Chelsea appoint Alonso, Salah lets loose and West Ham woes worsen

0:08We'll see you next time.

0:30Hi, it's Mark Bittman from the podcast Food with Mark Bittman. It is getting warmer and it's time to go outside and start grilling. You can find quality meat, fresh organic produce, seasonal bakery treats. It's all there at Whole Foods Market. Ready to cook beef or chicken kebabs, corn, asparagus, great on the grill. And Whole Foods has Teton Waters Ranch hot dogs and sausages made from grass-fed beef. Shop for all of your summer favorites at Whole Foods Market.

1:26and in stores.

1:32The Athletic FC.

1:40Liam Twomey: Totally football show. Today, there's Tati, there's Xavi, and there's Man City cleaning up in the FA Cup with a very tidy goal from Antoine Semenu. We'll discuss what happened in City's latest win at Wembley, Alonso for Chelsea, and whether it's Solonso for Pep. And we'll catch up on the weekend's other stories. West Ham's collapse in the North East. Mo Salah hitting the post on Instagram, sparking a fresh leadership crisis for labouring Liverpool. All that and Celtic Hearts 2 in this Totally Football Show.

2:13Liam Twomey: Hello there. It's Sunday night with Totally Football Show. Many thanks for joining us. Today's show coming to you on Sunday the 17th of May. or thereafter if you're listening to it in podcast format. But many thanks if you're choosing to join us on our YouTube channel. Here in the studio, Tim Spears is with us. How's it going? Hey, James. Pretty good, thanks, Tim. And yourself? Very good, thank you. You've got a little kind of bounce to you. No idea why, but let's go with it. One week to the end of the season? That's it. That's the one. That's the one. Look at you, Colin. You've got your holidays already planned.

2:48Daniel Storey: Oh, yeah, everything mapped out. I'm on the beach already. Excellent. Good. Let's see how this performance goes. very much not on the beach ever,

2:56Liam Twomey: unless it's in the city islands occasionally. Daniel's story. Daniel, what a weekend of drama we have to report on. Yeah, it was the Scottish title race. It started everything, carried on with FA Cup final. I quite liked the Sunday as the big Premier League day as a one-off. It completely messed in my head having a 12.30 game on a Sunday. So it was useful that my own team was playing it, otherwise I'd completely missed it. But, yeah, a good day, I think. Yeah. There was also the whole Xavi Alonso going to Chelsea news, that breaking. And now, knock on FX potentially, the giddy coaching carousel.

3:34Liam Twomey: We'll get on to all of that. We're going to begin, though, with the match that's only recently concluded at St James' Park. West Ham losing 3-1 away to Newcastle. West Ham gone then, yes, is Nick Hamblin. Summing it up pretty nicely, actually. A fine victory for Newcastle. And one that came about, we'll just launch straight into it, shall we? One that came about because of Nuno Espirito de Santa's disastrous opening line-up. Is that fair, Daniel? I mean, yes, it was proven so. That shape did pretty well against Arsenal in terms of limiting Arsenal. And they obviously got a decent result there.

4:10It was the wrong move because the way to get at Newcastle is to unsettle them, is to kind of get high at the pitch, is to have more men in midfield rather than in your defence, I think. and so they just invited pressure. Against Arsenal, they actually kind of coped with that pressure pretty well. Here, they were, like it was a proper that's why you're going down first half because the defending, I mean, the defending for the first goal is absolutely shambolic. I think five different people make a mistake within about six seconds and it didn't get that much better until half time and certainly until Nuno had changed the formation and made that sub after 24 minutes.

4:48They improved after that and could have scored quite a few times. But, yeah, they were bad stuff in the first half.

4:53Liam Twomey: When they did score, after they'd gone 3-0 down, it was an absolute wonder goal. Tim, did you see this? Goal of the weekend, I think. Tell us about it. It was a goal kick all the way through. It just sort of bounces through to Tati Castellanos. I don't think it touches anyone else. And then, yeah, he lets it back through onto his right foot and it's sort of a 25-yard first-time volley. It's just too powerful and dips over the top of Pope. It was like a stunning goal. I was like, what? Where did that come from? I was 3-0 down at the time. And he was great, Tati. He was inspirational. He could have had a couple more goals.

5:28And yeah, again, you just question why he didn't start. It's not like there's been enough evidence in the last few months to suggest that he's a bit of a talisman for them. So yeah, very, very strange. Yep. Remind me of that goal Jamie Varley scored against Liverpool. Remember that one where the ball comes up? One of those where the keeper has to be out that far to cut down the angle. but it just makes the goal look absolutely massive when a striker does that. It just puts it over the keeper. Because you can either do it with power, as Castellanos and Vardy did, or you can just lob the keeper.

5:58Yeah, it makes the goal look massive. I loved it.

6:00Liam Twomey: There was so much to take from this game. That goal, the whole tactical question surrounding the way that West Ham set up. Also, there's Michael Jackson goal celebration, which I found, I think perplexing is the politest word you could use, Colin.

6:17Daniel Storey: Yeah, so the goal celebration at 2-0 quite early on in the game, and he takes out a white glove, puts it on his right hand, and starts pulling a few moves solo. He didn't moonwalk, though, I don't think.

6:30Liam Twomey: I feel on a pitch, it's not an ideal.

6:32Daniel Storey: It wouldn't have been easy, but I think if you're going to do a Michael Jackson impression, that has to be in the repertoire. Well, that's one direction you could go.

6:39Liam Twomey: The other one doesn't bear thinking about it, really, at this point. It did beg the question when he scored the second one, who's he going to homage this time? and I'm going to see some of the recording artists whose name featured. Tim, take us on to another topic perhaps. Oh, yeah, yeah, just West Ham. All right, so that was also a bit strange. This was Kieran Trippier's final home appearance for Newcastle. We don't know, I think, yet where he's going to be going, but he is leaving the Magpies. Sky, curiously, after the Tatty Wonder goal, with West Ham still challenging, There was, I guess, about five, six minutes left in the 90, and then there was going to be seven more minutes on.

7:20Liam Twomey: So there was quite a lot going on and a major relegation influencing battle. Sky curiously decided we couldn't wait any longer to hear from Kieran Trippier. So they conducted a little interview with him and cut away from the action to it. I'm not, I can't recall that for anybody else.

7:37Daniel Storey: It does seem a little curious. Obviously, Kieran Trippier, the reason he was so big for Newcastle was he was the first signing of that era after the takeover, and I think it was the 21-22 season, having come from Atletico Madrid where he'd won the league, been Champions League final with Tottenham, and he was the sort of symbol that now we're a different club, now we're attracting different players. Obviously, a very good servant over the years as well, so it was very emotional from a Newcastle point of view for him to be moving on. But yeah, I was slightly surprised at that myself. I mean, the story of this game is definitely West Ham.

8:08Daniel Storey: I mean, you can't escape that.

8:11Liam Twomey: Although from a Newcastle point of view, there'll be a lot of supporters saying, well, the story of this game is also the fact that we went two goals up and then we didn't throw away the lead because that was the stat that came up early on in a match. OK, you're 2-0 down, West Ham, but if any club is going to throw this away, it's Newcastle. They didn't hear, Daniel. Were you impressed by them? Yeah, I mean, West Ham, to be fair, when West Ham made the change, They had a couple of quiet chances. There was that Nick Pote save and then the follow-up just kind of blasted and blocked. I think it was just a case of Newcastle getting through that 15 minutes maybe after West Ham had made the change and immediately looked completely different and completely better.

8:53But yeah, I mean, West Ham couldn't defend properly in open play. So every time Newcastle went forward, I did think there was more of that one-touch passing move. You know, we saw it within the second goal. There was more of that from Newcastle than we've seen recently. I think Voltemada playing behind the striker helps that. He kind of links up play. I think Barnes has been their best winger this season, so it makes sense for him to be involved in that as well. So, yeah, they looked better, definitely. But, yeah, the context of, you know, Hermansen rolling the ball out, Taddeo not making a challenge and leaving Voltemada five yards in the box when he's like 6 '17 is inescapable.

9:31Liam Twomey: All right, well, West Ham then. as three defeats in a row now. They can be relegated on Tuesday, Tim. If Spurs win at Stamford Bridge, that means the Hammers are down. If Spurs draw away to Chelsea, it still looks pretty much over because Spurs have such a whopping goal difference advantage. Yeah, and that's important, I think, from a psychological point of view for Spurs, certainly for their fans anyway, that they don't have to go to Chelsea and win, which is what they've all been fearing for months because obviously they've been looking at the fixtures and how do they get themselves out of it.

10:03And Chelsea away, a stadium where they've won one match in 41, going back to 1990. It's fair to say they've got a bit of an inferiority complex when it comes to playing Chelsea. But given Chelsea's form and the state of that club at the moment, and Spurs, the form that they're in, going there to get a point doesn't feel insurmountable now. And as you say, that's all they need.

10:24Liam Twomey: Is there any way that Chelsea's form would be impacted by the exciting news that broke on Saturday?

10:30Daniel Storey: I don't know. I think Chelsea have just been in a rut for a long time. And obviously you've got a new manager coming in, but that will still feel quite a way off. I think quite a lot of those players might already have more than one eye on leaving the club this summer, certainly some of their more important players. I think Chelsea, from a financial point of view as well, would be open to that. Right. Okay. Yeah, I kind of think there's just going to be a lot of change in that playing staff as well. Just quickly on the relegation battle, just on West Ham being far too passive in this game and the run of defeats.

11:00Daniel Storey: I think the one match now that we kind of think they're probably going to go down now, the one game that sticks in my mind is whenever they drew 0-0 at Crystal Palace on a Monday night football. This is actually quite a while ago now, maybe three or four match days ago. And had they have won that game against Crystal Palace, and Palace had come off the back of beating Fiorentina, their players had been out partying a couple of nights before, they had made mass rotations, they could not care less about that game, and West Ham seemed happy enough to play for a 0-0. and had they have won that they would have gone two results clear of Tottenham and they were just like we'll just sort of play it see if we'll play it passive and I think that's that's kind of what's cost them because if they'd have won that that would have I think that might have been close to insurmountable Yeah definitely I think you can also point to the I know they lost 3-0 at Brentford but VAR came out this week and said that West Ham should have had two penalties that day they also hit the woodwork three times they had an offside goal or all that for a shoulder so but I hate to agree with James Corden I don't do that very often But he said this week it's not due to VAR and West Ham losing to Arsenal that they're being relegated.

12:04It's years of mismanagement at the club. I thought she'd left. I think there are others still culpable. But they just left themselves too much to do West Ham. When Forrest beat them in January, there were seven points adrift. I'd forgotten that, to be honest. Wow. And there were 13 adrift of Spurs having played a game more. That was in January after Forrest had beaten them. So, yeah, obviously three defeats at the worst possible time, but they just left themselves too much today.

12:34Liam Twomey: All right, well, we'll see on Tuesday then. I still feel that if you're a Chelsea player, the fact that they brought in what looks like a really proper manager and have some really proper ideas about what they're going to be doing going forward as opposed to whatever it was they were doing before might make you feel a bit more invested in the project, to use the romantic version of events. Daniel, you're grimacing at me. I'll move on, shall I? Well, I think in theory you're right. It's just that if I was a Chelsea player, I'd like to think that maybe it occurred to me to try and play quite well before now rather than just from this moment on with 180 minutes left of the season.

13:13Liam Twomey: All right. Battle of the Bridge is on Tuesday. Monday, of course, there's Arsenal in action and also on Tuesday their title role was Man City. will be doing their thing. Man City, who are coming off yet another bit of silverware under their fantastic manager Pep Guardiola. Let's get on to the FA Cup final. For it was that, next.

13:40This is the Totally Football Show, part of the Athletic FC podcast network. The Athletic is the only place you can read articles by Daniel Taylor, Amy Lawrence, Phil Hay, James Pearce, Oli Kay and the very best football writers around.

14:00Special!

14:08Liam Twomey: Yep, indeed it was. Not a classic final, but a classic cup final goal from Antoine Semenyo, earning Manchester City yet another FA Cup. The numbers are quite extraordinary. That's, what, 20 trophies that Pep Guardiola has claimed in 10 years, as Man City's manager. In his time there, four Carabao Cups in a row, a domestic treble, a proper treble, four titles in a row, which has never been done before, six titles out of seven. And, well, I don't know. I didn't write down how many FA Cups. How many FA Cups is that? Three FA Cups as well. Crikey. Let's talk about the goal, though, because that was the best bit of the game.

14:47Liam Twomey: Who wants to bang on this? Yeah, I'll go for it. Go for it. Antoine Semenu.

14:51Daniel Storey: I mean, yeah, a moment of real class, the turn and the finish. Because I think Chelsea think that they have the situation under control, but just that moment of ingenuity, really, to pull off something that audacious. And it's not just the fact that he can do that. I think a lot of top-level players can do that, but having the confidence and self-belief in yourself that you can do it. And I think it's really, really important to highlight this Semenu story because this is a guy who had been rejected by club after club during his youth career, Arsenal, Tottenham. He was born in Chelsea, ironically.

15:21Daniel Storey: Obviously, he's never played for the club. But he pretty much had given up football when he was 16 or 17. He found a way back in. And his FA Cup debut was in August 2017 for a club called Highworth Town, who play in England's amateur South West Hellenic League. He played in front of 173 fans in a preliminary round defeat to Marlow. So he's come from that to scoring the winning goal in a final all these years later.

15:46Liam Twomey: Okay, because this is breaking news because I had Michael Cox's version of events, which has his debut in the FA Cup being against the Met Police and contains the niche detail of the week that he was playing for Newport County on loan against Met Police FC in 2018, seven and a half years before he was the FA Cup final's winning goalscorer. The PA system cracking out. I fought the law by the clash as the players come out of the tunnel. That's brilliant.

16:11Daniel Storey: This was a preliminary round game. So that might have been an official FA Cup first appearance. So this was a preliminary sort of playoff game. I don't know if that technically coincides officially in the tournament, but yes.

16:22Liam Twomey: But beyond all of that, so Daniel's, just to say, as you point out, it's incredible that this is perhaps the most determinant player of the second half of the season. And look where he's come from. Look what he's been through. Sorry, Daniel. I was just going to say that on the Met police that day was a defender called Nesta Guinness Walker, who now plays for Northampton Town, who is the great-grandson of Alec Guinness. Really? So, yes, indeed. And he was playing against the force. Des Walker there. No, I'm going in. He was playing against the force. Alec Guinness was for the force. He was playing for the force, yeah.

17:00Oh, he was playing for the force.

17:02Liam Twomey: Right, OK. Sorry. Tim, back to yours. You're under a nest. OK. All right. Anyway, so he's come a long way. How old's he now, then? Antoine Semenya? He is 26

17:14Daniel Storey: although this is the flaw of a life podcast but it is really important to mention this because at this time of year when you've got hundreds of thousands of young academy players being released by clubs across the country thinking oh my career is in tatters that's kind of the dream over and that's your personality and it's as a footballer and it feels like it's gone at such a young age but these stories do come around every now and again and I guess like that is where Antoine Semenya in particular is so important, but he's had an amazing season for two clubs, and it's been so important for City since he joined.

17:46Liam Twomey: Yeah, and the other January signing that City made, Mark Gay, who won the FA Cup last season with Palace, then got knocked out of it by non-league Macclesfield this season, and then won again with City in May. That's pretty good going. The goal, though, because this kind of goal, I guess the most illustrious example, is actually for Chelsea, the Gianfranco Zola against Norwich, would you say? How would you rate some menus against that outstanding work from harland in the build-up you know we don't see that very often but he shows great strength doesn't he to hold up initially and then uh really good cross and it sounds simplistic to say but this was the difference in the match because chelsea couldn't produce anything like it they had their opportunity with that fernandez flick didn't they sort of from similar close range um and they couldn't do it and ultimately yeah he was he was a difference.

18:34It's a great story.

18:34Liam Twomey: Coming to our YouTube comments section, join us on a Sunday night if you'd like to participate. Nick Hamblin again says Sominio's goal reminds him of Danny Welbeck's for England versus Sweden at Euro 16. Getting a lot of nods here in the studio and also from Euro 2012 I think it was, yeah. Oh, okay. Sweden. Ant Andron says Mancini backhill. Best backhill. I mean it is, but for these people, they can enjoy those. Max Goddard says Jimbo, how many pens do you think Chelsea should have had well I must admit when I saw that challenge I thought that could could be because you there's the argument of coming together but when one player makes a deliberate beeline to take another player out before they can get to the ball does that not constitute a fact?

19:21Liam Twomey: Was that Kusinov on Joe Pedro? Yeah thanks for supplying the names I just I don't know I just thought I just thought he sort of got alongside him and then proved too strong for him and he went down quite easily I don't know Fair enough He was great I thought Kusinov You did? Yeah, he's like a highlights defender. You know, with his speed and his anticipation, just the way that he gets the ball when you don't expect him to, he's worthy of his own highlights reel, I think. Okay. He was great. It wasn't the best final. I think it was the fewest shots on record in the FA Cup final. I think it was about 20 years, but still.

19:54I wasn't impressed with Chelsea at all. Like, you know, you watch, I don't know, you watch the Hart-Celtic game and everyone's like throwing everything at each other at the end of that game. I know I'll get onto that later. But did Chelsea throw any kind of kitchen sink at City in the last 10 minutes here? Did they even look, and maybe this has been too harsh, did they even look that devastated at the full-time Westworld? I just didn't get the impression that they were really that.

20:16Liam Twomey: Was part of the issue, and this might go for a lot of people, a lot of the potential audience, the fact that Chelsea and Man City in an FA Cup final, the last 10 FA Cup finals have all featured either Chelsea or Man City, so it felt very routine, I think. Is that fair? Yeah, I think so. I think Chelsea, I mean, as Tim says,

20:35Daniel Storey: it's not like they were going through the motions, but I mentioned it earlier, a lot of those players just feel totally disconnected from the club, from each other. Obviously, you've got all the chaos off the pitch that's gone on this year, so you can understand all that. But it felt to me like a very underwhelming final. I mean, if I was a Chelsea fan, I'd be looking at that thinking, there wasn't really that much difference between the two teams in the game. It was just fine margins, but they never made a concentrated effort to push for it. So, yeah, I'd be a little disappointed. Daniel? One moment or one note of positivity for Chelsea is I think in the space of basically a week and a half, Levi Colwell might have played himself into a World Cup squad, which is some effort given he's come back from an ACL injury.

21:16He looked Chelsea's best defender last week. He looked like Chelsea's best defender this week. He has this ability to make the game look easy, which going right back to kind of like Huddersfield Town Loan, All of the coaches have always said he's just a supremely good defender on the ball, looks confident. It's just those injuries. I think he might have done it. I think he might have snuck himself in.

21:39Liam Twomey: Brilliant. Excellent. Now, Chelsea, before the game, had fans protesting on Wembley Way about Bluko's running of the club. But just after an hour of, sorry, just an hour after full time, there was a major boost, really, to perception of the club's direction. The news that Xavi Alonso will be the new Chelsea manager next season, perhaps earning the owners a little bit of credit. All this exclusively revealed on The Athletic.com, of course. Well, the Chelsea correspondent for The Athletic, Liam Toomey, joined us a short time ago. So take a wild guess at what it all means.

22:24Liam Twomey: This seems like a good signing by Blueco. What's the catch? Well, I think the catch is that Xabi Alonso is called manager, not head coach. That is the big distinction here. No previous Blueco hire had enjoyed that title. And it does suggest, and this is very much the message coming out of Sanford Bridge that accompanies this appointment, that Xabi Alonso will have a bit more authority, not just because of who he is and what he's achieved in the game, but that that will kind of be baked into his position within this unique Blue Coast structure and that he may well have more of a voice over not just recruitment, but the kind of whole construction of a culture at Chelsea.

23:16And I think that's what, you know, I think a lot of fans would agree that's what they need after this season.

23:21Liam Twomey: How does this change their summer business? How good a fit is the current squad of players for what you'd expect Alonso to be trying to do? Well, I wrote a piece for The Athletic on how Alonso's tactics, primarily at Leverkusen, which is, of course, the team that he's most famous for, might adapt to this group of Chelsea players. And I think there are some real raw materials to work with. Jael Pedro has certainly enhanced the number nine position, but they still lack a little bit in wide areas. Now, will Xabi Alonso play with wingers or wingbacks? Either way, I think Chelsea could maybe strengthen in those areas.

24:00There's a centre-back signing has kind of been on the agenda for Chelsea for about a year now. They just haven't quite found the right player. And when they thought they had in Jeremy Jacquet, they lost out to Liverpool for him. But he does have a talented core of players. even if they haven't necessarily shown it on the pitch as often as they could have or should have this season.

24:23Liam Twomey: From the club's point of view, this does seem like a real coup, Liam, but from Xavi Alonso's, is it a bit perplexing that he's opted to go for the billion-dollar blue bottlers who are going to be definitely out of the Champions League, but quite possibly out of any Europe as well? Well, I think as a coach, you're always victim a little bit to what is available at the time. And we can talk about Xabi Alonso's hypothetical options, but all of our reporting and understanding suggests that Liverpool just weren't ever really in for him and that they are still very much committed to Arnaz slot. That was the door that many assumed would open for him at some point.

25:05and of course he's already had a bruising experience at a super elite club in Real Madrid that has maybe informed his view of his next career decision and there are lots of questions about taking the Chelsea job after the churn of coaches that we've seen under Bluco in the last four years but that could also have been an advantage for Xabi Alonso in conversations with Chelsea because they needed someone like him. They needed an appointment like this. And when clubs are in that kind of situation, you tend to get a few more concessions. Now, how the relationship will work in practice, how much power Xabi Alonso will have, we will see.

25:53But the message coming out is very much that he will have the autonomy to build a team in his image and to build the kind of culture that Chelsea have been really lacking, in part, I think, because they've appointed quite a lot of coaches who don't have the kind of authority and status and achievements that Xabi Alonso has. So I think there's a logic to it. While it is certainly a risky decision from his perspective, there's a logic to it because he worked really well with a young, pliable group of footballers at Leverkusen and did extraordinary things. And then he struggled with a dressing room of international superstars at Real Madrid.

26:37I think you'd put the demographic of the Chelsea squad somewhere in between those two, but probably because of the age profile, maybe slightly closer to Leverkusen than Madrid. And that could bode well.

26:53Liam Twomey: Liam Toomey there with lots of positivity. Sean Self says, totally football troop, hate Chelsea, don't they? It's so obvious, except maybe Jimbo. Boy, you really read the room there, Sean Self. No, I think there's a certain, how can I put this? Is it schadenfreude? Is it rubbernecking? When the big clubs, when the sides that have enjoyed privileges, whether it's your man United's or indeed the lot from down the Fulham Road, when they stumble and get it wrong endlessly, there is a bit of kind of clown-cow fun with it, but it looks like it's joined up thinking time. Liam saying after we spoke to him that he was really looking forward to working and reporting on Xavi Alonso at Chelsea.

27:39Liam Twomey: Are you looking forward to having him in the Premier League, Daniel? Yeah, I am. I mean, I can't believe that Liverpool have not appointed him. I can't believe he's going to Chelsea. I mean, to answer the point about not liking Chelsea, that's not it at all. But the problem, and quite often, I'm not speaking for everyone, But when you cover big clubs, the thing that's most annoying is like the failed potential. It's like having all of the benefits and not getting it right because there's a chance to create something huge and you're not doing it. And yet with this appointment, I tweeted, but it feels quite depressing to me that a club can basically get every major decision wrong for three years.

28:19and because of those established wealth and power, you can still appoint the best manager. The one difference or the biggest difference between financially elite clubs and non-financial elite clubs is that for non-financial elite clubs, every year is year zero. Nottingham Forest are the best example of that this season. You can finish seventh, but it doesn't matter because if you make two big decisions wrong or more, you could go down the next season. With the financially elite clubs and Chelsea, the best example of this, you can get every decision wrong and yet you have this kind of what I'd call terrible choice insurance that it doesn't matter how many bad choices you seem to make, you can always still back yourself to kind of buy your way out of that hole and to still attract the big managers because you can still they can probably still spend a lot of money this summer to overhaul the squad and yeah, it is frustrating for fans of every other club but then that's the way of it there's no point shouting at clouds and yes I don't blame Liam for looking forward to covering Alonso So it will be a blast.

29:17I hope that calling him a manager rather than a head coach means that they've understood that those people behind the scenes are not the experts. We will see.

29:26Liam Twomey: We will see. They aren't getting off entirely scot-free from their areas. They are currently in 10th place, so we'll miss out entirely on European competition as it stands. They've won just two of their last 12 matches in all competitions, so the chances of turning that around on the final. Well, of course, they've got Spurs coming up, as we were mentioning, and then that final game on Sunday. We shall see. I don't know, it seems like a benefit for the Premier League, but Colin, and possibly at a time when the manager who faced Chelsea at the weekend is preparing to depart as well.

29:59Daniel Storey: Yeah, my take on these sort of managerial situations is that that person is obviously very important to the club in terms of what they bring, but it's more, I think they're much less important than most people assume them to be, right? I think, yeah, Haran Xabi Alonso's great. I think he's the outstanding candidate on the market for a number of reasons. He had a pretty poor spell at Real Madrid, it has to be said. Now, we can look back in hindsight and be like, well, look what's happened since he's left. You know, there's a lot of problems there. Of course there is. But he was brought in as both the guy who's going to be the systems manager, who's going to move away from these individuals.

30:33Daniel Storey: But also he had this sort of aura around him from his playing career, obviously from what he did at Leverkusen, to have an authority to speak to players and to communicate and to command respect. Now that failed and it failed pretty badly in Madrid. Now that's not to say it'll fail in Chelsea. You know, it's a totally different group of players, totally different dressing room. But it's all about, I think from a Chelsea point of view, who have you got running your club? Like what are the people who are running your club? What are their priorities? And when I looked at the players they signed last summer, it was just, it feels to me like they are signing players not to improve their team.

31:05Daniel Storey: Not primarily for let's go out and win trophies. That's not their priority. Their priority seems to be, let's sign players that we can maybe sell in the next two to three years out of profit. That is just simply not a successful way to run a club.

31:17Liam Twomey: The fact that Alonso's choosing to go there, is that a sign that he thinks that their philosophy going forward is not going to... I can't imagine him signing up for that, for a kind of a player valuation programme, essentially. I mean, he'll be offered, he'll be being paid an awful lot of money, which we have to say must be part of the motivation for going there. and to move to London and to be back in the Premier League. I don't know what assurances Chelsea could have given him on that front, really. Well, they've assembled a squad that doesn't match your expectations, but there is a lot of talent in there, Colin.

31:55Liam Twomey: But also, this is the thing.

31:56Daniel Storey: Everyone at the start of the season said Chelsea would probably definitely kneel down top four, top five. That was the minimum. Quite a lot of people were saying, oh, maybe a title challenge. and this is the thing that year on year things can change so drastically between clubs. Look at Manchester United a year ago. Look at Manchester United four or five months ago compared to where they are now. So these clubs do have the possibility of changing things and changing them quickly. If Chelsea were to have a strong window and they actually were bringing in players that are designed to win and win within the sort of short to medium term, then of course they can be a force next season.

32:29Daniel Storey: Of course, if they sign players, they will prescribe Dejave Alonso's system and we know that he loves playing with wing-backs. because we know the sort of system he has. He's a very defined way of managing and coaching and playing. So if the club buys into him and they do some of the signings and the players buy into his methods too, I think it could be a tremendous success. And also there are a couple of easy wins for him in the transfer market. I mean, they've got two outfield players older than 26 in the whole group. No one aged over than 28. That was an obvious thing to fix there. The goalkeeper, I think, is another obvious thing.

32:58But he'll need time. I mean, you know, Leverkusen, he did an outstanding job, but it was the culmination of three years' work. Right. You know, the last Chelsea manager to get three years was Mourinho, first-time Mourinho. Wow. So will he get that time at Chelsea? You know, the odds don't favour it. OK.

33:17Liam Twomey: Chelsea's immediate future sees them take on Spurs on Tuesday. Before that, City and Arsenal have their next games in the title race. Gunners, of course, still two points clear of Man City. on Monday, Arsenal host Burnley and then on Tuesday, City make the trip to Antoine Semenya's old club, Bournemouth who, as we never tire of mentioning have not lost a game since they sold him to Pep's side Ha! Very good Let's get on to some of the action that took place beyond Newcastle West Ham on this Sunday in the Premier League next

33:58this episode of the totally football show is sponsored by men's warehouse who are here to make you look and feel good no matter the occasion from formal to casual dressed up to dress down suits tuxes sports coats jeans shorts chinos t-shirts polos sandals underwear men's warehouse has it all and if you can't find what you're looking for their in-store experts are on hand to find just the thing you need while their on-site tailors guarantee your clothes have the right fit for your body. There are over 600 stores nationwide, so get ready to look good and feel good for anything from head to toe by visiting your local men's warehouse today.

34:32Men's Warehouse. Love the way you look.

34:41Hey, it's Paige from Giggly Squad. We need to talk about Abercrombie's new summer drop, especially the swim. Just seeing the new coastal-inspired prints and patterns is making me want to book a last-minute trip to the beach. And Abercrombie made packing for vacation even easier with the launch of Reversible Swim perfect for mixing, matching, and customizing your look. Prep for summer with Abercrombie in-app, online, and in stores. I cannot tell a lie. My sinuses are blocked. George, you crossed the Delaware. You can cross congestion. Here, try clear. Ah, freedom. Smells like victory. Celebrate 250 years of American independence with better breathing.

35:27Use code AMERICA250 for 20 % off checkout at clear.com. That's X-L-E-A-R dot com. Clear. Breathe in the independence.

35:44You're listening to The Totally Football Show with James Richardson. Now we do four times a week. Keep up to date with us on Insta and enjoy us in glorious Technicolor on YouTube at The Totally Show.

35:54Liam Twomey: There's a Totally Extra out as of last Saturday featuring all the Inter-Totally Cup quarterfinals, all four of them together, in one special souvenir pod. Daniel's in there, aren't you, Daniel? OK, then. I don't remember. OK. Let's have a look through the match day. The match day 37 results. West Ham losing 3-1 away to Newcastle, putting them in an extremely precarious position as regards their Premier League permanence. Earlier on Sunday, Man United were 3-2 winners at home to Nottingham Forest. Did Bruno Fernandes get an assist? Yes. Yes he did The draw level with De Bruyne and Thierry Henry With the all-time Premier League assist record Could he have had three or four more?

36:43Liam Twomey: Yeah, I mean as most weeks with Man United But there you go, it all comes down to the final week In the day's four three o 'clock kick-offs There were draws for Brentford and Palace 2-2 And Wolves and Fulham 1-1 Leeds won their clash with Brighton With the last kick of the game really Dominic Calvert-Lewin At the Hill Dickinson and some that came from goal down to win 3-1 against Everton. Meanwhile, back on Friday, Aston Villa beat Liverpool 4-2 to move into fourth spot and make Liverpool very nervous spectators potentially of the game coming up on Tuesday between Bournemouth and Man City because if the Cherries win that game, there will be only one point behind Liverpool, one point outside the top five.

37:29Liam Twomey: Of course, Bournemouth City has some other stuff riding on it too, particularly if Arsenal should stumble on Monday against Burnley but what did we make of Nottingham Forest's trip to Old Trafford? Daniel, I know this was one of the games that you were focusing on today. Yeah, it was great. I was going to say it was great end of season fun but it was actually kind of great Michael Carrick managing Manchester United fun in that the game was extremely open. They kept on attacking even though they had a lead even though it was creating space for Forest. the game could have finished 6-5 quite easily there was a very controversial handball call which yeah I was amazed about but just the quality of the goals was great as well that's what I'd focus on Elliot Anderson I thought was absolutely brilliant again I know Manchester United want him this summer I'm not sure that they'll get him because I think other clubs will too and also Morgan Gibbs-White scored an absolute belting goal from outside the penalty area against the club he supported as a kid.

38:32And I don't know if he's going to get on that plane on Friday when the squad's named, but I think he will be the most controversial omission if he's not. I think that's the work he's done over the last. And it's still true that no English player has scored more goals than him in the Premier League this season, which is ludicrous, really, given that's not really his game.

38:50Liam Twomey: Of course, if he does get on the plane this Friday, he's going to have a long old wait on the runway. I think he'd take it. He can sort of sit there adjusting his mask for a couple of weeks. It'll be all right. Also on the score sheet, Luke Shaw with his first goal in three and a half years. He took that well. Was he a bit lucky? No. I thought he took it really well. And talking of being on the plane and being unlucky, there's only 10 outfield players who've played more minutes than him this season, which is very un-Luke Shaw-like. Yeah. And in terms of performances, in terms of experience, right at the top level of the international game, because it's been a solid left back.

39:25Daniel, he's wrinkling his nose. And because England's so well stocked with left backs, that's the issue, right? Right? One and a half, maybe? I think Shaw's problem, I agree with you, to be fair to him, but I think his problem is that he's benefited from only playing once a week all season, because Manchester United have only played once a week all season. I think there would still be worries about him having to play every three or four days. But then maybe you take him as a sort of quasi-centre-back, Kwasi left back can do a job squad player, maybe I suspect it's him or I think Lewis Hall and Nico O 'Reilly will probably go which is probably what it does for sure

40:04Liam Twomey: Let's talk about VAR shall we, you mentioned the handball decision I've seen strong arguments in both directions, often from the same people It's one of those that really really leaves us all a bit bewildered This is in the build up to I think the opening goal was it not was it the opening goal for Man United

40:26Daniel Storey: 2-1 2-1 I beg your pardon

40:29Liam Twomey: and Brennan Bomo clearly handles the ball essentially is caught between his midriff and his arm which leads to some people saying well it goes off his midriff into his arm but other people saying well no he's controlled it with his arm he's tracked it against his body and that allows him to then set up whoever it was who scored Yeah, Mattes can use a way to go.

40:54Daniel Storey: So essentially, the rules around handball are ambiguous.

40:59Liam Twomey: Right.

41:00Daniel Storey: Because the wording is essentially...

41:01Liam Twomey: Let's just leave it there.

41:02Daniel Storey: Did he mean to do it? Yeah. And then it's about interpretation. And also the handball laws. If it's the player that scores, it's disallowed. But if it's the player that sets it up, it's not automatic. And that to me just makes no sense that it's based on the outcome of the event rather than the actual event itself. If that makes sense. And I kind of just think the whole subjectivity around these decisions means that having a VAR, overseeing things, won't clear anything up. It'll just lead to more controversy and more debate, more turbocharging of paranoia and complaining and everything else that football fans absolutely love.

41:34Liam Twomey: Excellent. Very good. Let's move on then. It's a shame that sort of overshadows it because the Bruno Fernandes stuff was great fun. Yeah. He was a man on such a mission, but an unusual mission. Because he was turning down shots from good positions because he was just determined to pass the ball every time. Yes, and there was one in which he inadvertently almost got the record-breaking assist right at the end when trying to take a shot, and then he stumbled over the ball and it went to a teammate who then shot wide. Yes, and there was another one where he tees up on Bumo and he fires over the bar and Fernandes just drops to his knees.

42:10Oh, I can't believe it. Like William Dafoe in Platoon. Yeah, just like it. But then he started smiling afterwards. Yeah. But no, it was great fun. And also the keeper was up to celebrate with the guy who made the assist when Fernandes teed it up.

42:23Liam Twomey: It's a great end of season vibe. It was good fun, yeah. Also, I mean, a game with nothing riding on it really for anybody. But that Fernandes assist was so good.

42:31Daniel Storey: I mean, it's just like just the fizzed low ball right into the perfect area, impossible to defend. And like, I think he's the best playmaker in the world right now and has been all season. Actually, when you say all season, half the season he's been playing in a role which he was entirely unsuited to, deeper in the pitch. If he hadn't have been, how many assists would he have ended up on overall? But just such a fantastic player on so many levels. I know he hasn't won the trophies he's wanted to win with his Manchester United team, but when he's playing like that and when Manchester United are set up to suit his strengths, which Michael Carr obviously has done, he's obviously prioritised making sure he gets on the ball at the start of these sort of vertical counter-attacks, then he's just devastating.

43:15Daniel Storey: And he has been for the past four or five months. It's a good job they didn't sell him last summer, isn't it?

43:19Liam Twomey: Yeah. Brighton are the opponents on Sunday for the... Can Fernandes make a goal-making passico? As they'll be calling it on Sky, I should think. Casemiro waving goodbye to Old Trafford with this game. Is Michael Carrick set to stay? Kind of looks that way, doesn't it, Daniel? Yeah, I think so. Partly because he's done very well in the job. Partly because there aren't a huge number of other options. Certainly not options that would be as happy taking on. It would have been very easy to follow Ruben Amarim. It's a lot harder now if you get rid of Michael Carrick. I think it makes sense, probably.

43:58It's a two-year deal, we're told, with an option of another year. So, you know, it's not going to be hugely expensive if it does go wrong. I'm not convinced it's the right decision, but I can certainly see why they've made this more than why they've made other decisions in the past.

44:14Liam Twomey: All right. Quick mention for Pineapple Tree Trunks. Further our chat of Bruno Fernandes having a frustrating time of it, setting up chance after chance, but then not being finished by the Man United forwards. Can't wait for Portugal to ruin Fernandes World Cup by having a 41-year-old centre forward. Oh, dear. Brighton as mentioned coming up at the weekend Brighton who on Sunday afternoon were defeated late on at Ellen Road against Leeds one of the four games that kicked off at three o 'clock we were kind of looking at all the second screening here there and everywhere and the games were maybe not as huge and important as some of the other fixtures this weekend so let's see what there was to know about these games so who for example was watching the Leeds Brighton game.

45:06Liam Twomey: Colin,

45:07Daniel Storey: quickly, what was the story here? Brighton were the better team in the boxes, Leeds were the better team in the boxes themselves. And it was antipified by that late goal when a Brighton no-look back pass from Van Hecke for Bruggen comes to the round of the box, Colin Vettelian scores in the empty net. But Brighton had 19 shots in the game. They had a shot from Danny Welbeck, cleared off the line. A lot of different chances. They just didn't have a killer instinct. Obviously, Carol Matoma ruled out for the rest of the season, ruled out of the World Cup for Japan, which is a great shame because he's one of my favourite players.

45:37Daniel Storey: I just love watching him. He's just such a fantastic forward. But yeah, Brighton now really do need to get something out of that Manchester United game. I think there's still a chance, albeit a very slim one, they could finish sixth, get into the Champions League, but I think really now they're aiming for a Europa League or potentially Conference League slot going into the final round of matches.

45:59Liam Twomey: Brighton currently two points behind sixth place. Leeds United, meanwhile eight games unbeaten, that goal was their only shot on target and came in the 96th minutes, so very much to your summary of who was dominating, Brentford who were also in the mix for potentially elbowing their way into the Champions League places a 2-2 draw for them with Crystal Palace this was a lively one, Daniel you were watching this one thing to know from each team And for Palace, Adam Wharton scored his first goal for Palace on his 94th appearance, celebrated with a somersault, as he did when he scored his first goal for Blackburn back in 2022.

46:43And his mum was in the away end, all the away end realised his mum was in there. She went mad when he scored and they chanted to her and she chanted her chant, which was great. and Brentford scored, I think, the most aesthetically pleasing long throw goal I've ever seen, which is Michael Coyote, who has this incredible ability to throw the ball long and flat. And then Sepp Vandenberg, who's about seven foot eight, jumps really high, about two foot higher than everyone else, flicks the ball on to the back post where Dango Atara is there to head the ball in. It just looked undefendable. It was a perfect long throw goal.

47:20And yeah, Brentford will be annoyed because Palace, they would have expected Palace to be kind of waiting for the European final winding down. But Palace were by a mile the better team for most of the game.

47:31Liam Twomey: The race for Thursday night football seized. Brentford head to Liverpool next Sunday while Brighton hosts Man United. Everton once dreamed of maybe a spot in European football, but they are way down the path now, finishing this weekend in 12th place after being beaten 3-1 by Sunderland in a game that Everton were actually leading, Tim. Yes, so you talk about emotional farewells today for Trippier and Casimiro. So in the 88th minute of this game, Seamus Coleman comes on. He's leaving the club in the summer, 17 years as their leading appearance maker in the Premier League. This was his 434th appearance, takes him above Dixie Dean in the all-time appearance.

48:19this. So of course he gets a huge standing ovation. I mean, my God, what a player, what a son in the 88th minute. And then in the 91st minute, his mistake leased to Sunderland's third goal. And Everton maybe boot off the pitch at full time. And their European dream is over.

48:36Daniel Storey: Just looking at Everton's last five results. They today led 1-0 against Sunderland, lose 3-1. Drew 2-2 against Crystal Palace, having led twice. 3-1 up against Manchester City in the 82nd minute, drew 3-3. Last minute goal to lose at West Ham, last minute goal to lose against Liverpool and that's what, 10 or so points that they've dropped from late goals and had that not been the case they could well have got a top 5 spot potentially but they've really just tailed off and I kind of think this is... Is that a fitness thing do you think, Frun? I mean it might be but it kind of feels like that happens quite a lot with David Moy's teams.

49:10Liam Twomey: Is it a fitness thing or is it a, not a particularly deep squad that will be essentially brought back by teams that have greater wealth to bring off the bench?

49:20Daniel Storey: I think that's fair. I've said it all season that I don't think Everton have a top half squad and David Moyes was punching above the sort of weight of resources that he had available and it's maybe come to pass a little bit but yeah I do also think that this sort of one reservation over his managerial style is that whenever his team have a lead they do tend to sit back quite a bit and that maybe is something that has played out in that run of results. Maybe I'm being harsh but That's my perception.

49:46Liam Twomey: OK, there's six games without a win, Tim, just to say they go to Spurs. If you're a team on a bad run of form, traditionally there's one club you want to face called the Doctor. Well, especially this season at that stadium. There's still only one once there since the opening day, I think. But you wanted to say something else, I think. Just in terms of squad size and funds for Everton, yeah, that's an issue. But it's an issue for Sunderland too. and they are somehow still in the European race, which would just cap the most incredible season. It felt like after they'd done the double over Newcastle and reached the 40-point mark, well, they're sort of on the beach, really.

50:23And they have had poor form in the last few weeks, winless in four before this. But it shows you how tight it is, one win. And yeah, they are back in the hunt for Europe, being incredible into their season.

50:33Liam Twomey: Right, 51 points, two more than Newcastle, two places above Newcastle, up in ninth place, one outside the European positions. If they beat Chelsea next weekend, they will go into the top 10 all-time points totals in the Premier League by a promoted club, which is ludicrous given they were the shortest odds to finish bottom of the table at the start of the season. They've also only taken 15 points in the last 13 games and they've still got a shot of Europe, which kind of sums up the madness of that Premier League mid-table.

51:02Daniel Storey: The one point I want to make on Sunderland quickly is everyone said Granit Xhaka, one of the signers of the season. And Brian Broby is also one of the signers of the season. Not necessarily in terms of his goal output, but the goals he scored have been really important. But he's just such a classic old-school centre forward. I can't really remember ever seeing a striker just come into the Premier League and instantly just bully so many defenders and make it such a physical battle. I think he's quite fun to watch and he gives them such a focal point up front that some of their transfer business has been really smart and cheese and mull nut.

51:36Liam Twomey: Excellent. Excellent. The game we haven't touched on yet. Tim, it's a big one. Wolves against Fulham. So this was Wolves' last home game of the campaign. Was there a lap of appreciation from Rob Edwards and the boys? No, he was sort of booed again at the end. It's all going to be awkward. Yeah, in the latest news as to how bad Wolves are, this will now be their worst season ever in terms of points. That's sufficient. Their lowest previous tally in a 38 minimum game season was 23 points in 1906. And they can only beat Burnley to finish 19th in what some are terming El Crapico on the last day of the season.

52:2019th through 20th.

52:21Liam Twomey: Right. The positive from this game, would that be 18-year-old Matès Mane and his wonder strike? Yeah, very nice. Yeah, he sort of burst onto the scene, as it were, in January with a couple of good performances. and it was really tailed off since, mostly due to being overplayed, he was playing 90 minutes every single match because Wolves have got no other players of note. But yeah, he's sort of had a little burst again at the end of the season and Rob Edwards confidently said afterwards that he will 100, this is Mane, not himself, that he will 100 % be there next season. Excellent. Excellent. And the equaliser for Fulham, a beautifully dispatched penalty from Anthony Robinson, who apparently has never taken a penalty before or something like that.

53:04And also he hadn't scored in 150 matches.

53:06Liam Twomey: Wow. And then, yeah, it was a really cool pen. Extraordinary. So Rob Edwards is going to be at Molineux next season, is that right? It's not been confirmed by anyone, but there was a fans forum in the week with him and the technical director and the new chairman. And the fact that the club were willing to sort of put him up in front of fans and, you know, he was talking very optimistically about next season as he would do. So there's no signs that they're going to get rid of it. He was three quarters brought in for next season. OK. What about his opposite number in this game, Marco Silva? Any word yet on what's happening there?

53:40Liam Twomey: Daniel, you're nodding. Well, it sounds increasingly like he is Benfica's choice to replace Jose Mourinho. If Mourinho goes to Real Madrid, that would make quite a lot of sense anyway. Silva, I just think that contract would have been signed quite a long time ago that it was going to be signed. Fulham haven't gone down the route that Bournemouth did and Palace did or Glasner did by announcing his own departure but it does feel like a natural break not least because I think there's a heck of a lot of work to do with that Fulham squad now they've only scored take out a home win against Burnley in which they scored three times they scored twice in nine games around that one of them was the penalty today Jimenez is 35 now and is going to be playing at the World Cup Muniz has been poor this season Harry Wilson is out of contract In fact, I just think Fulham are one of those, whenever I doubt them, they always go and win four in a row or something.

54:35But it feels quite a big summer for that ownership because they're not universally popular and Silva has constantly overachieved there and I think has probably got a bit tired of it.

54:44Daniel Storey: Marco Silva, if he was to go to Benfica, it would come a decade on after he was sacked by their Lisbon rivals, Sporting Club. He was sacked after winning the, I think after he won the Portuguese Cup at the end of the season and Sporning already had an agreement to appoint George Jesus from Benfica, unbeknownst to Silva. And the reason that they had for sacking Silva, essentially, was that he had worn a tracksuit rather than a suit for one of the matches during the season. And they had rather just been like, yeah, that was the reason we're getting rid of you. The following day they appoint Jesus.

55:17Daniel Storey: So maybe he still remembers that a decade on. Is that why Callum McFarlane didn't get the Chelsea job? Oh, yeah.

55:23Liam Twomey: Good point. By the way, all this talk of him going to Benfica is dependent on Jose Mourinho not being there. Jose is saying this week, amid reports that it's all settled for him to go to the Bernabeu, that there is 99 % chance I stay at Benfica. Interesting. Anyway, we'll be talking about perhaps some of those things in the Totally Football Show European edition, which will be out with you on Tuesday. We'll touch on a barnstorming season finale in the Bundesliga by Bayern Munich. And have a little look forward to the Europa League final on Wednesday. Freiburg, the opponents for Aston Villa, will catch up on the crazy race for the Champions League places in Italy and loads of other stuff too.

56:06Liam Twomey: So do join us for that on Tuesday. Meantime, speaking of football in other countries, next up, let's clear up exactly what happened at the climax of that magnificent Scottish title race.

56:24Hey, it's Paige from Giggly Squad. We need to talk about Abercrombie's new summer drop, especially the swim. Just seeing the new coastal-inspired prints and patterns is making me want to book a last-minute trip to the beach. And Abercrombie made packing for vacation even easier with the launch of Reversible Swim, perfect for mixing, matching, and customizing your look. prep for summer with Abercrombie in app online and in stores okay I have to tell you I was just looking on ebay where I go for all kinds of things I love and there it was that hologram trading card one of the rarest the last one I needed for my set shiny like the designer handbag of my dreams one of a kind ebay had it and now everyone's asking oh where'd you get your windshield wipers ebay has all the parts that fit my car no more annoying just beautiful

57:16Daniel Storey: Millions of finds, each with a story. eBay. Things people love. When you manage procurement for multiple facilities, every order matters. But when it's for a hospital system, they matter even more. Grainger gets it and knows there's no time for managing multiple suppliers and no room for shipping delays. That's why Grainger offers millions of products in fast, dependable delivery. So you can keep your facility stocked, safe, and running smoothly. Call 1-800-GRAINGER, click grainger.com, or just stop by. Grainger. For the ones who get it done.

58:12Get it? Join the 15 ,000 companies using Vanta to prove trust. Go to Vanta.com slash com.

58:50Liam Twomey: So Saturday saw the big title decided between Celtic and Hearts, following on all the VAR controversy and that. The previous Wednesday, Hearts went into this game two points clear of Celtic, having led for most of the season, and with essentially their best chance to win the title since that day in, what was it, 1986 when they had the title within their grasp but they went to Celtic on the last day and a late goal cost them essentially the title. What happened this time, Colin?

59:20Daniel Storey: Yeah, with the eyes of the wider sporting world watching the final day of the Scottish Premiership for the first time in, I would imagine, quite a number of years, if not the first time ever. And this game had been conditioned by what had happened before it. Hearts had had the title in their own hands. They had drawn at Motherwell the previous week. They had been denied a potentially match-winning penalty decision in quite controversial circumstances. A few nights later, Hearts defeat Val Kirk at home and Celtic go away to Motherwell. Motherwell played very, very well against Celtic. It's 2-2 going into the 96th, 97th minute.

59:56Daniel Storey: A very contentious handball decision, a penalty awarded Celtic score, which sets up the final day with Celtic just needing to defeat Hearts at Celtic Park to win the title. and within this game itself there was a couple of big decisions I don't think there was anything massively controversial so Hearts take the lead a couple of minutes before half time Lauren Shankland header from a corner and at that point you kind of think oh my god Hearts are actually going to do this a couple of minutes later handball penalty decision goes to VAR Celtic get a penalty probably within the rules the correct decision 1-1 set up this frantic second half which really it was so encapsulating, just watching it sort of as a neutral, although I kind of think everyone wants Hearts to win in the sense that Scottish football has a very major issue with a lack of clubs winning the league.

1:00:46Daniel Storey: Rangers and Celtic are the only clubs who've won it since 1985. Celtic have now won, I think it's 13 of the last 14 or now 14 of the last 15. Whatever way it ends up, Scotland is uniquely one-sided slash geared towards two clubs whose resources just go far beyond their competitors. So So Hearts think they've held on until the 87th minute whenever Celtic do break their Hearts. The goal's actually disallowed initially for an offside flag, although VAR intervenes and clearly isn't offside. The other players in the build-up and it's not. So they go 2-1 up and Hearts throw everything at it. I think there's eight minutes of added time at the end.

1:01:24Daniel Storey: Hearts push up the field. They have a lot of half chances. Nobody has any composure on the ball. Everything's going on. It's so frantic. It's so mad. You don't know what's going to happen. And then what happens is that Hearts get a free kick, doesn't really beat the first man, and the goalkeeper had gone up, everyone had gone up. Celtic have three players sprinting free on goal, and they score. Now, whenever that goal goes in, there's 40 seconds or so left on the clock, but there's a pitch invasion by the fans. And fans stream onto the pitch in their hundreds, if not more. Obviously, watching this on TV, it's quite difficult to know exactly what goes on because there's a lot happening.

1:01:58Daniel Storey: But essentially, the game doesn't restart. hearts players are sort of ushered off the pitch there's a lot of images which seem to show Celtic fans confronting hearts players on the pitch and obviously I think in that environment players should never ever have to be put in that situation for a start because they just shouldn't and also the other thing about the game ending, nobody knows when it was ended because nobody heard a whistle Martin O 'Neill said after the match that he thought that there was still some of the game left to be played and he was only told quite a bit by the time after they had been stopped.

1:02:33Daniel Storey: Hart said they weren't aware of the decision and they were just taken off the pitch and the game never restarted. Now, there is a precedent actually for this, like a week ago. The Prague game. Yeah, in Prague. Slavia Prague were seconds away from the title, 3-2 up against Sparta, whenever hundreds of their fans invaded the pitch with flares and start causing absolute chaos. And this kind of is the same, but it isn't the same because that was an easy decision to make because Slavia Prague were going to win that league either way. so authorities could reverse that result, Slavia could take it and apologise, and they won the league this week instead.

1:03:07Daniel Storey: You can't really do that with this game because there's a lot of different things going on. Firstly, the goal kind of stops the game, so the game isn't in play to begin with. It's very hard to prove when a game actually ends if the official says, I have ended it, but how do you do that with a whistle? And I think with so many fans still on the pitch at that point in time, would it have been a smart decision to try to restart it, how long would that have taken for maybe the 40 seconds, one minute, two minutes, whatever it was remaining. So I don't think, like, I think there's questions to be answered around how that got to this point.

1:03:42Daniel Storey: But pitch invasions are something that happens quite a bit in Scottish football. I remember I was on this pod a couple of months ago after the Scottish Cup game between Rangers and Celtic whenever both sets of fans had sort of gotten onto the pitch at Ibrox. And after that match, the Scottish FA came out and was like, this isn't going to happen again. You know, we're going to make sure that all the measures are in places, it doesn't happen again. But it has happened fairly regularly since, even after Celtic's penalty against Motherwell on Wednesday night. Fans streamed under the pitch then too.

1:04:08Daniel Storey: So this is a problem for Scottish football, and it doesn't look great, does it, for the wider world to be watching this and for a match to end in those circumstances because fans cannot be allowed to dictate when a match ends. That's just common sense.

1:04:21Liam Twomey: And it also felt, I think, if you were caught up in the romance of Hearts winning the title, the sight of the team that always wins the title, celebrating so aggressively in the face of the side that had just seen their 60-year wait to take the crown, their chances of ending that long drought evaporate, it didn't feel great. There was a little bit of a well-done, he's 13 vibe to it. But against that, and I'll borrow a point here from Daniel's story, Celtic came from a goal down to win in all their last three games. Admittedly, there were VAR control season, two of those. They also won all of their last seven matches of the season.

1:05:04Liam Twomey: They did everything that they could do, really, to take this title. And I guess you had what made it a great title race is you had some really good teams battling for it. This time Celtic took it. Daniel, do you feel that this is, as some people were saying, a one-off, a rare combination of events, a freak circumstance which favoured a side like Hearts? Or do you think that we might be seeing more of this kind of thing? I hope that we're seeing more of this kind of thing I think very very briefly there's three things Hearts didn't lose the title at Celtic Park they lost the title by dropping points in seven games seven league games against teams that finished in the relegation group including Livingston, including Kilmarnock, including St Mirren when they should have won those games they beat the Old Firm five times nobody's done that since Aberdeen in 1985 if you beat the Old Firm five times you should win the league that's where they lost it the Valkantra obviously was controversial but it's not where they lost the league secondly this is only the first season of a five year plan from Tony Bloom to revolutionise Hart's recruitment and to try and disrupt in his own words Scottish football he's kind of done the disruption bit in one season if not the league title but he will I'm sure will try and carry on that said there's no argument that this was a very very good season to be not Rangers or Celtic in the Scottish Premiership because it was the one with Wilfred Nancy, it was the one with Russell Martin staying on too long.

1:06:29It was a season in which Celtic kind of had the same interim manager and then permanent manager in which there's civil war with the fans and the clubs. I just can't see the circumstances being as good as they were this season for an outsider. So I don't think Hearts are just going to have to keep at this level. I think they're going to have to improve again. And yeah, I really hope they do, obviously, because it's been a great title race for a number of reasons. I know it has ended messily and the scenes after the game were poor, but I prefer to look at the good aspect of what happened, which was for once the whole of the UK having their eyes on the Scottish title race.

1:07:09And also the one person we haven't mentioned in all this is Martin O 'Neill, who just this incredible achievement. He's 74 years old. He's been a pundit for God knows how long. but the enthusiasm with which he sort of approached it has been like infectious really and I'm sure yeah we've all been sort of you know team hearts but it was really hard not to be happy for him I love that moment one of the moments of the whole of a crazy day was when he sort of goes to hug a steward after the third goal and then sort of remembers that maybe he shouldn't because she looked a bit scared and he just sort of carried on but yeah in games when he's been in charge this season Celtic have earned 14 more points than anyone else so I think yeah it does look good for Hart in the mid to longer term, but had it been not for the Nancy incidents, then Celtic would probably have won it quite quickly.

1:07:59Daniel Storey: The O 'Neill story is remarkable. I mean, his career from start to finish in football is mad. I mean, I don't know how many people know this, but whenever he started his career, he was still studying law at Queen's University in Belfast and he was playing for distillery and he scored against Barcelona in the Cup Winners' Cup. Really? That precedes his move into English football. Obviously with Nottingham Forest, wins the league, wins the European Cup. Captain's Northern Ireland at a World Cup and then goes on to have this incredible managerial career, which has been revived in the most remarkable circumstances.

1:08:30Daniel Storey: And Tim is right. Look, you know, we say all this about Horst, but that is a story in itself. Celtic coming from so many games back to win so many games later on. It's not, I mean, I don't want to simplify it too much, but that's about man management and self-belief and just telling players how good they are. And that, for him to do that, several generations after doing it previously is remarkable. And it's just very, very impressive.

1:08:52Liam Twomey: Brilliant stuff. And it was lovely to see Hearts given a rousing reception by their fans when they returned after the game too. Look forward to seeing how they all get on next season. Not receiving a grand reception on their return. Meanwhile, we're Liverpool after their shellocking at the hands of Aston Villa on Friday evening. We'll finish off today's totally football show with a quick word about what happened there and what happens next. This is the Totally Football Show with James Richardson, part of the Athletic FC podcast network. 4-2 for Aston Villa against Liverpool on Friday evening, confirming Villa's return to the Champions League for next season with arguably one of their best performances of the season, maybe up there with that second leg against Forest, Daniel.

1:09:39Liam Twomey: But they took Liverpool apart in that second half. Yeah, I think all of this season has felt like it is the sort of defining stage of this generation of Aston Villa because the team that starts against Liverpool on Friday night is the oldest team that Villa have had, oldest starting 11 in more than 30 years. it's at 29.9 the average age so it's like it's kind of now or never and not quite often when you get those situations they sort of peter out whereas Unai Emery because he's a fantastic coach and manager and tactician has got them peaking they have qualified for the Champions League again they were miles better than Liverpool the second leg against Forest it was such a kind of carbon copy of that performance I know it was 4-2 and Van Dijk scored twice but yeah the attacking endeavour, the impetus, the kind of determination to seize what they consider to be their destiny is, it was really powerful.

1:10:40And Ollie Watkins has basically peaked at the right time. I'm sure that they will win the Europa League final. And there's a really interesting summer there because as I say, the average age of the squad means you're going to have to make wholesale changes probably this summer. And yet to do it from such a position of strength with Champions League football and Champions League money means, yeah, like build Emery a statue, quite frankly, at Villa Park. It's a phenomenal job. It's absolutely mad that he's not been nominated for Manager of the Year this season because it's a complete acceptance of how he's normalised overachievement at Aston Villa because they shouldn't be a Champions League team, and they are.

1:11:18Liam Twomey: It would be, were they to win, as you predict confidently, that they will on Wednesday night against Freiburg, the Europa League. It will be their first piece of silverware in 30 years. The game taking place in Istanbul. Oli Watkins with a brace in this game against Liverpool. That's now 10 goals in his last 11 matches in all competitions. I wonder how many, if any, Liverpool supporters were, certainly before Chelsea made their announcement on Saturday, if any Liverpool supporters were not that displeased to see slots Liverpool getting beat this badly on Friday night. Yeah, potentially. There was shambolic.

1:11:59Jamie Carragher sundered quite well. He said, Liverpool just don't excel in anything at the moment. I think that's right. You go through the defence, which has been shoddy all season. The midfield is in a patch on last year. They don't have a prolific goal scorer. Salah's half the player he used to be. And they don't really have match winners. And the full-backs have always been a strength for those for years. And now they're a bit of a weakness. So, yeah, they've had to sort of turn to set pieces to try and keep them in Champions League contention, really. Well, that's in an attacking sense. In a defensive sense, they're woeful at set pieces.

1:12:28They've conceded 19. It's more than anyone else. And it was all summed up by this McAllister dive in the second. I was just – but it was laughable, right? I mean, it reminded me of Rivaldo because he sort of has his shirt grabbed by concert and he goes down and clutching his face and then writhing around on the floor. It's absolutely pathetic. I've never seen it before where you've got the manager telling him to get up. You've got the captain trying to drag him up and he's still writhing around. And even Carragher on comms couldn't defend him. It was just pathetic.

1:12:57Daniel Storey: But this Liverpool performance in this Liverpool season has all been about a team who've completely lost any identity. So last year it was still club side, but it was with this sort of controlled elements that Slott brought in. I like to call it heavy metal football. As the segue to Mohamed Salah's extraordinary post on Saturday, essentially saying, yeah, since this former brand of football has been changed, this is really bad for the club. Obviously, we know Salah's leaving at the end of the season and next week is his last game. I want to say this post is clearly about the manager, right? It's clearly about slot.

1:13:37Daniel Storey: I mean, there's no ambiguity there. but what I want to reinforce is that yes he has been a part of this changing but the players that Liverpool have signed have been overseen not by Arnie Slott but by Richard Hughes and by Michael Edwards the players that Liverpool have signed do not fit any style of heavy metal football does Florian Verts fit heavy metal football this is a guy who an incredibly talented player but his talent is based on taking his time finding the right pass taking that extra touch does Federico Chiesa fit into that style? The one player that Liverpool signed the summer before that.

1:14:10Daniel Storey: They were happy to let Luis Diaz go, Darwin Nunez go and they've replaced him with players who are good players but don't fit any real identity of football. And I actually think it's right that, yeah, you should absolutely, Liverpool should absolutely try to revert back to that football but that's not what this leadership team have done. It's like whenever we talk about Manchester United and this sort of counter-attacking and those fast moves. That's what Manchester United fans identify with. that's kind of what works it's a simplistic way of looking at things but when you try to evolve away from that you get muddled up and Liverpool's strategy now it just seems entirely muddled up and we talked about Xabi Alonso not being on the list and Arnie Slott probably continuing for next season but like the people who've overseen this the people in their sporting department like we kind of believe that if they're not going to leave the club this summer then they might be looking at next summer they don't see their long term futures at Liverpool so do they want to then change the entire structure of who the coach is and who the players they are bringing in.

1:15:05Daniel Storey: They want continuity right now, and I'm not sure continuity is the right answer. And I just think Liverpool have had a disastrous season, but they just lost their way as what they actually want to be.

1:15:16Liam Twomey: Among the many issues, and this against a backdrop of stories that the club are preparing to confirm Arnislot as the manager for next season, is the fact that not only did active Liverpool player Mo Salah post this 10 things I hate about Arnislot post, on Instagram, but virtually the entire Liverpool squad, as far as I can tell, liked it. I can't think of a similar situation where you have an active manager having a post criticising him, being actively liked by the players that are supposedly still serving him. At this point, if you're Liverpool, do you not look at this and think, he's clearly lost the dressing room, or am I being a wildly superficial, Daniel?

1:15:57That's exactly what he's done. I think we already suspected that, because as Jamie Carragher says the team that won the league last year is not excelling at anything so you can you can kind of blame above and below on a slot and I think there is blame to be apportioned in both of those directions but ultimately it's the manager's job to create a team that is at least good at one thing and that can excel at something and even not even that just makes it easily identifiable what they're trying to do and you can't we already knew all that we already knew he'd lost the dressing room because they're not playing and yet now we get the guy who's leaving and yes there's some degree of reputation saving there because he's had a bad season but the fact that all the all of his teammates like the tweet as well like the the only thing i can think of the last few years it's even more obvious than this was when like leicester players went to a christmas party when steve cooper was manager and had a sign that kind of said we miss you maresca like how much more obvious could you be and yet despite all that despite this kind of weird rom-com thing with Zabi Alonso where he's such an obvious fit and it's such an obvious appointment.

1:17:05I don't know whether it's this sort of like American overthink, like we are the smart guys in the room, we know what we're doing and the fans don't. But I just think it's idiotic. I do not get it at all. And there's a very real chance that they stick with Slott and he gets sacked in October and everyone goes, yeah, we kind of knew that was going to happen.

1:17:25Liam Twomey: As happened with Brendan Rodgers not all that long ago. Liverpool, by the way, who are still not yet qualified, not confirmed for the Champions League, although this Sunday's results did help them a little bit. They are four points ahead of Bournemouth, who are sixth, were Bournemouth to beat Man City on Tuesday night. Stranger things have happened. Then it's going to be a very nervous final day of the campaign. anyway. Final day fixtures are Liverpool against Brentford and Bournemouth would then be at Forest. Well there you go. Any other thoughts on that or anything else before we wrap it up for today Colin?

1:18:07Daniel Storey: There are actually some reports that Liverpool will look to bring in a new assistant coach and the new assistant coach that they are looking at apparently is Etienne Reinen who is Arnie Slott's former assistant at Farnard. So if that does come to fruition, that would strongly suggest that Arnie Slott will be in his post next season. Then also just one very, very quick point that Chelsea had been outrun in all 35 Premier League games until they played Liverpool at Anfield last weekend and Liverpool were the first team to be outrun by Chelsea. So if you're talking about heavy metal football, I don't know what the opposite of that is, but Liverpool are that at the minute.

1:18:45Enya, I was going to say. Ah, Enya.

1:18:46Liam Twomey: The opposite of heavy metal football? I think you might have nailed it right there very good, Daniel Story thanks as ever for providing the answers to the many questions that this Premier League weekend and indeed football has thrown up almost literally we will be back in a week's time with another Sunday night special our final one of this campaign of course we've got loads coming up, the Euros show for a start on Tuesday and then a show on Wednesday as well after the Monday and Tuesday games the Premier League, which could be so very, very important. For now, though, it's many thanks, as I say, to Daniel, but also to Colin and to Tim, to Jake and producer Charlie in the booth, and viewers and listeners, wherever you are.

1:19:29Liam Twomey: Lovely to have you with us. Do join us again soon. For now, from all of us here, it's goodbye.

1:19:38You'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.

1:20:04The Athletic FC.

1:20:12Ready or not, summer is coming. And Wayfair's Memorial Day clearance is on now. Right now through May 25th, get up to 70 % off everything home at Wayfair. Plus, score amazing doorbuster deals all sale long. And surprise flash deals on Memorial Day. We're talking thousands of products at every style and budget. Now is the time to save big on must-haves for your patio, backyard, and beyond. These savings won't last. So don't wait. Shop Wayfair's Memorial Day clearance now through May 25th. Wayfair, every style, every home. Still waiting in line? Again? That's time you will never get back. Save time and money with stamps.com.

1:20:51Over 4 million businesses have skipped the line with stamps.com. Join them to save up to 90 % off carrier rates from your computer or phone right now. Print postage for certified mail, registered mail, and packages in seconds. Then schedule a pickup right from your home or office. For a limited time, go to stamps.com and use code podcast for a free welcome gift. Taxes and fees apply. Hey, this is Adam Grant, host of Ted's podcast, Rethinking with Adam Grant. Have you heard of Bill? It's the intelligent finance platform that uses AI to help you avoid costly errors and optimize cash flow. In fact, Bill reports that over 90 of the top 100 US accounting firms trust them to manage, move, and maximize money, proven by over a trillion dollars in secure transactions.

1:21:33Eliminate the friction and start scaling with the proven choice. Visit bill.com slash proven to talk with an expert about automating your business finances and get a$250 gift card as a thank you. That's bill.com slash proven. Terms and conditions apply. See offer page for details. Security program on spreadsheets, new regulations piling up, and audit dread? It's time for Vanta. Vanta automates security and compliance, brings evidence into one place, and cuts audit prep by 82%. Less manual work, clearer visibility, faster deals, zero chaos. Call it compliance, or call it compliance. Get it? Join the 15 ,000 companies using Vanta to prove trust.

1:22:13Go to Vanta.com slash com.