Chelsea sack Rosenior ahead of Leeds semi… and will goal difference decide the title?

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1:44Totally Football Show. Today, this will shock you, Liam Rossini got sacked. We'll discuss the latest Blue Co. Oh No ahead of the FA Cup semis. It's Chelsea versus Leeds for old time's sake, whilst newly anointed Premier League leaders Manchester City look to halt the Saints march. Elsewhere, Arsenal try to take back top spot and there's some big basement battles after Burnley bow out. All that and more to come on this Totally Football Show.

2:18It's Thursday, the 23rd of April. For us, listener slash viewer on YouTube, it's me, Matt Davis-Adams, and I have got three very special guests with me. Doug and Alexander, how are you doing? Hello Matt, I'm good. How are you? Excellent. Yeah, I'm all right, thank you. Jay Harris is on board too. You all right, Jay? I'm all good, you? Yeah, yeah, can't complain. Benji Laniado, CEO of Pickfair. How are you? I'm good. Thanks, MDA. Right then, Leicester City have been relegated to League One. Honestly, producer Charlie put this at the top of the running order. It wasn't Forrest Van Mee. Ten years after being crowned champions of England, naturally then, we want to know what's going to happen in 10 years that we couldn't possibly predict now benji i know you've got a load of excellent suggestions but let's put those on ice for a minute jay what you got for me very much tongue-in-cheek uh spells winning the national league wow that's gonna get you some mention duncan national league south or main one main one play they're a big club yeah um i reckon people will be looking back wistfully on uh the set piece here and going i'm sick of this open play goals Do you remember when real men scored proper goals in a real league?

3:26And yeah, just, you know, it's how it works. Nice. I had FIFA president Matt Letizia awarding the Global Peace Prize to Brock, maybe, or Logan Paul's Pikachu Chelsea, formerly Chelsea FC, winning their third straight Premier Baller League titlers. John Terry asks, can I play, please? No, John, it's still a no. Go on then, Benji. I got it. It's similarly sort of dystopian, but what I think feasible. One, Saudi clubs are competing in the Champions League. Yeah. We can all see that happening. Depressing. There are multiple professional clubs run by AI. And it's not just like recruitment. Literally, there are like fleets of drones hovering overhead, like whispering instructions to like the right back.

4:08That's the next one. Football's version of the Hunger Games, basically. Yeah, yeah, yeah, totally. And it's just all computers. There will have been a£1 billion transfer of a footballer. related an individual footballer floats on the stock exchange I think we can all imagine that injury recovery times have halved so crucial injuries mean a month out and related there are multiple 50 year olds playing in the Premier League do you know what I was about to say I bet we have the oldest player in the Premier League who's like mid 40s like an outfield player medical advances I think that you'll get the younger and younger but fewer older players Because they'll get broken.

4:50The only reason I say that is because over the last week, it's been the end of the NBA season. So I've read a lot about LeBron James, Steph Curry, Kevin Durant, and just the longevity of those guys all in their either late 30s or early 40s still going. So I sort of wonder, especially because we've seen it with people like Cristiano Ronaldo. He's nailed up for Wrexham, isn't he? Yeah, exactly. Well, to Duncan's thought in the other direction, I also reckon the first footballer will have been signed in utero. as in so before they are born and i remember thinking this about about i remember thinking this about benjamin aguero right during when aguero had a child with maradona's daughter like like it's not mad you wanted to sign that player to sign him and just a few other ones um this is from a friend of mine a man i asked him referees are no longer human.

5:44I think that could be it. And this is perhaps the most controversial and I actually think this one will be true. VAR will be really good and everyone will love it. I thought that as well. I was going to have that as one of mine. Fast forward 10 years. Anyway, that's my predictions. All right. Well, it's nice to end on a positive at least. Let's kick off properly then with events in West London. This is the Totally Football Show, part of the Athletic FC podcast network. He's got the wrong side of all of that Chelsea defence. Well back. 3-0 Brighton. And Chelsea's misery is well and truly complete now.

6:23Plummeting into depths of new despair in this season. So you're going on a five-game goalless losing streak and you're labelled a prat. And that's the game, I thought Liam Rossini perhaps, as he tidied away his desk at Cobham for the final time. A little more than 100 days since he signed a six-and-a-half-year contract. he's traded it for a p45 after tuesday's annihilation at the amex jay it felt like it had to happen but but why did it happen in the first place as you said five um games without a without a win without a goal scored which is a complete contrast to when he first took over because i think pretty certainly won his first four games in charge and i did watch a little bit of the game against brighton and what stood out to me was that after kadioglu scored in the second minute um brighton fans were laying in the 15th minute that's just never a particularly good sign when you're just getting you know completely taking the mick out of like that try to switch to a to a back five which just didn't really work at all and I think one of the biggest problems for Rossini was that he just never cut through to the fan base in the way that he would have liked to and lots of people are going to pin that on you know LinkedIn Liam that persona that was sort of thrust upon him and yes he didn't help himself but fundamentally he just didn't quite click with the fan base and results spiraled and when you've got senior players saying maybe it was a mistake to get rid of the last guy your authorities completely eroded and for me it was a real shame even though I don't support Chelsea to see a black young black British manager going to a club of that stature I was very excited I thought I don't want Chelsea to win titles and trophies but if they do it under him then what a great message that sends out and and what an incredible role model he would be so it's a real shame that it's worked out this way he's clearly a very talented young coach I just think the the scale of this club was way too much for him way too early in his career and always struggling because he was a blue co guy as well I suppose not just the lack of experience as a coach maybe the the closeness in his age to to some of the players as well but it felt like he didn't really have the respect of anybody other than those who appointed him that's it and then and it was just accelerated because he was you know he was clearly like graduating through the system and he was off on his gap year in France and they threw him into the kind of top job like in in hindsight it would have been amazingly impressive if rosina had said no not yet which is in hindsight what he should have done could he have done that though of course he could but you can see why he wouldn't you know um and for me it felt a little bit like he's got a certain managerial style which we've lampooned i have certainly but it is it is a specific style of trying to be inspirational and get the players on side i never quite felt like he had the kind of he was never scary I couldn't imagine scaring any of these players or shouting or having that kind of heft Graham Potter I felt had a similar problem at Chelsea and then at West Ham I just didn't feel early on that he was a he was a manager that was going to have the necessary authority to do what Chelsea needed where's he going next Duncan to go back abroad do you think I think that'd probably be sensible I think I mean to to Benji's point I think he could easily manage a team a mid-sized team a brighton size team in the premier league but yeah the job was too big i mean the whole club is feels like i mean liam toomey did a really good piece about the unseriousness of of chelsea at the moment you know the fact that the fact that cole palmer and jao pedri's absence from the brighton game was announced by a barber on on twitter why is mark kukare got a barber by the way a stylist i don't understand but a barber that sounds like a code name for someone that doesn't exist like the sort of the straight circle kakorea's barber the the silent scream yeah well chelsea were short at the back and sides apologies um but yeah i mean just sort of sums up the way that you know a club that you cannot imagine that happening at manchester city or arsenal at the moment because their clubs run by authority figures that everyone's pulling in the same direction and that and that's the thing about football clubs is that if you let any football club kind of do what they one they'll all start to look like Chelsea the footballers are a bit like that you kind of need that figure you need a Pep Guardiola you need a Jürgen Klopp and Mikel Arteta to sort of lay down the law and scare players and and Liam didn't really have that so just quickly on that I do think there are some similarities between what happened with Thomas Frank at Spurs and what happened with Rosinia at Chelsea in the sense that okay there are slightly different stages of their career and Thomas Frank's about 10 or so years older but had success at Brentford Strasbourg these two clubs there there's a real emphasis on bringing in young players through can be a little bit more experimental I know Chelsea have a young squad as well but just the historic expectations around that club are on a completely different scale and sort of stepping up to that proved to be really difficult and very similar to Rosinia Frank tried to be very diplomatic he spoke about the culture a lot but it never quite landed with the fan base and you have to wonder if it ever landed with the players as well because for Fernandes and Kukurea what their comments sort of undermined Rosinha and he struggled to come back from that I think Frank always struggled to come back from the Van der Ven and Spence incident after the Chelsea game where they ignored him so that was one thing that sort of crossed my mind when I heard the news.

11:29Players got to take some blame as well haven't they obviously the people who appointed him in the first place and the ownership coming in for a lot of stick and probably rightly so but to down tools in the way and speak out of class in the way that some of those guys has or is that just a sign of their immaturity well but that's the other kind of like fundamental mismatch here if you've got the younger squad in the premier league don't then get you know a teenager however old Rosina is to manage them like it's the opposite what they need and you'd imagine the way that football clubs often go from one extreme to the other I bet the next person they hire is older and experienced because they'll have learned the lesson from the last manager and then that will fail and they'll go back to a young 'un.

12:14You say that, but they've not learned any of their lessons from the four years or so that Bluco have been in charge. But there's going to be a period of self-reflection. It said so in the statement. No chance. Because, you know, you can say that there are probably similarities between Potter and Rosina as well. I think you said that a minute ago and how their reigns have worked out. And so that sort of suggests that they haven't really learned from their lesson because the same mistakes keep cropping up on the different head coaches. So who are they going to go for next, Duncan? It's not as attractive a job as it was previously.

12:43No, it's a very difficult time for them to do it, but I think because A, you're not going to really get anyone at this time of the season. I mean, if they were looking at someone like, you know, Iriola or Marco Silva, there's a few weeks of the season left, so you might have to, I think they've kind of accepted they're going to have to muddle through to the end of the campaign. And it's that question, isn't it? Is Chelsea an attractive job these days? because we saw this week the financial results. They're in a lot of trouble there or difficulty, which will affect them in the transfer market this summer.

13:14And one of the attractive things about being Chelsea managers, you can go and buy a lot of players and try and integrate them. Yeah, so it will take a manager who feels like he can stamp his authority on arguably the most difficult dressing room in the country to do that. I mean, everyone knows that, say, the Real Madrid dressing room is really difficult to control. Chelsea is probably England's version of that. I mean, numerous times over the last 20 years have the players just gone, yeah, we don't fancy that. We'll just change the manager. So, yeah, it's kind of like a, not a poison chalice, but it's certainly a chalice that has a few, you know, skull and crossbones marks on the side.

13:56I've seen Marco Silva doing it. I think he's due a big job. like he's he's earned it i think and he's got a lot of experience now and he's got i think the seniority that could handle that i think that the personality to back yeah exactly i think that could be a good match as much as anyone's ever a good match for chelsea yeah he came back from watford fans calling him a snake and throwing rubber snakes and if you can mentally deal with that you can deal with anything before we move on duncan brighton we ought to give them a word because they're excellent in this game again they've all of a sudden turned their season around and fabian herzler from looking like he'd be wished the best in his future endeavors in the Summer may be a candidate for manager of the year, certainly if he gets them into the Champions League.

14:32Yeah, and a manager who's much, much younger than Liam Rossini. I think it's interesting when teams time their good runs of form, because if you kind of do it sort of January, February, no one notices really. But if you finish a season like this, everyone's like, oh yeah, fair play. But I mean, as we know, if Villa come fifth and win the Europa League, then sixth will get you into the Champions League. And Brighton, given Bournemouth drew with Leeds last night... Brighton stay in six and I think probably are the sort of the nailed on sixth place team now so that's a huge prize for them they just need Villa to do their but what I was just going to quickly say was obviously I watched Spurs draw with Brighton at the weekend and sort of forgot that Pascoe Gross had returned but the influence he's he's had you know in the first few minutes against Chelsea basically recreates an identical chance for Matoma to the one that Matoma scored against Spurs and just someone who, you know, maybe we were just talking about the Chelsea situation.

15:31Gross is a much older head in a much younger squad. And maybe it's not a complete coincidence that they've had like this sort of uptick in form since Gross has sort of come back and just a little bit of a mature head amongst young shoulders to sort of just guide them a little bit more. And when you think, go back to the start of the season, you think about Carlos Belay, all the noise around him with Manchester United, et cetera. I think it's probably taken just a little bit of time for everything to settle down at Brighton. and now they have. They're sort of just banging form. I think Mint has been amazing the last couple of games.

16:01He's such a talent when he's making the right decisions in the final third. We all know he's quick and slippery, can get away from people but if he's not releasing the ball quick enough then he can sort of lose that effectiveness but last couple of games in particular he's been really good so everything's just coming to the boil at the right time. Credit to Herzler as well I guess for being able to manage people around his own age. Yeah, Welbeck, Gross, Milner as well. Well, Milner's like his dad. All right, we'll talk more Prevy League later, but we're going to get on to the FA Cup next.

16:39We'll be right back.

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18:14This 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 Pierce, Oli Kay, and the very best football writers around. it's Chelsea versus Leeds at Wembley for the first time since the 1970 final which is nowhere near as famous as the replay that followed it got to be done on the day this time though I mean Benji Leeds are favourites for this game surely well the the direction of travel of both clubs at the moment yeah maybe and um actually watching the highlights of Leeds last night they're playing with quite a lot of sort of gusto at the moment as a Chelsea from time to time but yeah it feels as if they now there's that lovely stage of a season when you're a team going for trying to save yourself from the drop where it feels pretty certain that you're staying up and the relief is a catalyst you know you suddenly start and the fans are enjoying themselves a lot more and I couldn't think of a better thing to then happen at that moment than be going to a semi-final at Wembley against a struggling big club so I think the kind of The narrative would suggest absolutely Leeds could do it.

19:27I personally want them to get to the final so that they are either gutted or over the moon a week later when they play Arsenal on the last day of the season. But yeah, I think they could beat Chelsea, yeah. I'm going to keep tossing out candidates for manager of the year, Jay. I mean, if Daniel Farker wins the FA Cup and keeps Leeds up, that would be pretty sensational for somebody who was, what, maybe 45 minutes from being sacked at the Etihad earlier in the season. Yeah, it's so strange some of the moments that Daniel Farker has survived. And I always go back to, if we can go on a slight detour, I was there the game where Norwich beat Brentford, I think in September 2021.

20:05And he got sacked immediately after the game. And that sort of idea that he's a fantastic championship manager, but isn't a good enough Premier League manager. And it's good to see him sort of just completely sort of smash that idea. But you're right. I remember that point earlier in the season where he had this week to save his job and he managed to do it. And I remember all of the chat before they beat Manchester United was, Leeds are going to be the team that actually get relegated. West Ham, Forest, Spurs are all going to overtake them. They're on a really poor run of form. And then to get back-to-back wins and then to pick up the draw last night and with a 97-minute equaliser or whatever it was.

20:38The changes in formation, the fact that Stack and Rodon are out at the moment as well and they've got these results. Okafor has performed really well recently. Just full credit to him. Are we thinking new manager bounce might be Chelsea's best bet? I mean, do you get a new manager bounce when he's not a new manager? Yeah, I mean, can you carve up your new manager bounce into different points of the season? Because obviously McFarlane took charge at the Etihad. It feels like the Etihad is kind of the place where a lot of these managerial shifts happen this season. But I mean, I just think it's a really fun semi-final because the enmity between these clubs that's been there for 50 years hasn't gone away.

21:18I think, you know, any recent game between them, you know, the anger, the rivalry from the stands will definitely spill out onto the pitch. It probably won't be as violent as the replay in Old Trafford where Chelsea won the cup in 1970. But if it's half as bad as that, then I think we should all tune in and enjoy it. I like the fact that David Ellery and Michael Oliver both re-refereed that game for the purposes of content and the difference between the two in terms of how many cards they would have dished out in that particular game. Who gave the most? Well, the former headmaster, David Ellery, to give him his official title, gave six red cards.

22:00Michael Oliver re-refereed it in 2020 and would have shown 11 red cards, which can't actually happen, can it? Because the game would have been abandoned. Anyone who kind of does think the game has gone soft should probably watch the highlights of that match and be thankful that you can't do some of that stuff anymore because it was bordering on GBH. Wasn't there just a full-on fistfight at one stage? Is that Bremner or am I thinking of a different game? I think you're thinking Bremner and Franny Lee, Derby. Yes, but they just started juking. Or Bremner, Keegan and the charity Shield at Lumbly.

22:34They also punched each other. Fantastic. Basically, 1970s football was just men punching each other. Men being men, Duncan. Well, I like goals. Let's see if we get any of that on Sunday. Hopefully not. It's the first FA Cup semi-finals since 1987 for Leeds. They haven't been in the final since 1973. Now, whilst we're talking them, we'll have a quick word on that game against Bournemouth that took place on Wednesday night. Leeds come in from behind twice. They're on the magic 40-point mark. You have to go back to West Ham in 2003 for the last time somebody got that many and were relegated. So Leeds probably safe.

23:12That's quite a costly concession of a goal from Bournemouth, I think, Jay, late on there. They would have been three points off fifth if they'd held on. They're still on this long unbeaten run, but they'll be ruined that, won't they? Yeah, I think Bournemouth, Brentford, Everton, these teams who have an opportunity to qualify for Europe because Spurs, Chelsea, Newcastle, a few other teams are just completely falling off, are sort of, I don't want to say dragging themselves over the line, but it seems like one of them takes a step forward and then takes a step back the next week and they just sort of keep rotating it in turn.

23:45So for Bournemouth to have their last couple of results, beating Arsenal, etc., to come so close and sort of then concede that last-minute goal to Leeds is a real blow. And I think they've got Man City coming up in a couple of weeks. It's not like they've got the easiest fixture list. It's a real lost opportunity for them. Yeah, that Bournemouth City game looms as one of the hugest games remaining this season. But I do think, and I've banged this drum many times this season on this podcast, but this is one of the most compressed Premier League season we've ever seen. There's more games ending in draws and one goal wins.

24:19This is the sort of competitiveness that we wanted. We talked a minute ago about not wanting 1970s-style violence, but this is a 1970s-style table in the sense that everyone can beat each other. and we're seeing the kind of the fun of that in the closing weeks where yeah we don't really know you know so even Sunderland and 11th are in a pretty good position possibly even Fulham a couple of things on on Bournemouth before I forget firstly is that four points since Irioda announced he was leaving so you know it's good to see that they've not completely lost lost focus with that but also um I do wonder if Alex Scott will be a late name to get into the England World Cup squad I think he's been called up before but never played didn't actually get a cap but his performances over the last few weeks I just think he's grown more and more and more influential and I think he looks he looks so much like maybe that's the reason he stands out more oh the curtain's coming back I was thinking this with um what's his name the um Burnley forward Belgian chap very nice Fleming Fleming right very 90s looking curtains Alex Scott curtains we can we've got Nathan Lowe on he was like huge curtain he was the next one I was thinking of yeah but Alex Scott is really good and also only 22 oh I'm sorry to say this Bournemouth fans but I do wonder if he's a player that might you know be off in the summer or maybe Uriola takes him with him wherever he ends up he's obviously in a very sort of crowded field of attacking central midfield players but he actually can go up and down as well he can snap into a tackle yeah I really like him I really hope he gets a cap he's in form lots of those other attacking midfielders are not in form yeah I mean you could argue given the choice between him and Cole Palmer at the moment, you've probably got to say Alex Scott, however mad that sounds.

26:03No, I think we'll have Morton Gibbs-White. We should say, while we're talking about Bournemouth, they confirmed Marco Rosa as their new manager for next season. Rosa and Cherries. I think I bought a loaf of sourdough and a flat white one there and was shocked that it cost£15. But they're so good at this kind of pre-planning, aren't they, Bournemouth? It's very out of keeping with certainly the top end of the Premier League. It's superb. Big club set managers are like, oh, we don't know what we're doing. the succession plan we've lost it down the back of the sofa Bournemouth just have you know they've probably got their next 46 managers lined up so fair play something about the same case Bournemouth hasn't even been born yet they just know yeah also on Wednesday Manchester City as expected beat Burnley but only a one goal victory enough to send them to the summit on goals scored while simultaneously sending Burnley back down to the championship for a season nice little dink from Erling Haaland but a bit of ruefulness for City?

26:59So I think this was... Was it a mishit dink? I mean, everything up Turf Mill was slightly mishitting it, but I think this was almost the perfect result for Arsenal. I mean, obviously not because a draw or a Burnley win would have been perfect, but let's be realistic. I think City only improving their goal difference by one and looking a bit wasteful, a little bit not quite at the races was about as good as Arsenal could have got. And sets up, you know, as you say, they're on the same goal difference, same points. City have got three more goals five games to go as a neutral this is absolutely superb this is a title shootout that we've seen before with like City and Liverpool doing it and other teams in other eras but yeah I think I think it's really it's a bit of a coin toss right now Was it a bit harsh to expect City to go and blow Burnley away given the amount of emotional and physical energy that they'd expended on Sunday and the fact that you know Burnley might not be brilliant but they didn't want to get relegated I actually don't think it was harsh I thought they were going to win 4-5-0 with the momentum sort of from Sunday also it was an amazing performance from Dubravka two amazing goalkeeper performances last night, Karl Darlow and Dubravka both put in brilliant performances so it was a 1-0 that was probably more like a 3 or 4 really, I mean I don't know what the XG was The XG was 3.4 City from 28 shots there you go so yeah but my issues with Burnley they shouldn't be in the Premier League they're awful yeah and I don't blame their fans at all the ground was half empty but if you've gone down multiple times in recent seasons you shouldn't be allowed back up like Sheffield United should not be allowed back in the Premier League for at least 10 years Burnley should not be back for 10 years you've had a good chances good opportunity the fans are fed up the players can't do it and If that was City away at a team fighting for their lives, then they could have dropped points.

28:58So what should be the punishment then? If you get promoted, get relegated, get promoted, get relegated again? Ten years. Ten years, okay. Banishment. Go and sit in the corner and think about what you've done. Maybe you don't get your parachute payments because it feels to me like that. Burnley just come up. They want the money. They don't spend any of it like Sunderland did, like Leeds did in the summer. they're happy to just bank that and then we'll go back down and try to get back up again. Burnley spent a lot of money when company was there and it just backfired. So in a worse way, Burnley are experimenting with loads of different ways to stay in the division and none of them are working.

29:36I think the thing that is like stark is, you know, the post-mortem on Burnley, why do they go down? Because they've not got any good football players. like they I did um uh sort of analysis of different ways of ranking the top you know a couple of hundred players in the Premier League they've only got one player in there which was Jadon Anthony uh no sorry De Bravka was in there as well but like you we talked last season about the kind of the idea of a vulture list of who do you want to kind of swoop and take from the relegated sides who do you want to swoop and take from Burnley I'm sorry it's probably nobody like maybe like you can see Zion Fleming scoring like seven goals for a promoted team next year with his great haircut.

30:13But otherwise, there's no one really. Estev, maybe. De Bravko's maybe got another year in him in the Premier League. Like, a squad like that, I'm sorry, doesn't stand a chance. Like, so, you know. But as Chase said, I'm not sure what the lesson is here because they've invested previously and that didn't work. This time they didn't invest and that didn't work, so yeah. I'm also thinking just Scott Parker, when he got, you know, he left Bournemouth so early that season, but when he got relegated with Fulham, my memory is that they barely scored any goals under him. and the exact same things happen with Burnley.

30:44So you're trying different things. You've also maybe not gone for the right person to keep you up. So some sort of lesson needs to be learned there. Yeah, I think Burnley fans were very hopeful that Parker would go mid-season and he didn't. And here we are. Well, how long has it been since all three promoted clubs stuck with their managers throughout the season? It's got to be an awful long time. City then, Everton away, Brentford at home, Bournemouth away, Villa at home Palace at home TBC and that might be important I guess if it's around the Conference League final so where are they going to get this big win from Duncan that might take them away from Arsenal because there's no game there that screams to me 4-0 victory Well I think that's the thing isn't it?

31:25It's more like where where are they going to drop points that Arsenal can take advantage from and I think I mean everyone's saying Everton away is tricky possibly Blue ketchup on the pitch Not that tricky as a lot of teams No but you know Everton, as we've discussed, are eyeing up a potential Champions League or at least Europa League spot. Brentford at home, you know, Brentford have been sort of mild protagonists of the season. So possibly Bournemouth away is the one, I think. That one, you know, Bournemouth obviously went to Arsenal the week and basically have created the situation at the top of the table.

31:59So I think they, yeah, and as Jay said, I don't think they've downed tools since they found out their area was leaving. It'll be his last home game. yeah emotional emotional so I think yeah it feels to me that Sunday 17th of May Bournemouth Mount City is destiny day if Sky are going to do one of those stupid I do and look of course this is my bias from a few years covering Brentford but I do think maybe one of the reasons why they've struggled in recent weeks is because they're maybe playing teams around them in the table at home where there's maybe a bit more of an emphasis on them to control of the ball whereas I'm sort of looking at this this graphic our colleague Connor did for me the other day and Brentford basically are very direct don't have a lot of the ball and that's what will happen when they play Man City at the Atihad I was there when they beat them a few years ago when when Ivan Toni scored twice and I think because you a first European qualification in their history would be on the line the actual circumstances of that game might suit them more with Shada on the the counter-attack and Dango set pieces so maybe all right we shall see We'll talk more title chase later.

33:09But while we're on City, they're in the FA Cup semi-final this weekend as well. Quarter past five on Saturday for this one. Southampton headed to Wembley. Just follow the chemtrails up the M3. They've got to play City. Not ideal. But, Benji, they've got some form against City of late. That draw at St Mary's, a little less than a year ago, got them to the magical 12-point mark. Nathan Jones, Southampton, knocked City out of the Carabao Cup. if you remember that I'm sure Pep Guardiola does and he wants revenge so Southampton just going to go for the old blueprint that saw them past Arsenal and cross their fingers and hope for the best no City are going to batter them but um they they are really they've been to like three semis in the last nine years is that FA Cup semis yeah it's kind of amazing um no I mean I hope they have a lovely day out all right well i mean they are they're unbeaten since the 17th of january so southampton fall into my concerned about burnley and promoted team scenario here because they were awful last season i mean they were on a course at points to to break the unbreakable derby county record but now they've got a hot young manager who's about to do three months at chelsea well they had a little bit of will still who the underlying numbers were good as we knew at the time but didn't work out and then yeah big tondas come in and they're absolutely flying they they look exciting so they're probably going to go back up for it be that automatic or via the playoffs and then next season well i'm going to be keeping a close eye on them they better carry on being entertaining um they've got a huge game jay on tuesday night against ipswich if as benji thinks they're going to get smashed in this one anyway they're not going to rotate for this game surely the FA Cup semi-final in your Southampton.

34:55No, you've still got to absolutely go for it. I was really impressed by the way they performed against Arsenal. I know lots of people were talking about Arsenal missing a few players and resting them, etc. But I don't think that truly mattered so much. The sort of energy and the incision that they played with was really good. Of course, it's going to be very difficult to replicate that against Man City. But for a fan base who, for large parts of the last two years, have basically been in the doldrums with Russell Martin, will steal bad performances, etc. Go and have a good day out at Wembley. See what you can do.

35:27There's no pressure on you guys. Just go for it. If Pep Guardiola, Benji, wins both domestic cups and not the Premier League, will that be enough for him to bow out on or might be tempted to stay? Yeah. I think he'll leave whatever. I think this is him. What do you guys think? I sort of felt like this is his last season. I think that it's more likely that he'll win the Premier League and drop the mic and walk off. probably increases the chances of him leaving he should have done it under after the treble that the kind of lack of neatness there slightly annoyed me that he stuck around for a little while um with subpar cities um whereas it's kind of it would have been much more like iconic if he'd done the treble see you later go and spend another gap year in in new york like he did last time is erling holland gonna get a goal in this game duncan i only ask because he's played 14 games for City that were cup semi-finals or finals in all comps and he hasn't hit the back of the net in any of them yeah yeah he's got it's kind of like the reverse Didier Drogba in that sense um yeah I mean it's one of those records that clearly clearly is a good player very good player but he's Harlan I like Harlan because he loves football and you know that he he watches football and he thinks he was joining him with the chant at the end of the game last night yeah he big fan like that Harlan's the sort of footballer if he wasn't good at football he would be a football fan and that you can't say that about a lot of footballers so he will also know that's that I also I've been thinking about Harlan second half of the season exactly to Dunk's point like he's a big football fan he's an intelligent guy right he has got a world cup this summer and it could be the only world cup of his career you know Norway don't get there the whole time I generally think the reason that he has kind of like turned it down a little bit well I think he's actively thinking about the world cup and not wanting to overexert himself or injure himself and i think that is entirely sensible and actually there's quite a few players across the league that are doing doing the same thing um so who else do you think's doing it well name and shame players well there's quite a lot of like i i've often wondered whether i mean this might massively backfire someone like cole palmer is he really going for it knowing there's a world cup coming out coming injured all season anyways doesn't he yeah he's gone too far the other way then but either way do you see what I'm saying with Harlan like I would what he's doing he's won everything he's won the Premier League multiple times he's won the Champions League like you know obviously they're out there anyway he's won everything so why absolutely bust a gut for this particular you know title run in when you've got arguably the most important you know couple of weeks or month of your professional career coming up I get it I totally get it I mean the counter argument would be he scored a winning goal against Arsenal at the weekend and then the only goal against Burnley but I know what you mean but I think the reason City have come back into the title race is that they found a way not to make Haaland the be-all and end-all of their attack they've found a system that works and he is important to that system but he's not integral to it so I think that's probably good for him as well I don't think he enjoyed being the only way they could win games I mean that's very true because there was didn't Pep literally say earlier in the season you cannot play Semenyo, Doku and Cherki behind Highland it's literally impossible and now he's doing that every single game and as you say that you know there will be plenty of goals that come from those three or via those three without needing him to be the absolute central focal point that's doing it all himself so yeah absolutely agree here Alright we'll see how he gets on at Wembley on Saturday so that is what I am calling the penultimate round of the Football Association Challenge Cup next we'll get back to the Premier League for what producer Charlie has termed Premier League Matchday 34 Part 2

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41:35You're listening to The Totally Football Show now with you four times a week. Keep up to date with us on Insta and enjoy us in glorious Technicolor on YouTube at The Totally Show. Right, whilst Manchester City are at Wembley just across the capital Arsenal will be looking to regain top spot in the Premier League when they welcome the melancholy magpies of Newcastle United to the Emirates stadium. For all that kind of hand-wringing, Jay, about Arsenal's dip in form, they could be six points clear of City by the time City next play in the Premier League. And they've got Newcastle and Fulham at the Emirates.

42:11So it sounds pretty likely that they will be to me. Yeah, if Arsenal do want to win the title, they have to take advantage of this Newcastle team who are woefully out of form. Lots of chatter about Eddie Howe's future, missing Liveramento through injury, possibly Anthony Gordian, Fabian Scher I think Jolinton still suspended as well but obviously Arsenal have gone toe-to-toe with Newcastle quite a few times over the last few years they did win in quite dramatic circumstances earlier this season but I'm sure that will be in the back of every Arsenal fan's mind that Newcastle have tripped them up quite a lot Our colleague at the Athletic Art de Rocher wrote something quite interesting the other day which I just wanted to highlight and it was about Odegaard, Eze and Habert and the importance of those three playing together against Man City.

42:55And what I didn't quite realise was that the 74 minutes Odegaard and Neze were on the pitch together against City on Sunday is the longest time they've been on the pitch all season. They've only started together four times. So having those two available for these final five games, just providing a little bit more of a creative spark that's really been missing in the last month could be quite crucial to Arsenal's hopes of sustaining this title charge. I guess that's up to Mikel Arteta to actually let them do that and as a regular... Well, this is it, you see. As a regular at the Emirates, Duncan, do you want to see, A, Mikel Arteta just do a normal press conference, not release any training footage, and then just calm down a little bit on the touchline and maybe that will reflect and the stands won't be so tense?

43:41Or is the fact they're playing Newcastle in no form whatsoever? I mean, it doesn't really like that. It's quite good they're playing Newcastle because, as Jay mentioned, it's become a bit of a grudge fixture over the last few years. There's been some incidents. there's been some blaming of footballs in the Carabao Cup, all sorts of stuff. And I think also the fact that it's at 5.30. I think Arsenal, obviously before the Bournemouth game, Arteta made a big thing about making sure the crowd was up for the 12.30. And I do think the Emirates is better in an evening game or, you know, late afternoon game.

44:11Have you lunch late and you dinner early or neither? But yeah, I think they have to win these next two games. They have to make City go into their next match. at Everton with a six point deficit otherwise I think it might be it might be over but yeah to Jay's point I think Eze really impressed me against Arsenal last weekend he looked like the Eze we saw at Palace brackets and Kupi on Wickham closed brackets he was taking players on he didn't look like he was that worried about losing the ball and I think that's what they need I think with Odegaard's pressing and Eze's kind of ball carrying ability I think that does then open up scoring chances you think that's because he was playing on the left so slightly higher up the pitch and maybe there's that sense of if you lose the ball out wide here you know there's more people who can sort of cover for you or if you're losing it in a central position maybe a bit more risky yeah very possibly and obviously last summer was dominated by arsenal's need to get someone new on the left wing and they didn't and they've mainly just used trossard and martinley again this season and neither have had a great season so i think unlocking a player who can create from the left it basically will add another dimension to the team no newcastle um take chelsea out of it the most bad vibes club in the premier league well one thing that i think is wild we were talking about like unlikely predictions uh that william asula would be leading the line for newcastle by the end of this year and i think what we probably should be looking at now is Newcastle's summer business as the worst business done by any team in the history of the Premier League like they spent a quarter of a billion pounds on Walter Marder, Wisser, Alanga, Jacob Ramsey and Malik Chow who actually has been quite good um but that's that's like you know unfortunately I really like Eddie Howe but he was he was specifically leading the transfer charge over the summer right however in his in in his defense in his defense i actually think it might just have been the worst window ever by the premier league because i was having a look at all the um the major signings over the summer and there was three billion pounds spent and trying to kind of bundle them into like good bad average there's basically no one that's been amazing like there's a few players that have had quite good seasons like zubomendi pedro eze to some extent giocarez bumo otherwise it's kind of flop after flop like isaac uh walton mary sesco wissa elanga simmons gittins garnacho like and conversely the winter window i think has been hugely influential to this to this season certainly with i think the two best signings of the season which is gray and semenya right and actually a bit of a tangent but if west ham do stay up it's because of the business we did in we did in january so um yeah on the one hand newcastle's business is historically poor on the other hand everyone was at it over the summer well I was just going to say you alluded to it but I do think Eddie Howe got a little bit stitched up in the summer because they because they had no CEO no sporting direct nephew this is the thing yeah literal nepotism but when there's no structure in place then that's what happens you make the wrong decisions like I also remember being there in Korea when Newcastle were playing Spurs on a pre-season tour and Isak's future was you know just he was just constantly asked about it and I felt bad for him because there was no one else at the club who could take that pressure from him at the time.

47:38Like absolutely everything was on his shoulders even though he was on the other side of the world and Isak was back there. And of all the windows you've just been handed £150 million to play with. But maybe they dragged that scenario out for too long and you know Visser is a good striker on his day. I think Eddie Howe has had a history of maybe not trusting new signing straight away but Visser had a knee injury I think before he'd even kicked a ball for Newcastle. He went on international duty with DR Congo right away and that really disrupted his season. And I think that's a reason why that's not worked out.

48:11But you are right. The signings have not been good enough and lots of questions for Newcastle. Which means this will score against Arsenal. Sorry, I'm just trying to comfort you now when it happens. All right, we'll get the answer to that on Saturday. Tea time. Let's go to the bottom of the table. Jay, you're off to Molyneux on Saturday to see if Spurs can replicate Nigel Pearson and fight off a pack of wolves. Spurs starting the weekend two points and potentially crucially six goals worse off than West Ham in the standings. This has got to be the day when De Zerbe gets the W. What have you made of him so far and last week's draw and the celebrations and all that?

48:49Yeah so I actually feel a little bit more confident that Spurs will avoid relegation now after that game. I was away in Spain when they drew with Sunderland but I I watched it in a bar in Spain next to a couple of Sunderland fans and a Lincoln fan. So I thought this is a little bit strange. But I didn't see too much evidence from that game that things were drastically going to change. But it was a very simple decision Deserbi made. He put Xavi Simons back in the starting 11. The creativity that stems from that, having a doggy, you know, starting a game. Rodrigo Bentancur making his return from three months out with a hamstring injury.

49:25all these things came together and Spurs produced probably their best performance since they beat Man City at the Etihad all the way back in in August which was only the second week of the season and I think if they play like that against Wolves then they should get the the win and I think once they've got that sort of monkey off their back then I think they should be able to sort of kick on get some real momentum and go forward. The thing that worries me as a West Paul O 'Hanlon for ESPN. Sorry, no, Ryan O 'Hanlon at ESPN, sent to me by my friend Paul. He was looking at this data put together by a company called Gradient Sports, who I think are sort of rising to the fore a little bit in the data world.

50:10And they've got a team of analysts who analyse every single pass made in the Premier League. Amazing, right? And so, for example, this is from the piece, consider a centre-back passing the ball on the halfway line, a routine, unpressured pass to an open teammate, that would receive a zero, as that meets the expectation of the grading team, right? A precise line-breaking pass under pressure would receive a positive grade. And conversely, an under-hit pass to a teammate, even if completed, would receive a negative grade, right? So they're grading passing. And they've ranked every player in the league.

50:42And Spurs only had two players in the top 150, and that was the centre-backs, Romero and Mickey van der Ven. That has been their issue this season. They can't pass. and you you know you start to think is this entire terrible season hinged from the fact that james madison got injured and they didn't replace his creativity well actually i think a midfield with benton kerr and shimmons has that like and i worry now that this might be the thing that clicks that gets in the points that gets them over the line and probably at west ham's expense javi in terms of chances created is miles ahead compared to the rest of um tottenham's players but he didn't start four league games in a row under Igor Tudor and under De Zerbi for whatever reason he wasn't trusted and I think his goal was fantastic no doubt about it but Goan re-watches his assist for Pedro Porras' goal because his back is the goal when he receives that ball but in one fluid motion he looks up, spots the run, makes the pass and that's what Spurs have sort of been missing and it took him a little bit of time to adapt to the Premier League you know two goals in 27 appearances is not good enough for a player of his calibre and especially what he'd done previously with Leipzig in the Bundesliga but there is talent there.

51:47He is capable of winning new games and that's what he so nearly did against Brighton. But I do think Spurs should have enough to get over the line against Wolves. I do think Rosinia being sacked is bad news for them because they've got a bad record at Stamford Bridge but the one thing I thought that they had going for them in that game was, well, Chelsea are in horrendous form but now the fact that Rosinia's gone, I do wonder if Chelsea, the opportunity to maybe renegade Spurs at Stamford Bridge is something all those fans who've been and one of my best friends is a season ticket holder who's not been going to games recently I do think they'll put the protest to one side to get behind Chelsea for that game so I think that game due to be May 17th is going to be whoever wins it is going to go down in Premier League history 10 years on from Battle of the Bridge as well when Chelsea had had a terrible season and the only thing that could save it was stopping Tottenham from winning the title Spurs running looks alright to me they got Villa away between Europa League semi-final Leeds at home who might be beach bound by then, finish at home to Everton, which is tricky.

52:48This is, of course, Duncan, a repeat of the 1972 UEFA Cup final. Wolves officially relegated since last we spoke. Conceded, what, seven without replying their last two, but they've beaten Villa and Liverpool in their most recent games at Molyneux. So are they going to be freed now that they know that their fate has been sealed or are they just going to carry on being as rubbish as they've been in the last couple of weeks? D-mob happy. Can a Wolfe be D-mob happy? Well, going up against you, doggy. Hey! Yeah, turn him to bits. Yeah, I think Wolves are still dangerous. Always, yeah. Ask Nigel Pearson.

53:24That Liverpool game, it's weird. As you said, they've not really played at Molineux for ages. And I do think that, you know, they are going to be prepping for next season. Obviously, we hope they don't come up for 10 years, as discussed. But, yeah, I still think this is a trickier game for Spurs than maybe Joe was making out. I'm not saying it's not tricky because I also recognise that the way Brighton played against Spurs benefited them. And both of Spurs' goals came from Brighton's mistakes in possession, in their own half. Both of them from Van Hecker. So I do get that. But I do also think that they showed enough to make me think they will still get over the line.

54:05Yeah. And I think Spurs have got quite a bad recent record against Wolves. They have, yeah. So I think it's actually a really good game. I mean, it's a shame it's Saturday at three o 'clock because I think it could be a ding-dong battle. Also Saturday at three o 'clock. Benji, you got your flowers ordered to pay tribute to the departing Karen Brady on what will surely be an emotional day at the London Stadium. The vice chair beginning her goodbye, West Ham versus Everton, the backdrop for the farewell of the Baroness. 16 years, often a lightning rod for supporter criticism. Any positives to her legacy?

54:38Is this maybe a sign that there's a change of ownership in going? Oh, God, I bloody hope so. It's funny, I'm not quite as frothy-mouthed about Brady as some of the West Ham fans. To be clear, I'm glad she's going. I want better, more modern owners at West Ham. I don't particularly like the ownership team. And ultimately, they will forever be indelibly connected with the move to the Olympic Stadium, which has changed our culture forever. And any fan that's angry about that is justifiably angry because we were promised an elite stadium, an elite football team. We've got neither of those things. And Brady was very much the mouthpiece of this transition.

55:20So she will always be associated with that. At the same time, we actually have had our most successful period ever, getting into Europe three times in a row. We won a trophy. But yeah, there's always been this massive disconnect between Brady and the fans. and I think they'll be very happy to see her go and hopefully Sullivan follows her out the door this summer. Was that a missed opportunity Monday night against Crystal Palace or a good point? Matt, honestly, I was there. I couldn't tell you a thing about that game. It was, I think, one of the worst football games that has ever happened in the Premier League.

55:56It was a bit of a missed opportunity, but you could tell actually that Palace, ironically, having gotten into the semis, there's no pressure on them in the league anymore. They can just go out and play. And they had three or four players in there, including Will Hughes, who will be kind of pushing for a starting place in the European games, that played really nicely. And yeah, we just didn't really do anything. And we've got to be more clinical than that on Saturday. Having said that, you know, a point away at Palace, it's not the worst thing. So West Ham 33 points just above that perforated line.

56:29Spurs on 31, Forest on 36. West Ham after this, Brentford away, Arsenal at home, Newcastle away, which I think you kind of want now, and then Leeds at home. I mean, they're two good fixtures to finish, I would argue. Yeah, they're not bad. I think I have to say that I think Spurs are going to do it. I'm contractually obliged to say that. One thing that we haven't made enough of today, I think, is the hoodoo, the bottling, the heebie-jeebies. Like, if Arsenal don't beat Newcastle, then it is official. they are like pulling it they're wobbling it they've lost it their heads have gone right with Spurs as well watching the game against Brighton conceding both equalizing goals in injury time at the end of the first half and the second half you did start thinking is this team just you know cursed right and whereas West Ham the kind of the vibes and the momentum is going in the opposite direction so you know the ex the ex vibes are kind of I think in our favor but we'll know a lot more after this weekend the one thing i will counter to that is that i think saturday's game was the first time i've not heard any booing at tottenham stadium in 2026 possibly going even further back to maybe october time before the infamous arsenal and chelsea defeats um i just think every time uh spurs are played at home something has gone wrong you know when they um Greek we did in this game it did go wrong but that sense of the fans still being very on board with the players I've not seen in a long time so even when they did the the grand meeting with the bus before the Nottingham Forest game they then lose 3-0 it's very clear that Tudor's you know out of his depth and there's booing um when it was the Crystal Palace game there was a bit of excitement and then they're you know 3-1 3-1 down at half time half the fans leave there's booing then so this is the first time i can remember in a long time because obviously it was happening towards the end of frank's reign tudor's first game in charge was a 4-1 defeat to arsenal it's just been constant booing booing booing booing but i think even though they they drew there was that sense of the fans being very connected with the players the celebrations when jabby scored okay ultimately um bright and equalized even deserve i think sort of hugged a few fans when jabby scored so to me it's like okay maybe they're not completely in fighting with each other and the way it feels like they have done for five six months the slight counter to that just the last point is that the equalizing goal made xavi simmons's celebration look a bit stupid oh yeah i get that and that's not the first time this season spurs have scored in dramatic circumstances everyone's gone mad and then the other team has scored immediately so the the one example which springs to my mind is when richarlison scored against man united in october and then delict scored in stoppage time two minutes later.

59:20All right, well, for West Ham is Everton. David Moyes, 750th game as a Premier League manager. They're good on the road as well, the toffees. So a tough one for West Ham. Everton obviously still going for Europe as well. You don't have a dog in this fight, Duncan. West Ham, Spurs or Forest? Forest at Sunderland on Friday. Seven unbeaten in all comps. They've got the Europa League semifinal to come on Thursday. They can go eight clear of Spurs. if they win at the Stadium of Light, which is not as difficult as it was earlier in the season, but still pretty tricky. Yeah, Sunderland are very much in that loose cannon territory where you don't actually know what you're going to get week from week at the moment.

59:59But I think Forrest, if they win this, job done, can concentrate on the Europa League. I don't say that. I mean, you know, European semi. All I would say on Forrest, to go back to Spurs, because I said it before we came on air, is that I look back at moments which have really changed the trajectory of Tottenham season. I go back to them missing out on Morgan Gibbs-White because of the knock-on effect that had because he was clearly their first choice for the creative midfield role. He stays at Forest. Spurs try to sign Eze. He goes to Arsenal instead and everybody's sort of laughing at them. They end up with Xavi Simons.

1:00:39He's never played in the Premier League before, is much younger. He comes in at the end of the transfer window, take some time to get adjusted to the league. As I said earlier, he's only scored twice. Gibbs-White scored 12 goals. Benji was talking earlier about Tottenham's inability to pass from central midfield areas. Well, Gibbs-White would have solved that issue straight away. So it is very, very strange that missing out on Gibbs-White might be the difference between Spurs staying up or not. And without Gibbs-White, Matt, Forrest would be long gone. That, I think, is... Because of his goal contributions, yes, but Forrest have still got Matt Sells is a capable Premier League goalkeeper Murillo, Milenkovic, Elliot Anderson, Ibrahim Sangare they're all players All of them apart from maybe Anderson haven't been anywhere near as good as they were last year I have also seen some Spurs fans say that Posta Koglu's results when he was in charge of Forrest might keep Spurs in the division Agent Ange Just talking about managers by the way the PM at Sunderland talking about you know candidates for manager of the season I think the manager that I think the fewest people on the planet, Premier League manager that the fewest people on the planet could name, Regis Labris, he's got to be part of the conversation.

1:01:48He's done a brilliant job. But it's funny how like... Well, there's some sort they're looking to move on from him. Really? I've seen it. I've seen it in a few places, yeah, because, you know, they're obviously ambitious. Yeah, on the up. They've established a beachhead in the Premier League and now they want to move on. Dear, oh dear. I would suggest that would be harsh. I mean, manager of the year just goes to the bloke who wins the league, usually, anyway. You say dear, oh dear. I'm not saying they should do that, but didn't Bournemouth do that same thing with Gary O 'Neill and Iriola? I know that's sort of like the perfect...

1:02:14Mate, I'm constantly back and forth. I'm a bit of a Pochettino as well. Do you go for it? I mean, West Ham, historically, when they've gone for it, yeah, it's backfired. You know, we're doing... Yeah, true. Anyway, sorry. There's a couple of low-wattage Premier League fixtures to rattle through. Before that, though, game of the weekend, got to be Saturday lunchtime, final day of the National League regular season. Leaders York City have 107 points. Second place Rochdale have got 105. Only one automatic promotion place in the National League. And these two are meeting at the Crown Oil Arena. Pricier than it used to be, presumably.

1:02:52If the hosts win, they'll be promoted to League Two. Otherwise, it's the title for York and playoffs for Rochdale. We'll let you know what happens on Sunday's part. But back to the Premier League. Liverpool dosed up on vim and vigour ahead of Saturday's showdown with Crystal Palace after their dramatic derby at the Dick last weekend. Slots, lots favourite to reach the Champions League. The Eagles hoping to be in the Europa with another trophy in their cabinet come next term. Duncan, I think this has got the potential to either be incredibly flat or really fun given the relatively low stakes. Yeah, it could either be third on match a day or last.

1:03:27We simply don't know. Yeah, I mean, I think probably the biggest interest of the game is Freddie Woodman playing with him in goal for Liverpool. What a season it's been for, or a few weeks for him and his old man having led Bromley. Yeah, we've got an article on The Athletic today actually looking at Bromley's extraordinary passing. Well, they don't do any passing. They are the most direct team possibly ever. And yeah, they just hit it very long. If you look at a map of the Bromley goalkeepers' goal kicks, there's no laterals in there. It's just launch it as far as you can. So I'm sure Freddie for Liverpool will be a little bit more cultured.

1:04:03Feels like he should be playing in goal for Liverpool in 1926, not 2026. Freddie Woodman is not a very Premier League-y type name to me. Does he know Gary Sparrow? Possibly. Fulham and Aston Villa is the early Saturday game at Craven Cottage. Fulham are blanked in five of their last six. Unai Emery always wins at Craven Cottage in the Premier League. Going to be interesting, Jade, to see whether he rotates here, Emery. obviously we mentioned this Europa League semi-final he hasn't done it loads has he in the Premier League before European games and they're still not quite assured of of Champions League football but I guess whatever 11 he puts out he'll feel confident against a pretty flat Fulham yeah we say Fulham are flat but they're still only a few points behind Bournemouth in seven so Fulham are on 45 points and Bournemouth are on 49 so there still there still is a chance for them to to grasp European qualification.

1:04:59I was at the GTEC last week when they drew with Brentford and it is one of the most boring games I've seen. A real shame for Fulham is Iwobi picked up what looked like a hamstring injury in that game. I'm not too sure if that was ever confirmed, but missing him will certainly damage their chances. But as you said, Villa is not secured yet, so I'm sure they'll still put out a strong team and try and win the game. Quite a contrast, I feel like, Benji, between the way that Marco Silva seems to be leaving Fulham and it's all going a little sour and how Andan Iarola's done it and their respective clubs are handling those potential departures.

1:05:33He's getting sour. I'm sorry, maybe I've missed that. Well, their fan base seems to be a bit like, well, if he's going, come out and say it because our season's just flatlining a little bit. Yeah, but we've seen it go both ways this season. We've seen it with Glasner at Palace. Well, I think that hasn't helped them at all, him coming out mid-season saying he's off, especially after he complained about the fact that Grahi and Eze were whipped from under him just before a game. He announced his departure just before a game. Iriola, yes, like all things Bournemouth, seems to have gone in the opposite direction.

1:06:05But yeah, I don't know. I kind of find it... Did you think it was weird when Iriola and Glasler both just announced it? Why does he have to announce it? Why does it have to be announced? I understand why Silva's not. Well, because the reports had sort of come out. Was he sort of forced to say it? Because the reports had come out, so Bournemouth then confirmed it. What I should have said on Fulham, actually, is that I'm pretty certain that historically they end the season really badly under Marco Silva and just completely tail off so it's not just a there's uncertainty because his contract expiring I think Fulham fans will also be just a sense of we've seen this script now three four years in a row where we're in and around possibly qualifying for European qualification and for whatever reason either he can't motivate the players or he's using the wrong tactics with the players but the second it hits April be like Arsenal under Arteta they just they can't win a game I think he's hitting the ceiling that is set by the club.

1:06:57And that's why I've sort of, you know, I think he's done really well with Fulham consistently. And that's the word. That's the important thing about Silva. I think he's done it consistently. And I do now think that go to a club where the ceiling is much higher, I think he can do a lot better. Sorry, Fulham. This is the last time I matched the day, isn't it? You fear it might be. I mean, to Jay's point, I think Fulham players just start thinking of the summer, don't they, at this time of year. And that's maybe why they built a swim pool in their own ground. All right. I think that's just about us done for today uh Jimbo Duncan and co recently did a totally extra about Leicester's title win which we mentioned at the top of the show there's no totally extra this Saturday he had five podcasts last week so uh make the most of those but do feel free to dip into any of our back catalogue including actual Gianluigi Buffon in the studio from last week over on our YouTube channel seat was in.

1:07:49Who's in the Buffon seat? Jay. Buffon. Ooh. See you right there. Safe hands. We don't have him up on the wall yet. I bet he was pretty annoyed about that, wasn't he? Looking at Jersey Dudek and thinking, how's he got the nod ahead of me? But anyway, yeah, do go check that out. Meanwhile, we shall be back on Sunday reacting to the Premier League and those FA Cup semifinals as well. Join us for that. If you can for now, though, thanks to Duncan, to Jay, to Benji, to producers Charlie and Jake in the boot and you for listening slash watching bye for now

1:08:24you'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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