City edge colossal clash with Arsenal as last-gasp Liverpool win the derby

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1:38The Athletic FC

1:45Liam Twomey: Totally Football Show. Today, teta teta, the Etihad leaves our tetas, title hoax in tatters. We look back on Jerky being smooth and Haaland making sure Arsenal stay humble. Plus, we talk Liverpool's derby win. Gibbs-White's hat-trick for Forrest, call him Morgan Freeman. Villa Blackhats, another Chelsea black day. And Spurs disappointed again after that premature explosion of Siemens. All that and much more in this Totally Football show.

2:19Liam Twomey: Good evening to you. It is a Totally Football Show coming to you from the Totally Football Show studio where else and in the presence of such luminary figures as Tom Williams. Hello, James. Fresh in from Paris, Tom. Indeed, indeed. OK. We just enjoyed a special game of special football. Also here with us, Liam Toomey of The Athletic. Hey, Liam. Hello, James. Lovely to see you. Got a lot to talk about. Yeah, absolutely. Going to have a lot of free midweeks to come back here if you'll have me next season. Yes, Liam covers Chelsea. And on the big screen, fresh back from the Hill Dickinson, in fact, Daniel Story.

2:57Liam Twomey: Hello, Daniel. Hello, James. How are you? Yeah, yeah, very well, actually. Buzzing, buzzing, Daniel, after what I've just been witnessing from the Etihad. And no doubt you did too after you made it back from the Moseyside Derby. Yeah, I am tentatively touting this as a top 10 day in Premier League history. Oh. Yeah. Well, there was a four-game Sunday in which a team goes 3-0 up, is called back to 3-3, almost loses it with basically the second-last kick of the game and then wins it with the last kick. Another game in which a Merseyside derby, the first in a new stadium where one of the teams scores with basically the last kick of the game.

3:38A 4-1 win for a team in which their kind of landmark player, their leader, scores a first-ever career hat-trick. and then the, in inverted commas, title decider, which is where the post is hit a stupid number of times and one of the teams wins it late.

3:56Liam Twomey: Yeah, it's all we need. Max Goddard. Oh, actually, it wasn't Max Goddard who said this, but hi to you, Max Goddard. I was going to ask, is this the weekend where basically everything got sorted, not just a lot of big things happened on the Sunday, but looks like the title race, maybe. Looks like the top five, pretty much. Certainly, if the final game from this weekend West Ham away to Crystal Palace on Monday results in a West Ham win. That looks done and dusted as well, Tom Williams. Yeah, I mean, it did feel a potentially pivotal weekend. I guess we knew in advance that that was a possibility in the title race.

4:31I think less expected, perhaps, was the fact that we would come out of the weekend with a seven-point gap between 5th and 6th, and a one-point gap between 18th and 17th, but potentially much bigger gap if West Ham can get the win against Crystal Palace tomorrow night. What we can say, though, is that the race for sixth is absolutely hotting up. Sixth to twelfth. That's what they're saying as well. That's where it's at now.

4:57Liam Twomey: The Optus supercomputer, I'd love to check in on that after any big events in the sporting world, still has Arsenal, Liam, as the favourites, even though they just got beat 2-1 in the big title decider with Man City. and City this Wednesday can go into top spot with a victory away to Burnley. Why would the Optus supercomputer say that? Because they've got no respect for narrative. But is there any kind of logical basis for City not being the favourites? I'd say if you were making the logical case, it would probably be points in the bag versus games in hand. The points in the bag are innately more valuable, but you look at trajectory, you look at momentum, You look at all these less tangible things.

5:41You look at maybe the sense of fatalism that Arsenal might now feel even more strongly than ever.

5:47Liam Twomey: Right. Then there's no circuit board that can deal with things like that. Maybe it's a super enough. Maybe it's missed a software update or something. Perhaps so. Daniel, is there a weird scenario in which winning today actually puts the pressure on City and therefore might dot, dot, dot? there is a way that City can win every game they play in the Premier League between now and the end of the season and not win the title because if both teams win out from here it comes down to goal difference and they're only one goal ahead and City's fixtures are harder than Arsenal's they go away to Everton they go away to Bournemouth neither of those two are easy games I'm sure they'll beat Burnley in midweek to go top of the league but yeah I don't think it's done by any means.

6:32I actually was, if Arsenal were going to lose today, there were ways of losing that made you think that they might still have a chance of winning the title. And I think that's probably where my conclusion was at. Obviously, it was a bad result, but they played really well. They played more expansive than I thought they would. And they created or had more moments of attacking danger than I thought they would. So yeah, maybe both teams win out. It comes down to goal difference and pedants like me point out that that's why they disallowed Erling Haaland's goal against Liverpool quite correctly, even though he just tapped into an empty net after being fouled because the title could come down to that refereeing decision.

7:09Liam Twomey: Wow. Wow. All right. Well, much to discuss then, not just from that game, but other huge matches around up and down the league. Spurs against Brighton, for example, on Saturday, which maybe slightly mirrored what you were saying about Arsenal then. There are ways for Spurs to manage not to win a game yet again in 2026, but the manner of this performance maybe does give them some positives, even though they remain in the bottom three. But let's get a quick check on the results then. In the Premier League, with West Ham still to make the journey to Crystal Palace on Monday evening, the big game at the Etihad saw the two title rivals going face-to-face at last.

7:47Liam Twomey: Man City beating Arsenal 2-1. City now three points behind, but if they beat Burnley at Turf Moor on Wednesday, they go top. Loads of late drama elsewhere on Sunday. There were seven goals at Villa Park between Villa and Sunderland. Villa 3-1 up with 85 minutes played. Then it was 3-3. And yet somehow Villa ran out 4-3 winners. Van Dijk, meanwhile, had a very late goal to win the first Merseyside debut at the Hill Dickinson. 2-1 for Liverpool. While at the city ground, Forrest went behind to Burnley. But then thanks to a 15-minute second-half hat-trick from Morgan Gibbs-White and a goal in the 98th minute from Igor Jesus, beat the Clarets 4-1 to move five points clear of the bottom three.

8:32Liam Twomey: Bang in the danger zone. Meanwhile, are still Spurs who drew 2-2 with Brighton on Saturday. Phenomenal. Chevy Seaman's strike had actually put Spurs 2-1 up and dreaming of a first win this calendar year. But that last-minute Brighton equaliser means their winless run is now the worst it's been in 91 years. The draw does leave them a point closer to West Ham. We play Monday at Palace Elsewhere on Saturday, Leeds beat Wolves 3-0, which means the Wolves are all but down. That can be confirmed on Monday with a West Ham win. Bournemouth with their soon-departing manager Iriola. 1-2-1 at Newcastle with their possibly soon-departing manager Eddie Howe.

9:11Liam Twomey: Brentford Fuller was goalless. And Man United won 1-0 at Chelsea. All right. There's a couple of midweek games apart from the Crystal Palace West Ham. Brighton-Chelsea on Tuesday. Then you've got Bournemouth leads and that trip to Turf Moor for Man City. We're going to begin tonight, though. Man City Arsenal. This is the Totally Football Show with James Richardson, part of the Athletic FC podcast network. Doku. O 'Reilly. Haaland!

9:50Haaland! Manchester City in charge again.

9:55Liam Twomey: Well, indeed, in charge in this match. Not quite yet in charge in the title race, but a huge game. There's a huge result for Man City and mostly a hugely entertaining occasion. I'm not sure what your favourite bit was, Liam. There were so many to choose from. I mean, I think the couple of minutes stretch between Ryan Cherky scoring one of the goals of the season, unbelievable individual, run and then Kai Havertz tackling the ball into the net which felt particularly opposite I think of this Arsenal team's identity oh that would be the way that they would why so just because they're so founded on tenacity doggedness usually in their own half but the idea that that would manifest in pressing the ball into the net essentially well 107 seconds between the sublime and the ridiculous Ryan Cherky kind of tiptoeing his way through the Arsenal defence like a cat through skittles, I felt.

10:53Liam Twomey: And then you had Gigi Donner-Blunder at the other end. What was your favourite bit there, Daniel? I mean, I love Shirky's feet. The best comparison I can find, and it really fits for this goal, is Eden Hazard. Because to me, it just looked like an Eden Hazard goal, where he seems to have a little bit more time than the defenders who are sort of dashing and rushing and sliding in the way. And he's able to, as you say, kind of ball on a string, just nick it away from each of them. The big slide that he sends the ball under was beautiful to watch. And yeah, and then Donna Rummer makes the... Coaches at under-six level tell goalkeepers if you're going to be under pressure, you need to kick the ball.

11:36Don't kick it across your own goal because then if someone gets in the way of it, it increases the chance you're conceding. So it's quite nice to see one of, if not the best goalkeeper in the world over the last five years, make that absolutely shambolic mistake.

11:50Liam Twomey: It wasn't nice for Pep, of course. Going back to Ryan Shirky, though, Tom, I feel there's a lot we could say about him. Not least, what an extraordinary bargain he's proved to be for Pep and Man City. Yeah, only£30 million as part of the big Lyon fire sale that took place last summer. He only had a year left on his contract, which also explains why the fee was so low. But, you know, Shaki is someone who has been talked about since he was 14 or 15. I mean, he was a superstar before he'd even made his Lyon debut purely off the back of YouTube clips that went viral every time he did something in the Lyon youth teams.

12:27And it was only that last season at Lyon where he really started to put it all together. The talent was clear from the beginning. The remarkable two-footedness, which I thought his goal today exhibited brilliantly, and this eye for the spectacular, The slightly romantic sides of his character that shine through in his football, this desire to entertain. But it was only last season at Lyon that he managed to do all of that and add goals and add assists. He's still only 21. I feel like he's been around for a lot longer because he's been so hyped. And I think if you look at City's recent evolution, and we touched on this in a recent podcast, it was Guardiola figuring out how to put Shaqi and the team in a way that didn't unbalance everything that has enabled them to go on this little run of positive results win the League Cup final against Arsenal and now pull off this pivotal win today Bernardo Silva's repositioning also a huge factor in that and yeah Shaqi is kind of doing the kind of things that people hoped he would one day do and, yeah, in the most important games.

13:42Daniel. Can I just say that whenever I hear his name, I hear it, oh, I have to say it again in my head in a Tom Williams accent because before he came to the Premier League, Tom was on a show where he spoke about how good he was and he gave it the full, rien, cherchi, and that's exactly how I hear it now. So thanks, Tom. Excellent. All part of the service.

14:02Liam Twomey: They call that a Tom Williams accent in France as well, do they, Tom? Yes. They had different kind of comments about my accent in France, not always that kind. Well, Plutus writes in to how important has Ransherki been in the second half of the season for City's title. Charged long-time listener, first-time caller, lovely to have you with us, Plutus. He has scored or assisted 24 goals in all competitions in this his debut season, Liam. And the comparison I felt at the time, watching him kind of pick his way through for that opening goal, was for that player, the one who's now in Miami and was at Barcelona.

14:38Yeah, the idea of just shifting the ball to the millimetre enough to get round each defender is very Messi-like. And I think it's not the first time, Tom, you'll know that Shirky's had that kind of comparison. He's got that level of dribbling. And Hazard as well was one that immediately came to mind because he scored two goals against Liverpool that were very much like that. It's like the slalom skier, isn't it? But with even more subtlety in the tight space. He's a phenomenal player to watch. And I feel like Guardiola has maybe got a reputation in recent years for, if not completely straightjacketing certain players, and certainly trimming the wilder edges off their talent.

15:17And maybe in time that kind of process would happen with Cherki. We don't know how long Guardiola will be there. But it feels like, at least in the short term, he's recognised that he's so special in a creative sense that you don't do that with him. you accommodate him and you change the roles of other players around him because he can be that X factor and he has been for City. He wasn't starting up until very recently. He had a very good start at City and he's been doing incredible things all season long. But there was a long run of games up until relatively recently where Guardiola hadn't figured out how to get him in the team and there was the draw at West Ham prior to the international break and Guardiola said you cannot put him and Doku and Semenya in the team at kick-off.

16:01It just doesn't work. And bringing Bernardo Silva back into the double pivot with Rodri has enabled him to put Xhaki there in the number 10 position. I think that's one of the most enjoyable things about this kind of new dynamic that has appeared at City is that it's one that is really about putting their most creative player in the kind of positions that he needs to be in. And we saw the fruits of that again today.

16:24Liam Twomey: What happened in the second half then, Daniel? Did City take it up a gear? I think so. I think there was a slight reminiscence of what they've done in recent games, i.e. at Stamford Bridge last weekend and in the EFL Cup final, where they sort of get through the first half and then say, right, now we're going to go at you. I just think that they were, I think they were better off the ball than Arsenal in that period. I thought Bernardo Silva was game's best player. I thought his, you know, Tom talks about him dropping deeper, but, and he's absolutely right. But his ability to just pop up in the right position at the right time when City don't have the ball, it seems to have improved again this season.

17:01There was that break where Arsenal almost had two on one or two on none. And Bernardo was the only player who seemed to have spotted that there was a break on and got back. His vision with the ball is something that has maybe faded over the last couple of years. But his vision to kind of read the game without it is, as I say, I think has actually got better. And let's face it, they also, in Arsenal, are a team that play on the margins. and the fine margin team got beaten by the finest of margins. You know, Eberichieze's shot was so close. Gabriel's header could either have gone in off Nico O 'Reilly or hit him on the arm and it would have been a penalty and I think if it had.

17:35And it's a completely different game at that point. I thought Arsenal were as good as City. The only disappointing thing from Arsenal, I thought, was they let the game lull for about 10 minutes before bringing on Victor Jacarese and going more direct. I think that was the only waste. Other than that, I actually think they played all right.

17:52Liam Twomey: Was that Gabriel Header the one of the post or the one of Erling Haaland which was also a fine margin? A lot of people asking why. Ubi Greeny for example, I'd love an explanation of how Gabriel didn't get sent off. FBL Banger says Gabriel channelling his inner Gallus at Birmingham in 08 today. Poor performance followed by absolutely losing his head. Fair, Tom? I don't know. Well, Gallus sat on the pitch, didn't he, for ages on his own. Did Gabriel, did we miss that? Did we cut away too soon? Possibly. Not sure it was quite those levels. But yeah, I mean, it was a fantastic, you know, old-fashioned tussle between a number nine and the opposing centre-back.

18:29Throughout the game, I mean, literally tore his undershirt at one point. And yeah, I mean, I think he probably should have been sent off. I wonder whether it was the fact that they were already forehead to forehead that has somehow, you know, allowed him to slip through the net on that one. But, you know, Haaland ends up having the last laugh nonetheless. To me, it speaks to the dirty secret of Premier League refereeing, which is that you don't get what you don't ask for. This is the reason why players go down. It's why they react so theatrically to anything. And if Haaland hadn't been such a macho Viking and just carried on, he wouldn't even necessarily have had to gone down, but if he'd recoiled and grabbed his head in a hammy way, then I think Gabriel would have been sent off.

19:14Liam Twomey: I guess the great thing from Haaland's point of view is he didn't need to because he still comes out a winner, can leave the game, giving a cheeky side-eye to the camera, taking his top knot out, letting that Aslan-esque main run free. Like a Timote advert or something. It's incredible. Nice. Point and note in your voice, Tom, there. Yeah. Wow, there you go. Daniel, you say that there are positives here amongst the disappointment, and amongst the feeling that they're walking through the debris of a dream, there are positives there for Arteta. And if they do win all their remaining games by more goals than City win theirs, they do get the title that they've dreamed of.

19:58Liam Twomey: But do you really think that today's positives are enough to make that a real prospect? I think they still have a chance, yeah. I mean, it's a huge setback, obviously. Not least, I'm kind of glad that they tried to change it or ostensibly looked like they were trying to change it. There was more about them on the counter-attack. I think starting Eze and keeping him on the pitch that long in that advanced role really helped them. It made them look more expansive and more penetrative in the final third. They do still have an issue with the wide players. I think they're just not creating quite enough.

20:32Madweke was probably the best of the bunch of the wingers, but he then came off. They're just not quite creating enough out wide, which means it's quite easy to then channel them centrally. So they're after, I think we said it last week, but they're basically after like magic moments to score goals rather than team moves. And, you know, they almost got one of those with Eze. But yeah, they definitely can still win the league because I think City have got the harder fixtures and I think Arsenal can definitely win every, they can win out from here. But they're going to have to not go closed in on their shelves again.

21:03And also, and I know this gets, a huge amount gets made of it and I know it annoys Arsenal fans, but they also just kind of need to keep the focus on the pitch right they need to not have what Mikel Arteta is doing wacky or linked in on in on the training pitch to be like the headline story on the back page because I just don't think it helps like Arsenal have got a really really good team and a really really deep squad they just if you play to the strengths of that squad they can still win the league if they let it become this kind of all-consuming this is our great dragon to slay just yeah I think they'll walk themselves further into psychological overthink.

21:39Liam Twomey: It kind of is there. Great Dragon to slay though, poor things, after so long without a Premier League title and with so many potential honours available not too long ago. A quick look at the remaining fixtures. So Man City, Daniel have Burnley away on Wednesday, then Everton away, Brentford at home, Bournemouth away and then Aston Villa at home, Arsenal, and Crystal Palace as well. Game in hand, Crystal Palace, nobody knows when. Arsenal, home to Newcastle, home to Fulham, away to West Ham, home to Burnley, away to Palace. Liam, those are fixtures. Those are fixtures. Those are fixtures. Well, we'll see, I guess.

22:22Liam Twomey: We'll see. Anything else you want to shout out from this game? The two managers cosplaying each other? The terrific performance of Nick O 'Reilly? Anything else that grabbed your attention here? It is amazing how important Nico O 'Reilly has been to Manchester City and how much he's meant that they haven't missed Josko Gvardiol, who if you look back a year, you would have said he was maybe a top three most important player for Manchester City at one point. But O 'Reilly has been phenomenal and he's got a very particular skill set for that role. He's physically overwhelming, I think, for that position.

22:56And it contributes to this general sense that City create now with this front line of Doku, Haaland, Semenyo. with O 'Reilly bombing in late, there's this attrition that happens over the course of a game that I think happened to Arsenal a little bit as well, despite the fact that Arsenal are really physical at the back. They just wear you down, and eventually you'll make a mistake or you won't pick up someone, usually O 'Reilly because he's kind of floating around the back post somewhere like he was in the Carabao Cup final. It's just been really, really effective for City, and he's been a massive part of the fluidity of the way their system has worked.

23:31Liam Twomey: Yeah. Daniel, anything else for you from the Etihad? Yeah, I was just going to say, I thought the most surprising thing of the whole game was that Victor Jokeres is, I think, one of the top scorers, if not the top scorer in the Premier League over the last couple of months, since the beginning of February. He's a£60 million striker, and he came on after 84 minutes and was the third attacking option that Arteta brought on the pitch. I just thought it was really telling in the biggest game of their season. Jokeres, the striker they signed last season, got six minutes plus injury time when Arsenal were behind for 20 minutes before that.

24:04It just really surprised me that they waited so long to bring him on. Why do you think that would be? Well, I don't know if there's a trust issue now, but he's actually been better, I think, at kind of making the most of the moments. I think there's still issues with the general build-up play. But yeah, I don't get it. It seemed a lack of a show of faith. It's almost like they seemed more ready to throw a defender up front to kind of win headers and try and cause issues. But when City made their subs, they brought off big players and they brought on small players. And it just screamed to me, just bring Jokeres on for those set pieces for the last 20 minutes.

24:39Try and win something. Do what you're good at. But yeah, I was just really surprised. He must be annoyed that he got six minutes in that game when Arsenal needed a goal and needed to draw it. All right.

24:48Liam Twomey: Well, a general mood of disgruntlement then for the Gunners as they make their way down south. Next up for them, Newcastle. And then following that, they've got Atletico Madrid in the Champions League the following midweek. Next up, we'll have a chat about the game that Daniel went to Sunday afternoon, Everton-Liverpool. And the one you were following for us, Liam, and Nottingham Forest against Burnley as well. The Sunday early fixtures next.

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27:17Phil Hay, James Pearce, Oli Kay

27:18Liam Twomey: and the very best football writers around. Tony Football Show European Edition is out on Tuesday morning in which we'll be discussing Atletico Madrid who had the Copa del Rey final on Saturday against Real Sociedad. What happened, Tom Williams? They lost on penalties. Opportunity. I mean, great for Real Sociedad. I mean, great for Real Sociedad. Great for Real Sociedad. Yeah, and Antoine Griezmann denied a glorious send-off as he prepares for his big farewell as an Atletico Madrid player. playing against the club where he made his name but finishes empty-handled. I can see how that would have been sweet.

27:51Liam Twomey: However, there is still one potential glorious send-off available. The most glorious of send-offs. Worthy to get past Arsenal in the Champions League. Of course, the final would await them there. Anyway, we'll have a lot of European chit-chat regarding that and the various results in the Continental Leagues over the weekend. On Tuesday mornings, Totally Football Show, European Edition with Tom here and James Horncastle and Seb Stafford, Blore and Paul Ballus. If, by the way, in the meantime, you're hungry for something continental, then on YouTube, there's myself and James Horncastle having a chat in this studio.

28:29Liam Twomey: Oh, thanks, Tom. With Gigi Buffon, who's just penned this book, which is called Saved, in English, in Italian, Fall Down, Get Back Up, Fall Down, Get Back Up, or the Italian thereof. And it's a great read, but he was also a lovely person. to chat to and said many, many interesting things. Enjoy it. Either listen to it as a podcast in Italian or you can watch it on YouTube with subtitles or you can leave the YouTube audio settings on American AI Dub and then get really angry with us about it in the comments. That's what I'm going to do. Do that, Tom Williams. Anyway. Oh, sorry. Right. We're here to talk about Sunday's early games.

29:12Liam Twomey: Daniel, you went to Everton, Liverpool. woof. Yeah, a really strange Merseyside derby probably summed up best by Illiman and Indi ostensibly opening the scoring the stadium announcer giving it a massive the first Merseyside derby goal scorer in the Hill Dickinson Stadium, Illiman Indi. The goal obviously is then ruled out for VAR and 56 seconds later or something, Mohamed Salah scores the opening goal at which point the stadium announcer says, goal scorer for Liverpool, Mohamed Salah, which I thought was a really nice touch and that yeah that was the game because Everton were really really good for they were the better team for pretty much all the first half quite a lot of the second half and then after about 75 minutes maybe just got a bit tired although that's not much of an excuse given Liverpool played on Tuesday and allowed the game to drift a little bit and then 11 minutes of stoppage time was held up because of a serious injury to Jared Branthwaite and other stoppages.

30:12And it's almost as if Everton hadn't foreseen that that could happen. So they sort of got a bit panicky because, oh God, we've actually got another 11 minutes here. Whereas actually they should have been trying to win the game. They were perfectly capable of winning the game. Liverpool have a deflected shot. Corner comes in. Savoslai whips it in. And headed in by Van Dijk! Liverpool have won it! Virgil van Dijk! Jordan Pickford probably got himself a little bit in no man's land although I think an Everton defender should probably have been able to get ahead of Virgil van Dijk to head it because he didn't really have to jump and the away end goes absolutely mad at the Hill Dickinson and a huge statement win for Liverpool after Tuesday night because as Liam kind of alluded to at the top of the show it rather rubber stamps their place in next season's Champions League I suspect and just a real opportunity miss for Everton to lay down a marker at a new stadium because they were really good and they'd been really good for weeks.

31:13David Moyes, after the game, was saying the performance was fine, it's fine, and you could just sort of hear the sadness in the back of his throat that he was really disappointed at the end result because they at least merited a draw. And cruel for Illiman and Di to be denied that goal because he had, of course, scored the last ever goal at Goodison Park, the first ever goal at the Hill Dickinson Stadium, and this would have just completed the set.

31:38Liam Twomey: Curses, Tom. Well, that was quite a moment. As you say, Daniel, shortly after his goal was ruled out, Mo Salah scored his ninth goal against Everton. They won't be sad to see the back of him. A sensational ball through from Cody Gakbo for the Egyptian. A two, give Liverpool the lead. Beto, who previously had had one of the misses of the season, I think. You were watching the Villa game at the same time and possibly caught up with it since. He then equalised, and in the course of that, Mamadash Vili, Liverpool's second choice keeper, got injured. So Freddie Woodman had to come on and apparently will be between the post for them for the foreseeable future because Alisson's got his hamstring issues.

32:24Liam Twomey: Anyway, 1-1 it stayed until that late, late, late, late, late Virgil van Dijk winner. Andrew Beasley points out that Liverpool's top assist scorer combo this season is now Slobber's Lie to Van Dijk. Atletico Madrid with the winner, they scored at Bournemouth away, West Ham at home, Everton away. The only duo to have set up more than one winning goal too for Liverpool. That's quite a remarkable stat, isn't it? Slobber's Lie to Van Dijk. That's pretty impressive. I thought Slobber's Lie would have been one of the players you might want in the box, or at least lurking just outside the box from a corner, but he's also got that ability to put it on a sixpence as well or in the middle of Van Dijk's forehead.

33:04Van Dijk is so strong that even when he doesn't jump, he can just hold everyone off, can't he, and just clear his own path to the ball. He's done it so many times in big games.

33:14Liam Twomey: Indeed, Liam. Now, quick word on the game that you were watching, which was an absolute belter by the sound of it. Game of the day. Right. So seven goals. Yes. And this was Aston Villa against Sunderland. Yes. It was pretty incredible. Villa started the game really well. They were kind of subjecting Sunderland to death by underlap, not a relation to Liam Dallap. But they were really moving Sunderland around in wide positions. And John McGinn in particular was superb. And their first goal was really well crafted. Didn't Matty Cash just think the ball over? First time right-footed lob to the back post from McGinn and Ollie Watkins was there with a powered header.

34:02And they weren't fully in control because when Sunderland got the ball, they were. They did look to have quite a bit about them. Granit Xhaka, I think, marshals that midfield really well. And they scored a really well-worked equaliser. Chris Rigg, it was Brian Brobby over by the corner flag, dug out across. Noah Siddiqui laid it off really intelligently and it just fell perfectly for Chris Riggs' left foot and he whipped it beautifully into the far corner, first Premier League goal for him. And then it just became about when Villa scored to take control of the game.

34:33Liam Twomey: So 1-1 at that point and then Villa just start to score and score and score. Yeah, so they got back in front with Watkins again, a very similar goal to their first, but on the left-hand side. So Morgan Rodgers had quite a quiet start. He's been a bit out of form recently, but he was slowly coming into the game. He slips in, Ian Mattson, down the left to the byline, absolutely hammers the ball across the face of goal, takes out Sunderland goalkeeper, and Ollie Watkins again just powers it in with his head from about two yards out. And then right at the start of the second half, really clinical Aston Villa counterattack, really nice off-ball movement from Morgan Rodgers, and he just takes two touches after being slipped in to find the bottom corner.

35:16Liam Twomey: and at that point you're changing over into the merse's side derby yeah i'm at least double screening right it really looked like villa were just going to kind of cruise it so because the scores were popping up on the coverage of the other games 3-1 to villa and it stays that way until what 86th minute yeah and there was no real sign of what was going to happen right um and then villa suddenly lost control of the game and in particular it happened because jayden sancho did the one thing that Jadon Sancho never really does, which is he didn't protect the ball. That's the one thing he does as a winger, I'd say well above average, is using his body to shield the ball in anywhere, really, that he receives it on the pitch.

35:57He gives the ball away. Trae Hume comes in, really lovely finish from a tight angle. And suddenly the game is alive again. You can feel the atmosphere in the stadium immediately change. And they barely stopped showing the replays when Sunderland were through with Wilson Isidore. and you hadn't really even seen the move that had led up to it until they showed it again and it was Sancho giving the ball away on the halfway line. Quick ball slipped in and Isidore really calm finish although Emiliano Martinez actually stumbles as he's coming out and makes it really easy for him and it just looked like they'd completely thrown away two points at that stage.

36:33But there was one final twist which was an unbelievable cross from Luca Dean just into the perfect possible spot And Tammy Abraham, who, for all that he's endured in his career so far for the serious injuries, still knows how to make those runs and exactly when to make those runs. Puts his body in exactly the right position to just guide the cross, glance it into the corner while getting a massive whack, I think, to his shoulder. He seemed to be really hurt. He either didn't celebrate the goal or it was a really bad celebration because he was just on the floor writhing in pain. but yeah fantastic late twist and Unai Emery went absolutely mad I think that's the most I've ever seen him celebrate a goal

37:16Liam Twomey: Good lord That's eight goals in fact in two matches now for Villa because they had the whopping 4-0 win to Dispatch Bologna in the Europa League semi-finals on Thursday Six in five for Ollie Watkins as well in all competitions Wow, okay And seven in nine also depending on how you like to slice your goal scorer stats Seven in nine again for Ollie Watkins all right well that sounds like a terrific watch and villa games in general sound like they're pretty entertaining that europa league semi-final that they've now booked their way through to with their win on thursday night will of course see them up against nottingham forest who were also in action two o 'clock on sunday they were up against burnley at city ground where they haven't won in forever daniel you weren't able to watch this because you were away in liverpool however Matt Davis-Adams was literally there, and he joins us now for a match report.

38:10Liam Twomey: Matt. Woo. Jimbo. Five points clear of the drop. Breathe. It's all over. Plus, of course, Leeds are going down anyway, as you know. Yeah, that was a good shout, wasn't it? I thought Forrest were going down with an hour gone of this game, if I'm perfectly frank, but I didn't account for the magnificence of Morgan Gibbs-White. Indeed. Well, no wins at home in the league since mid-December for Forrest. So when Burnley took the lead shortly before the halftime whistle and then held it for a fair chunk of the second half, as you say, nerves were getting frayed. Yeah, apart from the fella sat next to me, fell asleep after five minutes and then woke up at halftime, disappeared and never to be seen again.

38:51So he was obviously pretty sure of what was going to happen. But yeah, it was a tense old place. But it wasn't a nervous first half performance. It just looked like a weirdly apathetic one. I'm not quite sure why that was, but there was absolutely nothing for Martin Dubravka to do. But then Vitor Pereira, as he's proved adept at doing, made a half-time substitution, which was particularly effective. Not a like-for-like one, bringing off Dylan Bakwa, whose, for his career, continues to plummet new depths and bringing on Igor Jesus to support Chris Wood and moving Morgan Gibbs-White slightly to a more left-sided position.

39:27and it had not an immediate impact because it took until, what, the 62nd minute for him to score his first. But yeah, it got the job done. And as bad as Forrest were in the first half, they were pretty good, certainly, for the last half hour.

39:39Liam Twomey: In particular, Morgan Gibbs-White with the hat trick, which makes it now four goals in two games for him after his one Thursday night, getting you a Europa League semi-final. Yeah, and six and six in the Premier League, which is hugely significant because if Forrest do stay up, It will be in no small part thanks to him. You know, you need talismanic figures. And he certainly proved to be that, along with Nico Williams and Elliot Anderson, who returned today after his horrible news in the week. But yeah, Gibbs White, a fire seems to have been lit under him since he didn't make that 35-man England squad.

40:13You know, you hold up his performances compared to Cole Palmer and Phil Foden over the last couple of weeks. And it is a bit of a head scratcher. I mean, he certainly couldn't be doing any more to persuade Thomas Tuchel that he ought to be going to the World Cup in the summer. He was absolutely magnificent today in the second half. He was pretty anonymous in the first half. But if Forrest do stay up, it's going to be thanks in no small part to him. And he's the highest scoring Englishman in the Premier League this season, which is pretty remarkable.

40:42Liam Twomey: It is remarkable. Five points, though, Matt. It's surely all done and dusted. And you can focus on your first European semifinal in, well, I don't know, how many years ago was 1984? 42 years ago. So, yeah, I was there on Thursday. And that was, I mean, it was tense because of the occasion, but it didn't have the same kind of real nerve-shredding tension that today had. There's been a lot of talk among Forrest fans of which game was more important this week. And Forrest have ended up winning both of them, but there's still plenty to do. this was must win stuff it's Sunderland on Friday obviously Spurs play Wolves next weekend and even though they had that gut punch right at the end of their game they were miles better than they have been we were recording obviously before West Ham go to Palace on Monday so a lot of football to have been played but certainly the decision to ditch Sean Dyche and replace him with Vitor Pereira looks to have been justified for now Brilliant Matt thank you so much look forward to seeing you again soon Pleasure

41:45Liam Twomey: Matt Davis-Adams. Emica Ofeco says, a lot of people don't like Villa and Forest meeting in Europe, but I think it's going to be nice. Both former European champions. Daniel Storey, are you pumped for this one? I'll be more pumped for it if Forest have, you know, pulled further clear of the relegation zone. The club have made it pretty clear that staying in the Premier League is a priority. They've done very well to negotiate past both Fenerbahce and Porto and Michelin in the knockout rounds with a rotating cast. it'll be interesting to see if that changes now I think Villa are firm favourites because they'll have had Champions League tied up by then so they can completely go at the Europa League but yeah why not Forest haven't been in a European semi-final in my lifetime so you have to look forward to it Morgan Gibbs-White is I know everybody will wax lyrical and Matt has waxed lyrical but he is just, if he's not on that plane for the World Cup, England are absolutely making a mistake because he's the fifth top scorer in the Premier League now And he's done it from a position of Forrest being a really bad team for most of the season under four different managers.

42:49So bad in four different ways often. And he's always the one to lead them. He's just astonishing his output and his work rate is phenomenal. I just don't see how, you know, Cole Palmer and Phil Foden are very, very good footballers, but they have been nowhere near Morgan Gibbs-White's level this season. It would be a crying shame if he's not in America. Yes, I am absolutely biased. I don't care but if you watch him week in week out he's so talismanic in that Forest team and I'm just so happy it's a first career hat-trick for him today

43:19Liam Twomey: Burnley meantime one win in their last 24 Premier League matches they will be down if West Ham win away to Palace on Monday surprising the stat of the season though only Erling Haaland and Igor Thiago have scored more away goals this season in the Premier League than Gian Fleming didn't see that one coming extremely surprising he was their top scorer I think last season in the championship so I think there was an expectation that he would score some goals and he didn't seem to score many goals to begin with it turns out he's been scoring goals when what we weren't watching or something which is quite often in Burnley's case I didn't like to say well I watched him score a crushing equaliser against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge from a James Ward Prowse corner that was a very very good header another of those famous away goals there you go we'll talk about what happened this weekend at Stamford Bridge very very shortly when we get on to some of Saturday's action

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46:32You're listening to The Totally Football Show with James Richardson. and now we do four times a week. Keep up to date with us on Insta and enjoy seeing glorious Technicolor on YouTube at The Totally Show.

46:43Liam Twomey: Congratulations to Coventry. They are back in the Premier League after 25 years. They got the point they needed this last week at Ewood Park against Blackburn to confirm promotion. Frank Lampard in tears at the end. Sweet to see, wasn't he? You thought maybe he'd do a joke and then be in tears, then do a joke again. But no, just straight tears this time because the emotion was raw. Daniel, you were there actually for this. Yeah, I won't wax on for too long about it, but I wrote a piece from the game. It's there to read. It's out already. It was a brilliant night for Coventry. That is a club that has been through far, far too much over the last 25 years.

47:22My favourite stat about Coventry is that in 2017, when they were playing in League Two only nine years ago, they went four games without scoring a goal, lost them all against Forest Green, Colchester, Barnett and Accrington. For them to have come back without parachute payments in any of those leagues to get back to the Premier League and to win the Championship so dominantly, although they were rubbish on Friday night, is a massive achievement for all concerned, including Mark Robbins, who was obviously Lampard's predecessor.

47:52Liam Twomey: Make a pointless prediction about how well they can do in the Premier League. The only prediction I make is I hope that the fans enjoy the next few weeks before, and I've been there with my club, before everyone starts moaning and saying, we need half a new squad or we're going to go straight back down. They will want to be more Sunderland than Southampton. Let's put it that way. And the fan base is there. The foundation's there. The owner wants to invest. They own their own stadium again. The feel-good factor's there. So what's the point in looking down already? Indeed so. Indeed so. Who else is going to come up from the Championship?

48:26Liam Twomey: Well, there's currently only three points between Ipswich and the other automatic promotion place. And Borough, who Ipswich drew 2-2 with on Sunday lunchtime. We've got Ipswich, Millwall Saints and Borough. Just three points between all four teams with three games to go, although Ipswich do have a game in hand down the other end of the championship, as you've probably seen, Leicester. Ten years after they won the Premier League title on the verge of relegation to the third tier. they lost the six pointer with Portsmouth on Saturday so they're now five points from safety with three games to go of course they had six points deducted for a breach of EFL financial rules earlier on they are going to be relegated on Tuesday if they don't beat Hull ah crikey it would be pretty amazing like ten years on from 2016 for Leicester and Tottenham to go down in the same season good lord the two title rivals from that campaign well Well, that possibility has crept closer thanks to Saturday's result, the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, which saw Spurs draw 2-2, a game with Brighton that they really thought was going to be their first victory of 2026.

49:42Liam Twomey: 96th minute. 96th minute. Tom, were you watching this one in the match of The Day Studios for Canal Plus? I was indeed, yes. Yeah. By the way, I just found out we had somebody writing in saying how nice it was to watch you on Canal Plus speaking French. Merci beaucoup. Thanks very much. A treat for Autona. Non-French speakers who are listening. What would you like to say about this crushing disappointment for Spurs? Are you buoyed by the positives in their performance? Do you feel that perhaps the extended celebrations by Chavez Simons of the goal which put them in the lead, but with a substantial amount of time still remaining, was perhaps either tempting fate all led to the extended time added on, which then saw Brighton equalise.

50:28I mean, at the risk of being uncharitable towards Xavi Simmonds, who was brilliant and undoubtedly the man of the match, it did seem a slightly peculiar celebration and it seemed to be, I don't know, it kind of created this, almost like a kind of a disconnect between that moment and the significance of that game and the pivotal importance of it to Tottenham as a club. An incredible goal. There's 30 minutes remaining. You know, the stadium is on complete tenterhooks and he tears his shirt off and he goes and runs into the crowd. But it was as if he'd scored a 95th minute winner. And Spurs, who are very bad at protecting Leeds and holding on to results already, still had the best part of 20 minutes to see out.

51:13and you can't blame him for the mistake by Kevin Dunso that enabled Brighton to equalise but it felt like perhaps that moment was a sign of Simmonds in particular getting slightly ahead of himself.

51:28Liam Twomey: Plenty of people have blamed him though for not getting closer to Pasquale Gross who then puts in the ball to which leads to the equaliser. I do wonder though perhaps in Xavi Simmonds' case the fact that he spurs a battling relegation and he himself had another parallel battle going on which was to get some recognition, to earn some respect after that enormous price tag. Really struggled to make the starting line up under a succession of managers. And perhaps that moment was huge for him because it puts Buzz in the lead. But it was also huge because whatever happened in the scoreline after that, I have shown you why I have been brought here.

52:02That's how the celebration felt. You know, it felt like it was his way of showing that he could be the man. And, you know, he was the player who created the opening goal with a perfectly weighted cross from the left into the space behind the Brighton defence for Pedro Porro running through to head it past Bartford Bruggen. And then, you know, he scored. You know, Simmons' goal was an absolute beauty. He probably should have created another goal when it was still 1-0. Gets played in, jinxed between two players. and rather than swearing to Randall Cullum-Winey, who had an open goal to aim at, he goes for glory, curls in a shot that comes back off the post.

52:43Brighton then equalise, thanks to another absolute worldie from Kaoru Mitoma, who's had a lot of injury problems the last couple of seasons, but who is building up a pretty remarkable collection of jaw-dropping goals. I mean, this was as good as I think any that he's scored. First time left foot volley with the inside of his foot from a deep Pascal Gross cross. then Simmonds has his moment, put Spurs ahead only for Brighton to have the final say but there were encouraging signs I mean Spurs pressed more aggressively than I think they did under Igor Tudor we know that that is one of Roberto De Zerbi's calling cards and Xavi Simmonds' goal comes from Lucas Bergwald who'd only just come on, harrying Brighton as they tried to work their way down the pitch turning the ball over and Simmonds scores Rodrigo Bentonker was back in the starting 11.

53:34He's been out since January after hamstring surgery. James Madison back on the bench didn't get on, but that's all positive. So there were positives, but I mean, Spurs winning this game would have been huge. They should have won it. You know, they're 2-1 up going into the 95th minute and they throw away another couple of points. So yes, some signs of optimism, but yeah, they're not helping themselves.

53:54Liam Twomey: It was the first time they'd scored more than a single goal in a Premier League game since February. What do you think, Daniel? Is this good news for people like John Farnack, Spurs fans who live in Lincoln? Yeah, I think we can now confirm and conclude that the players care. And I think in recent weeks there has been some accusation from supporters. And I get why, because everybody's emotional and you want someone to blame and to at least provide you with some reason. So you think, oh, the players don't care. They're just slugs who are just giving up. They've acquiesced to relegation, yada, yada.

54:27The way they reacted to those goals suggests that they very much do care. I also think that you look at how Wolves have performed in the last two games, and that's a huge boost to Spurs, because if they don't win next weekend against Wolves, then I think they'll go down. And there is no team probably of about Spurs' ability in England who they want to play at the moment, the Wolves, because they just look like they've given up completely. So, yeah, there are reasons for recovery. I actually thought the pressing was really good as well. Both goals came from winning the ball high at the pitch. That's kind of evidence of Deserby getting on with things.

55:04The question is whether they run out of games, right? I mean, they must be cursing themselves so much for not being able to persuade Deserby to take the job or him not being quite yet available when they appointed Igor Tudor because there is a difference in the team. It's just whether it's too late or too late.

55:19Liam Twomey: Remaining fixtures are Wolves away, Aston Villa away, Leeds at home, Chelsea away and then Everton at home. The draw did take them one point closer to safety, at least until West Ham's trip to Crystal Palace on Monday night. The Eagles, who equally have made a European semi-final, that's the Conference League, after their 4-2 aggregate victory over Fiorentina. They'll be taking on Shakhtar Donetsk there. Remarkable story for them as well. Sorry, Tom. Just briefly, as we're talking about the relegation candidates, But Yellow Boy on Twitter mentions that, somewhat curiously, the bottom three in the Premier League are the English League champions of 1950, 1960 and 1961, which I thought was quite interesting.

56:09Liam Twomey: No, it is a measure of how things have changed. Look on my works, You Mighty and Despair and all that. Watchman, great. Love that. Yeah, yeah. Leeds win back-to-back games for the first time this season. Old Trafford on Monday and at home to Wolves this time around. Daniel was referencing the rather abject nature of Wolves' performance, but plenty to enjoy from Leeds. Tom? Yeah, James Justin. Absolutely stupendous goal for someone who was playing as a left-sided centre-back, I think. Perfectly executed overhead bicycle kick from the edge of the six-yard box. Brendan Aronson then tees up Noah Okafor to make it 2-0.

56:515-5 for him after his brace at Old Trafford. And then Dominic Calvert-Lewin gets on the score sheet. And all of a sudden, Leeds kind of look safe. I mean, they are eight points clear of Spurs as we record. First time they've won back-to-back games all season. And we've said quite a few times that their season was transformed by this shift to the system that they've been using, this 5-3-2 and that happened in November I think at half time of the defeat against Man City they've been so much better since then but they just haven't been getting the results lots of draws very few wins now they're getting the wins and it looks like they're pretty close to securing their top flight status

57:32Liam Twomey: next weekend they've got an FA Cup semi-final against Chelsea there we are Liam we can talk about Chelsea now and I know you want to always always Saturday 8 o 'clock came their game against Man United at Stamford Bridge, a big one, because at the time they were still rivals for top five places. After the game, maybe not so much. Were they really, really, really unlucky in this match, Chelsea? Well, maybe should we mention the protest maybe? OK, let's talk about this protest. It was bigger than the previous two protests against Bluco, I'm told. several hundred people walking from the Wolfpack pub to outside Stanford Bridge, chanting all manner of things.

58:18My favourite banner, my favourite homemade banner was one that said, 1.4 billion spent and I miss Victor Moses.

58:28Liam Twomey: Does a march like that, does it register in any way, do you think, with Tobolean Co.? I think it does register, whether it actually meaningfully changes anything. I mean, you're not realistically going to get American private equity investors to sell up via chanting in the street. But whether they can apply some sort of pressure that that leads to a slightly tweaked strategy, maybe a bit more communication. We saw that this week with Badad Agbali actually speaking on the record for only the second time to my memory since the takeover at a business conference. I'm sure fans would rather it be to them.

59:07and there are already signs which again he said in his comments of them targeting a bit more experience or at least ready-made quality in this summer's transfer market.

59:17Liam Twomey: Okay well the battle against the Super League I remember was one on the streets outside Stamford Bridge famously. Just to add there are a bunch of Strasbourg fans who came over to take part in the march just to put on a united anti-blue co-front. where if we can have multi-club structures, we've got to have multi-club protests. That makes perfect sense. Let's speak about the other thing that was United at Stamford Bridge and that was the opposition who won the game 1-0 with their only shot on target. Now, is this all about United's remarkable efficiency, Bruno Fernandes creeping closer to the Premier League assist record or is it about Chelsea yet again losing a game without actually scoring?

1:00:02I mean, yeah, I think it's a bit about Bruno Fernandes because he was the best player on the pitch. He created other dangerous moments for United in the game as well, even though that was really their one clear chance, you'd have to say, which fortuitously for United came when Chelsea were momentarily down to 10 men because Wesley Fofana was off the pitch receiving treatment. And it was scored basically in the position that Wesley Fofana should have been in by Matthias Cunha. but it it was definitely a lot about Chelsea's attack which is completely atrophied um João Pedro had a had a niggle for this game which was exceptionally poorly timed because it meant that Liam De Lape had to start and Liam De Lape has had a disastrous season what one goal one goal yeah in 20 in the Premier League yeah Premier League and he's honestly there haven't really been that many days where he's got that many shots let alone goals um he he he doesn't look a good fit for the way that they play you know ips which were very direct very transition based he got the ball and was able to carry it a lot for them and kind of create for himself and for others chelsea don't play that way they're very slow and patient in build-up they require their striker to play with his back to goal and link a lot which is not really the lap strength they were also funneled wide a lot by manchester united not well not the first team to do that to chelsea this year which meant crosses and the lap actually despite being quite well built is not particularly tall or good in the air i'd say jr pedro it's better in the air than him and so united despite having the most makeshift of makeshift defenses for this game shut down chelsea in relative comfort And that is very, very damning for the build of this squad and the people above Rosinha who have to kind of field the criticism of that.

1:01:55But it's also pretty damning about Rosinha, who unfortunately made a big play when he came into Chelsea of, you know, I haven't had any time to work with these players. He came in in a nine game January. It was just game recovery, game recovery. Since he's had time to work with them, they've actually looked worse. and that's a big problem for him as much as Chelsea are saying that they're sticking with him even if they miss the Champions League if you're evaluating on the performances there isn't a lot to recommend him it would be basically a leap of faith

1:02:27Liam Twomey: and it does look like they will miss the Champions League now how many points is it between them and Liverpool in fifth? Seven Seven points now Daniel? I was going to say just on that Champions League question there is a route that they can get in the Champions League, which is that if Villa finish fifth and win the Europa League, then there will be six Champions League places for the Premier League. So there could be a kind of wonderful backdoor route into the Champions League there, but then they have pressure from Brentford and Bournemouth and others for that, the way they're playing. This is the thing.

1:02:59Sorry, just to say, this is also the route to the most embarrassing possible end to Chelsea's season, which is that the stars are lined sixth as a Champions League spot and Chelsea are tenth. And the battle for sixth, I mean, we're saying maybe some of the suspense has disappeared from the other areas of the table. Between Chelsea in sixth and Fulham in twelfth, there are only three points. Wow. And Palace are three points behind Fulham with two games in hand, albeit one of those is against Man City. So a lot of teams in the mix.

1:03:29Liam Twomey: What do we need again to make that sixth Champions League spot happen, Daniel? So that's Villa to finish outside the top four and win the Europa League, which, I mean, their favourite is the Europa League and it's going to probably be between them and Liverpool for fourth or fifth and neither of them will really mind which they get because both qualify. So there's definitely a chance. Good Lord. Good Lord. All of a sudden, Brentford's 0-0 with Fulham takes on huge significance. Did anyone see this Saturday lunchtime? I deliberately avoided it. Oh, no, fair play, Daniel. Did the French not cover this?

1:04:04I don't know if it was on, but I chose to arrive at a time that would have made it too late for me to actually watch it. I had a bad feeling, and hey, I wasn't wrong. Yeah, I have my I watched all 90 minutes of Brentford Fulham t-shirt on order. Magnificent. Don't worry about that.

1:04:19Liam Twomey: Tell us all about it, Daniel. Yeah, Fulham just stopped anything about, you know, Liam talked about Chelsea's atrophied attack. We'll kind of add in the rest of West London if you want, because Fulham have scored in one of their last six games and Brentford were really poor in this one as well. Fulham, yeah, Fulham's attack's just completely broken down, but Leno made a fantastic save at the end to stop Brentford winning. Brentford are in this weird position where they're on a long unbeaten run, but they've actually drawn the last five league games now and, you know, maths fans will tell you that you're better off winning two and losing three than drawing all five.

1:04:55They should have won this game because Fulham offered absolutely nothing. It's one of those matches where you think, from Fulham where you think, you get to half-time and you think, well, they've deliberately kept this solid so they can give it a go second half. And by the end, you're like, no, no, no, that's just how they're going to play all game. It was rotten. It was absolutely rotten. And I should have been watching Portsmouth Leicester.

1:05:15Liam Twomey: Danny, I'm sorry you went through that. One game to finish off from our coverage of this weekend, and that is Bournemouth's 2-1 win away to Newcastle. I feel like Newcastle have been losing a lot at home of late. That is actually their fifth defeat in six home matches in the Premier League. This one against Eddie Howe's alma mater, the Cherries. One of our YouTube viewers suggesting a manager swap between the two clubs. Bournemouth picking up Eddie Howe, who brought them up through the divisions. And Ida Iola heading to St. Joseph's. I don't know how likely that is, but certainly there is word that Bournemouth have already chosen their replacement for Ida Iola.

1:05:56Liam Twomey: Are you across this at all? Marco Rosa. Marco Rosa, yeah. Interesting choice. It is an interesting choice, but then so was it Ayola, I guess. Very solid pressing credentials in that he started at Red Bull Salzburg and has also worked for Leipzig and Borussia Dortmund, which is kind of the great triumvirate of German pressing. And that was, you know, Ayola's main kind of calling card as a coach, as we've seen with Bournemouth, is, you know, the intensity of the press. and that's something that was once briefly a feature of the way that Newcastle played, but not on yesterday's evidence and not on recent evidence either.

1:06:35Liam Twomey: How damaging defeat will this be for Newcastle, Daniel? Well, Eddie Howe keeps saying, you know, I'm only going to stay as long as I think I can make a difference, which is a fairly unsubtle message to play as to do you actually want me to be here or not? And you're going to have to start looking like you're trying. And they still look absolutely awful. He's still starting Willis Sula over two strikers that he paid£130 million for last season. I say he because he was basically in charge of recruitment last summer. Anthony Gordon didn't play at the weekend with a coincidentally timed hip complaint after reports last week said that he wants to leave this summer and he wants Champions League football so he's not going to stay.

1:07:17It doesn't seem a very happy place at the moment. They need most of a new defence because Trippi is going and Livermento probably will and they need a new goalkeeper because neither of them are good enough. And I don't know whether you trust Eddie Howe to do that rebuild because the criticism at Bournemouth was always, he's a really good manager when things are going well, but he's not brilliant in the transfer market. And when things start going badly, he can find it difficult to turn around a mood and speak to Bournemouth fans and they say that. And you speak to more and more Newcastle fans and they're starting to say the same thing.

1:07:49Well, and added to all of that uncertainty is the PIF situation where suddenly Live Golf is thrown into doubt. What does that mean for Newcastle, their sporting strategy? They've insisted that they're committed to Newcastle. But what does that functionally mean? Is the money there for the level of squad work that Daniel says they need? One tiny little bit of good news for Newcastle. Bruno Gimeraj was back after his hamstring injury, was involved in the build-up to Will Osula's equaliser.

1:08:20Liam Twomey: So there's that. So there's that. And that is that, Tom Williams. Many, many thanks for your participation today as we roll through one of the top 10 most important Premier League days ever and the other bits in and around it. Many thanks to the world. I'd be on board with that, Daniel's inclusion of this weekend in the top 10. OK. I'd like to know the other nine. That's a long read that... I don't know if I can hold 10 Premier League days in my head at any one time, so I'm not the best person to judge. The issue is I can't hold more than three, so it was always going to be a right answer perfect Daniel many many thanks look forward to reading your thoughts on the weekend in the score in the eye and not the score in the eye that'd be horrible oh yes but and to you as well Liam Toomey you'll have more to say on theathletic.com and straight out of Cobham yes yes please tune in all right excellent many thanks to everyone who followed us on YouTube or enjoyed this or otherwise as a podcast we're back with the Euro show Tuesday morning maybe some more of Marco Rosa in that Jake and Charlie in the booth and everybody listening along many thanks to you all we'll be back with you soon for now from all of us here it's goodbye

1:09:38you'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.

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