Latest / Premier League Playground: Lad and Dad / Week 20 Premier League Recap
Transcript
- 0:05All right, and welcome into the Week 20 edition of the Premier
- 0:10League Playground. I'm the dad, Bjorn, with me as
- 0:13our star, the lad. Luca Miller.
- 0:16And how are you today, Luca? I'm doing good.
- 0:18How are you? Doing good Luca, last day of
- 0:20your winter break. You are back to school tomorrow,
- 0:23are you excited? No.
- 0:25No, you're not excited to go back, see some friends,
- 0:27teachers, learn a little bit more.
- 0:29No, not really. No, Yeah.
- 0:31You had a good winter break, though.
- 0:31Didn't. You, yeah.
- 0:33Yeah, you had a good winter break out to do a lot of fun
- 0:35things. Look, it feels like we're doing
- 0:37podcasts here every couple days. There's so many Premier League
- 0:39games. Yeah, I mean, we've got Week 20
- 0:42that we're going to get through and wrap up here, and then
- 0:44literally, I think there's games tomorrow.
- 0:46So Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday of this week we have Week 21 of
- 0:50the Premier League. It just never stops.
- 0:51It's great games coming fast and furious.
- 0:55What about the games this weekend?
- 0:57Were they overall a good batch of games?
- 0:59Mediocre. Not so great.
- 1:01Good, good games. Good games this week.
- 1:03All right, look, let's let's just dive on into the games this
- 1:06week. How about that?
- 1:06OK. All right, well first up walk me
- 1:09through Villa hosting Nottingham Forest.
- 1:11This game ends 31 Villa I predicted A2 nil.
- 1:15Villa walk in scores in the 45 + 2 minute and begin in the 49th
- 1:25minute. Yeah but Watkins goal is really
- 1:27nice. McGinn, Yep, then gives White
- 1:31scores in the 61st minute and McGinn off of a well, very odd
- 1:36goal like the Forest keeper comes out 40 yards, it thinks
- 1:43he's going to get it and again just has an open goal to shoot
- 1:46on. Yeah, like teal women's has the
- 1:47ball like deep in his own zone and play sort of a long ball
- 1:51that lands, you know, just beyond sort of the center
- 1:53circle. I mean, nothing crazy there.
- 1:56And all of a sudden, you see the goalie come running out and
- 1:59people are like, it was like a FIFA glitch.
- 2:00All of a sudden, the goalie just comes running out.
- 2:02Like, I mean, he's 40 yards from his goal.
- 2:05You can't even see him on the TV screen when again First gets the
- 2:07ball. Crazy.
- 2:10It's it's. I mean, McGinn then literally
- 2:11taps it over to the side and shoots at an empty net, and it
- 2:14might be the easiest goal he'll ever see, but.
- 2:16In fingers, we're just about to get into the back into the game,
- 2:19too. Yeah, it's a good point.
- 2:20It's 2:00 to 1:00 at that point, they just scored.
- 2:22You get a little momentum and that just take totally takes the
- 2:25wind out of your sails. I mean, not much you can do at
- 2:27that point. Yeah.
- 2:29You know Villa, Luca, you know, bounced back.
- 2:33I guess you have a couple sets. McGinn had his second, his first
- 2:36ever Premier League brace right. Yes, his first ever Premier
- 2:39League brace and Villa had 73% position in this, third highest
- 2:45at Villa Park since O3O4. Yeah, I mean, they basically
- 2:48dominated the ball. You know, look, it's a bounce
- 2:50back for them. They they got beat pretty bad by
- 2:52Arsenal last week. They're on this amazing run
- 2:56A-Team, they should be obviously at home and they did you, you
- 2:58predicted 2 nothing. It was 3/1.
- 3:00So good call on your prediction there.
- 3:03Yeah, like I said, Villa back to winning ways for them.
- 3:06They've got Palace coming up. So we'll see.
- 3:08Six points off of Arsenal. So they're still, you know,
- 3:11hanging around. They kept pace this week because
- 3:13Arsenal won. So, you know, eight points up on
- 3:16Liverpool. So they're they're in a great
- 3:18spot moving forward. Forest, you know, 18 points,
- 3:21they sit in 17th place. They're definitely in the
- 3:23relegation battle. Yes.
- 3:26All right, Luca. Well, Speaking of relegation
- 3:28battle we had going into this week, 18th verse 20 Wolves verse
- 3:32West Ham. Luca.
- 3:33I mean, this is a glamour matchup if I ever saw.
- 3:36Yeah. All right, Tell me about Wolves
- 3:38in West Ham. Well, Wolves fans, you'd be
- 3:42happy you got your first win. We gotta win Nice.
- 3:46Let's go. And they blown out three nil.
- 3:52Yeah. By the 4th, yeah, three nil.
- 3:55By the 41st minute and well, it ended three nil, but they scored
- 3:59three goals in 41 minutes. Arias, Arias, Arias in the 4th
- 4:06minute, he scores Huang PK in the 31st minute and then Monet
- 4:1441st minute. He's like the youngest ever goal
- 4:18scorer in the Premier League. 18 years old for for Wolves, not
- 4:23overall Premier League. Yeah, Wolves youngest goal
- 4:26scorer ever in the Premier League.
- 4:27He looks like a decent young player for them.
- 4:28Yeah, it's kind of lively on the ball.
- 4:30Had, like I said, had a nice goal for him.
- 4:32So that's exciting. And you know, look, Wolves are
- 4:34looking for any little bright spot, right?
- 4:36Yeah, you know, West Ham's given up 41 goals, most in the Premier
- 4:41League, and they're now winless in last 9.
- 4:44Yeah, they're awful. Yeah, they're terrible.
- 4:46I mean wolves are not good either, but to wolves credit
- 4:49Luca they they get a win. The age of the game.
- 4:52Yeah, and that's what they have to do.
- 4:53I mean, look, if they're gonna make this attempt to claw out of
- 4:55the relegation fight, they've got to beat the teams down there
- 4:58with them. So.
- 4:59Wolves now have 6 points. OK, now we've talked before,
- 5:02Luca, the record is Darby County finished the whole season on 11
- 5:06points. I don't.
- 5:08I don't think they're gonna get it.
- 5:09Do you think so? My question to you, yeah.
- 5:11Do you think are are you still thinking wolves are going to
- 5:14break the Darby County record of 11 points or you think they're
- 5:17gonna get more than 11? They're gonna get more than. 11
- 5:20OK all right so you have some faith you think this win could
- 5:22look I mean they had a draw the week before they got a win this
- 5:25week so they. Four points.
- 5:27They got a draw against United. Yeah.
- 5:29So you think this may at least, look, we're not saying they're
- 5:32going to go on and win five in a row, but you think it may get
- 5:35them, you know, start getting a few more results, I guess is
- 5:38what? We should say.
- 5:39OK, yeah, I look at when when Arsenal played Wolves, that's
- 5:42the first time I really kind of watched Wolves reel for like 90
- 5:45minutes. And I I like I said, I was
- 5:47surprised that their they their record.
- 5:49Was it bad? Yeah, they had fight.
- 5:51They had not given up on the season.
- 5:52You know, Rob Edwards has came in, he's a second manager and I
- 5:55think he's got them look playing about as well as we can expect.
- 5:58And I guess it's just they're they're showing effort.
- 6:00They're showing fight. Now on the other side of this,
- 6:03Luca, West Ham a total disaster. Like you said, 41 goals.
- 6:06I mean wolves have conceded 40, but West Ham have the worst
- 6:10defense in the league now that look, they're already on their
- 6:12second manager. You know, Nuno came in, he took
- 6:15the job, Luca on September 27th. You know, are do you think he's
- 6:21going to last the end of the season?
- 6:22Oh heck no. So that means West Ham, look,
- 6:26they're not done yet, but they may at that point then be
- 6:29looking for their third manager of the year.
- 6:32That's crazy. I mean third manager of the year
- 6:36is insane. It sounds like something Chelsea
- 6:39would do. Yeah, it does sound like
- 6:40something Chelsea would do. I know.
- 6:42So it'll be interesting. Luca, this week West Ham play
- 6:44Nottingham Forest. So that's 17th versus 18th.
- 6:47Like this was W Hams moment. They were playing Wolves at
- 6:50Forest coming out. That was this is their chance to
- 6:52try to gain some points, move up.
- 6:54And they did not. They did not.
- 6:55Now they have Forest coming up. I wonder Luke if they get if
- 6:59they get smoked by Forest then I think Nuno gets that.
- 7:02Oh, 100. Percent can't imagine he makes
- 7:04it pass losing 3 nothing to wolves and like I said if they
- 7:06lose 2141 and something like that then.
- 7:09I if they just lose then he's sad.
- 7:11So you think he's even a loss, then he's gone.
- 7:13Yeah. I mean it.
- 7:14It's it's that would be tough. They are, like I said, not very
- 7:17good. He's like.
- 7:18Fours are coming off with three. One thrash against Villa.
- 7:22Yeah, you're like, I mean, come on, we'll.
- 7:25See, in that game, right, like so far as just got beat up by
- 7:27Villa, you know, West Ham got beat up by Wolves, somebody's
- 7:31gonna have to step up and do something.
- 7:32It'll probably end up like a 00 tie.
- 7:35It's like. And it'll still get sacked
- 7:37because they can't score goals. I know because bad teams.
- 7:40Yeah. All right, Luca, let's move on
- 7:42to Brighton hosting Burnley. This game was 2 nil.
- 7:48Brighton I predict to be one, one draw.
- 7:52Reuters scores in the 29th minute and then I already in the
- 7:5647th minute. Breton had gone six Premier
- 8:01League games with with a win or without a win.
- 8:07They hadn't won in their last six, Lucas.
- 8:09This was, this was big to get a win for them.
- 8:11You know they get 3 points. Now Burnley in 19 from 12
- 8:15points, so I'm telling you, you're going back to Wolf,
- 8:18they're two wins away from tying them.
- 8:21Yeah, Burnt. Like I said, Burnley in 19th on
- 8:2312 points. They're not very good this year.
- 8:25They're certainly in that relegation battle with, you
- 8:27know, like I said, I it seems to me like we talked about this,
- 8:30it's Forest, West Ham, Burnley, Wolves.
- 8:32Three of those four will go down, one will stay up.
- 8:34So it's like, who's it going to be?
- 8:37Burnley, like I said, they don't look very good.
- 8:39I mean, look bright and Luca, they're very good at home.
- 8:41You know, we've talked about this before.
- 8:43They've lost one of their last fourteen Premier League matches
- 8:46at home, so they're tough to go beat at home.
- 8:49I mean, I have some sympathy for Burnley, but I, you know, I
- 8:52never expected Burnley to get much of a result.
- 8:54Brighton look at they're kind of sitting there right in 10th
- 8:57place on 28 points. You know, good spot for them.
- 9:00So we'll see. Kind of just feels like that's
- 9:02where they're going to be. I don't really see them as a
- 9:04team that can string together wins and like move up to six or
- 9:07seven. I get the feeling Brighton's
- 9:08kind of a 10th or 11th place team, but they're they're a good
- 9:11team. They're like I said, a good team
- 9:12and and like I said, it's really tough to go play them at the at
- 9:15their stadium. So all right, Luke, a big game
- 9:18here. We're going to talk about
- 9:19Arsenal, of course. This was a pretty exciting game.
- 9:22Speaking of teams that are good at home, Bournemouth had only
- 9:25lost once at home. Arsenal went to Bournemouth.
- 9:28Do you know who they lost to? I don't know who they lost to.
- 9:31Was it city owner for city? I don't know, but talk to me
- 9:34about the Bournemouth Arsenal. Well, I got this one spot on.
- 9:36I predicted there'd be two. Yes.
- 9:39I predicted to be 3 two Arsenal and was 3/2 Arsenal.
- 9:43Evan Nielsen off of a pretty bad Gabrielle giveaway in the 10th
- 9:47minute. It kind of looks like he just
- 9:49kind of whiffed it. Some people were saying he
- 9:52didn't see Evan Olsen, but I think he just whiffed it.
- 9:56And then Gabrielle does not pout.
- 9:59He comes back, scores a nice volley in the 16th minute off of
- 10:04like mad awake, kind of gets by, Simeno gets across, then there's
- 10:11a few whacks at the ball and it falls to Gabrielle and volleys
- 10:15it in. And Rice scores in the 54th
- 10:18minute and the 71st minute to make it 3-1.
- 10:21And then junior croupy in the 76th minute.
- 10:25Pretty nice goal, nice hit from outside the box.
- 10:28And since Gabriel joined Arsenal in 2020, he has twenty Premier
- 10:35League goals, seven more than any other defender in his time
- 10:38in that time. Yeah, I mean, Luca, what an
- 10:41amazing player Declan Rice is just sort of does it all.
- 10:46You know, he's back there on defense, runs up, he runs back.
- 10:51You know what I think, look at what I've noticed is that with,
- 10:54you know, the way Arsenal play with the four defenders and then
- 10:56you put Zuba Mendi kind of right in front, there's like a
- 10:59defensive anchor for the midfield.
- 11:00Allows Rice to get forward a little bit more, so kind of to
- 11:04push into the box more. And like both his goals come
- 11:06from him being in a forward position where you get him the
- 11:10ball and he's got that finishing ability.
- 11:12Obviously with the two nice goals today.
- 11:14I mean, he was hurt. He missed last game because of
- 11:17this knee problem. You know, we didn't even know if
- 11:19he's going to start. He's just such an important
- 11:22player for Arsenal. Luca, he has to stay healthy and
- 11:24we need him because he's just going to be so valuable if
- 11:27they're going to push on to try to get, you know, if they're
- 11:30going to try to win the Premier League.
- 11:32I I just don't see if he's not available to them.
- 11:34I think it's going to be very, very tough.
- 11:35But man, he's good. Luca Arsenal have gone 116 games
- 11:40in all competitions without giving up three goals.
- 11:43That is the best run in the history of English football.
- 11:46Oh, the best ever to go 116 games.
- 11:49I mean, it just shows how good the defense has been for so long
- 11:52that giving up two goals. And look what it took to give up
- 11:54two goals. It took basically us gifting
- 11:57them one goal. Gabrielle just completely
- 11:59mishits a ball right to Evan Nielsen, who then essentially
- 12:02taps it into an empty goal. And then the other goal is
- 12:04junior croupy hitting like a worldy from outside the box man,
- 12:07Unbelievable strike. That's what it takes.
- 12:09To get two goals on us, you know?
- 12:10And I think that's that that, you know, defensive solidity
- 12:13that they have. And it's like I said, and that
- 12:15just goes to show you this. This has been building for a
- 12:17long time, you know, adding these defensive pieces, you
- 12:19know, Saliba, Gabrielle, Caliphier Timber, you know,
- 12:23we've had Ben White there for a little bit.
- 12:25You bring in Hincapie, you know, we've got mascara who's hurt
- 12:27right now. But you know, and then of
- 12:29course, Raya, you mentioned, you know, you said what best goalie
- 12:32in the world in your thing, right?
- 12:33Definitely. I mean, he's certainly making a
- 12:35case for Luca, you know, you know, just the way he can kind
- 12:39of come out and claim highball, some of the saves he makes the
- 12:41work with his feet. It is so difficult to score on
- 12:44Arsenal. So if we get three goals in a
- 12:46game, it's almost like impossible to beat us.
- 12:49And that's sort of what it took today because Bournemouth, to
- 12:52their credit, Luca did not just sit back.
- 12:54You know, some of these bottom table teams will just sit in a
- 12:56low block. That's kind of what.
- 12:58Wolves did against us. Exactly.
- 13:00And they just sit there and they just wait for us.
- 13:01They Bournemouth came out and played man.
- 13:03They were, they were doing a little bit of a, you know, a mid
- 13:05block. They were pressing a little bit,
- 13:07you know, but they were not just sitting back and they played and
- 13:10like, it's hard to believe, I think what Bournemouth have
- 13:12gone, is it 11 games now without a win, that team.
- 13:16Did not look like it went 11 games without a win.
- 13:19I agree. I, I, you look at that team and
- 13:21I'm like, this team is, is good. They've got good players.
- 13:24Ariola, their manager is a really, really good manager,
- 13:26thought of very highly. His name always pops up with
- 13:28these jobs that come up. I I'm shocked that this team has
- 13:32not gotten a win in the last 11 games for them.
- 13:35So look, they're probably going to lose Simania.
- 13:38That might have been his last game for them.
- 13:39He's on his way to city. It's not official, but it's
- 13:43wait. Ariel's going to city?
- 13:44No, but. It's Simania.
- 13:46Simania. Yeah, yeah.
- 13:47So it looks like that was probably his last game.
- 13:50So we'll see. I, I, I think there are better
- 13:52days ahead for Bournemouth. I want to just touch base on
- 13:55Rice for a second with you, Luca.
- 13:56When you think of like, you know, to me, you think of the
- 14:00best midfielders in the Premier League and best midfielders in
- 14:02the world. I think he's probably in the
- 14:05discussion now for best midfielders in the world.
- 14:08I clearly think he's one of the best.
- 14:09I think he is. Not the best in the world, so I.
- 14:11Know, I mean, you know, you think of other like great
- 14:13midfielders. You've got of course, Jude
- 14:15Bellingham, you've got Rodri, who you know, won the Balandor
- 14:19of course missed last year basically with the injury.
- 14:21He's coming back. Padri, you know, fed, Valverde,
- 14:25Bettina, Bruno Guimaris. We were just commenting,
- 14:29watching the Newcastle game, how good he's been.
- 14:32You know, De Bruyne is is kind of past his prime, but was one
- 14:35of those guys, you know, in in my eyes, Luke, like, you know,
- 14:39if you would have, let's just say if you would have take two,
- 14:42give me your top two out of some of those names that I just gave.
- 14:46Well, can I take rice? Yeah, you can.
- 14:48Take rice, Rice. And you go.
- 14:53In like Bellingham, Rodri Pedry, Valverde Pedry.
- 14:59Rice and Pedri Brice and. Pedri, OK, I may take Vettina
- 15:03over Pedri. I love Pedri as a player, but I
- 15:06love Vettina too as a player. I think he is just so good.
- 15:10I think he's great too in that PSG team.
- 15:14But I'm with you. For me right now, Declan Rice is
- 15:17the best midfielder in the world from what I see.
- 15:19I I just think that it's unbelievable to me it has to be
- 15:22starting for England. They've got a ton of great
- 15:24midfielders and we just mentioned Jude Bellingham and,
- 15:28you know, they've got a lot, a lot of good midfielders, you
- 15:30know, for England. But I think for me he's he's
- 15:31like, I mean, Morgan Rogers is another one who I think is
- 15:33really good. I don't know if he's in quite in
- 15:35that discussion yet with these guys, but he could be on his
- 15:38way. But yeah, I, I just think it's
- 15:40amazing, you know, watching Declan Rice day in and day out,
- 15:43he just does everything right. Every time he touches the ball.
- 15:46I feel like something good is going to happen.
- 15:48You know, there's other guys, they get the ball and you get a
- 15:49little nervous. You remember when we used to
- 15:50have Parte back there and he'd get the ball and you're like, oh
- 15:52gosh, he's going to pass it to the other team.
- 15:54He's going to do something crazy with the ball.
- 15:56He just gets it and you're like, this is going to be a positive
- 15:58thing. Whether it's a pass, a shot,
- 16:00he's that good. He is that.
- 16:02Good. I mean, it's just he's just
- 16:03unbelievable. Love him as a player.
- 16:06Junior Krupi, Luca, he's got six goals on the year.
- 16:09I mean he. Came in, he didn't even start
- 16:11the season. He's only played. 15 games for
- 16:13him. He's got six goals.
- 16:16I mean, this guy is unbelievable.
- 16:17And again, it just goes to show you like how?
- 16:19Good Bournemouth are recruiting players.
- 16:22Yep. And I mean, what'll be
- 16:24interesting to me is so if Simeno goes, that may open up
- 16:27more time for him, you know? And this is sort of like the
- 16:30formula when you're Bournemouth, right?
- 16:31You're like, OK, sell Simeno for $80 million.
- 16:34And here comes the next maybe great player, junior croupy,
- 16:37because like I said, he scored some bangers and he looks like a
- 16:40player to me. And so in some ways I'm like,
- 16:43yeah, I want to see more of them on the field.
- 16:44You know, I don't want him just coming off the bench, you know,
- 16:46I want to see him starting and playing games because he looks
- 16:48like an exciting young player. Yeah.
- 16:51All right, Luca, let's move on to Leeds and Man U.
- 16:55This game ended 11. I predict to be 1,000,000
- 16:58United. Aronson in the 62nd minute
- 17:01scores and then Cunha equalizes in the 65th minute.
- 17:05Leads are now unbeaten in the last seven Premier League games.
- 17:09Longest top flight run in 25 years for them.
- 17:12Yeah, they're. Leads are really playing pretty
- 17:15well. I mean, they're only in 16th on
- 17:1622 points, but more importantly for them, they're now eight
- 17:20points above the relegation zone.
- 17:21That is a great spot. That's big.
- 17:23Yeah, for them. You know Brendan Aaronson, Luca,
- 17:26you know he's got five goal involvements this year, two
- 17:28goals, 3 assists. He's been a good player for
- 17:31them. He's he's.
- 17:32Good. And I think.
- 17:33That, you know, when you think ahead to the World Cup, you
- 17:35know, for the US national team, you know, if you can get Tyler
- 17:39Adams back healthy, if Aaronson can kind of keep this level up,
- 17:43you know, this is what you want. You want guys, the American
- 17:45players, like, in good form in a real tough league, carrying that
- 17:48momentum. And so, like, look for him in
- 17:50the second-half of the season, Baronson can keep this up.
- 17:53He could be a real useful player for the United States in the
- 17:55World Cup. Oh yeah.
- 17:56Definitely, you know. And kind of maybe an unexpected
- 17:59guy. I mean, I think everybody thinks
- 18:00of. All right, what's Puelistic
- 18:01going to do? Weston McKinney?
- 18:03You know what, Anthony? Robinson, Anthony.
- 18:05Robinson some of those big names that we know you just know
- 18:07they're going to start, but if they can have a couple guys sort
- 18:10of step up that maybe you don't even think of a year ago he's
- 18:14one of them and like I said I watched some of these leads
- 18:16games these those look really good I think the.
- 18:18USA are going to make it decently far.
- 18:22OK, so. You're getting a little more
- 18:23positive on the US, yeah. I know they're probably making
- 18:27it out of the group stage, probably topping that.
- 18:31I think they're winning their round 16 game, depending on who
- 18:35they play. Quarterfinals, I don't know
- 18:38because that's where it gets hard, but I think they're
- 18:41getting passed around to 16, so. The World Cup in the United
- 18:44States, if the United States makes it to the quarters and
- 18:47loses, is that a success or not a success?
- 18:50Success. That'd be a success.
- 18:51OK, what if they lose in the round of 16 not?
- 18:54Success. OK, so.
- 18:55Your big thing is they've got to make the quarter finals at at at
- 18:58least now clearly if they make semis or finals, that's.
- 19:01Insane. That's insane.
- 19:02Yeah. So, OK, All right, All right,
- 19:03interesting. Yeah, Luca Cunha, his fourth
- 19:06goal of the year. So he's starting to chip in a
- 19:08few goals here. Now the the big news here, and
- 19:11we'll get to this with the mailbag question is, after all
- 19:16that's said and done, man, you fired the coach this morning.
- 19:18Yeah. So Manchester United, Lucas
- 19:20sitting here in in tied for fifth with Chelsea on 31 points,
- 19:24fired their coach Chelsea, who they're I just said they're tied
- 19:27with on 31 points. So the team that's in 5th and
- 19:306th right now in the Premier League, neither one has a coach
- 19:32right now. Chelsea fired their coach last
- 19:34week. Mandy fired their coach this
- 19:35week. I mean, you know, there's like,
- 19:38is there a job with less security than a Premier League
- 19:40manager? Like it's unbelievable.
- 19:43But we'll get on. We'll talk a little bit about
- 19:45that for the mailbag question. OK, well, let's circle back to
- 19:47that. But all right, let's move on to
- 19:49a pretty interesting game here, Luca.
- 19:50This was kind of a fun game to watch.
- 19:52A game prediction was not perfect on but predicted.
- 19:56Correct. Result Fulham hosting Liverpool.
- 19:59This was 2 two. I prayed to be 11.
- 20:02Fulham School first with Wilson in the 17th minute, then not
- 20:08really anything until the 57th minute were scores.
- 20:11It was checked well is 1st called offside but they went to
- 20:17VAR and overturned that. Well, let me.
- 20:19Ask you about that, what did you think of it when you looked at
- 20:22that? Like when you looked at it, what
- 20:25what would your call it been? I think he was on.
- 20:29You think he. Was on size OK and he.
- 20:31Was like tips of his toes. Yeah, I mean that's.
- 20:35According to VAR and where they, you know, kind of almost felt
- 20:37like a little bit arbitrarily drew the line with with when I
- 20:41just look at it, Luca without VAR and you look at the penalty
- 20:44spot and then the line how they cut the grass, which is
- 20:47straight. It looks to me like he's off
- 20:49sides. I mean, it looks to me like he's
- 20:50off sides by like 1/4 of a foot. And then it's weird.
- 20:53All of a sudden they put the VAR line in and he's.
- 20:56On and he's. On this, I don't know, this felt
- 20:59a little shady to me. It felt a little both ways.
- 21:02Yeah, I. Mean, I get it and I guess I, I
- 21:04guess I somewhat trust, but my problem is, is I don't fully
- 21:07trust the VAR systems. I mean, I guess I have to sort
- 21:09of trust the computer theoretically the semi automated
- 21:13offsides, which is like, you know, a computer doing it.
- 21:15I guess I have to sort of trust that they're doing the right
- 21:18thing. But it's just like the eye test,
- 21:19just me looking at it. He looks like he's pretty
- 21:22clearly offsides to me. But whatever, you're right, they
- 21:25overturned it. They game the goal.
- 21:28And then in the 95th minute, Yak PO thinks he wins.
- 21:31It makes it 21. But now Harrison Reed comes off
- 21:36the bench. Holy.
- 21:37Smokes what a. Goal in the 98th minute.
- 21:41Walk me through this goal Luca. This is worth spending a minute
- 21:44on this goal, he. Gets the ball outside the box.
- 21:47It's he rips it from way out and he's like 20. 5 yards.
- 21:54Out and it's it like knuckles, it goes like it swerves like
- 21:59crazy into the top corner, hits the crossbar and it's it's just
- 22:04I was watching it live. Fulham is my second favorite
- 22:08team. I'm actually wearing a Fulham
- 22:10shirt right now and I was really rooting for Fulham in this game.
- 22:15I was watching the whole game and watching that live was
- 22:20awesome. Seeing that live.
- 22:22I was like, Oh my God, dad. Oh my God, Dad.
- 22:24They just scored. They just scored it.
- 22:25What a foam scored. Oh my God, yeah.
- 22:29I just I took my shirt off and started running around the
- 22:31house. I said I was like this.
- 22:34Luca almost got as excited as he does win like an Arsenal player
- 22:36scores. It was unbelievable.
- 22:37I mean, like the shirts off, he's running around.
- 22:39I mean, this was this was the best goal I think so far this
- 22:43year. I mean, this was just an
- 22:45unbelievable strike. I mean, anybody hasn't seen it,
- 22:47you got to go look this up. It's worth it.
- 22:48Like you say, it's just the most perfectly hit ball.
- 22:51I think they're like we've seen players try this shot and I was
- 22:54like literally thinking, I was going to say like 99 times out
- 22:56of 100 that ball goes up and I'm like, no, it's less than it's
- 22:59like it's like 9999 times out of 10,000.
- 23:03The ball goes flying into the stands 30 yards off.
- 23:06This was like the one in 10,000 that's just like hit perfectly
- 23:10and like you said, just knuckles and bends into the corner.
- 23:12I mean, it's awesome. In 98th minutes I had full more
- 23:17a little hard done with that vertical.
- 23:19It would have been awesome if that was for the win.
- 23:21Yeah, I. Mean it would have been cool to
- 23:23be a game winner. It's it's a decent point for
- 23:25Fulham because Liverpool have been playing really well.
- 23:27They're a big team. So it's a decent point for
- 23:30Fulham who have been playing pretty well lately.
- 23:32It's interesting Lugo, Arnie Slott has has never beaten
- 23:34Fulham. So who's never beat him?
- 23:37Last year he had a draw and a loss to him.
- 23:39This year he has a draw. Now he'll play him one more
- 23:41time. But yeah, I mean in his year and
- 23:43a half there, he's actually never beaten them.
- 23:46Going back to Harry Wilson. This guy's been unbelievable,
- 23:48Lucas, Since the start of November, Wilson has nine goal
- 23:52involvements, right? Yes.
- 23:54The only person that has more is Holland.
- 23:56Holland has 11. I mean, it's only two.
- 23:58Away from Holland 2 away from. Holland I mean, like, it's just
- 24:01crazy. Like, would you have ever
- 24:02thought we'd have a sentence that involved Harry Wilson and
- 24:05Erlin Holland in the same company?
- 24:08It's I mean, but like, he's been so good for them.
- 24:11And I always feel like that's Fulham's biggest issue is where
- 24:13do the goals come from? Yeah.
- 24:14And he's stepped up in a big way.
- 24:17You know Reed's goal, That's his first Premier League goal since
- 24:22April of 2020. 323 three years ago, so pretty much almost.
- 24:27Three years ago. He's not a guy that scores a
- 24:29lot. But yeah, crazy finish, you
- 24:31know, GACPO scores, you think it's over, He's got his shirt
- 24:34off. He's pulling over Charleston
- 24:35where he thinks the game's over and then finish.
- 24:37You know, you got to be careful because all of a sudden you look
- 24:40pretty foolish when you pulled your shirt off.
- 24:42Got in a yellow for doing that. Your team's what?
- 24:44Nope, not quite yet. It's not over until the final
- 24:48whistle, that's true. That's true.
- 24:50You should display it till the end.
- 24:52All right, Lucas? Speaking of Charleston's team,
- 24:53how about Spurs hosting Sunderland?
- 24:56This. Game ended 11.
- 24:58I predict to be two, one Sunderland.
- 25:02Spurs score first, actually Davies in the 30th minute and
- 25:06then probably a really nice volley in the 80th minute.
- 25:10Spurs now and well, no Spurs now.
- 25:14Two wins, 3 draws and five losses at home this year.
- 25:18Sunderland unbeaten last five too, so yeah, yeah.
- 25:22You know, we talked about Spurs, it's just I don't quite get like
- 25:27why they're so bad at home. They just just don't get good
- 25:29results at home. Sunderland just sort of keep
- 25:32chipping away, you know? I mean, in their last five they
- 25:34have 4 draws and a win, so they're just tough to beat.
- 25:37They'd like to turn some of those draws into wins.
- 25:41Yeah, Robbie's been really good for them.
- 25:42Luca, what a player he is. So, you know, this is his first
- 25:45year. It came from IX and he's, you
- 25:48know, I had 15 games with them. He's got three goals scored, a
- 25:50big one against Arsenal. Unfortunately for us, yeah.
- 25:53But yeah, he's been a real good player.
- 25:55And especially with some of their players gone to AF con,
- 25:57he's really sort of stepped up, provided a big goal there to at
- 26:00least get a point. You know, Sunderland, Luca,
- 26:02we're gonna probably say it every week.
- 26:04What a great story. They're sitting there right now.
- 26:06They're tied for seventh with Brendan Branford with 30 points.
- 26:09Just they're in a great spot. Are they ahead?
- 26:11On gold referential, no, they're.
- 26:12They're behind. Brentford has a + 4, Sunderland
- 26:14has +2. So technically Sunderland are in
- 26:168, but they're just staying right in that mix.
- 26:19And if they can just sort of keep hovering around that, you
- 26:22know, 5th down spot, you know, like I said, it's anybody's
- 26:26game. You know, look at right now,
- 26:28when you look at the entire table, 4 points separate 5th
- 26:32from 14. So 5th place right now, Chelsea
- 26:3614th, Crystal Palace again separated by 4 points.
- 26:41I mean, it's incredible how like this just this cluster of teams
- 26:44there and then you. See first like the third place
- 26:47through to 5th. Yeah, I mean, they're, so, I
- 26:51mean, you have Liverpool who's got then three points ahead of
- 26:53Chelsea and then it's a big jump to the top three.
- 26:56So then I mean, it's it's Liverpool are eight points
- 26:59behind Villa and City right now, aren't they?
- 27:02They're like 14 points behind Arsenal.
- 27:05Who? Liverpool, Yeah, yeah, Liverpool
- 27:07are 14 behind Arsenal. So I mean, to me again, this is,
- 27:09you know, a three team race at the top.
- 27:13You know, then you've got Liverpool kind of they're sort
- 27:15of in that middle 4th and then just like fifth on down.
- 27:18And again, it's just craziness because Chelsea doesn't have a
- 27:21manager, United doesn't have a manager, Brentford, Sunderland
- 27:24names. You wouldn't expect Newcastle
- 27:26now in 9th, you know, Brighton, Fulham, Everton, Spurs sort of
- 27:29down there in 13th. Like it's just then Palace in
- 27:3114th. You just sort of like, I mean, I
- 27:34could Palace in. 14 now, yeah. Because they haven't been doing
- 27:37well. Yeah, they really.
- 27:38Struggle so that that's the other side of this is like if
- 27:40you go on a string of really bad results, you just plummet down.
- 27:44But if Palace all of a sudden were to run off three wins in a
- 27:46row, they can just shoot right back up.
- 27:48It's just, you know, it's going to be really, really
- 27:51interesting. I think it's going to be one of
- 27:52the fun aspects of the season is to see how City season last.
- 27:56Year. Well, yeah.
- 27:57Because I think, I do think this is going to, I don't think
- 27:59Arsenal are going to run away with this.
- 28:00I mean, we'll get on to the City result in a second and what that
- 28:02means for the top of the table, but I Arsenal are up by 6.
- 28:06I still don't think Arsenal are just going to run away with the
- 28:08Liverpool just ran away with it last year.
- 28:10You know, like we just could not catch them.
- 28:12They basically almost had a 10 point lead the whole time and
- 28:14they clinched with like four games to go or whatever it was.
- 28:17I don't think that's going to happen.
- 28:18So I actually think we're going to have a little bit of a title
- 28:20race there. Maybe even Bill can just hang
- 28:22around and make it interesting too.
- 28:23Maybe they'll prove me wrong and they will stay in this.
- 28:28But I think the other interesting part is just going
- 28:29to be then the whole other teams about who can maybe try to get
- 28:33into the last two Champions League spots or who gets Europa
- 28:36League or, you know, even if like some of these teams who
- 28:38maybe just want to try to finish top of the table, you know, in
- 28:40the top 10. So I think that's going to be
- 28:42sort of the fascinating is this sort of middle clump of teams
- 28:45and how they all do. All right, Luke, Well, we just
- 28:48talked about Newcastle and Palace.
- 28:50Tell me about that game. Oh well, Newcastle win this 2
- 28:54new. I predict to be 21 Newcastle and
- 29:00nothing until the 71st minute where Luis Smiley flicks it back
- 29:05across after a ball in the air comes to him, then Gamerish with
- 29:10the header and then 71st minute. Yes, and then Chow in the 78th
- 29:16minute. He hasn't scored very much off
- 29:17of a corner. Kind of just chaos in the box.
- 29:20Try Brent, Palace trying to clear it, Newcastle trying to
- 29:25score, then it falls to Chow and just it kind of gets right
- 29:29through the flex off Henderson and goes in.
- 29:33Now Palace winless and last seven in all competitions and
- 29:36Newcastle unbeaten in last seven home in last seven home matches,
- 29:40yeah. Newcastle always tough to beat
- 29:42at home. Yeah, Saint James Park is a
- 29:44real, real home field advantage for them.
- 29:47You know, look, I we've been Newcastle's a team that we've
- 29:49been talking about waiting on, waiting on, you know, they have
- 29:52a lot, they spent a lot of money.
- 29:54There's a lot of talent on that team.
- 29:55All right now, two wins in a row, they're up to 9th, they've
- 29:59leads coming up. You know, maybe they're going to
- 30:01be the team that can string together these wins and kind of
- 30:03keep moving up and maybe they're going to kind of start to
- 30:05challenge for 5th or 6th. So, you know, keep an eye on
- 30:09them, like I said, we'll see. Is this, I'm curious if they can
- 30:12now put together another result against Leeds, who they should
- 30:14be. You know, they're a much better
- 30:16team than Leeds, even though we talked about how Leeds have been
- 30:18doing well lately, you know, they should be able to win that
- 30:22game. Let's see, keep an eye on
- 30:23Newcastle here, see if they can start getting some results.
- 30:26They're getting a couple guy. You know, Wesa's now back being
- 30:28an option for them. So I think he's starting.
- 30:32Yeah, he's. Starting yeah.
- 30:33And you know, look, they've had Voltamada do real well.
- 30:35So now, you know, gives Eddie Howe a couple options there now
- 30:38with the striker position. So But yeah, Newcastle are
- 30:41always going to be tough at home.
- 30:43You know, that's just sort of the way they they play.
- 30:45And yeah, they, you know, look, they grinded out of result
- 30:47today. Bruno Guimarish, Luka, you were
- 30:50saying how good you think he's been this.
- 30:51Yeah. He's been really good.
- 30:54I think he's like contributed to Newcastle's winning a lot.
- 30:58He's like, well, I mean, I don't love him as a player because he
- 31:03kind of whines and complaints and dives all the time, but he
- 31:07has been very good. He's been scoring a lot too,
- 31:10Yeah, I think. That's sort of the key.
- 31:11It reminds me of Declan Rice a little bit.
- 31:13Luca, like, you know, Bruno is like a central midfielder, kind
- 31:16of does everything for them, but now he's starting to chip in
- 31:19some goals. Same thing with Rice.
- 31:20You know, we see these guys, if they can add that, you know,
- 31:23chip in and again, you're not looking for them to score 15 or
- 31:2520 goals, but if those type of players could get 8 to 10,
- 31:28that's super useful for these teams.
- 31:30And you're right, he's chipping in the goals, which to me is
- 31:32something different cuz he's always been kind of good doing a
- 31:35lot of all the other things. But, yeah, it's that sort of
- 31:37final product that he's now produced for them.
- 31:40All right, Luca, let's go over to City and Chelsea.
- 31:44This was a bit of a crazy game. Yeah.
- 31:46Well, this game ended one one I predicted 22 Rinders scores in
- 31:51the 42nd minute because like city pretty much dominated this
- 31:54first half. Rinders in the 42nd minute on
- 31:57his left foot, kind of smashes it home and then Chelsea takes
- 32:02off Esteval for Andre Santos and then big difference.
- 32:09Yeah. Kind of changed the.
- 32:11Game a little bit, yeah. Then Chelsea were just all over
- 32:14them in the second-half. It was kind of a tale of two
- 32:17halves and Enzo Fernandez in the 95th minute.
- 32:22It Gusto. I think it's Gusto who gets by
- 32:26Mateus Nunez and plays it across.
- 32:30You say he gets. By him, but I mean you're you're
- 32:32being nice to Nunez. I mean he gets nutmeg and just
- 32:35burned on the sideline. But you know, Guso, Guso is like
- 32:38far out. I mean, this isn't just like he
- 32:40gets by him on the touchline. He's far out, Nutmeg, and just
- 32:44accelerates down and gone, yeah. I'm trying to be nice about it
- 32:49and then plays it in kind of City a little shaky on that
- 32:55play. They probably should have gotten
- 32:57it. It gets all the way to Enzo
- 32:59Fernandez. He gets one shot at it, misses,
- 33:02and then the other shot it hit off.
- 33:04It hits off the post and goes in and then, Yep, big.
- 33:08That's big for Arsenal. Chelsea now tied for fist with
- 33:12United and sitting out six points behind Arsenal's.
- 33:15That's big for Arsenal, yeah. I mean, look, see, the first
- 33:19half of the city were just like you said, they were all over
- 33:21them. Holland hit the post.
- 33:23I mean, they had multiple chances, a little bit unlucky,
- 33:26you know, hitting the post the way Holland did.
- 33:29Other times a little wasteful with their chances, had a couple
- 33:32good shots, it got blocked. So Chelsea did some decent
- 33:35defending there. But it definitely was one of
- 33:37those has or you expected City to go into the half like up two
- 33:40to three nothing, which really that would sort of put the game
- 33:42away. So it's almost like Chelsea
- 33:43would look at it like, alright, we went into half, we played
- 33:45horribly and OK, but we're only down 1.
- 33:49And so Luca, you said like 1/2 time substitution.
- 33:52Now the half time substitution, Luca is being made by an interim
- 33:55coach. This guy was coaching the U20
- 33:57ones for Chelsea like a week ago.
- 34:00And of course, Enzo Maresa gets fired.
- 34:02So they go to the U21 coach. Like, hey, you get to go coach
- 34:05Chelsea. Oh, and by the way, you get to
- 34:07go play them at the Eddie, get to play City at the Eddie hat
- 34:09and Pep Guardiola in your first game managing.
- 34:11And to his credit, Luca, that he actually that was a pretty good
- 34:14movie made at halftime. That's kind of a yeah to make
- 34:171/2 time substitution takes off. Esteval, who we've talked about
- 34:20how much we like him as a winner and he's exciting.
- 34:22He's got flair. But you you kind of what he did
- 34:25was he just brought a little bit more stability to the midfield
- 34:28and that kind of a like a loud kind of Palmer and everybody to
- 34:30push up a little bit more. And they were Chelsea were
- 34:32definitely better in the second-half and City again, that
- 34:36just couldn't put him away. And I mean, how many extra time
- 34:39goals do we see in the Premier League?
- 34:41I mean, it's what makes it exciting, but you just, you
- 34:44know, and it's not the City stop playing.
- 34:46But it's just they didn't put them away when they had the
- 34:48chance. And you just allow A-Team.
- 34:49Like we kind of allowed Sunderland to score late or
- 34:53Villa, you know, to put that ball in, you know, and just, you
- 34:57know, great ball by gusto. It gets by like 4 different
- 35:00guys, like 2 City guys, even a Chelsea guy Squirts all the way
- 35:03to the far post, taps it. Donna Ruma makes a save, falls
- 35:07through Fernandez again and he taps it in off the post for a
- 35:10tie. And you're right, I mean, it's
- 35:11it's a massive result for Arsenal because I, I did not
- 35:14think that City were going to lose this game.
- 35:16I thought that Chelsea without a coach City would find a way to
- 35:19win this game or tie. Lose your tie?
- 35:22Yeah. Yeah, exactly.
- 35:23So I mean, you know what, we've talked about this at the top,
- 35:26you know what a tie is like a loss to these teams.
- 35:29And you look at the City players, look at they're
- 35:30dejected after this because they know what it means.
- 35:32They're now, they're now six points back.
- 35:35I mean, it's certainly not over by any means means, but it's a
- 35:39that's a bigger hole to now have to dig out of.
- 35:41Yeah. So, you know, their margin for
- 35:44error now shrinks a little bit. You know, they've got to now
- 35:47start to grind back some wins like they were doing.
- 35:48They were on a great run of wins, two draws in a row to
- 35:52Sunderland and Chelsea. And now all of a sudden again,
- 35:54it's a six point gap. Now again, Arsenal have to go
- 35:57play Liverpool this week. So, you know, this very easily
- 36:00could be back to three points if City beat Brighton and Arsenal
- 36:03lose the Liverpool. Yeah.
- 36:04So we'll see. But yeah, it it's just obviously
- 36:07devastating to give up a goal in the in the extra time to lead to
- 36:10a tie. You know, City, Luca, bit of an
- 36:13injury crisis here. They lost Guevardiol broke his
- 36:15leg. He's gonna have surgery next
- 36:17week. He's gonna be out for months.
- 36:20Ruben Diaz. Luca had to come off injured.
- 36:22There's no word on what that is, but man, those are two important
- 36:25Gagorio. Broke his leg like he sacked.
- 36:28Yeah, I. Don't know if it's exactly the
- 36:30same, you know, bone that he broke or what it is.
- 36:32But yeah, broken bone in his leg essentially.
- 36:34Like I said, it's going to put him out for months.
- 36:36And I mean, he's a good, good player for them.
- 36:38Ruben Diaz is a really good player for them.
- 36:40So like, you think John Stones has been out with like a thigh
- 36:43problem for a while. You start to look at that back
- 36:45line for City and you're like, Oh my gosh, like who's going to
- 36:47step in and play Kusenov? Kusenov like I haven't been real
- 36:50impressed with Kusanov Ake but Kanakke play every you know,
- 36:55week 8. Nori's still at AFCON but he'll
- 36:57be coming back soon. I thought he wasn't.
- 36:59At AFCON? No, he is.
- 37:01There. Yeah.
- 37:01So he's there. So, I mean, you know, they'll
- 37:04have a few options here. Now, of course, the immediate
- 37:07rumor is that they're going to go splash a bunch of money for
- 37:10Mark Gahey. They've got Simaneo probably
- 37:12coming in, but he's a winger. I mean, he's not going to help
- 37:14him on defense. But City will probably, I think
- 37:18spent a lot of money. They did this last January.
- 37:21I think they brought in three different players.
- 37:23So look for them to be very active this January in the
- 37:26transfer market because they now, like I said, you know, have
- 37:28some serious injuries to kind of worry about.
- 37:31Savino, I think was already injured.
- 37:33I think Oscar Bob might have already been injured.
- 37:35Now, again, nothing too serious that that I know of, but, you
- 37:39know, keep an eye on City here because like I said, they're
- 37:41going to be very short. They had, I think 4 Academy
- 37:44players on the bench already for this game against Chelsea.
- 37:47So they're dealing with what a lot this is what teams have to
- 37:50deal with. You have to manage.
- 37:52Everybody's going to get injuries at some point.
- 37:54You hope they don't all bunch together.
- 37:56They did for Arsenal. We kind of weathered it a little
- 37:58bit. City, like I said, they're going
- 38:00to have the ability. There's still a lot of good
- 38:01players on that team, you know? Yeah, and again, they're gonna
- 38:04probably bring in some players so they have the ability to
- 38:07weather it, but let's see how they do in their next couple
- 38:09games, yeah. I hate that this is going on
- 38:12during the January transfer window where they get all these
- 38:14injuries and they can use, they're owned by someone who has
- 38:18a money to burn and they can just spend any anything they
- 38:22want. Yeah, I mean it, You're right.
- 38:25It is an advantage. You think of it, if this happens
- 38:27in February, there's no way to strengthen your squad.
- 38:29Yeah. So the fact that it happens in
- 38:30January, you have this month where?
- 38:32And of course, it's like the very beginning of January.
- 38:34So now you can sort of make your, you know, you can sort of
- 38:37say, all right, like who do we want to go get?
- 38:39You've got some time to do it. You know, obviously they're
- 38:41going to want to do things sooner rather than later to
- 38:43bring players in. But it's not as if even there's,
- 38:45you know, four days left in the window.
- 38:47So we'll see. Like I said, I expect them to be
- 38:50very active over the next month. Luca, we talked about Enzo
- 38:54Maresa getting fired. He was the 20th manager to leave
- 38:57Chelsea since the year 2000. Chelsea literally almost fire a
- 39:01manager every year. It's unbelievable.
- 39:06All right, Luke, let's move on to the last game then.
- 39:07Everton hosting Brighton. I'm sorry, Everton hosting
- 39:10Brentford? This game ends 4 to Brentford.
- 39:13I pray to be 00. Igor Tiago with a hat trick.
- 39:19His first goal was in the 11th minute and then calling the
- 39:22scores in the 50th minute. Tiago a minute later in the 51st
- 39:26minute. Nice pullback and pass from
- 39:29Sade. Beto gets, well, consolation I'm
- 39:34getting, I guess I call that Tiago.
- 39:37Well, I mean like he scores again in the 88th minute,
- 39:42Everton of like everyone up pushing for a goal and then you
- 39:45just catches him on the break. And then Barry in the 92nd
- 39:49minute. Greenwich had two assists for a
- 39:55total of 6 on the season, and Tiago now has fourteen goals,
- 39:59second to Holland, who has nineteen goals.
- 40:02So he's only five behind. He's actually, he's kind of
- 40:05catching up. Yeah, Holland.
- 40:06I don't think scored in three games now in a row.
- 40:08And yeah, you put together a hat trick that'll that'll move, move
- 40:11you up the the scoring leaders pretty quick.
- 40:13But yeah, he's been sort of firmly there in second for a
- 40:15while. Yeah.
- 40:16Look, I want to talk about him a little bit.
- 40:17I want to do a little bit of like a player profile on him.
- 40:19So I mean, look, I've never, I've never even heard of this
- 40:22guy until the start of the season.
- 40:24And now he is, like you said, second in the Premier League
- 40:26with 14 goals, only five behind Holland and more importantly for
- 40:30his team, Luca Brentford, very sneakily or in 7th place in the
- 40:33Premier League. I mean, that is really amazing
- 40:37for Brentford. Is that your?
- 40:38What's your best finish I. Don't know.
- 40:40I'm sure we did that on our when we when we did our did you know
- 40:43on them? I don't remember what their top
- 40:45finish is. This has to be around there.
- 40:47I don't know that they've ever qualified for European football.
- 40:50Maybe they did. But yeah, I mean, they're really
- 40:53quietly putting together a very, very good season.
- 40:55They lost their manager, of course.
- 40:57They always seem to lose their forwards.
- 40:59Ivan, Tony left a couple years ago, they lost and Bumo, they
- 41:02lost. Wisa.
- 41:03You're like, how's this team going to do?
- 41:04And this time? They lost their manager and they
- 41:07lost their set of forwards. Well, they lost.
- 41:08But they lost two forwards this summer.
- 41:10I'm. Just yeah.
- 41:11But like and Thomas. Frank So they lost a lot and
- 41:14here they are. Luca you know, so Igor Tiago,
- 41:16Luke, he's 24, he's Brazilian, he came from Club Brugge.
- 41:22And so Luca, it wasn't a super. He came from $40 million.
- 41:26So it wasn't like, you know, this is decent money.
- 41:29Strikers always command a little bit more than other positions.
- 41:32But he got bought in July of 2024 and he basically missed an
- 41:36entire year with, like, a knee injury.
- 41:37So he got bought and really just didn't even play for them kind
- 41:41of really until the start of this year where he has been
- 41:43like, I mean, just one of the best stories so far in the
- 41:46Premier League. Yeah, there's been.
- 41:47A lot of good stories, and I think he's one of the best,
- 41:50Yeah. I mean. 14 goals at this point
- 41:51in the year is really just amazing for him.
- 41:54So yeah, like I said, you know, interesting guy to watch.
- 41:57He's just big. He's strong.
- 41:58He's powerful. Yeah.
- 42:00Big hat trick today puts him on 14 goals.
- 42:03I mean, Simaneo Lucas in 3rd on 9.
- 42:05So you see like I mean basically if you have 85.
- 42:07Goal difference. Yeah, five goal.
- 42:09Difference from third. Now, like I said, I don't know
- 42:11that he's going to catch Holland, but he's, you know.
- 42:13Tingles behind Holland, 5. Behind him, 5 by tingles.
- 42:17Behind Holland. What's no Holland has nineteen
- 42:21goals. Tiago has 14.
- 42:23So he's five goals behind. I was.
- 42:24Talking about Simeno Simeno. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
- 42:27Let's see. Igor, Tiago, Luca.
- 42:28Great story. Like I said, good guy to watch.
- 42:30So when you watch Brentford, keep an eye on him.
- 42:32He's really been a great player. Yeah.
- 42:34So. All right, Luca, let's roll over
- 42:36where as we end the week here, you got to be your goal team and
- 42:38player of the week. Well, my goal of the week is
- 42:42easily Harrison Reid's goal, yes, Yeah.
- 42:45I can't argue with that. My team.
- 42:47In the week is Chelsea because I was, I mean big gaming in City
- 42:52without even a manager. And yeah, and my player of the
- 42:57week is probably going to be Rice.
- 43:01Rice. Okay, the two big goals I get.
- 43:04Done. Okay.
- 43:05Declan Ricer, Player of the Week.
- 43:06Yeah, good choices there, Luca. All right, well, look, like we
- 43:09said Week 21, literally get started tomorrow.
- 43:12Like I said, game, It is crazy how many games come through
- 43:15December and January. But yeah, we've got games
- 43:17coming. I think we have a lot of games
- 43:19on Tuesday, Wednesday, Arsenal, Liverpool.
- 43:21I think it's by itself on Thursday, so I want to get your
- 43:25picks for this week and we'll look at kind of some of the
- 43:27matchups here. You ready to give me your picks
- 43:29All right look at the first one not exactly a great matchup you
- 43:32have West Ham hosting forest. I think it's.
- 43:35Going to be 1111. All right, so yeah, we talked
- 43:37about two teams in the relegation battle.
- 43:39They're not exactly an exciting matchup.
- 43:41All right, What about city hosting Brighton?
- 43:46Two nil 21. City 21.
- 43:48City. OK, so City is going to give up
- 43:50a goal. We'll see you again.
- 43:51Keep an eye on what that defense looks like for them.
- 43:54But they're at home. They're going to.
- 43:55Yeah. I feel bad for Brighton because
- 43:57I feel like City are going to be pissed, man.
- 43:58They're the last two games they tied.
- 44:02They're not going to be super happy.
- 44:03I think they're going to take it out on Brighton.
- 44:06All right, Luca, London Derby. We've got Fulham hosting
- 44:09Chelsea. What do you like?
- 44:12I think it's going to be 222. Two, OK, all right, London Army
- 44:16and two, two, Yeah, these teams lately have been playing some
- 44:19exciting games, so looks like this could be another good one.
- 44:23All right, Luca, Everton hosting Wolves.
- 44:27I think it's going to be 000. Zero.
- 44:29OK, Crystal Palace hosting Villa.
- 44:34Villa win 3131. Okay, oh boy, Palace this bad
- 44:39run of form here for them, yeah. Yeah, Villa.
- 44:41Like I said, have been really, really good.
- 44:43You know, they had that kind of blip against Arsenal there, but
- 44:45yeah, they've been good. And like as I got back to
- 44:47winning ways this week. So yeah, the inform team
- 44:50certainly would be Villa there. All right, look, this kind of an
- 44:53interesting game here, Brentford hosting Sunderland, you know,
- 44:56again, two of the most surprising teams here, 7th and
- 44:598th, tied on 30 points in the table.
- 45:02Who do you like in this one? I think Brentford.
- 45:03Wins 2121. Brentford very good at home,
- 45:08Sunderland had been good on the road but yeah, Brentford really
- 45:10good at home. Tough to beat there and
- 45:12Sunderland. Are missing a lot of players
- 45:14too. Yeah, yeah.
- 45:15Is Dan Ballard still? Well, he missed.
- 45:17I believe he missed this past week.
- 45:19I don't know any word whether he's going to be back or not,
- 45:21but yeah, that that could be tough.
- 45:23It might catch up with him. I I kind of agree with you.
- 45:25I kind of like Brentford in that one too.
- 45:26All right, what about Burnley hosting manager?
- 45:29Manager lists Man U. I think United wouldn't won
- 45:35nothing all right. So even without the manager,
- 45:38United get the win, Yeah. All right, what?
- 45:41About Bournemouth hosting Spurs. Bournemouth win 2 nil, 2 nil.
- 45:47OK, so Bournemouth finally going to get a win here after a rough
- 45:50run, Yeah. Because like, Kudos is out, so
- 45:53that's going to take away a lot of goals for them.
- 45:55He's their star player for goals.
- 45:58He's. Been good for them.
- 45:59Yeah, we, I don't know, they came off with like, it looks
- 46:01like a muscle injury, like a hamstring or something.
- 46:03So it's hard to imagine he's going to be able to bounce back
- 46:05in a couple days for a midweek game.
- 46:07So yeah, big loss for them. All right, Luca, Newcastle
- 46:10hosting Leeds. Newcastle win 212.
- 46:15One, OK, and then Luca. All right, here we go.
- 46:17The big game, the last game of the week.
- 46:20Come on, everybody's waiting for Arsenal hosting Liverpool.
- 46:25Tell me your score and tell me why you're picking this score.
- 46:28OK, I'm picking 2 new arsenal, OK.
- 46:32I I. I think Arsenal have been on a
- 46:35good run of scoring 3 or more goals because they've scored
- 46:40four and still are three against Bournemouth.
- 46:44Sorry, I couldn't say anything. And Liverpool, I don't know if
- 46:49they'll have Ekatique for this so that that's not there.
- 46:54I don't. I feel like they're a little
- 46:55short on attackers. So we did.
- 46:59Egypt win, which means that Egypt.
- 47:02Won today at AFCOM, which means they stay, they move on and.
- 47:05Salah will not. Be back for this game, OK?
- 47:08So none of the. Egypt players are coming back,
- 47:11yet his teams obviously get knocked out of the African
- 47:13tournament and they're done. They will then come back to
- 47:15their teams. But yes, Egypt did move on,
- 47:19which means Salah stays there and needs to play with Egypt,
- 47:21which means yes, he will not be back for this game.
- 47:23Yes. All right, so they're really
- 47:26short on attackers, so that's why I do not have them scoring
- 47:30any goals and also it's at home for arsenal and the crowds can
- 47:34be pumped for that game. So I think it'll be hard for
- 47:36Liverpool. Also, their defense is probably
- 47:40their biggest problem and I think our offense is slowly
- 47:45getting better. So I I think that's why I that's
- 47:49why I picked 2. No, OK.
- 47:50Yeah, it's a good call. I mean, I certainly hope that's
- 47:53the result. I'd like to see us get payback.
- 47:55We went up there and we lost. It's the only loss for Arsenal
- 47:57or I'm sorry, it's when they were.
- 47:58In good form, too. They were playing.
- 48:00Well, and we and we played pretty well up there.
- 48:03You know, we a little conservative, but we took a.
- 48:06Very good free kick, like a worldly to beat us it did.
- 48:10It did. I wish we had played with like a
- 48:12little bit more ambition there. Felt like a little bit of a
- 48:14conservative game panic. We're playing for the tie, but
- 48:17you're right, I mean we almost got a result out of there, which
- 48:20is always tough. Anfield, it's really, really a
- 48:22tough place to go. So this is our chance for
- 48:24payback here. Like you said, we're in good
- 48:26form. They should be confident coming
- 48:29off of wins against Villa and AD Bournemouth.
- 48:32Doesn't seem like there's any new injuries.
- 48:34You know, we'll keep an eye on Rice's knee.
- 48:36Sometimes these knees can swell up a little bit after playing,
- 48:39you know, on it. So we'll see.
- 48:40It's a quick turn around but the advantage we had, we kept
- 48:43Trosard on the bench for Bournemouth soccer.
- 48:45On the bench they came in, gave us about 20 minutes, so
- 48:48hopefully their legs are OK We'll see.
- 48:51Haverts wasn't even on the bench for the Bournemouth game, so
- 48:56it's kind of load management. It wasn't a set back what they
- 48:58say, so I'm curious to see if Haverts will one be on the bench
- 49:01but two. Play.
- 49:03Yeah, I know. He's your favorite player, so
- 49:05you're obviously eager, but I'm thinking from like a strategic
- 49:08standpoint. If you have options of Geo,
- 49:10Chris, Jay, Zeus and haverts a strike that is very good.
- 49:13That is big. We'll keep an eye on Ekatika.
- 49:15They said it was a hamstring. You know, I haven't heard
- 49:18anything that is real serious. So could have been that they
- 49:20were just being conservative by resting him against Fulham in
- 49:24the hopes that he'd be ready to play against Arsenal.
- 49:26A little bit of a bigger game. I hope he's.
- 49:28Not because he's been good for him, he's been great.
- 49:30He's been really good. That would be a major advantage
- 49:32if he does not play for, for Arsenal.
- 49:34But yeah, I, I look, I just look at him like this is kind of the
- 49:37moment. Like if you're going to go on to
- 49:39try to win the Premier League, like these are the games where
- 49:41you've got to sort of put down a marker and be like, yes,
- 49:43Liverpool are a very good team. They're playing well.
- 49:45They're playing way better than they were at the beginning of
- 49:47the season. They're missing a couple key
- 49:49guys or at home. Liverpool know they're not going
- 49:53to win the Premier League this year.
- 49:55Now they're going to they're going to still want to come in
- 49:57and win. But you know, Arsenal have this
- 50:00is this is everybody saying like this has got to be the year.
- 50:02And I think if you're going to try to prove a point and say,
- 50:04yeah, we believe this is our year, you've got to go and win
- 50:07this game, not tie it, you got to go win it.
- 50:10So we will see. I will be fascinated to watch
- 50:12this game. Obviously we're going to watch
- 50:14every second of it because we're Arsenal fans.
- 50:15But I just think this is these are the games that kind of like
- 50:18everybody wants to tune. All the neutrals are going to be
- 50:20like, all right, this is, you know, when City, Arsenal,
- 50:23Liverpool all play each other, these are sort of like must
- 50:25watch TV. So we'll see.
- 50:27I like it, Luke. I hope it is too.
- 50:28Nothing. Yeah.
- 50:30All right, Luca. Well, let's move on to our
- 50:31viewer mailbag. And my question, Luca, to you is
- 50:34we've talked about how crazy it is that 2 teams right now,
- 50:38Chelsea and man, you two of the most famous teams in all of
- 50:41football in the world, not just in in the Premier League, are
- 50:45both managers manager lists right now.
- 50:48So Enzo Maresca got fired last week, Ruben Amaram Luca went on
- 50:51kind of AI don't want to say a rant or a tirade, but just as
- 50:54sort of bizarre press conference yesterday where he was seen to
- 50:57be calling out. The owners seem to be calling
- 50:59out their director of football saying, you know, I'm the coach,
- 51:04I'm the manager. And sort of the difference
- 51:07between that is if like, if you're the coach, you basically
- 51:09just like coach the players, coach them in the game, you
- 51:12decide what's going to happen. The managers more involved with
- 51:14like, like, you know, the, the transfers, who's coming in,
- 51:18who's coming out. So they're 2.
- 51:20Different things. They are two.
- 51:21Different things, you know, and again, there's there's sort of
- 51:23nuance and a little bit of a difference between yeah.
- 51:26But essentially the yes, there are two different things,
- 51:28manager and coach. And so some people are just a
- 51:31coach and they just coached the team on the field.
- 51:34They have no say in like the medical staff or, you know, like
- 51:39where we're going to go with things or sponsorships or really
- 51:42more importantly, transfers, you know, so, but if you're a
- 51:45manager like guys like Arteta or Guardiola, they sort of have a
- 51:50say in all of that. They want to be involved in all
- 51:52of that. So, you know, Amaram, like I
- 51:56said, was coming out saying this and that.
- 51:57It was a bit of a bizarre press conference.
- 51:59Nobody quite knew what he meant. Obviously.
- 52:01It felt like he was sort of calling out the people that are
- 52:04higher up, like the owners, the director of football.
- 52:08And I think they must have felt that way too because then they
- 52:10fired on the next morning, which was this morning.
- 52:12So he is now out of a job, Luca, after 14 months on the job.
- 52:17And so my question to you though, Luca, let's say I want
- 52:20to know what you think is essentially the better job to
- 52:23have. So let's say Luca, I am the
- 52:26great coaching prospect. Everybody wants to hire me.
- 52:29Chelsea, come, we want to hire you, man.
- 52:31You says we want to hire you. What job do you think is better?
- 52:36And I'm curious, you know, your reason why you think one job is
- 52:39better than the other. That is tough because.
- 52:43They're both very equal on the table.
- 52:46They both have a talented squad. I think I'm going Chelsea
- 52:52because I. Feel like they.
- 52:55Have a younger team and a team that could be good in the
- 52:59future. I'm not saying they're not good
- 53:02right now, but I think they're going to be really good in the
- 53:04future. They're a little they're they're
- 53:08lacking a. Little bit of discipline.
- 53:10But once they learn how to play correctly, then I feel like
- 53:13they'll be a very good team. And that's I think, I think I'm
- 53:18looking towards the future more than right now if I'm a coach.
- 53:22So I think I may take Chelsea's job.
- 53:25Also, I like, I like going to Stanford Bridge for games.
- 53:30It's so the crowd is always pumped.
- 53:32I was saying to you, it's so fun to go to Chelsea games.
- 53:36Like even if it's Chelsea versus Wolves, the crowd is wild and I
- 53:41think that would be cool as the coach.
- 53:44Now, to be fair, you've never been to Old Trafford.
- 53:46I haven't. I'm sure that would be fun too.
- 53:47But yes, you've been to. Stamford Bridge twice.
- 53:49And it's it's obviously a very, very cool experience.
- 53:51But to be fair, I'm sure going to man U would be a pretty cool
- 53:54experience too. My 2 games that went my 2
- 53:57Chelsea. Games I've been to were against
- 53:59Man United, but that that one was 232443 Cole Palmer and the
- 54:05101st minute scores the winner. Crazy game.
- 54:09That was a fun game. You had to be.
- 54:11Crazy awesome game I've ever seen my wife.
- 54:14Yeah, it's interesting, Luke. I mean, you know, you know the.
- 54:17You say that with Chelsea and it's like, you know, we just
- 54:19said that they've been through 20 managers in 25 years.
- 54:22I mean, it's like, you know, you think what I want to be here a
- 54:24long term. I want to think to the future.
- 54:26They don't really give anybody that time.
- 54:27Like it's just it's it's crazy to me.
- 54:30Like it's not quite fair. It's not, it's not fair.
- 54:33You know, now look some of these managers.
- 54:34It feels like they're digging their own hole a little bit.
- 54:36We talked about Enzo Mareska going and like talking to people
- 54:39about the city job after Pep leaves and you're like, what are
- 54:41you doing there? And like, and they got AMRA.
- 54:42I'm like, it's never good to go call out your bosses.
- 54:45You've never had a job before. But let me just give you a piece
- 54:47of advice now. Don't go and be mean to your
- 54:49boss and don't. Have you had experience doing
- 54:52that? No, I've never.
- 54:53Called out my boss. That's why I've never been
- 54:54fired. From a job because I'm smart
- 54:57enough to know. Like you.
- 54:58Don't do that to your bosses and look what's happening to these
- 55:01guys, you know, now look, both of these teams feel a little bit
- 55:04misrun a lot of times too. This is not exactly like these
- 55:07are stable clubs, you know, they, they feel like, you know,
- 55:11a little like. Some of their purchases and.
- 55:15And and the play they, you know, Chelsea literally just buy and
- 55:17sell players. It's like crazy.
- 55:18It's just sort of like, you know, if you're, it's like
- 55:21shoveling sand. Or it's like, you know, the pan
- 55:25of rocks and stuff, we just try and shove, like shake it and see
- 55:30if there's any good rocks. It's kind of like doing that and
- 55:33then they find a good rock and they sell it two months later,
- 55:35though. Yeah, yeah.
- 55:37Well, I'm just trying to like. I know.
- 55:40Example of what? Chelsea.
- 55:41Do yeah, exactly. They just.
- 55:42Sort of like, right? Like, you know.
- 55:44Buy all the stuff all right, you know these these fifty players
- 55:48are terrible get rid of them. These 20 are good hey, we'll
- 55:50sell these ones. I don't even know if they're
- 55:51good or not, but you know they it does you know eventually
- 55:55spend it like the one thing you can't say is they're not
- 55:57spending money you know with united it sometimes feels like
- 56:01they do spend money, but maybe they should be spending more and
- 56:04maybe just spending it a little bit.
- 56:06You know better because like we talked about like, you know,
- 56:08Cesco, it was like almost $100 million and he hasn't.
- 56:12He scored one goal, I think. Yeah.
- 56:13And. The thing is too like, I don't
- 56:14want to beat up on like a young guy who's like.
- 56:16Still getting it, but like, they could have just spent the money
- 56:17on defense or midfield. Like, I just don't think they
- 56:19needed that position. Xerxi's been good for them right
- 56:22now. Yeah, Xerxi's been.
- 56:23Pretty good, I mean, but they they signed.
- 56:25Cunya, they signed him. Bumo Xerxi, you know, like I
- 56:28said, he's been a little bit better than I thought.
- 56:30I mean, but then you look at their midfield, look at they
- 56:32started like Casimir in Agarte because Bruno's hurt, you know,
- 56:34like that's not a real midfield, you know, in the Premier League.
- 56:37Like they should have invested it like in a player there, spend
- 56:39$100 million on a midfielder, you can get something really
- 56:41good. Yeah.
- 56:43So I don't know. I just think it's like some of
- 56:44the decisions feel, you know, it's like who they're going for
- 56:48just seems really strange where Chelsea's like whole approach
- 56:50seems a little bit strange to me.
- 56:52So I don't know, to be honest. I'm not sure either.
- 56:53Job is all that. Good.
- 56:55Yeah. Like they're big teams for sure.
- 56:58Can I just go to Arsenal? Yeah.
- 57:00Yeah, I know, right. Yeah, so you know we'll.
- 57:02See who the next coaches are for both these teams, you know, But
- 57:07I wish both of them, whoever's coaching them, much luck.
- 57:10Because how could rather go to Brantford?
- 57:11Yeah, I know. You probably.
- 57:13Would rather go to Brentford. I know more.
- 57:14Of a stable club there so all right, look good for your
- 57:17mailbag question you picked Chelsea.
- 57:19OK all right Luca, let's go to the did you know section and
- 57:22we're going to talk about Leeds. We've been, of course running
- 57:24through all the Premier League teams to learn a little bit more
- 57:27and Leeds Luca is from Leeds, England and they're in West
- 57:31Yorkshire, England. Yorkshire is a county in England
- 57:35and their leads nickname are the Whites because of course their
- 57:38jerseys and colors are, are mostly white.
- 57:41Luca. They play it Ellen Rd.
- 57:44Ellen Rd. was built in 1897 and not surprisingly, Luca, it's
- 57:49named after a road Ellen Rd. Luca.
- 57:54It holds about 37,645 and they've been playing there, like
- 57:59I said, the whole time at the stadium.
- 58:02They were formed in 1919, Leeds United Football Club.
- 58:07They joined the Football League in 1920.
- 58:10They fell as low as League One through 2007 and 2010.
- 58:17And now, of course, they've been back in the Premier League for
- 58:19the start of this year. They're one of the newly
- 58:21promoted teams. They're owned by 49er
- 58:24Enterprises, so guess which NFL team?
- 58:2749ers, 49ers So the De Bartolo. Family and the York.
- 58:30Family owned 49er Enterprises and they owned the 49ers.
- 58:34They also own Rangers actually in Scotland and the Scottish
- 58:37like, oh, OK, yeah, so one of the most famous.
- 58:39Teams in Scotland. Rangers are owned by the same
- 58:44same ownership group. Cool Luga.
- 58:47They have 3 trophies. They have won three English
- 58:50league titles. Leeds have.
- 58:51They won in 68 and 6973 and 7491 and 92.
- 58:56They've won an FA Cup in 71 and 72.
- 59:00They've got a League Cup that they won in 67 and 68.
- 59:03Their highest Premier League finish ever is third and they
- 59:06did that in 19992000C. That's that's really good.
- 59:10They got Champions League, they got.
- 59:11Champions, and in fact they made the Champions League semi.
- 59:14Finals in 2001. Wow.
- 59:16So they were good back in the day.
- 59:18Yeah, they've got. Some history there.
- 59:19You know, this is actually kind of.
- 59:20A club that's got a little bit of, you know, history and have
- 59:23like done something. They haven't always been
- 59:25terrible. No, no.
- 59:26And then three. League titles, That's that's.
- 59:28Really good, Yeah. So their biggest rival?
- 59:30Luca is actually. Who they played this week, I
- 59:32didn't quite realize. There's this rivalry with Man
- 59:34United called the War of the Roses.
- 59:36Wow. It's interesting that they
- 59:38played this week and that's like a little bit of a Darby for
- 59:40them. There's also Bradford City and
- 59:45those are and Huddersfield Town, which are I think both in League
- 59:49One. Yeah, as I said, they can't be
- 59:52close. To the Premier League?
- 59:54No, no, they're in League One and those are local.
- 59:56Teams from that Yorkshire area of England, so we talked about
- 59:59that county of Yorkshire where Leeds are.
- 1:00:01Well, Bradford City and Huddersfield Town are close to
- 1:00:03there, but yeah, they're kind of way down.
- 1:00:05But yeah, from as far as a Premier League standpoint, like
- 1:00:08I said, this was a bit of a Derby game.
- 1:00:09And again, they call it the War of the Roses between Man U and
- 1:00:11Leeds. For most expensive buy Luca, the
- 1:00:14most expensive player they ever bought.
- 1:00:16Giorgino Reuter, who of course right now is on Britain is on.
- 1:00:20Yeah, not even on their team. Anymore they they.
- 1:00:22Bought him in 2020. Three, $47 million from
- 1:00:25Hoffenheim in Bundesliga, the most expensive sale.
- 1:00:30They sold a player to Barcelona in 2020.
- 1:00:32Ruffinia. Ruffinia.
- 1:00:33Yeah, $68 million. They sold him.
- 1:00:35For, I mean, they kind of well. He's definitely not worth
- 1:00:4068,000,000 now, but 200 million now, yeah.
- 1:00:44I mean, look, they were never gonna be able to keep a player
- 1:00:46like. That for too long.
- 1:00:47I mean, yeah, just exploded and look.
- 1:00:50Part. Of it is, he's great in that
- 1:00:51Barcelona system. But yeah, Ruffina would be a
- 1:00:54very expensive buy for any team right now.
- 1:00:57Luca, famous managers. Don Reedy managed from 61 to 74.
- 1:01:03He got him two league titles, the FA Cup, the League Cup, keep
- 1:01:07their statue of him outside of Ellen Rd.
- 1:01:10Howard Wilkinson, Marcelo B Elsa was a famous manager.
- 1:01:14He got him back to the Premier League in the 2021 season.
- 1:01:17And of course, Daniel Farker is a German manager.
- 1:01:20He manages them now. He's been managing them since
- 1:01:222023. Club legend Luca Billy Bremner
- 1:01:26played there from 1960 to 1976. He made 587 appearances.
- 1:01:31A real good midfielder for them. He's got a statue.
- 1:01:35Jack Charlton. Over 700 appearances, Johnny
- 1:01:41Giles, Stewart Dallas, Nigel Martin, Alan Smith and Lisa
- 1:01:45Lucca. They've had a fair amount of
- 1:01:46Premier League players kind of come through.
- 1:01:48Calvin Phillips, OK Rio Ferdinand, Archie Gray?
- 1:01:53Of course. You just said Ruffina.
- 1:01:55Tyler Adams played there. Oh yeah, with Sinistera.
- 1:01:59Chris Wood. Jack Harrison, Robbie Fowler.
- 1:02:02Robbie Keane Lewis Cook with the the two rat Robbie's played at.
- 1:02:08Weeds. Well, no, that the two Robbie's
- 1:02:10from. TV are are Robbie Musto and
- 1:02:14Robbie Earl? Oh, so they're not different.
- 1:02:16Robbie's a pretty common. Name so.
- 1:02:18Oh, but yeah, there's a little look inside, like I said.
- 1:02:20Leeds Football. Club, you know like I said, so
- 1:02:23we learn a little bit more about them.
- 1:02:24Our friend of the pod AKA Grandpa of.
- 1:02:27The pod was a big Leeds fan. Doc.
- 1:02:29That's right, That's right. My dad, your grandfather.
- 1:02:32Who's not with us anymore? But yeah, he was a big Leeds
- 1:02:35fan. He always kind of liked Leeds.
- 1:02:36I always thought that was kind of interesting.
- 1:02:38You know, we, we, it's kind of cool.
- 1:02:39Yeah. We lived in London when I was
- 1:02:41really young. But I never quite.
- 1:02:42Knew his like Leeds isn't that close to London, but I think he
- 1:02:45just always just liked Leeds and he liked, you know, kind of they
- 1:02:48need the uniforms and again, a little bit of that history that
- 1:02:51they have. But these are my third favorite
- 1:02:53club, Premier League club. Well, fingers crossed.
- 1:02:55I'm pulling for them to stay up, yes.
- 1:02:57Definitely. We'll see if they can they can
- 1:02:59do it. In the end, but.
- 1:03:00All right, Luca, well, real quick, we're going to put a plug
- 1:03:03in for our Instagram. Come find us at Premier League
- 1:03:05Playground on Instagram. e-mail us with any questions or mailbag
- 1:03:10or plugs that you would like us to do.
- 1:03:11We are premierleagueplayground@gmail.com.
- 1:03:15We have a YouTube page, Luca. Yeah, so we're we're working on
- 1:03:19that. But come find us on YouTube, of
- 1:03:21course, at Premier League Playground.
- 1:03:22So yeah, come find us there for our social media.
- 1:03:27But of course, we end all our shows with our penalty kick
- 1:03:30trivia shootout. We've got some trivia soccer
- 1:03:32questions. We go back and forth and we'll
- 1:03:35see who can get the most questions right, Like a goal
- 1:03:37scored. So do you want to go first or
- 1:03:39second? I'll answer first.
- 1:03:41You're going to answer first. All right, Luca.
- 1:03:43We've got. Hugo Ekatika, we just talked
- 1:03:46about him. Forward from Liverpool came over
- 1:03:48this summer. He transferred to Liverpool from
- 1:03:51what club? Frankfurt?
- 1:03:54That is right, Eintracht Frankfurt.
- 1:03:56And the Bundesliga. For $94,000,000 I think
- 1:03:59Eintracht Frankfurt is always just a.
- 1:04:01Cool name. I've always thought that was a
- 1:04:03cool name. Yeah, yeah, Frankfurt's the
- 1:04:04city, but yeah, Eintracht that. Must probably mean something in
- 1:04:07German. Yeah, it sounds very German.
- 1:04:10It is a cool. Name this.
- 1:04:12Coach won three. Premier League trophies with
- 1:04:16with Chelsea but never won. Manager of the Months, Three
- 1:04:21Premier League. For Chelsea, Mourinho.
- 1:04:23Yeah, OK. Jose Mourinho, I don't know.
- 1:04:26I never won manager of the month.
- 1:04:28Yeah, won three Premier League trophies.
- 1:04:30Well, Maresca won manager a month in November and he got
- 1:04:33fired. So maybe it was good that he
- 1:04:34didn't win it. All right, Luca, Trivia question
- 1:04:38about our favorite team, Arsenal.
- 1:04:40Who led Arsenal in Premier League scoring last year?
- 1:04:45I wonder if I. Could sneak a Haverts trivia
- 1:04:48question by Luke I was. Wrong.
- 1:04:50How many goals did he have? Nine.
- 1:04:52That is correct on both. Accounts.
- 1:04:54I should know better. Which former Manchester City
- 1:05:00player has the highest penalty conversion rate in Premier
- 1:05:05League history at 100% success rate?
- 1:05:08We just talked about this cause Jimenez.
- 1:05:12Is like 11 for 11. It's this person is 11 for 11,
- 1:05:16Yeah. And I think Palmer is actually.
- 1:05:1912 for 12 so he's technically second, but he's.
- 1:05:23But they're all 100%, yeah. Gosh, I know.
- 1:05:28It's. Not Aguero.
- 1:05:29It's not the Bruena, is it? Is it?
- 1:05:36It's not Yaya Torre or Fernandino, is it?
- 1:05:41Yaya Torre, Yeah. OK, I.
- 1:05:44Was kind of. I knew it was one of those guys.
- 1:05:46There, yeah, pretty. Impressive.
- 1:05:47I mean, 11 for 11, all right, Luca, Robert Sanchez.
- 1:05:50Goalie for. Chelsea 8 clean sheets last year
- 1:05:54or no? This year?
- 1:05:55I think he's got 8 clean sheets this year, right?
- 1:05:57Yeah, yeah, More than that last year, yeah.
- 1:05:59Eight this year puts him second with Donna Rumen.
- 1:06:01Pickford. What country does he represent?
- 1:06:06Spain, that is correct. I was.
- 1:06:10Going to say Netherlands for some reason but then.
- 1:06:12I was like, no, no, that can't be right.
- 1:06:16OK. Oh, you're. 3 for three.
- 1:06:17Look, you're banging these goals.
- 1:06:19Yeah. You're you're well, this is your
- 1:06:20third, but you're 2. For two so far, all right, which
- 1:06:24play can you? Well, there's.
- 1:06:26Two players who are tied for most assists in a single Premier
- 1:06:30League season. Do you know those two players?
- 1:06:33Say the question again. Which players?
- 1:06:35There's 2. Have the most assists in a
- 1:06:38single Premier League season. Can you name those two?
- 1:06:42Yeah, I think so. I'm gonna go with Henri and
- 1:06:45Dabriena. Yes, that's correct. 3 for
- 1:06:47three. OK all.
- 1:06:48Right question about my favorite player, Thierry Henry.
- 1:06:51Yeah, for you, Thierry Henry, for me.
- 1:06:53I've got to sprinkle some favorite players in here too,
- 1:06:56Yeah? All right, Luca, what Premier
- 1:06:58League team is nicknamed? The whites.
- 1:07:00The whites. Oh, oh, who?
- 1:07:05I mean, who's white? I'm saying I I know it's, it's
- 1:07:09not fallen. They're the Cottagers.
- 1:07:11Is it weeds? It is Leeds.
- 1:07:14I was seeing how much you were paying attention.
- 1:07:15To our Did You know section, Yeah, we touched on that in the
- 1:07:18Did you know section. Yeah, it is Leeds.
- 1:07:19And in fact, in the 60s they switched to go to this sort of
- 1:07:24white to Mirror, actually Real Madrid.
- 1:07:26They kind of like, you know, like a lot of teams would look
- 1:07:28to those glamour teams of Spain, Real Madrid.
- 1:07:30We've talked about some of the teams, I think like Palace
- 1:07:32wanted to look like Barcelona. Yeah.
- 1:07:34So the reason why they kind of that it was Burnley.
- 1:07:36It was Burnley, yeah. And but you can see you know
- 1:07:39the. White and they have a little bit
- 1:07:40of yellow mixed in the kind of like, you know, kind of mirror
- 1:07:43Real Madrid a little bit. So yeah, you got that one right.
- 1:07:45Cool. What club conceded the?
- 1:07:48Fewest goals by a non title winner?
- 1:07:52Oh boy, if you don't. Get this, You're gonna kick
- 1:07:55yourself when I go. I guess I'll go with Arsenal,
- 1:07:58yes. Do you know how many this won't?
- 1:08:00Count, but you don't know how many.
- 1:08:02The most goals? The least?
- 1:08:04The least goals. Conceded by non title winner 24
- 1:08:0817. Oh wow, we were.
- 1:08:10Two away from the. Well.
- 1:08:12Three, we not win then. Jeez.
- 1:08:14Yeah, so. All right, Lego what?
- 1:08:17Three teams were. Relegated from the Premier
- 1:08:20League last year? Oh, it was.
- 1:08:24Southampton. Yep.
- 1:08:27Oh, and these teams are like, out of sight, out of mind.
- 1:08:32It's like it just happened last year, but sometimes it's hard to
- 1:08:34Ipswich that is 2, there's one. More who?
- 1:08:37Else was The Who was the third team to get relevant, We got
- 1:08:40Southampton, Ipswich Town and OH.
- 1:08:49They're in the championship, I assume.
- 1:08:51Yeah, yeah, 'cause it was just last year.
- 1:08:53So you go down one level to the. Championship.
- 1:08:56It's not. The Foxes.
- 1:09:00Oh. Lester, Lester there.
- 1:09:03You go all. Right, what's your last one
- 1:09:05here? You got who can who scored in
- 1:09:08the. Most consecutive Premier League
- 1:09:10season opening day matches? Oh boy, they had 66.
- 1:09:15Times they. Scored in the opening day.
- 1:09:17Oh my. Gosh, six Premier League open
- 1:09:21days around Salah. Yeah, OK, I feel like I've heard
- 1:09:23something about that. Did we die?
- 1:09:28Yes. We're going to draw.
- 1:09:29All right. Well, here I've.
- 1:09:30Got one for you here, OK. All right, Luca, we talked about
- 1:09:33in 1888 the Football League was founded.
- 1:09:36Yeah. OK, so it's 138 years ago.
- 1:09:39So 138 years ago they've had top flight football in England.
- 1:09:42There were 12 teams in that original Football League.
- 1:09:46Can you name me 4? Fulham.
- 1:09:52Nope, Arsenal. Nope.
- 1:09:55Oh gosh, none of the. London Teams.
- 1:09:57So when this was formed, like I said, it's interesting.
- 1:09:59It's mostly like central area teams and a little bit of a
- 1:10:04northern. It's like northern central.
- 1:10:06It's like none of the London teams are actually in it.
- 1:10:09So are they, are any of them still in the Premier League?
- 1:10:12So. That's a good question.
- 1:10:13So four are currently. In the Premier League, one
- 1:10:17you've got 12345 are in the Championship, one is in League
- 1:10:23One and two are in League 20. Boy I want give you 2 more
- 1:10:32guesses for maybe the Premier League.
- 1:10:34Teams, this is not. Easy, I know, because it's not.
- 1:10:39That's the thing, it's not the big clubs you would think of, so
- 1:10:42it's like none of the big six. It's not, is it?
- 1:10:48Everton. Everton is one of them.
- 1:10:50Yep, Everton. Is one of them we have, I was
- 1:10:53going to say we have touched base because so we have done two
- 1:10:56of these teams in our Digeno section and of course it was
- 1:10:59mentioned they were one of the founding members of the Football
- 1:11:01League in 1888. It's not United, no.
- 1:11:05Like I said, none of the Big Six teams.
- 1:11:07It's not. Is it weeds?
- 1:11:09No, it's a good guess though. But it's not Leeds.
- 1:11:13It's not wolves it. Is wolves.
- 1:11:15Oh, it is wolves. OK, Wolves.
- 1:11:16Yeah, no. So it's not West.
- 1:11:19Ham, because that's a wandering. Club.
- 1:11:21Is it Brighton? No.
- 1:11:27So it's not. Brentford either because.
- 1:11:30Newcastle No team close to Newcastle and.
- 1:11:34Birmingham. Yeah.
- 1:11:35Who plays in Birmingham? Birmingham.
- 1:11:37Oh, great. Birmingham games.
- 1:11:38Villa, Villa, Yeah, so. Yeah.
- 1:11:42So Villa, Burnley, Everton, Wolves, They're the Premier
- 1:11:45League teams. The Championship teams are
- 1:11:47Blackburn Rovers, Darby, Darby County, Preston North End, Stoke
- 1:11:54in West Bromwich Albion. The League One team are Bolton
- 1:11:57Wanderers and then League 2 teams right now Accrington and
- 1:12:01Notts County. Oh my gosh, that's a tough one.
- 1:12:05That's pretty. Tough, but it's just, you know,
- 1:12:06you see some of the sort of the. History of some of these teams
- 1:12:08that, you know, like I said, the four teams still in the Premier
- 1:12:11League, of course these teams have gone up and down.
- 1:12:14But yeah, you know, I mean, it's pretty impressive that like nine
- 1:12:17of these teams are essentially still at least in the
- 1:12:19championship of the Premier League.
- 1:12:21So we'll just call that 1A draw. We'll call it a draw.
- 1:12:23We'll call it. A draw?
- 1:12:24Yeah, that was a tough one to end on.
- 1:12:25Yeah. All right, Luca.
- 1:12:27Well, you got anything else for me?
- 1:12:29There's the final whistle and that's full time for us.
- 1:12:31Thank. You for listening, Bye.