Eze set for Arsenal not Spurs - will Isak end up at Liverpool?

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1:00Isn't he? Transfer tug of love and more in this Totally Football Show.

1:13It's Thursday the 21st of August and it's a big hello to Jay Harris. Good morning. Hi, Jay. Don Firefield's here as well. All right, Don. Good morning. How are you doing? Welcome back. Very good. Thank you. Also, Natalie Jedra of Sky Sports. Hello. Natalie, making your big screen debut today, although obviously, you know, small screen legends, Sky Sports, ESPN, Brazil and that. Natalie's in Manchester for an interview for Sky Sports. Cunha? Yes, Mateus Cunha. Very happy to... No, I meant Cunha have done it another time. Oh, James. How long were you working on that one? Happy to be here to interview Mateus Cunha, but I wish I was in the studio as well with you guys because I prefer hanging out with your lovely companies.

2:02Thank you so much. Acuna will be a great company as well. He certainly was exciting last weekend in United's inaugural defeat of the season. Last weekend, distant memory, eh? There's been a game since then. Leeds beating Everton 1-0 thanks to... Was that an egregious decision, do you think? Yeah, I don't like that handball. No. Well, James Tarkovsky clearly trying to move his arm behind his back, but penalised all the same. Probably the most unfair decision of the past fortnight. Can you think of anything else, Dom? I can think of something that happened at Stamford Bridge on Sunday, but we won't talk about that.

2:40I was thinking in a broader sense of... I don't think broader. I just think specific. OK. Because Palace have started off with one or two knocks. the decision from Cass about your European parkour this season. And now, the news that Eza's leaving. Yeah, anticipated news. Not necessarily the club that people anticipated he would be joining. Does it matter to you which club he joins? Dom's a Palace fan, by the way. No, not really. Part of me thinks that he might provide Arsenal with what they need to push that little bit further. But bearing in mind that I've sort of been here before. I was the same age as my kids now when Ian Wright left Palace for Arsenal and did wonderfully well for them.

3:37At about a similar age, I think, really. as Eza. So I can sort of see that he would go there and potentially kick them on. I'm not saying that he's Michael Alisse. I think his ceiling is probably not quite as high as Alisse is. And therefore last summer when Palace lost Alisse, that was arguably a bigger moment in some ways. But the emotional attachment to Eza, given what he did for Palace, particularly last season, but also sort of keeping us entertained during lockdown, if you go back a bit further. It's a big moment for Palace to lose him and I'm intrigued to see whether he plays against Frederikstad on Thursday night.

4:17In your Europa Conference League qualifier, play-off, you must be pumped about that game. Well, look, I've never seen Palace play in Europe other than a game against Samson Spohr in the Intertoto Cup in 1998. So for me, this is, and Palace fans, it is a big moment. I know people can take the mickey but we haven't been there before. So we all thought that Eze had qualified Palace for Europe by scoring the winner in the FA Cup final. Well, actually, if he does well against Frederikstad tonight and sets up or scores or contributes goals and they get a comfortable first leg lead, then this is the night when he would qualify Palace for Europe properly.

4:52OK, or possibly next... Well, no, not next week. He won't be there next week. Of course. Have I asked Dom a question? Has the Eze situation overshadowed tonight's game? No. So it's not a spoiler for you in any way? No, no, no. In fact, in some ways, actually, it'll be... it'll be brilliant to actually be able to say goodbye at Celeste. Oh, that's nice. Okay, okay, good. That's nice. In a way, they say Spurs weren't able to with Youngmin. True. Broadly speaking, though, I know the Arsenal thing have been rumbling on. There has been some reaction of, oh, how Spurs-y and Daniel Levy got played. But Arsenal were always the club that we're talking about, as you know.

5:28Did Spurs possibly need him more than the Gunners? What do you think, Jay? So I think Arsenal showed a little bit of interest in Eze earlier in the summer. And at that point, Spurs' focus was Morgan Gibbs-White. And obviously a key element here is that Eze grew up as an Arsenal supporter and was in their academy for five years. I think he got released at 13. So there's definitely an emotional element of him favouring Arsenal over Spurs. I do think Spurs needed him more than Arsenal do. I completely agree with Dom that from an Arsenal perspective, that might be the missing piece that takes them to the Premier League or the Champions League.

6:01But if you just look at Spurs' squad right now, they're crying for a playmaker. Madison and Kulisewski are both out with long-term knee injuries. As I said earlier, Spurs missed out on Gibbs-White. So getting Eze sort of felt like, okay, this is going to be a nice statement signing for Thomas Frank to go with Mohamed Kudus. He can link their attack. And, you know, a front three, front four of Solanke, Kudus, Eze and Brennan Johnson or Wilson Odomen, Matisse Tell looks quite exciting. Now there's less than two weeks in the window to go and Spurs just have no creativity in the final third. And Thomas Frank's a great head coach and he'll find a way to adapt.

6:36He'll come up with some sort of temporary solution. But, you know, at the beginning of the summer, Daniel Levy and Spurs' new CEO, Vinay Venkatesham, both said that the aim is to win the Premier League and the Champions League in the near future. And I think what's happened in this window is not making Spurs fans confident that that's going to happen. I see. Will they come in for somebody else? Is there a plan B? I think they have to try something. I don't know what that is. and during the pre-season tour in Hong Kong and Korea, I got the opportunity to sit down with Thomas Frank with a couple of other journalists.

7:10He said something quite interesting. He said, basically, we need quality and he wouldn't want to sign someone just for the sake of signing someone. So, Gibbs-Way and Eze, clearly the two premier number 10s on the market who are available this summer at a reasonable price and they're both experienced players. Are Spurs going to get anybody else of a similar quality in the£60 million, £165 million price bracket, I don't think so. So they're either going to have to pay even more money, which I can't see them doing, or they're going to have to sign someone who's less proven. And Spurs' squad is already littered with project players who are 19, 20, 21 years old, full of potential, but they're not the finished article yet.

7:50And I think they need experience. That's why they went for Gibbs, White and Eze. So even if they do pivot to a different target, it's clearly going to be someone who's not as good. Okay. One way or another, an interesting challenge for Thomas Frank. Natalie, Jay's now got Arsenal in as title favourites, as we just heard. Would you agree? Does this put them at the top of the par? Yes. Well, I think they were already amongst the favourites. But this, I'm very interested to see how he's going to fit in their system because they say he's not a direct replacement for Kai Havertz. You know, I've been talking about this injury with Kai.

8:25They're very different players. But he can bring some variety into Arsenal's final third because, OK, he plays as a 10 mostly and he can produce, you know, good linkups with the left-hand side. But I don't know, could Arteta maybe change the system a little bit and play, maybe when you have the ball, you play kind of a 4-4-2 and then having him at times playing more wide as kind of a winger on the left? Because that'd be interesting. If you have a midfield with Zubimendi, Declan Rice and Oldegaard, I'm not sure if he would drop one of the three. Of course, you can have injuries and it is a good option.

9:01It's a really good option in terms of rotation. It's an outstanding option. And of course, there's Nguaneri's case to be made, you know, because he's mostly a 10. Arteta said last season that he can develop into a nine because he's always, you know, pushing to the goal. And of course, he played as a winger. So Eze coming in just brings a lot of options in variety for Arsenal. And that's what I'm very interested to see. I appreciate this isn't what Arsenal fans necessarily want to hear at the moment, but it's a bit of a plea, really. He's going to need time. I know there's a massive amount of expectation.

9:34There's even graffiti on walls and there's already a mural outside the Emirates. Ebs, when he gets amongst better players and a better team, I'm sure his levels will rise up and he will be up there and his consistency will improve. but he has not been consistent all the time at his time at Palace, including in recent seasons. We're all hugely enthusiastic about him at the moment because his run into the last season was sensational, absolutely sensational, really from the moment he scored his first goal for England. I think it was in March time, and then he came back and the first game he played for Palace was the quarterfinal of the FA Cup where he absolutely dominated and ripped Fulham to pieces.

10:18But he goes through lulls in seasons, And I'm just not sure that, given the frenzy that the fan base have been whipped up into about his signing, whether he's going to be given that time just to have those inconsistent periods and to get up to speed and to work out where he fits into the set-up. As Natalie says, they've got to work out how to get the best out of him. And he's not played wide left at Palace. He's played a narrow number 10 on the left. So he needs to adapt as well. So just a little plea. Give him time. Because not only is he a brilliant player, but he's a brilliant human being, absolutely brilliant human being.

10:53He's a pleasure to have. His smile has lit up, Palace performances, but it's lit up off the field as well. I mean, the stuff that he does back in Greenwich, where I think he's from, delivering food to elderly people and the charity stuff that he does, absolutely wonderful human being, this. And he just needs to be treated with the right amount of, proper amount of expectation, but the proper respect he deserves. There you go. All right. Well, Arsenal are taking on Leeds this coming weekend. Let's get on to the Matchday 2 fixtures.

11:31Matchday 1 saw 10 players score their first ever Premier League goal on the opening weekend. It's the first time that's ever happened in the league, apart from on the opening weekend of the league. 92. Also, two of the promoted sides won their opening game with a clean sheet. That's the first time that's ever happened. Ever. What's happening this time? World Friday it's West Ham Chelsea big game that for Graham Potter Saturday lunchtime Manchester City against Spurs woof then at 3 o 'clock on Saturday Bournemouth Wolves Burnley Sunderland and Brentford Aston Villa tea time Arsenal get that visit from Leeds Sunday Palace versus Forest the Lord Greystoke Clasico as we call it and Everton Brighton which is the first league game at the Hill Dickinson woo 4.30 on Sunday Fulham face Man United and then on Monday, Newcastle, Liverpool.

12:23Bit of transfer talk surrounding that one as well. So let's begin with Monday night's game and a quick update, AJ, on where we're at with that whole Alexander-Isak business. Well, we finally heard from Isak after, I guess, weeks and months of hearing whispers about how he was feeling and he basically said on, I think it was Tuesday evening when the PFA Awards were going on and he was part of the team of the year but didn't attend the event. And he said, when promises are broken and trust is lost, the relationship can't continue. So true. Yeah. And then Newcastle respond with their own statement.

12:56So it's an, we already knew it was a horrible situation for Newcastle to be in, but for them to start, you know, sending out briefing statements against each other. Although theirs was quite nice. Alex remains part of our family and be welcome back when he's ready to rejoin his teammates. When he can come down from his room when he's ready to behave nicely, to borrow the analogy we had last week. Yeah, basically. But to even be in that situation where at the moment it almost feels like Newcastle are, I understand it, they are just trying to keep the door open for ESAT returning to the squad as much as possible.

13:27But what sort of message does it send to the rest of the team when you've got someone who's acting so selfishly, really? If you were a Newcastle player in that squad at the moment, would you trust ESAT to come back and do a good job? Would you want him to come back and be part of the team? I know he's a fantastic player. Would you feel like actually he's sort of burning his bridges? we'd rather get somebody else. It's a really, really messy situation. I do feel a little bit for Eddie Howe. Again, I was over in Korea on Tottenham's pre-season tour, but I sat in on an Eddie Howe press conference because Newcastle played Spurs over there.

13:59And every single question, apart from one about Park Song-soo, who's from Korea, was about ISAC. And that was, I think, the first week of August. And now we're in the second to last or last week of August. And this situation is just still going on. And it must be absolutely draining for Eddie Howe and everyone at Newcastle. Natalie, can you see Liverpool coming up with 150 million that apparently Newcastle want? Or is he just going to end up back there at St. James's? Honestly, James, it's just everything looks like a mess. Really, you have this statement that looked a little bit like a desperate measure because in reality, Newcastle, they hold the cards.

14:38Isak's running out of time. Liverpool is interested in him. And I feel for the players because I've done a lot of things with Newcastle last season. And when you go there, when you go to the training ground, when you speak to the players, you notice, even compared to other clubs, they are a tight group. They are really a really tight group. And Anthony Gordon talking about how tough it's been for the players. I can only imagine. And of course, the fan base, because yesterday, War Flags, they made a post in their social media that said, no promises broken by the fans that made this club. We deserve better than the destructive path you've chosen.

15:16So, yeah, it really doesn't sound good for anyone. If Liverpool can get this deal over the line, of course it's going to be good business for them. But the way that it's been, it's just making everyone uncomfortable, you know, one of those situations. It's all a bit Pierre van Hooydonkey, isn't it? Right. All a bit, I didn't get what I wanted in the summer of 98. I think he went on strike until November time and then came back and Forrester relegated. not that it's going to happen to Newcastle but he did play he played 19 games Premier League games that season having come back but yeah very very messy and all a bit toys thrown out the pram but hard to see how it ends happily Are Liverpool just hoping that the situation's so untenable that Newcastle might cave at the end of the transfer window?

16:04Yeah but I'm sure that is what they're thinking and it's very hard to see anything happening before they play each other on Monday but what do Newcastle So even£150 million comes in next week, are they actually going to be able to go out and buy the strikers that they need? They want two strikers to fill that void. And they lost Callum Wilson as well. They want Visser, obviously, down at Brentford. But, I mean, even that's not going particularly smoothly as a move. It's very difficult this late in the window to perform that amount of surgery. Right, Visser, in related Instagram news, has deleted all of his Brentford content from his profile.

16:42Like you, Jane. I still got a little love for Brentford. I think the way Visser's conducted himself has been poor. He is, I was talking to someone about this earlier, he is Brentford's leading Premier League goalscorer and as and when he leaves, people aren't going to talk about him because just of the way he's conducted himself in this window, nine times out of ten, Brentford allow players to leave. In the last couple of seasons, they've sold Ivan Toni, they've sold David Rea, they've sold Brian Mbwemo. The amount of change that's happened at the club this summer, as an individual, as a player, you have to take a step back and think, it's going to be difficult for me to go.

17:17They've lost Thomas Frank. They've lost Christian Norgard. Brentford didn't look particularly good on the opening day of the season against Nottingham Forest. They need to have some sort of firepower up there and proven Premier League performer. And Visser is that. So for him to sort of be effectively throwing his toys out of the pram and saying, I want to leave and acting very desperately is not a good look at all. And I guess Brentford have a tricky decision to make. and they're in a very similar situation to Newcastle, do we keep hold of someone who's clearly so unhappy and so distressed or do we sort of cash in on him?

17:51I think if Brentford think there's any way that he gets reintegrated into the squad, then they need to keep him because I just think far too much change has happened at that club this summer with Frank leaving, Keith Andrews coming in. They need some sort of stability and even if it takes until October for him to come back, if he has half the impact he did last season where he scored, I think, 19 Premier League goals and none of them were penalties, then they need to keep hold of him. Because otherwise, I'm a little bit worried about what will happen to them this season. All right, not a good start.

18:18As you mentioned, last weekend, they've got Aston Villa coming up this time around. Newcastle, similarly, without Isak, goalless against Aston Villa last weekend. They haven't scored in any of their last four Premier League matches without Alexander Isak, accumulating 47 shots and the next year 5.57, but no goals against Villa. a similar story, 16 shots without scoring. Yeah. They're home to Liverpool Monday night, who did have goals last weekend. Rather too many, in fact. 4-2, that game concluded. Liverpool continuing this run and conceding two goals a game, basically including in the Super Cup, the Community Shield.

19:02Yeah. I thought Bournemouth were brilliant at Anfield. I thought they did a really, really good job considering the amount of change that they've had this summer. OK, the back is going to take a bit of work, the back line, completely understandably when you lose, I think, four members of their back five. But going forward, they're such a threat. What about Liverpool? Liverpool, throughout pre-season, they've had these issues, counter-attacking, crosses in the box, cutbacks, etc. And they need to work on it. And it's almost as if they need a centre-half. And there is one available for around£40 million.

19:34Let's see whether they push the bait out on that one as well. Well, they just bought one. Yeah, Leone. Might be one of Jay's project players, though. Yeah, exactly. One for the future. Can we trademark that? Jay's project players. About the defensive side of Liverpool, Gravenberg will be back. And we'll be able to see if he's going to help to sort this lack of control that's been seen since pre-season, as Dom mentioned. But if you look at the midfield as well, another question, Mark, who do you take off? Because you have Soboslay, you have McAllister and Wirtz starting against Bournemouth. Arne had to manage McAllister since after the Premier League title because he was having a few niggles issues.

20:21He didn't start community shoot because of that. He didn't play for Argentina in June because of that as well. So maybe for now, that's the obvious choice. You know, you take off McAllister, you put on Gravenberg, you have a little bit of solidity in midfield to help out, more solidity to help out the back line. But, you know, it's a question mark how this rotation in the Liverpool midfield will look like for the rest of the season, because I think it's pretty clear that Gravenberg makes a lot of difference for them when they're defending. Indeed so. So if Mark Gay does go from Palace, do you think that's likely now or not?

20:57To be honest, I don't think it is. I think if they put in a bid of£40 million, then Crystal Palace would have to look at it and probably accept it. But I just wonder whether Mark Gay might say, well, hold on a second, if I just see out my contract, I can get a considerably larger salary somewhere else. And there will be clubs on the continent that are free to talk to him from January onwards. So it wouldn't surprise me if he sees out that last year and stays at Sellers. I hear you. Let's get on to the rest of the weekend's fixtures after this.

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23:35This is The Totally Football Show, part of the Athletic FC podcast network. The Athletic is the only place you can read articles by Daniel Taylor, Amy Lawrence, Phil Hay, James Pearce, Oli Kay and the very best football writers around. Saturday lunchtime, Man City take on Tottenham. Jay, you've been at Thomas Frank's first two games in charge of Spurs, the PSG match in Udine. Did you enjoy that? I loved it. Well, not the result, the town of Udine. Yeah, did you? I did, yeah. Interesting place. Burnley this weekend, similarly so. Yeah, I didn't like the place as much. Did you not? Well, there's just less fancy pastries and espressos and the like.

24:16Possibly so. But what it loses in fancy pastries and espressos, etc. and so on. City taking on Spurs, they have a good record, do they, against Tottenham? No, Spurs have had a pretty good record against Man City over the last few years. Unfortunately, I'm not at this game. I will be watching it. It's going to be interesting to see what approach Thomas Frank takes. he's used two different systems in those two competitive games against PSG it was a 3-5-2 with wingbacks against Burnley it was more of a 4-2-3-1 I think Frank will probably use a 3-5-2 it's something he did a lot in his first two seasons at Brentford against big six teams you know it could morph into a back five out of possession but then you've got those aggressive wingbacks who can push forward up the pitch Kudos was excellent against PSG off the Bournes and so was Richarlison as well so I think that might be the blueprint I don't know if you can drop Richarlison after he scored twice against Burnley, but then Solanke's still the better all-round player.

25:14But it's going to be really intriguing to see how Spurs get on in this game, especially because their performances this season are good. But as we sort of touched upon earlier, because of what's happened with Eze and Gibbs-White, the fan base are furious at the moment. So it's a little bit confusing to sort of know what the mood is because the on-pitch product, you're looking at it and saying, there's definitely signs of improvement here from Ange Postacoglu but off the pitch seems like they're still making the same mistakes so I'm very intrigued to see how that's going to go if they lose on Saturday you can see the fan base really kicking off if they win though this will all be forgotten that's sort of the trouble that they could land themselves in where Thomas Frank does an excellent job they beat Man City and Spurs might be thinking actually Thomas Frank's so good we can sort of find a way to navigate not having a number 10 everything will be fine Do they have much history of not making Sanix because they relied on the managers to go through?

26:11Well maybe but then the sort of issue is that the second the Champions League hits in the lack of depth in that squad is going to get horribly exposed so for the time being when they're playing one game a week yes it's absolutely fine the moment they're in multiple competitions they're going to be in serious trouble which is exactly what happened last season And that's what I mean. It feels like the history is repeating itself, not learning from their mistakes. Right. Natalie, is Solanke a better player than Richarlison? Well, I'm going to say no, because, you know, I stand by my Brazilians, you know, and I'm very happy that Richarlison had a good start because he's been talking about the importance of him having a preseason.

26:51He's been having physical issues for a while now. Actually, ever since he played the Olympics for Brazil, he's been on and off having these physical issues. He actually spoke to ESPN Brazil after the match and highlighted that the importance of the preseason and how much he wants to do well because it's a World Cup year. So he wants to make sure he's Brazil's number nine. And Mateus Cunha is doing pretty well as well. So they're both fighting for that number nine in Brazil and Spurs can definitely benefit from that. But I was curious, I actually wanted to see with Jay if João Palinha is fully fit, because maybe that would be a good match for him.

27:32Because against Burnley, they had a very offensive setup with Archie Gray, Bergvall and Papessar. And of course, Man City, we know them, they will want to dominate midfield. So maybe João Palinha could help disrupt this rhythm. Yeah, definitely. I think Pelinia's first game for Spurs against Bayern wasn't particularly good. He obviously gave away that penalty, but against PSG, he was exceptional. And I think he's one of the older players in that squad. And like I said earlier, I think he's just turned 30. Spurs have a lot of project players. And so you need someone like Pelinia who's experienced and is just exceptional off the ball, always puts his foot in, knows how to read the game.

28:14and he did a brilliant job against PSG and I expect he'll do the exact same against Man City, maybe in a midfield free of Polinia, Bentancur and Saar. It's quite a stodgy and combative midfield but it will definitely slow Rinders and the like down. Very interesting. That's Man City Spurs on Saturday at lunchtime. Later that day, we'll get to see how Arsenal fare against Leeds. Talked about the impact potentially down the line of Eze coming in. Certainly Arsenal look way off their game last Sunday against Man United. What do you reckon about the game against Leeds, Dom? Well, they'll want to see more attacking coherence, definitely, but they should have enough against a newly promoted team to win at the Emirates.

28:54I mean, they'd be up or they didn't. That said, I thought Leeds were really effective against Everton on Monday night, and it was good to see the core of their championship winning, sorry, the championship promotion team doing so well. I think it was eight of them started, and they all contributed, they all looked as if they belonged at this level. Everton at home, even without Granthwaite and Everton still trying to feel their way in the market, still an awkward fixture to start off with. So it was a really, really good win for them and they'll go into this with a bit of confidence. And they may cause Arsenal a few problems.

29:32They'll be abrasive, they'll be aggressive and Arsenal will need the likes of Odegaard. I suspect that if Ezzo is eligible he'll probably be on the bench to start off with. So they need Gokeres to show what he can do. I mean, it's a big moment for him. First Premier League game there and he'll want to make a good impression to start off with. But they really should have enough to beat Leeds. They really should. We shall see Saturday evening. Next up, quick check on the midweek Champions League play-off action and then West Ham Chelsea. This is the Totally Football Show with James Richardson. part of the Athletic FC Podcast Network.

30:12Saturday, we're going to be bringing out a new Totally Extra. What's that, James? Well, it's the fourth show a week. We call it Extra. We ran out of other titles. And we just talk about whatever we want in it. If there's something you'd like us to talk about, just let us know and then listen. Last time out, in the first one, we did Mario Balotelli. Because we found one or two things to say about him. James Allcastle was very interesting on the cultural impact of Balletelli and significance thereof in Italy, as well as, of course, all the great stories and great goals. Anyway, we've got another very interesting player with a bit of cultural baggage coming up for you this week, as Jürgen Klinsmann's going to get a bit of a mention.

30:55And we've got a very special guest coming into the studio to discuss him. I've got your hopes up now, Don. It's Raphael Honigstein. He's actually not coming into the studio. So Klinsman's not the special guest? No, better. I'd rather have Rafa than... I'd rather have Rafa. Can you imagine Klinsman talking about Klinsman? Can't disrespect Rafa. Listener, needless to say, I had the last laugh. No, that's not me. That would be Jürgen, I think. Anyway, that's coming up on Saturday. Right now, quick check on the Champions League playoffs. These are the two-legged affairs that will qualify teams, seven of them, for the new league format.

31:31What happened this week? First legs? for Jose Fenerbahce went 0-0 with his former club Benfica. Celtic also goalless in their game with the Kazakhstan side Kairat. Rangers hosted Bruges and within 20 minutes were 3-0 down. They did pull one back with Danilo at the start of the second half. That's how it stayed. So 3-1 with a trip to Brussels ahead of them. Is Russell Martin their manager? Yes, he very much is, Rangers, and it certainly looked like it in those opening 20 minutes. Did you see the goals at all? I've seen the first one, yeah. Have you seen it? No, but I did notice that the fellow who set a couple of them up might be in as a replacement of Palace.

32:09Ooh, who's that? The Greek fellow, Zollis. The Greek fellow, Dolis? Zollis, Zollis. Zollis. I think it's Zollis, yeah. A quantum of Zollis. Have you actually not seen the first goal? Bright start from those in blue, but it could all go wrong for them now. Oh, goodness me. Klug Brugger take the lead. Rumi over, man, draw on his own. Rangers players looking at one another somebody didn't do their job there it's like Rangers pass the ball back towards the goalkeeper the centre back should really intervene and the goalkeeper gets lobbed from like 30-40 yards the second one is a bit casual as well yeah it's all comical defending basically the third one's a lovely goal from Bruce it's a great finish yeah but you know he still shouldn't really be allowed to just is it from a corner that he gets the second ball and just It might be, but it's the way he takes it.

33:04Oh, it's a fantastic finish. Anyway, that's Rangers. 3-1 down with a trip to Bruges in store. Cypriot's Paphos won 2-1 at Red Star, a.k.a. Svernus Fejda. Mike Goodman says, Very important to me that everybody understands that Paphos FC play in a sub-10k capacity stadium nestled behind the Aphrodite water park. Brackets, a top five water park in Europe. Exclamation mark. Aphrodite Waterpark are also their main kit sponsor. And, says Mike, if you so choose, you could watch Paphos games from the top of the park's big water slide. Can I now just say that my mum and stepdad have a property in Cyprus.

33:43So, Dom, if there's an athletic long read in watching Paphos from the Aphrodite Waterpark, I know exactly the volunteer who's ready to do it. So just bear that in mind. She's not sent you to Cyprus before. I'm sure that's happening. Yeah, yeah, for Brentford beating. But, you know, come on. water park if you want another angle to it David Luiz joined them last month exactly so you know water parks David Luiz and Halloumi inside Paphos hello Paphos David Luiz in a water park and what that does to his hair I mean anything could happen I mean nothing that hasn't already I would suggest I'm going to keep going with these Champions League playoff games because they're quite interesting I think 1-1 between Basel and Copenhagen Carabag beat Ferenc Varos 3-1 But hey, Bodo Glimt could be seeing the Arctic Circle's favourite team in the Champions League as they played Sturm Graz and beat them 5-0.

34:38Crikey. A game to come in Austria next week, along with all the other second legs. That's exciting, isn't it? All right, back to the Premier League. Big weekend for Graham Potter as West Ham take on Chelsea on Friday night. Is Graham Potter already under pressure or is that just lazy journalistic twitching? You shouldn't draw too many conclusions from the first game of a season. How about the 18 previous one? Exactly, that's the problem, yeah. And it hasn't been the most inspiring summers in terms of squad strengthening there. It feels as if Potter's inherited a mess. The spending last summer was obscene for what they actually brought in.

35:19They've got an ageing squad that doesn't seem, it seems imbalanced. They're lacking in too many areas. It may be asking an awful lot for Graham Potter to get a song out of this particular squad and team. But that's his job. That's what he's got to do. And he can't see his team capitulate like they did at the Stadium Light after half-time last Saturday. That was an appalling start for them. So, yeah, there is pressure on him. It feels like a club on edge. It feels like a club that I think last season was one of stagnation, complete stagnation. They had nothing to play for. They weren't going down and they weren't going to get anywhere near the top half for the second half of that season.

36:04It just went nowhere. And I think that hangover, that drifts through the summer into the new season, then he could well be in trouble. Chelsea, of course, former club of Graham Potter's. they were 3-0 winners in this fixture at the London Stadium just over a year ago just 0-0 for them on the opening weekend but that was a home to the mighty Crystal Palace on Sunday Natalie you were there at that game what do you think was up with Chelsea there was it the Club World Cup hangover and Cole Palmer in particular who was exceptional over in the States in those summer fixtures but if you take that tournament away his goal tally is just one penalty in all competitions since mid-January.

36:47Yeah, I think we're going to have to factor in, especially in these first few matches from Chelsea, the physical aspect and how much of an effect the Club World Cup had on them. And it's going to be a topic that's going to come up all the time. And Mariesca was already talking about it, because especially in the second half, they looked leggy. They looked, you know, lacking energy. But talking about energy, a player who did bring some energy on the pitch was Esteban when he entered in the second half. Because he just showed so much personality. You know, it was not only the energy, James. The initiative, you know, to go one-on-one against the defenders.

37:30Palace would double up on him and he would find the small gaps in between defenders. And you mentioned Palmer. They are developing a relationship. in the training pitch. And as much as Estevon doesn't speak perfect English yet, he enters the pitch and like a couple of minutes later, Palmer already goes to him and says something and they're looking for each other on the pitch. And I actually spoke to Estevon after the match and asked him about Palmer. What is it about the game that fits so well for both of them? And he paused and said, oh, I think it's a bit hard to explain, but maybe it's because he plays midfield.

38:08I can play midfield. So they kind of understand each other. And Estevon, he's playing wide on the right-hand side, but he can play midfield. He has this versatility. So there are a few features of this game, and I'm obviously not comparing levels because Estevon just got here and he's 18 and he's getting used to the Premier League. But there are a few features of both Palmer's and Estevon's game that can complement each other. It was interesting in America how easily called Palma. And Jean-Pedro, another new arrival, seem to be immediately finding an understanding. Great update as well on the name front, because I've been going with Esteval, but it's Esteval.

38:48Actually, it's Esteval William now, because he asked to be called Esteval William, because he said, no, in England, a lot of players are called by their first and last name. And, you know, it's his name. He'll do whatever he wants with it. So now it's Esteval William. Yes. But it is in Brazil, they call him Estevão is the pronunciation. So bags of potential in he and other project players for Enzo Maresca and big game there, West Ham, Chelsea. That's Friday evening. I look forward to that. Sunday, two o 'clock, what we got for you. Everton Brighton, first ever league game at Hill Dickinson Stadium.

39:30No water park there, but still a very nice facility. lovely yeah great great move for Everton there'll be a very celebratory feel until kick off and then Brighton will probably come and wreck the party so to speak I can't imagine many worse teams to play in your first game in your stadium than Brighton yeah especially a Brighton side that's been stung by a late equaliser in the previous match you just don't think they'll have any of the ball I think Brighton tend to do very well at Everton one of three of their last four visits totally true Don although the last time these two teams met in January at the Amex, it was Illiman and Dye who scored the only goal of the game.

40:09Illiman and Dye who's one of, I think, the real prospects for a better Everton season. I'd be intrigued to see if Grealish starts. I know he only came on in the second half but he did just try to move the ball quicker and he did try and take two or three people on and even if Grealish is not as good as he was a couple of years ago, he still does have a little bit of presence about him and I think he does draw two or three defenders towards him at once. That creates space for others. And I think one of the things when I was watching the game on Monday that I noticed the most was that Everton just moved the ball so slowly.

40:44And I think Grealish was at least trying to add a little bit of zip. And I'm quite intrigued to see how him and Dewsbury Hall in the long term sort of complement each other and link together. And and Jai as well. All right. Two o 'clock on Sunday. The other Sunday two o 'clock fixture is at Southass Park. And it's Crystal Palace against who? who else but Nottingham Forest Tom are you going to be at that game? No I'm not I'm going to be Palace have requested is this right they've requested additional security for the match so heightened is the tension with their visitors after the fallout from the Europa League Europa Conference League decision I'd be surprised if this is going to be a particularly riotous occasion there will be some what do we call it banter between the sets of supporters I'm sure Forest fans are relishing the chance to point out that they're in the Europa League and that they spent£150 million last week, whereas Palace lost their best player.

41:41I'm sure that will come into it. There will be chants. There have been chants against UEFA at all their recent games. And those chants follow up with references to John Texter and Maranakis as well. But I'm a bit uncomfortable with it all because Palace and Forest are actually... and Forrest fans won't like me saying this, but in the modern era, they're quite similar sized clubs. I mean, obviously Forrest have got a far more glittering history. I'm not taking anything away from the European Cup wins, etc. They were a massive club back in the day, but at the moment, they're similar sized clubs and yet Forrest can go out and spend£150 million in a week and Palace are slightly more frugal with how they do things and more cautious in the market.

42:25But I don't see... I'm one of these supporters that quite enjoyed last season where the middle class of teams did really well and it was the elite teams that suffered. We've witnessed a complete backlash in that this summer where all the big teams have come in and taken the best players from the sides that did well last year. But I always feel as if clubs like Palace, Forest, Brentford, Dormuth should sort of almost be like running together to try and... How's that going to work? It's not, it's obviously not. I mean, the natural order of things, it won't work and there'll be games like this that have added spice.

43:00for particular reasons. But I really hope this doesn't develop into some kind of ridiculous rivalry over the years. It might be spicy, this one. Like the Brighton one. Years from now, people are going to be calling this the A1 derby or something. The cast derby or something. Right, the cast derby. The cast derby is a good one, yeah. I like that. Car trade might as well, yeah. Yeah, that is good, the cast derby. Yeah, well, there you go. It should be a great game, though. Yeah, it should be, yeah. Yeah. Lots of money spent. as you mentioned by Forest of late. And they've got three new players who could make their debuts.

43:35Omari Hutchinson, James McAtee and Arno Colimuendo, who's coming from Rennes. Douglas Luiz is on his way as well from Juventus after a miserable time in Turin. Lots more to tell you about from this Premier League weekend. Stick around after this. We'll hear about that.

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44:21You're listening to The Totally Flipple Show with James Richardson. Now with you four times a week. Keep up to date with us on Insta and enjoy seeing glorious Technicolor on YouTube at The Totally Show. Sunday on the banks of the Thames in Leafy Fulham, the Cottagers will be taking on Manchester United. Natalie, are you going on to this? Yes, I am. It's been a bad few years, this just in, for Manchester United, but even amongst all their travails, they always seem to win at Craven Cottage. They've won on their last eight visits there. Even Ruben Amirim has won at Craven Cottage with Manchester United.

44:58Do you see any signs of that run ending this time around? Fulham, to be fair to them, they're always very organized. Marco Silva's been doing such a good job with them. But also, Justin James, everything that happens at Man United is over everything. I don't know, just choose a word and put over in front of it. So against Arsenal, they did well. They showed improvement. But I bet the fans also want to see results. So we will see, in fact, how this Man United team is developing and the connections, especially up front. If Ciesco is going to start or if they're going to keep Mason Mount for a while until he gets more used to the way of playing.

45:44They're very different players. So it completely changes the dynamic with Ciesco being more of a fixed striker. And with Fulham, we had Rodrigo Muniz scoring the goal at the Amex, dramatic ending. And there was like these rumors that Rodrigo Muniz would stay or will go. The club saying he's not for sale, Atalanta interested in him. Marco Silva didn't confirm if Rodrigo would stay after the match. I mean, it doesn't really make sense for Fulham to lose him. You know, he saved the team many times. As much as you have Raul Jimenez, if you think about the long term, Rodrigo is 10 years younger than Raul Jimenez.

46:30So the fans were chanting, we want you to stay at the Amex at the end of the match. I can imagine they're worried about it. Well, indeed. But the news from Italy very much at Atalanta have now moved their attentions elsewhere. And he will be staying. Fulham, who quite famously in this busy, busy transfer market, have so far signed the total of one reserve goalkeeper. However, Natalie, there might be another new arrival on the way. Kevin from Shakhtar. Kevin from Shakhtar. Yeah, he's 22. He's young. He came from the Palmeiras Academy. And he was player of the season for Shakhtar, the past season.

47:06He played very little in Brazil because he came with, he started in Palmeiras alongside other promising talents and he got sold very quickly. but he seemed to have adjusted really well at Shakhtar. I'd be curious to see how he would develop in the Premier League. Me too, me too. Well, he won't be ready for this Sunday's game. One imagines 4.30 they'll be kicking off against Manchester United. Straight after that game, we'll be doing our Totally Football Show roundup of the weekend. And of course, we'll be live streaming that on YouTube. So if you fancy hearing what Daniel Sturion, Adrian Clarke, and no doubt other assorted voices have made of the weekend so far.

47:47You can hear it all live on the YouTube channel or wait and it will drop on whatever podcast platform you prefer on Monday. For that, as mentioned, there's that Totally Extra, which will be out on Saturday. Now, also coming up this weekend, one, two, three more games. You've got Brentford against Aston Villa. You've got Burnley-Sunderland. You've got Bournemouth-Wolves. Jay, which tickles your fancy of those? Obviously, Brentford Villa. Yeah. Keith Andrews' first home game in charge of Brentford. I didn't like the lineup he used against Nottingham Forest. But at least they have now signed Dango Watara.

48:25So maybe he'll go straight into the starting 11. I think it's imperative that Brentford play far better than they did against Nottingham Forest. Obviously, ideally get a win. But Olly Watkins has a habit of always scoring against his former club, Brentford, whenever he faces them. But yeah, that's the game I'll be keeping an eye on. Okay. Villa also have the newly minted Morgan Rogers, who won the PFA's Young Player of the Year Award on Tuesday, while all that EZAC business was going on. Also on Tuesday night, the PFA Awards' Mo Salah picked up the Player of the Year for the third time. First player ever to get it three times, actually.

49:02There you go. Natalie, Burnley-Sunderland, two promoted teams, one of whom won big last weekend, the other not so much. Are you loving Sunderland back in the Premier League? It's a good story from a neutral perspective. It is a very good story. And this meeting in the championship last season was early because Sutherland won the first. Still in August, it was 1-0 to Sutherland. And the second one was in January at Turf Moor. It ended 0-0. And the amount of business both clubs, but especially Sutherland, did since it's almost like it's a whole new fixture. I don't know how much we can take from their meetings in the Championship to this one.

49:44So, yeah. Nothing, probably. But the opening weekend, well, three goals for Sunderland and three goals conceded by Burnley doesn't speak well for them. But, you know, it used to be a tough place to go, didn't it, Turf Moor? A long time ago. A long, long time ago. Let's see. It's a proper test, isn't it? It was nice to see Sunderland's three scorers all, again, members of the Championship team, despite 37 new signings. It was three guys from last year that did the business. Wednesday, Saturday, 3 o 'clock. And Bournemouth Wolves at the same time. Can Antoine Semenyo continue his remarkable scoring run?

50:22He's nabbed four goals in his last two matches, although that does go back to last season. So it's a bit of a fiddle, that stat. But still, he looked great against Liverpool last weekend. and now they host Wolves. Yeah. Oh, Bournemouth have bought Liverpool winger Ben Doak. £25 million they spent on him. And might be bringing in Leverkusen midfielder Amina Adley because they've got a certain amount of money in the bank, Bournemouth, after the various departures they've had. There you go. Well, everybody, I hope you enjoy the weekend. Not sure if there's anything you want to add to that before the action gets underway.

51:03Friday night with West Ham Chelsea. If not, it's big thanks to you, Jay, and to Dom for coming in. Have you got any articles that we should look out for that are going to be dropping from your boys? There might be a few Ezra articles in the pipeline. Excellent. A few. Very good. You could probably tell the ones that I've commissioned and the ones that I haven't. And, of course, you can start work on that Paphos from the top of the water slide. Yeah, we're going to talk about that one right after this. I might actually get Jason Punchen to sit on the top of the water slide and talk us through it.

51:37Yeah, it was good fun. Top of the bus on the hill next to the Britannia Stadium is Stoke and the water slide pathos. Jason can go to one and Jake can do the other. Get Michael Walker to do one. Yeah. I think I know which one he's going to. And Jake can do the other. Perfect. Natalie, you've got to go off and do your interview with Kunya now. Sorry we delayed you. So many, many thanks for being with us today. And say hi to Kunya. and we look forward to seeing you soon. It's fine. They just knocked on the hotel door, so we're on time. All good. Excellent. All right. Thanks, Natalie. Thanks, everybody.

52:12Thank you to Jake and Charlie in the booth and you, listener. We're back Saturday with The Extra Show and then live Sunday night, if you want. For now, from all of us here, it's goodbye.

52:24You've been listening to The Totally Football Show, part of the Athletic FC podcast network. For more great podcasts just like this one, including The Athletic FC and our dedicated club podcasts, search for The Athletic on Apple, Spotify and all the usual places. We're also at The Totally Football Show on Insta and at The Totally Show on YouTube. The Totally Football Show is an Athletic Media Company production.

52:51The Athletic FC.

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