, but four midfielders in a bit more of a box and split strikers rather than necessarily a front three. Mohamed Salah playing on the right of that, Hugo Iketiko on the left. And it did work for large periods. Both of the full-backs were then able to get really high and provide the width. So in a system perspective, Liverpool did do really well. The main theme of the first half was Dom, Dominic Soberslay's free kick, which was very, very intelligent.

7:30He said after the game that he did his homework and realised that if they don't have a draft excluder, as we like to call it, in the wall, then he's going to play it under the ball, which is exactly what he did. All of the Marseille players jumped so high. It wasn't even just like a little bit of a spring. They jumped so high, the ball could comfortably go underneath. And then I started to think, I've seen that sort of free kick before. I was speaking about this with someone in the office today. People might remember, or they might not, Ronaldinho, 2006 against Werder Bremen. I looked it up earlier.

8:01scored a very almost identical free kick nearly 20 years ago now. But I don't find that the wall was there from that exact angle. It just reminded me very much of that. So Champions League heritage, you could say, of identifying a weakness in the opposition. Apart from not using a draft excluder, which does seem daft to me, what else about Marseille, who were highly touted coming into this, they scored 14 goals in two matches, Deserbi at the helm. Where were they? Yeah, people said they were quite, and I agree really, they were quite disappointing considering that they've been free scoring for so long.

8:37They had a lot of rotations, especially in the first 25 minutes or so. Their rotations were quite frustrating Liverpool. Liverpool were having to go man for man. Benjamin Pavard was popping up in central striker areas at times, which was quite threatening. And Liverpool just needed to kind of recalibrate a little bit. But ultimately, they were a little bit toothless. Mason Green was coming really deep to collect the ball and their most threatening players were not able to run in behind. And that's why it comes back to maybe from a Liverpool perspective, it was a fairly mature performance. But I think it is at the risk of being a typical co-commentator.

9:09It was a bit of both. Liverpool were strong and Marseille were a little bit blunt at times. Yeah, Giservi simplified the game saying, they're just a better team than us. Yes, period. And to be fair to Liverpool, because I was at the Burnley game on the weekend where they created a lot of chances. Like it has been coming in. And Arne spoke about it after the game. And he said, yeah, well, after Burnley, everyone was very frustrated, but they had 32 shots and they were prolific again against Marseille, which is, I miss Dizerbi here. Yes, because the way the rotations that Mark mentioned, they're just so fun to watch and they're very interesting.

9:51They can frustrate teams. It didn't properly work yesterday. Liverpool were very good. But yeah, it's just fun to watch. And with Liverpool, they have been creating more chances in the past round. And now they were able to be more effective with them. There you go. Mo Salah went straight into the starting line-up on his return from his AFCON disappointment. How did he do? He did well. Not amazing, but he did well. He missed an absolute cistern. I don't know if anyone's seen it. but Cody Gakpo came on and played the ball through to him where he was clean through on goal. On his left foot, arguably he could have taken it with his right foot because it was a little bit of an awkward angle and he decided to, on the right-hand side of the goal, go with the outside of his left foot only for the finish to go more towards the right than the angle he was currently at.

10:38It was a very weird, it sort of contorted his body to try and finish it. So he should have scored at least one, did well overall and was able to sort of link up with players sort of more than... He'd been a bit more isolated throughout this season. Do you think the formation will help him if they stick with it? I thought he was running into traffic quite a lot because he's obviously coming inside with a bit more in the right half space. He likes to receive the ball. One thing you don't want on a velodrome, by the way. Correct, correct. I mean, Frimpong was the one, he was getting on his bike quite a lot, thank you very much, down the right-hand side, and was the one who's sort of opening up the space and the width, which meant that Salah came inside.

11:15far more. But Salah's normally that one who likes to receive it and then either drive towards the box or maybe cross it himself. And he was the one sort of getting caught up in a lot of bodies at the time. And I think when he's in those sorts of positions, he panics a little bit, but he doesn't necessarily make the optimal decisions. Whereas I think if he's got a bit more time on the right, he can stretch the play a little bit. But good, not great, I'd say. OK. Liverpool have Bournemouth this Saturday. Then next week, their Champions League league phase concludes with them hosting Carabaug. They're currently fourth.

11:47They're two points clear of the teams that will be going into the playoffs. Victory, obviously, will confirm a spot in the top eight. Marseille, meanwhile, are in 19th spot. They're only one point off missing out on the playoffs altogether. They travel to Club Bruges, who had a fine away win this Tuesday. Marseille, who are bolstering their squad with the acquisition of Arsenal's Ethan Nguaneri on loan for the rest of the season. And there'll be a familiar face for him there in the Marseille dressing room because Julian Timber has an identical brother called Quinton, who's also signing from Fernald.

12:18Natalie. Look at that. I was going to mention their TIFO, actually. Oh, thank you so much. Best part of the evening. Very cool. Very cool TIFO. The Beatles are reading a newspaper. If you haven't seen it, look it up. Reading a newspaper that said something like that history repeats itself. It's a nod to Marcel's 2004 UEFA Cup victory. Over Liverpool. Yeah, very cool. Very nice. Not as cool as having the twin brother of Timber. I mean, they're both cool. We can enjoy them both. Okay. Meanwhile, it was a Fab 3 for Newcastle in their match with PSV. Duncan, you were literally all over this through the haze of medication, perhaps.

13:07Hey, Newcastle now guaranteed a place in the knockout rounds of the Champions League for the first time in their history. Yeah, it was a fairly comfortable evening for them. It looked like the PSV defence was on medication. A couple of really massive errors. First goal was a terrible clearance from a goalkeeper, which then Visser scored his first goal in the Champions League. He looked really good, actually. He added a sort of energy up front, which I think Newcastle really missed this season. So that was good. And then about 20 minutes later, Anthony Gordon matched Alan Shearer's record for goals in the Champions League season for Newcastle, which, yes, admittedly isn't the longest record list at Newcastle, but it's still pretty impressive given he's been fairly, to the point earlier, been shackled in the Premier League.

13:5631 goals in the Premier League over a year since he's scored from open play domestically, but he's got six in seven in this Champions League phase. Yeah, and he, again, it was a terrible error from Jarek who tried to pass it back, mishit it and Visser nipped in and then squared it for Gordon to score. So, I mean, that was 2-0. I mean, the disappointment for the first half was Bruno Gimaraes turned his ankle, did a sort of classic heroic captain thing of hobbling around, like genuinely hobbling around and then doing that to the bench quite a lot. So, went off, you'd imagine he'd be out of next week and that's a big game for Newcastle.

14:39And I think they added a third in the second half with a really nice goal from Harvey Barnes that would beat a couple of players on the edge of the box and tucked it home. I think he has been one of their real standout players the last few weeks, few months. But if they'd have scored one more, which they easily could have done, they'd have gone above PSG on goal difference. And who do they face next week? PSG. And that would mean that, obviously, there's going to be a lot of movement next week with everyone playing at the same time. But a draw would have kept them above PSG then, in that case.

15:06Now, if they want to finish above PSG, and they may need to, depending on the results, they're going to have to win at the Parc de France, which is not easy. Well, not impossible either. We've seen PSG defeated in the past 10 days or so by Paris FC and Sporting on Tuesday. But they will be hosting Newcastle next Wednesday, the Parisians, in what will be a big grudge match. I imagine after the last time the Magpies went there, you recall that 1-1 draw and all the controversy over the penalty at the end, a result which effectively denied them passage to the knockout stage in that season. This time around, well, they go through automatically.

15:44They're currently seventh. As you say, goal difference is the big factor there. Level on points for PSG. As for PSV, who came into this game with real pedigree, they had big wins against Liverpool and Napoli. Again, disappointing. Really disappointing. and it was, you know, their win at Anfield kind of set off a lot of the narrative of the last two months. You know, that was the last game Salah started before getting dropped. It caused everything we saw. And yet, they were just pretty woeful. I mean, Newcastle, again, to the point earlier, were able to play like they're not allowed to very often in the Premier League, just galloping around.

16:20And, yeah, I mean, that leaves Pearce in 22nd on eight points. They're going to need to win their last game, but that's at home to Bayern. So, yeah. With the greatest of respect to the Eredivisie, would PSV have experienced the degree of high turnovers and pressing that Newcastle gave? Especially in the first half. I mean, both of those goals were from, the first two goals were from pressing. In fact, didn't Anthony Gordon give the ball back to PSV for a drop ball or whatever? And it was from that that he gave the ball back to them, immediately pressed them. And it was that mistake that led to ultimately his goal from Vista getting, just nicking ahead of the defender.

16:57But again, it just speaks to domestic competition and European competition. How much would PSV have really been ever put under that much pressure? Normally, a pass back to your goalkeeper, you can take a little bit, you know, a couple of extra searches and then play it back. But you can't breathe. Overwhelmed, really. You know, it's a short ferry trip from Newcastle to Holland, but it's a light year. Well, no, it's not really. Rough. It's a rough trip. Don't want to do it this time of year. But yes, Newcastle just looked very good. Yeah, and I think, as we've mentioned, it really sets up next week delightfully.

17:32What a game that's set to be at the Parc des France. Also involved in Wednesday night's action from the Premier League were Chelsea, who hosted Paphos out of Cyprus. Although, disappointingly, former Chelsea man David Luiz was not in the starting XI. Natalie, you were watching this game. Was it a bit of a slog? It wasn't exactly free-flowing football from Chelsea. And I think that's the main complaint from most fans, because when you're facing Paphos, you expect to dominate and score a lot of goals. Right. Did they do a low block? They did. Yes, exactly. Yes. And credit to them, because in their domestic league, they're very dominant.

18:12So they're not used to just defending. Yes, exactly. There's a theme. first half Chelsea had 11 attempts three on target they were trying but just that Pafos they were sitting back and they were just being very disciplined Estevon came in half time he brought that energy and that dose of being unpredictable dynamism but Chelsea in the end they were finding it hard to make those runs in behind Pafos and the goal came from a corner with Caicedo. Caicedo, to be fair, he was playing a really good match. He was everywhere and he was having the ball a lot and I think he had like four shots. On target, yeah.

18:58Four shots on target. So he did really well coming from behind to beat the defender with the header and I mean, it was okay. It was an important win. It wasn't exciting. Two clean sheets in a row which is good, especially considering that Liam Rossini, he rotated the whole back line. It was Malogusto, Fofana, Badia Schilly and Gerard Hayto. And the goalkeeper, because he started with Jorgensen, but he picked up an injury and he got substituted at halftime. But I think Napoli next week will be a big test for them. Chelsea currently like eighth, still in the automatic qualifying places, but on goal difference alone, because there are, what, eight teams, is it, tied on 13 points?

19:44They're one of them. Napoli are down in 25th. Napoli are currently outside, even making the playoffs. Again, on goal difference, though. And managed by former Chelsea boss Antonio Conte, who departed under acrimonious circumstances. What a game that is set up to be. That's at the Maradona in Naples next Wednesday. Another tough, another tough away test for the Premier League boys. Anything else we should know about that? Or should we get on to the other teams in action on Wednesday? Can I throw a very quick stat about this game? Speaking about territorial dominance, how much they're playing against the low block.

20:20As a metric of this territorial dominance, we can look at field tilt. Many people might be aware of. It's essentially the share of possession, but only looking at the respective attacking thirds. So a higher percentage for Chelsea would show more territorial dominance. They had 92 % field tilt. Now, that is not only the most of a single game in the Champions League this season. That's the most Chelsea have ever had in all competitions since 2018-19. And that's only because I only have the data until that point, so it might even be longer. I mean, that just shows how much they had most of the game, to your point, in Pafos' defensive third.

20:53Wow. That is a tilted pitch. That is a tilted pitch. More than St James' Park, which is actually a tilted pitch. How much is St James' Park tilted? It's about a metre and a bit, I think, down towards the Gallagher end. OK. Which way do you think is harder to play football? I'd say uphill, yeah. OK. I mean, pitch slope connoisseurs would say the best one to do is from side to side. Wickham's old ground had like a three metre from the left to the right. It was massive. So cross field balls from the left back to the right winger were like a good tactic. Now I've always wondered about whether playing downhill can actually be as hard if not harder than playing uphill because balls will just run away from you.

21:34I mean, it's not that steep. It's not marble madness. If only. If only. Very good. Well, loads to look forward to next Wednesday and more from this week to touch on with your Bayerns and your Barca et al. And that's up next.

22:11Patrick against Union Saint-Gilois. Harry Kane, he can still shoot from the point. Well, Munich took on Union Saint-Gilois and beat them 2-0. It took a while, though, for them to break the deadlock. Harry Kane in the 52nd minute, heading in at the near post, and then two minutes later converting a penalty. That took him to 35 goals in 29 appearances in all competitions this season. Woof. It also places him sixth on the all-time European Cup goal scorers charts alongside Pipo Inzaghi. That's some proper goal scoring. He's back for a one-season wonder. He missed the penalty as well. He did. When was the last time that happened?

22:55I think it was... France. Yeah, and that was the second penalty in that game as well. So the trick is don't give Harry Kane more than one penalty in a game. So he hasn't missed a penalty, we think. I was under the impression he hadn't missed any for Bayern, which would make sense since the 2022 World Cup. But, I mean, if he misses a penalty every four years, it's good news for ending at the World Cup, right? It's in the clear. Maybe, depending on when that penalty falls. Well, true, yeah. Yeah, as we saw indeed, et cetera, and so on. There you go. Barcelona, they had a bit of a scare away in Prague where they were taking on Slavia, and they went behind as well, but came roaring back and ended up winning 4-2.

23:35Femin Lopez scored a brace, second of which was delicious. Robert Lewandowski scored twice as well although one at each end Just on Kane he did miss a penalty in the German Cup earlier this season but that was the first one since the World Cup so he's definitely in the clear now OK He's got to have a system With Barcelona as well Yes Obviously they won and there were some fantastic goals and their attack is they've got some rotations in attack they've got options off the bench etc It is worth thinking about the fact that they do struggle with set pieces so I looked at how many goals they've conceded in the Champions League and La Liga from set pieces and that's eight now, which is a bit of a pattern, a bit of a trend.

24:12And you think the latter stages of the Champions League, will they actually come unstuck a little bit? And then I thought about and spoke to people in the office about this earlier. They came unstuck against Inter Milan in the semifinals last season via set pieces. So still something they need to tighten up on. I see. They are currently line ninth, so heading for the playoffs, but they are one of those eight teams level on 13 points outside the automatic spots on goal difference alone. Slavia Prague are out. As for the other sides in that gaggle of outfits, hoping for a good result on Wednesday to take them into the automatic spots, you've got Sporting, who beat PSG on Tuesday.

24:51You've got Man City, who are still busy reimbursing their fans for Bodo Glimt. Atletico, who drew 1-1 at Galatasaray on Wednesday. and Atalanta, who lost 3-2 at home to Athletic. After dominating the first half, they took the lead through Gianluca Scamacca. And then Athletic switched things up. Valverde made substitutions. Atalanta got caught out, kind of against the run of play. After they conceded once, they completely lost their heads. In about a quarter of an hour, they were 3-1 down. And they pulled one back. But it means that having been third in the table, little Atalanta, when they were 1-0 up, they are now sitting 13th, while Athletic move up to 23rd.

25:38So into the playoff spots. Very nice. Atalanta next weekend, sorry, next midweek will be at Union Saint-Germain, while Athletic hosts Sporting. Elsewhere, did anybody see Juventus beat Benfica? Quite an event, this, in Turin. Benfica, as James Horncastle was mentioning in our Tuesday Euro show, have an extraordinary record of stuffing up Juve's European plans. In fact, the old lady hadn't beaten them since far away 92-93. And this time, added spice was added to the fixture by the fact that Benfica's manager is Jose Mourinho, no friend of La Signora, although pre-game he was being all nicey, saying, I wouldn't rule out coming and managing here.

26:22nothing but friends yeah anyway they'd won two straight Benfica they needed to win this one they didn't got beaten 2-0 Benfica slipped to 29th they're two points off the playoffs their last chance of making it is going to be with a victory on Wednesday night when they're going to be at home to Real Madrid Jose Mourinho another acrimonious departee yeah Mourinho just touring his old clubs basically yeah very nice Also, midweek, Carabag were 3-2 winners against Frankfurt. Sin. Sin, and rightly so, Natalie. Yeah, no, it was very cool. When they scored the third goal, players go crazy, fans go crazy.

27:06So that was the first goal ever scored in the Champions League by an Azerbaijani player. Balil Mustafzadi. Nice pronunciation. Thank you so much. They now lie 18th, Carabag. so they've got a very good chance of making it into the playoffs. They are two points clear of the teams set to miss out. With Liverpool to play away, with Liverpool needing maybe a draw. I don't know, maybe a draw for both sides could see them to their respective. Burnley drew there. What, are you alleging some sort of carve-up pre-game? No, but both sides might just be happy with said result. If Carabao go for a low block.

27:44It's true. Honestly. They frustrated Chelsea. They frustrated Chelsea. That's so true. Galatasaray-Atletico, meanwhile, that leaves two sides, 17th and 12th respectively. Galatasaray are at Man City next week. Man City, who you will recall, are outside the automatic qualification spots, while Atletico Madrid host Bodo Glimt. What a lovely story that was on Tuesday. We had Martin Schlepnes on yesterday discussing his love of Bodo and what times these are for Glimt fans. And, yeah, one can't help but wish them a little bit of success next week. I did listen to that. And didn't he say that it was like Christmas every day in the week leaving up?

28:28That's just because it's snowing. Exactly. Maybe that. Yeah. Very good. All right. Well, so next Wednesday is going to be huge with all 18 matches occurring simultaneously. Did that work last season? I think it's too much football. Yeah. How did you feel? Because I'm not. Well, we had an article, Tim Spears did, where he was allowed to watch five minutes of each game, but once you've chosen, you can't switch back to a game that looks exciting. And he did miss quite a lot of exciting moments. But, you know, it is what it is. Right. It's not mandatory to do that, though. You can actually pick maybe two games of polyvote.

29:08I wouldn't say, yeah. But I think there's a lot of good games next week, so it's exciting. I think this is the strength of the new format. I mean you and I differ on our views on the new format it might have one good day at the end of it but the rest of it has been pretty bland there's been some good scorelines which ultimately felt quite meaningless would be my take on this but other perspectives are available Natalie what do you think? I miss the build up to the big games because if you have big fixtures happening from the start I feel like there isn't enough around it. You know, like you switch on your TV and you're like, oh, Arsenal's playing Inter Milan, for example.

29:51You get a lot of that. You get a lot of that. For me, football is a little bit... I mean, it's not published at the start of the season. You can look ahead. For me, football is a little bit like pasta. A narrative is the source. And pasta without the source, or football without the narrative, It just is a bland dish. Are there good pasta dishes without sauce? I don't know that there are. Cacio e pepe is about as close as you'll get. But you wouldn't want to eat that every Tuesday, Wednesday for eight weeks. So my point would be that one thing above all, the lack of a home and away format, robs certainly the second legs of these ties, what would have been the second legs of these ties, of so much of that narrative.

30:36Counterpoint, can we remember back to the match day six of the old format, Brilliant. It was awful. It was not awful. It was awful because you might have a couple of groups or something. Same as this? Yeah, but then most groups would have been decided and teams were playing reserves. It wasn't good. Counter-counterpoint, this has been eight weeks to get to one decent round of meaningful action. I think there's been some good games. There have been some good games. As we mentioned, look at the fallout from Liverpool losing to PSV. That caused a mini-crisis. what I do think is that a bit like an MLS where obviously you win the playoffs to win the MLS but the team that finishes top of the league gets a little award I do think the team that finishes first in this big league stage should get a little that would be nice because it's Arsenal Liverpool last year was it?

31:27Yeah it was Liverpool so you know a little badge that's a thought isn't it? anyway that's enough on the Champions League before next Wednesday we've got Premier League match day 23 so let's have a look at what that entails next

31:56Premier League match day 23 begins Saturday lunchtime with West Ham getting a visit from Sunderland 3 o 'clock you've got Fuller Brighton Man City Wolves one of those sides is unbeaten in five and it's not Man City and Burnley Spurs Burnley have gone 13 games without a win but will Spurs be in their white coat and stethoscope we shall see at 5.30 on Saturday Bournemouth host Liverpool and then you've got four games on Sunday three of them are at two o 'clock Crystal Palace against Chelsea Newcastle against Villa and Brentford Forest the Bees against the Trees and then at 4.30 it's the biggie Arsenal against Man United Jose Mourinho was the last Man United manager to win a Premier League game at the Emirates that was over 8 years ago the round concludes Monday night with Everton leads these Mark you will have noticed are the reverse fixtures of the games from the opening day of the season remember that?

32:57yeah it's funny how you do have a skewed view I feel like I do remember all of these games specifically but then when the reverse fixture comes out for any other game in the typical season. I can't quite get it in the same way. Well, I guess the opening day, everything's that much fresher, isn't it? Some of the season's trends were already evident in the opening round of matches. Arsenal scoring from a corner in their game against Man United. Igor Thiago bagging as well. We'll talk more about him and his Brazil prospects. Sunderland winning at home as well. Others proved a little bit more short-lived, like Thomas Frank being just the man for Spurs.

33:32delighting the home fans with that 3-0 winner over Burnley and Keith Andrews, his replacement for Brentford being wildly out of his depth going 3-0 down against Nuno's Forest within the first half of his first Premier League game Victor Godquist didn't have a shot Ah, well Victor Godquist, one of the big questions I guess ahead of this weekend following his success and Gabriel Jesus' brace in Arsenal's 3-1 win over Inter as Arsenal head into Sunday's clash against Man United what does Mikel Arteta do Natalie? Does he pick Gabriel Jesus? I think he's going to pick Jokeres I would pick Gabriel Jesus Why?

34:11Well I think first I like the link-ups between Gabriel Jesus and Trossard he's probably going to start Trossard Trossard and Saka there's a lot of talk about Jokeres' work off the ball and how much he attracts opponents but that's a strength from Gabriel Jesus as well So the thing is, Gabriel, he had an instant impact when he returned from surgery, but then he didn't really impress massively. But then against Inter Milan, he did really well. And I'm all for, you know, keeping momentum. But talking about momentum, earlier this season in December, Noni Madueke scored a brace against Club Rouge. And then on the weekend, he was on the bench.

34:56So it doesn't necessarily work like this. I think Mikel has been showing to be very methodical with his choices. And he does believe in Jokeres, even though I think he's a good option to just come from the bench, which was the impact he had against Inter. Tactically, one of the advantages of Gabriel Jesus is that rather less than Jokeres, he denies Maguire and Martinez a point of reference, somebody to mark. Literally going to be our point. I was going to say that exact same thing that it seemed like from the weekend just gone, if you were to look at the Manchester United game, but how do we not allow that to happen?

35:35I exactly, to your point, Martinez and Maguire basically having Haaland locked down. If Gabriel Jesus is going to float across each side and just get into little pockets, then it asks questions of them stepping out and then other players can maybe exploit that space. So I'd probably agree with you. I think that playing Jesus is probably the better tactical option, but whether or not he'd maybe be absolutely fully fit. I know he's back to full fitness, but whether or not he'd maybe be able to handle the intensity. I'd go for the third option, which would be Mika Marina, because I think he kind of does a bit of both, and his kind of penalty box movement could be useful.

36:10I don't want to massively defend Ruben Amritem, but United had seven shots on target against Arsenal on the opening game, which is 15 % of all the shots on target they've faced this season. They haven't faced one for the last two games. They've done that five times this season, completely locked out the opposition. We all know how good Arsenal's defence is. But United, even under Amerim, cause them a lot of problems. Even in this long period of Manchester United not being great, Arsenal have never been one of the teams that have really been able to dominate them. They've never had a statement win at Old Trafford or anything like that.

36:45So I do think this is a very tricky game for Arsenal. And United will be cock-a-hoop after last weekend. Right, a United team that, for all Amrim's occasional good work, did look transformed last weekend against Man City. Yes, absolutely. Don't get me wrong, they did, and it was a great performance against Man City. But I think Arsenal can be a very, very different type of team. They can really frustrate opponents with being patient and being pragmatic, which is something that City is not really. And I don't see Man United having the same joint transitions against Arsenal because of their defensive strength and their midfielders.

37:29We saw Bodo Glimt kind of did what Manchester United did as well. So, I mean, that kind of takes a tiny bit of shine off what United did last weekend, I would say. And Arsenal, as you say, Natalie, are probably the hardest team in the world to play through the middle against. It feels like because of the weekend just gone, United fans and Carrick might be a bit more, if not gung-ho, than kind of use the enthusiasm of last weekend. DNA. But the United DNA. However, it feels like the best approach might be, and it's mad to say when it's Manchester United going away from home at Arsenal, that they should probably sit in and do the, again, theme of this episode, do the low block and try and counter, even though, as you say, the Arsenal defenders might lock things down a little bit.

38:08but would they, given the narrative, the feel of the club at the moment, would they actually feel comfortable doing that? And if they're not going to do that, then Arsenal can pick them off in a game that's a little bit more open. So they're sort of caught between a rock and a hard place on how to approach a tactic. Carrick does have this extraordinary record of managing to outwit the very toppest of managers. Arteta, he beat him in the only previous managerial meeting, that was back in 2021, but he's beaten Pep last weekend. he's beaten Klopp he's beaten Unai when Unai was at Villarreal yeah we shall see what do you think because it could have a big impact on the title race Arsenal win this yeah well I still think Arsenal are big favourites for this one but so were Man City so so true so true Arsenal currently seven points clear of Man City and Arsenal Villa this weekend City will be hosting Wolves while Villa are at Newcastle.

39:06They'll have a terrible record in Newcastle. They haven't won there since a game in 2005, which became famous for something quite different. Was that the punch-up game? It was. It was. Lee Bowyer and Kieran Dyer having a disagreement. Right. And what sparked that? This is why Newcastle are basically on the attack. And with the ball in play, Bowyer and Dyer just start laying into each other. Oh, there's a fight going on here between two Newcastle players. Kieran Dyer and Lee Bowyer are having a fight. Goodness me, what on earth is going on? I have never seen such a thing. Lee Bowyer and Kieran Dyer suddenly were at each other's throats.

39:50I guess I've seen a player's shirt fully ripped. It was Bowyer getting crossed because he thought he was in a good position to receive a pass and Dyer didn't do it. So why not just attack him? Yeah, it's, you know, basic. they were 3-0 down at the time both were shown red which means Newcastle finished the game in 9? no 8 because then Steven Taylor got sent off for one of the best red cards this because he kind of became a goalkeeper did he Luis Suarez it? yeah but then tried to sort of make out that he hadn't handballed it if you rank in Premier League games that was in the top 25 just quality it was pure Premier League years energy in that game was off the charts so let's hope for that this weekend.

40:34Okay, it's been 20 years, 21 coming up too, since Villa got another win at St James' Park. Could it happen this weekend? A bit depleted, aren't they, in midfield? John McGinn is seemingly out for a little bit of time, Boubacar Kamara is the same, and Villa's midfield has been one of their key strengths this season. Even when they've maybe not been super potent in attack, they've been the ones to make sure that nothing goes through at the other end and with injuries then you start chasing fitness in the squad and maybe playing players that you wouldn't otherwise play. A little bit of a concern for Villa.

41:14I mean, Unai Emery doesn't think that they're going to finish in the top four. Huweta says anything but he thinks that they're not top five contenders based on his interview at the weekend. After Everton, yeah. We don't want to press the underlying numbers, Klaxon. I'm not going to say it, you can. but I mean yeah it's a tough period for Villa that's coming up I think but they've surprised us all season so let's see what happens but that's been the main question mark with Villa this whole time were they going to be able to sustain this because of squad issues and to be fair Boubacar Camara's absence is a big one because he brings a lot of balance to that team so at the same time I don't know, they come off the back of a bad result against Everton.

42:02So I don't see them piling up bad results. They're a really good team and I don't see Unai allowing this to happen. We should see. They may have Jean-Philippe Mateta available by this weekend. Where are we at with that? I'm not entirely sure. The last I read was that Mateta does want to leave Crystal Palace. I don't know how advanced things are with actually having genuine conversations with other clubs, but it seems like he's not very happy staying at Crystal Palace is all I know. More problems then for Oliver Glasner ahead of their visit from Chelsea. Man City, meanwhile, if Villa have a tough away game, they have what looks like an easy match at home to the bottom side in the Premier League.

42:46Wolves only, City haven't won a game in four attempts in the Premier League. They've only won two of their seven matches this calendar year in any competition, while Wolves are unbeaten in five matches. Crikey. I think it's time to press the underlying numbers, klaxon again, or button, whatever we're going to call it, because at Lever, it feels like Wolves... You don't want to say a false position where they should be in the Champions League places, but it does feel like they shouldn't be as cut adrift as they are. So it's almost like, you know, underestimate them at your own peril, because I think they've conceded 10 goals more than expected based on the quality of chances that they have conceded and four or five goals fewer than they should from an attacking perspective.

43:29But I'm not sure how that... There's 16 points down on expected goals. Right, okay. But conceding more goals than you should, I'm not sure how that works out to be a virtue. So it's one of those that in the longer term, typically when you look at expected goals and across a very long period, variance seems to kind of flatten out a little bit where you might have some poor goalkeeping, some bad luck, some deflections. But if it is that your goalkeeper is just not very good, wouldn't that fulfil the same? Also true. I mean, they've rotated, haven't they, between Jadisar and Sam Jones. So maybe there's an extent to which that's true.

44:00And as well, when I'm saying about long term, that can be multiple seasons. But when you're trying to chase the second half of a season, it seems like it might be too late. So I'm not suggesting Wolves are going to soar up the league, but I do think they are maybe stronger than their position suggests. At least they're not stinking up the league, which is what they were doing before. Well, I'm not hearing many, oh, they're worse than Derby, shouts these days. Eight points. One win off equaling Derby's record. So that might be this weekend. Maybe. I do recall a remarkable Wolves victory away at Man City, courtesy of Traore.

44:35Yes, 3-2. Nuno was the manager. That's the only thing that Wolves don't have too much of this season is the counter-attacking speed. And I was at the Arsenal game, Wolves away at Arsenal, and they set up in a really good 5-3-2, just stifled Arsenal for long periods. And then they opened up in the final 10 minutes or so. They did go to draw the game at the time, then ended up losing to a last minute goal. But that sort of sitting in low block that we're talking about, again, worked to great effect. The only thing was that they didn't have then the ability to counterattack because they had no pace.

45:09So still all of the above being true, I do think that's probably the way that they should set up against Manchester. They do have the Rochdale, Ronaldo, Mateus, Mane though now. He's brilliant, isn't he? Rochdale's not very far from Manchester, so maybe he'll be geographically inspired. In a way that cyclists often are. So true. On a counterpoint, City have won 10 of their last 11 meetings with Wolves and they've won their last nine home games against teams starting the day bottom of the table by an aggregate score of 36 to nothing. Yeah, that is quite a big counterpoint. And if I'm not mistaken, we may have Mark Gehry's debut for Man City, which cannot come soon enough because they've been showing defensive fragilities.

45:50But also up front, I think even more worrying because at least you have Mark Gehry who can reflect well on the midfield and the balance of that team. But up front, City hasn't been... Scherke has been the only player who's been trying to create something a bit more exciting. You know, Hinders, he started well, he had a dip, and then he had another good moment. And it's just been up and down. Phil Foden has not been in a good run. So I think that, and Haaland, obviously. So that needs more sorting. Eight games without scoring from open play. One penalty. All right, then. Loads of other things happening this weekend.

46:31And we'll touch on some of the key points in the other games next.

46:44This is the Totally Football Show with James Richardson, part of the Athletic FC podcast network. Listen, we do a lot of talking here, but right now we'd like to hear from you. We're asking you to fill out a quick survey about yourself and your podcast habits. And you can do that at theathletic.com slash survey26. Three lucky entries there will win£100 worth of Amazon vouchers. So whether you're a long-term listener or a new one, we'd love your feedback. Go to theathletic.com slash survey26. That's theathletic.com slash survey26. And the link is also in our episode description. Many thanks. Hey, plenty of managers who we weren't sure would make it to Match Day 23.

47:24Looks like they're going to be in place. That's nice, isn't it? Oliver Glastner at Palace. Thomas Frank at Spurs. Their big win against Borussia Dortmund on Tuesday gave him a real boost. But is the feeling still that if Spurs blow it at Burnley, he'll be right back where he started? I think so, yeah. I mean, he's having a very snakes and ladders season, isn't he? I mean, the Champions League has kept him afloat, really. But Burnley away, I mean, they have to win that. Well, worryingly, Burnley have gone 13 games without a win. And I say worryingly because in the last two matches that Spurs have had in the Premier League, they faced Bournemouth, who'd gone 11 games without a win, but then ended that run with a victory over Spurs.

48:07And then West Ham, who'd gone 10 games without a win and ended that run with a victory over Spurs. And also Burnley has been showing signs of improvements because they got a point at Anfield against Liverpool. They drew 2-2 against Man United and now Spurs at home. so the only maybe saving grace for Spurs could be that they do do better away from home they've been so bad it probably shows more that they've been so bad at home but their points per game is 0.82 at home 1.64 away from home so exactly double points than Spurs away from home really remarkable isn't it Marcus Edwards who was rated a prodigy in Spurs Academy and then headed off to Sporting and is now at Burnley he's scored at Anfield, looking to net in back-to-back matches against a Spurs side that suffered yet another injury blow with Lukas Bergwahl now out for this weekend.

49:05I think he was like the only fit midfielder that they had at this point. That is quite boring, actually, because, I mean, how do you break Burnley? How do you, because, again, I don't want to talk about low blocks anymore, but here we are. yeah you need creativity you need directness and I think Lucas Bergvau he brings some energy to that midfield the matches that he's been unfit he was he was missed so yeah it's it's definitely not good news there you go extra pressure on Conor Gallagher new signing to be that box crasher to make those runs beyond the the last line maybe as you say from midfield especially if you are going to play against a low block you need to kind of load the blocks He never gets injured.

49:52Also true. Is that right? Never missed a game with injury in his career. Only illness. Just illness. I mean, everyone gets ill, right? Crystal Palace are hosting Chelsea. That's Sunday, 2 o 'clock. Natalie, you're going to be there. What do you think Oliver Glasner is going to be saying into your microphone post-game? To be fair to Oliver Glasner, he's one of the loveliest managers in the Premier League. Yes, he is. So he's top of the 20 managers in terms of niceness, is he? He's definitely like top three. Who else is in the top three? Arne is very, very nice. Yeah, he seems kind of good. Yes, I think you really see managers when they lose, when they're in rough moments and how they behave in those moments.

50:38And Arne has been... Thomas Frank, would he be in there? Would he be top three? Oh, definitely, yes, yes, yes. Okay, so now back in the day, the one they all feared was Sir Alex. Yeah. Who is it that most gives you the willies, if you'll excuse the expression, as you prepare for a post-game interview? Unai Emery. Really? Yes, yes. Because he can be very... He might just repeat the name of a goalkeeper. Exactly. That's the type of thing he does. You know, he can give you literally one word if he doesn't want to talk about... And it's a normal question. Like, why is not Emi Martini starting? And he's going to answer Marco Bizzou.

51:13Marco Bizzou. Marco Bizzou. and you're just, you know, left there wandering. Okay. Any others you want to mention? I think it's best for you. What about David Moyes? David Moyes. Yeah, he can be challenging if he's not winning. Yes, definitely. Okay. Okay. But on Oliver Glasner, it's just I'm curious to see what the mood is going to be around Crystal Palace in general because this week, apparently he patched things up with the hierarchy. He had a good conversation past the last weekend with them. So this is looking better. But Mateta saying that he wants to leave and then Mark Gehry leaving and now they're hosting Chelsea.

51:59I mean, it's not great. It's weird. And on Mateta, I think if they get a replacement for him, just sell him. He's 29. His form has dropped massively because at the start of the season, I did the reverse fixture. So at the start of the season, he was very wasteful in front of goal, but he was scoring a lot. And now he's just been very wasteful. Crikey. I mean, the Palace fans haven't seen them win a Premier League game at Salah's Park. It's November the 1st, which is quite a long time. Well, the Palace fans haven't seen anyone but Mateta score a goal at Salah's Park since September. with Eddie Nketiah against Liverpool.

52:41Difficult, isn't it? Ten games without a win for the Eagles. Chelsea, meanwhile, arriving with... It'll be perhaps your first chat with Liam Resenia. I did Carabao Cup. You did the Carabao Cup. All right. He's quite a loquacious man. Did he indulge you with any of his man-ager-style aphorisms when you spoke to him of the Carabao Cup? Not that I can remember, but he was... Are you going to serve him up any words that he can easily split into two separate words? Maybe you should try and, like, you know, build those in. I'll try to include that in my post-match interviews, definitely. But, yeah, lovely guy.

53:20OK, very good. And his dad's a splendid fellow as well. Mark, you've written about whether players get injured more when their manager changes mid-season, or when their club changes manager mid-season. Is it true? Do they? They do. Why is that? I just found it was a really interesting topic. and there's obviously loads of examples that you could think of. I mean, when Andrew Postacoglu came in, this wasn't necessarily mid-season, but the way that his style was, was just completely kind of broke a lot of the players. But then you think about Andrew Postacoglu coming in to Nottingham Forest and how much that differed from Nuno Espirito Santo.

53:55There's so many reasons why it can happen. I spoke to some really interesting people about it. It can be something as simple as the training schedule. If you may be typically having a Wednesday off and then that maybe changes to a Thursday, These players are so well-tuned and finely tuned to perform in a certain way that something as simple as that can affect it. Changing the pitches sometimes across different training pitches, you know, you can start to have more injury risk associated with that. And even just something as simple as the rotation, it's interesting to say about Rosinia and he's trying out new back lines wholesale.

54:26And yes, they've got a lot of competitions they're fighting in. But actually then the conditioning of each of the players, that can be a key factor as well. And the final one being changing roles as well. Sometimes a manager might think about Ruben Amarin, changing to a wing-back system, going from full-back to wing-back is actually quite a big difference in terms of the sprints that you have to do. How significant a difference is it in terms of rate of injuries? One of the papers that I read was that within four weeks of a new manager arriving, there was a 30 % increase in muscular injuries within the squad, which is notable.

54:58It's not guaranteed. but it's interesting because one of the things new managers always do when they come into a club is complain about the fitness levels and it's like go to page one of new manager speak it's like great squad this really proud to come into this squad but i mean i think we need to get them a bit fitter so well at the risk of just talking about my article the whole time it was interesting that this sort of it's double pronged where you can either get them fitter and then you run the risk of them having injury from kind of fatigue or you do loads of meetings and have kind of video sessions and then the evidence as well suggests that with increased cognitive load cognitive fatigue you've maybe got higher stress levels higher cortisol levels and that can lead to injury as well so you think take them off the grass do loads of video meetings that comes with its risk get them on the grass that comes with its risk our star striker's out for two weeks because he looked at too many spreadsheets i mean you joke but i think that's maybe what happened to you.

55:51Yeah, possibly. I went too deep into the... I pivot tabled myself. Forest players are presumably three times as at risk as anybody else after all the managerial upheaval they've had. They will be at the GTEC Sunday 2 o 'clock, the ones that are fit to take on Brentford who have a terrific record at home. Only three teams, only the top three in fact, have a better home record than the Bees, who can also boast the highest scoring Brazilian in Premier League history ever in a single campaign, Igor Thiago. Now, has his remarkable success, he's on what, 16 league goals now, Natalie. Is that making headlines back at home?

56:32And what are the prospects of him suiting up for the Cedasau come summertime? Sort of. And sort of because Brazilians are very sceptical and I don't agree with that. I want to be clear. What, about Premier League goals? No, I don't agree with Brazil. with Brazilians being skeptical about players who are not a part of the big six getting called up for the national team. Yes. So this has been a theme in the past few years. And I think if Igor Thiago gets a call up and we have matches against France and Croatia in March, there will be some skepticism, but there will be obviously, from people who actually follow the Premier League.

57:16But also, I think technically, the type of player that he is, because the best performances from the Brazil front line, they have been more free flowing. And he's a very classic striker, poacher. And I'm not sure how that would fit into the way that Ancelotti wants Brazil to play. Because there's one or two players available of that ilk. Vinicius Junior, Rodrigo, list the other ones if you would. Estevão, yes, exactly. And even Matheus Cunha, he doesn't play as a striker for Brazil. There's a lot of mobility in the front line. So I'm interested to see how it would fit in, especially playing against big, strong sides such as France.

58:04Because the good performances with that free-flowing front line have come against Senegal in a match where they weren't good, because we're talking about Senegal here winning AFCON, but they weren't good, and South Korea. So we are interested and curious to see how this would pan out against stronger sides. Yeah, you think it might be a good squad option against the sort of low block at the World Cup, perhaps. I mean, England took Ricky Lambert to the 2014 World Cup. And Ivan Toni as well. thinking about Brentford as well, like it being an alternative option at times. Funny, this is a Brazilian Igor, Brazilian striker named Igor Derby, isn't it?

58:47Brentford against Forrest. Oh, yeah. Yeah, Igor Jesus. Yeah. Yeah, Igor Derby. It's a popular name, is it, in Brazil? It's not unpopular. Just hearing that Igor Jesus is out injured. One less Igor. So only 50 % of the... Indeed. Indeed. I mean, we joke, but... No comment. The numbers, they don't lie. Forrester in action on Thursday night in Europa League. They'll be in Portugal taking on Braga. The ground with the rock behind the goal. The quarry. Yeah, better than Oxford United, who just have a fence and a bowling alley. West Ham welcome Sunderland to the much-loved London Stadium. Black Cats, terrific at home, win this in their last six away in the Premier League.

59:37Bournemouth hosts Liverpool, who've had four draws in a row, as we mentioned, in the Premier League. But they have won 13 of the last 14 meetings with the Cherries in all competitions. Bournemouth, who, of course, were involved in that 1-1 draw away at Brighton on Monday night. Brighton themselves are going to be at Fulham in the Nice Clubs derby. It feels like a draw, doesn't it? Does it? Does it not feel like a draw to everyone else? I mean, Brighton have the most draws, or the joint most draws in the Premier League this season with nine. It feels like a nice 1-1 to me. Everyone goes home happy.

1:00:13OK. Seagulls haven't won any of their five Premier League visits to Craven Cottage. Will that change? Well, that won't change. But will they get a victory for the first time this weekend? We shall see. And Everton Leeds is on Monday night, just as it was on the opening weekend of the season, only the other way around. And back then, it was a Leeds victory. Jack Grealish won't be in this game, or for many games to come, it looks like, because he's seeing a specialist after a suspected stress fracture in his foot, which is bad news for Everton. Not sure where he stood on the Thomas Tuchel call-up pecking order, but that might be a factor in that as well, poor chap.

1:00:58Well, there you go. That's the Premier League weekend. What game are you most looking forward to, Mark? Oh, good question. I mean, is it too obvious to say after Man United? It does feel like that's the one. I don't think that's too obvious. I want to see if I stand corrected on Brighton Fulham as well. OK, nice. Maybe a one. Duncan? I'm looking forward to West Ham Sunderland because I reckon this West Ham team, albeit with a win last week, at 12.30 at home is going to be... That's for the purists. You can keep your high-scoring Champions League nonsense. Right. London Stadium at 12.30 on a Saturday, that's football.

1:01:33Crackling atmosphere. OK. And Crystal Palace, Chelsea, is it for you, Natalie? Yes, but I also want to give a nod to Bournemouth Liverpool because I was at Brighton Bournemouth on Monday. And Bournemouth, I think, they don't have Justin Cliver and obviously Semenyo. And they have been finding good solutions. I really like what Idaola is doing, playing Kruppi as a 10 and with Evan Nilsson. and they have been conceding a lot of goals and they have been fun to watch. So, yeah, it should... It's pretty nice, Irola. Oh, my God. Yeah, he needs to be on the top three. Yeah, we need to dump someone. I don't know who, but yeah, he needs to be on the top three.

1:02:16Be ruthless, Natty. All right, well, listen, thank you so much for being with us today and I hope you have a good trip to Selhurst Park this weekend. Mark, thank you for stopping by. and Duncan. I hope you continue to get better. Many thanks as well to Jake and Charlie in the booth and to yourselves and to you, listener or viewer on our YouTube channel. We'll be back Sunday evening with, of course, a live presentation of us recording the Monday pod. That'll be round about 7.15 or thereafter on Sunday night on YouTube or available for you Monday morning as per. Hope you have a great weekend for now from all of us here it's goodbye you've been listening to the totally football show part of the athletic fc podcast network for other great podcasts just like this one including the athletic fc and our dedicated club podcasts search for the athletic in all the usual places we're also at the totally show on insta and at the totally show on youtube the totally football show is an athletic media company production

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