PSG outclass Man City ahead of big Premier League weekend

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2:20Another Totally Football Show. Wednesday, a perfect night for the Premier League. Villa put the bash in Fenerbahce. Liverpool find Lusk very much leased or have links in their pocket. And someone gave Man City a real spanking. We review those and other key Wednesday matches, like Real in Rome with the new Romontada, and then look ahead to a banging Premier League weekend with a trans-Pennine derby and much, much more.

2:53Hey, listener, thank you so much for choosing us for your football content at this time. We are Totally Football's show today, consisting of myself, Duncan Alexander. Hello. Jack Lang's in. Hi. Hi, Jack. And so is Julian Aran. Bonjour. Julian's wearing a spiffing Fiorentina shirt from... What year is that, Jules? It's a good question, though. Oh. I'll ask Jack to have a look. It is 2001-2.

3:22James Richardson: Oh, really? Yeah. And a lovely size medium for... Oh, nice. Very nice. Wow. No Fiorentina in the competition known as the Champions League currently. No. Not for a while. Or for the foreseeable future. but oh my word the teams that are what a couple of days they've given us we had a show yesterday talking about Tuesday's games last night contributing to the highest scoring Champions League week ever that happens every time yeah but this one this season is even more than last year 4.1 goals per game admittedly two rounds but that is that's a lot well last last night was the single highest scoring day 46 goals across nine matches you do the math but but yeah incredible Jules you were you were working across all of them yeah you couldn't catch your breath I'm sure

4:14Julien Laurens: no that's right it was quite spectacular Belak Tuesday all the Tuesday was only 32 goals which is a lot already but we tend to have those big numbers when it's the last match there when we had all 18 games at the same time and all of that but to have that across 9 and 6 for Villa 6 for Liverpool that crazy City PhD game it was beautiful and in many ways the standout result of the night the Shakhtar Donetsk 3-1 win against AK Yeah, and some good goal. And this is goal. It's a wonderful goal. Really? Yeah, really, really. Probably the pick of the night, Jack, came in the real Betis-Porto game, I think.

4:50Yeah, as Azuli's opener. Have you seen this? Yeah. Describe it for us, Jack.

4:56James Richardson: A classic cutting in from the left, shaping it. He slipped the ball in a really sneaky and nice fashion, I think, by Garcia. He's a very good player, very nippy. Yeah. But yeah, he arcs it so far outside the far post that he did doubt it. I thought he was heading for a corner flag more than... First time, first time too. Yeah, he's running along and just hit it first time, going way wide and then suddenly, whoa!

5:19Julien Laurens: Which I think is harder to do than, let's say, the Doku goal for City against Liverpool, which is a bit similar as a player. Right, right. Because he had the touches before and then you can angle your body in a way and the ball doesn't go as fast and the contact is probably easier than the Abdeh goal. Going to take your word for it. Was that the goal of the night, do you think, Duncan? Yeah, I mean, I was across the Roma-Real Madrid game when I didn't think there were many spectacular goals, but there were quite a lot of goals that made you laugh out loud. So, which for me is what I want from football.

5:49Excellent. All right, well, there were, let's see, nine goals in Linz where Liverpool beat Lask 6-3. Well, 3-6, technically. Tennis goal. Do you know that's the first 3-6 in Champions League history? Is it? Yeah. In all the years of the Champions League, since 1992, there's never been a 3-6 scoreline. Wow. I don't know what other scorelines are left out there to be claimed. 9-9, I'm pretty sure. Yeah, well, give it time, the way this season's going. There were six goals, of course, at the Etihad, four of them for Paris Saint-Germain, as they thumped Man City. Six goals, too, at Villa Park, but all of them were for Aston Villa, as they gave Afuna Basia a right old scene to seven goals at the Stadio Olimpico in Rome, where Roma were 3-1 up with 84 minutes played, and then a couple of minutes later found themselves 4-3 down through the extraordinary power of Real Madrid.

6:45Five goals in Rotterdam, where Feyenoord beat Como 3-2, in Seville 3-2, that Bessis-Porto game finished. Stuttgart were 3-0 winners at Slovak Bratislava. Shakhtar won 3-1 at Stamford Bridge, which is their home for this Champions League campaign. And by the way, I mean, there were almost 30 ,000 people there yesterday, but they've got, who have they got coming up? Feyenoord, Real Madrid, somebody else. It might be Fernand Bacic, you know, that's another F team. They've got somebody else anyway. But find out, because if you're in London and you fancy seeing a bit of Champions League football, it's definitely worth a shout out.

7:20Julien Laurens: And they're a good team. They play good. They've got all those Brazilians. They've got like seven out there, starting 11, a Brazilian.

7:26James Richardson: It's also, I love it when you go on their line-up, and this is the platonic ideal of a Shakhtar line-up. Goalkeeper, two centre-backs, defence midfielder are non-Brazilian, and everyone else. It's a perfect symmetry. Gorgeous. Attacking full-backs, centre midfielders, right midfielders. Attacking full-backs who are on the score sheet. Absolutely. Bodo Glimt as well. Only one goal in that match, but a significant one as they continued their remarkable home form in this competition, adding Borussia Dortmund to their list of high-profile scouts.

7:58Julien Laurens: What a week for Norwegian club after Viking. What a year. V Germany, yeah. World Cup. Bode Glimt at the tail end of last season. Bode Glimt and Viking. Northern Lights. Northern Lights. Santa. Saunas. Yeah. We know where your brain goes. We know where your brain goes. Let's start off our round-up of Wednesday's action with quite possibly the most devastating first half of football ever. This is the Totally Football Show with James Richardson, part of the Athletic FC podcast network. Jack, you frowned at that description, but those were your words, surely, about the opening half of the ETH. I love you so much more when you talk like that about my team.

8:39James Richardson: Yeah, in the cold light of day, I do wonder whether that was a bit of late night hysteria, but it was a superb, superb, particularly, I would say, like 35 minutes. it was possibly the best team display I've seen for a long, long time. They were absolutely electric. Was it the best team display you'd seen since spring, summer 2025 when PSG were doing this to Atletico Madrid, Inter in the Champions League final, Real Madrid, Bayern even, everybody indeed, until they met Cole Palmer that fateful day?

9:13Julien Laurens: Yeah, the club World Cup, yeah. And Mareskas, Chelsea, by the way. It was. I know I agree with Jack. Like I thought those first 35 minutes, the Dway goal is 30 seconds of possession from literally your own, not just even your box, because they're quite deep into their own box and playing through the press. And then the ball ends up to Dway with a great finish. The role for Fabian Ruiz in that sequence is just incredible. And he's such an underrated player, but one of the smartest players that you could find right now in that position. And then after that, I think City could not make two passes or three passes together, could not get out of the press.

9:50Julien Laurens: The counter-pressing from PSG was incredible. And when they play like that, and okay, they didn't last 19 minutes and City were always going to be stronger the second half. Maresca made the right changes. But I thought Maresca got his line-up completely wrong at the start. I can't believe that you think it's okay to start with Enzo and Elliot Anderson against the PSG midfield. Like, never in a million years this would have worked. But PSG took advantage of it and so brilliantly. Indeed. Vicinha with the third goal and then that magnificent Akilouche, which no doubt you enjoyed, Duncan, as a fan of comedy goals.

10:22Donnarumma thinks he's saved it, but the spin is enough to take it in anyway. Yeah, like loops up. I mean, are you blaming Donnarumma for that? I'm not blaming him. A lot of people are. A lot of people are. I thought that was a bit harsh. Yeah, me too. I think so.

10:35James Richardson: Jack? I don't think I've seen a goal like that ever, really. The keeper parrying it up so far in the air and then it's spinning back. His reaction reminded me slightly of Peter Shilton in the 1990s semifinals when it spun up off Paul Parker and he sort of fell backwards and kind of knew it was going in. But yeah, I mean, put it this way, I've seen Donnarumma make bigger mistakes than that this season. Jules, it has been a sluggish start too this season for Paris Saint-Germain, but not in the Champions League. And they started this game with Kvadosch-Gellion, who else was on the bench? Joe Neves on the bench.

11:08Joe Neves on the bench as well. So what a display of force.

11:12Julien Laurens: Yeah, Luis Enrique likes a Kliush a lot and he scored his first goal at the weekend against Le Mans since he arrived from Monaco. And I think Grazcalia is obviously a great player, but if you play a Cleo, you should left footer on the right. That means Dwayne can play as a right footer on the left, like on the goal that he loves coming inside like that. You see the link up with Dembele on the second goal. Again, it's Dwayne on that left-hand side. I think Dwayne, in terms of individual performance, inside this great team performance that they had for the first 35 minutes, I just think was incredible because he crosses the ball for Hakimi's header who is the post and really should score and yeah, it's just amazing and that, if you stack Raskeri and do it, Dwey has to play on the right-hand side where I don't think he's as good as on the left-hand side so again, it's one for Luis Enrique to decide but when you've got that depth and the City bench looked great too, by the way, probably the two benches with the Arsenal of Tuesday too.

12:04Right, and proved useful when Mareska made his triple sub and then City found something of a foothold in the game, a couple of goals of course for Erling Haaland.

12:12James Richardson: Yeah, I mean, I think Boadi was the player who gave City a foothold. He just should have started. Should have started. A bit more legs in that area. Of course, obviously a great passer as well, you know, set up Haaland second. But just having someone who could cover a bit more ground and wasn't bombing on, like you said, Enzo Fernandes is not a player you play in a two-man midfield against PSG. Especially if the third man who's kind of vaguely there is Cherki who was not doing any defending as you would expect. Wow. Kind of way that PSG used to approach their team selection but they learnt their lesson.

12:49They've got Strasbourg this weekend and then next Tuesday, Jules, Barcelona.

12:55Julien Laurens: Barcelona. Par de Prince, yeah. Which should be good. Really good. You going to watch that? Yeah, of course. Of course, yeah. I was a bit stressed in the second half. I won't lie, yesterday because City looked much better, obviously and I think PSG are maybe not you know to last 90 minutes have you been hurt before with yeah and as well I had all those memories coming by from different times and hats off to the two team scout departments because they built those squads through you know careful selection and it's really impressive certainly has alright then City then take on Ipswich this weekend in a game that may or may not matter may not matter very good well six goals as well unanswered for Aston Villa, this team that struggles to find an A in the Premier League, absolutely turning it on in Europe.

13:45Watching their massive victory, their biggest ever in European competition against Fenerbahce, was Fox Sports and Sirius XM's Luis Miguel Ichigaray, of course, top Villa fan and friend of this podcast. And he joins us now from New York.

14:04Luis, thank you for being with us. What time is it there? 5.37, Jimbo. I don't do this for just anybody, so count yourself lucky, my friend. Wow, you couldn't sleep, I imagine, after that incredible Aston Villa performance. Can you recall seeing anything like it? No. I mean, obviously, there's been some great moments at Villa Park. I was there when Villa won against Bayern Munich upon returning to the Champions League. Also the big win against Hibernian back in the Conference League. There was a Brighton win that was 6-1 as well a few seasons ago. But this one felt very special, obviously, in the Champions League against a Turkish giant like Fenerbahce.

14:51And also, it wasn't just about the victory, Jimbo, but it was everything that came with it. The fact that the North Stand is in a reconstructive phase, so part of the stadium is empty. We haven't had a victory at Villa Park this season yet. And, you know, this is essentially a brand new team, right, that's trying to rewrite a new story for Aston Villa. So all of those factors come into play under Una Emedie and Aston Villa and making it such a special evening and a needed evening for Villa fans who are waiting patiently to try and reclaim the status that they have known for the past seasons with this new team.

15:30So it was a really, it was a wonderful, wonderful night. Lots of elements of that new team coming good. Manzambi with a goal, a brace for Nicholas Jackson as well. A clean sheet too. And given the way, you mentioned no victories until this point at Villa Park this season, given the way the season's been going, this was pretty unexpected stuff. Yeah, it was very unexpected. I was hoping for a victory, no doubt. You know, especially historically speaking, Villa are very good on European competition, especially at home. and, you know, in the opening match in the Champions League, a good 3-2 win over Club Bruges.

16:04So, you know, I was hoping for, you know, a response. And by the way, like, you know, even though it's been a bit of a slow start in the Premier League, it's only one loss in the last seven matches. Villa have been stepping forward slowly, even though we've seen a lot of draws. So I was hoping for a good result, but I was not expecting six goals. I was not expecting such quick, cohesive teamwork. You mentioned Jochen Monsambi. I mean, he's just a wonderful player. I know that we're going to see much more of him. But it's also about the fact that, you know, Ibrahim Mbae coming in and his starting debut in the Champions League for Aston Villa and creating a great relationship with Nico Jackson.

16:43It was about the fact that Ross Barkley got a brace, somebody that, you know, we know very well in the Premier League. It was the fact that at the back there's been a lot of inconsistencies because of the departure of Esri Konza. So, you know, Pau Torres coming in, he didn't play last weekend. You know, little things like that have made it even more special because, again, like I said, I know that I'm repeating myself, but when it's essentially a brand-new team trying to, you know, create a sort of new partnership amongst everywhere in the starting lineup, I think that, you know, that makes it even more special because we're still trying to learn what this Villa side can do.

17:18And it was not just a good win. It was a very special evening. Like I said, 6-0 is nothing short to celebrate, for sure. This weekend, you're facing a Newcastle side that I think can see more shots than anyone in the Premier League. What are you expecting there? Yeah, I think the inconsistency of Newcastle United right now is probably an advantage for Aston Villa. But I'm not taking anything away right now, Jimbo, because Villa still, you know, Unai Emery said it himself, there's still work to be done. There's still things that have to click, because one of the issues is also consistency, especially when you have a team like this.

17:49I mean, I think that also we have to take into consideration that we're traveling to St. James's Park, and that is never an easy place, no matter what the season. So I think that that crowd, that home crowd of Newcastle United will want to push on from that loss to Coventry and want to encourage this team, albeit a new one as well with, you know, the losses of Glimmeraj and Tonali, etc. They're going to want to push on and create a victory. But Villa, hopefully, because of that recent record I just mentioned, you know, we're doing well. And also, because Villa Park is in construction, Jimbo, it's really important for Unai Emery, and he has stated this, that A, we don't use it as an excuse, and B, Villa does really well away from home.

18:29It's really important to have an identity any time Villa travel. And I think that you're seeing that. Obviously, the victory against Tottenham, which, OK, fair enough, it's not saying too much these days, but still being away from home means something. And also that opening aforementioned victory against Club Rouge in the opening match of the Champions League. So hopefully travelling to St James' Park against the Newcastle side, as you mentioned, who's been a bit vulnerable, I think hopefully can do more wonders. But Premier League going forward, stepping forward, is going to be a massive thing for this Unai Emery new side for sure.

18:59Brilliant. Luis, thank you so much for that. Look forward to speaking to you again soon. Thank you so much, Jim. I'm going back to bed now.

19:10Luis Miguel Uchikaray. Sorry that wasn't in video, but 5.30 in the morning didn't seem fair. In his pyjamas. In his pyjamas, yeah. Villa beating Fenerbahce 6-0. West Ham on Wednesday night also winning 6-0 against Lincoln as Tom Peck posted one incredible night for David Cameron. Yeah. Chortle. Anyway, there you go. Right, what about Liverpool's six-goal performance away at Lasker? Who saw this one? Duncan. yeah it was a strange sort of game i mean it was a sort of a good night for iraela in his and some of his new signings or even some slightly older signings like jeremy fringpong he scored a really good header um bradley barkley got a hat trick which is very well taken um we do have to caveat that's caveat this with the fact that it was against lasque at many times but i think probably the best almost joyous moment was uh was kumas going right nice who you know looked pretty good against City, in terms of his pressing and effectiveness.

20:13And who doesn't like seeing a sort of academy product come through and do well? And he had a couple of goals disallowed by VAR. We kept plugging away and everyone seemed happy for him. That's good. And Florian Wurtz? Better from Wurtz? Better. He combined well with Barclay, particularly in the first half, but again, it's against Lask. And I think the fact that Liverpool conceded three goals would be slightly concerning. He took off Jeremy Jacquet in the second half, brought on Van Dijk. Check off his Jacquet. Yeah, no Jacquet required. I don't feel Collins live in century Europe, but we used to.

20:46And Liverpool sort of fell apart a little bit defensively, which is slightly concerning. But I think he'll get the first choice defence back for the weekend. And yeah, I think, we've said this before, but it took nine games for it earlier at Bournemouth to sort of get going. He's what, eight games in at Liverpool? And you can see, I think each game you can see a little bit more patterns of play and a bit more connectivity between players. So that's good. Okay. Brentford away this weekend. Yeah, which is, I'm going to put it out there, tougher than Lask away. Just a theory.

21:20Julien Laurens: Any thoughts on that game? BB29 with the hat-trick, as Dan mentioned. First in his career. Yes. 206 games, which maybe in a way is a good summary of the kind of player that he is because he should have had the hat-trick before with the talent that he has and the position that he plays in. When Liverpool signed him, I mentioned finishing because I'd spent so many nights on a couch with you. Yeah. You complaining, in this case, about his finishing. Yeah. Yeah, and the decision-making at times, it's not even just the finishing, it's the decision-making sometimes, even within a chance, where to try to hit the goal or place the ball.

21:59Julien Laurens: But he would get better. Because I think people were a bit harsh with him on Sunday to judge him on that City performance. Right. that game felt a bit early in his own Premier League career and Liverpool career in the sense that he's still finding out you know discovering everything I thought it was okay against City I thought out of possession he was good which is kind of you know what managers want really who cares about goals but you're right I think his first goal last night it was great work from Ngomao down the right got to Koumas who sort of laid it back nicely and he just picked his spot and curled it in and it was it feels like he's the sort of player that once he's done that once he's like oh fine, I'm okay now.

22:37Yeah, yeah, yeah. Hopefully it's good. You think? Yeah, yeah, yeah. This would do a lot of good things. The floodgates will open. Lovely stuff. Let's hope so. All right. Much more happened on Wednesday night. We'll get on some of the other games from the Champions League next.

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24:53This is the Totally Football Show, part of the Athletic FC Podcast Network. The Athletic is the only place you can read articles by Daniel Taylor, Amy Lawrence, Phil Hay, James Pearce, Oli Kay and the very best football writers around. What a game of the Stadio Olimpico. What a game of the Stadio Olimpico. Jose Mourinho returned to the Eternal City to a rapturous reception from the Roma fans who still hold him very dear to their hearts. the first half of the game really were dedicated while their side really dominated the match by Roma fans holding up various banners, eulogising key moments from Jose's two and a half seasons, two and a bit seasons in charge of the Giallarossi.

25:35But at the end, I'm not sure how many of them will be celebrating what he did this time at the Olimpico. Roma 3-1 up in the 84th minute. 82nd. 82nd minute. And then within the next 10 minutes, Real got back into it, equalised, and then got the winner. I've never seen a last 10 minutes like that because, yes, we've seen comebacks before. But for the team to score the same goal three times... Right. So tell us about that goal. Which one? Yeah, the three. Basically a corner. I mean, on commentary they said Roma should might as well stop. The first one is not a corner, I think. It's a short corner.

26:13It's a short corner. But it's still across the same position. but um yeah Roma just completely fell apart in terms of clearing their own box yeah and um they weren't just sort of really good crosses that were headed or hitting really well it was like just a free hit right I mean really good one he stood there surrounded by three defenders and he just sort of waggles his leg and in it goes and I mean well Roma's heads seem to completely go yeah Mourinho who I think a lot of people have not got too much time for as a manager now his moment has passed, blah, blah, blah. Was surprised that he went to Real Madrid.

26:48Things may or may not be working out for him there. The first 60, 70 minutes of this game was kind of fuelled to that argument. But he could point to the fact that his subs really made the difference, Ado Goulet in particular. Yeah, Goulet was brilliant when he came on. Endrick was also really good, really direct. I mean, Vinny Junior was not good again. Right, terrible. I mean, as soon as he went off, the whole team stepped up. Mbappe was very good as well. So, I mean, you know, Real Madrid are just, they're the most get-out-of-jail-free team you'll ever see. They've just got players who can just pop up and turn games around.

27:23And I think what you saw with Roma when it went to 3-2, they kind of panicked. They knew what was coming. Was there also an element of the game that they'd been playing was so intense, the man-marking, the approach, that they couldn't sustain that for 90 minutes?

27:36Julien Laurens: He said, you can't play with that intensity for the whole 90 minutes. And that's probably Gasparini's biggest issue to try to solve if they want to win Serie A or go find this Champions League. Yeah, like Martin de Vries, he was great in the first half, so a brilliant goal, but he's, what, 35? And he faded. And it was whether they could hang on or not, and they couldn't. But, I mean, it was a great... It was a game when you watch and you're like, neither of these teams are probably going to win the Champions League. It's not like a PSG or a Barcelona or an Arsenal, maybe. But it was a really, really entertaining, sort of good Champions League game.

28:10I loved it.

28:10James Richardson: pass of the night I would say as well from Mathias Soule for the Marlins I love that I keep drifting in Marlins almost takes the same run twice the first one it wasn't quite right and he had time to come back and then go again he still found him lovely

28:23Julien Laurens: it tells you a lot about the mess that defensively around Madrid were on because that defensive line was all over the place it was embarrassing the Vinny Junior situation on the way to the game Mourinho was bitterly complaining about this they received word that Vinny Junior's been banned for four games back in Spain for tugging an opponent's hair and then his irate reaction to the referee when he received a red at the weekend. Might this actually not be a bad thing? He will miss the Classico, but with Jan Diamandi coming in and looking a lot better, might this actually be a blitz in disguise?

28:58Yeah. Okay. Right now, the form that he is, Jan. I mean, Diamandi's interesting because he obviously started the game, but he was terrible in the first half. But almost as soon as they changed the team up, he was really good as well. So, yeah, I think getting Goula back in the starting XI, getting Diamande up and running properly, they should be right. There you go. Kylian Mbappé with his 100th goal involvement in his 100th Champions League appearance. 72 goals.

29:23Julien Laurens: 72 goals, overtaking Raul as the fifth higher-top goal scorer. I mean, Haaland is on 61-60, just not far behind. So, those two, yeah, crazy numbers. Madness. Crazy numbers. Madness. But a glimpse, a 1-0 win against Dortmund. and we mentioned that in Norway's magnificent sporting year. Feyenoord beating Como 3-2 in a clash of former Arsenal players as managers. Ooh, the Como keeper, Robert Sanchez. Would you blame him for that, Jack? Yeah, one of the goals, for sure. Would you? The one where it bounces off his back? So there's the one, yeah. Which I think has been given as an own goal for him. Yeah, the third one, yeah, is his.

30:04Julien Laurens: I even thought the first Haj Moussa goal was Paris Bonham Bright, so obviously he's a very special player. On the near post like that, a bit like the Donnarumma on the way that we mentioned earlier, I never think that keeper should be beaten there anyway. Okay. But yeah, and Feinor, the first goal scorer, Givai Zekiel, is the next big thing of Dutch football that everybody's watching. And if you watched the game yesterday with that in mind, he was outstanding. Was he? That name again, Jules? Zekiel. Zekiel. Very good. Okay. Real Betis back in the Champions League after 21 years. And what a match, Jack, against Porto.

30:38James Richardson: Yeah, Betis are a great team to watch this season. They have so many attacking options. I know there's Troy Parrott being there is really interesting, but his presence seems to have brought the best out of Kucho Hernandez as well. He's suddenly scoring and you've got Isco, you've got Ezell Zouli, you've got Anthony, who kind of has not been as good this season. And then you've still got Isco. Isco is just, you know, eternal. and his commitment to the top knot. I'm not a top knot man myself. If you're going to do it, do it for many, many... Duncan sports a new hairstyle pretty much every week. I wonder how long it is before your...

31:18No top knot. Your wheel of hairdos... Don't think so. ...ends up on a top knot. Padawan style. Yeah, yeah. Oh, no, Padawan style with a little tail. That's another one.

31:28James Richardson: Yeah, Rodrigo Palacio. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That tail. Vote. Vote. Stuttgart did beat Slovan Bratislava. You're right. 3-0. That's two wins out of two for Stuttgart.

31:40Julien Laurens: We're doing badly in the Bundesliga. Very average start in the Bundesliga. In Europe, two games that you would expect them to win. Right. Who's the other one? Demirovich scored a hard trick in the first game against the Viking. Oh, yeah. Well, Viking. Yeah, yeah. But still, haven't scored since and scored yesterday coming off the bench. All right. And I went along to Shakhtar 3, a.k.a. Athens 1, at Stamford Bridge. And I was stunned by the throngs of people there. Greek support. I mean, the a.k.a. away fans were there and just making a terrific noise all the way through. A night that didn't go their way, but they looked good.

32:23Took the lead. Shakhtar, much the better side technically, but looked like they lacked a bit of that cutting edge. They found an equaliser through a penalty, which from the stands I'm not sure about. They then took the lead through, again, a deflection off a keeper. It was a brilliant shot.

32:43James Richardson: It's a cross. Yeah, it's a cross. I think he's shooting. Do you think? Yeah. Do you think? If you look at his eyes. I think it's like an incredibly tight ankle. Right. Okay. And then the third goal. Mendoza. Oh, great goal.

32:57Julien Laurens: He, again, he's the curler. So we come inside, yeah, left hand, it'd be the theme of the night.

33:02James Richardson: Don't get many Venezuelans doing that top level. Sadly, no. Good on him. But Shakhtar and Donetsk, the situation is ongoing and perhaps even worsening back at home. And they continue to. They're back in the Champions League now, which is huge for them in revenue terms because they don't have any revenue from back home. No TV money, no kind of domestic revenue at all. So it's incredible what they're doing. and you probably saw the journey times that they have to make four of these Champions League matches played all the way in London. So, well. Adatran doing a really good job there on the bench.

33:39Nice. Excellent. Anyway, that was only match day two of this Champions League season. We've got another one coming up next week, as mentioned. Before that, though, the Premier League is in action this weekend. Let's talk about what awaits there next.

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37:24You'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. It's match week seven of the Premier League.

37:38James Richardson: Jack, are you going to stay with us for this? I'll give you a game or two, yeah? Yeah, nice. Jack's going to go in and write an article on. Lissandra Martínez. Oh, yeah, why? Is he in the news much? Yeah, quite weak for him. What's your angle, Jack? There's been a lot written about you. I will work out my angle. All right. All right, then. Let's see. Man United are in one of the key fixtures this weekend when they are away at Leeds United. What else? The team in first place and very much in brackets, Man City, will be facing Ipswich. That's Saturday afternoon. The best of the non-guilty on 114 counts teams are Arsenal And they've got Nottingham Forest Where they've got an absolutely terrible record One win in their last six visits to the City ground

38:23Julien Laurens: Yeah, playing in the league and in the cup as well I think they were knocked out maybe in the FA Cup A few years ago, a couple of years ago And a Glasner team that is playing really well at times As we saw against Palace for example last weekend And yet not getting the result they probably deserved on some points defensively maybe not being as strong and certainly not being efficient enough in front of goals, whether that's the lap or Chris Wood or whoever you want, the wide players. Dallin Doi seems to be the only one and even he misses chances too. So it should be an interesting game. Igor Jesus, you can add to that as well.

38:55Everton will be facing Chelsea Saturday lunchtime. Will their unbeaten start survive that fixture? We shall see because Chelsea look pretty lively. Last weekend, you got Brighton.

39:06Julien Laurens: Everton go to Arsenal the following weekend. Do they? Oh, it's a front of Vixenberg. Brighton against Palace. Haywoods Beef. Haywoods Beef. Haywoods Beef. Because a new name for the derby. Yeah, Classico to Haywoods Beef. Haywoods Heath is a town near... If you're taking the train down to Brighton, you will pass through. Or if you're taking the M20 whatever, you will also pass, I think, by Haywoods Heath. Three bridges, three points. There's various options. Haywoods Beef. Is that yours, Duncan? Yeah, I made it up yesterday. Oh, brilliant. That's fine. Thanks for bringing that in. How does that come to your brain?

39:42I'm not sure. You're not sure. Hayward's beef. Right. Do you think it's still as keen... Maybe Sandro Martins, the butcher, might like that. Nice, nice. Do you think there's still as much intensity of feeling for this fixture, if there ever was, among Palace fans now that they have found a new hate figure in Nottingham Forest? Oh, I think so, yeah. Yeah? Yeah, yeah. This will be good. Palace have got a quite good record down there as well. They are the top scorers in the Premier League. Brighton. Brighton. Yeah, yeah. Three games, three wins in a row. Some people even beginning to wonder in this disrupted, confusing season whether they might be a team that could, you know, hint, hint, nudge, nudge.

40:25Anyway, very much the opposite end of the spectrum are the three winless sides in the Premier League, which are Bournemouth, Spurs and Fulham. Who are they playing this weekend? And Bournemouth have Sunderland. Those two teams are in action in the Europa League on Thursday. Sunderland are against Torrencia of Portugal's second division. Who are Bournemouth facing? Stromgratz. Yes. Are they? Stormgratz. But they've got Milan next week.

40:53Julien Laurens: Yeah. And Brighton and Zalgir is, I think, at home. So, I think perfect fixtures on the back-to-back European games where you can rest in Europe. Right. Keep your best players for the Premier League. Nice. Fulham are up against Hull Saturday at three. Some people calling that make or break for Alvaro are below. I don't know if Fulham are among those people because as we mentioned yesterday, they've made quite a commitment to him in terms of their set-up for this year. Yeah, they did. They signed a lot of players and staff. But I think they didn't imagine they'd be winless and bottom after six games.

41:32So it does feel... I mean, Hull at home, although, you know, Mayor Culper, we all said Hull were going to be bad and they're actually good. Haven't won in four. Well, they're creeping along. But Fulham have got to win. I think they've got to win on Saturday. Got to win. And Spurs against Coventry on Monday. That's the second straight week that Coventry will be in Monday night action. Of course, this last week, they thumped Newcastle. What's that, 4-1? 4-1, yeah. 4-1. Break 4-1. Second straight win. All right. Of all those matches, we posit pressure on Alvaro Arbeloa, but what's the situation with Michael Carrick, do you think?

42:08You're writing about Man United at the moment. Of course, your friend Lissandra Martinez, has he helped?

42:14James Richardson: I don't know. Taking the spotlight off him a little bit? I think when he said Carrick tries his best, I think that could have been more supportive of his manager, even if, obviously, the main target was higher up in the hierarchy. But yeah, the stuff he said about, you know, people learn your tactics, you've got to change season to season. That felt more character acted than anyone else. What did he say about that? I missed that. He said, basically, you have to change. If you don't change, you set up season to season teams. Wow. And it gets harder, which I guess you could say that's what's happened to United.

42:49James Richardson: I mean, United were absolutely awful against Atletico. The way Atletico played through them, they were just these like fast open spaces. Because a lot of people called that a more positive performance, a game that could have gone the other way. But you didn't see it that way, Jack. They had chances. They had chances. But the actual run of play was, I thought, massively in Atletico's favour. The way that they just passed through them time again. United Press was like one line and then the other line was like 40 yards behind. So Leeds are a good team. I like their midfield. They've got good midfielders.

43:23James Richardson: and I think Carrick, I don't know if he's under the pressure, but the pressure is certainly rising. What does the butcher do? He axes. I don't think butchers generally use an axe. Perhaps back in the day. He's a terrible butcher. This fixture was Ruben Amarin's last in charge last season, just saying, in the course of their two meetings with Man United, last campaign. Leeds took four points out of six. They won Old Trafford though. Yeah, Leeds. The thing with Leeds is that, you know, to Lissandro Martinez's point, they have constantly adapted and developed over the last 12 months. And they were really impressive against Arsenal.

44:09Obviously, Arsenal eventually broke them down in the second half. But I'm really impressed by Leeds. And they're kind of everything that Manchester United are not at the moment. And it is, I mean, it's always a good fixture anyway. But this, you know, Michael Carrick's got an ominous trip, I would say. Wow.

44:26Julien Laurens: And then they go to Como in the Champions League as well. So you could, like we said yesterday on the show, you could lose the next two games and then after that, I'm not sure where you go. Not sure indeed. Brighton Crystal Palace, the Haywoods Beef Classico. Duncan, is that going to go the way you think? Are Brighton going to continue their winning streak? They've got perhaps the strike available again after his red card was rescinded. No. Oh. Red cards aren't rescinded. The suspension is rescinded. The red card remains on the player and team's record. And I'm the only person in the world that cares about this.

45:01I will always say that because it's important. I find that strange. Not that you care about it, but that if you remove the punishment, surely you're removing the offence as well. No, because the offence happened. The red card was shown. That was part of the game. But if you're saying it was done by mistake. Well, hang on, we were wrong. We were going to suspend you for one, two, three games, whatever the offense is we're not going to do that because we're wrong that's what that's like if and i going on a bit of a tangent here if someone if i'm found guilty of something if you're sent to prison yes again um and then you're let out because they were like in the big house thinking jumbo was yeah yeah but you've still gone to prison they haven't rescinded your prison you went to prison that happened no but what you're essentially saying is that they have they're acquitted rather than found innocent yeah the brosham played with 10 men so that red card

45:52Julien Laurens: has to show somewhere otherwise why did they play the game with 10 men because there was a red card i don't agree yeah don't agree uh yeah anyway brian you're good but palace are a strange team and this fixture you know it's a it's a classico it's an it could you know we the form book has gone out the window gone out the seagulls beach yeah well okay and Pierre Sarge has he won two in a row now with Palace he's won no he won against Fulham and then he won yeah if you count no he won three in a row if you count the European competition as well yeah three in a row three in a row yeah but they conceded too many chances they were lucky against Forest let's be honest they could have conceded five right and punished them I think it would be tough.

46:45Or not. Saturday lunchtime, tune in for Everton Chelsea, before which presumably David Moyes will be saying keep it tight for the first five minutes because that's very much where Chelsea do their business, isn't it? What do you think? What chance do you give Everton, Jack? Not something perhaps you're focusing on right now as you type out your Lysandre and Martinez.

47:09Yeah.

47:10James Richardson: We're talking about Everton Chelsea. I think they will be in the match. Everton have quietly impressed me and the time. You think they're going to beat Chelsea? No. But I think they'll make a game of it. I think it'll Okay. To our point about Michael Carrick and evolving I think for once David Moyes has gone a bit different this season. What's he done? They're pressing a lot more higher up. They're a bit more susceptible to counterattacks which against Chelsea could be an issue but I think Everton have you know it's almost like he's gone well you're not going to give me new players I'll try something new stylistically and I've been impressed with them to ask.

47:45Okay. Chelsea haven't kept a clean sheet in the Premier League in 22 matches. They've faced more shots on target. Oh, you know what? I gave that Newcastle stat before, as they're facing more shots. I'm not sure if that's just shots in general, but Chelsea have faced more shots on target than any team in the Premier League this season. And they've only won one of their last nine visits to Everton, scoring only two goals in that time. Wow. So that game. That would be fine. Do you reckon?

48:14Julien Laurens: Yeah, you make a mistake Chelsea punish you as we saw against Bournemouth for the first goal where Bournemouth recovered the ball and looked like they're going on the attack and one miss pass and then after that, two seconds later. But is Jordan Henderson scoring two guys a game sustained? Definitely not. That's all we can't answer. That's very true. Brentford-Liverpool, we mentioned the B's terrific start to the season, they are unbeaten. If we didn't, we should. Brentford have made a terrific start to the season. They are unbeaten. They are fourth in the table or third if you don't count certain sides.

48:46Having said that, they've won the exact same number of fixtures as Coventry who are down in 14th. What? Make sense of that if you can. Or don't. Just hang around for the weekend to get played out and see where that leaves everything because early days, table can throw up all sorts of confusing things. I don't look at the league table till Valentine's Day. Don't look at it. Maybe even the last week of the season. All right. And then you've got Newcastle Villa, which we mentioned, and Bournemouth Sunderland, which Jules was all over a short time ago. Hey, in terms of shots and facing them, who's faced the fewest in the Premier League this season?

49:23Bournemouth. Bournemouth. Is that a team that's going to click and then suddenly everything's going to be, much as it did with Iola, do you think?

49:30Julien Laurens: Yeah, I hope Michael Rose has given a bit of time, yeah, because I think there's a lot of good things that they've done. They've been a bit unlucky. they've been conceding goals and things like that. But I think it will make them good. OK. Black Cats have lost three in a row. So, yeah. Spurs commentary on Monday. Sunday night, we will be in our regular studio live for your pleasure on YouTube, if you fancy that, around 7.30. Or you can catch it afterwards, of course. And then loads more fun next week. For now, that brings us to the end of our show. Jules, thank you so much for being in. Duncan, you as well.

50:11Haywood's Beef Classico, TM. Jack, how's that opening going?

50:16James Richardson: Not existent yet, but we'll see how we go. All right. Look forward to reading the results. Thank you for taking time out to be with us today. Many thanks to producers Jake and Charlie and to you. We'll see you soon on Totally Football Show for now. From all of us, it's goodbye.

50:33you'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

50:58Julien Laurens: The Athletic FC.

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