Man United stun leaders Arsenal + Slot under pressure at Liverpool?

0:00The Athletic FC

0:30as that continues as they completely forget their recent problems. With West Ham back and Tottenham back in trouble, we've all the match day, 23 fun and games in this Totally Football Show.

0:43Sunday 25th of January, and joining us here in the pod, my word, what a line-up. First of all, Matt Davies-Adams. Hi, Matt. Hi. Lovely to see you here in the studio. I'm well, thank you. Yourself? Yeah, can't smile wide enough. Forest win, Chelsea win, good weekend for MDA. Boom. Tim Spears is here Hello James Tim, have you changed your glasses? Maybe, yeah That is it, isn't it? Maybe it's the feeling of your team having quadrupled their points tally since you last appeared on the pod Oh yeah, what a month it's been What a month We'll hear much more about Tim and the Wolves and other things too but also here in the studio Daniel Story It feels weird in a good way Oh, yeah.

1:28Very much in a good way, yeah. Tim said to me about five minutes before we started recording, he said, why are you here? Which, you know, it's always nice to be welcomed. What was the answer? The answer is because I was at Portsmouth, Southampton, the South Coast derby, as they would have it. Someone told me that this... I'd never been before, and I'd been to most English football derbies, and they said, this is the best one on the lot. And I'm still sort of basking in the spicy glow of it. But, yeah, I think maybe they're right. What was the spiciest bit? there was a fight between the players so big that the referee had no choice but to just sort of watch it play out like ice hockey hockey stuff yeah really nice a Portsmouth fan got onto the pitch the second Portsmouth fan that got onto the pitch and someone in the Southampton then threw their metal crutch at him and then had to get a steward to get the crutch back and give it to him in the crowd which was a pretty delicious touch and that was the second thing I mentioned not in the first so yeah it was good stuff excellent excellent many people joining us on YouTube for our Sunday night sesh Here's Bangkok Free Walk 5940, who says it's 2.40am in Bangkok waiting for the show.

2:30Yeah, sorry about the delay getting things started. Others writing in on the subject of our late Sunday afternoon game. Jala, Jala, Jala says United, United, United, which is a pretty fair summary. The Limb Report says Young Frank is three wins away from his haircut. You know, I imagine Young Frank, is he the United fan? I assume he is, yeah. I think that would be good, wouldn't it? Tim could maybe... Tim. Tim, did you vow that until... I was waiting until the Wolves won the game. That's exactly what happens. It's no good for the lad, though, is it? He doesn't want... What does he do when they win five games in a row?

3:08He slides into irrelevance. I hope he's got another plan than just Man United not winning a mean or getting a haircut life-wise. You know, it's all part of the colourful spectrum. That's the one. Yeah, yeah, there we go. And you're on the turn. Oh, no! What a sensational hit from Matthias Cunha! And Manchester United have it again! Let's talk about Arsenal-Man United because it's reasonably freshly concluded before we get on to the rest of Matchday 23. It is in many ways the most significant result with all due respect to Forrest and West Ham and the rest because Arsenal dropping points at home is a rarity.

3:49Man United, meanwhile, continue their rebirth under Carrick. What, two games? They've beaten the top two and gone fourth. Remarkable. Matt? Give it in full time, that would be saying, which obviously they shouldn't do. I mean, it kind of felt like one team playing with a load of pressure on them and another team completely free of it, which is odd given that United are trying to qualify for the Champions League, but it also feels like maybe that's not hit them yet. And there was obviously less expectation, as there was against Manchester City last week. That's why I'm interested to see how they get on against Fulham at home next week, for example.

4:25But it was a real kind of beauty in the beast thing, wasn't it? United carefree, scoring goals of genuine beauty. Arsenal looking pretty stodgy and playing for set pieces and scoring a couple of pretty ugly goals as well. And playing with a pressure that felt like it was May and they had a one point advantage rather than it was January in that they've ended the day with a four-point advantage. It was almost as if they were putting it on themselves as much as United were putting it on them. So, yeah, brilliant from Carrick, from his perspective. It doesn't seem like there's been a radical sort of reinvention of how to play football from him, particularly, putting some pace alongside or some energy alongside Casimero in Kobe Mainu, inevitably.

5:13He had a hand, I think, in the third goal. Yeah, yeah, but just, you know, allowing a few more legs around the pitch, as it were, and then in the wide areas, Dorgi, obviously, a revelation in the last couple of weeks. Ahmad, full of energy as well, and Umbermo playing through the middle, which he didn't do under Amirim, and looking to play with real composure in front of goal. His finish was quite nice in a way. I always like it when it goes from one foot to the other, but it's an afterthought in terms of the quality of the two United goals that came afterwards. But you could feel, we were sat watching in the studio, but you could feel the tension from the Emirates.

5:47Not quite from kick-off, but as soon as something goes slightly wrong, there's a real sort of sharp intake and everybody clams up a little bit. And it can't be particularly useful. I thought maybe that bled into making a quadruple substitution before the hour mark. Just smacked a little bit of desperation and all the frantic activity that Arteta gets from the touchline. And then, yeah, as I say, I would have got Arsenal's attitude toward the game had it been later on in the title race, but it just felt a bit unnecessary to be quite so fraught. It's been a long wait for a title. Did Arsenal do that anxiety to themselves or should we credit Man United for spooking them?

6:23I mean, it's easy to forget Arsenal took the lead in this game, which actually seemed to galvanise United a little bit. But yeah, it does feel like Arsenal are bringing it on themselves a little bit. But I don't know, if you look at how they were early in the season, they're not too different they're still scoring from set pieces it's still quite you know they weren't blowing teams away before Christmas it's not like they were winning 3-0 every week you know there was sort of I remember a tight win against Palace at home 1-0 they're that 1-0 at Fulham the 2-1 over Wolves in December you know so maybe this kind of result has been coming for a little while to be honest and yeah those questions that we talked about last season about their mental fragility and you know does Arteta have what it takes to make this team and this squad into winners.

7:07I mean, that hasn't been answered yet. And, you know, just because they're top of the league at Christmas and top of the Champions League and then they're heading for the Carabao Cup final, that meant nothing. You know, Ferguson and Guardiola and Wenger will tell you that's the easy part, getting to where they are now. I think three of the last four seasons or two of the last three, Arsenal have been top at Christmas and conspicuously not at the end of the season. There was that picture of Gabriel after the third goal went in. and it looked like not quite William Gallas hitting the turf in a tantrum, but it certainly looked bigger than the sum of its parts, which was if you take the last three games every team has played in the Premier League, Arsenal have got about the same as Manchester City because everybody's faltering, right?

7:53Every drop point, it's almost as if the expectation is that they're going to win every game for the rest of the season. If they don't, oh my God, it's a crisis. I do think that Manchester United do have a huge amount of credit. There is, Nat mentioned the word freedom, just like a simplicity of instruction of, you know, there's not this kind of exhausting strangulation of over tinkering and over kind of analysing every individual action on the pitch. It is a case of like you're good footballers. Just go out and play a little bit. Enjoy yourself. I'm going to make a change at 2-1 up, which is to bring on a striker for an attacking player.

8:29I'm not going to bring on a defender. We're not going to shut up shop. It's like this is school holidays time for United players now. So you've got Carrick coming in and Steve Holland with him. And Matt, you were saying, well, two things. One, we have to see what happens against Fulham because those are the kind of games that United previously struggled to win. But secondly, that even if Carrick does really well, you shouldn't give it to him at the end of the season. Why is that? Why do people say that you can't give the interim manager the job? It's nothing but historical precedent to me. And the recent historical precedent of Manchester United doing the same thing not too long ago with Solskjaer would be what would spook me.

9:07I'd also say that for the promise that Carrick undoubtedly has and has shown, he was sacked as Middlesbrough manager not too long ago, having done a pretty good job overall. But it takes quite a lot to get sacked by Middlesbrough. that Steve Gibson is not that kind of guy. But I just think you're inevitably going to get a bounce when you've come from something so systemic and so rigid and a manager who's talking so much about various different things to the media and to the players and bomb squads and sidelining, academy talents and whatever, that you are naturally going to get an uptick in the first couple of weeks.

9:39And you're not always going to be playing games in which you're not expected to have a lot of the ball and not expected to win the games. And that sort of quickly changes, doesn't it? and then it becomes a whole different thing. And yeah, I mean, you know, there's always an exception that proves the rule, right? And maybe this is it. And I do think you're right to point out the appointment of Steve Holland. That is a massive plus for Carrick and it's sensible that they've done that. I'm always an advocate for a young and relatively an experienced manager having a more experienced number two as part of their staff.

10:09And that's clever from United's point of view. You just need to see it over a more sustained period. We are literally talking about two games. Yes, they've been against the top two teams in the league and so they can't be written off but let's have a chat again in a month and see where they are. Let's do that. I mean, if they get in the Champions League... I'm touting for more show appearances. I like that. Clever. If they get in the Champions League it's difficult not to give them the job, right? Because they haven't been in it for a few years and they look like very much backmarkers to make that.

10:36So then I think it becomes almost churlish not to. The issue with replacing a really successful caretaker which is why people go for it, go for the caretaker, is that it creates exactly the opposite pressure that following Ruben Amarim does, right? The whole thing was following Sir Alex is the hardest job in football. Well, following Ruben Amarim is a breeze because you can do everything he didn't. If you then replace a really successful caretaker manager who's done well, as a newcomer, you are starting from behind the starting line, I think, because you're having to match up to what the last guy did.

11:08Yeah, you're right. But it's been a long time since they had a really good few months of sustained happiness, winning some matches. Because if they do that, it'll be hard not to give him the job. But, yeah, I would say on the two games, the decisions he's made have all been really good. But we've all been saying that these things should happen for a while. And that's us. And we're not. We're not UEFA yet. Yeah, like Fernandes in the 10 and some energy alongside Casimiro and Dorga and Diallo further forward and Buma up top instead of Kunja. We could all see this. So I think most managers of Carrick's sort of intelligence and qualifications should have been able to see it as well.

11:46I'm not saying he hasn't added sort of gravitas and a calmness and composure and authority to it as well. But yeah, he shouldn't be talked about as getting the job just yet, of course. Fair enough, fair enough. Arsenal midweek will be back in the Champions League, which of course they're top of the league in. So for all the questions about mentality and that, they are top of the league, in the FA Cup, in the League Cup and top of the Champions League as well. And United didn't have a game midweek. I don't know if that was a factor at all. I would like to give a shout-out to their tremendous tracksuit tops that they emerged from the tunnel at the Emirates Inn with the Stone Roses artwork and the tribute to Manny.

12:24Adidas are doing some very good, and Nike, to be fair. Other brands are available, but they are doing some incredible matchwear. But you are wearing Adidas, so that's important. I mean, if we're doing a shout-out to match jackets, the Roma one, the white Roma one is, I mean, you have to be cool in Italian to wear it, sadly, but I think just wearing it makes you... Yeah, maybe. Maybe it sort of gives you two up on the ladder, maybe, yeah. Excellent. Anything else you want to say about Sunday afternoon's big game, Tim Spears, Matt, or indeed Daniel? Arsenal, this is pointed out on X, Arsenal two wins from seven against City, Liverpool, United, Chelsea and Spurs.

13:01That would be a slight concern, I suppose. And what, through that win in the Premier League now? I mean, if you're going to have a wobble, I guess do it while you're on top and at least they have this plethora. options now but that substitution didn't add a whole lot did it? I know Marino bundled one in but yeah you'd still have them as favourites I think it was Daniel was saying earlier it would feel wrong if Manchester City won the league this year because they're a long way from their best and Unai Emery will tell you that Aston Villa aren't in the race for Champions League qualification so I still think they've got one hand on the trophy I don't think there's any reason for panic for Arsenal at the moment but you're not just going to sail through the season and win the league.

13:43And it's been a great weekend for the Premier League in terms of everything. Now it looks really interesting. The title race, Champions League qualification and the relegation battle. So us neutrals can just enjoy it, I think. And Arsenal will probably get over the line anyway. We shall see. All right, let's check on the results. Elsewhere on Matchday 23, so Man United 3-2 winners at the Emirates against Arsenal. Villa earlier on Sunday were 2-0 victors at Newcastle with Man City beating Wolves 2-0 on Saturday those two sides moved to four points behind Mikel Arteza's team Elsewhere in the early Sunday games you had Chelsea beating Crystal Palace 3-1 at Soho's Park Palace are now eight games without a win in the league Forrest were 2-0 winners at Brentford Woof Forrest with a very timely reply to West Ham's victory against Sunderland on Saturday, keeping the Hammers thus at five points distance in a relegation battle.

14:41Elsewhere on Saturday, Spurs came crashing back down to earth with a bump after their midweek beating and Borussia Dortmund held to a 2-2 draw at Burnley, while Bournemouth's Adleys scored with the last kick of the game in their clash with Liverpool to give the Cherries a 3-2 victory. Fulham beat Brighton 2-1. Lovely goal from Harry Wilson again. Fuller moving up to seventh spot in the Premier League ahead of Monday's clash between Everton and Leeds. More of that early Sunday action next. This is the Totally Football Show with James Richardson, part of the Athletic FC podcast network. Telemans, Rodgers, Buendia.

15:22It's a great effort. It's a sweet, sweet goal from Emi Buendia. Well, you just knew there was a goal coming. This game has been full of chances. So far, the goalkeepers have been on top until now. Sunday's early games, there were three 2 o 'clock kick-offs. Tim, you were watching Newcastle getting beaten 2-0 by Aston Villa with what at the time, I think we marked down as goal of the weekend until United came along and slightly changed the bar on that. Yeah, another amazing goal from outside the box from Villa. their 13th this season. I think Bournemouth have got 11, but everyone else is sort of 7 or lower, which sort of just shows you how unusual that is.

16:06But yeah, Buendia with this kind of, sort of a little bit Ronaldo free-kicky sort of, but it goes up and down so quickly from 20 yards. It's probably like a little golf chip. Really hard to save as a keeper because the ball just moves so viciously downwards. and yeah Villa very good value for a really really good win I was going to listen to Arna Slott last night after they lost at Bournemouth you know bemoaning the fact that they played in the Champions League in midweek on Wednesday night and yet you know you look at Villa with all the injuries they've got probably the worst in the league at the moment at Fenerbahce on Thursday night you know the proverbial tough place to go and winning there 1-0 with a clean sheet despite resting their back two.

16:52And then turning up at Newcastle on Sunday and being absolutely dominant, just being textbook Villa, they need that intensity in midfield to be at their best. And they were absolutely tenacious. And Watkins off the last man and the back two were brilliant. Buendia was great. Inanna, just a real sort of complete team performance with Martins making a really important couple of saves, including in the opening minute when Tonali does a sort of a Ricky Villa sort of zigzagging. That's for the younger listeners. Zigzagging in between two or three players. And then, yeah, Martinez is diving the wrong way but saves with his legs.

17:27That was about 50 seconds in. Brilliant. Apart from that, though, where were Newcastle? How much of their lack of impact on this game was due to the fact that Bruno Gimmaros was huddled under a jacket with his missus in the stands? Yeah, well, they've never won without him. And that continues. That goes all the way back to his debut. yeah but you know that was kind of the way it was set up was that Newcastle were without Bruno but Villa were without Kamari you know they're sort of key midfield pivot and McGinn as well and then Newcastle also lost Joe Linton partway through the game and then Villa lost Tielemans partway through the game so it's sort of last man's standard in that regard but Newcastle just really really flat and couldn't play their way through this sort of robust box that Villa have wherever the ball seems to be they just seem to have this box of four players just surrounding it ready to win it back and then attack so quickly, it's so impressive and then whenever they did get through Martinez made two really good saves so, you know, kudos to Villa you look at these teams struggling in the Premier League despite doing so well in Europe like Spurs, like Liverpool, like Newcastle and Emery just seems to be the master at combining league and European form and rotates his squad better than anybody, I'd say.

18:47So, yeah, and they're still in the title race. Villa, with that one-0 Will at Fenerbahce, are confirmed in the top eight of the Europa League, so they go straight through to the knockout stages. Who here actually buys them in the title race, Villa? Tim says yay. Matt, I'm getting a strong no vibe from you on that. Not necessarily, because I've got the table in front of me and they've got the same points as Manchester City, so... But, yeah, I mean... No buts. No buts? No, they look better than Manchester City for the last month. So I don't see why... Like, I don't think they're going to win the league, but they're absolutely in the title race.

19:20Well, no, no, no. The question is whether they're in the title race. OK, yeah. They're not going to win the league. I think Arsenal will win... Oh, so nobody sees them winning the league. I think Arsenal will win the league, but I think Villa are as much in the conversation as Manchester City are. I asked the question wrong. Yeah. There you go. Let me ask a different one then. Newcastle, if they can boss those European teams around, what's going to happen when they go to PSG midweek because that's such a big game isn't it? They are really good in Europe because for some reason from what I've watched in the Champions League European teams don't seem to have spotted that all Newcastle do is get out to one of the wingers and hope that they've got enough space to run into and they give them that space I think we said it last week they're going to have to change something in the Premier League they're going to have to get one of those midfielders closer to the striker because it's one thing to use those wingers to just kind of hit the byline and cross it when you've got Volta Marder in there.

20:12But when you're doing that to Johan Wisser, it's really not going to work. So I was surprised actually with Bruno being out, I thought this might be a really easy chance without dropping anyone to actually do that, to bring in Jacob Ramsey, who cost, you know, they bought for 40 million from Villa last summer and barely featured, get him up there and try and get him close to Wisser. But how Lily thinks that his way is going to end up being the best. It has been good in the Champions League and they've also been really, really good against PSG when they met them in the Champions League haven't they they drew away when they were far better than PSG and got done by a late goal controversial late penalty and they beat them at home well that cost that 1-1 draw whenever that was four years ago three yeah that cost them progress to the next round they are I think one of eight teams tied on 13 points only two of that eight are within the top eight so six teams are going to end up basically not they're probably going to have to win to get top eight right yeah I think is the basic maths.

21:08And with Jolinson going off, the midfield trio that ended the match, Tonali went off late on as well, was Willock, Ramsey and Miley. I mean, if they go to PSG with that as their three, then... PSG, just gone back at the top of the league in France. A rare treat for them there. Small guys, yeah. And had two extra days rest as well. So true, so true. Man City, that was back on Saturday, but they are in the title, etc. and so on. and they beat Wolves 2-0, Tim. Just when you thought you were getting out, they drag you back in. Just doing my calculations. I had to catch Forrest. And why is everyone laughing?

21:49Yeah, yeah, pretty regulation win. That was City's first win of 2026 in the Premier League. Was it, yeah? And Wolves' first defeat. Amazing, isn't it? Yeah, the form guard was turned upside down for this one. I don't know why everyone's laughing again. It's just a fact. Yeah, it's sort of a weird match. It was quite striker-less. Right. Well, among the strangenesses was the fact that Pep went with a line-up that didn't feature Foden or Erling Haaland, but did include Semenya and new signing Mark Gay, who had a brilliant game, by all accounts. Yeah, he did. But Wolves also didn't play a striker, which definitely helped him have a good match, I would say.

22:27But what he did, he did very well. They trusted him a lot with possession. It was interesting he was asked, I think, after how it's been so far. Yeah, the first thing he said was, there's a lot of details. Put that with a proper... A lot of details, yeah. So he had second most passes of any City player. He also touched the ball second most. Only Rodri was on the ball more. Which, for a player, he's just arrived to a team that has, as you say, a certain amount of detail to it. Perfect. You get an early lead. Against Wolves. well yeah against Wolves but Wolves were it was kind of the first half's perfect and City have established a lead so he gets to be part of that and the second half's perfect because Wolves were really good for the second half they attacked City in a way that they didn't really do in the first half and part of me thought is Rob Edwards maybe going to have to let them attack a bit more and just be like look there's nothing to lose now I know he's building for next season but you almost I think as an away supporter you just think maybe don't save it until we're tuning it down at half time given that we're only on eight points anyway.

23:35I think he tried to be too clever with this one. He went for no striker saying he just didn't want to be too direct and keep losing possession. But they just kept losing possession anyway. Yeah, it was a pretty uneventful match, which won't live long in the memory. But there was one really interesting talking point with this VAR decision. Which was the VAR decision? So this is Marmouche kicking the ball onto Mascara. Oh, yeah. And the referee is in the box, obviously. And the referee says, no penalty. referee Farah Halam is making his Premier League debut and he was sent by Darren England I think obviously far more experienced referee than him after I think about a three minute delay and then sent to go and review it which normally means as we know that he will overturn it but fair play to Halam he's watched it and he's like no, I'm sticking with this this is not handball which you know I think you can make a case for either because the ball is flicked up at sort of the underside of his arm.

24:35His arm's there anyway. It's very close proximity. And also if you look at the sort of the pause moment when the ball hits it, Marmouche and Mosquera's arms are in exactly the same position. So to call it unnatural would be a bit daft because they're both trying to balance themselves. They're both literally symmetrical with their arm positions. What I found really disappointing about this was Guardiola's comments afterwards. He basically took over the whole press conference. by criticising the referee. After getting right in his face at full time as well. It was real kind of Ferguson clock kind of stuff, wasn't it?

25:08Yeah, and I just thought, you know, this guy, Farah Alam, he's making his debut in the Premier League. He's quite a young guy. But it's important that, you know, he's given support for a couple of really important reasons. One, he's from an ethnic minority background, which is obviously very rare in the Premier League for referees. But two, he's a former professional footballer. so he briefly played for Stevenage and I think he played in Spain as well for like two or three seasons as a professional and we know how unusual it is for a footballer to come into refereeing it's something that I think we all want to encourage but it's very hard to do for many reasons including the abuse you get and the fact that footballers are just loaded now so why would you go and take that job when you've retired so obviously I doubt Guardiola would be well he might not be aware of that but I think the fact that this guy's debut and he's made a bold decision that can be argued either way and had no consequence on the match whatsoever.

26:03It's not like they lost 3-2 in the last minute. So for Guardiola to just attack him publicly... Totally with you on that. Tim, you've made a bold decision as well as a bold decision. Just a shout out for OTPS who says hashtag trim spears. That's lovely. That is lovely, isn't it? And for you, OTPS says good to see story in person for once. Yeah. Quasi in person, isn't it? YouTube link. but yeah no but you're nice to see you here you know physically manifesting in the studio it's lovely to be here otpss um i went to a pgmol development course at loughborough university about 18 months ago in which the new generation of referees getting training and get also getting advice from you know anthony taylor was there doing speeches sam barrett was a kind of new premier league referee at that point and for i was one of the people who i interviewed when i was at that course.

26:54Obviously, I had no idea who he was at that point. You can tell he is a former footballer because he's apt. You know when you meet footballers and you're like, certainly I do, end up looking up a foot into the air. He's a huge guy. He's lovely. He was adamant he was going to be a Premier League referee. He was adamant, like, I want to make it as far as I can. I want to get to the top. I obviously had no idea until I saw this news story yesterday. I was like, oh God, that's the guy. and he did get to the Premier League and fair play to him because I think he got the decision absolutely right. He got the decision right.

27:28The VAR was Darren England and Darren England is the referee who makes the call to give the penalty in the Chelsea game that we'll come on to for a very sort of similar thing. But yeah, I mean, exactly. This is the kind of person who we should be looking for as a referee, right? Young, fit, able to get around the pitch, knows a bit about the game having played it, should have some empathy there and is empowered to make his own decision. So for what some people would consider to be the greatest manager ever, to lambast him like that over what Tim says is a completely inconsequential decision. We'll look forward to three months of the internet calling him a fraud and corrupt then.

28:03So that should be good. He'll get his little honeymoon period and then we'll be writing on him in two months' time. Well, maybe Pep was just caught up in the emotion of the match and wouldn't Wolves 2-0 in the game already. Wolves, informed Wolves. But anyway, you mentioned the Chelsea game, Matt. We'll come on to that and all sorts of other delights right after this.

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29:04And the link is also in our episode description. Many thanks. Scotland, big top of the table clash today, Sunday, as leaders hearts. saw their challenge for an unlikely-looking title to come under real pressure from Celtic. Celtic, who brought Mike and O 'Neill back in and all of a sudden are looking re-energised. Hearts were trailing, ended up 2-2. It leaves the gap to Celtic at six points, of course. But Rangers, look out their back, they beat Dundee to move into second spot. They're four points off the summit. Any of those three teams can win the title. Wouldn't it be funny, and obviously not for fans of Celtic and Hearts, But if Rangers, who were a complete fire sale for the first, whatever the expression should be, for the first, what was it?

29:51They couldn't win a game for how long? One of their first eight? Yeah, they were, well, both them and Celtic are actually in very, pretty similar situations in that Celtic have finally got it right by going back to Martin O 'Neill, who they should never have replaced with Wilfred Nancy. In group manager, give him the job full time. Exactly. and Rangers have kind of done that on a loop by sticking Martin too long and then getting it right I think Danny Will is a fabulous coach I think they're very lucky to have him and he could well he's a sort of sleeping partner in a three horse title race I think they really could win it while everyone's talking about Hartzell Celtic I mean without wanting to invite a program from two halves of Glasgow I'd rather I would rather Hearts win the title.

30:40I really hope they do. I went out there in September and it's brilliant there. They've got everything right. I do just fear that the next four months are going to be quite long for them if they've got a lead. We shall see. Crystal Palace could have a lengthy end of season ahead of them, the way things are going. Another defeat this weekend at the hands of Chelsea, 3-1. This was Sunday afternoon. and Matt, you were commentating on this for Chelsea. First of all, before we get into the Palace stuff, Rossellini, that's four wins out of five, back-to-back victories in the Premier League. They'd only won two in ten before that.

31:18What's he done? How are you feeling about him? I'm pleased you phrase it like that, James, because there's been a yeah but to every game that he's won so far and some of those have been legitimate. He scored five against Charlton, yeah but it's Charlton in the FA Cup. I saw them against Brentford last week. Brentford were the better team. They were lucky to win that game. Fair enough. They beat Paphos. Oh, they only beat Paphos 1-0. Paphos don't concede many goals away from home in the Champions League, but admittedly, Chelsea would have hoped to win that game by a bigger margin. There was none of this in this game.

31:49Chelsea were the superior team and deserved to win by three goals to one. In terms of what he's done, it's not hugely different, albeit he did switch systems during the game, which is not something we saw a lot from Enzo Moresco. Went to a back three for sort of the closing stages of it. his heat preys on everybody all the time, which I think has a finite capacity to actually work, but it'd be interesting to see whether it does. I think he's done really well to cope with the ridicule that he's faced. I think it's been really interesting to watch this sort of, and you can't judge everything on social media response, everything obviously, but last season it was clips of, look at this guy's team talks in the Strasbourg dressing room.

32:28Hasn't he really got something? Isn't he one to watch to, ha ha, he said manage. and made a thing out of it, which is quite funny. It is funny, but why are we trying to swallow this guy up when he's young, in his 40s, first Premier League job, young British manager, coming into a really difficult situation, a job that he's probably not ready for? He's starting it quite well. He's got a lot of things to manage. He's got Cole Palmer, who's nowhere near fit. He's got a mishmash of a squad that he's got to put together. I'm really hoping that it goes okay for him and it's starting. Cole Palmer, what's this story about him wanting out with Man United at a possible destination?

33:06There's nothing I've heard of that that would give it any sort of credence, to be honest. I think the thing for Cole Palmer is that he wants to get fit and play football, and that's something that doesn't look like it's going to happen any time soon. But, you know, you can... It's kind of mad, isn't it, that the guy who scored England's goal in the Euro 2024 final, as it stands... Looks unlikely to... Yeah, won't be on the plane, yeah. Really? well you can't I mean that is the area of the pitch in which England have lots of options with Foden and Rodgers etc and he's like the whole thing about a tournament squad yes they're bigger these days but you want people that you can guarantee are going to be there through the tournament you can't do that with Parma at the moment you have to play if you want him in the team he has to play every three days he can't do that at the moment so he's a risk which is a shame Yeah, heartbreaking.

33:53Palace, there you go on. And the guy who replaced him, is this too linear? The guy who replaced him essentially set up the first goal for Chelsea. Yeah, he made a mistake, but Esteve Alves in his own half of the field when he gets the ball. So we probably ought to give him a little bit of credit as an 18-year-old managing to hold off a far bigger opponent than Tyric Mitchell for that length of time, composing himself and finishing. And he hadn't scored since Chelsea beat Barcelona. He'd gone 10 games without a goal. and he was in a little bit of a dip himself. He always looks like he's capable of doing something and there's greater onus on him to do that with Palmer not there and with Pedro Neto in this game not offering much for large periods of it.

34:33So yeah, fantastic for him to score. But yes, the mistake did come from Gahy's replacement. But Palace just, it all felt so flat. I was interested to see what kind of reaction there was to the team and the manager when the teams took to the pitch and it was notable that Glasner came out very late and sort of looked at the stand and offered a sort of apologetic wave. And some people waved back and other people stood with their arms crossed. And it just felt a bit awkward. And that was the mood of the whole game, really. Selhurst Park against Chelsea should be lively and bear-pit-ish. And often that doesn't bother Chelsea because they've got an excellent record against Crystal Palace.

35:10Lively like a squirrel in a pedal bin. Yes, quite, yes. Which they weren't. Yeah, no, they weren't. And how Glasner normally is. But he was sat on his chair, his very comfortable padded chair for most of the game, not really affecting things. And although he tried to right the wrongs from last week in his pre-match press conference, it all just felt a bit, well, we'll stay together for the kids, but we know how this is going to end. Right. And in football terms, when a manager announces they're going at the end of the season, it usually only ends one way. So some Palace fans are already feeling that better to make a change to rip the bandage off.

35:46And some players, I would assume, as well. None of them having got off the bench against Sunderland last week. I can't imagine what that does to your morale. It's worth saying that it could have been a different game if Mateta had scored a very presentable one-on-one chance early in the game, which Sanchez kicked away a decent save. But other than that, they were flat. It was their 36th game of the season, which is more than anybody else. But they'd had a week off, which they don't normally get. So, yeah, they go to Forest next weekend without Adam Wharton. So no Adam Wharton. They are eight points above West Ham in the bottom three.

36:20Eleven games without a win. Eight of those in the Premier League. How much trouble are they in, Daniel? They are in trouble if West Ham and Forrest are actually going to get their act together. The whole reason of not dragging those teams down was that there was no magnetism from West Ham at that point and not much more from Forrest. There is now because West Ham have won two in a row. So, yeah, if West Ham win next week and Palace don't, then, yeah, they're absolutely in the relegation picture because, as Matt says, everybody's just waiting for May. And it feels like with everything in the Premier League at the moment, you have to remind yourself it's only January.

36:58So because it feels like the title race has been won three times and the relegation race has been sorted three times already, you kind of think, yeah, there's still nearly 40 % of the season left. Palace absolutely can be in trouble if they keep Glasner for that long. I felt very sorry for his mind coming back in like, hey guys, you see my medal? Where's Mark? Why is everybody looking so sad? Oh, OK, right, fine. And, you know, if Mateta stays or goes, he looked way short today. It's a big issue for them. You know, do you keep the dead man walking there for the rest of the season? obviously they've still got the Conference League to go for but they've got a play-off to get through that so they've got an extra two games in that as well they don't have the squad to have lost the players they had and just replaced them without peppering in some real quality around If Gladner hadn't said I'm leaving at the end of the season everybody would have known he's leaving at the end of the season but you could have bought signed players in January and sold them something that look, if we win the Conference League and we get Europa League football Oli might stay and we can all be a happy family for the next 18 months at least.

38:02Which I believe Brendan Johnson's agent is going... Yeah, you can't do that now. In the next six days of this window, which agent is going to say, yeah, my players are going to go to Palace? I'm not sure you even know what division they're going to be in next season yet. Crikey. Big game then next weekend. Away at Forest? Massive it is, yeah. Away at Forest. Luckily, there's no recent rancour between the two teams which would add any further spice to it. Oh my word. Yeah. Oh my word. Yeah, it's El Casico, but different this time. Well, Chelsea have got their own rancour-filled reunion midweek as well.

38:37I said that was rancour, I said. It's going to be against your man Antonio Conte, former Chelsea boss, and his Napoli side. Napoli, after their recent misadventures in the Champions League, are currently in 25th spot in the league, so set to miss out on even a spot among the playoffs. Chelsea going there, where they are better at home, Napoli, Maradona, but they've just been woeful under Conte in Europe. And it's a big game for Chelsea as well, though, Matt. It is because they are outside. They're in that cluster of eight teams, aren't they? They are, yeah. And I think the last supercomputer I saw gave them about a 25 % chance of getting the top eight.

39:14But it's huge for Liam Rossini because if they have to go through the playoffs, he won't get a free week until March, having come in in January. And that's hard. They've still got the second leg of the League Cup semi-final as well against Arsenal. They're still in the FA Cup. but that's difficult training wise I think It's a really important point without going back to it Michael Carrick because of Manchester United's situation he has these midweeks it's so much easier when you don't have to particularly European games when you're having to you've got match day minus two is travel match day minus one is press stuff and a bit of training you've got match day then you fly home overnight then you match day minus one again or match day minus two it's really hard More about Chelsea by the way in Matt's Straight Outta Cobham podcast is that well reviewed that podcast Matt?

39:57It's the most highly rated show on the Athletic Podcast Network, James. And we will be not just talking about Napoli and Crystal Palace, but in less good news, Chelsea seemingly finally relinquishing their grip on the WSL title after six straight seasons. Just the nine points. It's a lot of points. And if the manager's saying it's gone when it's six points, then that's not a great sign. But yes, a packed show, that's for sure. When will that be out, Matt? It'll be with you on Monday and of course on Thursdays as well now, back to two shows a week for the rest of the season. Brigatti Rossi just pointing out Napoli walloped today at Juventus true 3-0 and it wasn't much of a game really from Napoli's point of view Conte up against another of his former clubs of course there so it could be a rough week for him and the partner but we'll find out on Wednesday when all the games were played literally at the same time Duncan Alexander was pointing out that last season when they had this newfangled final day of the league phase and all 18 games played at the same time for a bit of a wheeze somebody put you up for watching every single game but doing five minutes of each.

41:01Five minutes of each. There were 64 goals scored that night and I only saw five. But that's an average of three and a half goals a game, I think. So if I'd have sat and watched one match for 90 minutes, I probably would have watched three and a half goals but I only saw five. Fair. Yeah, you sell that in a way that makes you sound like the clown but you actually end up as the prince. Nice. But it was a pointless exercise, Tim, wasn't it? Yeah. You're not going to do that again this year. Yeah, do it again to this one. I don't know if my editors are listening. I mean, yeah, I guess maybe I'll do it in the last two weeks.

41:37So how do you approach it? That's the thing. 18 games at once is too many games. Too many games. It was very silly. They were like, can we get someone silly to do this? And just write about it and have a bit of a laugh. I was not sure. But I did kind of schedule it so that the games with the most jeopardy were the last ones that I watched. Oh, nice. So you'd be there for the final whistlish. Yeah. Yeah. How are you going to approach Wednesday night? I think I'm going to go and watch a game on Tuesday night and then just watch it on TV. I just don't think I'm going to... Yeah. Tim, that is actually...

42:08It's a really good idea. It's one of those ideas that sounds really good until you sit down at the desk and be like, actually, I'm just going to watch five minutes of 18 games. Well, also because there's going to be games that you wanted to stick with and you had to leave behind. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. Anyway. It's an allegory for life, though. Speaking of which, I'm going to move on now to Brentford 0 Nottingham Forest 2 Daniel you watched this one the Igor Derby won by Igor Jesus yeah the battle for Brazil's potential other striker spot in the World Cup nice goal yeah I mean really interesting actually in the pre-game quite a lot of the talk was about the two Igors because Thiago has the best right or had the best Igor's dare nice very very nice Igor Thiago had the best conversion rate in the Premier League and Igor Jesus had the worst of all players to have taken 20 shots.

42:592.6 conversion rate. Now, I think that a couple of things have happened. He's got a couple of harsh, disallowed goals. Yeah, Igor Beaver. And he's also doing so much work outside the box. I think he's sort of half knackered when he gets the ball in the box, basically. Anyway, he scored a beautiful goal. The opener takes it on his chest, swivels, turns, puts it far corner. Really nice. Any other weekend this goal of the weekend, isn't it? But it possibly wasn't even the goal of this game, though. Because the second goal was pretty nice as well. The second one is, well, it's peak Taraharani, which is relevant anyway because we thought we'd missed peak Taraharani.

43:38Actually, it turns out that peak Taraharani is when he removes his shirt at the end of the game to reveal the most outrageous abs upon abs upon abs upon abs. Anyway, look it up. Don't tell your partner. Forrest were a really good value for it. It was back to the 2024-25. Matt knows as well as I do. There's this really weird thing going on at the moment where most Forest fans don't want Sean Dyche to be their manager next season. And that has become warped into don't want Sean Dyche as their manager now. And Thursday night was an appalling performance. So last Thursday night, they went to the quarry to take on Braga.

44:13Which was empty of home fans. Which was empty of home fans for reasons that we'll get into. It was a rainstorm and it was only Forest. I'm not sure what the reason was. I think, yeah, yeah, no offence taken. So Forrest missed the penalty, scored an own goal, and had a player sent off, and Braga won despite having no shots on target or fans in attendance. Yeah, which is unusual. And after that game, I think if Daesh had been sacked on the way home, a poll of Forrest fans, not just social media, would have probably agreed that it was a good decision. Right. And yet, they are now 11th in the Premier League since Daesh took over.

44:5020 points from 15 games. If they beat Palace next weekend, he will have a point per game ratio of 1.44 at Forest. Nuno had 1.47, which just doesn't seem like it can be possible. They are picking up points playing badly. Today was different because they picked up points by basically doing what they did last season. If they keep doing that, he says famous last words. They did what they did last season. To the extent that I thought, I seem to remember Forest winning 2-0 at Brentford last season. they did it with 34 % possession on Sunday last season they did it with 36 % possession, last season they had an XG of 0.84 this season they had an XG of 0.78, it was weirdly similar to it but didn't see it coming at all, but the problem for Forrest has been when you do see it coming under Sean Dyche, then it doesn't happen, so Palace at home next week then away to Leeds, that's tough, then cover your ears Tim home to Wolves so opportunity knocks there but what we we the collective we as Forest supporters want to see is Sean Dyche being able to put these games away without blaming the referee without blaming the players and without insulting people's intelligence talking about things like minutes of madness rather than 90 minutes of dross so that's where the rubbing up against his principles and demeanour is coming from a large section of the Forest fan base, but you can't deny that the results have been infinitely better than they were and they're much better positioned to stay up than certainly there would have been you'd sense if Poster Goggle had been there, but it's such a hammer blow to West Ham to have won off the back of West Ham winning.

46:31That feels so significant that Saturday, they play the first game of the weekend. They sweep aside one of the stories of the season. They've just won away at Spurs. We've got some new faces in at last. All's good. Forest, we're coming for you. and they end the weekend back exactly where they've started. And that, mentally, I think that is just huge for Forrest as it is for West Ham. We'll talk about West Ham, although Daniel? No, just a quick one. The one thing I would say in Daesh's defence, Forrest would have been really bad at defending set-pieces for a long time. They were under him as well for a bit.

47:07They've just kept clean sheets against probably the two best set-piece teams in the Premier League in Arsenal and Brentford. Maybe you'd add Spurs to that, who he also kept a clean sheet at home against. There are some signs that he's getting that bit right. And he didn't oversee the£200 million spend on players, one of whom has been a mild success, one has shown flashes, none of the rest have. So it is frustrating when he criticises the players and I fail to see the value in it. But, you know, he's leaning heavily on the players who did so well last season and that's guessing results in the Premier League at the moment, it seems.

47:39We shall see how long they remain there. Anyway, other clubs away. so we'll get on to let's see West Ham and that Burnley Spurs game and of course Bournemouth Liverpool and yes Fulham Brighton next

48:00This is the Totally Football Show with James Richardson part of the Athletic FC podcast network Totally Football Show European Edition is out first thing on Tuesday loads to talk about Bayern lost their first game this season in the Bundesliga there was that Juve win over Napoli you had PSG going back on top you had Inter 2-0 down to Pisa then coming back to win 6-2 Ethan Nguyenary scoring 13 minutes into his debut for Marseille what else oh yeah the last day of the Champions League which Tim's looking forward to and will be previewing in the company of Tom Williams and James Horncastle and Paul Boulos and said Stafford Bloor magnificent West Ham Matt you were mentioning they beat Sunderland 3-1.

48:44That's not three victories in a row, but against two, some might say, Spurs. A Sunderland team who have been one of the stories of the season but away from home will do things like lose this game. I think they also lost at Brentford, didn't they, Sunderland? Anyway, but it's not just the fact they won three games in a row, it's the way that they're winning. Is that right? Yeah, they're doing the basics right, which sounds like damning with faint praise, but... Also scoring some spectacular goals. Yeah, and watch West Ham in the first half of the season and doing the basics well is a vast improvement.

49:15But they're just making the most of their strengths, which is exactly what Nuno has always been good at and has taken longer to do at West Ham than I thought. What are their strengths? Their wingers are their two best players. Maybe that's harsh on Mateus Fernandes, but basically Bowen and Somerville are the two best players. Bowen creates a first goal for Somerville. One in all. Yeah, and a beautiful... I mean, it's a weird moment when a cross comes into the box and they've brought these two fairly massive strikers and there's Crescensio Somerville leaping in the air to hammer home ahead of Dion Dublin style.

49:49Yeah, and then Somerville has a hand in the second. Boren scores the penalty. Mateus Randers is a lovely finish for the third, which is why I had him to that list. But they've stopped making mistakes at the back and when you do that and you get the ball to those two wingers, you'll create enough chances to win games. The question is whether they can do it consistently. The question that Jay Cole asked is, can West Ham United catch Tottenham Hotspur? It's currently eight points between them. Tottenham Hotspur Saturday were on the verge of losing away at Burnley. Tim, did you see this? A fair amount, and I've seen an awful lot of vitriol on Twitter.

50:28I saw a poll last night, frank in or out, very simple. 8 ,000 votes, 5 % in, of which I was one of them, because you have to vote to see the results. Oh, I see. And even I don't think that he should be in either. I think you just didn't want to have that on your conscience. As long as you want to see the world burn. Yeah, exactly. So I think, yeah, Spurs' last five fixtures, Burnley, West Ham, Bournemouth, Sunderland and Brentford. And that's three points. They were kind of targeting these January fixtures at times to climb the table. They've got some horrendous games in February. And yeah, if they don't turn it around quickly, then they really will be in a relegation battle.

51:07Eight points currently above the bottom three. They've had two wins in their last 14 matches. That tough run that you mentioned is Man City next weekend, then Man United away, then Newcastle at home, and then Arsenal. Yikes. You bring the new guy in for that, though. That's my question as to why Thomas Frank is still the manager. Do you say, here's four games, you're probably not going to win any of them, and then where's the momentum? Where's the Michael Carrick-style bounce at that point? Obviously, Carrick came in and won two big games, So maybe you gamble that way. It's interesting with them and West Ham that they both bought in new number twos.

51:41And West Ham seems to have made a pretty immediate impact. Paco Jemez, that's his name, right? And John, the artist formerly known as Johnny Heitinger at Spurs, seemingly less so. But yeah, I can only think it's either paucity of candidates, although Ryan Mason is back on the market, or the fact that these fixtures look pretty daunting for somebody new coming in. I mean, are they just thinking, well, we'll get Pochettino back in the summer, but if you're a championship club, I mean, they're not really going to get relegated. I don't know about Ryan Mason, just to check.

52:17Yes, but... Spurs are basically that club at the moment where you say something sarcastically like, Spurs could go down or Ryan Mason could be the manager. And then you think, no, no, Ryan Mason could be the manager and Spurs could go down. They could end up in a relegation scrap and win a European title, just like they did last season. What about Andy Robertson and this move to bring him to the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium? I mean, he has what they lack desperately, which is experience and big game now and leadership. I'm not seeing much of that at Spurs at the moment. People talk about Romero and his leadership.

52:51But I don't know if you saw the second goal of Burnley's yesterday, which just screamed managers about to get sacked goal. the ball comes in to the D basically and Romero just absolutely darts out of the box misses the ball completely but then makes absolutely no effort to track back and if he had watched it and I thought if he sprints now he would have got back to that ball but he didn't he just stood and watched and I know he ends up with a bullet header for the equaliser but some of the defending that Spurs are doing right now I think Tuanzebi was completely on his own for the first goal it's just very end of days Van de Ven did do some remarkable last-minute intervention stuff.

53:29The last-minute intervention show that something's gone wrong organisationally, right? And that's what Frank's strong suit was supposed to be, which I guess is the biggest worry. But briefly, this was as must-win for Burnley as it was for Spurs, and they were so close to it. At the end of the weekend, 10 points from safety, having not won since, what, October. So not quite final nail-y, but not far off, you'd think, for them. Was it Forrest who started the sideways and backwards everywhere we go chant? Because I heard they sang it at Porto and then I heard, it's Braga, sorry, and I heard Spurs fans singing it at Burnley.

54:02I think Southampton fans as well under Tonda Eckhart have been singing it. It's a very new, it's like the new, it's a new LA LA LA, isn't it? Can you sing it for us Tim? It's literally just sideways and backwards everywhere we go. And the tune? Everywhere we go. What is the actual, what's the original piece? I was thinking that. Always take the weather with you. No, no, no.

54:28Oh, no, it's Rotterdam by... Yes, by the Beautiful South. By the Beautiful South. Oh, right, OK. As ever, not quite melodically right. It's good for YouTube to see four brains tickling slowly there. Clip that up, producer Charlie. Very good. Bournemouth going forwards again for once. What a finale in this game. You mentioned the heartbreak for Burnley at the end, But this, the delight for those cherry players in the 95th minute when Adley scrambled in what proved to be the winning goal because it was the last kick of the game and nothing that Slott and his side could do about it. Ben Hayes, brackets Bournemouth fans, says, can we give Alex Jimenez and Adrian Truffert their flowers?

55:11Kirk is subbed off at halftime and no goal from Salah, who always seems to score against us. They both, Jimenez and Truffert, show fight and consistently produce. What do they consistently produce, they and the rest of the Cherries? There is an excellence of performance. And we talked a bit about Oliver Glasner earlier and kind of throwing your toys out the pram with your contract up in the summer. And only your Iola's contract's up in the summer as well. And last summer, he sold his best left back and his best two central defenders. And in January, Mark Gahey style, loses Antoine Semenyo. There's just not a peep from him.

55:42No discord, no even any sort of veiled digs at anybody. He just gets on with it. and hopefully, and I believe this as well, clubs who may appoint managers from Bournemouth and Crystal Palace would much rather see a manager getting on with it and taking Bournemouth up to mid-table, which he's done by beating Liverpool in the last minute. I was just really chuffed that they got that result given the way Iriola has handled himself over the last month or so. It's just as important of a part of his audition for wherever his next move is, isn't it, and the results that he gets on the pitch. how many people as Daniel says or alludes to have been put off Glasner for now whereas Iraiola just you know every time we sort of like a mechanic look at an engine sucked through our teeth at Bournemouth and go and he's like well you know what if I just reset the tracking actually you just drive it away now and it'll be alright and then yeah this is amazing wasn't it I mean we can talk about Virgil van Dijk blaming the wind and everybody else Did he blame the wind?

56:39Yeah Arnest Lott is a great quote he sort of said effectively said there are no excuses is we can only look to ourselves, dot, dot, dot, and the wind. I mean, it was very windy. Right, which is fine. But yeah, deal with it and then don't immediately turn around and blame everybody else. But the winner, the scenes were fantastic, weren't they? Because you get the mix of rainstorm plus scramble goal. That's one of the games this weekend that we didn't want a beautiful goal to win it. Like a game like that in those conditions, you need a mad scramble, I think. And yeah, just fantastic. At Bournemouth, you just can't say enough good things about them, can you?

57:15We opined who are the two least defensive teams in the Premier League on this week's, the preview from the Athletic Head of Fulham versus Brighton. I'm wondering if maybe they were, but Bournemouth are the third team in that pack, right? And nobody's got a bad thing to say about Bournemouth, I don't think. Indeed not. Indeed not. There's a seven-minute delay for not making a sub, by the way. Right. Talking of excuses, which they didn't make. which has a bearing on things and Alisson seemed to be extremely put out when the second goal went in and Liverpool was still down to 10 men that nothing had actually been done in terms of replacing it was Gomez who'd gone off injured yeah and Endo was waiting to come on and you kind of think I don't know if that's the Champions League final does that happen if that's Arsenal away does that happen I don't know there's just real lack of urgency to get the player on and lo and behold the goal comes from a disjointed defensive line that Jimenez runs through makes it 2-0 which is obviously a very crucial goal It's just weird Liverpool ran out of energy Arnie Slott said They'd been in Champions League action Midweek of course I mean they did that a lot So I'd just say They conceded Five stoppage time Goals now In the 95th minute Or later All in the way matches That's at Palace At Chelsea At Leeds At Fulham And now at Bournemouth Which is seven points They've left on the table So it would be on 43 So they'd still be in the They'd still be in the They'd still be in the They'd still be in the They'd still be in the They'd still be in the They'd still be in the They'd still be in the They'd still be in the conversation.

58:38But you're going to run out of energy if you make one change from your line-up from the Champions League in midweek to your Premier League game at the weekend. Yeah, I don't know. But he blamed wind and his team not having theirs. Well, we shall see. They did win in Marseille. It was a big win, wasn't it? I think he's in a pickle if Manchester United and Chelsea prove that maybe there is a route of big club changes manager, doesn't go for the right option and moves into Champions League consideration at Liverpool's expense and Liverpool have the potential right option in Xabi Alonso on the market and don't go for it.

59:16It will look really foolish if they finish sixth in May and slot still there and then they sack him. You've got to think winning the Champions League would be what keeps him in a job. I've got a theory that there are five Premier League managers at the moment who are nailed on to start next season in charge of the club they are currently at. There's that much flux in the market. Sean Dyche? No. so Mikel Arteta yeah okay Pep no no because he might yeah well I'm okay so who are the other four anybody else care to guess is it clubs that will still be in the Premier League just ask him oh one's got a maybe you've got Daniel Farker yeah I've got Farker as the fifth with a maybe and then there are Keith Andrews Keith Andrews is one Herzler no no and Michael Silva's certainly not Unai Emery Emery's one there's one more to get that one would be Eddie Howe no Keith Andrews so other than that did I guess him?

1:00:15that's what you said oh did you oh sorry Keith Andrews so that's the five Arteta Emery oh there is one who's missing Regis Libris ah nice so other than that there's potentially that by the way is inadvertently the answer to your least offensive club in the Premier League because that means Sunderland must go yeah but I mean there's potential for massive flux, right? And I'm only saying that on the Liverpool perspective because I do see them finishing outside the Champions League, but weirdly, you know, you would give them a chance of maybe winning the Champions League and that is the only thing I think that would stop Arnie Slob.

1:00:47In their league form, this is their 23rd game of the season at Bournemouth away, as it was last season, Bournemouth away where they won, which left them on 56 points. Apparently they're on 36. 36. Yeah. Having spent 450 million. They had 20 points more this time last season. They had a record transfer window of all time. 20 points worse off. Without bringing the guy back up again unnecessarily, since Dyche came into Forest, they've got one fewer point than Liverpool. And Forest fans want Dyche out, and the road is good reason for that. And yet Slott is seemingly not under a huge amount of pressure, but has to be.

1:01:28As I say, if they finish sixth and then get rid of him, when Alonso has been there from January onwards, That just looks a catastrophic decision at board level, surely. Well, sometimes making that many changes and spending that much money can actually be more harm for a manager. And if it wasn't his group of decisions to bring in and let go some players. Of course, there is one player who they lost for reasons that nobody wanted. And Mark Gay might have improved their defence. And Mark Gay, he had that happen at the start of the season. And just on the final point on this, unless there are other ones, why did Liverpool having come so close to signing Mark Gehi who would have been so useful for them now not go back in for him this time around?

1:02:09I think we have to assume and that's what I am doing that given they didn't that there was probably an insinuation from Gehi's side that he wants to go to Manchester City so therefore you don't want to be seen to putting in an offer for then the player to choose a different club I think if Liverpool at the time that move was going through Liverpool were champions Liverpool very much aren't going to be champions anymore which probably changed Gahy's decision. And we don't know the financial offer as well. I suspect City's was fairly handsome. And we don't know whether he was told that Guardiola would be there next season.

1:02:40Wow, that's so true, isn't it? Surely Liverpool can't afford to let Robertson go, says Thomas Callen. They are short on defenders as it is. Well, they bought him on for the guy who they signed to replace him at half-time on Saturday. To get five million quid in. Yeah, he was stressing hearing Virgil van Dijk saying, he's my vice-captain, I absolutely don't want him to go. which is normally not what Van Dijk would do. This all feels a little bit broken at the moment. Fulham-Brighton, attractive goals in this one between two very attractive teams. Harry Wilson mentioned his stoppage time winner earlier on.

1:03:16Chukwueze and Ayari with the other two goals. Brighton are not in danger but a fair way down the table. Fulham are all the way up in seventh as it stands. Yeah, that's our scratch to reveal which weird club is in the top seven this week. This week. It's Fulham, yeah. Brighton are drifting a little bit, I think. They were the highest-ranked team last season who didn't qualify for Europe, so therefore I guess with a young manager you think we can kick on. They spent quite a lot of money in the summer, and I think they've got four fewer points than they had at this stage last season. It does just feel a bit drifty, doesn't it?

1:03:54Brighton currently lying 12th. They are fully 10 points though above West Ham and the bottom three, Fulham. Seventh, they're only four points off Man United. Four points, not a big margin or a big margin depending on which club you support at the end of match day 23. I say the end, it's not the end of course because Everton's still going to play Leeds. That's on Monday night, Tim. Ahead of that, anything else we want to say before we wrap up this Totally Football show? I noticed, by the way, talking of really tight league tables, this is very random, but the Polish league table has got... It's an 18-team league, I think.

1:04:36The extra classer. Yeah, I think it's an 18-team league. It might be 16. The top-top is 11 points above bottom. So top and bottom are separated by 11 points. How many games have they played? 18 games played. That doesn't give us any indication of how many teams in the league. I am stalling while someone 18 teams yes late 18 games who's in 17 Legia Warsaw in exactly how do you pronounce it Legia Legia Legia yeah don't take my over also another fact because it's funny yeah another fact about that league is that the team in bottom spot has scored more goals than the team in top spot which is madness weird 1950s football stuff yeah or 1990s City Air or 2026 extra lasser Well, that's so true.

1:05:24We could do this all night and probably will, but you don't have to hang around for that on our YouTube channel or indeed listen to this podcast because that's the end of today's show. Many, many thanks to everyone who's joined us, to Tim, Matt and Daniel here in the studio and Jake and producer Charlie there in the booth and everyone on YouTube and all your comments and everyone who's sent in things as well to the Totally Football Show and has joined us on the podcast. Because we've got the European one up early on Tuesday, ahead of Wednesday's smorgasbord of Champions League action. And of course, we'll be back on Thursday as well.

1:06:00Of course, we'll be back on Thursday as well. Anyway, loads of Totally Football Show coming up. Have a great time in the meanwhile. But now from all of us here, goodbye.

1:06:11You've been listening to the Totally Football Show, part of the Athletic FC podcast network. For other great podcasts just like this one, including The Athletic FC and our dedicated club podcasts, search for The Athletic in all the usual places. We're also at The Totally Show on Insta and at The Totally Show on YouTube. The Totally Football Show is an Athletic Media Company production.