Trossard goal + VAR drama = delight for Arsenal and despair for West Ham

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1:28Matt Davies-Adams: Still waiting in line? Again?

1:58The Athletic FC in there. Then we talk Beach Boys, Bournemouth and Brighton, both close behind Villa. Brick walls, baubles, how bad was Liverpool Chelsea? Saints being sinners in Spygate and playoffs too in this Totally Football Show.

2:16And it's live. And here in the studio, very exciting, absolutely packed here in the studio, got Matt Davis-Adams. Fresh in. Yeah, lovely to see you, Matt. Big day for you, for Forrest? For all three of your panellists today, James. The other two being, Daniel Story also physically here, manifesting in the studio. And get this, call off the surge, Adrian Clark. I'm back. Adrian, pod when I'm winning Clark. Unbelievable accusations. I mean, I come in when you ask me to come in. Absolutely. And I've been pied, for want of a better phrase, in recent weeks. And, you know, I'd have been more than happy to come on.

2:56But here I am. Yeah, it's an extraordinary series of coincidences. But did Arsenal win today? They did win, yeah. They did? Okay, that's great. No, but a lot of people were concerned. I know. Making sure you were okay. I'm fine. I'm top of the world, actually, today. Excellent. Excellent. Well, a lot to be happy about. Many thanks to everybody who's chosen to join us here on a Sunday evening, perhaps eschewing the Classico and all the car crash thrills that that might involve. That will be on a little bit later. Might try and work in some scores from that if there are. But the main point of interest is, of course, the big Sunday night game, which took place at the London Stadium with Arsenal winning late 1-0 against West Ham, which means that Leeds, Forest and Palace are now mathematically safe.

3:44And Arsenal look very favourably placed for the title. How tense was it? Lim reports, I'm not even an Arsenal fan. But man, those last 20 minutes were tense. Matt, how were you feeling? Well, I was kind of living it through producer Charlie, who is such a... Was he tense? He's such a polite and evenly balanced man normally that he did shout quite loudly when Trossard scored, but then immediately apologised for shouting quite loudly, which I enjoyed very much. Even though it obviously impacted my team, it was just a fun thing to rubberneck on, I think. And it's a shame that we're going to probably spend 10 minutes talking about what happened at the end and VAR, but I guess it's all part of the football discourse, isn't it?

4:28I think it probably felt just about right that Arsenal win the game, but it was good that the momentum swung back and forth and there's loads of subplots to it. Teta kind of losing his head for a little while. West Ham having a good period in the game and then the talk on Saturday being about a Belgian winger maybe dragging their team to the title and then lo and behold, not that one, but a different one. Very nicely done. You should host this, haven't you? Or frequently, yeah. The big game that you came down to see in London wasn't the one at the London Stadium, Daniel.

5:02Matt Davies-Adams: It was not. It was the National League playoff final. So for people that don't know, for a place in the football league. Nice. And I came because I went to the last day of the National League season when Rochdale had the, I mean, I think the greatest ever end to a football season in the, very briefly, title race. One team needs to win, the other team just needs to draw. Rochdale scoring the 96th minute to win the game. Fans run on the pitch, massive pitch invasion. They get them off. There's about 12 seconds to play in those 12 seconds. York City score, they pitch invade. I mean, the best way to put it is that a Rochdale fan ran onto the pitch, sprinkled some of his father's ashes on the pitch, and then they didn't win the game.

5:42Matt Davies-Adams: So for that fan, I hope he was at Wembley today. Because Rochdale were trailing after 96 minutes, scored with the last kick of the game, pretty much. and then won on penalties and are back in the Football League. Oh, and he's hit the woodwork! It's all over!

6:04Rochdale are heading back to the Football League!

6:07Matt Davies-Adams: Near where I was sat, there was a kid holding his mum's hand and she looked sort of white with fear and the kid was just screaming, please, please, please, over and over again, all the way through the penalty shootout. That sort of sums it up. He can watch Rochdale for another 80 years and not see a season like this one. Incredible. And you were there, Daniel, with your unerring nose for a big occasion. Luckily, you were able to see the last bit of the Arsenal West Ham bit, which was the key one, featuring, as it did, the goal from Trossard and the disallowed West Ham goal and all that entailed after that.

6:40We'll get on to that very, very shortly. But that 1-0 victory keeps the Gunners five points above Man City, who won 3-0 on Saturday against Brentford. West Ham, meanwhile, remain a point below Spurs. Spurs play on Monday at home to Leeds. The early games on Sunday all ended square, or all square, rather. Palace-Everton, that was 2-2. It was 2-2-2 for Burnley and Villa, while the side that Villa thumped on Thursday, Noddington Forest, drew 1-1 with Newcastle. On Saturday, there was a 1-1 draw for Liverpool and Chelsea, to the delight of the Anfield crowd. There were no goals whatsoever in the clash between Sunderland and Manchester United.

7:21Bournemouth beat Fulham 1-0 so that's 16 games unbeaten now for the Cherries who are only four points off fifth and right behind them are Brighton who beat Wolves 3-0 to move into seventh place now, what happened at the London Stadium? This is the Totally Football Show with James Richardson part of the Athletic FC Podcast Network Bryce St. Erdogan Chazal!

7:51Priceless! Potentially priceless! Potentially priceless, says Peppa picking Peter Drury. Among the many choice bits of comms that he and his compadre Gary Neville offered us in the course of that dramatic finale to the game. An earthquake of a moment, as Gary described the VAR call, I think. Was that right? Have I got them confused? I mean, there was so much going on with that. I think he called it maybe the biggest decision in VAR ever or something that could possibly be. There's probably a case for that, isn't there? I was surprised it was done so quickly because you could have picked up any number of fouls in that particular.

8:32Right. It felt like it went on for days. Yeah, five minutes, was it? Yeah. It's funny that you mentioned the commentary there, Peter Drury, in my own commentary, my co-commentary. Of course you were commentating. What did you say? I said you cannot put a price on that goal. So we were along the same lines. Yeah, exactly. No, I agree. I enjoyed it on the subject of commentary that he paused for Trossard's goal. He said his line and he shut up, which is something that I think any great goal deserves to speak for itself. Tyler Aguero, nine-second pause. There you go. He says Aguero. There you go.

9:08I agree. I agree. It was a colossal moment, wasn't it? It was. Yeah. It was. What did you say when Callum Wilson appeared to have equalised? Oh, no. I think. Yeah, it was devastating for Arsenal at that moment. But you could see instantly that the players felt really sure that there was an infringement. And they made that clear. And I think, you know, even though it was all a bit of a mess, and you can look at any corner and probably pick out two or three fouls, can't you? And that will be what some people say. A lot of people will say you can look at any corner involving Arsenal and pick out.

9:46Both ways, absolutely, yeah. Where Arsenal players are fouled and where Arsenal players... It's not quite the nuance that they were. But yeah, yeah, yeah. That is a fact. Yeah, OK. But for me, they came to the right decision. I think it was a foul. I think there were two or three fouls, really, on Davo Raya. You obviously had the arm across the neck. Right. Most importantly, there was a left hand on the left arm of Raya. Because Ivo was pulling down his jersey, yeah. To stop him coming and punch it. coming to get the ball. It was also a shirt pull. There were also a couple of West Ham players potentially being fouled.

10:18But the key player in the incident is the goalie because the ball's coming out. He's there to catch the ball. He's in a position to catch the ball and he's being fouled. And would he have caught it without that arm? Almost certainly you feel probably. What do you think, Daniel?

10:32Matt Davies-Adams: Yeah, I mean, I thought it was a foul. I do get, and look, the whole ultimate point here is that someone shouts the words clear and obvious. someone else shouts, well, if it's a foul, it's a foul. Then someone else says, well, that's a foul as well. And then someone says, well, that one cancels that out. And nobody ever is going to agree, right? That's the problem. I personally think it went above and beyond the normal stuff that happens at corners. I think every corner of you freeze-framed and went, well, he's holding him and he's holding him. I think, yeah, I agree that that could happen. And I don't think you'll ever lose that because I talked to Charlie before the show and players now put the ball under the bar.

11:09Matt Davies-Adams: They want to get it on the keeper. They want to see the wrestling. They want to kind of force a moment. I think this went above and beyond that because he was holding the arm. I didn't actually mind the arm across, but the holding of Raya's arm, I think, yeah. One of the things it is, we've seen goalkeepers get free kicks inside their own box for, I would say, considerably less than that. You know, over a long, long period of time. It's also fitting, right, that I personally think, rather than Declan Rice, I think David Raya has been Arsenal's most definitive player this season. It's fitting that he was in that moment.

11:41Matt Davies-Adams: It's fitting that it was a set piece. It's fitting that it's VAR. It's kind of all the themes of this title race in this Premier League season in one. And the David Rye save, I have to say, from Mateus Fernandes was a pivotal moment. Yeah, it's clearly a miss, but it's also great goalkeeping because he makes himself big, doesn't he? And that, was it a right foot that he stuck out? It was a right foot, yeah. I mean, it's not a pretty save. It's not an agile tip over the bar, but that was magnificent because he's five yards out from goal. I feel Matt's point would be that that's all about where Mateus Fernandes has chosen to put the ball rather than Raya's save.

12:19Where he chose to put it and when he chose to take the strike because he should have done it a couple of seconds earlier. I thought it was a poor attempt, poorly timed. But there's a nice irony in Raya getting the golden glove today with that clean sheet, which so nearly wasn't. But, you know, he has been an excellent for them and credit him for making the save because the goalkeepers might not have, but it was more in the player should have scored rather than the goalkeeper did well to save at camp. Well, you mentioned, Adrian, the coaching confusion that Arteta unleashed back in the first half after the period of initial dominance that Arsenal enjoyed when Ben White went off injured and Arteta went full pep in his kind of galaxy brain approach to how to resolve that situation.

13:03Yes, I think when the dust settles on this, I think Mikel Arteta will look at his own performance and say, I've got a lot of things wrong there. It was a little bit of a brain pickle. I think maybe it was too many voices in the head. You saw him in dialogue with Albert Steubenberg, with Gabriel Heinz. So they were maybe overthinking it. If Ben White gets injured, just put mascara on like for like, which is what he ended up correcting at half time to go with Declan Rice at right back. doesn't just move your best midfield player out of position. It puts him in a position he's alien in. It just messed up the whole equilibrium of the side.

13:44And we went from dominating the ball to really not doing anything with the ball. It was very clunky and West Ham got initiative off the back of it. What I will credit Arteta is that he corrected his own mistake at halftime by bringing on Mascara. Personally, I thought it was then a mistake to move Myles Lewis to get to left back because I thought he was doing brilliantly in midfield. And then ultimately, I guess, he got it right with Erdegaard, didn't he? Because he brought him on for Eza. And I thought that Erdegaard actually, in his little period on the pitch, was brilliant. He made two slide rule passes that almost created chances.

14:21And then in the moment that really mattered, the captain delivered. He scampered into the box, held the ball, and he didn't rush. In that moment, you can panic. You can try and rush your decision. He was really calm, waited for the right moment to set Trossard, and it was a good finish. And yeah, Trossard is the clutch player at Arsenal. He's the one that you always want the big chance to fall to, and he delivered. So yeah, it was an amazing moment. And it got Arteta out of jail because he didn't have a great day. What I will say is that he showed courage to take off Zubermendi. Because I said in my own commentary, what I would do here is be brutal and take off Zubermendi.

15:04Not because he's a terrible player, just because he needs to change things. And he did it. So, yeah, all in all, a very, very mixed day for the Arsenal manager. But he won't mind now. Right. All's well that ends well. Pineapple Tree Trunk says, has there been a more valuable player in terms of points earned from goals than Trossard the past two seasons in the Premier League. He does seem to be a tremendously clutch performer.

15:28Matt Davies-Adams: Yeah, I think partly it's because of his role quite often coming on in those moments, being the kind of the guy. Right, that said, he had gone 25 matches without coming up with the girls. I mean, as I say, I just said it before, but I think David Ryer is by a distance Arsenal's clutch player. He seems to be the guy who is at the front and centre of every moment, partly because of how good he is, partly because of the pressure that Arsenal have withheld this season and his goals prevention, that sort of stuff, is as good as ever. He just seems to be a calming influence on a defence whenever it seems to need it.

16:03Brilliant signing because no Arsenal fan wanted to change Aaron Ramsdale. But they made a really difficult decision to say, actually, we think we've got a better goalie here. And it wasn't a popular decision at the time. And now, I think David Ryder, there's an argument to say he's one of Arsenal's greatest goalkeepers. You know, I'm looking back over the history. David Seaman is obviously up there, Bob Wilson. But David Reier is unbelievable, in my opinion. I think with my own eyes, and obviously I've seen a lot of Arsenal goalies in recent years, I think he's the best that I've seen. He's absolutely brilliant.

16:38So, yeah, I think he... This is probably why you should do player of the year at the end of the season.

16:43Matt Davies-Adams: Well, it's also why with the player of the year, I suspect there was a huge hoo-ha about that. But the reality is that Arsenal have been a team and that some people have voted for David Reyes, some will have voted for Declan Reyes, some will have voted for William Saliba maybe. Or, you know, it's quite easy for that to happen. So this is for the Sports Writers Association. Yeah, the FWA, yeah. Which was awarded on Thursday and went to Brunnenflange. Yes. And that's nice to see him recognised. It's a lifetime achievement award essentially for him. In a season where there have been the team that I think will win the Premier League have been a team and their competitors to the Premier League title are led by a striker who has won it before when he's had a better season.

17:25But we still have the PFA award to come, which I think Rice will win.

17:29Matt Davies-Adams: Yeah, I think it'd be Rice or Raya will win it. They would have been the deserving choices for me because I think that they're the figureheads of the team that's been probably the story of the season. and reach a Champions League final, hopefully being the champions. But Fernandes has been the best attacking player in the league. There's no argument about that. So, yeah, good luck to him. I'll be honest, James. Individual awards in football, they leave me cold. I just don't care. How much have they troubled you? I just don't care. It's a team game. Right. But all this fuss that... Have you turned down many on that basis?

18:02Yeah, yeah, I always turned down. The Ballon d 'Or, I mean, the younger generation obsessed by the Ballon d 'Or. I just couldn't care less. Because you're not? No. Because it's just an opinion. Well, that is true. And that is an opinion as well, ironically. Journalism is where the real awards are at, right? So true. So true. West Ham, amongst all this levity, is that it for them, Matt? It's difficult, isn't it? I mean, we can't be conclusive about it because Spurs and Leeds haven't played yet. But, yeah, I mean, they've only won three of their last 12, haven't they? They went that 10-game winless streak between November and January.

18:41And obviously with my Forrest hat on, I've been watching Nuno fairly closely. And I thought at the time he was jumping into another job far too quickly. And then when I heard that he wasn't taking any of his staff or he couldn't take any of his staff with him, it just smelt wrong. And it looked on the face of it as though they did some decent business in January. But it was almost too late at that point. And again, when you reflect on that business, Tati Castellanos has obviously given them something, but clearly not quite enough. The sum of a injury was massive for them as well. But they've just had too many periods where they've gone too long without winning any games, I think.

19:17And it's not like we've not seen this coming, is it? Similarly with Spurs, I think there's been a few seasons of stagnation from the very top at West Ham. And you can't do that and just rely on the fact that the three promoted teams are going to go straight back down.

19:30Matt Davies-Adams: As I can say, they've walked into a very unfortunate relegation battle this season, which they haven't really had one before, certainly not as close as this or as severe as this. And they've done it at the worst possible time because they're probably going to get somewhere between, well, they're probably going to get 36 to 40 points, which in the last couple of years has been enough to chill out for the last month of the season. That isn't the case this season because of Sunderland and because of Leeds. and yeah eventually if you roll the dice as West Ham have then you know it's 10 years now since they left the bowling to go for the London Stadium it still never felt like home and that's going to catch up with you at some point West Ham a point behind Spurs West Ham will be away at Newcastle next weekend if they lose that and the Spurs win their game on Monday at home to Leeds then West Ham are down and it won't even go down to Spurs' next game which the eagerly awaited visit to Stamford Bridge.

20:30Matt Davies-Adams: I'm aware this will come out. This will date fairly quickly because it will come out Monday and the game is Monday night. But there is a lot of assumption that Spurs are going to win at a stadium they haven't won at since the opening day, right? I mean, they're not in great form. Sorry, yeah. Yes, sorry, yeah. Leeds are, I know they're safe now, but they've looked really good in recent weeks, whether they're safe or not, just because of how they're playing. If they don't win that... They're not the kind of team club manager fan base to go, oh, well, we're done now then, so we'll just shut this in, are they?

21:00They will absolutely love blooding the nose of...

21:02Matt Davies-Adams: All season, both at the top and the bottom, we've kind of, people like me, have made sort of grand predictions like, yeah, I've got this covered. And this season, there's been so many sort of oddities and unexpected events. Spurs losing it home to Leeds on Monday night would be fascinating for the next two weeks. And Leeds are a brilliant away side. So, I don't know if you know this, since that Man City game, so that was in late November, where they changed the system famously at half-time. They lost 3-2, but it was a turning point of their season. Away from home, they have won one, which isn't great.

21:39They've drawn eight, and they've lost once. So, out of ten games. And during those ten games, they've been behind for 87 minutes. 87 minutes. 87 minutes. So, they are… Only about 10%. Yeah, they have been brilliant on the road. I'll never forget that Man United performance. But they are now safe. Yeah, so that can work both ways. They'll either just lose a bit of focus and be on a little bit of a jolly, or they'll play with a little bit more freedom. And if they play with the freedom that they showed at Old Trafford in that game, where I thought that was one of the performances of the season, then I'll tell you now, they won't lose to Spurs.

22:14So, yeah, this is still a very, very big game. I don't think it's done and dusted yet. I think West Ham weren't great today, but they're not a team in crisis. It's not a calamitous side, are they? I think they could go to St James' Park and win. They've done that in recent years. Wouldn't surprise me at all. Okay. With that battling spirit that we saw at the end with Callum Wilson's entrance into the fray and late, late goals, subsequently disallowed controversially or not. Leeds will also be an opponent for West Ham on the final day of the season at the London Stadium. Here's a stat. Arsenal winning 1-0 is the second most frequently seen scoreline this season.

22:56Do you know, Daniel, what is the number one, the most frequently seen scoreline this season?

23:03Matt Davies-Adams: No. I was going to guess Arsenal 2-0. No, it's Manchester City winning 3-0, which some might feel points to some subtle difference between these two sides. But it just so happens that this weekend saw Man City also winning by that scoreline as they dispatch Brentford. Took them a while to make the breakthrough. Jeremy Doku with that goal that he does, getting them on their way off to which Erling Haaland, Haaland, as you prefer, added another. He's now got 34 goal involvements in the Premier League this season. And then the third goal, after a lovely build-up, was from Omar Mahmouche. that is remarkably the first goal scored by a Manchester City substitute since the opening day of the season in the league and they've made Guardiola does leave his subs quite late but they've made 133 I went back and looked does he make very bad substitutes I think he makes quite I think it probably plays into the 3-0 thing in that he makes subs to kill the game and play out the game rather than they are needing a goal later on less than most teams, I think it's fair to say.

24:14But 2021-22, City only made 79 substitutions all season

24:20Matt Davies-Adams: and those subs scored 10 times. So to be on two from 133 is very different in a few years. And they've obviously got a very deep squad now. So not much excuse for it. I do think it's just you come on and kill the game rather than necessarily trying to score. But then having players like Phil Foden and Mahmoud out of form when they come on hasn't helped. Okay. Doc is in form though, isn't he? He is, isn't he? Oh, my goodness. Are you concerned about that, Adrian? I'm not concerned about it. So the remaining games, because it's not done yet. It's not done yet, no. Five points is the margin at the moment between the Gunners and Man City.

24:53But Man City have a game in hand, which they'll be playing on Wednesday at home to Crystal Palace, who clearly have other targets for this season. Yeah, they're going to beat Crystal Palace. Which would leave them, if they do, come next weekend, when they will be in the FA Cup final against Chelsea, that will leave them two points behind Arsenal. Arsenal will then play their game against Burnley.

25:15Matt Davies-Adams: Yeah, we need to really try and whip up some intrigue for that one, don't we? That's the thing, isn't it? If you were to pick two fixtures that you wanted to close the season out, Burnley and Palace would be pretty high up there, wouldn't they? Yeah, I mean, Palace with the Conference League final a few days away is quite handy. But you've still got to go and win those games. As we saw today, it wasn't easy. But for City, I think the Bournemouth one's trappy, isn't it? To go there to win, they will have to play very well. Right, they have Palace at home, Bournemouth away, and then Aston Villa at home.

25:44Arsenal have Burnley at home and then Palace away. Yeah, but on Doku, I mean, he's stepped up at the key moment of the season, hasn't he? He has been, obviously Harlan has scored in four successive games, but for me, it's been about Doku. They just can't stop giving him the ball. And that's what I actually really like about the City. When someone's on fire, they just keep giving him the ball. He had, I think he had 89 touches in the game, which is unreal for a winger. I think only one player had more touches than Doku. Is eight or nine touches unreal for a wing? 89. Oh, 89. 89 touches. That is unreal.

26:16I mean, I would have loved 89 touches in a game, trust me. No one wanted to give me the ball that much. And every time he gets it, you do feel that something's going to happen. So, look, he is a joy to watch, actually, Doku.

26:28Matt Davies-Adams: It makes me a little bit sad because it feels like this is, that's what Grealish could have been off the leash, you know, allowed to take on that man. It feels like Pep's gone, go for it. He hasn't got the actuals. Doku's a freak. As in, he can beat you with raw pace. He can beat you with a trick. He can out-muscle you. It's just every full-back's worst nightmare, isn't it? Yeah, every full-back must be completely dreading playing against him. So, no, well played. I mean, I don't know if you wanted to talk about the officiating in this one, but I thought that was a bit of controversy there. Bernardo, this is.

27:03Matt Davies-Adams: Yeah, yeah, where he hits, I can't remember whose leg. but kind of karma for the Gabriel Holland incident. No, I wouldn't say so. I wouldn't say there's anything like it but it's a punch. Ah, yeah, yeah, yeah. It's a punch. But there's also a punch in the Man United game as well that went completely unreserved. Yeah, I think any punch should result in a red card. Rather than getting broiled in that, we should also salute the fact that Arsenal have, in the last seven days, also reached the Champions League final. I know, I know, very exciting. Yeah, no, it's a brilliant time. It was a brilliant period.

27:35This could be Arsenal's greatest ever season. Greatest ever season. Yeah, absolutely. It would eclipse the invincible season if Arsenal were to win the title and the Champions League in the same campaign.

27:48Matt Davies-Adams: One behind Forrest when the opening comes. Arsenal just have no pedigree in the Champions League. We got to one final, didn't win it. So, yeah, look, we're on the cusp of something very, very special. But still, as we sit here, Arsenal could end up trophy-less. that's the torture of it and I've got to say that in this what could be the greatest season I would say most Arsenal supporters have said that they have not enjoyed this campaign at all it's been quite you know it's been agony at times to watch yeah that's the saving grace for the rest of us isn't it that they're not they're not fully enjoying this remarkable success it's the weird thing about following a football team it's pain when you're winning and it's just as awful when you're not we're feeling it And I think it's good to feel emotion, whether it's great emotion or not so good.

28:39It's just good to feel. Rather than being that mid-table side that never really do anything. So, no, I've been in the camp that let's enjoy it, let's embrace being a part of the conversation. Because we were absolutely nowhere near it, let's be honest. When Arteta came in, I also couldn't dream of being in the Champions League, let alone being the final. So, I'm still glass half four. but yeah no it's exciting times and look doing it the 1-0 way feels very Arsenal it's the Arsenal that I was brought up on yeah we're going back we're going old school and hopefully look if we're to win the Champions League final if you were to pick one scoreline if Arsenal were to win against Paris Saint-Germain I think you know it you know it would be 1-0 it's not going to be a 3-2 thriller well let's see let's see hopefully from your point of view the next two opportunities for trophies will go better than the last two.

29:31Stop it. Stop it, James. Very good. We'll take a quick break and then we'll hear about the other games that happened on Sunday earlier on today.

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31:44Healthcare just got less painful.

31:53This 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. Matt and Adrian do the excellent What the EFL podcast. It's a big weekend for Championship playoffs. Four teams, two semifinals, one dream. No goals as such. But anything we should know about the two first legs there? Friday's Hull-Milwall 0-0 and the similarly scoreless Borough Saints on Saturday? Well, I watched Hull-Milwall and I can tell you categorically there's nothing that you need to know about that.

32:32But yeah, I mean all the excitement came from Spygate in the championship playoff. Spygate, aka a man on a hill looking over a hedge. And apparently this might have happened a lot. That's now the fear that there might have been a lot of looking over hedges this season in the championship. It's fascinating to see how this plays out because it feels like obviously Southampton have been caught doing something they shouldn't, but also that they've not handled it particularly well. You had Tonda Eker being sort of escorted out of his post-match press conference yesterday by a pretty surly press officer who was quite annoyed at some very legitimate questions that were being asked.

33:13And it's one of those situations, I know. Seb Stafford-Bloor's a big proponent of this. You kind of think, well, why is Tondarek having to answer these questions? But then you wonder, how culpable is he in this? Goes right to the top, you think? Well, is he the top? Is he the face of it? Did he know about it? I mean, it could potentially have quite a significant effect on him as well, I think. I'm not sure what the effect on Southampton will be, other than a fine of some description, which is not going to be the£100 million or whatever it is they'll make if they go on to get promoted. But it's a really curious thing and you feel like it might do something a lot more harm than it would do good.

33:49With the title Spygate or Spygate 2 for many people following on the Bielsa first instalment, it's a little bit anticlimactic to read the details of a person who's not yet been identified as a Southampton employee standing on a golf course which happens to overlook a training ground and looking essentially. does it actually matter if a team is it something that happens all the time part of me does have this sort of enhanced enhanced games kind of attitude to it where i'm like if you can't spot

34:23Matt Davies-Adams: the guy in the fake mustache standing on the golf course and that's kind of your bag but yeah there is a as matt says there's a sort of spirit of the game element to this which is and it is it is now ratified in the rules after the bielsa incident it wasn't before that so it is breaking rules so So there will be a charge if that's in the program. So what is the rule then, that you are not allowed to observe training if you've not been invited to do so? You aren't allowed to spygate, basically, yeah. And if they have, and the club will know that rule, and it has to be a deliberate action on the behalf of someone.

34:57Matt Davies-Adams: We should say, for the record, that Southampton... Well, they haven't denied it. No, but there was some suggestion that it might have been a lone wolf situation, and Analyst taking it on himself. That would be convenient. That would be very convenient, yeah. I cannot wait for the three-part documentary on this dramatisation with Steve Coogan playing a first-team analyst. I mean, yeah, when the story first came out, that he was in the bushes, which sounded better, I've got to be honest, than being on the golf course. But there's a reason, James, why all brand-new training grounds are built in the middle of absolutely nowhere.

35:32I was at Bournemouth's training ground this weekend, and you have to drive up a driveway that's about two miles long. And a lot of them are like this now. It's cloak and dagger. And the reason that they wanted to do this, in my opinion, and I think Helberg, the Middlesbrough manager, picked up on this, said it's because Middlesbrough play in different formations. They rotate. Sometimes they're back four. Sometimes they're back three. They've got different ways of playing. And they wanted to find out which way they were going to play in this game, which is quite a big thing because you can obviously plan for it.

36:07It's bang out of order and they deserve every punishment that they get if it's proven. What kind of punishment are they likely to get?

36:12Matt Davies-Adams: Well, I suspect there are a lot of people hoping, in the EFL and outside, hoping that Middlesbrough win that second leg because it's an easier punishment to hand out if Southampton don't get the final. If Southampton get to the final and they think it's a serious enough case, they can be kicked out. Of course they can because they are proven to have no only broken the rules. seek an advantage, they can kick them out of the playoffs, definitely. It's just that that feels very, very messy at this point. They'll get a monetary fine, won't they? And the thing that Leeds, or Bielsa particularly, did so brilliantly was he did that press conference where he basically just bored everybody to death, didn't he, for about two hours.

36:48Whereas because Southampton didn't address it in that press conference, kind of stoked it, that makes it much worse.

36:55Matt Davies-Adams: They did also a distraction technique by being absolutely battered by Middlesbrough in the first half of that game. Middlesbrough should have been two or three up at halftime. It ended 0-0, so Southampton are now favourites. Well, Nick Hamblin comments, I'm waiting for the time a team knows there's a spy and intentionally misleads them by playing with a different line-up. Anywho, we look forward to the second legs, which are coming up on Monday and Tuesday. Meantime, in the Premier League on Sunday, a bunch of draws on Sunday afternoon. Forest 1-1 with Newcastle. Harvey Barnes scoring off the bench, as usual.

37:33Newcastle then letting the lead slip as usual. Elliot Anderson against his former side with the late equaliser. Forrest, who are now safe thanks to what happened at the London Stadium. Newcastle have dropped more points from winning positions this season than any other Premier League side and have also picked up the fierce points from losing positions. Forest opponents on Thursday Villa meanwhile with a 2-2 draw against Burnley which was a bit of a surprise Thursday night is it too soon to talk about what happened at Villa? We can gloss over it really briefly but it's definitely too soon yeah it'll be sore for a while that one I mean he Forest have run out of road in terms of available players at the end of the season is a big part of it, Vittor Pereira if he had his time again I'm sure would have altered his tactics and possibly the players he picked for Thursday's game as well.

38:28But you mentioned Elliot Anderson, James. He's very much last man standing of Forrest's key players. He was out Ainer, Murillo, Sangare and Morgan Gibbs-White. And I'm sure there's others I've forgotten as well. But he's been the Ironman for Forrest this season.

38:43Matt Davies-Adams: 88th minute of his 55th game of the season. He's the one making the run in the box to score. You can't celebrate it because his crap is so bad. That's great. And what a parting gift to score against his old club for his soon-to-be old club. Is he definitely off? I don't see a world in which he stays. Maybe Forrest had won the Europa League and got in the Champions League. You could have persuaded him. But he's one of those players who, I don't know if Daniel feels the same, but I'm like, well, he's too good to play for Forrest anyway. So you're not that bothered that he's going. Forrest will get a decent amount of money for him, which they need because they overspent hugely last summer.

39:17So it works for everybody for him to go now. but the fact that he has in essence scored the goal that kept us up is a nice way to do it. And Forrest had four different managers and somehow managed to stay up. And now I think they've got a huge decision to make as to whether they keep the guy who's got the moment. Would you keep him out? Honestly, I don't think I would if there was somebody out there. I think he's done amazingly well and he deserves a huge amount of credit. But also his record tells you that he doesn't stay places long. He does brilliantly in April and he doesn't do very well in August.

39:45So what you don't want to do is give him a pre-season and then have to start again in October, lurching from one manager who will start to another and back again. You essentially want him out of work so you can bring him in. That's right. We'll bring him in on the 31st of March.

39:58Matt Davies-Adams: He was never a long-term choice. And so I'm not backing Forrest in any way to have worked out their long-term choice. But if I find some mini miracle they have, they should stick with that plan. What was the worst decision that Forrest made this season? reporting Palace to the UEFA authorities over the ownership issues. Right, right. But they would have been in the Europa Conference League, might have been in the final. Yeah, maybe. I mean, fair play to Palace. They've had a great time. That's exactly what clubs should do. Win a trophy, take Europe seriously, stay up in the Premier League just about and then, yeah, have loads of fun.

40:35Matt Davies-Adams: And I really hope they win that final. If Forrest was only one, He'll probably still be in the Virtue Trophy as well. I just don't understand it, but you said he's done amazingly well. And then in the next draft, you don't want him to stay. Yeah, because of his record in April versus his record in August. Daniel Fark had a terrible record in the Premier League, and now he's suddenly popular again. The issue is that he went wrong at Wolves because of transfer activity. Forrest have got a huge amount to sort out this summer. But would that be him? Well, they need a new sporting director, because that is going to leave.

41:11Matt Davies-Adams: They need a new recruitment team, probably. If Pereira is considered to be Maranakis' guy, fine, stay. If he's the one they're going to build around, I've got no issue with it. If, as we suspect, he'd really like someone like Marco Silva, as a fan, I would rather not be in a position in October where we're like, it's sacking season, baby, again, and the whole thing repeats. We'll see. It won't be dull. Excellent. Excellent. Villa had that 2-2 draw at Burnley, which I mentioned. A game of perhaps limited consequences. Certainly Burnley are down already. Villa have probably got their focus on Istanbul in the Europa League final.

41:47But, Daniel?

41:49Matt Davies-Adams: There's an easy way where Bournemouth or even Brighton, because Brighton is six points behind with a better goal difference. So if Villa lose to Liverpool, and I think they'll play the reserves in that one because they did it before the Forest tie. She has to do it before the Europa League final. And then they've got City. City away. And Brighton can win their last two. So Brighton are not out of Champions League finishing fifth. Right. If Villa, of course, finish fifth famously and win the Europa League, it could be top six going into Champions League, or indeed it would be the top six going into the Champions League.

42:24There you go. We'll have a goal for Watkins. Yes. He's going to go to the World Cup, isn't he? I think he has to. I think he is England's next best striker. When he's confident, when he's playing like he is at the moment, I think you have to pick him up. I love Danny Wobeck, but I think, yeah, you have to go with your dependable, don't you? Yeah, I think so. And it did surprise me when he wasn't in the frame before. It was a bit of a row back from Tuchel, weren't it? Yeah. You know, but... Well, they would just say that's what motivated him, wasn't it? All the other options, I mean, Watkins is scoring goals, but all the other options are either injured or injury-prone as well is the other issue there, I think.

42:59Matt Davies-Adams: Squad comes out, we should say, before the final weekend of the season, 22nd of May, we think, Friday. Right. They will name that squad. Crikey. And then rename it when three players get injured. Crystal Palace 2-2 with Everton. Everton, who were twice in the lead in this game, but unable to take the victory home after Jean-Philippe Mateta's second equaliser in the game. Everton, in their last four matches, actually conceded stoppage time winners against Liverpool and West Ham. Not taken three points from this, despite leading twice, and also throwing away that two-goal lead against Man City. Otherwise, they'd be in that conversation for those European places.

43:41Matt Davies-Adams: I've considered two or more in the last five games, which is very un-David Moyes-like. You kind of thought they would shrink in on themselves to get this done rather than become this mad 3-3-2-2 team. That's exactly what they have become. The two strikers have sort of come up with moments, haven't they? You know, Le Beto in this one the other day was an incredible substitute performance, wasn't it, against City? So, yeah, we'll see. But, yeah, two sort of... Mateta as well, I think, maybe where they've mentioned, because his Palace career was kind of dumb, wasn't it? And then suddenly he's come alive.

44:18Matt Davies-Adams: He's better than Marcelo and Johnson, isn't he? Yeah, yeah, and he's back in the frame, isn't he? He'll play in the final, won't he? Yeah. Speaking of back in the frame, Nick Warga says Barcelona are already 1-0 up. Marcus Rashford and surely he must be in the picture He's one of Tuchel's boys Is he? Yeah You'd think he'd go Just on Everton I'd be really frustrated if I was an Everton supporter because they went out in the EFL Cup in the second round that they competed in and the FA Cup in the third round so they've had far fewer games than most of the teams around them and certainly than the teams that they've been playing of late so I don't really get why they're not able to see games out and why they tend to concede late goals so often.

45:00They played Palace today. Obviously, City have been in the Champions League all the way through to the final in the FA Cup. West Ham had a good run in the FA Cup. Liverpool have had other stuff to deal with as well. And they haven't managed to hold on in any of those games. That reflects quite badly on them. Although they are set to finish top half of the table. Well, well done. Great. But compared to some of their recent seasons. Oh, yeah, no.

45:22Matt Davies-Adams: It's that. And then fans were saying after the Berseyside derby, it's that like showing us something you've shown you can be it and it ultimately ending up with we might as well have finished 12th we get kind of yeah it is they've got a big summer Everton yeah I think they invested in better players right like they got footballers in didn't they for this is that reason like they got Grealish in I know that he's injured at the moment you got Keenan Dewsbury Hall in they've made a big difference and Jai came the year before you know they've been building towards being a top half team and they've literally been building because they've got amazing new stadium as well.

45:57Exactly. I think actually they'll be kicking themselves when it comes to the summer break because they're only, what, four points off of Brighton and they've fritted those points away quite cheaply in recent weeks. They could easily be standing on the brink of Champions League right now. Crystal Palace, meanwhile, in their first ever European campaign are in the final. Where's the Conference League final going to be? Leipzig. Leipzig. Okay. First time. that English teams have been in all three finals, apparently, which I was slightly surprised by. Is that right? Yeah. Is that right? Here's a stat, a companion piece.

46:33Colin Miller pointing out that across the last two seasons, Premier League clubs have played 19 knockout ties, including finals, against non-English sides in the Europa and Conference League competitions. How many of those 19 knockout ties, including finals, have they won?

46:49Matt Davies-Adams: Probably 18 or 19. All 19 of them, yeah. Yeah, I mean, that's the Premier League's dominance, is as such that I think while everybody was worrying about English teams dominating in the Champions League, they were quietly preparing to dominate in the Conference League and the Europa League because you will always get those glamour club exceptions in the Champions League, PSG, Bayern, Real Madrid when they're not in civil war. You don't get as much of that, particularly now. And I agree with the lack of drop-down from the Champions League to Europa League. You like that, yeah. I like it. I think it's a fairer competition as a result, but it does significantly strengthen the English club participation.

47:22Our coefficient has gone through the roof since they changed that rule. And it's not going to change, is it? One more thing on Palace, unless you have others, but Nick Hamblin again says, I've been very surprised by Crystal Palace bouncing back from the Oliver Glasner outburst earlier in the season. The decision on his replacement is a big call, no doubt. But I think when that was happening, we felt that it was a matter of days before Glasner was going to go. It certainly sounded that way, almost as though he wanted that.

47:50Matt Davies-Adams: Yeah, I mean, you shouldn't and you don't need to get players up for European potentially winning, being the favourites for winning a European trophy. Their form in the Premier League has been patchy and he has been helped by Mateta, no doubt about that, because the signings they made in January, you know, spent£75 million on Johnson and Marston and neither of them have worked. So, yeah, it will be interesting because the talk is that they're going to throw quite a lot of money at trying to get Andeoni or Iola, which would be a phenomenal appointment for Palace. I don't see that happening. It would be an odd move on his part.

48:23But Bournemouth players, remember, they're performing unbelievably well. They also know that their manager's leaving. What's supposed to happen is if you know the manager's leaving, it's supposed to fall apart. We've seen it before in the past. It's been used as an excuse by a number of teams, hasn't it? So interesting change of dynamic, really. And I think it actually reflects brilliantly on those dressing rooms because they're clearly very professional and they're playing for the fans, playing for the badge, aren't they? And they've both lost their best player in Semenya and Gahey as well. Since when Bournemouth haven't lost a single game?

48:56Yeah, and Palace have got a European final. Remarkable. Remarkable. All right, well, we'll talk a little bit more about Bournemouth in a second or two and the other matches from Round 36 for this Premier League weekend.

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51:06You'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 seeing glorious Technicolor on YouTube at The Totally Show.

51:41in Madrid that in no way is hilarious and a great source of rubbernecking pleasure. Particularly not in the case of Fede Valverde, poor chap, who had to actually be hospitalised following one element of inter-team tension. Anyway, we'll get to the bottom as much as possible of what is going on at Real Madrid and what's happened in the Clasco and all sorts of other things from around Europe as the continental competitions make their way to their finales. In Scotland, meanwhile, you may well have seen that on Sunday, Celtic beat Rangers 3-1, which means that Rangers are now out of the title race.

52:19It leaves Celtic just one point behind Hearts. Who do Hearts visit on the final day of the season? Are you going along, Daniel? My nose for sniffing out title races.

52:30Matt Davies-Adams: I mean, it's fair to say this one's been signposted quite easily for me. The application's gone in. The application's gone in. I'm very much hoping, yeah, I think I'll be there on the final day. There is a midweek round before that. It could be finished because Hearts play Falkirk at home and Celtic have to go to Motherwell, which is where Hearts just drew. So if Hearts win and Celtic draw, you know, yes. It's not guaranteed to go to the final day, but if it does, it's going to be. It would almost be better if Celtic needed to win by two goals or whatever on the final weekend, which is a possibility.

53:03Matt Davies-Adams: But either way, it's going to be a phenomenal day. Excellent. What an incredible title race it's been. now not involved in a title race by any stretch of the imagination with Liverpool and Chelsea who faced each other Saturday lunchtime game ended 1-1 two very noteworthy goals Gravenberg's opener for Liverpool was a belter how would you describe the Chelsea reply Matt fortuitous okay would be probably the accurate word obviously yeah Fernandes is putting in hoping somebody's going to get a flick. They're always difficult for goalkeepers, those ones, aren't they? And Wesley Fofana did not, and neither did Mamad Ashvili.

53:44But it was a kind of a real look at where we are now game for both teams, wasn't it? I mean, Chelsea are delighted to leave with a point to put them in some kind of positive frame of mind ahead of the FA Cup final, bereft of a lot of wide players, particularly so you've got Mark Kukurea playing as a left winger, which seemed to work. But the whole thing was just like, wow, look at what we were and look at what we are now for both teams. And Liverpool's, whether they're inefficiencies, inadequacies or just the reaction of the crowd really masked a lot of the ennui around Chelsea at the moment. But, you know, there's mitigation for both teams as to why their seasons have been so poor.

54:27But really, as Chelsea are in the process of, we know a period of self-reflection much required for both of these clubs. it feels like some big mistakes made from the summer and throughout the season from both. James Pearce called it the day when patience truly snapped at Anfield. Sample reaction. Christopher S says, I don't expect Slott to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, but the very least I expect is not to get outplayed by a manager with no coaching badges leading a team that had lost six league matches in a row at home.

55:02Matt Davies-Adams: there's also like a dangerous pr line here from slot because he was asked in the week about next season he sort of said it's going to be probably another season of transition well i thought he said if we do if we have the summer that i think we're going to have he said there'll be some different team oh yeah which which is fine but they defend really poorly they make individual mistakes which are then doubled down on by a failure with the ball to create chances and move the ball quickly. There's no obvious personality. They're just a series of good individual moments occasionally, and Gravenberch being a fine example, being overshadowed by pretty much everything else.

55:38Which may sound familiar. Paul R says, I used to find it hilarious watching Man United under Ten Hag, but now we've become them. Is that what's happened to Liverpool? A bit, yeah. My observation, it's a very simplistic observation, is that they just haven't played with any fire in their belly this season. They've just coasted through it. And it's like, yeah, we've conceded again. Oh, well. We'll go again. There are mitigating factors for that and some pretty huge ones.

56:05Matt Davies-Adams: I don't think they will or probably should be enough to keep slotting a job if that's the decision. It sounds like everything coming out of the club is that they will stick with him. But that's a heck of a gamble, I think. The comparison that, again, James Pearce makes in his piece is to the last days of the bunker phase of Brendan Rodgers' tenure. Which went to the October. Right. They didn't make the decision which everybody felt they should have done in the summer. He lasted another three months, which essentially messed up the following season. That was a slightly more spectacular end, I think.

56:37Matt Davies-Adams: If I remember, they lost 6-0 at Stoke. 6-1, I think. 6-1 at Stoke on the final day. So it's a bit, yeah. And I think if that's how this Liverpool season ends in the next two games. You know, if they lose to Villa away and then lost at home to Brentford on the final day, that might change things. Because, yeah, there's just too much surgery that needs doing on the squad. And therefore, if you have to do that and you're not sure about the manager... I just don't know if the players are on board. No. Like, that's what... I'm not looking at a team that are running through... And it sounds too simple.

57:11They're not running through brick walls for their manager. But that's a basic... When you play for Liverpool, part of what made Liverpool in the modern era great is they always play without fire and the desire to go and win games. You'd hate to be a brick wall when those boys were. Yeah, and they've accepted mediocrity, that dressing room, too easily. And Slott is in charge of that dressing room. So for me, it doesn't reflect well. Matt, you watched this game? Yep. Good. featured the second-fewest shots of any match featuring any team this season. What's worse is that I watched it after it had already been played, knowing what the score was and knowing that that happened.

57:54So it was a grind. But I was sort of on Levi Colwell watch as well, which is, I mean, I almost think if it had been a month earlier, he'd have an outside chance of going to the World Cup as well because that's how good he is. But we were talking about this actually on our Straight Out to Cobham, the Chelsea podcast from The Athletic very highly rated on our group chat over the weekend about how to come back from an ACL injury maybe Adrian you'll know more about this than me but to have played 45 and then 90 minutes after a year out seems unusual to me you know the nature of other injuries well we'll give you 10 or 20 and we'll guide but for him to play 90 minutes seemed surprising to me but you know he's obviously gotten through it and they've got one on him starting in the EFL Cup fight he wants him in the final and the reason he wants him in the final is because they can't keep clean sheets Is it 14 matches now in a row in the Premier League where they haven't kept a cliche?

58:44Matt Davies-Adams: The second worst goal difference after Burnley in the first 10 minutes of games. They love conceding an early goal. Not lost in the 90 minutes was Rio Ngemoor, whose exit was the thing which sparked the first wave of unrest. And even that, I felt Slott could have handled it better when he said post-match, well, he had cramp and he told me he wanted to go off. That's kind of blaming the child. Is it? Well, I would have said, we want to manage his minutes. He's a young kid. He looked like he was tired to me, so I thought we'd bring him off. Rather than saying, he has to come off, so I took him off.

59:15Matt Davies-Adams: Matt is a supreme manager, though. Fair enough, Matt. What did he look like while he was on the field? Oh, he's a really exciting talent. Chelsea are going to look back ruefully in the same way they do with the likes of Jamal Musiala and other players who've gotten away from Cobham. No, he's not an academy kid, is he? That's the difference. that if you have these kids in your academy, you've got to do all you can to keep them. But, you know, Chelsea got very good. Why used to be late? Oh, I think he was 15 when he left. Yeah, so he played for Chelsea, maybe 16. He played for the under-18s a few times, quite similar to what Dominic Solanke did, actually, before him in making that move.

59:52But, yeah, he's clearly a very, very bright talent and he'll get much more opportunity to play next season when sort of lumbering and ageing most others, not stoned. Oh, I thought you were going to say when Xavi Lonza's on the sideline. etc and so on just to quickly switch topics for a second Pineapple Tree Trunks is back and says a bit late for an answer but if Bournemouth qualify for the Champions League would Iola change his mind and stay my note on Bournemouth is why is Iola leaving again it means you're going to go to Crystal Palace rather than playing the Champions League with Bournemouth my assumption was and not to plug another show but we were talking about this on the preview from the Athletic on Friday how many shows do you do loads of them too many it's a good one Yeah, yeah.

1:00:33But mine and Karl Anker's assumption on that was that he was going to get the athletic build-bowl job and that's why he wanted to leave. Right. And that's been taken by Adil Dersic. That's the one athletic job that you don't do. That's true, yeah, yeah. So is he thinking, well, I'm going to go to Man United or I'm going to go to Liverpool? Because there... I mean, is that better than playing in the Champions League with Bournemouth for a season and further enhancing your reputation rather than... No, but I do think there is a precedent

1:00:59Matt Davies-Adams: precedent for managers picking the perfect time to lead. I think one of the biggest aspects of being an elite-level manager is choosing when to make your moves. And it might be that if you leave Bournemouth and you're the guy that took them to the Champions League, even though everyone knew you were leaving, and they fall out of the Champions League group stage next season and finish 12th, the issue for me is joining Crystal Palace, not leaving Bournemouth, I think. OK, fair enough. Sunderland took on Man United Saturday afternoon. and that finished 0-0. This was the 27th goalless draw in the Premier League this season, which is as many in the previous two seasons combined.

1:01:39Huh.

1:01:40Matt Davies-Adams: For balance, 49 in 1998-99. Really? 13 % of all Premier League games were 0-0. In 1998-99? Yeah. I mean, 13 % of all games were 0-0, which is incredible work. Wow. Which is the perfect scoreline. Yeah. They say in Italy. Is it not another illustration of the fact that the middle class have improved so much in the Premier League that you don't get hammerings this season? It's actually probably complementary of the quality of the league in a way. Just the fact that it's nil-nil, it was nil-nil. But it means that there are a lot of teams without very much between them, which is probably a healthy sign for the league.

1:02:17Definitely. Yeah, we haven't had a six. And the fives are all ones. So nothing more than a five? Nothing more than a five. The biggest away ring of the season, 5-0? I think Daniel knows. Do you know what the most popular score line has been this season? Well, I do. It's Manchester City. No, no, no. Just a score. Oh, I see. A score. I mean, 2-1. 1-0. 1-0? Always 1-0. Is it always 1-0? It's always 1-0. Bet on 1-0. And there's been more nil ones than 1-0s. There you go. Is that right? Yeah, loads. There's been 30 nil ones. Yeah, but only 19 1-0s. Where are you getting all this season? Don't you worry about it.

1:02:52It's just in the brain

1:02:53Matt Davies-Adams: Magnus Can I make a quick point On Man United Please do There's obviously Yeah there's obviously A lot at the moment About Carrick Yes And I kind of went back And Manchester United Made five changes For this game And looked pretty dreadful Yeah they were So I kind of went back And looked And obviously They've not played That many two game weeks This season But they have played Three under Carrick And they They drew away At West Ham They lost away At Newcastle And they lost At home to Leeds And they're the only times He's played two games and obviously they made a couple of changes for each. I think that how much he is going to be able to change that squad this summer because Xerxes looked way off it.

1:03:30Matt Davies-Adams: Agate always does. Mason Mount didn't take his chance. There's so much work on that squad to get them ready for a 55-game season. I wondered if you were making a point about Carrick himself given that this has been the advantage of United's season that they haven't had to face two games in a week. Well, I would be tempted to get a guy in who has managed 55-game seasons before. Probably not Eriola then, is it? No. United didn't have a shot on target until the 93rd minute in this game remarkable Bruno Fernandes didn't add to his tally of assists which remains at 19 one short of the jointly owned record but he has picked up the shiny bauble for Football Writers Player of the Year as Matt suggested he should on this podcast a month ago so yeah good thing about predictions make enough of them so they'll come true yeah what was it?

1:04:15Matt Davies-Adams: Leeds? yeah don't worry about it Fernandes has created almost twice as many chances as any other Premier League player. That's remarkable. I don't know how you define chances, but that's... His numbers are great. But he is the chief creative hub. What I would say, to sort of balance it out, and I know this will rub people's noses up, but Mikel Moreno and Martin Zubimendi have both scored more goals in Open Play. Oh, for goodness sake. They've both scored more goals in Open Play than Bremen. Are you suggesting they should win the Player of the Year? Absolutely not. But what I'm saying is... Well, Michael Cox said that nobody should win it.

1:04:50He said there was no outstanding candidate. Sure, Brennan Fernandes has got the best numbers, but that's only because everybody else fell off in such a dramatic way.

1:04:57Matt Davies-Adams: I agree with the point. I mean, I think they have to have a winner. But I do agree that it's a fallow year. Well, I'd have given it... It's not a fallow year for defensive players. It's not a fallow year for defensive players. It's been an outstanding year for certain goalkeepers, for certain centre-halves, for some good central midfield performances. Give it to a set-piece coach. Yeah, but it has been a bad year for attackers. Absolutely. I want to know, who would be the worst player? What would be the inverse? What do you mean? The worst player of the season? I think in terms of disappointment of the season, which I think is the right thing to go to, and I don't like to harangue any individuals, but I'm about to, I would say in terms of what I thought would happen, Liam De Lappe has been my most disappointing player of the season because he was bought before Gio Pedro.

1:05:46Matt Davies-Adams: So when he was bought, it was kind of, oh, this guy's going to lead the line. And I think he scored one Premier League goal. Right. I'm not sure if Jean-Pedro is entirely the issue there. No, no, no, no. I'm not blaming Jean-Pedro. Right. That would be my kind of disappointing play. I mean, I'm thinking off the top of my dome there. OK, no, no, thanks for that. Matt, do you want to throw a name out there? Quite a lot in the Chelsea squad, aren't there? I think he could pick from. I'd say there's a little bit of mitigation with Dillat. He seems to keep picking up injuries at the wrong time. or red cards, which are particularly unhelpful and sort of his fault, I suppose.

1:06:21You would have said Isaac before he got injured, but he's probably got away with that on the basis of the injury, hasn't he? But he's a kind of poster boy for a lot of poorly spent money. Salah in terms of the... A drop-off from one year to the next. A drop-off from one year to the next. Yeah, colossal. Abyssal. Is that the word? I mean, it's a word. I like it, yeah. Okay. Crikey, Bournemouth Talking about what their manager's going to do In the meantime, they're notched up a 1-0 win over Fulham To make it 16 games unbeaten And how many points are they behind Villa? Four points Their remaining fixtures, Bournemouth are Man City at home

1:07:03Matt Davies-Adams: Which is a problem And Nottingham Forest away, which is clearly a problem as well Which hasn't ever been a problem for Bournemouth Has it not? Yeah, that's your perfect game I think the only team Forrest haven't beaten since they got promoted to the Premier League. Who is the head of recruitment at Bournemouth? Because obviously with Ryan and Kruppi, they have been absolute revelations. Simon Francis was the sporting director guru, although he's actually leaving the club. And where's he going, I wonder? There was talk of Al Ali in Saudi Arabia. That's linked to Arayola then. He thinks, well, if the guy who gets the players is going, then maybe this is the perfect.

1:07:4317 goals between them, Ryan and Ellie Kruppi. And that is almost a record. Only Liverpool in 94, 95 and 97, 98, well, actually three Liverpool seasons, they've had teenagers. I think that was in the Fowler and Owen years, have scored more goals via teenagers than Bournemouth. So, I mean, those two players, absolute revelations. They've got great futures.

1:08:08Matt Davies-Adams: I think it's a stat, it's the first time in Premier League history that two teenagers have scored in three consecutive games for a club. So, I mean, it's, yeah, it's phenomenal because they are already attracting elite level interests and they're only just broken into a team. It's when you know you've done your job well as a team. If you're an elite level teenager, right, playing overseas, it's like, I might go to Bournemouth. You know, over going to Chelsea, for example, who like to hoover up the best young talent in the world. You know, they're getting their opportunities and thriving, aren't they?

1:08:39Magnificent. And right behind Bournemouth, Brighton with that 3-0 win over Wolves, which featured their fastest ever Premier League goal. 35 seconds it took from kick-off before Jack Hinshelwood.

1:08:52Matt Davies-Adams: The Premier League's total footballer. He's played up front. He's played right back, left back, centre back, centre midfield. He's ripe for an England call-up in the first squad after the World Cup, isn't he? The ultimate squad player. Is it just me? There's a bit of David Platt about Hinshelwood. Oh. Yeah. like he plays number 10 now for the teenagers yeah yeah true but yeah you forget how old I am but like David Platt made his made his name basically playing sort of as an attacking midfielder goes into the box to score goals didn't always do that much outside of it and I feel that's kind of Hingewood lately he doesn't have that many touches but he keeps getting into the box and he keeps sticking it in Matt Davies Adams style prediction is sort of 12 goals from Hintrawood next season.

1:09:39Matt Davies-Adams: I think it could be a real breakout. They're just pushing him further and further and further at the pitch and saying, oh God, actually you can still do this. This is weird. Crazy lineage as well, isn't it? Great granddad, granddad and his dad were all professional footballers. Really? Enjoyed Rob Edwards playing his last available card of, right, better blame the players quickly because this is all getting a bit real and I might not be the Wolves manager at the start. Right. Some of them have got to go. They've not been good enough. I like the way he said they don't value their jobs. I like that.

1:10:06Matt Davies-Adams: That's quite cutting. He's sort of right as well. They've given up and been embarrassing since the international break. Well, there you go. Luckily, our commitment has remained as intense as ever and will do through the final weeks of this Premier League season, even though it may well have been all wrapped up today. But then again, football, huh? There's always a twist. Nothing is wrapped up yet, James. Nothing is wrapped up. Very good. Our next Totally Football Show will be the European edition. sort of lunchtime on Tuesday and then we'll be back on Thursday to look ahead to the penultimate round and also catch up with what's happened between Man City and Crystal Palace anything else you want to throw at us before we wrap it up and run and get our trains?

1:10:52Matt Davies-Adams: No, next Sunday the busiest day of Premier League football probably in history I think Is that right? Sunday Premier League football because no games because of the FA Cup final on Saturday Oh that's good, of course So it's all Sunday baby All on Sunday It's not all Sunday though because I've got to go to the Emirates on Monday for the Burnley game. Oh, so that's on Monday? It's a Monday night. OK, all right. Last home game of the season. All right. And you've got the old firm game? Not old firm, Celtic Hearts. Sorry, you've got Celtic Hearts for the new firm game. Yes, I was also following that with Arsenal Burnley on Monday nights.

1:11:24Magnificent. All right, well, have a super week, Daniel. Many thanks for coming in today. Matt, many thanks as well to you for coming in. You're welcome. Just a quick shout-out to Brighton for making their first Women's FA Cup final today. That was a game that I did. Both semifinals, the home team were 2-0 up and lost 3-2, which is remarkable. So the final's going to be? It's Brighton against Manchester City. Chelsea were 2-0 up against City with four minutes left and somehow lost 3-2 AET. But yeah, Brighton won it 94 minutes and 50 seconds on the clock with five minutes of stoppage time shown.

1:11:56So yeah, they're a club on the up. They're about to get a purpose-built stadium. Bright future for them in the women's game, I think. But yeah, it was a really, really good game worth digging out the highlights of that. Brilliant.

1:12:06Matt Davies-Adams: And Bunny Shaw as well, scoring. Yeah, in the week it was announced, she might well be joining Chelsea. She scored two goals to knock them out at Stamford Bridge. Narrative. Yeah. All right. Thanks as well to Adrian. Great to be back.

1:12:22Matt Davies-Adams: Arsenal play next Monday, so he's in the clear. Yeah, absolutely. Well, yeah, we look forward to seeing you again soon. Many thanks as well to Jake and Charlie in the booth and to our YouTube viewers and podcast listeners. Catch up with you soon on the Totally Football Show. And now from all of us here, it's goodbye.

1:12:40You'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.

1:13:06The Athletic FC.

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