Liverpool + City back on song but impenetrable Arsenal go 6 points clear

0:00The Athletic FC

0:30against decent looking Chelsea. It's the Totally Football Show.

0:43Hello, everybody. Hello to you if you're following us on YouTube. It's our Sunday night thing where we live stream us recording the Monday morning podcast. Maybe you're listening to this as a Monday morning podcast. Hope you enjoy it for your delectation. We have Liam Tharm. Hello, Liam. Hello, James. Good evening. Liam's been to West Ham, Newcastle today, Sunday, the 2nd of November. That's right. JJ Bull's with us as well in a Christmas jumper. Yes. I just like it. I'm going to wear it for the next two months, I think. Excellent. Yeah. All right. And on the big screen, Adrian Clarke, star of Adrian Clarke's YouTube channel.

1:21Hey, Adrian. Hello, everybody. Hello, listener. Yeah, all good. No Christmas jumper for me. very boring black zipper. I like it, Adrian. I like it. JJ, you're going to be doing a TIFO podcast thing to borrow your description tomorrow. Yes, we'll be recording the podcast on the Monday morning. On the Monday, yeah. What are you going to be talking about? I'd imagine similar things to what we'll talk about here. Okay, you just mentioned, sorry, I was being a bit cheeky, you mentioned that there's something you'd spotted that you were quite excited about, and then Liam got excited about that. So I want you to share that excitement with us now.

1:59Stand by, listener. This is big. Right. Jump ahead. So there was a thing that Chelsea did against Spurs. Yeah. Because long throws are a big thing. They're back, baby. But. So Chelsea were putting three forwards up the pitch behind Spurs' last line. So they're playing long throws Spurs, but Chelsea are pushing players forwards. So they're taking players out of their own box to defend it, to push them up. So on a Spurs long throw, Chelsea actually take players out of their box to not defend it. Yes, absolutely. All right. And Liam, you love that. Well, I've been watching quite a few long throws this season.

2:34I actually went back through Wisecout a while ago and looked at kind of a lot of them in succession and the best attacking teams. Chelsea have conceded from them this season. Quite a few teams have, to be honest, as you say. They're on their eyes. And really, the interesting part of it is a lot of people cite it as similar to Rory's lap and Stoke. but it's not quite the same where a lot of those goals were really long flat throws for kind of first-time finishes, someone crashing in and heading it. It's not what happens now. You don't have anyone like Roy Dullaby because no one's like a former javelin thrower like he was.

3:02So instead it's kind of... Was he a former javelin thrower? He was, yeah, a really decent level javelin thrower. Ah. Which makes perfect sense. It does, doesn't it? Hopefully it's a pipeline somewhere for, you know, athletics, into football or vice versa. But now no one can quite do it like that. So instead it's the ball going in for a flick on and either a player kind of crashing the back post or it's just dropping down and it's being a second ball. I think it's twice, I remember already, the season Chelsea have conceded from them. One against Sunderland where it was kind of scrappy and Wilson Isidore scored off the second ball.

3:28And a really late goal against Brentford when Fabio Carvalho ghosted at the back post. So I guess kind of the logic is knowing that you can be vulnerable, put more players up the pitch and you actually clear the box a bit because it's not just the three players you're putting there for a counter-attack, it's the three defenders then that Tottenham don't have as aerial threats. So it simplifies the situation, say, for example, the goalkeeper. Right, so that was my logic was, well, the best player on the pitch really to defend it is the guy that can come out and catch it with his hands because the ball's going to be dropping.

3:55It's the same as we see at corners now where people pack bodies in around the goalkeeper, they pack the box. The issue becomes a case of blocking too many bodies and you say, oh God, it's just a pure chaos that comes from it that becomes an issue. So I think, yeah, it works really well because the players that head up the pitch, I think probably Garnaccio, Giorgio, aren't going to be your players that are the best at heading the ball anyway. So you probably want them further upfield. As it was, Sanchez came, caught the ball, threw it out there to counter-attack. and I thought, this is really smart.

4:19I think more teams should try that. There you go, Adrian. I wrote a piece on that last week for the Premier League. Yeah, I wrote a bit of analysis on long throws, who does the most, who does them best, etc. So check it out if you haven't seen it already. Obviously, Palace do the most. Yeah, but this is the countermeasure. You can't stop football evolving, Adrian. You can't. It doesn't stand still. Lerma isn't even Palace's chief long thrower but he has he's made three assists now um from long throws this season I concur by the way I used to play in a day where teams would regularly leave two up from corners and that would sort of be that attacking move that sort of forces people not to to to crowd your box now every team sort of really wets the bed a little bit and just always puts all 11 into the box and I don't think that's always helpful so I think I think the guys are picked up on a interesting point there you go if you'd like that kind of analysis perhaps accompanied by a bit of electronic music you'll be excited to know that JJ will be bringing his unique football music mash-up to the Moth Club in London on the 6th of December I'll be there producer Charlie will be there not on stage unless JJ invites us up I haven't I haven't worked exactly that what I'm doing yet but yeah you might well no it'll just be there'll be no analysis whatsoever though it's purely just a musical purely just some of the most successful football based musical riffs out there some of the yeah some of the best they're based in football but they're not actually about football are they not they're not there you go anyway that's the 6th of December at the Moth Club and you're on a kind of sell out tour at the moment it's going really well I understand it's been really fun yeah it's really great there are tickets available for this still they are selling now we sold the last one out in Stoke Newington so if I could sell this one out it would be fantastic it's quite a big room, I'll be very surprised if I do but please buy tickets if you want to come and see someone hit songs.

6:13Can I ask a musical question? Yes. In a very footballing sense there's the tough places to go to as grounds are there any tough places on the music scene that are notoriously hard to go to and get the crowd on your side? In my long career, I've been playing music since I was about 15 so we're talking about 25 years now, the hardest ones to play are the ones where there were no people there and I've been to lots of them. Right. So I would say that. Okay. Just once you have some people there. Come and support JJ on the 6th of December, the Moth Club in London. Equally, come and support Totally Football Show when we do another live experience.

6:49This is going to be at the Leicester Square Theatre. A little bit of advance notice here because it's not until the 23rd of March. You can find out further details like the line-up at leicestersquaretheatre.com. some tickets have already been sold JJ that's good can confirm do you know who's got some time on his hands Vito Pereira Vito Pereira who as you probably saw after Saturday's defeat at the hands of Fulham is no longer the manager of Wolves we'll be getting onto that a little bit later on but Prusa Charlie pointing out this is very much the curse of Nuno Espirito Santo all the firings so far this season have been directly connected with Nuno.

7:33You look at them, the first one was Nuno. Then it was the man who replaced him at Noddington Forest. Then it was the man that he replaced. And now it's the man who took over his old club. Which Nuno-related manager will be next? If you're a Nuno-related manager, you've got to be looking over your shoulder right now, I think. I don't think I can argue that. That's pretty fair. Anyway, on to the weekend's action in the Premier League. It was Match Day 10. Sunday afternoon saw Man City beating Bournemouth. What was the final score? 3-1? 3-1. Just like the earlier game on Sunday, which saw West Ham defeating Newcastle.

8:11Man City, anyway, with their victory over the Cherries, go into second place in the Premier League table. Still six points behind Arsenal, who beat Burnley 2-0. City, meanwhile, a point ahead of the team who've moved into third, who are the reigning champions Liverpool, who ended their four-game losing streak by beating Aston Villa 2-0. At the other end, that 2-0 defeat for Wolves at the hands of Fulham. So Pereira out, that leaves them very much bottom of the table. The other two teams in the bottom three both avoided defeat. West Ham, as I mentioned, beating Newcastle 3-1. Forest getting their first point under Sean Dyche in a haircut postponing 2-2 draw with Man United.

8:50Elsewhere this weekend, Chelsea, well, 1-0 winners at Spurs. Worrying scenes for the home side there and home manager Thomas Frank. Palace beat Brentford 2-0 and Brighton thump lead 3-0 and on Monday night at the Stadium of Light there's Sunderland Everton that's to come we begin today with Manchester City 3 Bournemouth 1 this is the Totally Football Show with James Richardson part of the Athletic FC podcast network it's a beautifully weighted ball and here goes Erling Haaland

9:31Slick, smart, certain.

9:35Harland at the double again. Poor old-fashioned Man City with goals from open play. Open play. I mean, I thought it was really fun to watch. Did you like it? I mean, there's loads of cool things going on tactically as well, but it just seemed like two teams were playing football. Yes. smashing into the back of the net with a corner. City were playing football with Ryan Cherky, Phil Foden and Jeremy Duker all in the same side. And as you say, it was a lot of fun unless you were a Bournemouth defender, especially when Cherky kept releasing the juggernaut that is Erling Haaland. Two goals for him.

10:10He's now up to 26 for club and country this season. That city, is that a city we'll see against other teams or was it just because they were playing Bournemouth? I think that's a really good question because I think it is probably Guardiola doing something to try and pull apart the way Bournemouth would play, the way they press especially. On the ball, you saw City often had, Jeremy Doki was the most obvious example of this. He would normally be, you'd think, in a Guardiola team stuck out wide in the touchline like a winger, but he was oftentimes inside the middle looking like a deep-lying playmaker, like in the middle of the pitch, and he would then join in the attack later on.

10:43He was involved in all the chances I think Haaland had. So you're getting him in the middle, which meant Nico O 'Reilly, the left-back, was pushing up to be the width in the left. but then you had Cherki and Foden and him and Doki would be all quite close together which is very much not the positional kind of thing that Guardiola would normally do and so you get good players together close together and they can just let them play and they can do nice things and it makes it so much more fun to watch and then part of it also is that players would drop in in certain points because then it would track the way that Bournemouth want to press them they would then be triggered to go and jump onto these players when they dropped which gives you space in behind for Haaland to get in behind so I think a lot of it is tactical money manipulation and Guardiola's part but also there's a thing that Guardiola is doing where he's going a little bit more football man-ish there's a few quotes I've seen recently where he just says like Chucky's an amazing player just get him to play rather than give him loads of instructions which is what we associate with Guardiola normally you know so maybe he's uh coming full circle maybe he's going to be the the pioneer of like a Tony Pulis type that just lets the players go on and do a bit of running around and have a bit of fun well when you've got players like that I guess you can do that.

11:48Adrian, you were watching this perhaps from a slightly Arsenal point of view. How worried are you to see City getting into this kind of form again? No, not worried. I think it's normal, isn't it? They're going to find some form. They've got some brilliant players. It was an excellent performance, I must say. I was really impressed by them. I thought they ran hard, which is always important, but they did. The off-the-ball running was really dynamic. There was a little bit of explosiveness about them there wasn't anything I would say that was sluggish about the performance I think JJ's hit the nail on the head with with his sort of tactical assessment that's kind of how I saw it and I'm a massive fan of of chaos I just think chaos is hugely underrated and I wish more teams would would deploy it because it's what defenders don't want you know a whole plethora of talented midfielders popping up here, there and everywhere, rotating all over the place, is a nightmare to contain, especially if you've got a guy up front that likes to run onto through balls and City had a lot of through ball experts in their ranks today, didn't they?

12:58So yeah, no, it was a brave line-up from Pep and the players delivered for him. That said, I would say that both Bournemouth and Villa absolutely played to the strengths of the opponents this weekend. I think Liverpool and City's sort of current or recent wobbles gave them a confidence to try things and try and be really proactive. And I think in both cases, it kind of backfired a little bit. So, yeah, but I mean, Bournemouth's high line, a high line against City with Haaland is, you know, I know it's the way they play, but very risky. Very risky. Too risky. You enjoy chaos, introduce a little anarchy, establish, upset the established order and everything becomes chaos.

13:46I'm an agent of chaos. Who said that? Oh, I know who that, I can't think, I've heard, who is that? Why so serious, JJ? It's the Joker. And the reason I say this is because you see Erling Holland going round as the Joker. I say going round. Yeah. But like yourself, Adrian, Erling Holland is a YouTube personality. And for his YouTube channel, he went round out on Halloween dressed as the kind of Heath Ledger iteration of the Joker. Very effective makeup. Did you see this, Liam? I did, yes. Right. I found it quite sad. I know that wasn't intended. I think it was quite melancholy as a Halloween video because he says he goes out on the streets of Manchester but he largely goes to one petrol station forecourt and interacts with two people in this kind of island of fluorescent light in the middle of a dark Manchester outskirts.

14:40Your description of that makes it sound very much like a partridge episode. Do you know what? There is a touch to that because he can't obviously go in. Well, I say obviously. I imagine he didn't feel like going into the centre of Manchester. so yeah but you know fair play to him and that sorry Liam you wanted to talk about something else I imagine no not particularly but doesn't he also go ice fishing or something on his holidays and you know I think there's some players that just like the kind of more remote simple life right petrol stations on the outskirts of Manchester it makes him happy lakes maybe that's a secret maybe so maybe so some things he's secret because he's up as I say to 26 goals for club and country and continues to be utterly away and beyond everybody else in football.

15:25The Cherries have never won at Man City, even taken a point at the Etihad, so I guess this isn't that surprising a result. As brilliant as Bournemouth have been, and they have been, and Iriola is a tremendous coach. I love him. They've actually been really leaky on the road this season, so perhaps we shouldn't be over-surprised that City cut free and caused them massive problems. I was looking at their expected goals away from home, and only two teams have a worse tally than Bournemouth. That's Burnley and Manchester United. So, yeah, on the road, they've not been solid, and they absolutely weren't solid here.

16:06And Sanessi, who I know JJ likes, he wasn't great. He made a couple of bad decisions that were certainly punished. I see. There you go. Big win for Man City. Slight back in your box for Bournemouth. City next up will be hosting Dortmund. Erling Haaland against his old side, Claxon. Do you remember that we were looking at that remarkable goal he scored in his first season at Manchester City when he first came back against Dortmund in the Champions League? Who put that ball in? Joao Cancelo. Joao Cancelo. And he hooks it out of the sky with an improbably high leg. Anyway, perhaps we'll see similar antics this Wednesday when City welcomed Borussia Dortmund to the Etihad.

16:51And then on Sunday, Manchester City will be off at Anfield facing Liverpool, who this weekend beat the team that beat Manchester City last weekend in that confusing way that football often works. Liverpool 2, Aston Villa nil. Boy, did they need this. Who's got a hot take or still mediumly warm take on Liverpool 2, Aston Villa nothing? Their pressing was really, really good. And I think a really understated player in all of that is Dominic Schoberslai. His energy is absolutely fantastic. I've been watching kind of Florian Witt a little bit, and I actually think he's been all right kind of on the ball, but it's out of possession where he's really kind of struggled.

17:31I showed against Brentford where Christoph Araya, I think, bullied him a bit and dribbled past him a few times. But Schoberslai kind of leading the press or being that person that can make the jumps in midfield, like what JJ was talking about with Bournemouth. He's phenomenal in that you need those players that are either going to make the big aggressive sprint right at the start or the ones that have got the energy to actually jump up and shut down the passes in midfield. Adrian was right about Villa playing into the hands a little bit too much, but it was really well executed by Liverpool. Well, for the last, what, three, four weeks, everybody, including the Liverpool manager, has been saying to everybody, we can't defend against long balls.

18:05We can't handle long throws. So Unai Emery, JJ, went, yeah, but what if we don't do any of those things? What if we play like Southampton under Russell Martin? it appears not to have worked it is an odd choice because you think we just go super direct at them that's exactly what he said you should do against Liverpool because they can't they can't figure out how to handle it I think he said we haven't found the solution yet that was last week I think I was doing research an odd choice but I mean Emery has his own things he wants to do so he has his principles he's principled if he sticks to it I thought he was a manager that was able to adapt to other clubs to divine weaknesses in opposition and adapt to those.

18:48In this game, he not only started in that fashion, but just continued the whole 90 minutes. Again, you'd think you might try and adapt it up and change, but maybe he keeps thinking that's exactly what Slott thinks I'm going to do. So maybe Slott will change it. So if I don't, therefore, by the end of this game, we should be in a position that benefits us. Liverpool then, was it all about Villa's poor passing out from the back? Was it about their pressure? What impressed you about them, Adrian? Yeah, no, it was depressing. There was a good appetite to sort of get after Villa. Yeah, when Villa did play around the Liverpool press or through it, they created some really dangerous moments.

19:26So it wasn't all bad. And, you know, you think about that shot from Rodgers onto the post and the Matty Cash effort was brilliant, wasn't it? It was a great save from Mamadash Beely. But no, I think that the standout for me was that this was like Liverpool from last season. It was Gravenberg, McAllister and Soboslay, wasn't it? And, you know, Salah was on the right, Gakpo on the left, Robertson was at left back. You know, it was all very familiar, wasn't it? I mean, it is interesting. I mean, Wietz at the moment isn't in the first 11, nor is Kerkers. One of Eketiko or Isak is probably always going to be on the bench.

20:07That's three massive signers that aren't in the 11. basically so it's almost as if they really didn't need to spend all that money but but yeah this was like a strip back Liverpool of old and yeah they deserve the win but I was disappointed in Emery I just think Emery overthought it the the double bluff of going for the opposite of what Liverpool might have expected um yeah backfired quite quite spectacularly and I do think he's a manager that that is guilty of overthinking things. You know, his record's brilliant. We know that. But, yeah, when he was manager of Arsenal, he frustrated me quite a lot, I have to be honest, with some of his game plans, which were, yeah, sometimes a little bit odd.

20:53Slott got a fair amount of flack for Liverpool's exit from the League Cup midweek because he rested, not only rested pretty much all the first team, but didn't even have them on the bench when the game turned against them. Is he justified? Is he vindicated with the performance here? Fresh legs and that? I guess so. But I think I'm of the belief that what Liverpool didn't look like they needed currently was more games than to try and play across four competitions when they were struggling. I'm not saying it's okay to throw a game, but I think in years gone by when Klopp's played really young players, I don't think it's a problem.

21:30They want to try and defend their title. They want to try and go deep in the Champions League. It's hard to do that across. I think we've seen Arsenal quite stretched in recent seasons across multiple competitions and then end up not winning anything. And then that becomes a bigger problem if you go, well, you should have prioritised. We saw that perhaps with Liverpool last season as well. Yeah, definitely. All right. Well, anyway, that was Liverpool ending that losing streak they'd been on. So a much needed win for them. Arsenal, meanwhile, continued their remarkable winning streak, their ninth consecutive victory.

22:01This latest one coming 2-0 away to Burnley at Turf Moor. Some numbers about the Gunners. Well, it's nine wins in a row. That's the first of them. It's the best defensive start to a campaign by any English club in history. Even better than the Mourinho Chelsea. They've only conceded three goals. Those scored by Haaland, Vultimardy and Schlobbersleih. They've had seven clean sheets in a row, So equaling the Arsenal club record, which was set by George Graham's Gunners in 1987, they've only allowed four shots on target across their last five Premier League games. James Benji pointing out that pretty much everybody else in the Premier League have conceded four more goals in their last five Premier League games.

22:47Arsenal, no more than four shots. Remarkable. Adrian, you watched this. Anything new? No, not really. No, nothing majorly new. The way I sort of read the game was that Arsenal played for about 24 minutes where they were blistering, where they completely dominated the game. They created eight chances in the space of that 24 minutes. Between the 14th and the 38th minute, they created their eight best chances. And outside of that, they really just played in first or second gear and made sure that he didn't use up too much energy. So, yeah, it was a really efficient performance. Two big standout performers for me.

23:31Declan Rice was unreal in the game. He scored that goal from the counter-attack header, which was lovely. But, yeah, he won. He won five out of five tackles, three interceptions, nine ball recoveries, nine duels. He was everywhere. Absolutely phenomenal he was. And the other big standout for me was Jokeres. He only played until halftime. Apparently he had a little bit of a niggle, so he came off. But he was really good. Like, he looked much sharper than he has and caused Burnley a lot of problems. He created three chances. He scored one as well. So, yeah, Jokeres and Rice, terrific. But in truth, this was a bit of a cruise, really.

24:13They didn't have to get much of a sweat on. You're a fan of the Czech Republic. Arsenal on Tuesday taking on Slavia Prague if they keep a clean sheet in that that will be eight clean sheets in a row and only once before in their long history have they managed eight consecutive clean sheets it was back in 1903 Adrian this is an epocally good Arsenal team yeah it really is and there's a real desire to keep clean sheets they love defending and I was brought up as a kid coming through the ranks at Arsenal on George Graham and his teams and what was the hallmark of those teams was the appetite to defend and the absolute way that every single player just hated conceding.

25:04They couldn't bear the thought of it and when Arsenal moved away from that in the sort of Wenger years and Emery and stuff it didn't feel right and I feel like it's come back now. It's come full circle. Gabriel is the leader. He has been on a different level, really. I think to any other centre-back in the Premier League this season, he shows so much appetite to defend and it just rubs off on everybody else. So, yeah, they hate the notion of giving up a chance, let alone a goal. And I've got to say, that's a really healthy trait to have, isn't it? So there will come a time where they start leaking goals, but it's a long, long, long time now since Arsenal were conceding multiple goals.

25:48So, yeah, from my end, long may that continue. So those kind of late 90s, early noughties, Wenger years, with the titles and the invincibles and all that, you were sat there going, yeah, fine, but it's not proper Arsenal. Kind of, yeah, but no, I love the football. I mean, the football's beautiful. I've never seen football like it. It's just, can you have a bit of both? you want to be greedy and the ultimate team would sort of play the work the Wenger way in attack and the, the maybe the Arteta way in terms of that appetite and resilience to, to keep clean sheets. But yeah, it's just, it's, it's good to see it back.

26:25And I, and I do think Arsenal supporters of a certain vintage place a real heavy emphasis on being able to defend. And yeah, so, so basically people that are 50 or over maybe in their forties or over, they are absolutely loving this because it reminds them of the Arsenal teams that they grew up on Magnificent Very nice Next up let's hear about events down the other end of the Premier League table

26:55This 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 Olly Kay and the very best football writers around Chiu has put himself in a defensive position. Iwobi with support from Sessignon. It's 3-0. What a woeful afternoon this is for Wolves. Coming into this weekend in England's top seven tiers, that's 252 different football clubs. Only two teams had yet to win this season, Stamford and Wolves. One of them did finally win, beating Stabridge 3-1 in the Southern League Premier Division Central.

27:36Could Wolves beat Starrbridge 3-1 in the Southern League Premier Division Central? Possibly, but they didn't win their game this weekend. They lost 3-0 at Fulham. And their manager, Vito Pereira, was sacked straight afterwards. He'd signed a new three-year deal at Molyneux only 45 days ago. Sad to see it end this way. He'd done such a great job taking over from Gary O 'Neill when he arrived there in December 2024. they were 19th when O 'Neill was fired Pereira got them back up to a 16th place finish who's among the favourites to take over now from Pereira long term why? it's Gary O 'Neill Liam, what other names are in the frame?

28:22I haven't seen other names but Gary O 'Neill is very interesting because he was kind of semi-recently on Monday Night Football and didn't seem overly glowing about Wolves and kind of the infrastructure there I think and the way key players that had been sold on and made good money but maybe not quite replaced in the right way. Because I think Wolves are now the first team ever to lose, or to not win, I think, in 10 games in consecutive Premier League seasons at the start. So it's really hard to try in that same way when you don't then build on it and you lose the key assets that made that team so good, like Samedo Aitnuri, Kunia.

28:55They've done it a lot in recent years, but I think there comes a point where you need to keep that group together for a while. Absolutely. Gary O 'Neill, Rob Edwards and Michael Carrick. Among the candidates mentioned... What, was it filtered by English coaches in their 40s? Was that the... Very possibly. Yeah, very possibly. Anyway, this latest result was a 3-0 defeat against Fulham, Fulham ending their four-game losing streak in the Premier League. And that was much needed because they were right down. They were only just above the bottom three themselves. Does it matter who comes in? Do you see a Wolves team who are on two points after 10 games in potentially Derby County record-breaking form?

29:38The thing with Wolves, like it has just been said, is that they sold all their best players. They still have Stranel Arsene, who I think is decent, but they've lost the quality that gave them a bit of an edge in those tight games last season. They don't have that now. So I think it would be interesting if Gary O 'Neill comes in and then takes them up the table, and then the start of next season, the same thing happens and they bring Vitor Pereira back. And we can just do it, because it would show me that nothing I say makes any sense and doesn't matter. But also, I don't know, there's something about that I would like.

30:08That would be the perfect narrative, I think, for the season there. Yeah. But sometimes a change is as good as a rest or something. A change is as good as a decent signing. It's that new manager bounce thing. I think people try to prove the myth isn't true. You just get a change of atmosphere in the club. So I think often managers need to have a good start and then suddenly you think they're good and therefore you go with it. If they start badly, they probably actually aren't bad at their jobs. but everyone just thinks, oh well, nothing's really changed. So you keep firing a manager until you win the first game and then you'll maybe win the next one, next one and get momentum and it could be anyone.

30:43That's definitely going to work, JJ. Curiously enough, this season I've seen a couple of managers come in and have absolutely no bounce at all. One of them being Nuno Espirito Santo in his latest job, which is at West Ham. They did finally, today, get their first win under their Portuguese boss. It was 3-1 at the hands of Newcastle. Liam, you were there. First of all, scenes of disbelief as the home fans saw their team winning at the London Stadium. Yeah, I won't repeat the full chart, but it was something along the lines of, how are you not very good, we're winning at home? Which I think was the first West Ham home win since, I think back in February, against Leicester, who obviously went on to be relegated.

31:24So yeah, much, much needed. And there were, I think, still a sitting kind of small fan protest after, which always was a little bit weird after they've won obviously still in their eyes very justified and maybe even more important to not kind of be so emotional and say you wouldn't do it with the result but yeah Nuno he was absolutely beaming on the touch when that third goal went in. Newcastle were I think you're going to write in your report a huge disappointment but let's not take anything away from West Ham who looked a lot more like a joined up football team is that right? I think so I mean Newcastle scored after four or five minutes It's ironically right after West Ham had a really good attack.

32:01Gerard Bowen had just hit basically the inside of the post and Newcastle then went immediately down the other end and Jacob Murphy did the same thing as Gerard Bowen, but this time it went the other side of the post. And suddenly from there you think, oh God, five minutes in, you know, the incident. A Newcastle, a Champions League level Newcastle team who can be really devastating when they kind of get into their flow. But West Ham's credit grew into the game. Newcastle have been a poor away team all season and I think stretching back to the end of last year, They looked quite passive a lot of the time.

32:29I mean, even the West Ham goals are quite poor from a defensive aspect, like Wan-Bissaka's running in behind and neither Burn or Gordon kind of picks him up or they don't really exchange their marking roles very well. And then, sure, it's an own goal. But they're getting picked apart quite easily. There was a moment in the first half where Bruno gets booked because there's no pressure on the ball, there's a pass through midfield. Somerville gets on the turn and Bruno has to bundle him over. And you think, you know, we were just speaking about how good and kind of compact Arsenal are and how teams now are, I think, increasingly getting better at defending that middle part of the pitch and being a real team and a unit there.

33:00And I don't quite see that with Newcastle. I think they're one of the best teams in the league still when they press and go into the opposition half. The midfielders kind of all lock on. They can be really aggressive. And I think especially when the Champions League lights are on, they can really play up a level. But you've still got to go to West Ham and to these bottom half teams and, you know, be an aggressive team without the ball. Absolutely. It's an interesting situation down the bottom now. West Ham moving up to 18th place above Nottingham Forest. The Hammers now three points from safety.

33:28The team's above the bottom three. You've got Fulham, Everton, Leeds and Burnley, all separated by just one point. And Newcastle are only a point above that. Adrian? Yeah, I mean, results haven't been brilliant, especially on the road. I was just thinking this was just not a game that suits them. I always think Newcastle are better when there's an even split in possession or if the opponent has a little bit more because they're so good without the ball. They're such a good pressing team, but in this game they had over 62 % of possession. And I think if you look at their record under Howe, when they've had over 60 % of possession, the results have been fairly mediocre.

34:07So they've got to find a way to sort of find that energy and rhythm when they have more of the ball. Yeah, I mean, Eddie Howe made it crystal clear what he thought of the performance. I mean, taking off Gordon and Volta Marder at half-time, along with Emile Kraft, you know, speaks volumes really, doesn't it? He was fuming. But for me, just touching on West Ham quickly, just the balance of the team. It's a really simple thing, but it just looks right. Freddie Potts, who came in and made his full debut, was terrific. Really good disciplined performance from him. and then either side of him is two natural box-to-box midfielders who can create but also get back and defend in Mateus Fernandes and Lucas Paquitar.

34:52Two wingers that are quick in Somerville and Bowen and, you know, Wilson is sort of a patched-up version, you know, patched-up number nine, I guess, at the moment. Probably wouldn't be their first choice but did OK. So, yeah, it's a step in the right direction. I was really, really impressed by West Ham today and it's been quite a while since I said that. So yeah, well played to all of them. They thoroughly deserve this win. Well, the thing with Newcastle, I was thinking, just go back to them, is that they rely heavily on intensity, which is a thing that's almost impossible to maintain all season long, especially with, like we were talking about before, with other competitions you're playing in and trying to compete in the Champions League as well.

35:33And I think it's really hard to gain any momentum and because, well, if your strength is in your athleticism and your physicality that you've got but suddenly every team is also the same as that you lose your advantage and then you need to be able to create some other way but teams are finding it really hard to create with the ball this season it's mostly been set pieces and things like that because everyone's so massive which also ties into West Ham being looking better in this game I'm not convinced they were they were great personally but I think they look better and I think the balance thing is exactly right because they for ages they've looked really slow and they've lacked like power and I think having that speed and like Adrian said I think that's exactly what made them look better today is having a bit more of that plus playing against Eddie Howe's Newcastle because Nudo won his first game I think at Forest against Eddie Howe's Newcastle as well.

36:22Liam sorry. No yeah I was just going to touch on Newcastle and what JJ says about having such an intense style. The tricky part is that Eddie Howe really likes a small squad and he said that before he likes playing kind of the same 11 as much as he can to have those relationships. And they've been really hampered out wide. They've lost Tino Livramento, and he said he named Lewis Hall on the bench today because they didn't have any other fit senior professionals. He said he didn't want to put Hall on the bench, but felt he had no choice. I think he'd had one training session, so he's working his way back.

36:48And they're a team that are built on their wide attacking quality. They're not a team that tend to carve opponents apart through the middle of the pitch. They get fullbacks on the overlap or the underlap. Last season, it was all those crosses for Alexander Izak, or it was Jacob Murphy providing those low passes for him. and it's a similar-ish kind of approach this year with Altamada. It's very much a similar, probably even more of a target man, to be honest. So I think they're just really, really struggling because you look at that back four today and it looks kind of like four centre-backs and OK, there's arguments that teams like Arsenal perhaps are playing four centre-backs and yet it's Ricardo Calafiori overlapping or underlapping and ending up in the box being the attacker.

37:23But yeah, they looked a lot less balanced than West Ham today. There you go. Down the wrong end of the table in Newcastle, Forrest, I mentioned West Ham moving above them in the bottom three, but they also move a point closer to safety after picking up their first point under Sean Dyche. This was in a 2-2 draw Saturday afternoon at home to Man United, and Forrest probably feeling a little bit shortchanged that they didn't take all three points. A controversial opener saw Forrest conceding for the second straight week from a corner that probably wasn't a corner. The ball hadn't actually gone out of play, but a corner was whistled for and Casemiro put in from the resulting kick.

38:05This kind of thing does happen a lot every game. I think there might have been a couple of decisions of this kind that went against United in the game as well. But for us, broadly speaking, one good thing about this was the fact that they hadn't scored a single goal for four league games in a row and they managed to get two in two minutes to take the lead after United's opener. Yeah, I think kind of some slightly more scrappy goals. I think there's still some questions to be asked of United in kind of their game management. They look really good when they can kind of sit off teams and be, I don't know if pragmatic is the right word, but not always kind of the dominant team.

38:45That right side for United is really clicking, I think, with Mbomo and Ahmad. But for us, we've got a similar problem really to Newcastle that we're just talking about, about having, you know, okay, they've got kind of managerial changes and more kind of going on there, but they've got a squad that they've added players into that have been a really good, clear identity team last season, perhaps overperformed a little bit in the sense of you can't expect to win 1-0 every week. And they now have to try and find different ways to play European football and then manage the players and fitness and stuff that way.

39:12So it's a really hard situation to be juggling. And they're probably similar to Newcastle where they need to still be picking up points. And obviously you always need to pick up points, but especially where you go, you don't want the situation of doing well in Europe and then being dragged into a relegation scrap at kind of the same time. It was quite weird when that was kind of Manchester United and Tottenham last season and I think it's quite an uncomfortable place, especially this year with promoted teams being competitive. So it's hard. It is indeed. Adrian, this was the end to Man United's recent three-game winning streak.

39:44What did you make of their performance? It wasn't bad. It wasn't terrible. I mean, it was quite a much more fun game than I expected. I thought Sean Dyche might sort of shut up shop, but it was really open, wasn't it? Both teams had a lot of chances. I think Man United had seven shots on target in the game. Obviously, it's a bold 11 that he's gone with, relatively speaking, at the moment. First time, by the way, he's named an unchanged starting 11 in his 37th Premier League match in charge of United, which is nuts, really, isn't it? So he's gone with that again. one sort of takeaway I had was Ahmad, Ahmad Diallo at wing back I think you saw the reason to pick him and also a reason not to pick him in this game having him at wing back is risky when teams put the ball in the box because he doesn't feel comfortable defending and obviously he's outjumped by Morgan Gibbs-White for that equaliser just early on in the second half but then of course being bold and having him in the team gives you the chance to get him in and around the box.

40:48And that was a sensational volley, wasn't it, on the left foot? And he almost scored another, didn't he? It was an amazing sort of clearance off the line from Murillo right at the end. So, yeah, personally, I think most United fans would like to see Ahmad in the team. And if that means playing him at wing-back and it being a little bit risky, then maybe so be it. OK, and fun for the neutrals as well. Excellent. Lots more to talk about from this Premier League match day, including events at the derby between Spurs and Chelsea and we'll get on to that next.

41:25You're listening to the Totally Football Show with James Richardson. Now we do four times a week. Keep up to date with us on Insta and enjoy us in glorious Technicolor on YouTube at the Totally Show. This Saturday a new Totally Extra came out. It's all about Euro 2000. Greatest international tournament of all time, Liam. the year in which I was born. There you go. There you go. If you fancy having a listen to that, it's out there. You can check it out now or maybe not now, but whenever you want because, yeah, timeless really. Totally Football Show European Edition is very much time sensitive because it's going to be looking ahead to this midweek and all the Champions League fun and games.

42:06I mentioned Man City will be taking on Dortmund, but there's some huge other matches including Liverpool against Real Madrid. That's on Tuesday. so is Paris Saint-Germain against Bayern. Woof. So we'll be previewing those games with James and Jules and Seb and Paul and also reviewing the weekend's action. The Milan-Roma game that I've got on a little window right now in Serie A. Roma looking to go top of the league. Jamie Vardy against Juve and other stories that don't relate to Serie A. Like Bayern Munich, they've now gone 15 straight wins. Madness. JJ, Thursday, perhaps the key fixture is Rangers against this Roma team.

42:44Is that right? Yeah, in that Europa League. Well, they've all changed, haven't they, Rangers? Have they now? Well, they've got a new manager in, whose name I can't remember. Danny Roll. That's the one, yeah. Is he on a roll? I haven't watched him play yet, so I can't tell you. He has a new role. Yeah, I've seen he's changed the shape and I've been told that they look better straight away, but that often happens when a new manager comes in, so we'll see how that goes with them. Well, hang on. Didn't they play today in the Scottish League Cup semifinals? How well did that go for them? I believe Celtic won that after extra time.

43:123-1? 4-1. No, 3-1. I watched the other game and travelling in, so I did not see that either. Oh, OK. I cannot tell you how they did it. Of course, the big story in Scottish football isn't Rangers. It's the team at the top. That's right. Hart's doing very well this year. So the lead has been fluctuating a little bit, but it's back up to nine points with Celtic in League Cup action this weekend. Yes. Nine points. And yet you still think Celtic are going to come back. Yeah, it's not that I'm a total pessimist with it It is just pure realism And I've lived through it, you know, for 40 years Really?

43:46Yes This may happen all the time then When was the last time you had a team this far ahead of the big two? It was quite recent I can't remember, was it maybe even last season? Aberdeen were doing really well It was last season, it just feels so long ago Yeah, yeah, I remember you coming in and talking about it But they weren't this far ahead, were they? No, they weren't They were level, I think, with Celtic And then they dropped away Celtic beat them something like 6-0, I think and it all I might have my numbers wrong there but they just started to fall away then but Hearts beat Celtic and they look good for it as well it was last week genuinely quite impressive they've signed some players from they've scouted really well there's obviously I'm sure you talked about it before in the podcast but like you know Tony Wim involvement so the players they've brought in are doing a really good job and you think well Celtic should have signed them but Celtic are this is the thing it's so funny with league tables you know Hearts are nine points ahead right now if Celtic win their game in hand which they will because they always do there'll be six points which doesn't sound quite so much because that's just a couple of because it's not exactly right so then this is what happens and it's not that I would like someone else other than Rangers or Celtic to win that league how long has it been?

44:511985 40 years yes so I would like it if someone would break that duopoly because it would be more fun for the league and I just like that idea that it could happen and this season there's so many perfect storms that Rangers have really dropped off Celtic going through the manager and all that other stuff it just could be this season and I like the ambition that they're showing and going with it but you don't think it will be okay we'll keep an eye on it meantime just before we get back to the Premier League Adrian you joined us this evening with news from Southampton where we were asking after their defeat this weekend will Will still still be Southampton manager and we'll never get the chance to say that again because he's not anymore no I feel for him because he he did so well in league earned earned his shot in English football.

45:40And, you know, if he'd have gone to a different club where things were a bit more stable, where the team wasn't in such a sort of funk, then it maybe could have been a success because he's clearly a good coach. But, yeah, it's been a terrible start to the season. They're really close to the drop zone. They've only won twice. Got beat at home to Preston at the weekend. Preston had four big chances. They had none. It wasn't unlucky. So yeah, it's a bit of a mess at the moment. But the supporters never really turned on Will Still as far as I'm aware. It was more the ownership that they're not happy with.

46:18So whether there's trust in them to pick the right replacement, I would imagine there's a lot of scepticism among Saints fans. But I think Will Still will be back. I hope he gets another opportunity in English football because he clearly wants to make it work over here. but you might have to go back to France to re-establish that reputation oh alright well we shall see we shall see because the last Southampton manager went to Rangers yes did not work well for him didn't work out well for him very good there'll be a what the EFL perhaps this week will there Adrian? 100 % yeah Monday morning we're recording so I've been out Monday lunchtime yeah looking forward to it it was a brilliant weekend in the championship there were stories everywhere and we're going to cover the lot.

47:06Crikey. Meanwhile, in our humble Totally Football show, looking at Premier League match day 10, next up it's Spurs, nothing, Chelsea 1, Saturday, tea time, a game which finished in slightly unpleasant fashion for Tottenham, with boos from the home fans, and a couple of Tottenham players appearing to rudely blank that nice man Thomas Frank. Adrian, I'll go to you because you've been a player, you walked off the pitch. What did you make of Jed Spence and Van der Ven effectively blanking their own boss? I thought it was completely disrespectful, actually. And Thomas Frank will not be amused by that.

47:49It was rude. Look, the emotions are running high. They've just been spanked. Well, they haven't been spanked, but they've played poorly. They've been beaten. They've been booed off. And yeah, just to ignore him and just to walk straight past him and sort of to gesticulate in the way that they did, I think would worry me if I was a Tottenham supporter because it shows that they're not united. That's the look that it gives. And I think for any team to be successful, you need to be in it together. You have to have respect for each other. And I don't think either player there showed any respect to Thomas Frank or the supporters, to be honest.

48:30So, yeah, very poor. And if there's a repeat of it, Thomas Frank will not say he's going to get rid of them, but their cards are marked. I wouldn't like that if I was a manager. So, yeah, I think that's a bigger incident, actually, than maybe people might imagine. I must admit, I was really surprised by it because Thomas Frank had always seemed such a nice guy and a manager who enjoyed such a good relationship with his players. neither of these two performed anything like their best in this game. One of them conceded a goal, one of them could very nearly. Van der Ven, basically his mistake led to the only goal of the game and Jed Spence just before that had given the ball away for what could have been Chelsea's opener.

49:13That's why I think it's slightly rich on the players' part if you've not had a great game or contributed to the only goal to, you know, you can't always all be on the manager. There's been some interesting team selection. He clearly doesn't seem fully satisfied with that left-hand side. Playing Spence is kind of a... I think he's feeling really well there at times, but it's not the same as having Destiny Doggy there. He started Lucas Bergwahl off the left in this game. Again, it's kind of a case of who's the best option there, maybe Odebeer. Could you use Kudos on that side and open up someone on the right?

49:44There doesn't seem to be a space for Brennan Johnson in the starting 11, which is a little bit bizarre to me because he was top scorer last season. Again, there's question marks on him as a... tap into the back post, but for a team that need goals at home, you think you've got a source of goals there that you're not using. But I think the biggest problems are not really having Maddison Kudusevsky available with injuries or Dominic Solanke, that they're really key players, and then it's hard to be kind of a dominant team without. They've compensated, they've been really good away from home, so they're still kind of high up enough in the league, top four, top five, but I get why that would still make a lot of Spurs fans, match-rearing fans disappointed, because if you're not there for a lot of the away games and you're seeing them perform badly at home, then that's the place you want to be having your most success.

50:28How badly did they perform? Well, they had an XG of 0.05 in this game. That's the lowest they've ever produced in a Premier League match. It's the lowest produced by any side in a Premier League game this season. Only one shot on target. And you say the absences that they have, but I guess that's where the manager's tactical nous comes in to create something, to fashion something. and that was I think I'm right in saying that what Spurs fans are most upset about their total lack of ambition from their team in such a key game against their big rivals Yeah I think the big problem they've got is they don't produce very much in open play so they don't really produce that much and a big part of that is how do they want to build how are teams playing against them how do they want to create in the final third I don't think they're really settled with what they've got in the final third I think when they're trying to build they've got João Polinha who is great at winning the ball and breaking up plays He's a good character to have around, definitely, but isn't the kind of player that can progress it.

51:25I don't see Benton Coor being particularly great at that either. He's a good all-rounder, but I don't think he excels at anything particular. And so I think they struggle to play out, so they have to try and play in a different way to get out. And then when they get to positions, they're often maybe wide and they don't have anything in central areas to be able to help create. And then other teams are all big and massive and just block them out. And so you end up relying on set pieces, which is what a lot of teams are finding this season. And so Spurs have scored quite a bit, I think, from set pieces.

51:49I think I've not checked that out. I'm particularly well with that. this is what happens but they need to create an open play to make it fun because it's very boring to watch and I did suspect this might happen to Spurs this season because whenever I've watched Brentford play in real life a few times a couple of last few seasons I never thought they were that fun to watch they're very like pragmatic like they did things the right way they would do things in a certain way they made a lot of goals from set pieces I think the start of it there's an argument maybe that Frank's going to make them really hard to break down first can you do that and still have creativity as well because if you think if you're doing it in stages, if you're trying to change spurs from what they were to what they were going to become, you build the defence first and make them horrible playing against spurs.

52:28Which is what Nuno did and that worked out well when he was at Tottenham Hotspur. Well, exactly. You wouldn't watch it either. Adrian? Yeah, I think a lot of it in any team stems from your striker. It stems from your centre-forward and they're missing their best centre-forward, aren't they, in Dominic Solanke, who I think will suit Thomas Frank's style of play with the industry that he's got, the physicality etc and it's been a rotating cast hasn't it personally I've never been a Richarlison fan as a striker I really like his attitude so maybe that clouds my judgement of him, he's clearly talented I don't think he's a guy you can rely on week in week out, Matthijs Tell I don't rate, I don't think he's done anything really of note in the Premier League Brennan Johnson's not got that physicality to play as a striker so they need Solanke back and I think that's when we should probably judge Frank a little bit more closely.

53:23Because the striker will set the tone in his teams. Just look at Brentford. It was all about how they got that striker into the game, how they used the strikers. So, yeah, let's see. But he's finding, isn't he, just the expectation levels are so much different. Getting good results and being in the top six at Spurs kind of isn't enough if you're playing a really boring brand of football. you know to dare is to do is the motto there's not much daring going on is there so I think that he's going to have to try something he's not used to trying to succeed fully. Although the last chap had them playing exciting football and down in 17th they're now currently 5th but playing dull football It's a balance yeah.

54:09It's a big tactical overcorrection which I get why it jars more because people like attacking and they like goals. Post-Coglu had a really good start by comparison and then they fell away. And you look at the kind of, he's picking quite stodgy midfields, as JJ was saying, even like the number 10 playing Pap Saar there, he's played Bergvau there. Like even looking at the bench that they had and Simons came on early on for Bergvau because of a concussion, but the bench is Kinski, the backup goalkeeper, Simons, Richarlison, Tell, Johnson, Odebe, Scarlett, they're all forwards. And then you've got Simons as a midfielder in there, I suppose, Udogi as a fullback and Romero as a centre-back.

54:45and that is, you know, you kind of kept all your firepower on the bench and in a way that I think Chelsea done it in a similar fashion this season is say let's kind of keep games tighter for longer, keep it kind of level by 60 minutes, 70 minutes, then we can try and win it later on, which isn't, to Adrian's point, a very daring way. But it is the method that I think Thomas Franks had success with elsewhere, so I see why he'd start with that coming in here. Chelsea won this one in the 34th minute, as it turned out. Gio Pedro set up by a wonderful bit of Rambustious From Casado From Casado, yeah He goes in and harries the Spurs back line And wins the ball and slides it across And what a player, eh JJ?

55:27He like sees through time We were talking about time earlier He sort of knows what's going to happen next Was it earlier or was it now? Was it always? When was it? Yeah, we're always talking about time Because he's always somewhere Yeah And I think I think if you've seen the goal, you see that he steps in to win it a few times. It's really impressive that he's got the aggression. It's like controlled aggression. He's so good at it. So he'd be a nightmare to play against, but he'd never want to start on him. Some people go in really hard and it's annoying. But Casero goes in and you're just like, he's better than me.

55:56And he keeps winning the ball. And then he's also really good with it. I saw someone on Twitter, so I can't remember who said it. Sorry, but I think talking about Pelinha wins the ball all the time really well for Spurs in different places. but Casino does that for Chelsea everywhere and also can play. He can dribble with it, he can pass it. I think he's one of the best midfielders that is around at the moment. He's fantastic. Excellent. Chelsea move up to sixth place now. They are level on points with Spurs but behind them on goal difference. Spurs will have a tough run coming up. They've got four of last season's top six to take on between now and the start of December as well as Champions League away ties at Paris Saint-Germain too.

56:36Although you may recall that Spurs took on Paris Saint-Germain and the European Super Cup in Oudinay and took them all the way to penalties. Yeah. Chelsea are off to Azerbaijan on Wednesday to take on Karabag. Spurs, who are very much in the Champions League, take on Copenhagen on Tuesday. Man United on Saturday lunchtime, meanwhile. So that'll be an interesting game. What else happened this weekend? Nothing much. Nothing much, Liam? No. Brighton. Liam's a Brighton fan. Brighton beat Leeds 3-0. And the team who Brighton are going to be facing next weekend, Crystal Palace in the big one, as it's known.

57:20Not a derby, a rivalry. Right. The big one. Yep. Palace also got a win. They beat Brentford 2-0, continuing their home unbeaten form. But bouncing back from that series of disappointments they'd had, Palace. But we'll talk about them in a second. How were Brighton, how were they for their 3-0 win against Leeds? They were convincing, which they haven't always been against newly promoted teams. They've been a bit of a problem for them. Leeds have been a really physical side. I think that was part of the concern that Brighton likes to be quite a technical team. I think quite technically in midfield.

57:53Carlos Buleba can definitely do both sides of the game. But I think Yasin Ayari, especially as kind of a bit of a smaller midfielder, looks good when teams sit off them and he can really play. And Leeds did a bit. Some really nice, really well-worked goals. It helps that Warbeck's in really good scoring form. But I think, again, they're putting the chances there for him. FIFA getting kind of on the overlap for the first one for a cutback. And Diego Gomez crushing the box for the second as well. Who is Diego Gomez, who scored two goals in this game, taking his tally to seven for the season? Five, admittedly, in the Carabao Cup, but still.

58:24I mean, if people haven't seen, because people might not watch Brighton's Carabao Cup games, that's fairly understandable. But he has a nice goal of the season competition with himself, away to Barnsley, where not only does he score four, but I think the first three of them, the hat-trick, are absolutely incredible. Yeah, really, really good ball striker. But yeah, a player they've brought in and taken their time to kind of work with. I think he's a really nice halfway between kind of a winger and a number 10, you know, good, good physical player. But he's just really technically smart, came over from the MLS and, you know, really looks to business, smart enough to kind of crash the box.

58:59I remember seeing him on I think his Premier League debut or perhaps his first start against Bournemouth earlier this calendar year. So again, he's not been in the Premier League massively long. It's kind of shades of Kaisada when he first came into that team and hit the ground running. Some players adapt really quickly, some don't. And technically, he looks really, really tidy. And they've needed, I think, players like that in midfield to really chip in with goals as well. Excellent. Adrian, would you have Danny Werbeck on the plane?

59:27Ooh. He's in with a shout, isn't he? I mean, if you're picking it on form, he'd be in the squad, wouldn't he? because he's, I genuinely think Danny Welbeck is playing better now than he's ever played in his career. And, you know, he's been around a while and he's had good seasons. So I don't know if I'd have him on the plane, if truth be told, you know, given, got Watkins and one or two others, but he's got to be close. He's got to be. And it would be an amazing story. And actually as a stylistic sort of backup to Kane, It's not a million miles away, is it? If I'm Thomas Tuchel, he's on my shortlist.

1:00:10Absolutely, he is. All right. I think he'd be fun to have around in an extended World Cup camp, or hopefully extended World Cup camp. Seven years, though, isn't it, since he played for England. It would be quite the comeback. I mean, that'd be an amazing story. Right, next weekend, take on Crystal Palace. Palace beat Brentford 2-0. Jean-Philippe Mateta with yet another goal. One of the surprises. A player who's constantly surprising you, JJ, I should say. Yeah, because he's clearly really good. But yeah, when I see him, I'm always sort of surprised. Like, oh yeah, he is actually really good. Because I think it's because of the start for so long, he just didn't seem like that good a player, you know.

1:00:50And there's obviously a huge jump in his statistics from before Oliver Glasner turned up and after. But in the current Premier League climate of set pieces and big massive lads he's like the proper perfect number nine for you his hold up play isn't always the best the ball bounces off him sometimes but his timing anticipation when to go and when to drop when to move is almost always great but he's also he plays between the width of the posts you always hear people talk about this with strikers he does that and his timing and anticipation again he just knows when to go and always seems to arrive at the right time to finish things off doesn't always finish his chances but I love strikers who get loads of chances He gets loads more chances than other strikers do.

1:01:31And I've always enjoyed watching those because you just get more goals. And as we know, we love goals. He's quirky, though, because he doesn't score headers. Ironically, this was a headed goal, but very, very rarely scores headers. I interviewed him with our Crystal Palace reporter, Matt Woosnum, earlier on this year, sorry, last season, just before the FA Cup. I think it was semi-final, perhaps the final. And he was kind of talking about that. He very much wanted to be like, yeah, I just don't score enough headers. and is there kind of any reason for that? Because he's got the build of a traditional number nine.

1:02:02He taxes JJ, says crosses really well. You think like what's kind of missing? And he just says it's just not something he's ever really done much and I guess just prefers to score with his feet. Of his last 38 goals in the Premier League, only three have been headers. So he's, you know, and I think it's kind of down to Palace's system also. I think Daniel Munoz especially, but Tariq Mitchell a bit as well. They provide him really good low crosses so he doesn't need to risk or head a goal. Although I thought Palace did lots of long throws. They do, but then it's, again it's the players that they have to score there it's kind of players picking up second ball it's been as Mayla Sarr crashing the back post and this this time we were speaking about the chaos earlier on right is an own goal from Nathan Collins so this is part of the chaos of you don't even need the player there you want to just you know create a really messy situation where the defenders are so panicked and haven't got really got the space to move to go I just need to get my head on the ball no matter where it goes and I think that was a great example I think that's three long throw goals players have had this season now so um yeah quite funny in the three different ways they've scored them.

1:02:56One was a great move against Vila with a back post flick of Vassar. The one against Liverpool was a bit scrappier for Enquetia, again at the back post, and then Colin's own goal. There you go. Chaos. Wolves should get the Joker in as their next manager. I feel that that could be more chaotic. Too chaotic, you feel? Yes, I feel like that. Very possibly. All right. Crystal Palace have AZ Elmar in the Conference League on Thursday before they go to Brighton or perhaps Welcome, Brighton? That's our spot. Ooh. where they are, as we mentioned, unbeaten in 11 games. Very good. Adrian, anything else we should know before we sign off for this Totally Football Show?

1:03:33No, I think we're done and dusted. Yeah, that's the job done. I've enjoyed it. Well, thank you. You made it enjoyable, Adrian. I look forward to hearing your thoughts on everything below the Premier League and what the EFL out on Monday and on YouTube and on thepremierleague.com. JJ, you'll have your TIFO thing out. and remember if you want to hear JJ hitting the high notes you've also got a very popular YouTube channel I should say as well the contents of which are largely musical and you can be enjoyed at the Moth Club on the 6th of December 6th of December at Moth Club that's right and all my songs that I do outside of work is on Spotify and all the places of course they are and you've actually got a physical record I do yeah I've sold a few of them, it's good brilliant it's great excellent excellent Liam you're busy typing up and I know this sounds a little less exciting but your match report on West Ham Newcastle but that'll be equally exciting I'm sure it probably is less exciting but please read it anyway alright great stuff whatever you're up to I hope you have a great time listener Stroke viewer and we'll be back with as mentioned the Euro show early Tuesday so do join us for that ahead of a busy midweek many thanks as well to Jake and producer Charlie in the booth for now from all of us here it's goodbye

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