Rogers runs riot for record-breaking Villa as Liverpool’s revival continues

0:00The Athletic FC

0:30And again, so are Turkeys and look how it ends up for them. Newcastle, Chelsea with St. Nick and Rhys' set pieces, Leeds, the marvel of DCL and so much more in this Totally Football Show.

0:53Hello, everybody. Greetings to you if you're following us on our YouTube channel of a Sunday night. and otherwise if you're with us from Monday morning onwards with the podcast, welcome on board. We've got Mark Carey here in the studio. Hi, Mark. Hello, James. Lovely to see you. While on the big screen, Adrian Clarke. Hello. Lovely to see you, Adrian. And Daniel Storey, of course. Hi, James. How are you? I'm very well, thank you, Daniel. Lovely to have you on board as usual on a Sunday. Did you have a busy Saturday? What have you been up to? Yeah, I was at Swansea-Wrexham on Friday night to see one of the great goalkeeper bloopers I've ever seen live from Wrexham's goalkeeper in the last minute.

1:36And then Blackburn against Millwall on Saturday lunchtime because Blackburn fans are starting to gear up for protest season at Ewood Park. Oh, magnificent. Do tell us about that last minute double blooper from the... Was it the Swansea keeper or the Wrexham keeper? No, it was the Wrexham keeper, Arthur Okonkwo, who kind of came, well, he came for a cross like 15 yards out of his own goal when there was no real pressure and decided to punch it, but sort of punched it straight up. And then a Swansea player got to that board, headed it towards goal. By that time, Oconco had got back to goal, sort of leapt to catch it, but then managed to sort of fall and drop the ball right at Adam Eder's feet for Swansea to score.

2:17It was absolute scenes in the crowd. I hadn't quite, I sort of went to the game not knowing if it was a derby and left being very sure that it was a derby of some sort. Wow. Final score? 2-1 to Swansea. Boom. Wow. That was exciting. So were some of the games from match day 17 of the Premier League. Let's check out the results. On Sunday, Asna Villa, with a brilliant brace from Morgan Rodgers, triumphed 2-1 at Villa Park over Manchester United. That's only the second time Villa have beaten United there in 30 years. Villa stay third, a point behind Man City, who beat West Ham on Saturday 3-0 at City's seventh straight victory.

2:57Villamiluil are three points behind Arsenal who on Saturday night beat Everton 1-0 at the Hilly D thanks to Jacob Brown's sudden YMCA in the penalty box. The lunchtime game on Saturday saw Newcastle race to a two-goal lead over Chelsea at St James' Park. Then the London side staged a Rhys James-inspired comeback to finish 2-2. At tea time, Liverpool climbed up to fifth with their 2-1 win at Spurs. Spurs who finished with nine men and dropped to 13th with that defeat. Elsewhere, there were draws for Bournemouth with Burnley. That was 1-1. Eight games now without a win for the Cherries. Brighton also drew 0-0 with Sunderland while down at the bottom, Leeds beat Crystal Palace 4-1 Saturday night.

3:43Dominic Cavett-Lewin scoring in his fifth consecutive game. The Yorkshire side moving six clear of the bottom three. which remains West Ham, Burnley and Wolves, who lost their 11th game in a row. This time it was at home to Brentford 2-0. Monday, it's Fulham against Nottingham Forest. We're off to Villa Park. This is the Totally Football Show with James Richardson, part of the Athletic FC podcast network. Seedermans are sighted across and it's come to Morgan Rodgers! He is the man. And his is the moment. Well, it's Manchester United against Morgan Rodgers. And Morgan Rodgers is winning. Gary Neville called it there.

4:30Ten straight wins in all competitions for Aston Villa. But this was a game that was all about one man. Daniel, not you, but Morgan Rodgers. Yeah, not this time. Yeah, I mean, he was absolutely brilliant. I thought Manchester United were really good and Aston Villa were quite disappointing. But, you know, it becomes that cliche of top teams that you find the moments and make sure you make the most of those. And that's exactly what Villa did. Albeit, I think, helped by Leni Jorow twice giving Rodgers room to do exactly what he wanted. And when he gets that room, he's one of the best players in the Premier League at kind of close control, dipping inside, curling a shot into the far post.

5:13He did it twice. The first was a magnificent goal. The second was easier, but still really good. And Villa found a way because United struggled. Firstly, they struggled to make the most of the possession and territory they had first half. And then I think they struggled to get a foothold in the game once Bruno Fernandes went off. I mean, by the end of it, the team looked kind of EFL cuppy in terms of Manchester United's line-up. They had two kids on in Jack Fletcher and Shea Lacey. They were kind of struggling to do anything and Villa sort of declared at 2-1 with 10 minutes to go. But Villa are really good at that at the moment, whether it's coming from behind, they're the best at that in the Premier League, whether it's making the moments count, they're one of the best at that in the moment.

5:57And they are in the top three absolutely on merit. Adrian? Yeah, look, I'm a big fan of Morgan Rodgers. I think that obviously both goals were magnificent, the first one especially. But what I think you've got to also look at is United. And even though it was weak defending from Lenny Yoro, you've got a back three. You've got three centre-halves. And you've got two centre midfielders. One of the centre midfielders or one of the centre-halves has got to come out and try and put a block in and try and get a little bit closer when they sense that Morgan Rodgers is going to come inside the defender of Yoro.

6:30So I feel that it was quite feeble defending really from Manchester United as well as they played. I think they'll look at those goals. I wrote a piece on Rodgers this week talking about how he's gone from sort of being jeered from his own fans. And that happened in the Europa League tie against Bologna to sort of being now a footballer of the year candidate. It's been quite astonishing really. And you look at his numbers across all the key metrics of an attacker. and they've all gone up fairly significantly since the first five matches of the season. And I just feel that when Villa play a transitional style of game where they have less of the ball, there's more space to run into, that is where Morgan Rodgers comes alive and does massive damage.

7:17If Villa have 70-odd percent of the possession, as they did twice in the first five matches, you can nullify him because in tight areas, he's not always brilliant. but if you give him space he will destroy you and that that right foot of his has developed into a wand doesn't it it's absolutely magnificent to watch it's really interesting for the world cup as well because there's been a kind of a big movement behind morgan rogers being in the starting 11 for thomas tuchel and that happens quite a lot with players and it tends to forget the other players in their position who everybody also really rates but starting out or dipping out on the left and cutting inside, that really might be his route into the England team because there he's probably facing Marcus Rashford, I think, at the moment, who has the shirt under Tuchel.

8:01But he's not facing Phil Foden and Jude Bellingham and Cole Palmer, who probably all want that central role with Bakaya Saka on the right behind Kane. So it's a really, really good time to start producing that trick where you pick the ball up on the left, you cut inside and you have a shot, which is kind of the Marcus Rashford style of left winger as well. So that bodes well for him. Here's Thomas Ricalla with a couple of questions on our YouTube channel. Just answer these live for you, Thomas. On a scale of nought to Man United, how funny would it be if Villa pipped Arsenal to the title this year under Emery, says Thomas, who then follows it up with more of an editorially sound inquiry.

8:36What signing should Villa make in the January transfer window to give them the depth to actually compete for the title? Mark, let's come to you. That's a good question. I mean, Oli Watkins is kind of ebbed and flowed in his form a little bit. So an absolute clinical attacker. Maybe when you've got Morgan Rodgers finishing like that, then maybe you don't need that. I think they are a pretty settled... I mean, that was the thing at the start of the season was that, again, you can reverse engineer your narrative accordingly with certain things that at the start of the season, they weren't able to make as many signings as they would have liked, Aston Villa.

9:08And because they made such a bad start to the season, the narrative was, well, is the message coming from Emery a little bit too tired now? They're obviously not able to shuffle the pack as much as they would like to. Are they lacking that freshness? Now they're doing so well, the narrative is they have such a settled squad, have such a settled side, they're really clear on what their jobs and responsibilities are, therefore don't interchange anything or rock the boat too much. So I think people typically have a bit of an action bias. They want something to happen, they want maybe change, but the way that they're going, it's kind of just more of the same.

9:39But Arsenal would be evidence of the fact that if you are going to be serious about being at the sharp end of the table, come the sharp end of the season, you do need to have a big squad. If Villa do invest in January, is that going to be the difference between being an also-ran and actually making a real go at the title? I think it's more it will enable them to compete at the end of both competitions because that's what's going to define their season. There is a danger sometimes with the surprisingly good teams that you end up, come May, you end up looking back and thinking maybe we were 8 out of 10 or 7 out of 10 in both of our priorities than being able to really nail down which one we wanted.

10:16and it's clear that the rotation isn't really there in the final third. Daniel Marlon has been excellent when caught upon, but as a substitute, largely, he's done his best work. Evan Gesson hasn't really come off, I think, as Villa wanted. So there's certainly room for another attacking player. I suspect it'd probably be more of a versatile attacker than a centre-forward. That's what they did in January last year when they signed Asensio and Rashford and tried to really mix things up. I think that's probably what they'll look at because central midfield and central defence and fullback areas, they do look incredibly settled.

10:54Yeah, I'd go for a right winger if I was them. Obviously, I think we all like John McGee and he offers plenty to Aston Villa coming off that side. But just as an option tactically to go and do something a little bit different, I guess, someone that can maybe play as a right, either as a striker out on the right. I suppose Gesson is kind of that guy, but he hasn't delivered, has he? So, yeah, I think they could, yeah, certainly up top is where Villa should strengthen. I think their central midfield is really hard to play against, really difficult. They're excellent ball winners. They're mobile.

11:29They're aggressive. Yeah, they're functioning fantastically well. But, yeah, they're long shots for a reason. I don't think they've quite got enough, but the form is sensational. to chuck a name out there we've seen this week or we've heard this week that Crystal Palace are closing in on Brennan Johnson in January I actually thought that might be a good option for Villa he wouldn't necessarily expect to start every game he played Europa League last season and played Champions League this season so he's got that aptitude he can play down the middle and can play on the right as Adrian said that to me feels like a bit of a no-brainer it's where they are in PSR terms I guess in terms of what they think they can do but I thought Johnson would have been a really good option for them.

12:11Especially if you're getting crosses from the left-hand side, he can be that one to get at the back post like he does so, so well. I wonder whether if you do have an out-and-out winger who maybe has more width, that's not really the way that Emery likes to play, is it? Because he really likes to have that kind of narrowness. You think of John McGinn in this case, a lot nominally on the right-hand side coming in but when you actually see where he is on the pitch, it's often in the central third of the pitch. Morgan Rodgers likes to drift in as well, such that actually when they're in possession they're quite compact when they have the ball such that if they lose the ball they stay in a really neat block.

12:45We know how much Emery really likes to train those really sort of compact out-of-possession shapes as well. So you wonder whether if they open up a little bit from an attacking perspective will that come at the cost of then losing their shape from an out-of-possession perspective? I don't know, but he really likes to keep that structure, shall we say. Well, these are nice questions for Villa fans to be pondering as they head into the Christmas, I was going to say break, but to Christmas, within a win of the top of the table. As for Manchester United, Mateus Cunha equalised after the first of the Morgan Rodgers bang as he should have equalised after the second.

13:23Many people, particularly Gary Neville in commentary, felt that United played at least as well as Villa, the form team in the Premier League, in this game. But they come away without anything. and without Bruno Fernandes as well, who went off with a hamstring injury in the first half, to add to the many other absences that Ruben Amarim has got with them right now. Extraordinary figures about Ruben Amarim's, sorry, about Bruno Fernandes's permanence in the Man United side. He's played almost 17 ,000 minutes for club and country over the last three years, more than any other outfield player in world football.

13:57In six years at Old Trafford, he's missed a grand total of three games, but it looks like he's going to miss one or two in the near future. Adrian? Yeah, the stat I had is that I think it's more than three games. Since the start of 2020-21, he's featured in 196 of 205 Premier League matches, which is astonishing. He's never missed more than three in a campaign. He's always available. So what are Manchester United going to do without him? During that period, by the way, since he joined the club, before this game he created 583 chances the next closest in the Premier League was De Bruyne 432 so about 150 behind and as for United this season the stats are astonishing chances created he is way way ahead of anybody else more than double where does this leave Man United then Daniel well it's going to be really interesting because Kobe Mane was missing this game but I think the injury is serious and the the stock answer from Ruman Amarin as to why Mainu has not been getting as much football has been well he's in Bruno Fernandes's position so you know good luck with that if Mainu is now able he's kind of fit soon and can come into that team with Bruno injured everything changes because he is a different player he might play the same position Amarin might say but he's a completely different player there is a chance that it enables a kind of maybe even a more balanced team with two natural central midfielders.

15:28Maybe it allows those wing-backs to get higher. The problem is that Ahmad Diallo is probably the best of those attacking wing-backs and he's now at AFCON for a while. So it does sort of constantly feel like with Manchester United that when one thing works out and you look elsewhere and you realise there's a leak somewhere else. That's a real shame. But I can see there being a decent balance without Bruno in the team. But my goodness me, like somebody is going to have to step up in terms of creativity. It probably has to be Mason Mount, which, you know, again, players should embrace that kind of pressure.

16:01Mason Mount has been desperate to be more important for Manchester United. So this is your chance. Mason Mount could play as the central midfielder. And then you may be bringing Joshua Zerksi as the attacking midfielder. And then you've still got Matthias Cunha on the other side. But I thought, even though I completely agree, I think it was you before, Adrian saying about Lenny Yorra needed to get across for the first goal especially but really both of them need to get tighter to Morgan Rodgers but it was interesting to see Man United they did the same in the Bournemouth game on Monday shifting a little bit more to a it was a 4-1-4-1 more so out of possession where where Diogo Dalo really did push high so you think about the wing-backs staying high you know in possession when they're going forward but they were really quite aggressive out of possession as well to try and pin Aston Villa back in this case but they can pin the opposition back really well if they kind of go man for man which they were doing quite a lot so if you think okay if you maybe don't have as much creativity coming from bruno fernandez from an individual maybe with the system you can try and think of a way to which he seems to have tweaked ruben amrum in the past couple of weeks 10 days it may be the case that actually the system and the way that they're playing might be a better way to create chances by winning the ball high up then you've got your more attacking players who are on the ball in the final third rather than the typical method which has been give it to Bruno Fernandes largely and he'll surely do something with it.

17:18If you've got no choice because he's not on the side, then you need to think of more structural ways to do that because you're not going to replace his individual quality. All right, well, we'll see on Friday, Boxing Day, when Man United will be hosting Newcastle at Old Trafford, the lone Boxing Day Premier League game. Before we leave this match, just to say, wasn't the Michael Oliver ref gam great? Unusually, because I remember this at the Club World Cup They had it on the chest, I think. But he had a kind of augmented ear unit. And his gaze is so steady. We've probably all had head-mounted cameras.

17:54And usually the footage you get back is shoddy. I'm over here. I'm over there. Michael Oliver is just laser straight. Magnificent. What positions he took up as well, James. Behind the ball. He had the best view in the house, didn't he? And so did we, thanks to Michael Oliver. Sorry, Daniel. No, I was going to say exactly that. it was as if like Gary Neville on commentary was sort of praising him as if he was part of the commentary team because wherever he was was the best view of the goal even that Matthias Kuhner chants early in the game I think Drew even said like best view in the house Michael I mean that's where he should be but he was there so yeah I'm envisaging a future where everyone on the field will have a camera and will just basically follow funny you say that given what the game was today because there was a game in pre-season where Uri Tielemans wore effectively a ref cam on his chest.

18:44And it was revolutionary in terms of my viewing, just the distance covered and the sprints and how the kind of organisation of the press, because you heard the audio as well. It was really good to watch. I assume that players wouldn't want it until the camera was absolutely tiny or built into the shirt. But yeah, it was good to watch in pre-season. I did a piece about this, whereby there's a selection, it's happening in the Premier League, it's happening across wider leagues as well. there's a selection of cameras that are around every Premier League stadium such that you can get the tracking, every single limb and eye movement of every player at any one point.

19:18And it's becoming more and more real time such that as the viewer, you wouldn't even need it on your own person as the player. You can augment it and watch. Maybe more replay, but you can watch a goal that's been scored. You could effectively reconstruct. Yeah, through the eyes of the players. Through AI slop. Yeah, AI is the future. Right. Magnificent. Magnificent. All right, well, there you go. That was Aston Villa 2, Man United 1. Let's get on to what happened on Saturday next.

19:55This is the Totally Football Show, part of the Athletic FC podcast network. The Athletic is the only place you can read articles by Daniel Taylor, Amy Lawrence, Phil Hay, James Pearce, Oli Kaye and the very best football writers around. AFGON, as you heard, it's underway as we're recording it. The opening game of the tournament is Morocco up against Comoros. That got underway a short time ago. Is it goalless still? Yes. Morocco missed a penalty. Anyway, we'll catch up on all of that when we're back with our regular edition of the Totally Football Show, which we're recording Tuesday morning. That'll be with you first thing on Christmas Eve.

20:31Before that, we'll have a European edition, which we'll be doing Monday and we'll be out on Tuesday. with all the big news from the Continental League as they wrap up before Christmas. There's also, if you're hungry for Totally content, a brand new Totally Extra out right now featuring very special guest, Oscar-winning director Asif Kapadia talking about El Nino, Fernando Torres. So do check that out. Now, Saturday, sort of a mixed bag from the Premier League. There was some pretty dismal fare, But there was also a throbbing Chelsea-Newcastle Saturday lunchtime. 2-2, it finished. Newcastle were all over Chelsea in the first half.

21:15Chelsea were all over Newcastle in the second. Both come away with a point. Mark, did you watch this? I did watch this. Chelsea seemed to think they had a 3pm kickoff. Yeah, it was the epitome of a game of two halves, wasn't it? There was so many clichés being thrown out from the commentary saying that Mareska's really earning his money at halftime. And it kind of was true. If we go back to the first half, I think you also then have to go back another game as well because Newcastle definitely needed a response from the previous game where they were so dismal against Sunderland. I think they had more shots.

21:49I heard this in commentary that I think they have more shots on target in seven minutes, the opening seven minutes, than they did in the whole of the game against Sunderland. So they really came out of the blocks. They were so, so aggressive. I really like how early they put crosses in. They're really adapting to Nick Voltemada so, so well. I really want to write about that because I think there's something sort of in it in how early they cross and how Jacob Murphy as a same side winger, if you like, a right footed, right sided player. You can bank on making those runs every time. And that was sort of what happened for the, it would have been the first goal where it came off Anthony Gordon.

22:25Great save and Voltemada hit it in. but Newcastle was sensational first half and then yeah Chelsea did come back into it second half I thought it was really interesting in terms of that goal for Jao Pedro how it came about of how Newcastle kind of banked on staying really high I think they were in a false sense of security that they were so in the ascendancy left would it be Malik Tiao with Jao Pedro just in a man for man 1v1 and it was a great bit of skill for Jao Pedro to sort of head the ball back into the path of of the goal and then subsequently score.

23:02I think Newcastle's overconfidence at times to just leave one man back was a reason for that goal. Okay, another thing about that equaliser was the fact that it came from the Chelsea goalkeeper hitting it way downtown, which was something that he'd always been told never to do. But Enzo Marisca actually applauding him after the goal. Now, before that, Chelsea had pulled one back through Rhys James. What kind of a game did Rhys James have? And how crucial was he to the turnaround, Adrian? Well, it was absolutely crucial, wasn't it? I mean, technically, from those three kicks, he is magnificent, isn't he?

23:46And I thought that Ramsdale's footwork was a little bit slow. and that maybe he started a little bit too left, but it was a pinpoint free kick. And he is having a tremendous campaign. He's so important to them, both sort of defensively in terms of his aggression. But I think in leadership, like quiet leadership, has become his kind of, you know, strong suit now. You know, he's not loud. He's not particularly vocal, but he does drive the team on. He's fairly inspirational, isn't he? And it's interesting that the manager, will use him in central midfield in those tough games, in the real tough tests.

24:25It's Gusto that plays at right back and James in midfield. And I think that is a nod towards his leadership qualities and what he can offer. So, yeah, really good. If only the centre-backs behind him had been better. I think both centre-halves had stinkers. Fafana, obviously, loses the ball for the first goal. And then there's a bit of a mess-up with Schallaber when he slips. And then for the second goal, I think it's Chalabar that lets Voltemada get across him. It's a great finish. Don't get me wrong, but it's too easy. And then for me, Chalabar has to give away a penalty there. It's a very, very reckless challenge.

25:05No chance is that shoulder to shoulder. Incredibly. I was going to ask about the intensity that Chelsea showed in the second half, but that was a little bit too much. Daniel, should that have been a penalty? I mean, again, it comes down to that subjective, like was it enough there to overturn? I mean, I think it was. I think if it had just been shoulder contact, maybe. But he also puts his leg across, right? And I know there is a slight touch of the ball, but to my mind, he's already taken away at least part of the leg before he gets that touch on the ball. I thought it was a penalty, I have to say.

25:36I think Chelsea got quite lucky throughout the game on that. But that isn't enough of an excuse for Newcastle who are absolutely wretched with Leeds this season. I think it's a really weird thing happening where, so in the league and the Champions League this season, they've dropped 21 points from winning positions. That's bad anyway, but they were the best in the country at last season. They only dropped seven in the whole of last season with Leeds. They were brilliant at seeing out games. I don't quite know what's happened. I know the supporters are talking about kind of predictable substitutions, but I think that's always a bit of kind of hindsight bias in that lots of managers bring on defensive players when you've got a lead.

26:14That's fair enough. And you back people to do their jobs. there's just something going on. I don't know if it's a bit of fatigue that they can't quite keep up that intensity level second half. And that sort of thing becomes self-fulfilling because if teams are one or two goals down, the moment Chelsea scored, Rhys James scored that free kick, every Chelsea fan thought, we can get something here because we know what Newcastle are bad at this season. And so it transpired. Lovely last minute, last ditch tackle from Rhys James as well. He came steaming in. I can't recall who the Newcastle player was.

26:44It was Harvey Barnes. I mean, Newcastle had some good opportunities towards the end as well. There was another one with Anthony Alanga, and I think he should have squared it for Harvey Barnes. They had a couple of breakaway chances. I mean, even the whole game was so, so entertaining, but the final 15 minutes especially, they were really going toe-to-toe. And I think during the coverage itself, they didn't have time to have replays of some of the opportunities because the ball was at the other end within seconds. So it really was an entertaining game. But I think as much as the Harvey Barnes chance, which was a big one where Rhys James tackled him, But the Anthony Lang, I don't know if everyone else remembers that, but he really should, I think he should have squared it.

27:18And he ended up taking a feeble shot in the end when I think they had a three on two. So it could have been 3-2 to Newcastle very easily. I also wanted to say well done to Newcastle for playing on when Chelsea players went down during that first half. When Chelsea really didn't fancy in the first half, they didn't want to put a shift in. And what they were doing, I felt, was just going down, looking for the stoppages all of the time. and credit the referee and credit Newcastle for playing on because it's my big bugbear. The last few years, referees keep stopping the game, even when it's not a head injury.

27:54And Newcastle played on, and I think, didn't they score from it? I think they might have scored from a chance where they had a player down. So, yeah, long may that continue, please, because ultimately it stops players hitting the deck when they're not really injured. Fair point, Adrian. Chelsea have Aston Villa coming to Stamford Bridge on Saturday. Aston Villa, who've won seven Premier League matches in a row, 10 of the last 11. Enzo Maresco won't be on the sidelines for that. He was booked for the third game this season in Saturday's clash. So, yes, he'll be watching from somewhere else. Newcastle, 11th in the table now.

28:35Chelsea, fourth. Level on points with Liverpool, who were 2-1 winners at Spurs. It was the worst game of the season until it wasn't. Yeah, I mean, I actually thought it was going to be a chaotic game all the way through. I was really disappointed with that first 30 minutes. I mean, it felt like you're watching a game with not enough attackers on the pitch, and that's because you're watching a game with not enough attackers on the pitch. Tottenham only had Kolo Mouane, Kudus and Javi Siemens for a bit as their attacking players. And Liverpool only had Eketike and Wurtz as their only attacking players.

29:11I think there's something going on and it's really interesting to watch Liverpool because it's almost like experimentation in real time in the Premier League in that slot is going a little bit more attacking than a little bit more defensive, a little bit more attacking, a little bit more defensive to try and get that gauge point right of where Liverpool are at. and I think in the first half he was too defensive and Florian Wurtz was dropping deep and therefore Eketike was getting isolated. The moment that Izak came on at half-time for Connor Bradley injured, they had an extra man which clearly helped, but he just looked completely better.

29:45He looked more joined up and then lo and behold, obviously, Izak finally scores, Wurtz gets an assist and then Izak gets what looks like a really bad injury. So, yeah, I mean, my main takeaway was I watched an interview with Thomas Frank at the end of the game with Tottenham's in-house TV team, media team. And he said that we were very good throughout. And I was sat by myself and I openly laughed because I just couldn't work out what they were trying to do. And there's something happening here where Tottenham players make bad decisions, whether it's Avi Simon's tackling or whether it's Romero losing his head or whether it's people playing bad passes.

30:24And it isn't that they're bad players. is that they don't know what they're meant to be doing. So there did seem to be a sort of consensus view after this game that, yes, it was a defeat, but it was a better performance than the other ones, which made me think, jeez, how bad were the other ones? It was only at the end, wasn't it, James? At the end, they panicked Liverpool, didn't they? Well, they created... I think they ended up... For fans of XG, they actually outperformed Liverpool on XG. Once they went down to 10 men, after Xavi Simmels' red card, they actually did seem to have a bit more about them whether that was a sense of injustice or what it was or maybe Liverpool got complacent but yes, your take Adrian Yeah, my take is that I can't understand why Christian Romero is the captain of Spurs I can't understand it I mean I've been on this show before and I think I've labelled you asked me who the most overrated player in the Premier League was and I said Christian Romero and I got Peltas from Spurs fans who are blind to him.

31:26Absolutely blind. What are they blind to, Adrian? Well, he puts his foot in. You know, he's aggressive. He's the sort of defender they want to see. But he's always been a liability. Always. And, you know, this was a crazy red card. You know, one for descent. The other one, you know, when you're on a yellow card, you know, lashing out. I know it wasn't the hardest little lash, but it was, you know, it wasn't good. It was a definite yellow. And obviously he messed up for the first goal as well with a loose pass out from the back. Just don't rate him at all. And I think that really he shouldn't be the captain of that team.

32:09He's not leading by example. If that's your captain, the one who's supposed to lead by example, then what's Savvy Simmons supposed to do? Yeah, I think there's quite a few problems. Of course, it was only a few weeks ago where Jed Spence and another player, Van de Ven, ignored Thomas Frank. Something's not right. From putting my former footballer hat on, it feels like the players are not buying into the messages that they're getting from Thomas Frank, that they don't really have full respect for him. Is he too soft? I would say potentially. especially if he thinks that's a good performance. With Romero, I think he can be really good.

32:54I think he can be really good when there is a brilliant individual in the team that leads the attack and takes the pressure off central midfield and therefore the defence is able to step up without being afraid of the ball in behind. That's what he struggled with last season. I think he can be really good at passing through the lines and being that kind of disrupting defender. but that sort of defender works well when everything's calm around them. The problem that Spurs have and Romero has and therefore Thomas Frank now has is that for the last at least 12 months, Spurs have never been calm and when your team isn't calm, Romero is the one that then looks jumpy and too keen to do things whether it's like trying the extra pass that beats an extra man whether it's like leaving your foot in whether it's kind of reacting and giving it the kind of chest beating because we all need to show we're together.

33:45That stuff can work, but only when it's the antidote to what goes around you. And at the moment, it's not. It's the opposite of an antidote. It's the epitome of what's going on around him. Liverpool took the three points in this, and we're talking about the issues of Spurs. Having said that, there is a strong case that the second Liverpool goal shouldn't have stood before Richarlison came on and grabbed one back and then gave Slobber's eye the dagger eyes. Did you see that as he went away? Not sure what the issue was there, but love Richarlison. I thought he was very petulant for pushing Hugo Iketike's head down after he tried to get the ball as well.

34:19I think that was why Sabaslai stared him out and they had a bit of a staring contest. Everyone was as bad as each other in that sort of situation. But the foul, which Spurs would have called for on the Iketike goal, would you have given that? No, I think he just misjudged his positioning just that little bit. He was caught under the ball. And if there would have been a kind of a notable shove where you can see his head go forward at speed, you think, okay, it was a push, it was a nudge. But everyone has to kind of use their hands to jump. I think it was just poor positioning from a defensive perspective.

34:53And you can tell by the way that someone goes down sometimes that they haven't really been pushed, but they're just looking for it. And then obviously it will go to VAR, and then anything that's maybe looked at could be ruled out. But I was actually quite pleased to see that, you know, the whole it's a contact sport thing. Much like Adrian said about the referees not falling for Chelsea going down a lot, I was quite pleased that it was still given because you are allowed to have contact in the box. It doesn't have to be a small push, doesn't have to be a shove and it doesn't have to be ruled out.

35:24Adrian's coming back in. Hugo Eketike, by the way. How good is he? I'm a massive fan. I worked on the game against Brighton. He was sensational in that match. and in this game, from that turnover for the first goal, I thought Liverpool picked them off unbelievably well. The pass from Eketike to Wirtz is brilliant. The through ball from Wirtz is brilliant and the run and finish from Isak is brilliant. And then, of course, Eketike goes and scores the second one with a good header. I think, well, of all the strikers that came into the Premier League in the summer, he's clearly the one that's shining brightest.

36:03Yeah, I think he's really silky. And what I love about him is that he's got the charisma and sort of personality and character to wear the badge. And not everyone can do that, unfortunately. You know, not everyone can go and play for Liverpool where the eyes of the world are on you and own it. And Eketike, it seems like he's born for it. So, yeah, what a great signing he looks. The other big signing up front, Izak, meantime, is going to be out for a bit after getting injured in the action of scoring. The tackle from Van der Venne, scans were done today. They're talking about it being potentially quite a serious injury and quite a lengthy absence.

36:43Guy Fraser asking you how come Van der Venne wasn't cautioned. Is it because Isaac actually scored in the course of that foul? Yeah, there's two ways in football which, for some reason, we all sort of accept that you've got a little moment in time to do what you want. One is after a player's had a shot and the other is when you're shepherding a ball out for a goal kick, you're allowed to sort of obstruct and get in the way. It's really weird. I thought the van der Ventak was really poor. I mean, if that had been an open play, I think VAR would have looked at it for a red card because he's off his feet.

37:19I understand and I get the explanation, which is that if you're trying to block a shot, then you are allowed to kind of dive in the air to block a shot if you think that shot's going to be in the air rather than on the ground. But it's really unfortunate for Izak because, as Adrian said, it was a brilliant run and finish. In a way, I guess maybe it takes away another, you know, like Hamid Salah being at AFCON, it takes another complication out of Arnaz Lott's mind and he can say, well, you know, now it's Eketike's stick and we know what we're going to do. But, yeah, you want Izak fit. It's been an absolutely rotten.

37:54I know there will be not a lot of sympathy for him this season and his lack of fits at the start of the summer was down to him choosing not to train. But it's been a rotten first season. So far, it certainly has. All right, quick word on the top two. Man City beating West Ham 3-0. Arsenal, meanwhile, 1-0 winners away at Everton, which means that they will be top of the table for the third time in the last four seasons, twice before they've been in this situation under Mikel Arteta. Are my numbers right there? Yeah, third time in the last four seasons. Yeah. Is this time different, Adrian? Is it?

38:28And why? Well, first of all, it makes no difference being top at Christmas. Arsenal fans will not care at all about that. I think it's different this year. I think the team's stronger. Just look at the bench from the weekend. It was frighteningly strong. And that's still with several players out injured at the moment. So Arsenal are definitely in a better position to go on and see it through. They're not in great form. I think that much is clear to see. Not in sort of swashbuckling form. That said, I think some of the reaction from actually from Arsenal fans to this win has been really negative.

39:05And personally, I don't see it as negative. I think it's a great result, first and foremost. And, you know, Everton didn't have a shot in the first half. Not a single shot. The XG was next to nothing. And Arsenal hit the post twice. One cleared off the line. Could have been three, at least. so Everton without Dewsbury Hall Ndiaye and Gay were both away as well no shots in the first half as you mentioned only one on target overall Arsenal though for the second game in a row none of their players scoring from open play was that the complaint the lack of creativity I think just a lot of control but not that much penetration I think or excitement look I go back to it like there were bits of the performance I liked and bits I didn't like I mean Arsenal almost scored one of the team goals of the season where they played out from the back, down the right, they moved it beautifully from right to left to Rice and then he went on to Trossard and really Trossard should have scored, he hit the post.

40:04That's glorious football. But because they don't score it, it gets a little bit forgotten and I think a lot of Arsenal fans are just expecting more from the team at the moment. And my message to them would be keep the faith because I do think that the team will click and sometimes you just have to grind it out. And at the moment, it just feels like a little bit of a grind for Arsenal. But they deserve to win the game. There's no doubt about that. Okay, that's good. Is it in the context a little bit of last week? I saw Adrian at the Arsenal Wolves game last weekend and it felt like I was in the press room after and everyone sort of associated with Arsenal was puffing their cheeks out.

40:43And I was like, you guys won. You've just got to remember that. And it feels like they're the sort of ones that you sometimes take more satisfaction from because they did deserve to win it overall. But the way in which they won it, you think their games, which we would have drawn last season and two points dropped can be huge in the title race, etc. But there was a real kind of deflation from it. But it just depends on your perspective. It's been trauma, hasn't it? It's been trauma. Sunderland, late goal. Wolves, late goal. And Villa, late goal. And when you mentioned trauma as well, the fact that Man City, who have been behind Arsenal so many times at Christmas, then come back to take the title, Man City on Saturday had retaken the lead at the top of the table after their victory earlier that day against West Ham, putting the pressure on the Gunners to step up and do the job.

41:28But not the easiest place to go and get a victory, particularly when they're short of form on the road. They got it anyway. Well, there you go. Arsenal with the three points. City still two points behind them after their 3-0 victory against West Ham. Scary numbers here. Seven wins in a row, Daniel, for City in all competitions. have only conceded one goal in their last five matches. Erling Haaland with two goals and an assist. That's now 19 Premier League goals and we're not even at Christmas yet for the big Norwegian. Scary numbers for the Hammers too. They're in the relegation zone at Christmas.

42:00They had zero shots themselves in the first half. They are five points from safety. Yeah, I mean, on Haaland, I thought this was basically the perfect epitome of new Erling Haaland as this poacher. There were a couple of times in the second half we looked to be getting really frustrated that nobody was playing a direct ball over the top. And I think that's probably what they've lost from A, Kevin De Bruyne leaving, because he used to play those kind of curled passes for him to run onto. And also, I think Edison, who used to be brilliant at those speared balls over the top. But on Saturday, Erling Haaland had 13 touches of the ball, eight of them were in the penalty area.

42:41It's just, it's ridiculous. So I kind of went for the score. I went and had a look. He's had more touches by a distance than anyone else in the penalty area this season. The rest of the top five have averaged between 11.5 % and 13 % or 14.5 % of their touches have been in the box. So they just had a lot of touches, of which lots have been in the box. Haaland's had 30 % of his touches in the penalty area this season. It's completely unprecedented. there's never ever happened before where a striker has just been so so much of a latent threat that he's just waiting for the ball to come through in the box and yet still even though everybody knows what he's trying to do still manages to find space in the box to get the ball it's ridiculous What percentage of Morgan Rodgers touches have been in the box I wonder?

43:27I don't know but he's got a penchant for scoring outside the box hasn't he? I mean with the Harlem thing I think it's really interesting what you said Daniel especially because yeah Edison and De Bruyne out of the side. And there's not too many players who, as you say, can play that searching long pass, if you like. But I do think that Manchester City have added a string to their bow in the sense of going from back to front at far more speed. They don't typically like to have that sort of transitional style. And they have definitely sort of towards the end of last season, certainly this season, done that so much more.

43:58And that's been widely spoken about. But that goal was another example of what to define as a fast break goal, which is essentially a counterattacking goal. because they won the Harland second, this is. They won the ball from West Ham. And then just, it was more with runners than necessarily a direct passing, which is why I suppose that action kind of goes away, as you say, Daniel. But they've scored six goals from fast breaks this season so far. For context, for those interested, that's more than the past two full seasons combined. So it's definitely something they're trying to do and doing to great success more.

44:29And that is in itself playing to Harland's hands. He can be that penalty box striker, but he can also run at the speed of sound and actually arrive in the penalty box when they're sort of trying to get in behind the opposition when they're attracting them on. So it feels like Manchester City becoming that team again where you try one thing, well, that doesn't work. You try the other thing, well, that doesn't work either. So how do you beat them? And that's why they're seven wins in a row. Yeah, two points behind Arsenal. As for West Ham, losing at the Etihad can happen to anybody really. So maybe we shouldn't draw too many conclusions about their prospects, but five points, potentially six, is already quite a margin between them and 17th.

45:10Yeah, their biggest potentially season-defining period starts now. So they haven't won in six games, but the teams they played were second, third, fifth, seventh, ninth, 14th. In their next five games, they've got ninth, 13th, 15th, 17th, 20th. They've got games that they should win. The issue is they've got games that they now really have to win. because of Leeds' form and Forest's form. Because if they don't get, what, let's say nine at least points from those five games, they're going to be on fewer points than games played. And with Wolves being awful this season and heavy beating them, it does feel like you might need, well, you're certainly going to need more points than you have in the last two seasons to finish 17th.

45:53And right now, 17th looks like West Ham's ceiling. So, yeah, it's a huge, huge Christmas, New Year period for West Ham. Crikey. We'll get on to Leeds. And the other teams, the other action that took place this Premier League weekend, next.

46:14You're listening to the Totally Football Show with James Richardson. Now we do four times a week. Keep up to date with us on Insta and enjoy us in glorious Technicolor on YouTube at the Totally Show. Up in Scotland, Hearts with 2-1 winners over Rangers at Tynecastle on Sunday, making it four wins out of four in their games against the old firm this season. An extraordinary jambos are now top of the table at Christmas. The last non-old firm team to be top at this time of year was Aberdeen back in 1993. Hart's next game is at Hibs. Edinburgh Derby. That's Saturday lunchtime. Oh, six points, I think it is, between them and Celtic.

46:53Celtic, who finally got a win. Wilfred Nancy in his fifth game in charge, finally oversaw a victory. 3-1 over Aberdeen. There you go. Now, Premier League this weekend, possibly the team performance at least of the round, came from Leeds United, who at Ellen Road beat Crystal Palace 4-1 on Saturday evening. That's now four games unbeaten for Daniel Farker's side. They are now six points clear of the drop zone. And Dominic Calvert-Lewin once again on the score sheet. Five Premier League games in a row he scored in. Six goals in those five matches. Should he be on the plane, Adrian? Should he? Yeah, he's got a chance.

47:34He has got a chance. In it goes. Headed up from Beal to the far post. Galvin Lewin is in there again for Leeds. Ollie Watkins isn't being prolific. Who else? Danny Welbeck is a rival, but obviously he's knocking on a bit. Look, if he stays fit and he keeps on scoring the way he is, he is in the mix because he's quick. He's tall. He can hold the ball up. He is not stylistically the same as Harry Kane, but he's not miles apart either. I would urge anyone to check out a tweet from the Athletic FC account. I don't know if you've seen this. I saw it on Blue Sky. It had the goals map of Dominic Calvert-Lewin and it is a joy to behold because you've got seven goals, which he's scored and they're represented by dots, but it is almost a perfect vertical line from two yards out to about 12 yards out, bang in the middle of the goal for all seven goals.

48:34So make sure you check it out. It's absolutely fantastic. In this game, Adam Wharton got two assists because Oliver Glasner is a great manager. I rate him massively. But what is he doing putting Adam Wharton and Dominic Calvert-Lewin from set pieces? It's just not defensively sure enough. We know he's better going forward and he lost Camus Leung for both the goals and they're on him really. So all four of the goals conceded by Palace were from set pieces, I think Oliver Glaston was saying afterwards. And he was then listing all the other goals that they conceded recently from dead ball situations and how this has become a real issue for the club.

49:16I have an element of sympathy for the Eagles, though, because they'd played 48 hours before this against the Finnish side Coups during 2-2 in the Europa Conference League. They then had this game late on Saturday night. Tuesday, they go again in the Carabao Cup quarterfinal against Arsenal. That's three games in six days. It's a really tough run for a team that doesn't have the squad that some of the clubs do. There's this really odd thing going on with Palace at the moment where they've made it to the knockouts of the Conference League, albeit not quite how they'd like because they've got the playoff round.

49:51They're in the quarterfinals of the EFL Cup. They are still in the top eight of the Premier League, which is far above anyone's expectation for last season, never mind with added European football. And yet there's definitely an odd mood. It doesn't help that you've got players like Mateta and Munoz who seem to be sort of half hinting at summer moves or bigger clubs. It doesn't help that Glasner's in the final months of his contract and there are no as yet reports that he's going to sign a new one. It doesn't help that probably the Gehi thing happened. It's just a really odd climate around Palace at the moment.

50:26So kind of fair play to Glasner for doing what he has until now. But they can't let anything become a rut because they, yeah, when Palace don't play well, when they're not at it, it becomes really, really obvious really quickly, I think. And sometimes it's the first 10 minutes of the match. If you watch that game on Saturday evening, from about 10 minutes in, it was like, well, yeah, Leeds are going to win this because they look really up for it. Ellen Road looks really up for it and Palace don't. And the fatigue thing is an issue. It's a relevant point, James, but I think they made 10 changes or 11 changes for the Thursday night game, completely played a reserve team.

51:02So this was the one they should have been up for. They are a victim of their own success, as Daniel says, by fighting in multiple competitions. I wouldn't say it's self-inflicted because Glasner does like to stick with the same side. They don't have necessarily the requisite squad depth as others who are maybe fighting on multiple fronts. However, I did a piece in the week and it included a section on Crystal Palace to say that the average substitution that they make in a typical game is, I think, the 76th minute. Now, that's the latest of anyone else in the Premier League. So you think, granted, there's not too many occasions where they're 4-0 up and they can rest loads of players, but not just the rotation between games, but the rotation within games maybe gives someone an average of 30 minutes per game and maybe give the forward players who have to do a little bit more of the transitional high-intensity running a break after maybe an hour and then just try and manage the squad, knowing that you do want to fight on multiple fronts, that this is a marathon, not a sprint.

51:59So the fact that they have the latest average substitution within a game is also kind of reason to flag that it could be a bit of an issue. All right. Although it's an issue which has led to them currently being eighth in the Premier League table. So and in the semifinals, sorry, quarterfinals of the League Cup and playoffs for the Conference League. So a bad defeat for them. But the situation that notwithstanding is still pretty excellent for Palace. Leeds, meanwhile, as mentioned before, have managed to open up a six-point margin between themselves and the bottom three. They are away at Sunderland on Saturday.

52:35It'll be interesting to see how that goes. Very much bottom of the table. Checks notes are, oh, look, Wolves. We flagged up on Thursday that there was a, we felt a strong possibility that the visitor Brentford, Brentford, a team who'd only won one game away from home all season. and that was in October against West Ham, a team who had only scored one goal in their five matches on the road since that West Ham victory, that Brentford, that their arrival at Molyneux represented a real chance for Wolves to finally get win number one and start turning things around. Didn't work out that way, eh, Adrian?

53:10No, they're just not good enough, are they? They just don't have good enough players. They don't believe in themselves anymore. I think it's just too much damage has been done by this winless run. Have they given up, do you think? Well, I've got a stat here for you. Brentford ran five kilometres further than them. I don't know whether that means that they've given up, but they certainly aren't. I think when you're a poor team and when you are really struggling, you have to get the basics right. You have to win your tackles, win your duels, run hard, do all those basics better than anyone else, just to get yourself into games and to make yourself feel confident.

53:52And when you look at the raw data on Wolves in those departments, it's poor. Brentford made loads more sprints, for example, than Wolves in this game. They're not pushing themselves in the way that you would expect for a team fighting for their lives. I mean, in that first half, there were three shots, which I think was the lowest in the first half since, I think, 2020. Two of them did come from Wolves, but it wasn't your rip-roaring, let's make this the day where we get our first win. So, yeah, it's as bleak as it gets for Wolves. And it doesn't get much bleaker than that penalty, does it? For Jorgen Strand-Larsen.

54:29It has to be one of the tamest pens I've ever seen. And remarkably, on the back of that, I'm reading, was it from David Ornstein, that West Ham United are ready to table a bid for Jorgen Strand-Larsen, who's having a horrific campaign, really. Well, there may be players who, once taken out of that team and that atmosphere, do rediscover a bit of form. But, Mark, you wanted to offer something on this. Yeah, well, no, I mean, on the penalty, it was the biggest representation of a team's confidence in a single kick of a ball. But I agree. I mean, as I say, Adrian and I were at the Arsenal-Wolves game last week, and Wolves did play, I don't want to say exceptionally well, but they played very well for what we expected.

55:11But then the context was key because they were playing in a really tight 5-3-2. They were just shuffling across, keeping really compact. And Rob Edward said after the game that we couldn't open up because if we opened up our shape, then we were playing Arsenal, we would have got taken to the cleaners. So they only opened up in the final 10 minutes and that was kind of why there was the chaos. Now, when you're playing against Brentford, you do have to open up a little bit. So then they were kind of caught between, are we good enough to actually try and score a goal here? Are we not? And they sort of did neither particularly well.

55:39Well, at least we know the answer to that question. We do know the answer to that question. I think with the Arsenal game as well, obviously if they were to try and get something, it was maybe to be on the counter-attack. But Wolves haven't really got anyone who's fast enough to actually exploit. Maybe you'd have John Arias potentially, but not enough players who can actually punish on the counter-attack. So if you can't do really anything at speed, you can't really cut the opposition open from a counter-attack perspective, or even if you're trying to score a typical goal, and that's why they've, it feels like one of the key reasons why they've just not been very potent in attack at all and that feeds into the lack of confidence.

56:10I can't see where the next world's coming from. Wow, they are 16 points adrift. Wolves last week waved bye-bye to controversial chairman Jeff Shee, the man who sold too many players and then said, maybe we sold too many players. In his place comes Nathan Shee, no relation, who's the interim executive chairman. He's come in from Wolves owners, FOS, and he was previously a director of Club Med. So that'd be interesting. Paul M commenting on the Athletic article revealing this news, same she, different day, which I liked. Yes. Anyway, that's Wolves. Also this weekend, Bournemouth and Burnley had a 1-1 draw.

56:52Burnley ending that lengthy run of defeats. Goals from Anton Semenyo, as per usual. And Amanda Breuer got a goal as well late on. This was their only shot on target, 90th minute, his header. They didn't have any shots at all, whether on or off target, until the 86th minute. But that was Burnley. As for Semenyo, that's now his eighth Premier League goal of the season. A popular question to ask is, where will he be in February? What do you think, Daniel? It is being made known by someone that he would quite like a move, wherever that may be. And that presents Bournemouth with a pretty huge problem because they've gone eight games without a win now.

57:36Semenya has scored, I think 42%, scored or assisted 42 % of their goals this season in the league. Evan Nielsen and Kruppi have sort of played their part, but it's Semenya that carries the ball forward to them. The rest of them are more kind of workman-like, decent, but workman-like wingers. I'm thinking of David Brooks in particular. But yeah, they've started conceding goals other than Semenya. When Semenya is not at it, they're not, they don't really look dangerous. And Burnley at home was always the end of this run where he thought, oh, kind of whatever happens, even if they don't win another game until, at least they'll probably beat Burnley at home.

58:11And they haven't beaten Burnley at home. So that does create a significant problem. Yeah. We said this, you know, I said this about Brentford recently as well, I think on the last show, But the issue for anyone trying to bring Bournemouth back into EG a relegation battle is that the team who are currently 18th need to pick up enough points to put pressure on. And that's not happening. You know, every game that West Ham go without winning, Bournemouth get further away from the bottom three effectively. But the mood has certainly shifted given that they were, what, second or third, I think, in October.

58:42I mean, it's, yeah, it's a really wretched run. Yeah, 14th and the table, only a place behind Spurs in 13th. That 17th place finish from last year is beginning to look very familiar. Mark, sorry. No, no, this is a little more than just an interesting stat, I think. But I might have even said this on another episode on this podcast before. But since the start of last season, only Mohamed Salah and Erling Haaland have taken more shots than Antoine Semenyo. So it shows that, I mean, it's been spoken about a lot how he's able to play off both feet. But it shows that he's in demand, not just because he's on a real hot streak, but he is a high volume player.

59:19He can do a bit of both. He can play on both sides. He could maybe talk of him playing as a wingback or you could maybe even play him as a centre forward and sort of have him in an Ousmane Dembele style role where he's floating around the attacking third. So it shows that the process is good, not just the output that he's in a hot streak of form, which he definitely is. Excellent. The other game that took place this weekend. Adrian, do you have any thoughts on Brighton 0, Sunderland 0? First ever Premier League meeting between these two teams. Well, it wasn't a great game. I think Barth for Bruggan had a pretty good game for Brighton.

59:53Kept them in it, really. Enzo Le Fay was particularly eye-catching for Sunderland. I think he created five chances. Ayari, I noticed, was getting forward and firing off shots after shot, but couldn't score. No, I think it's a good result for Sunderland. although they do need to score more goals away from home, that is an issue for them. Very, very low scoring on the road. But for Brighton, a little bit like Bournemouth, they're just in a bit of a flat spot at the moment where they look a touch jaded. They're stretched a little bit as well. And yeah, this season could go one of two ways. And at the moment, they're at kind of a crossroads point, I would say, Brighton and Hove Albion.

1:00:36We've been very reliant, remember, on the goals of Danny Welbeck. Now, Danny, obviously, was he 34 now? Can he do a full season at full tilt where he carries the team? Let's see. But I think others need to step up in that team. It might do them good if they sell Belieber. Now, I know that he's a very good player, very good player. But I just think his head has been turned and he's not anywhere near the same as he was. so maybe if there's still a buyer there maybe they might be tempted to make that move and then just regenerate the squad and replenish it for the second half of the season On Sunderland they kept another clean sheet here they kept a clean sheet against Newcastle I went back and looked at it so over the last two seasons promoted clubs played 204 combined games against non-promoted clubs and kept 10 clean sheets in that time so that's a rate of about one every 20 games Sunderland have played 16 games against non-promoted teams this season and they kept six clean sheets themselves.

1:01:42Adrian's absolutely right about the non-scoring, but the reason that nobody's talking about it really is because they're so good defensively. And that's what that is. I mean, that is one of the most remarkable statistics of the last few years in the Premier League, how they've been able to come up. They weren't brilliant, brilliant. Adrian will know this. They weren't brilliant defensively last season, the championship. and yet they've I mean they have bought a new defence and a new goalkeeper and Rufus has been excellent but it's absolutely ludicrous that they managed to keep six clean sheets in 16 games against non-promoted clubs because there's no good reason for it at all at all and they are going to be on merit one of the best promoted clubs of the last decade if they carry on doing what they're doing defensively Brilliant Up in sixth spot Sunderland as we head into Christmas.

1:02:32That, I think, wraps it up for today's Totally Football show. So many, many thanks, Mark, for being with us. Thank you. Actually showing up, unlike some. Looking at no one in particular. Looking at no one. Adrian was super busy because you were doing a brand new Handbrake Off podcast before this. Is that right, Adrian? Yes. Yeah, that'll be out for any of the fans that are listening. Yeah, that will be out, I guess, when this comes out. Probably. Maybe even before. Maybe even before. Daniel you've got the eyes very special the score round up of all the salient points all the things you need to know about the about the weekend in the Premier League and that's with everybody by the time you receive this as a podcast I'm looking forward to that many many thanks to you two as well for joining us have a very very happy Christmas listener stroke viewer of course we are back Monday Tuesday you know with other totally shows and And then we've got stuff at the end of the week as well.

1:03:30So I hope you'll be keeping it totally. For now, though, with a shout out to producers Jake and Charlie and to you there, wherever you're following this. From all of us here, it's happy holidays and goodbye.

1:03:47You've been listening to The Totally Football Show, part of the Athletic FC podcast network. For more great podcasts just like this one, including The Athletic FC and our dedicated club podcasts, search for The Athletic on Apple, Spotify and all the usual places. We're also at The Totally Football Show on Insta and at The Totally Show on YouTube. The Totally Football Show is an Athletic Media Company production.