Man City dismantle Liverpool as super Sunderland stop Arsenal’s winning run

0:00The Athletic FC

0:30on these and other important matters coming up for discussion in today's Totally Football Show.

0:43Today's Totally Football Show being recorded on Sunday the 9th of November. Perhaps you're watching us live on YouTube. Hello, if you are. Maybe you're checking us out on a Monday or thereafter in podcast form. wherever you're receiving this Totally Football Show. Many thanks for joining us. We've got Daniel Storey on the big screen. Hello, Daniel. Good evening, James. You've had a nice weekend. Yeah, I've seen Forrest win for the first time since December 2023, so life can't be bad. Indeed not. Tim Spears is here. What's up? Was that the last time you saw Wolves win, Tim? Already? What? Come on, Jumbo.

1:24Sorry. I'll do better. yeah nice to see you though hey you too yeah and duncan alexander hello how did wycom get on day 141 there's one wwfc that are performing to expectation right okay the other one being beleaguered wolves yeah beleaguered wolves right beleaguered wolves who are getting themselves a new manager can we get a hippie parade for rob edwards not from me oh tim uh i mean you know fine yeah whatever yeah but why uh i'm just not very enthusiastic really whether he's in the table yeah lately yeah no he's he's he's he's a good appointment for for a championship team which of course is what probably will be pretty soon so uh yeah nice to have nice to have someone in post and uh looking forward to seeing what he can do jimbo good yeah there there we go yeah lovely stuff dunkey you'll have enjoyed this weekend because it was a record-breaking one in the Premier League.

2:25Aren't they all? Yeah, I suppose they are. I suppose they are. This one, though, had the unique quality of seeing the gap between the youngest and oldest player in a side being at its smallest ever. Daniel, do you know where? No, I'm sure Duncan's got the answer, so let's not panic. No, this came from pretty Sir Charlie, actually. So Leeds, in their starting 11 today, the game that you watched, there was only three years exactly 365 days times three whatever that is but exactly three years between Leeds oldest player and youngest Joe Roden and Brendan Aronson that's the smallest gap ever between the youngest and oldest player in a Premier League starting 11 and producer Charlie spotted that actually I think he spotted it on up to up to Joe's feed so credits up to Joe excellent other details about this weekend which you might find more significant include the Matchday 11 results, which were as follows.

3:23Arsenal drew 2-2 away at Sunderland, which means we head into the international break with the Gunners still on top, but now only four points clear of Manchester City and Sunderland staying fourth. City, for their part, bullied Liverpool at the Etihad on Sunday afternoon, winning that game 3-0. Liverpool dropping to eight points now off the top. In fifth place are Spurs, who drew 2-2 with Man United. In third spot are Chelsea, who beat Wolves on Saturday afternoon. Elsewhere in Sunday's early games, Villa beat Bournemouth 4-0. Brentford won 3-1 against Newcastle. Palace and Brighton drew 0-0. And Nottingham Forest came from a goal down to beat Leeds 3-1 as well, which leaves them, Forest, just a point from safety.

4:11And with West Ham also winning 3-2 against Burnley on Saturday, and Fulham beaten 2-0 at Everton, there are now five teams down the bottom. Fulham leads Burnley, West Ham and Forest, separated by just two points. And Newcastle, only one point above them. Crikey. That's the situation then. The international break is on the way, but not until we've had a chat about what went on this weekend, beginning with the most recent game, Man City 3, Liverpool nothing. This is the Totally Football Show with James Richardson, part of the Athletic FC podcast network. There's a good deal of space here for Nicola O 'Reilly.

4:51Jeremy Doku. Doku! Oh, glorious!

4:59It's a simply beautiful goal from Jeremy Doku, who has glittered the afternoon long. Jeremy Doku there, possibly Man City's most significant player at the Etihad this Sunday afternoon, although Conati maybe ran him close on that one. But a huge performance from Manchester City who closed the gap on Arsenal to four points and it never really looked in doubt. Daniel, were you able to see any of this on your way back from the City ground? I was indeed, yeah. I was talking to some friends in normal real life and the sort of overwhelming judgment seemed to be this looks like a title challenger against a mid-table team at home in that Liverpool had their chances.

5:41We'll feel slightly aggrieved about Van Dijk's offside goal, I'm sure. We'll talk about that. But they were just bullied. You said it at the top of the show. City just looked like they were sweeping aside a team who were significantly worse than them, which is pretty bleak for Liverpool, really. They are now eighth, I think, in the Premier League. They look way off it again. And City were ruthless, I suppose, efficient. could even have, you know, they spent the last 20 minutes of the game doing what they do against mid-table teams often, which is just sort of passing the ball around and ticking the clock down and waiting for the game to finish.

6:17I thought Doku was absolutely phenomenal again, but also I thought Nico O 'Reilly was really good, both in shackling Salah for the most part and also getting forward because Guardiola sort of picked that shape with tucked in advanced midfielders and asked the fullbacks to do quite a lot of work up and down. And O 'Reilly is so good at it. He's an attacking midfielder who's 20 years old and he looks like England's best left back at the moment. Well, Bertram says, Man City's full-backs really dominated today. What do the panel think of Nico O 'Reilly? And does he have a serious shout for an England start in summer if he keeps playing like this?

6:51Yes, by the sound of it. Yeah, I think he does. I mean, England are not in a great position with left backs at the moment. It sort of, for the last five years, feels like that's always been the case since Luke Shaw, since sort of the Euros, the home Euros, when Luke Shaw was the guy. Lewis Hall isn't starting for Newcastle at the moment. Dan Byrne isn't an England left-back. I know he's played there. And O 'Reilly is that natural left-footed player who can do both. He can get forward, he can get back. Positionally, he looks really good, which is exactly what he'll learn under Guardiola anyway.

7:21And yeah, he looks absolutely fit for purpose at the moment. Crikey. Liverpool as close to the bottom three as they are to the top of the table now, all of a sudden, or following a sustained period of losses. more interesting numbers for them they're below Man United and Duncan you were pointing out they've actually lost more games than Everton this season yeah they have I mean it's just you know I mean even having their record of six wins, zero draws, five defeats is kind of testament to the sort of Jaclyn Hyde season they're having really as we head into this international break which part of the team the misfiring attack the wobbly back line the bit in between Which part of the team will be most on Slott's mind?

8:07I think the defence. I think none of the defenders, today at least, cover themselves with glory. Bradley did OK, I thought, against a very tricky Jeremy Dock, as we discussed, but it was clear that they wanted Canate City to have the ball and he didn't do much with it. A lot of the game was him stood looking forwards with the ball and then passing it back to Mumu Dashfully, whose distribution isn't great and then it was just the ball back to City. Weirdly, Liverpool had slightly more possession but it didn't really feel like that. Right. I think the Liverpool player with the most touches for a long while was Cornati because City's tactics was to load up on Van Dijk so that the Liverpool play would come out through Cornati who they felt they could get at which seems a bit harsh.

8:55Well, it was brutal. I mean, you and Daniel have both said the word bullying and that's how it felt with him in particular. Yeah, from sort of goal kicks or any time Donnarumma had the ball, City would mark every other Liverpool player except for Canate, who had like 30 sort of yards of space around him. And they had no choice but to give him. He was pretty smart. And yeah, he wasn't very good at progressing the ball at all. And he had a poor game defensively. I mean, he gave away the penalty when he had no business getting involved with Bradley, who was doing a good job on Doku, sort of shepherding the ball and then in comes Canati with this sort of bumbling sort of kick and then rebound and then that leads to the penalty.

9:37And then obviously that saves but then for the first goal he gets beaten in the air so easily by Haaland. So you look at him and Marmadashvili for the penalty that's given away and for the goal that's conceded because I think Marmadashvili was just sort of stuck, wasn't he, when Haaland headed him. Right, with the header, yeah. Yeah, and they've both been weak links for a little while now. Maybe a bit harsh to call Marvanez really a weak link. He's coming in as a backup keeper. I don't think he speaks very good English. It's his first time he's been thrust into it more than he would have expected to be in the season.

10:08I expect he understands the phrase man on by now. Yeah, but he's definitely a step down from Alisson. And I think that shows. I think there's a direct correlation between Liverpool's form and him coming into the team and a lack of confidence in him. And Canate has just been poor all season long. There are so many weak links in this Liverpool team. I think someone said earlier that they'll have the international break as a sort of a reset. What can they do in the next two weeks? There are so many players not performing from the keeper upwards all the way up to Salah. And Duncan says, Jekyll and Hyde, I mean, yes, in terms of results, but not in terms of performances.

10:40It's been mixed all season. And today was Nadia, really. And it's the first time where they've been completely out for all over the pitch. And that makes me kind of think it's what's going on behind the scenes because they weren't fighting. What's going on behind the scenes? I don't know if it's issues with the players that they brought in and the imbalance of the squad, issues in the dressing room. It's very hard to tell. It's a pretty well-run dressing room. We saw that last year when they managed to negate the challenge of a new manager coming in and steam to the title. So I don't know. It's a great question, but there's something wrong.

11:11I mean, their decisions this year have been to give Salah and Van Dijk big new contracts, to bring in Florian Wurz and Alexander Izak for a lot of money, and obviously other players as well, like Frimpong and Kerkers, who haven't hit the ground running. So it's almost like pretty much every decision they've made hasn't really worked so far. And that's not to say it won't. I mean, look at someone like Jeremy Docky, who's been at City a while now, started very well, then faded, struggled to get in the team. So players do take time to get going. But yeah, I mean, you said where would Slot worry about going into the international break?

11:48Kind of everywhere, really. And then the one signing that did work, Eketika, He gets dropped for Izak after a few weeks for no reason whatsoever, really. And he's back in the team. And it hasn't been quite the same since. Yeah, exactly. So it's far too early to say that he's lost a dressing room. But, you know. Tim's saying it. Well, has he? Get in first, Tim. Kick that one off. Good for you. Daniel, how good was City's opening goal? Yeah, I mean, just absolutely brilliant. I mean, Haaland obviously misses the penalty. But it was a weird header in that it looked like he tried to offer, but it almost like it hit him by mistake.

12:22And yet his head is so hard of it, generated enough power to fly in the top corner. It comes off Canati, no? It sort of brushes Canati. Yeah, it does. But so it's, yeah. And so he's expecting, I think, Canati to actually win the ball and clear it. So he sort of ducks his head, but he ducks his head in such a way that the ball strikes it perfectly on the forehead and goes in. Right. It was the bit before that, the kind of, I say bit, it was the extended period of what, 20 passes or so? And I don't know how many minutes worth of possession. and I think you know Guardiola's been at pains to say this an awful lot recently when O 'Reilly scored the goal in midweek it was all about Phil Foden he was kind of championing Phil Foden blowing kisses to Phil Foden on the pitch and I think having him more central I know Thomas Tuchel in the weeks as I see Foden centrally and doing that system with the fullbacks pushing high to offer the width it means that when Doku drives he's driving at goal not out wide and it means that Foden is getting the ball in those spaces.

13:17And we know that when he's at it, City can play those triangles. It doesn't really matter who the other two players are because Foden's touch and move is so good that they can create space and pull people out of position. And to be honest, pull far teams, better teams than Liverpool at the moment out of position. Liverpool did save that penalty. Mabdashvili, who we were a little bit critical of there, but great penalties here from him. I was intrigued to read that no goalkeeper has saved more penalties in Europe's big five leagues in the last two and a bit seasons than Giorgi Mabashvili. For all that they were bullied by City, there was that moment early on when it looked like Virgil van Dijk had headed them level.

13:57Daniel, you were suggesting this was controversial. It was called back because of an active offside on Andy Robertson. It's one of those, and I get it with handball as well, where by the rules I can perfectly believe that that is offside. but in a world pre-VAR, that land of milk and honey, I just don't think we'd really talk about it. I don't think it would have been that controversial. I think because everybody knows VAR exists, then Donnarumma kind of makes a massive song and dance of it and points at Robertson. Obviously, they'd have looked at it anyway. But it just felt a bit morally, which is too big a word to use for football, but morally it felt like it probably should have been a goal to me.

14:35It wasn't wildly controversial. I just thought it was a goal. I didn't think that Robertson was... I didn't think he was enough in Donnarumma's eyeline. I thought there was actually a City defender blocking Donnarumma's view far more than Robertson was. So, yeah, I thought it was a bit unfortunate, but they didn't deserve anything better. The strange thing was that it wasn't VAR that called it. It was the linesman that flagged it, but he flagged really late because Van Dijk had celebrated for, what, 20 seconds, and then suddenly you heard a big roar from the City fans. So, yeah, I think that was the kind of element that's a bit like, well, if you thought it was offside, why didn't you flag straight away?

15:09but who knows who knows shout out to the fact that City remain the only team in the Premier League yet to score a goal that wasn't from open play thanks to that Mamadash Philly save on on Erling Haaland of course anyway four points now City behind Arsenal who will spend the next fortnight nervously checking over their shoulder this follows Arsenal's winning streak coming to an end and indeed run of clean sheets ending with their trip to the Stadium of Light we said could the Black Cats do it? Or could Arsenal be the first team to win there? But no, a remarkable performance from Rigi Labrise's side.

15:48Rich writes in to say, will the pod stop comparing Sunderland to Hull 08-09 and give the team and management the credit they deserve? All right, well, we'll try that then. I mean, I was just, you know, just remembering stuff. That's kind of what, yeah, we do. Okay, but if they're not Hull, according to Rich at least, who are they? Well, they may be Sunderland 1999-2000. Ooh. So that may be the Scooby-Doo mask reveal, and it's Kevin Phillips without hair then, and now he's got lots of hair. I mean, it's happened. Who are Sunderland, Tim? They are a team that pretty much every football fan would want their team to look like, I think, or play.

16:29Just in terms of that sort of all-encompassing attitude, their attitude to attack, their fearless attitude to take on any opposition, their attitude to defending is just outstanding they defend like every game is sort of a cup final you know but also they attack like they are defending a cup final lead bear with me but for the equalizer the way that um it's Ballard who sort of hooks it on isn't it and then it's Broby who hooks it in and that's sort of they were sort of like defensive movements you know what I mean like they're both trying to clear the ball they're just throwing themselves at it literally are sort of literally forcing and equalising in the last minute.

17:07And then when Ballard then with his block at the other end, it's just, it's absolutely outstanding. It's the epitome of commitment. And the way, you know, with the crowd on them as well, it's intoxicating. Like, it's great fun. They pulled out all the stops. We tried to find all the details to win the game, said manager Regis Labris, including moving the advertising hoardings. Daniel? Yeah, that felt an odd one, in that Arsenal don't really score from long throws. They score from corners. So maybe they should have sort of put the advertising boardings really close to the corners of the quadrant and done it that way.

17:40The other thing they're really good at, and this is exactly backs up what Tim was saying about a team you'd like to support yourself, is that they fight until the last minute. So in the playoff campaign last season, Reggie Libris made this big thing of till the end, we fight till the end. And they scored in the 88th minute of the first leg of the semi, the 123rd minute of the second leg and then the 96th minute of the final. and this season already they've got five points in the second half stoppage time normally we kind of expect promoted clubs particularly when they're drawing games they've won two games in the last minute you kind of expect them to sort of be happy with a point or to play out games or maybe even look tired at the end of matches but it's none of that they just they really do fight until the end and I think the stadium light helps as well that you know I went there early in the season the noises like I mean say like nothing else it's huge it's like most places in the northeast when it's full but it's huge and it does demand that they kind of fight on and the team is just reflective of of that crowd and I think when that happens you can create something that sort of feels bigger than itself.

18:46Sunderland have scored more goals in the 90th minute or after than any other Premier League team this season including that winner against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge earlier on this month. It was Ballard, the former Arsenal Academy defender, who never actually featured for the Gunners, who gave the home team a half-time lead, ending that run of over 13 hours for David Raya without conceding. Arsenal then came back, Saka and that rocket from Leandro Trossard, before in the 94th minute, Brian Brobby hooked in. hook I feel that doesn't do justice to the athleticism of his feet swept in Tim claims it was a hook I mean it was a hook you know in the movement yeah hook's fine yeah hook it was a hook it just you know when people say perhaps it's the hook or by we're going down a tangent here I feel like if you say volleyed Captain Hook or Ian Crook yeah exactly I feel like we shouldn't go overboard on this result in terms of Arsenal though.

19:55Why not? Well, they were very, very close to recording what everyone would have then called the Champions-Elect style comeback win at a difficult place to go. I thought they played pretty poorly in the first half, but really well in the second. For a team that never creates open play XG, they created quite a lot of open play XG in that game. and I think probably the biggest disappointment for Arsenal was Eze, maybe that was the sort of game he was brought in to break down the lowest of low blocks and he didn't really do that much but I thought Trossard, who has been probably Arsenal's most consistent performer this season, was good and Saka popped up as well so I mean, did we think Arsenal were going to win every game this season?

20:35No. Did we think City were probably the second best team? Yes, and that's kind of how this weekend has panned out. Daniel do we think that European sides are going to be fearing visits to the stadium of light next season? There's a long way left I think Duncan probably knows more about this than me But the numbers suggest a fairly significant open performance I'm not sure if scoring so many late goals is always sustainable But it sort of feels a bit uncharitable to talk about that stuff I mean if you'd have offered any Sunderland fan Or if you'd have offered them 19th in the Premier League Before the playoff campaign they'd have taken it So they would have taken 17th at the start of the season and they are not going to be anywhere near that.

21:15I don't think there. I think there'll probably be a regression to the mean, as there kind of was with Boris last season and Bournemouth have had it as well. Brighton, there is just a sense that over. No, I won't say. And the other thing to mention on that, you know, it's a bit away, but they've got a fairly large contingent of AFCON players who are going to leave in January for a number of games, which will test the strength of the squad. and we haven't, the other thing is we haven't really seen them when the chips are down yet because they've been pretty much good for minute one but we kind of don't really need to talk about that.

21:45They'll just ride that wave for as long as they can. In the meantime, they are the team that ended when nobody else seemed able to. Arsenal's winning run and scored a goal against them so pretty good stuff from Sunderland. In third, six points back from Arsenal are Chelsea who beat Wolves 3-0 on Saturday. Should Chelsea be in this title race conversation? Nobody thinks they should. Why is that? Well, you need a decent goal scorer. I think without Cole Palmer, do they have anyone who's consistently going to score throughout the season? And a dodgy keeper. You can't win the title without a keeper.

22:20Sorry. Right. There's a good reason. I think that's a bit harsh on Robert Sanchez. I think he's been better this season than previous. Yeah. It's a pretty low bar. Yeah. He's still not good enough. Hmm. Okay. The goal scoring. I'm not sure when Cole Palmer's due back, but three goals in this game and they are capable of scoring without him. Yeah, no, absolutely. I just think Jad Pedro hasn't quite kicked on from his early season form. He went through this ridiculous run of having no shots on target for like five, six games. Liam De Lappe, obviously, back from injury now but then suspended. So, yeah, I just think the squad's also a little bit too young and would defy convention if they were going to win the title with that younger squad.

23:01But, you know, I'm enthused and excited by them. Estovato continues to do something brilliant, pretty much every week, even if he doesn't start. Albeit, you know, the opposition were absolutely woeful and anyone would beat them right now, even the other WWFC. That Wolf squad, Tim, you were suggesting that you don't think it makes any difference who comes in and takes charge at this point. I mean, there's a team in there. There's a team in there that can finish sort of 16th, 17th. There is. Is there? Yeah, there is. But, you know, Vitor Pereira's had a shocker, really. 10 games 31 changes to his line-up 5 captains and 3 different formations they've got Brazil's midfield you know for F's sake in Gio Gomez and Andre and a guy who scored 14 goals last season in Jorgenstrand Larsson and a decent keeper and some decent defenders they should be doing better than they are and to Daniel's point about Sunderland's underlying numbers Wolves as we said on Thursday are actually better than they so I do think there is potential for them to go on a run the problem is that they are you know wildly adrift already.

24:06Eight points back. They've got two points after 11 games, which puts them on track to get seven points at the end of the season. We all know that Derby never get beaten, so they're going to get at least 12. Never say never. You know this is true. It doesn't happen. We've proved it with science. Rob Edwards, the last manager to mastermind the team scoring three goals against Arsenal in the Premier League, so he's got pedigree. It's certainly a controversial switch. Middlesbrough are very unhappy with Wolves' conduct and fans furious with Edwards for leaving them six months into a three-year contract.

24:42Rightly so. I totally get it. I also get it from his point of view. Wolves are probably the club that's closest to his heart out of any other club. And if the chance comes up to take the job, plus you're on more money, plus it's a Premier League job, plus there's no guarantee of promotion with Middlesbrough. I get it from his point of view as well, but there's a huge, huge job to do there. Took over at Barrio in the summer. They're currently second in the championship. Oh, Saturday in the championship, Stoke and Coventry went head to head. That was Mark Robbins up against the club that replaced him with Frank Lampard.

25:18And he was looking for Rivengi. He didn't get it because Super Frank, he's side. Beat Stoke 1-0 in the Potteries with a long throw. Oh, that must sting. Well in Rome. Well, indeed. Now, we don't know who Middlesbrough are going to have as their new manager yet, I don't think, in any way. We've got other things to discuss. So next up, let's talk about, ooh, Nottingham Forest leads and the relegation picture.

25:58football writers around. Hello to you if you're watching on YouTube. Like, for example, Floor Matt, who suggests that Tim Spears is looking like a modern Eminem. As opposed to the ancient Eminem. Yeah. He stoppeth one in three. Did you know that almost five million people in the United Kingdom consumed pirated sports coverage during the past six months? Who are these people? That fact and many other startling bits of information are revealed in a new documentary from The Athletic FC with Adiem Leventhal entitled The Underground World of Illegal Streaming. That podcast is out right now. I'm not illegal streamed, so I wasn't able to watch Everton, Fulham or West Ham Burnley on Saturday.

26:44And Tim, neither with you. I can tell you, though, that they finished Everton 2, Fulham nothing and a West Ham three Burnley two which with the other results not least Nottingham Forest stirring comeback win against Leeds on Sunday afternoon have as I mentioned earlier on left things pretty interesting in that relegation battle assuming that Wolves are a substantial gap away from everybody else next five teams separated by just two points and Newcastle only a point better off yada yada yada but Daniel let's not talk about the relegation scrap because that's in your rearview mirror you Forrest fan you Hutchinson far side but Munson the defender Forrest only have two in the box at the moment but one of them is Gibbs-White and Gibbs-White gets his third in three games on the city ground omitted by England but still a huge Cog in this forest wheel.

27:42I mean, Sunday was absolutely massive. It felt too big before the game. And in the first 30 minutes, the City game was pretty, not touchy, but it was very anxious. You went back. Well, first that was an extraordinary save from the Leeds keeper. And then they took the lead. Yeah, I think actually the save, if it had gone in, would have been ruled out for offside. Although Lucas Perry didn't know that. and it was a phenomenal reaction to move his body. And yeah, the game's defining moment was Forrest equalising very quickly after Leeds' first goal, basically, because Forrest got robbed. We've talked on this show before about Leeds' basically the only way of creating chances is through defensive action.

28:23So nicking the ball high up the pitch is exactly what they did. The ball falls for Lucas Nemecha. It was a really, really nice step over and finish. And then the City ground would have got really touchy if Forrest had slogged their way after that. but Ibrahimovic Sangari scored I think 2 minutes and 15 seconds between the two goals I actually think Perry was at fault for the goal because he gets a really good hand to the cross but rather than it being a fist that is directed out of the area he just sort of flaps it to the feet of Sangari who composed finish and then the other change in game was on about 55-60 minutes when Sean Dyche introduced Omari Hutchinson and Forrest played with two wingers and they just looked a completely different team with two wingers on the pitch So until then, Nico Dominguez, who was a central midfielder, was playing left wing and it was a bit stodgy.

29:12Forrest looked like they couldn't really create chances in open play. It was quite a direct game. It was a really poor game, actually, although there had been two goals. And Hutchinson ran the show. After the game, Forrest did a kind of poll on their Twitter feed or their X feed for Man of the Match. And Hutchinson won with 63 % of the votes against the three others, which, given he only played 30 minutes, is pretty extraordinary. But there was no other possible end result to that. He literally created Forrest's second goal and then was fouled for the penalty after beating his man for the third in near stoppage time for Elliot Anderson to score the penalty.

29:43And there were signs there that if Forrest play two wingers and quite a physical striker, which is exactly what Dice did at Burnley and Everton, then they'll be OK. He probably now does need to do that. He probably needs to play with two wingers rather than just one. and yeah, things look promising again. They would have looked pretty bleak if Forrest had lost the game because Leeds would have been well clear. Forrest would have been closer to Wolves than anyone above them and now there are signs of life and you kind of look back in hindsight now and think, well, he's had five games and he's taken eight points from Manchester United, Porto, Bournemouth and Leeds and yeah, that's okay now.

30:24That's more than par for the course. There's a good feeling around the city ground again. It's quite funny at the end of the game they've obviously got Dyche, they've got Stone they've got Wohan in the dugout and they kind of sing their names they sing they've got no hair, they sing that they don't care and they sing that they're going to Istanbul for the Europa League final it was very much not that kind of chanting when Ange Posikoglu was in charge so yeah, night and day. Alright then, and particularly for Omari Hutchinson, the club's record signing who famously wasn't even included in the Europa League squad at the start of this season Is he the big beneficiary of Sean Dyche's arrival?

31:00He certainly looks it. I would have said no two hours ago when he was left out of the team again, but he certainly is now. Yeah, it's an odd one. But the one thing we should say with the number of signings that have not really settled is that at full time, Hutchinson comes off the pitch and Callum Hudson-Odoi, who was injured today, is there and lifts him up his feet and gives him a hug. Olerine is there to hug every player coming off the pitch. It doesn't look like a squad that is in the relegation zone in terms of morale. I remember those first two seasons when Forrest was sort of fighting for their lives.

31:31And it was like that. It was a kind of doomsday atmosphere around the place because Forrest was scrapping. It feels a little bit different now that Dyche has come in and there's been a move in the right direction. It's not pretty. I mean, it's almost literally the opposite football to what Andrew is trying to play. But for the situation they're in, it makes a lot more sense. And the work off the ball today was great. I would say, you know, Tim said this about Chelsea earlier and was right too. Leeds were absolutely dire. They look really, really poor. It's similar to Canate actually in that you just give one of their central defenders the ball in a load of space, mark everybody else and wait for them to either play across or back to the goalkeeper or just launch it forward and back yourself to win the header.

32:13There's just no creativity in open play at all. And it's, yeah, it's really, really harming them. They're quite an easy team to play against at home, I think. and Forrest were actually guilty of not really trying to win the game in the first half. And as soon as they did try and win it, they did. Leeds now a point off the drop, a point ahead of Burnley and West Ham. Forrest a point behind them. So Forrest still in 19th spot. Is Farker in any danger going into this international break, Tim? And who do you think is in most trouble of the group? Wolves, obviously, in a world of pain. We'll see what happens with Rob Edwards.

32:49But then you've got Forest, West Ham, Burnley, Leeds, Fulham. And if you want to be controversial, Newcastle too. Who do you think the other two look most likely being at the moment? I think, you know, you say about nervously looking over your shoulder in the international break. I think Leeds and Burnley in 16th and 17th would see a resurgent Forest and a resurgent West Ham both looking to revert to the mean. I mean, West Ham won two in a row, scored three in both games. Looked like Nuno's two in the corner. Forrest in this weird Premier League table where Spurs are being booed in fifth and Forrest are happy in 19th.

33:26They're on an upward trajectory. I think Newcastle will pull their way out of it. You're looking at Fulham, Leeds and Burnley as the early scrap, I think, to avoid joining Wolves. Fulham, Duncan. Yeah, I think if you look at fan sentiment at the moment, I think Fulham fans and Newcastle fans are particularly cross because I think in different ways, the last season or two, they've both kind of established themselves at new levels and it feels that both teams, I think, that they've really regressed this season. And, yeah, the international break is always, I think November's got the most managerial departures of any month in Premier League history.

34:06So this one is the sort of, the last chance saloon if you're a sort of club director in terms of get someone in, they can assess the squad and then obviously the chance saloon opens in, what, six, seven weeks. So, yeah, I would say there's going to be a change. Really? But where? Because this is quite rare. There's not been too much chatter heading into this break. I think Leeds are probably the one that you'd think. But I think, I mean, I don't think it's going to happen in Newcastle, but the anger there is growing. And obviously the last time they got into the Champions League, their league form completely collapsed and it's kind of repeating itself.

34:44I think you'd also say with Marco Silva, maybe not right now, but his job looks very fragile. He's out of contract at the end of the season. I think he's been there, I think it's his fifth year now. And you look at just how he wasn't backed in the summer. Kevin was sort of their only major signing, but nobody else. And they're drifting. They're absolutely drifting. They've beaten the teams at home that you would expect them to beat, Wolves, Leeds and Brentford. Other than that, they're not producing anything unexpected. they're losing games pretty meekly and they're just totally drifting I mean I saw them play Wickham in the Carabao Cup and they named a pretty strong team and they weren't that impressive in that game and like you say Silva I think is out of contract to the end of the year kind of feels like he's just drifting isn't he but that's not a good combination a manager out of contract at the end of the year and a team sort of heading towards the Bop3 and not knowing what their futures are and what his future is either Yikes but they do have a swimming pool in the stand Swings and roundabouts.

35:44Swings and roundabouts. They have those as well? No. No. Not yet. Sly? Probably. Very shortly, we will. That's what they're on. Very shortly, we will find out what happened to Newcastle, who met a team called Brentford on Sunday. We'll check on that and the other two o 'clocks on this 9th of November and more, including that crazy finale in the Spurs-Man United game. Anyway, lots to come on this Totally Football Show.

36:19you're listening to the totally football show with james richardson now with you four times a week keep up to date with us on insta and enjoy us in glorious technicolor on youtube at the totally show totally football show european edition is out first thing on tuesday reacting to all the weekend's action across the continent as you'd expect possibly the headline there Bayern Munich. Did they make it 17 wins out of 17? No. Fresh from doing Paris Saint-Germain midweek, they very nearly lost at Union Berlin. Harry Kane, though, popping up in stoppage time to rescue a point for Vincent Kapani's side.

36:58We'll hear more about that. Incredible Luis Diaz goal. Other stuff, too, with James, Jules, and Seb and Paul. Oh, and I think we might have a word on the Eredivisie. Anyway, what we're here to talk about right now are Sunday lunchtime games, which featured goals galore, except for in the one that Duncan and I were watching. Four goals, for example, at the GTEC, where the Bees, a.k.a. Brentford, came from behind to secure their fifth win in their last seven in all competitions. Joining us now live from the Steam Packet, just down the road from the GTEC, is Billy Grant of the Besotted, Besotted podcast.

37:40Billy, what extraordinary scenes once again. The B's fifth win in the last seven matches at all competitions. What a season this is turning into. Mate, I'll tell you something. What a season. You just never, I wouldn't say, you never know what you're going to get from Brentford. But you kind of do, because we don't do things like anybody else does. And, you know, we started a season, a lot of people would have thought, in turmoil, as they say, in turmoil. You know, our manager, you know, Thomas Frank leaves. He literally steals four or five of our top backroom staff, people that he haven't even bought himself.

38:13You know, he, you know, Brentford found them, but he took them with him. And then, you know, and then we got Keith Andrews in, which everyone was joking about being the set-piece coach. They go, Brentford and McCoy, the set-piece coach. You know what I'm saying? So you've got that narrative running through as well. Then also, as we've got Brian and Bumo leaving, who he was going to leave anyway. So Brian, we knew he was going to go, and Brentford fans are used to this. So we embraced ourselves for it. We were fine with that. We saw, and I can tell you this for a fact, was never lined up to leave Brentford, which really threw us out, you know what I'm saying?

38:40And it really disrupted our season. So when we came to the start of this season, two of our top strikers, 40 goals down, you know, we were a little bit worried. We played Forest in that first game of the season. We were terrible, you know what I'm saying? But to be fair, we completely turned it around. At home, we're great. Away from home, could do better, as they say. But listen, it's been a brilliant season. Thiago, he's been a revelation. He got injured in his first game against AFC Wimbledon last season, pre-season friendly, played 30 minutes, hadn't seen him for a year, but he's come back and he's just so happy to be there.

39:09And we're happy for him to be there too. The recruitment's amazing, Billy, not just in playing times, but also whoever took the decision to promote Keith Andrews. Yeah, I mean, we get quite a lot of people talking to us on the media and everything like that. And they say, what do you think of Keith Andrews? And we're just like, I'm not being funny. We've got no idea. We've got no idea. However, if Brentford have made the decision to bring him on board, and we're not rose-tinted gloves, classes. Our owner, Matthew Benham, really clever bloke. He runs a tech company. He's done really well, really good in business.

39:38He's not going to go and apply somebody to save himself like 50 quid, you know what I'm saying, if he doesn't think he's going to do the job. And Brentford would have done their due diligence, said, listen, we pulled you in, Keith, from doing coaching. We're going to give you a job. They gave him a job, said, how about being a set-piece coach? We'll teach you. They taught him for a year and they watched him for a year. And they obviously decided, tell you something, we like what you do. From what I can understand, he's really good with the players the players love him also he comes out with these sort of really out the box like you know just different different ideas which is they say is quite refreshing so I think it's been a real change for Brentford so what they saw it instead of Thomas Frank leaving saying this is a disaster they're saying this is an opportunity for us to change things up and take it to another level just do things differently and the fact is that he's still green and he admits you know they make mistakes we've got new players in there still betting in give them a year as Brentford do a year and a bit when they're actually sort of done their business I mean it's going to be really really really exciting for us.

40:31And we've still got money in the pot. We've still got to spend the Wiesa money. We've still got to spend some of the Ivan Tony money as well. So, you know, listen, for Brentford, you could probably get about 17 players for that as well, because you know how we run. Keith Andrew wasn't the only name that raised some eyebrows at the start of this season. Jordan Henderson coming in was another one that people had mixed views on. How's he been for you? Jordan's been brilliant. He's been absolutely brilliant. Listen, he plays for England, England captain. but also the thing is that he's such a professional.

41:01Where he's been really good also for Brentford is actually teaching the younger players out there and sort of kind of guiding them, but also the other players, the sort of experienced players are in there as well. He's been really helping them. He's not our captain, but if you look at him, I mean, you look at him today when technically there should have been a penalty, when the penalty was given and Atwell was all over the place and there was a furore for about 11 minutes, you know what I'm saying, before the penalty was taken. He was right in the middle there, just basically because it's kind of doing his job.

41:26If Jordan Henderson carries on, to be quite honest with you, he could be in the coaching staff. And if Keith Andrews gets poached by Liverpool or Tottenham again in two years' time, he could be the next Brentford manager. So he's a brilliant person to have in the mixer. Excellent. You've been brilliant for us, Billy. Thank you so much. Enjoy your evening and look forward to catching up with you again soon. Thanks for having me on. Thank you very much.

41:51Billy Grant from the Be Sotted podcast who was literally buzzing there about that victory. Newcastle took the lead somewhat against the run of play in this game, but the beast, the better side all the way through. This was a game that we were all watching other matches at the same time, but broadly speaking, why is it that a side like Newcastle, dominant in the Champions League, so dominant at home, can't do it away from home? Why is it, Daniel? I think they're stuck in a rut, and if Eddie Howe has a weakness as a manager, I think he's probably slightly too slow to change things. He's sort of a trust the process guy, right?

42:30He doesn't, I don't think he particularly likes dropping players. That harmony within the squad is massive for him. And I think there are underperforming players in the team. The other thing is that Newcastle are, to my mind, a kind of big game team in that everything comes from the intensity and the energy of that midfield. and sometimes at home when the crowd are whipping them up or in the Champions League where they're not that used to being, everyone seems up for it. I've watched them three times away this season and they haven't looked up for it in any of those games. They're quite easy to pass through.

43:04They're quite easy to kind of knock off the ball and Harry and Bully a bit. They look a bit, I don't know, they just look a bit flimsy as a team. Joe Ellington struggling, Dan Byrne struggling and you'd survey 100 Newcastle fans, family fortune style And they're all crying out for Aaron Ramsdale to start in goal, because Nick Pope's been pretty dreadful recently, for Lewis Hall to start as left back because they really love him and he's a really good player. And Dan Burnley's lots of things, but he isn't a left back. And they want to see more energy in midfield. He has finally kind of gone with a meritocracy with his wingers.

43:39So Harvey Barnes and Jacob Murphy are Newcastle's two best wingers. Anthony Gordon's been poor for nearly 18 months now and Anthony Lange has taken time to settle and neither of those two have contributed a goal or assist this season. But there's only so often that you can kind of rely on those over-performance of players and others need to step up. And yeah, it doesn't look good. I'm not saying he's under the pressure, but he would be if Newcastle weren't doing so well in the Champions League and the EFL Cup. All right, well, an international break for them to consider all of that. No Dan Byrne when they returned because he got sent off in this game.

44:14Joe Ellington and Nick Pope both picking up injuries in the Brentford match. So don't know whether they'll be available when Newcastle return. Sunday afternoon, Tim, you were meanwhile watching the Villa Bournemouth game, which also featured four goals, but they were all for Villa. Yeah, it was a bit of a mad scoreline actually. It was not a 4-0 game by any means. In fact, Bournemouth morally won on XG 2-1.3, although that did include a penalty. But still, it shows you the kind of haphazard nature of the game. Basically, Villa were absolutely brilliant. They basically out-Bournemouth. What does that mean?

44:53Well, it was sort of relentless pressure and counter-pressure and just wouldn't let Bournemouth get out at all and full-backs overlapping. And you need to match Bournemouth physically and with pressure and intensity, which they absolutely did. it's not easy sort of 2 o 'clock on a Sunday Bournemouth at home for everyone to be up for it but you know they really were the second goal sort of epitomised it they won the ball from Bournemouth twice in 20 seconds in Bournemouth's half and sort of Kamara who was brilliant and Inanna both involved and then Rodgers who was very good and then Inanna sticks in a 20 yarder Villa were perfect for sort of 20 minutes after that and Bournemouth yeah they could have got back in the game in the second half they had a really good spell after half time at 2-0 a penalty Hit the post, yeah, won a penalty, which was brilliantly saved by Martinez from Semenyo.

45:40It was a great save. You know, it's heading for the corner and it's sort of full stretch and he pushes it out. So it was a massive team effort from Villa all the way from back to front. Martinez with a penalty save. The midfield were brilliant. And Ollie Watkins was a good man of the match on TV. Really? Despite not scoring, he was just harassing and harrying Bournemouth constantly. so yeah and Austin McPhee the set piece coach got an assist for for three probably because they work a lot on the on their direct free kicks of which Emi Buendia scored a beaut and then they scored brilliantly two corners in quick succession in the second half the first one is a Ross Barkley header the sort of three players are sort of running towards Luca Dean who's taking an in swinger then they turn back and head towards the six yard box just to sort of move Bournemouth players around and then he knocks it on Barkley's head at the near post 3-0.

46:31Absolute classic McPhee. Yeah, who can't celebrate properly at the moment because he's on crutches. So yeah, he's certainly not showing them how to do it on the training ground because he's very immobile. And anyway, the fourth one, it's Dina again, near side, in swinging corner coming in. You're expecting something similar. Instead he takes it short to Sancho who pings it low across the edge of the box and then Tielemann sort of knocks it from 20 yards and it's deflected in. so two completely different corners from the same taker on the same side both resulting in a goal it's pretty impressive and as our villa who are up to sixth now yeah they were seven points behind bournemouth after match day five i think and now they're above them in the table level on points they looked a bit ropey in the first few weeks you've got to credit emery for not letting things drift and keeping standards incredibly high and you know we talk about recruitment sort of resulting in good season for everyone.

47:24Well, their recruitment was pretty terrible and no new signings started in this game. And I think only, you know, Sancho made a quick contribution off the bench but hasn't done much else. So for a team whose recruitment wasn't very good in the summer, you've got to give enormous credit to the manager for getting Villa to the level that they're at, despite no new signings making an impact. Indeed. I mean, maybe Villa were the mysterious third title challenger that we were looking for. Perhaps they are, Duncan. I'm just noting it is so tight in that zone of the table between indeed Chelsea in third spot and Crystal Palace in tenth, there's only three points.

47:58Effectively, all those teams could swap places with one game. That's league football, baby. But there's something deeply satisfying about Bournemouth. The ninth to twelfth is Bournemouth, Palace, Brighton, Brentford. It's like whatever's going on in the world, that's just right. So, yeah. Speaking of Palace, Duncan, and you and I both opted of the four to follow their clash with the four two o 'clock kickoffs to follow their clash with Brighton and in terms of watching goals it didn't work out for us but what did we get from the experience well I thought it was quite a good game maybe I was just in a good mood it was super lively I mean the first half particularly first half was very transitional both teams you know really good uh build-up play both teams sort of struggled in the you know in the final third a little bit.

48:45But, yeah, I thought it was good. It was just what you expect from the Classico d 'A23. You know, a lot of pushing, a lot of shoving, a lot of, you know, minor skirmishing. A lot of hard shoulders. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. A bit of peace bottage. But, yeah, I mean, I guess probably the most dramatic moment was Brighton getting a penalty in the second half. But it was overturned correctly by the referee. Right, yeah. That was the high point. Ruta. No, well, I'll tell you why it's the high point. Because it allows you to then celebrate the performance of J.D. Canvo, who was possibly the least heralded signing on transfer deadline day, although not by Tim Spurs, who regularly rates every signing from the summer.

49:28So, I mean, you'd have been all over. Did you rate J.D. Canvo? It's sort of a real unknown, really. He hadn't played too much in France. I think he's, was he 19? He's 19, yeah. Looks like the sort of long-term game replacement, but playing more than he would have expected. but I've not seen much of him yet but obviously yeah he came in sort of ruled out late on with injury and yeah tough tough game to come into for a young man who came from Toulouse and yeah he was brilliant like he he gave away the penalty and looked a bit nonplussed like normally you'd expect the player to be like you know Ruter dived and say that to the ref and he kind of just looked a bit sad but then when they overturned it he still looked a little bit confused but obviously not in his his first language so but yeah overall He really ruins the game.

50:13The three centre-backs in the Palace system are so key. He's receiving the ball under pressure. I thought it was really, really impressive. Now, winners of the Europa League last season were the winners of a game in May between Spurs and Man United. Those two teams met again this Saturday lunchtime. We'll conclude today by discussing events there next.

50:3645 seconds to go. Bruno Fernandes into the penalty area.

50:4796th minute it's Aux De Ligt who will have enjoyed that against the Tottenham side that so cruelly denied him and his Ajax teammates are placing the Champions League final those years ago this time earning Man United a point in a game that's well certainly happened on Saturday the last bit was good I'd say the last bit It was really exciting. Daniel, what were your thoughts overall about this game? Also, which side do you think ballsed it up more? Man United, who allowed a completely confused and befuddled Spurs to come back into the game and actually take the lead, or Spurs, who only had one last corner to defend against 10 men and still didn't get that right?

51:28Yeah, I think it's a split decision, a points decision. I think Man United ballsed it up more because from the moment of 1-0 when Spurs fans are booing their manager's substitutions, sort of implying that Frank doesn't know what he's doing. This is a manager who has, I think, picked 14 different starting attacking combinations in his first 18 games as Spurs manager. So maybe on some little level, he doesn't quite know what he's doing yet with that squad. Yeah, there was booing, which then came a week, I mean, that comes a week after the two of the players seemingly went straight down the tunnel and all that.

52:03It felt like Spurs could implode at that point. And all those Nuno comparisons that we heard last weekend started to sort of bubble up again. So I think Man United probably balls that up more. And I think they balls that up more because Manuel Agate is just absolutely not at it. I was looking back through it for the score that I write. And they've conceded five goals this season, Man United with Casemiro on the pitch, and 15 without him on the pitch. And that's partly because he's been really good. But it's also because Ugarte has been routinely terrible for a£60 million player. And it kind of felt like rather than booing Spurs subs, they should have been sort of cheering Manchester United because the game sort of turned on that, I think.

52:45Fair play to Manchester United for getting back into the game. It was poor defending. It was a kind of big moment narrative-wise. It keeps the kind of unbeaten run going. It means that Spurs haven't won at home. But yeah, I think Manchester United, they should have won that game. I think Spurs looked like idealist again at home until the goals. And it was Agate who I think pretty much made both mistakes. He plays with Charleston onside. He loses Odeber. And Spurs sort of got that lead by default and then lost it by default again. Do you remember that old cartoon of a Dalek facing some stairs? That was Spurs in the first half looking at Man United going, what do we do now?

53:26It was remarkable. and nothing came of it. As you say, Thomas Frank received a barrage of booze from the Spurs fans when he took off Xavi Simons and replaced him with Matthias Tell. But he was vindicated, you know, because Tell, who's not had the greatest of starts for Spurs, scored a lovely equaliser. And it's actually the second time in five days, I noticed, that Spurs scored two goals after taking off Xavi Simons. So there you go. because the other goal then came in the 91st minute from Richarlison who poignantly thought he'd won the game for Spurs, ripped off his shirt to celebrate, only to, of course, see Man United find an equaliser of their own a few moments later.

54:13He's the first player in recorded Premier League history to have been booked for taking his shirt off in stoppage time and then seen his team concede after that. So it's a niche special skill to have, but we all need one. Yeah. He had a mixed game, Rich Alderson, as is often the case. So it's 171 days since that Europa League clash between the two teams. Is either of these two sides showing much progress? Which one do you think is looking like they're heading in the right direction more? I think there's more negativity around both of them than you would expect for the improvements they've made since not so long ago for Spurs to go from 17th to 5th and for there to be all this chat about how Thomas Frank's getting it wrong and yeah he made a couple of poor calls at the weekend I think dropping new doggy I'm not sure why that happened but that was especially after the performance against Copenhagen in midweek to change the left side which had been so good was a pretty obvious error It's obviously a mental issue for Spurs at this point.

55:20I don't really see how else you can look at it. The last 21 home games in the Premier League, they've lost 13. Coming off the back of that Champions League win, Man United at home, big game on a Saturday, to produce three touches in the opposition box in the first 45 minutes is just crazy and no shots on target, actually 0.07. If you don't sort that home record out, you're going to head towards mid-table, I think. but there's certainly more encouragement than we saw from them last season. So I don't really understand why it's so negative around Spurs, but I'm not a Spurs fan. I guess because if you are a Spurs fan and you watched that first half where they are just standing looking at the Man Utd defenders going, now who are these people standing in the way?

56:02Yeah, and I think some clubs are happy with wins, aren't they? I think clubs sometimes like Chelsea, they just need to win games. whereas I think Spurs are like they need to win games in a certain manner. Right, this wasn't a win or a game in a certain manner. No, no, no, but this is built up across the season, particularly, you know, we've seen before there's Premier League teams who are good away from home but poor at home and that's not a good scenario to be in because most of the fans, the match game fans obviously see you in the home games. That's logical. But then Newcastle fans aren't happy either.

56:36No, but I think they've got higher, loftier ambitions at the moment. To Tim's point, Spurs had the worst record of any non-relegated team in a 20-team Premier League season ever last season in terms of defeats. And they're kind of doing all right. But they needed to sort of PR campaign in the sense of, as you said on Thursday, like placing three balls, getting above 1XG, that old chestnut. People, fathers and sons and mothers and daughters walking to games with the old wireless radio. We just want to get over one XG this afternoon, but they're not doing that. As for United, they keep their unbeaten run under Ruben Amirim going.

57:12That's now up to five matches. And it's the third away game in a row where they scored a late, late result altering goal, which presumably brings a bit of positivity, Daniel? Yeah, it's an odd on that because there's certainly ingredients there, but there are such obvious high points and flaws within the same team and then with the same performances, it's kind of hard to know what to think about it. So like Brian Mbremu has been excellent this season. I think Matias, Terz de Ligtis and Casemiro have been excellent. There's a sort of spine there. Bruno Fernandes has been good as ever. And yet there were such obvious flaws in the team that you still can't quite see working.

57:51So like I still don't see Amadiello really working as a wing-back. I still don't think Agate is good enough so they have to play Casemiro every minute and they can't play Casemiro every minute. I don't think Benjamin Sesko's particularly good, to be honest. I mean, he's certainly raw. Needs to improve would be the kind of generous assessment. I know he went off injured, but I'm just not seeing that at all. So it doesn't kind of suggest that there's this grand master plan on and off the pitch slowly coming together, to my mind. It's just that they've bought some very good players and they had some very good players.

58:24And that is making them look better than they were. And they should be better than they were. It was a low bar last season, incredibly low bar. So, yeah, I can't really work them out. There's basically about 12 teams in the Premier League now where I'm like, ask me again in a month, which I know is not ideal for a weekly podcast about the Premier League. But that is sort of where we're at. We talked about the league table at the start of the season. It's like, you know, Tim said, Forest fans are happier in 19th than Newcastle fans are in 12th or Spurs fans are in 5th. And it does feel like that.

58:52It's so bunched up and you can be like, how as football fans, we always judge, we never judge how many points our team's got. We judge about where they are in the league. So when you're only three points ahead of 14th and you're 5th, it's really hard to know how to react to that because you know that in two weeks you might be 14th and then you are allowed to be angry. I think we can see this in quite a few of the EFL divisions as well this season. There's very bunched divisions. And if you look at the underlying numbers, there's teams at the top who you'd expect to fall away and teams at the bottom who expect to rise.

59:23But we live in this kind of world where each week, every week is either a disaster you know our transfer window was a disgrace our manager just doesn't get it anymore the players don't care or the following week you win and it's like you know we're on the rise here this is a promotion or championship I think in the Premier League Wolves are bad although maybe not as bad as we think and then Arsenal and Man City are good and that's kind of where we were a couple of seasons ago Alright we'll take that thought into the international break which now envelops us. Final round of World Cup qualifying, final break for World Cup qualifying for those Euro hopefuls.

1:00:09We're getting into what awaits in Thursday's Totally Football Show and maybe we'll touch on it a little bit in our Tuesday European Edition 2. But that is where we come to an end for tonight's show. So many thanks for following us. if you did on YouTube or giving us a listen via podcast. Many thanks to Daniel Story for bringing words of wisdom as ever. To Tim Spears, Duncan Alexander, Jake and Charlie in the booth. And you wherever you may be, have a great international break. Keep it totally. And for now, from all of us here, it's goodbye.

1:00:49You'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.