Latest / Let's Kick It Off! / Ep 48: Defeat to Everton - WTF is The Ruben Plan?!

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Ep 48: Defeat to Everton - WTF is The Ruben Plan?! · Let's Kick It Off!

• 0:00
  It's not enjoyable to watch lads.
• 0:01
  It's been a year. The football is shit, the
• 0:04
  football is utter shit and as United fans we want entertaining
• 0:09
  football and we can't kid ourselves it's not entertaining.
• 0:12
  You believe he should get sucked?
• 0:13
  For me, so for me, I'm going to go back to that point if I have
• 0:17
  a good alternative, we've got World Cup coming up and I think
• 0:20
  names available. I think realistically, if you
• 0:23
  haven't made that target, yeah, surely, surely you've got to
• 0:27
  think there's there's better, better, better options.
• 0:30
  You're not talking Marco Silver anymore.
• 0:32
  You're talking that you need. To get you need to get over
• 0:35
  that. It's like 1 of many options that
• 0:39
  I gave like he was over the last.
• 0:42
  Year which the man you said. Let's Kick it Off.
• 1:00
  I'm Steve and I'm joined by Ash and us, and it's officially the
• 1:04
  one year birthday of Let's Kick It Off.
• 1:06
  Our first podcast came out a year ago today, so somehow we've
• 1:11
  kept this going. We're on 48 episodes now,
• 1:15
  closing on 50. Going to catch the overlap up
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  soon. And unfortunately United are
• 1:21
  still losing, although we did have a little bit of a pickup in
• 1:24
  form over the last few weeks. But yesterday we lost one nil to
• 1:28
  Everton at Old Trafford, despite Everton being down to 10 men
• 1:32
  from the early stages. So Ash, obviously we've lost,
• 1:35
  have to come to you first. What did you make of the
• 1:37
  performance against Everton? Where do you start?
• 1:41
  I thought the worst performance of the season was Brentford, you
• 1:44
  know, especially being there live.
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  But yeah, that was pretty high up there in terms of lack of
• 1:51
  imagination, lack of performance, not just from the
• 1:54
  players but from the manager. And it's rinse and repeat.
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  I'm stealing a line from one of our friends, Scott, on the pod.
• 2:01
  We talked about it right on the last United pod in terms of
• 2:05
  everything's a bit marginal with this five game unbeaten run.
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  But yeah, to be fair there wasn't anything marginal really
• 2:11
  about yesterday. Everton deserved their victory.
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  You know, they played well, especially when they went down
• 2:18
  to 10 men. Got to say what an advantage to
• 2:21
  have having Everton players like kick off and have their own
• 2:24
  fights. But yeah, we still managed to I
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  think lose for the first time in the Premier League with 10 men
• 2:32
  at Old Trafford. I think it's like a 46 game
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  unbeaten run. So yeah, another record-breaking
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  by Reuben, and back to the drawing board.
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  Yeah, so as I think the last time you're on the pod was when
• 2:46
  Kieran was on and we'd just beaten his team Brighton, so
• 2:49
  we'd won three on the bounce. So you know, the mood was a bit
• 2:52
  high. I think you've obviously been
• 2:54
  away in Bali while we had the two draws against Spurs and
• 2:59
  Forest, so yeah. What did you make of the
• 3:01
  performance yesterday? Did you watch it?
• 3:03
  How's the jet lag? Just recovering from the jet
• 3:06
  lag. Yeah, I watched the game.
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  Yeah. Was not good, was it?
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  It was a bit bit of a it's really disappointing as well
• 3:14
  when you're on such a good run and you come back to your home
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  ground and you think, OK, you've had some difficult away fixtures
• 3:21
  where you've battled well, got a point against Spurs and Forests,
• 3:26
  which I think are, you know, in the context of our season, good
• 3:29
  results, right? You know, you're happy with
• 3:32
  those. But then you need the three
• 3:33
  points at home against Everton to kind of make those good
• 3:36
  results. Otherwise they're not good
• 3:38
  results. And it would just felt like,
• 3:42
  yeah, one of those post international break lacklustre.
• 3:47
  They weren't really up for. It was really disappointing to
• 3:49
  be honest. The thing that, you know, I will
• 3:52
  continuously say it about this team that worries me is the lack
• 3:57
  of attacking creativity. I think it was obviously missing
• 4:02
  Cunha and Cesco is an issue and having to play Xerxi up front
• 4:06
  and then Ahmad, I'll say a million times has to play at
• 4:10
  wingback. You can't have, you know,
• 4:12
  Mazrawi is and dog as your wing backs.
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  But I thought, OK, fine, you know, we'll work it out.
• 4:17
  We you know, we'll probably be nil nil at half time and then
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  Ruben will make the changes and we go we get a man up and
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  they're like, OK, they've handed this one to us.
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  Thank God for that. Handed is that?
• 4:30
  Is that a deliberate pun there? No pun intended, to be honest.
• 4:33
  You're well spotted, Steve. Let's touch on that then.
• 4:36
  So like Ash, have you ever been on a football pitch and slapped
• 4:40
  by? I'm sure you've been pushed by
• 4:41
  your own player, but slapped? Well, have you slapped anyone?
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  Oh yeah, vice versa. Oh no, I definitely haven't.
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  I haven't whacked anyone. Has anyone whacked me?
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  I don't think so. But yeah, hopefully had a few
• 4:57
  Roy Keane moments with teammates for sure.
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  Yeah, no funny one took us back. I looked at the record earlier,
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  like the first ever red card in the Premier League between two
• 5:12
  teammates. It was in 2005.
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  Between Bayer and Dyer is. That the first one.
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  That was the first one. So there's only been three and
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  obviously that was the third one.
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  So yeah, yeah, a bit of a crazy moment.
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  I don't really know why it happened.
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  Looks like Gay got just really peed off with Michael Keane.
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  Yeah, it wasn't really much of A slap from either one.
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  Right? Like he's he's, he's been done
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  there, but basically. I just found it funny how Gary
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  Neville was analysing the venom in the Slap on.
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  Commentary. That's the bit I don't
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  understand. It's like they were almost
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  criticising the rules for being subjective and it's like all
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  football. Most football rules are
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  subjective. This is not like Formula One
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  where it's like the speed pit lane speed limit, you've gone up
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  by naughty .1 miles an hour and you can measure it.
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  I can't remember the exact wording of the the rules, right?
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  But it says like unless the IT was not excessive or something
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  like this. And Neville was like, yeah, how
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  do you interpret that? It's like, yeah, but that's
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  just. Everything I actually did, I
• 6:20
  actually disagree with him anyway.
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  I don't think it was like just like a tap.
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  It was more than a tap, but. Yeah, he gave him a proper hit
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  in the face. I'm like, you saw that the angle
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  where he says whacked him in the face, you know, OK, if that if
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  that happened to one of our players, right?
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  It's a red card and there's no, there's nothing in the rules
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  that says ohh, unless it's your own player, then you can then
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  the the force can be a bit more like Neville was like, yeah, but
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  it's his own player, so it's like, it makes no difference.
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  He's just gonna say next time I do play and I'm pissed off with
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  someone, I'll slap him good. It's like, to be fair, the rules
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  weren't written, you know, for players slapping their own
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  teammates, right? It's it's a slap, surely the
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  opponent. So just bizarre, really.
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  It was really interesting, though.
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  I was there. Was there sentiment around?
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  I felt that there's sentiment around that this was somehow a
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  positive thing, right? That there's passion.
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  That's what Moist said. I just saw a quote.
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  Obviously they won, so it's easy.
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  It's easy to say that. I was just trying to shy about
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  the you know, she's like, oh, tell me about this slap.
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  And I'm like, what, what do you want to know?
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  And I so explained what happened.
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  She's like, you know what, their manager must be in a lot of
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  trouble. And I'm like, what do you mean?
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  What if your work? But if your employees are
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  slapping each other, you clearly don't have a good, you know,
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  culture in you. And I'm like, well, actually
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  it's really weird because the sentiments been positive, but
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  actually that shows there's passion in the dressing room.
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  She's like, what is wrong with you lot?
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  It's like this is the highest level the office to the sports
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  field. No, but this is the thing.
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  She's like, this is just toxic masculinity.
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  Don't go to a new level. Why is slapping someone in your
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  colleague in the face considered a good thing?
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  I'm like, I don't know, it's just football.
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  It's just the way it. Is you heard what Ruben said
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  afterwards, Yeah. I think he was positive around
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  it as well, wasn't he? Reuben was like, I want my
• 8:09
  players to fight, but it's a classic Reuben comment after
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  after losing. You know, I don't think he
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  deliberately like comes up with these lines because he's lost.
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  But it's this is the issue. He's a charismatic guy, but if
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  you keep bloody losing, especially in the manner, then
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  it just looks like you're a bluffer.
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  It's like, you know, we've always said it on this, but in
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  fact, I think the line was even used in Episode 1 because you
• 8:34
  were listening back to it. Ash today.
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  Proof is in the pudding, right? So if if Everton lose that game
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  four nil, David Moyes is not saying in the post match press
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  conference, oh, I'm happy my team mates, you know, slapped
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  each other and got sent off. The narrative obviously changes
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  based on the result, right? So yeah, I mean, for me it was a
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  clear red. Yeah.
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  Because he slaps him whether it was a hard slap or not.
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  Like, again, if that was, if that was, if he'd done that on
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  the opponent, it's a clear red. And the rules are there to be
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  interpreted in the same way. I.
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  Don't think the referee done anything wrong.
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  He called it spot on, got the red card out like good job by
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  the referee. Yeah, I was surprised.
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  I think it's more worrying afterwards.
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  The thing I was surprised at was that none of the Everton players
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  complained at all. Yeah.
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  They always just like, yeah, get off the field mate, you know, so
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  even they. Well, he'd lost it, right?
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  Yeah. Pickford was like holding him
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  back and dragging him off, you know, away.
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  So he's like, he just lost it. Yeah, so, but I almost felt like
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  then that I thought that was positive for us.
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  But I think then they they they had to, you know, backs against
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  the wall when you lose a player, right?
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  They they put in an extra effort and they were the better team.
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  They deserved to win I thought even though we created a few
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  chances, put a bit of pressure on, I thought yeah and let's
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  Everton had one shot on goal in the whole game.
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  But really we said that they dominated even the 1st 6
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  minutes. Yeah, we didn't deserve
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  anything. They were the better.
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  The team, yeah. Yeah, it was.
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  And again, like I know like Reuben didn't have many options,
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  but never like it when yeah, when you've when you play the
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  two full backs in the wing back position, I thought.
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  And then when it goes down to 10 men, I think he was a bit slow
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  to do anything. I think Neville was getting
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  frustrated right as well. Like why isn't he doing
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  anything? Yeah, I felt the same as well
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  that it was just he didn't have super sub Harry McGuire.
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  That's why he can lump him on. Interestingly, I think McGuire
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  was a loss in this game because, you know, Everton are quite a
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  physical team and that first goal, this is the issue with
• 10:44
  Lenny Oro, he's he's off, not aggressive enough as a defender.
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  And if McGuire was playing and Delict was there, Delict would
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  have been right on. Was it?
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  Dewsbury Hall was the Everton player.
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  He just gave him too much space, allowed him to turn, then didn't
• 11:01
  go in hard on the challenge. I thought Lammons could have
• 11:05
  done a little bit better as well.
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  So like the goal was a bit soft as well.
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  So it's a really disappointing goal to concede.
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  And I think if Harry was there and Harry and Delict with their
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  physicality, we probably don't concede that goal as well.
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  So it's a bit of a soft one, really disappointing.
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  We'd be doing a disservice as well if we don't talk about
• 11:23
  Bruno in that situation because the community, particularly the
• 11:26
  United group, is split on Bruno's position.
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  So yeah, like, this is the problem.
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  You play him deeper, he's got to do things that he's not really
• 11:34
  good at and he'll get criticised, you know, for not
• 11:38
  putting a better tackle in. But yeah, I think there's just
• 11:41
  wider problems. It's fair, it's like you, it's a
• 11:43
  trade off though with Bruno, but then what you need is your
• 11:46
  you've got 3 centre backs so they have to deal with it.
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  You've got one guy. It's like come on, if Lenny Oro
• 11:51
  is just more aggressive and he's got deluxe behind him, don't
• 11:55
  allow the guy to turn and you're the defender.
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  You're the guy who should be winning your tackle, not Bruno,
• 12:00
  but win your tackle and then that that goal doesn't happen.
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  And and Lamons as well. He seemed to like jump or shift
• 12:10
  at the wrong moment. So he doesn't, you know, plan
• 12:13
  properly and then get across. I think probably should have
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  saved that one. Steve, you know my thoughts,
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  right? I, I, I'm going to keep blaming
• 12:21
  the system, so I'm not going to repeat all the same points.
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  But yeah, look, the the players weren't good enough on on the
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  night for sure, but this system just really doesn't help him.
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  Yeah, I think you touched on it there, Aaron.
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  Neville's frustration was definitely coming through on
• 12:36
  commentary. And I think a couple of the
• 12:38
  points he mentioned, 1 was like, I think, I mean, let's let's be
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  honest, Everton scored on the 29th minute.
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  So we had over an hour of football to try and get a goal
• 12:46
  back. And yes, we had some half
• 12:47
  chances, a lot of crosses in the box, but there was nothing
• 12:50
  really created of any, no. And I think Neville was getting
• 12:53
  frustrated at the fact that Euro was getting on the ball a lot on
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  that like right hand channel and he wanted a creative player, you
• 13:00
  know, to be on the ball. And I think he was getting
• 13:02
  frustrated with the system and the lack of flexibility right
• 13:05
  from Ruben. Yeah, this is the issue.
• 13:07
  It's very apparent especially even this season with the back
• 13:10
  three, a lot of them defenders are going to have possession of
• 13:13
  the football for us. So if that's the case, then as
• 13:16
  is not going to get his creativity.
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  It's bad enough that we've only got 2 in the middle of the park
• 13:21
  in midfield, but then if the emphasis is on Matthias Delic to
• 13:26
  have the ball more than potentially even a Casimiro
• 13:31
  then. McGuire is probably the best
• 13:33
  from a distribution perspective right out of our centre back, so
• 13:36
  you think you could even argue we missed him slightly from that
• 13:39
  angle. We we do miss McGuire in certain
• 13:42
  circumstances, but we just got to face facts.
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  He will get injured. We will miss him at parts of the
• 13:47
  season and I'm I'm not going to have Ruben being able to say I'm
• 13:51
  missing Harry Maguire. Therefore my team performs like
• 13:53
  that. It's just not good enough.
• 13:54
  Like you got you got to think on your feet.
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  The fact that he just doesn't want to change the numbers, you
• 14:00
  know, between the back three, you know, get one into midfield
• 14:04
  or further up the field. Like if Everton it was easy to
• 14:08
  defend. You know, Xerxi actually did
• 14:10
  well, particularly with I think the second header where he made
• 14:14
  Pickford go across to make the same.
• 14:16
  But as you said Steve, this is all in front of the Everton
• 14:19
  defence. We didn't get in behind them.
• 14:22
  It was so slow. I, I, I messaged the group
• 14:24
  because there was so many people complaining. 25 minutes in, the
• 14:28
  amount of passing at the back, it's like 20 passes and you
• 14:33
  haven't progressed the ball. It's like they they're and
• 14:35
  they're being coached to do this.
• 14:37
  So this is what I mean. It's like normally I'm really
• 14:41
  easy to criticise players but like they're being coached to do
• 14:44
  it so they're just following instructions.
• 14:47
  But it's it's slow and turgid. Yeah, I was like in terms of the
• 14:52
  whole, Oh no, European football, the team should be fresh.
• 14:56
  We didn't see much of that and we played on Monday night versus
• 14:59
  other teams playing on the weekend.
• 15:00
  Lack of intensity? Like what you put that down to?
• 15:04
  Yeah, it just felt like, like I said, a post international break
• 15:09
  Blues, but there's no excuse for that.
• 15:12
  You should be up, really up for it.
• 15:13
  This is a really, it was a huge opportunity.
• 15:16
  It's seen results go your way. Yeah, I think we'd have to win
• 15:20
  by a number of goals and goal difference to go forth, but we'd
• 15:23
  at least be in the points situation.
• 15:26
  You're at home in front of your home crowd, lights on.
• 15:31
  Just very disappointing. I know like some of these
• 15:33
  players are a bit rusty because, you know, Mazrawi hasn't played
• 15:38
  a lot, Zerks, he hasn't played a lot.
• 15:40
  So we yeah, losing Cunha and Cesco is is a blow.
• 15:44
  I would have, yeah. I expected more, more intensity.
• 15:47
  Again, I'll say it again, Reuben, please just play Ahmad
• 15:50
  at wingback and not Mazrawi at wingback.
• 15:53
  And then and then he brings Dallow on as the the choice.
• 15:57
  It's just like, come on, come on, come on.
• 16:01
  There's got to be, there's got to be a better option looking at
• 16:04
  the bench options. Is that it's like secret love
• 16:08
  child or something? I just, yeah.
• 16:12
  I think they're, I think they're distant relatives actually did
• 16:15
  actually come out genuinely about Ruben and Dallow.
• 16:18
  That explains everything then, because yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 16:23
  Like, like I said, he's a he's a, he's a soldier and all of
• 16:26
  that, but you're chasing a game and he's the guy that's coming
• 16:29
  off the bench. Yeah.
• 16:32
  Come on us. Like if if Sean Doige, if Sean
• 16:36
  Deutsch or David Moyes brought on Dalo to do in swinging
• 16:40
  crossing to Xerxe. He's not exactly the best centre
• 16:44
  forward in the world, especially with heading and movement like
• 16:47
  this. You know, you obviously
• 16:49
  defending him a lot last season to be like, look, I'm going to
• 16:52
  give him a chance to see the more sports in Lisbon football.
• 16:56
  It's it's snail's pace, right, in terms of being able to get
• 17:00
  there at the moment, even with the five undefeated.
• 17:04
  Oh, if for me, I've been saying it consistently, the attacking
• 17:08
  game is not good enough. I feel I keep saying to you and
• 17:11
  you disagree with me. I think we're more solid now,
• 17:13
  like we're not like open, like we're under 10 hug and he's and
• 17:17
  therefore we're a bit more consistent.
• 17:19
  But I've consistently said the attacking game.
• 17:21
  That's my concern is not good enough.
• 17:24
  I don't feel we score enough goals to I'll go back to under
• 17:30
  Ollie. We score, you know, 3 or 4 some
• 17:32
  games. Obviously it's still not the
• 17:35
  levels we wanted, but there was something to like hang your hat
• 17:38
  on. I feel the attacking game is
• 17:41
  just it's really needs work and even in the games where we've
• 17:46
  done well, it's been more battling physical jewels.
• 17:51
  Vibes. I wouldn't call it vibes I I'd
• 17:54
  say it's. No, some of them have Ahmad's
• 17:56
  goal against forests. Moments, moments, right.
• 17:58
  McGuire, Anfield. But yeah, I think I made that
• 18:02
  point like when we hit the good run, our performances weren't
• 18:05
  that much better, you could argue even worse.
• 18:07
  But we we got the results and no one.
• 18:09
  'S gonna and this is the thing too much.
• 18:10
  I saw a fight in the team, I said to you guys, as long as the
• 18:13
  yeah, the dressing room is with the manager you got you got to
• 18:16
  give him a bit more time to work on it.
• 18:18
  And the fight in the team showed me OK, they're still playing for
• 18:21
  him. That was the biggest thing I I
• 18:23
  made that point on the. Conversation, it's the same.
• 18:25
  Spirit. Yeah, the consistent thing that
• 18:27
  he has been doing in those games is going with Ahmad at the
• 18:31
  wingback and he's gone back to last season again and it's just
• 18:34
  too defensive. And against Everton at home.
• 18:38
  Come on, you know, Like, please, you know.
• 18:41
  Free centre backs against Barry and we're not even talking about
• 18:46
  Barry, you know, like Evans from EastEnders.
• 18:48
  Like it's ridiculous man, especially with 10 men.
• 18:51
  Like you know, because you keep saying that point about
• 18:55
  defensively we're better. Well, no shit, Sherlock, it's
• 18:58
  because we've got free centre backs covering more area.
• 19:01
  You might argue that's better for like Delict and McGuire if
• 19:05
  they were just on their own. We're sacrificing control in the
• 19:09
  middle of the pitch or even, you know, being able to pass the
• 19:12
  ball forward like James Garner, former United boy dictated the
• 19:19
  game like he. Busts the game in midfield,
• 19:22
  yeah. I mean I do think the the three
• 19:24
  centre backs thing like Luke Shaw should be getting forward
• 19:28
  more from his position. Can I think Neville was
• 19:30
  mentioning that as well like you can, you can adapt in the system
• 19:34
  and and again, like if Ahmad is a wing back, that changes the he
• 19:39
  is he is a winger player, therefore you and this is where
• 19:41
  I think Ruben got it wrong. Team selection was wrong
• 19:44
  initially in game management was wrong.
• 19:47
  Went back to last season for me. Yeah.
• 19:51
  So this was a negative negative for me.
• 19:53
  I'm not you know, I defend him when he deserves defending.
• 19:56
  I have nothing to defend in this performance.
• 19:58
  We need to go on to the next game and we need to get 3 points
• 20:01
  and he needs to needs Kunia back in three points.
• 20:05
  He needs Palace. Yeah, Palace is going to be a
• 20:07
  tough game. I might back it in the in wing
• 20:11
  back role, but it also makes me very worried now with the AFCON
• 20:15
  because if you think we're going to lose and Boomer, who's the 1
• 20:18
  shining light of the attack and Ahmed, then it's going to be a
• 20:23
  really, really difficult Christmas period I think.
• 20:27
  What when do we when do we lose them from?
• 20:29
  Is it mid mid-december? Still being yeah, negotiated.
• 20:33
  There's there's a bit of discretion in that final week.
• 20:36
  So yeah, it could be they're supposed to be there officially
• 20:39
  two weeks before the tournament, but they're trying to negotiate
• 20:43
  a. Yeah, so Jim's probably getting
• 20:47
  EasyJet flight for the boys rather than private jet, you
• 20:50
  know? Well, if we get them for one
• 20:52
  more game and we save the private jet cast, then it's win,
• 20:55
  win, isn't it? But I think I mean Max, Max,
• 20:58
  we're only going to have them for a couple of more games,
• 21:00
  right? You know, into December.
• 21:03
  So just want to pick up on the point about Gary Neville and
• 21:06
  Shaw because he went quite hard on him.
• 21:09
  So I was like, what did you make of that criticism of your make
• 21:12
  sure? Yeah.
• 21:15
  And Neville just seemed a bit frustrated, right, Because
• 21:17
  Neville, Neville's a fan as well.
• 21:19
  So he's commentating as a fan. And I think he, yeah, I felt as
• 21:26
  well that when you're, you have to adapt to the situation and,
• 21:31
  and yeah, you could, the system allows the those wide centre
• 21:35
  backs to get forward and if you're down to 10 men, you can
• 21:37
  take a bit more risk. So I do think Neville was a bit
• 21:41
  emotional right in the commentary, right?
• 21:44
  But fair enough. I think the team didn't didn't
• 21:50
  take enough risk, didn't create enough chances, clear cut
• 21:53
  opportunities. I don't know why he singles
• 21:55
  Shore out in particular. Maybe because Neville's a full
• 21:57
  back and he understands that position.
• 21:59
  But I think. He just thought he could get
• 22:02
  forward and he's the best attacking defender from them.
• 22:05
  Free because. I think it, I think it was the
• 22:07
  body language and the lack of intensity as well that was
• 22:09
  getting to Neville. Like, you know, Shaw's running
• 22:12
  style was quite, you know, laid back.
• 22:13
  And if you lose it and you're like a character like Neville,
• 22:17
  you can see how that would piss you off.
• 22:20
  Yeah. But this for me, this comes back
• 22:22
  to my point about like, you know, like you've got just
• 22:25
  concentration and intensity that when you football games and I've
• 22:30
  always doubted this team's ability to perform in on in that
• 22:34
  level, like consistently. So like for me, it's like there
• 22:37
  is an element of just, they took their foot off their gas as
• 22:40
  well. Maybe is it the winds get into
• 22:41
  their head a little bit? You know, I, I do think there's
• 22:44
  an element of, yeah, just taking the foot off the gas.
• 22:47
  And that's where I think I, I think a Cunha on the pitch would
• 22:50
  have made a difference. You know, that's why I was
• 22:53
  saying like we need. It's going to happen.
• 22:57
  Yeah, you're going to have inconsistency in before because
• 22:59
  this team's not good. So that's the thing.
• 23:01
  One thing I've keep will keep saying to you guys is OK, we've
• 23:04
  both said we need to come 7th. We haven't got different ideas
• 23:08
  of what, but that means you're going to have these bad days.
• 23:11
  Right. I said that on the last, on the
• 23:13
  last part. You're going to have real highs
• 23:16
  like McGuire against Liverpool. You're going to have artists
• 23:19
  shit like Brentford or like yesterday.
• 23:22
  And the key is where is the middle ground going to be?
• 23:25
  Is it more towards Brentford, Everton or are we going to get
• 23:29
  more of the Liverpool stuff? Yeah, I mean, I don't know.
• 23:33
  We'll just have to see because theoretically these are easiest
• 23:37
  set of games coming up apparently, right?
• 23:40
  There is no easy game. But statistically it it's
• 23:43
  supposed to be. So we'll find out.
• 23:45
  I do also want to say like not just the fact that United fans
• 23:49
  need to just, you know, be patient in that this
• 23:52
  inconsistency is going to happen throughout the season, but also
• 23:56
  just going to be blunt. Some of them players are just
• 23:58
  not good enough. Like some need, some need to be
• 24:01
  moved on and it's too early for some of them.
• 24:03
  Like Patrick Dorgie could become the next Gareth Bale as but he
• 24:07
  needs Premier League loan spells.
• 24:09
  He can't be doing his development and learning the
• 24:12
  game at Manchester United. He he needs a loan to, you know,
• 24:16
  a mid table club for next season.
• 24:18
  Like you'll see see like natural balance.
• 24:20
  But he's too young man. He's like 20 going on 21.
• 24:23
  How can you expect him to be like the next Garafel yet?
• 24:26
  You know what I mean? And that's the thing, we got to
• 24:29
  see a lot of development in some of these boys.
• 24:32
  That's the thing and that This is why, and I agree with that
• 24:35
  point and why I would have maybe more patience with Reuben
• 24:38
  because I'm thinking, OK, the squad he inherited needed a lot
• 24:41
  of change. The squad now still needs a lot
• 24:43
  of change. I can imagine next summer,
• 24:46
  another revamp. You know, Casimiro, he's playing
• 24:49
  all the minutes isn't going to be there.
• 24:51
  Is he not? Because I've heard talk of
• 24:53
  they're trying to negotiate a new contract on lower.
• 24:56
  But he he wouldn't, you wouldn't expect him to be the starting
• 24:59
  central midfield, right? You'd expect us to try and
• 25:01
  recruit someone. We talked about Luke Shaw.
• 25:04
  Do you expect Luke Shaw to be the regular start of the years
• 25:08
  this season so that there's more changes to come?
• 25:11
  And I agree with you, Ash, that there's certain players here who
• 25:15
  maybe aren't at the level we signed 3 and a half because the
• 25:19
  goalkeeper decent in the summer, but then you need to go again
• 25:23
  the next summer window. And this season is 1 where we
• 25:27
  both have the expectation of OK, just get into Europe.
• 25:30
  You don't have yeah, we could have won and got in the top 4,
• 25:32
  but top 4 isn't realistically where we want to be.
• 25:36
  Let's camp. Camp can as you mentioned we're
• 25:40
  I'm looking at those fixtures and Palace away is hard, but
• 25:42
  then you've got West Ham at home, Wolves away, Bournemouth
• 25:46
  at home, Villa away, Newcastle at home and Wolves away sorry,
• 25:51
  Wolves at home. So you're kind of like, OK,
• 25:54
  these are the type of games where you need to to to bounce
• 25:59
  back. If it's like last season and
• 26:00
  we're losing these matches, that's not good enough.
• 26:04
  But the, you know, the. That might be back on lads.
• 26:08
  Yeah, you know, you, you, But you know, it is one game we
• 26:13
  have. Like I said in the previous
• 26:15
  games, even though they've been draws, I felt that the team was
• 26:18
  fighting at least. Even if in my opinion, I watched
• 26:21
  the Spurs game, I didn't feel there was any quality in the
• 26:24
  game, but I felt that we put up a decent fight and did deserve
• 26:28
  the point. I felt we deserved the I didn't
• 26:31
  feel Spurs deserve to win that game.
• 26:33
  I didn't think they were good. I thought they were a pile of
• 26:36
  wank as well. So this is the thing, the
• 26:39
  Premier League is really tough and other teams are also
• 26:42
  struggling, so we need to to get those points and pick up those
• 26:46
  points. If we can pick up those points,
• 26:48
  we can achieve the target still. There's a great quote from a
• 26:52
  journalist. He was talking about United a
• 26:55
  few weeks ago and it was these players are good enough to get
• 27:01
  you to get yourself out of a hole when you need it.
• 27:04
  And that's the problem. Like there's a pattern
• 27:07
  developing like with Ollie under Ollie under 10 Hog and now
• 27:13
  Reuben. Just when you think like the
• 27:17
  glass is going to break, they can get a result.
• 27:19
  And that is my feeling that is going to keep happening this
• 27:24
  season. Just when you think Reuben's on
• 27:26
  On the Brink or the media speculations all on us, we'll
• 27:30
  pull out a result because the players are still good enough.
• 27:34
  I say that loosely to bail, to bail you out at Manchester
• 27:38
  United. My my problem is like I saw a
• 27:41
  quote from Reuben post game and it's and it's the team didn't
• 27:44
  know how to play against ten men.
• 27:47
  So although I understand it, it's like, you know, like if if
• 27:52
  you're playing football or other teams where the opponent goes to
• 27:55
  10 men, it's not like you necessarily had a plan, but you
• 27:58
  just you have like, you know, as a team and understanding of how
• 28:02
  to basically win that game. It's like these players are just
• 28:06
  like robots. And the other thing is it's not
• 28:09
  enjoyable to watch, lads. It's been a year.
• 28:11
  The football is shit. The football is utter shit.
• 28:15
  And as United fans, we want entertaining football and we
• 28:19
  can't kid ourselves it is not entertaining.
• 28:21
  It's a fucking drag. Even the winds, like we said,
• 28:24
  they're moments. And again, going back to
• 28:27
  creativity, yes, you know, we've all agreed on this podcast,
• 28:31
  especially over the last few weeks, the recruitment over the
• 28:34
  summer has been pretty solid. You know, the keeper looks good
• 28:36
  overall, Kunya looks good and Boomer looks good.
• 28:39
  Chesco's young, so we're not going to judge him too early.
• 28:41
  However, we've killed Kobe Mainu.
• 28:44
  Kobe Mainu will start in the Euro 2024 final for England 18
• 28:49
  months ago and we've killed him. Rashford we let go.
• 28:52
  He's now the top golden assists, you know, achiever in the Liga.
• 28:57
  He's playing well. So yes, there's been some good
• 28:59
  incomers, but what have we lost? And the Kobe thing I'll keep
• 29:03
  banging on about here. It's a travesty what has
• 29:05
  happened to Kobe Maine under Reuben.
• 29:08
  It's an absolute travesty. Like, I know he got on the pitch
• 29:11
  yesterday. He's getting what?
• 29:13
  Where did he even come on? I know, like, I couldn't even
• 29:15
  tell where he was playing. You know, I was too busy
• 29:17
  watching Lenny Euro on the ball. Like it's just, it's a mess.
• 29:21
  But that's the issue, like because you insist on having
• 29:25
  free centre backs and one of them has to like bring the ball
• 29:29
  out, right? This is Reuben's way of doing
• 29:32
  the back three, right? Because other managers play the
• 29:34
  back three different. So where Kobe could do that role
• 29:38
  as in like, at least carry the ball, right?
• 29:41
  So I'm not saying he picks out like Michael Carrick and then
• 29:44
  turns on it because, you know, he needs to develop that part.
• 29:47
  But certainly can Casimiro have the ball, give it to Kobe and
• 29:52
  then he troubles with it? Yeah, that can be the case.
• 29:56
  But this is a problem like you've only got 2 in midfield
• 29:59
  and Bruno's doing that job but then he's not a #10.
• 30:03
  It's square pegs in round holes isn't it like.
• 30:06
  I agree. I totally agree.
• 30:07
  And you can see that. And my concern as with this as
• 30:10
  well is like, yes, you can say, you know, we need to do more
• 30:12
  recruitment. We need to get players out, get
• 30:14
  players in. But are we recruiting for the
• 30:16
  right manager? That's the big question.
• 30:18
  Same thing I've said many many times before is that as long as
• 30:22
  you buy players, if you were to change manager you still have
• 30:25
  good players and not system specific.
• 30:27
  So I think the the player. But we we let Rashford go there
• 30:29
  and like 433 manager would love and inform Rashford as an.
• 30:33
  Excel get him back. Ashford's like I told you, it's.
• 30:36
  Just one example though, you know Garnacho as well, Kobe
• 30:39
  Maynu, Maynu's going to leave in January at this rate.
• 30:42
  So these are players that would be good for another manager.
• 30:44
  He might not be allowed to, even though everyone believes he will
• 30:47
  go online because of this Afghan.
• 30:50
  He might. He will probably have to stay.
• 30:51
  Probably have to stay we don't have the the the strength and
• 30:54
  depth in the squad One injury right And then yeah he'd assume
• 30:58
  that he's you'd hope that you know if if Bruno Casimiro went
• 31:03
  down and they can't play every game surely these guys.
• 31:07
  So yeah yeah I think I don't disagree with you Maynie's
• 31:12
  development is a concern. I still think that he, you know,
• 31:17
  has a has a future at the club. I don't know if you know when
• 31:21
  this I think the talk around are selling him is more to do with
• 31:24
  apparently his contract demands, right, That he wants 108 grand
• 31:28
  or something crazy. But yeah, it's it's a concern
• 31:31
  that he doesn't get more minutes.
• 31:33
  He came on yesterday. He didn't seem to particularly
• 31:37
  play that well, but he's rusty again because he has many
• 31:40
  minutes, right? And he's just coming on to lost
• 31:42
  causes, right? Like he only comes on when like,
• 31:46
  you know, there's there's not much going on, like very
• 31:49
  difficult. Yeah.
• 31:51
  And again, like it's the same point with like with doggy.
• 31:54
  Kobe is still young, so he needs good players around him or like,
• 31:58
  you know, senior players to help him.
• 32:01
  So like I I I totally agree, Steve.
• 32:04
  Like with that comment about, you know, square pegs and round
• 32:06
  holes. Like it just feels like like,
• 32:09
  you know, I've obviously mentioned it a few times Like
• 32:12
  you get any half decent 4 free free manager.
• 32:15
  I'm not saying this team is going to become Champions
• 32:18
  League, but at least the football might be better.
• 32:20
  Like you'll see passes OK midfield and things.
• 32:23
  Like one thing I'd, I'd say against that, and I'll say this,
• 32:26
  it wouldn't be better under your guy Marco Silva.
• 32:28
  He's he's a horrible manager in that respect.
• 32:31
  And. We yeah, well, a lot of people
• 32:33
  will say Reuben's a horrible manager, so I don't think it
• 32:36
  wouldn't be better it. Wouldn't be better under silver
• 32:38
  and and the other name that that that that you know, has been
• 32:42
  talked about. You know, you actually got
• 32:44
  Thomas Frank. Tottenham are playing art to
• 32:46
  shite. Like even worse.
• 32:47
  It's even more boring. I mean, if you watch the
• 32:49
  Arsenal. They've they've scored more
• 32:51
  goals and conceded less so that you know that will be.
• 32:54
  Yeah, but the football is all is is terrible, right?
• 32:59
  Yeah, but think about the manager who's actually in
• 33:01
  charge. Let's not do hypotheticals like
• 33:03
  put your name, put your name out there.
• 33:05
  Like tell us about Reuben football.
• 33:07
  Like it's shit right at the moment.
• 33:10
  Or is it not? And we've already said that.
• 33:12
  But the point is, I'll keep saying it.
• 33:14
  If you replace the manager, you have to bring someone in and the
• 33:17
  alternatives aren't great. OK, but no, there are there are
• 33:21
  other choices. Question for you Steve though,
• 33:22
  who was who's the guy who put a lot of faith in Kobe Mainu and
• 33:26
  brought him into that England team in the Euros?
• 33:29
  Gareth. He's he's trying to grow his
• 33:33
  Instagram account. He's a knight.
• 33:36
  He's a knight with 1500 with 1500 followers.
• 33:40
  There's a there's a couple of points that one is, yeah, I
• 33:43
  think I was kind of touched on it earlier.
• 33:45
  Maybe the league this this year is a bit more direct and less
• 33:49
  entertaining, you could argue. And secondly, under 10 hog, it
• 33:54
  probably was more entertaining because it was, you know, it was
• 33:57
  open like to a scary. No, it was.
• 33:59
  It was terrible. I.
• 34:00
  Know but no but I'm saying if you if you're if you're saying
• 34:03
  you want entertainment as a United fan you could argue that
• 34:05
  was entertained and that's not what I want I want almost like
• 34:08
  somewhere in between where we are solid you know entertaining
• 34:12
  what I. Want is in and we've had it in a
• 34:15
  few of these games. It's just like I said, put a few
• 34:19
  more attacking players and all you need to do, for example,
• 34:22
  yesterday's game play, I'm out at wingback, play Kobe menu in
• 34:26
  central midfield and put push Bruno up one.
• 34:29
  Done. It's not difficult and I think
• 34:31
  you'd have. But he's defence, he's defensive
• 34:34
  like he's, he's a Conservative manager.
• 34:36
  Like I tell you, one thing I've I've kind of like worked out is
• 34:39
  that he's actually not that good at trying to score goals in the
• 34:44
  Premier League. I don't care about supporting
• 34:45
  Lisbon, right? Because like, it's a Portuguese
• 34:48
  league and it's in the past. And like Steve says, I want to
• 34:51
  know what you can do for United. He's not shown in the whole time
• 34:55
  he's been here the ability as a manager to coach a team that can
• 34:59
  score goals, like good goals. All all of our best victories
• 35:04
  have been lumping the ball to McGuire and him getting his
• 35:07
  header on it. Yeah, that's that's my problem
• 35:11
  as well. It's just like, yeah, even the
• 35:13
  goals, they don't. I think I said this during the
• 35:15
  run when we picked up a few wins.
• 35:17
  It doesn't feel very sustainable.
• 35:21
  This podcast is sponsored by Go Play Sports.
• 35:24
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• 35:41
  Download now from your App Store as so your man Ruben, I think
• 35:46
  he's, like I said, I said a few weeks ago, I think he's safe
• 35:49
  now. I think he's saved himself for
• 35:51
  the season unless things go really bad.
• 35:53
  So yeah, obviously he needs wins.
• 35:55
  But would you agree with that? You know he's all right and he
• 35:58
  just needs to get more wins on the board.
• 36:01
  It does feel like that because of the chaotic nature of the
• 36:06
  season that there's there's less obvious focus.
• 36:09
  It felt like last season everyone was was out for him.
• 36:13
  But if you look at it, I'm looking at the league table now.
• 36:15
  Everyone's been praising and I don't know why Thomas Frank at
• 36:19
  Tottenham, we've got 18 points, they've got 18 points.
• 36:23
  Liverpool, who are everyone's favourite for the league, are on
• 36:26
  18 points as well. So we do need to, we do need to,
• 36:31
  you know, get more results. But a few good wins and things
• 36:36
  could change really quickly. I'm, I'm, wait a minute, Aston
• 36:39
  Villa 4th. I know, yeah, they were a really
• 36:42
  good run. That's incredible.
• 36:44
  Yeah, yeah, they were like 5 there.
• 36:46
  It was 4 out of the last five. See, I was thinking, you know,
• 36:48
  Emery was under pressure and now I'm looking at this table now
• 36:51
  and then it was. Because you win three games in a
• 36:53
  row, you can rock it up the table.
• 36:55
  And this is it. So like if, if we do get a few
• 36:58
  of these good results, you know, I read out the fixtures earlier
• 37:01
  and we're playing Wolves. We've started 1 already playing
• 37:05
  wolves twice somehow in in in December.
• 37:07
  So like, you know. So can he, can he afford to
• 37:12
  like, drop any points in those two games out of interest?
• 37:15
  Again, because of the chaotic nature of the Premier League, it
• 37:18
  really depends on what's going on.
• 37:20
  You always got to look at the league table and we currently
• 37:23
  haven't played well, new players settling in, finally got a semi
• 37:26
  decent goal. Yes.
• 37:28
  I think he could have done better, but he's been good
• 37:30
  right? He's been better than by ND.
• 37:32
  We've got hopefully got a proper #9 in place, but he's got
• 37:36
  injured, but hopefully he'll come back and boom has been
• 37:39
  really good. So like we'll we'll stay, we'll
• 37:43
  stay in the mix. I think that's what I mean.
• 37:45
  Like we'd feel, we'd feel that, you know, things have improved
• 37:48
  enough that it's not like last season.
• 37:50
  We're just like, where's the next result coming from?
• 37:54
  And even though you're not running on consistency of good
• 37:57
  points levels, no one is. It's like it's a chaotic mix.
• 38:02
  So I think that'll keep him, keep him going for a while.
• 38:05
  But Simply put, the, you know, as a keep saying the attacking
• 38:09
  football's got to improve, got to score more goals and that
• 38:14
  whole thing of having no European football's got to start
• 38:17
  counting. I've always said to you counts
• 38:19
  in them in March, that's when it's really going to count.
• 38:21
  Where you'd assume these other teams start in the grind and
• 38:26
  getting tired and it becomes more difficult and you've had a
• 38:29
  few should be fresh, right? You're all your boys should be
• 38:31
  fresh. But you just never know.
• 38:34
  You can't count on anything. It should kick in in December as
• 38:37
  well though, right? I mean, you've got a bunch of
• 38:39
  teams in Europe, so you got Chelsea, Newcastle and City
• 38:44
  playing tonight, Arsenal, so you got your opposition playing
• 38:49
  Europe Cup football. We've got one game a week.
• 38:54
  I mean, and this is the point. It's like, yeah, I'd love to see
• 38:57
  where we are in March. But also just imagine if Reuben
• 39:02
  was coaching and getting the team to perform well, we would
• 39:05
  be easily in the top 4. So as much as you can say, yeah,
• 39:09
  you got to benchmark US against everyone else being erratic, but
• 39:13
  like we don't have any real consistency either.
• 39:16
  Like it's so choppy. We don't have consistency but we
• 39:20
  also don't, We all agree we don't have the squad yet for
• 39:24
  consistency, so just expect it and all you ask of Reuben is hit
• 39:28
  that target of keep us in the mix and then come the end of the
• 39:32
  season you've got to hit that European qualification.
• 39:36
  We agreed your Europa League right is the minimum
• 39:39
  expectation. Yeah, I think we said like top
• 39:41
  7. Seven, yeah, So tops, OK, so.
• 39:44
  Us It's not exactly a hard target.
• 39:47
  Yeah, so if we finish 8th, 9th, 10th, 11th, 12th, whatever.
• 39:51
  Let's say let's say let's say we finish 8th and miss out in
• 39:53
  Europa League. I know we still could get it
• 39:55
  depending on the cups but let's say we finish 8th, miss out in
• 39:58
  Europa League, Does Reuben get sacked for you?
• 40:01
  As in as in do you believe he should get sucked?
• 40:03
  For me, so for me, I'm going to go back to that point if I have
• 40:06
  a good alternative. We've got World Cup coming up
• 40:09
  and I, we've had this discussion.
• 40:11
  I think there's a managerial turn around around the World
• 40:14
  Cups and therefore last summer I didn't like any of the options.
• 40:17
  New managers come in, give him a bit of time.
• 40:19
  I think he'll have had the time, we'll have had time to implement
• 40:23
  his plan. You'd hope that in this, like I
• 40:25
  said, the new signings have settled in that come the
• 40:28
  February March, you're going to see a better version of what he
• 40:31
  has. And if it's still not good, then
• 40:34
  you've got the summer and you're going to have big names
• 40:36
  available. I think realistically, if you
• 40:39
  haven't made that target, yeah, surely, surely you've got to
• 40:43
  think there's there's better, better, better options.
• 40:46
  You're not talking Marco Silver anymore.
• 40:48
  You're talking. You need to get you need to get
• 40:51
  over that. It's like 1 of many options that
• 40:55
  I gave like he was over last year.
• 40:58
  Which is the man you said. Hey, Steve asked.
• 41:01
  You give me one, mate. At the time, at the time like
• 41:05
  you go over the last year, I've given many a name, so.
• 41:09
  Potch Potch is available in the Summer 2 Shield Nagasman.
• 41:14
  As we'll continue to bang on about Gareth Southgate, even
• 41:17
  though he'd rather just be. Good to have in the mix there,
• 41:20
  right later those names. He's not interested in managing
• 41:23
  anymore. Maybe anyway.
• 41:24
  With you mate as well, Carlo, Carlo will be about Carlo as
• 41:30
  well. All the, all the and also you'll
• 41:32
  see other club managers, right? Yeah, slot.
• 41:38
  On a slot, you don't know what's going to happen with him, right?
• 41:40
  But you'll you get a, you get a turnover around the World Cup.
• 41:45
  Plus the thing where you would hope that significant names will
• 41:49
  be available, that if you haven't achieved your target,
• 41:53
  yeah, it's it's just not good enough.
• 41:55
  It's it's not good enough to come test.
• 41:57
  It would have. He would have had almost two
• 41:59
  seasons in the job. Break it.
• 42:01
  Would have been long enough that you can and like I said.
• 42:04
  But last season is not is not counted.
• 42:06
  Steve but still then he's got he's had a full season he's.
• 42:08
  Had a full season and he's and he's had those players.
• 42:11
  And this is the thing. If you're starting to see
• 42:14
  glimmers of quality football and then you come close and you,
• 42:19
  let's say you finish 8th, but you know, the football was
• 42:22
  really good and you were unlucky and the underlying data looks
• 42:24
  good. You can have an argument at the
• 42:26
  moment. You're kind of like, well, the
• 42:28
  football is not that great. We're OK And if we keep going
• 42:34
  like this and finish eighth, you're like, do I really want
• 42:37
  another 12 months of this when big name is available?
• 42:40
  Yeah. Charismatic.
• 42:41
  Guy, I don't care if there's not even big names.
• 42:44
  I I'd I'd happily move on. I don't need to see more of this
• 42:48
  like in terms of like I take managers who can win football
• 42:52
  matches. It's better than getting
• 42:54
  relegated like well. This was this was why I after
• 42:57
  the Europa League final and the evidence is in the podcasts,
• 43:00
  right? Like, this was one of the
• 43:01
  reasons, yeah. This is why I was actually
• 43:03
  willing to wait as well, because I think, yeah, like we said, we
• 43:06
  had this conversation in Bilbao about the names that would be
• 43:09
  available next summer. So yeah, we're.
• 43:12
  Still banging up about managers who were good in 2019?
• 43:15
  You need to come up with about this.
• 43:17
  Yeah, the ship. What's?
• 43:18
  He doing for America at the moment.
• 43:20
  Ship has sailed on parch. I don't think that's the right
• 43:22
  appointment. But one of the other names like
• 43:24
  Carlo Thomas Tuchel, after winning the World Cup of
• 43:26
  England, you know, signed me up. So.
• 43:29
  Knighted Germany. So yeah, I think it's going to
• 43:32
  be interesting. And yeah, the noise I think has
• 43:36
  obviously died down around Reuben and again, unless we lose
• 43:40
  a few games in a row, I think he's all right.
• 43:42
  So we're just going to have to see how it goes over these next
• 43:45
  set of fixtures, which again on paper look decent, but Palace is
• 43:48
  going to be tough on Sunday so. One last thing for the United
• 43:51
  fans. I don't expect Reuben to change
• 43:54
  so. You know what's funny?
• 43:56
  Raj called me at lunchtime today because he's after tickets to
• 43:59
  Villa away in December. But he goes when's, when's he
• 44:04
  going to change? He's not just get over it.
• 44:08
  All United fans get over it. He's not going to change, He's
• 44:11
  going to continue to play a back three, he's going to continue to
• 44:14
  play wing bags, so just get with the programme.
• 44:18
  Yeah, and see if there's any progress in the performances and
• 44:22
  results. I think that's the only thing
• 44:24
  you can look out for. Don't expect him to change his
• 44:28
  philosophy. So let's talk about something
• 44:30
  more fun. Liverpool and now the defeat
• 44:35
  three nil at home to Nottingham Forest.
• 44:37
  Sean Dyche, master class as must be loving life with Liverpool's
• 44:42
  downfall. Does make life a bit easier,
• 44:44
  doesn't he? If we're not playing well, if
• 44:47
  they're not playing well. I did say you weren't on that
• 44:51
  pod. I don't think what we did, it
• 44:52
  was myself, Ash cabs and who else is on that pod?
• 44:56
  Ash think it was Ron, Ron as well.
• 45:00
  And we were all going through like and I said I was saying
• 45:04
  even at that point, Liverpool had 100% record and I said that
• 45:07
  you haven't looked good. They haven't looked good.
• 45:10
  They look defensively vulnerable.
• 45:11
  They've, you know, been relying on.
• 45:14
  So those moments and it's finally come to fruition that
• 45:18
  they're not those might are winning those those important
• 45:22
  challenges. They're just too open.
• 45:23
  They're defensively just don't look good.
• 45:27
  I think that the new signings right haven't given the effect.
• 45:31
  Everyone looked at their summer and thought, oh, wow, 400
• 45:33
  million. They've they've gone crazy.
• 45:36
  Liverpool are going to run away with it and it's like, yeah,
• 45:39
  it's not easy to to bring in new players and and it all fit
• 45:42
  together. Isaac hasn't really done much.
• 45:44
  They haven't worked out what to do with verts.
• 45:46
  I thought Ecka TK start the season really well, but the
• 45:49
  moment you sign Isaac, you can't.
• 45:50
  Where does Ecka TK even play then?
• 45:54
  Yeah, and they've got you know, the Cabs will say the greatest
• 45:57
  centre back of all time in Virgil Van Dyke, but you know,
• 46:00
  one man on his island can't solve everything.
• 46:04
  So it's. Been I think that's one of the
• 46:06
  issues last season because he was almost a one man shot at the
• 46:10
  back, he papered over cracks and because his forms off this
• 46:14
  season, you're able to get in and yes, you're seeing the
• 46:19
  results of it as well. Yeah, I wonder, does it get to a
• 46:23
  point this season where Slot becomes vulnerable or does he,
• 46:26
  he's got enough credit from winning the league that he just
• 46:28
  lasts no matter what, You know, because the defeats now, is it 8
• 46:32
  is 8 I think in like 10 or something like that's a big
• 46:37
  number of defeats as champions. League.
• 46:40
  They've lost six in the league. Six in the league.
• 46:43
  My impression of Liverpool and United that the generally
• 46:49
  speaking the in ground fan base right is a lot calmer than some
• 46:56
  other clubs. It's not Real Madrid, for
• 46:58
  example, that you would back our managers generally.
• 47:03
  And Slot has got lots of credit in the bank.
• 47:06
  But I don't see him really under any pressure, to be honest.
• 47:10
  That's my impression. And again, who are they going to
• 47:13
  bring in in the middle of the season?
• 47:15
  It'd be just like crazy, right? So surely he came Clop.
• 47:20
  Yeah, Clop seems happy in his retirement.
• 47:22
  I don't think he'd want to come into this, right.
• 47:24
  He's he's done his he's done his time.
• 47:26
  I think Clops, Clops next. I think club, maybe German
• 47:29
  national team, right? That's kind of where I'd see
• 47:31
  him, so I think. Slot playing his time between
• 47:35
  Stephen Bartlett and that, yeah. I think slot surely gets easily
• 47:39
  till the end of the season and then you've got a team that like
• 47:44
  you know, he's act didn't have his preseason.
• 47:46
  It was a difficult and he's a class player.
• 47:48
  So you'd think, you know, maybe you know, they'll target more
• 47:52
  the Champions League try and win that instead Cups, Cups are in
• 47:56
  another route and the league is so chaotic that he's still back
• 48:00
  Liverpool for the top four. Wouldn't you?
• 48:02
  Because you you wouldn't go. OK, then here are the other four
• 48:04
  teams that are going to finish above Liverpool.
• 48:07
  So why would you get rid of him? Didn't didn't they do this the
• 48:11
  last season that that they won the Premier League the following
• 48:13
  season was it when Van Dyke got injured and then they had to
• 48:16
  stinker, But they they just made it into Champions League in the
• 48:20
  end, didn't they? But yeah.
• 48:20
  Flew down to the Wallace and scored a goal from a corner in
• 48:23
  the 92nd minute. Thank you.
• 48:25
  It was the year after the COVID season, right?
• 48:29
  Because they won the league, yeah, like you said.
• 48:31
  And then was it something like 6 defeats at Anfield in a row?
• 48:36
  They lost. And yeah, they just jammed it
• 48:38
  right at the end. Don't they?
• 48:40
  For a team that's never defended the Premier League title, don't
• 48:43
  they give it the big one a bit too much?
• 48:46
  And any sign of Kabir as well? Not heard from him.
• 48:50
  Like I'm worried there's a few of them to be fair that have
• 48:55
  gone missing. So yeah, could you could set up
• 48:57
  a Netflix documentary about it? It's weird how the apparent
• 49:01
  greatest team of all time couldn't defend their league
• 49:04
  title. I mean, how can you call this
• 49:07
  the greatest team of all time? Yeah, but then they say we came
• 49:12
  up against Peps Man City. But it's like we, you know?
• 49:15
  Yeah, and look at the look at the points for the league where
• 49:17
  it's like more than Man United have ever done in the 13 they've
• 49:20
  won, so they must be better. Yeah, and it's like US against
• 49:24
  Peps Barcelona, right? We would have another 2
• 49:26
  Champions Leagues if it wasn't for that team.
• 49:28
  So you can't really measure performance based on that.
• 49:31
  But yeah, it's a shocker after spending all that money as well.
• 49:35
  Like that is an absolute stinker.
• 49:38
  I do have to say, like the players that they bought in
• 49:41
  terms of the profile, they did seem like the right fit.
• 49:45
  But as as is touched on, like Slot changed after the PSG
• 49:50
  defeat, he wanted to play like a bit more attacking, bit more
• 49:53
  kamikaze like PSG were doing last season.
• 49:56
  And they haven't really kind of like strung it together in terms
• 50:00
  of like that philosophy with the new players.
• 50:03
  It's all a chaotic mess at the moment.
• 50:06
  So they can score goals just. But yeah, they're just conceding
• 50:10
  a shit load. Obviously midfield the dynamic
• 50:13
  has changed as well. So yeah, I mean, he should get
• 50:16
  more time. I don't think we're at that
• 50:19
  point yet with Arnie slot, but I'm.
• 50:22
  Not sure they were the right fits.
• 50:23
  That's the thing. I was, I was more sceptical
• 50:26
  because which ones? For me, I think Isaac's
• 50:30
  brilliant. But once you've signed Deki TK
• 50:33
  and you've already got Salah, do you need Isaac?
• 50:36
  So surely should have got one or the other.
• 50:38
  And then for me, Fring Palming is not a right back, he's a wing
• 50:42
  back. And Kirk is a wing back as well,
• 50:44
  You know. Did they replace?
• 50:47
  That's what he wants to play. He wants to play with attacking
• 50:49
  fullbacks. He doesn't.
• 50:50
  He doesn't. Want then you don't have a true
• 50:52
  DM because you've got Grabenberg.
• 50:53
  So it's like for me, shouldn't you have signed Adm or an
• 50:56
  additional centre back Like it always felt defensively that
• 51:01
  surely? Messed up the gay deal, right?
• 51:04
  Yeah. So it's like surely this, you
• 51:07
  know, Frim Pong isn't going to work out.
• 51:10
  Bradley's OK, but it's like, you know how you were saying dog who
• 51:13
  needs a loan? For me, Bradley's like that as
• 51:15
  well. He's all right, but he need, you
• 51:17
  know, still the too young and I really like Kirk heads, but I
• 51:20
  see him like more a wingback attacking.
• 51:22
  I thought, well, Kirk heads would have been good for us
• 51:24
  because a wingback, but playing that kind of third centre back,
• 51:28
  he kind of next to Van Dyke. That was a bit.
• 51:32
  So I was just felt like I wasn't sure 100% like I like it.
• 51:37
  Was a bit scattergun. It was a bit scattergun like
• 51:39
  that. Yeah, like the players, but it
• 51:41
  was like, I don't see, can you play Salah, Eka, TK and Isaac in
• 51:44
  the same team? I don't think so.
• 51:47
  But obviously, yeah, the whole Eka TK ESAC thing, right?
• 51:51
  There's a little bit of politics in that as well because they've
• 51:54
  obviously blocked off Newcastle from buying Eka TK.
• 51:58
  But yeah, they've caused the rod for their own back in terms of
• 52:01
  getting to. But maybe they had an eye on the
• 52:04
  fact that like Salah has clearly shown even this season,
• 52:08
  unfortunately, that yeah, he he might be coming towards the end
• 52:12
  now. Fortunately for us.
• 52:14
  And unfortunately for us, but for him, and I love, I think
• 52:17
  Verts is a really good player, but kind of that solidity in the
• 52:22
  midfield of Gravenberg, McAllister and Sir Bosley.
• 52:26
  Yes, Verts has more creativity and quality, but they were like
• 52:30
  they, you know, it's solid to midfield.
• 52:33
  So how do you get vert? I don't get how you get Verts,
• 52:35
  Ekatika, Isaac and salary in the same team without just being
• 52:38
  completely vulnerable. So just yeah.
• 52:42
  Yeah. Do they all need to start
• 52:43
  though? But then how do you fit this
• 52:46
  thing? How do you fit the pieces?
• 52:47
  It becomes a bit more difficult thing.
• 52:50
  So I felt like, oh, they went a bit heavy attacking in there and
• 52:54
  Free Pong as well. To me, Free Pong is too
• 52:56
  attacking to play right back. Paraga made an interesting point
• 53:00
  about Salah in, I think you said it a few weeks ago that everyone
• 53:05
  should just accept now that Salah can start on the bench.
• 53:09
  Because I think you just touched on it as is that in a lot of
• 53:13
  people's heads you still think like most, Salah is an absolute
• 53:16
  given. But if you actually strip it
• 53:19
  back and look at his form, you can obviously make an argument.
• 53:22
  The fact that Salah can be on the bench and to what Steve's
• 53:26
  saying, yeah, then you can have a set up that you can have ECKA,
• 53:29
  TK and ESAC play maybe as a 2 and then vets behind as an
• 53:33
  example. Yeah, and you've just put a
• 53:36
  scary thought in my head as about Champions League, like if
• 53:39
  they if they target that, they've got the match winners to
• 53:41
  win those big ties. So that's a scary.
• 53:44
  Thing I still think that they need to do something in January
• 53:47
  probably and I think they they I assume they will do something in
• 53:51
  January sign a centre but there's.
• 53:53
  No doubt they need a midfielder. Yeah, maybe.
• 53:55
  Yeah, there's no doubt that they need some form of central
• 53:58
  midfielder. I think as is right?
• 54:00
  Like Gravenbach was brilliant last season, but it was always
• 54:04
  going to be a short to medium term fix.
• 54:06
  They needed someone long term and maybe, yeah, where they got
• 54:11
  obsessed with cock block in Newcastle, that's where the
• 54:14
  money could have gone, whether it's the Ekatiko fee or the ESAC
• 54:18
  fee. Like that money could have been
• 54:21
  on a central midfielder and probably get you gay as well.
• 54:24
  So yeah, maybe they've dropped the ball on that one.
• 54:27
  Yeah, so if you if you hear from the police Ash and you know,
• 54:29
  they tracked down Kabir, let's get him on the pod and and do
• 54:31
  the full or debrief. So it'd be good to hear what he
• 54:35
  thinks is going on from the inside.
• 54:37
  And then we'll have to touch on Arsenal because they're a
• 54:40
  massive statement win against Tottenham and the North London
• 54:43
  Derby 41 they won and I have to credit producer kids for this
• 54:48
  line. So Ash as a as a wicked.
• 54:52
  Yeah, it's a shame he plays for him.
• 54:54
  Eh, I'm not going to do the MC neat part or DJ Pipe Piper part.
• 55:00
  Yeah, no, it's a shame as a place for Arsenal.
• 55:04
  Love him as a footballer, a great footballer, like street
• 55:08
  footballer as well. Like he's got a bit of edge and
• 55:11
  flair and a bit of that like unpredictability.
• 55:14
  Arsenal needed that. And I think what was more
• 55:17
  worrying, and I hate to bring it back to managers and Ruben and
• 55:22
  Michael Arteta, but Michael Arteta started Marino as a false
• 55:28
  forward and Blimey, he looked decent.
• 55:31
  I mean, I dread to think if he was at United in our system, how
• 55:35
  shitty would be. And that's the credit I give
• 55:38
  Michael Arteta, unfortunately, in that the way he got Marino to
• 55:42
  obviously drop back and almost like play.
• 55:45
  He's a false forward essentially.
• 55:47
  But then that gives as a the room to get into those more
• 55:51
  advanced positions. And yeah, some phenomenal
• 55:54
  finishing. Bit of FIFA style finishing,
• 55:56
  right? Yeah, massive result.
• 55:58
  As I take it you're impressed by them?
• 56:00
  I think that they were your pick to win the league.
• 56:02
  So, you know, I guess you're feeling pretty confident on that
• 56:05
  pick. And they were my pick to win the
• 56:08
  league because I think they're the best defence in the world.
• 56:10
  But Ash has made the point if that one of these games where
• 56:14
  the attack seemed and I was worried that they've lost
• 56:18
  Haverts and Yokores, what's their solution to that?
• 56:22
  And it was really, you can see a team that knows what it's doing
• 56:27
  in the yeah, he had Marino as this nominal striker, but when
• 56:31
  he dropped in, you saw like a sacker go and take that space,
• 56:35
  right? It was good rotations within
• 56:36
  that team. But Spurs were shite.
• 56:40
  This is the thing. How can you have a situation
• 56:44
  where Marino's not, he's not that good, He's alright,
• 56:48
  physical player, that's what I mean.
• 56:49
  And Michaela made him look good. No, no, no, no.
• 56:52
  But what? No.
• 56:53
  How can you have that much time outside your box to just sit
• 56:58
  there, look up and play a clip ball for for Trustard?
• 57:01
  What are Spurs doing? It's important.
• 57:03
  Can't we ever beat this fucking Spurs team if they're so shit?
• 57:07
  Because look, Arsenal level above us for sure.
• 57:12
  Right as safe. I've said the same time.
• 57:16
  So as A and soccer to me are two of my favourite footballers.
• 57:19
  They're just bowlers. They're just class right.
• 57:21
  They're so good and you know they they took them apart.
• 57:24
  But Marino kids as well. Yeah, Marino isn't that good and
• 57:27
  he had no pressure on that on that.
• 57:29
  But you know that chance Spurs is So it's it's fair.
• 57:35
  It's did they have they had one shot or did they have any shots
• 57:38
  in in the box? I don't think or something
• 57:40
  crazy. It's like, you know, I always
• 57:43
  thought I like Thomas Frank, he's a good guy and I hope you
• 57:46
  go to a big bigger club and you you open up the tap a bit, you
• 57:49
  try and be a bit more proactive. But that was a dour performance.
• 57:54
  They didn't really try. And the one the one the goal
• 57:57
  they got was basically, you know, because David Rye is
• 58:01
  halfway down the pitch and Rosales and Gypsum.
• 58:03
  But they didn't actually create anything really disappointing.
• 58:07
  The amount of space that as they had on the edge of the box and
• 58:10
  no one was around him. Yeah, it was.
• 58:13
  It was poor. And yeah, I think Arsenal fully
• 58:16
  deserve to win that game. I think also Arsenal fans will
• 58:20
  tell you this, like to be honest with you, especially at the
• 58:22
  Emirates, I think Spurs from memory might have won once or
• 58:26
  twice. That's it, tops.
• 58:28
  Like Arsenal dominate this fixture.
• 58:30
  Why it's good for the neutral is that there's normally shit loads
• 58:33
  of goals. And yeah, we got more goals
• 58:36
  yesterday. Yeah, I'm impressed with Arsenal
• 58:38
  just generally, to be fair, this season they do look very, very
• 58:42
  good. So yeah, it's going to be
• 58:43
  interesting to see if they've got the bottle to hold out the
• 58:46
  league and yeah, see what they can do in the Champions League
• 58:49
  as well and the cups. So yeah, we've touched on the
• 58:52
  fixtures for United, so we've got good run coming up.
• 58:55
  So yeah, we'll have to see how we get on.
• 58:57
  There's going to be lots of podcasts coming up over the
• 59:00
  festive period. I think there's there's a period
• 59:02
  where there's like 3 games in eight days, I think.
• 59:05
  So get your get your FPL teams ready for those quick changes.
• 59:10
  And yeah, we'll just close off by recapping on the Ashes
• 59:14
  briefly. So yeah, Ash, 2 day Test match.
• 59:19
  What happened there? Fastball, right?
• 59:26
  Yeah, No, I mean, I watched I'd say the first part of both days
• 59:32
  and as I was going to sleep on Day 2, I didn't expect a result.
• 59:36
  I did see the collapse in the middle.
• 59:38
  But yeah, this is, like I said in the pod, it's a bit like
• 59:43
  United. You can expect these types of
• 59:46
  collapses. Unfortunately, they obviously
• 59:49
  didn't learn their lesson in the first innings by just continue
• 59:52
  to waft outside with drives and yeah, the ball was, you know,
• 59:57
  more bouncy compared to like English wickets.
• 1:00:00
  And yeah, they didn't learn their lessons And Australia, a
• 1:00:04
  bit like Everton, just played around it and then master balled
• 1:00:08
  it. Great knock by Travis Edwin it
• 1:00:11
  to win to win the Test match. He absolutely, yeah, battered
• 1:00:14
  England. That's what I mean.
• 1:00:16
  He he bassballed bassball, right?
• 1:00:19
  Yeah, so like as you miss the Ashes special, so are you a fan
• 1:00:24
  of bassball? Generally speaking, yes, I did
• 1:00:28
  watch on Is it What's the equivalent of Gary Neville's
• 1:00:34
  podcast? Any Rob Key was on the cricket
• 1:00:36
  stick to cricket. I think Rob Key was on that.
• 1:00:38
  And he was saying, yeah, they do need to, you know, refine it to
• 1:00:42
  not just be all out all the time and pick the moment.
• 1:00:46
  And that's the one thing that frustrates me is I generally
• 1:00:49
  like it because when it works it's spectacular and I enjoy
• 1:00:55
  positive cricket. And I think that I always look
• 1:00:58
  at the talent of the England squad and go are they achieving
• 1:01:01
  what they need to with the talent and they're kind of there
• 1:01:03
  or thereabouts. So I don't feel like a defensive
• 1:01:07
  form of cricket would get better results.
• 1:01:08
  These these are players that are built to attack, but it
• 1:01:11
  frustrates you when they do what looks like dumb stuff and at the
• 1:01:15
  key moment, they they give the game away.
• 1:01:18
  Same happened against India. You know, the game's in your
• 1:01:20
  hand now. Just just do what's required.
• 1:01:24
  The funny thing was in this, in this game, even though it was a
• 1:01:29
  bit nuts, Australia still needed to score the highest innings
• 1:01:33
  total, right to win in the in the 4th inning.
• 1:01:35
  So they still had to score 200 and no one had scored 200.
• 1:01:38
  Yeah. So you've got to just.
• 1:01:40
  Skip No, they scored 200 at that ground, right?
• 1:01:43
  No, Just yeah, The new grow. Yeah.
• 1:01:44
  So it's like you've got to give Australia as well credit, Travis
• 1:01:48
  Head credit as well, right? Great innings.
• 1:01:51
  They twisted the statistics round as well, right?
• 1:01:53
  If you win the toss and and win, I think it's happened five
• 1:01:57
  times. But yeah, obviously they've
• 1:01:59
  reversed that now. Yeah.
• 1:02:01
  I was listening to Stick to Cricket earlier as well.
• 1:02:04
  And I think we predicted this Ash on the preview pod where we
• 1:02:07
  said if England lose, the preparation will come into
• 1:02:10
  question. And that's what Michael Vaughn
• 1:02:12
  was talking about. So are you surprised by that and
• 1:02:15
  like, I guess, do you agree with it?
• 1:02:17
  I can't remember what you said on the pod in terms of lack of
• 1:02:19
  prep, but do you think that's a factor in hindsight?
• 1:02:23
  I think I said on the pod, because of the way this team is
• 1:02:27
  managed and obviously captained by stakes, I don't actually
• 1:02:31
  think for this particular team like warm up is such a big
• 1:02:34
  thing. And I even saw an interview with
• 1:02:37
  Agas and Stokes and it got a bit frosty because Agas was
• 1:02:41
  basically telling stakes obviously that should you have
• 1:02:45
  had more warm up time? And interestingly, there is a
• 1:02:48
  pinball game that England can play or like, you know, the
• 1:02:53
  first team batters can play in. It seems like they won't do well
• 1:02:59
  according to stakes, but Baz was saying that they'll have to
• 1:03:03
  think about it. But yeah, look, to be honest
• 1:03:05
  with you, if we have, I haven't seen that many Ashes victories
• 1:03:09
  down Under. The only one that I have, they
• 1:03:13
  did play a lot of warm up games. So the narrative of like having
• 1:03:17
  warm up games and then losing is better than what we've just
• 1:03:21
  seen. So you probably would have had a
• 1:03:24
  few more for warm up games. But as as I said on the last
• 1:03:27
  part, it depends on your coach because if you're Duncan
• 1:03:29
  Fletcher and Andy Flower, they would have begged for warm up
• 1:03:33
  games, right? Brenda McCullum, coaches like he
• 1:03:37
  played, he's very aggressive, very attacking, doesn't actually
• 1:03:41
  need that much of A warm up to get going and I think that's
• 1:03:44
  emphasised there. As she still think England can
• 1:03:48
  win the series. You can win it, but you always
• 1:03:52
  Australia is the hardest place for any cricket team to go in
• 1:03:55
  the in the cricket world. Going to Australia, they're
• 1:03:59
  probably at at this point, maybe not their strongest team of all
• 1:04:04
  time, let's say, right. Their batting lineup looks a bit
• 1:04:06
  dodge. They've had injuries in the
• 1:04:08
  bowling department as well. But it's always a challenge.
• 1:04:12
  The type, the conditions, the pitcher, people, people
• 1:04:14
  underestimate that because it's, you know, surely it's the same.
• 1:04:19
  The level of bounce you get, it's very different.
• 1:04:21
  You know, you go to New Zealand, it's a bit like English
• 1:04:23
  conditions, W Indies, India, maybe, you know, because it
• 1:04:27
  spins a bit. But that extra level of bounce
• 1:04:30
  for these, especially for the way our attacking batsmen are,
• 1:04:33
  it's something to adjust to. So I, I didn't listen to your
• 1:04:38
  pod, but I would, you know, I wouldn't have there seemed to be
• 1:04:42
  a narrative that this this is England series to lose or, you
• 1:04:45
  know, this is the opportunity because obviously Cummins is
• 1:04:48
  out, Hazelwood's out for a while as well, I think.
• 1:04:51
  But it's never, it's never easy playing in Australia in the
• 1:04:54
  Australian conditions. But can they win it?
• 1:04:57
  Yes. Pink ball match coming up next.
• 1:05:00
  I know that yeah. I think that's the two day game,
• 1:05:04
  right? Canberra, I don't think they
• 1:05:05
  needed that prep. So this talk of prep, you know,
• 1:05:08
  it's better to, it's better to bat in the Nets probably in
• 1:05:11
  Brisbane than it is to go and play in Canberra in a 2 day
• 1:05:13
  random game, right. So I don't see any issue there.
• 1:05:18
  What's just on the warm up before the series?
• 1:05:23
  The interesting thing I'd, you know, it's, I don't know how
• 1:05:27
  undercooked or overcooked they are, but cricketers these days
• 1:05:29
  play all the time. So you'd assume that, you know,
• 1:05:32
  that historically there wasn't as much cricket played right
• 1:05:35
  over the course of a calendar year.
• 1:05:37
  So you'd want, you'd need more warm up cricket.
• 1:05:40
  These guys do play a lot of cricket generally.
• 1:05:42
  So yeah, I personally think you always want to get used to those
• 1:05:48
  conditions, like they are unique conditions.
• 1:05:50
  Time will also tell because it's a, it's a 5 match series.
• 1:05:53
  So if you maybe if you warm up too much, you get tired by the
• 1:05:57
  end of it, right? It's a it's a long old drag.
• 1:06:01
  So it's always a balance and it's only going to be on, you
• 1:06:03
  know, the fifth match that you'll really know.
• 1:06:06
  So we'll see. I think the England, if they can
• 1:06:11
  just not, like I said in those key moments, not throw the game
• 1:06:16
  away. They're still dangerous.
• 1:06:19
  This for me, this batting line up, as crazy as it is, when it
• 1:06:23
  clicks, it takes the game away from the opposition.
• 1:06:27
  And they could have won this game.
• 1:06:28
  They could have won this game. They were had that they had.
• 1:06:31
  They were in positions where if if they'd put the hammer down at
• 1:06:34
  the right moment. Yeah, like that first innings,
• 1:06:37
  especially Brooke was going so well.
• 1:06:41
  Yeah, Brooke has the tendency as well to get out to something
• 1:06:44
  silly, but he also has a tendency to go and score a
• 1:06:46
  brilliant 100. I'd I'd rather, I'd rather I'm
• 1:06:49
  always someone to just, you know, back the players, play it,
• 1:06:53
  play the game. I enjoy it, hit the sixes, take
• 1:06:56
  them on. But just don't be silly and and
• 1:06:59
  let's be honest, Zach, Zach Crawley as well.
• 1:07:01
  He's he's a frustrating player, isn't he?
• 1:07:03
  You just know he's going to get Nick, Nick off to 1 outside off
• 1:07:06
  stump. So, but at the same time, he'll
• 1:07:09
  probably go and bag 100 in the next game.
• 1:07:12
  Yeah. Steve, what was your thoughts?
• 1:07:14
  First Test match. I find it entertaining as a
• 1:07:18
  more. Casual cricket fan, I enjoy it
• 1:07:21
  and I was just about to say they're like, put it this way,
• 1:07:22
  I'd prefer, I prefer baseball cricket over Reuben football at
• 1:07:26
  the moment, that's for sure. So it's entertainment at the end
• 1:07:29
  of the day. I'm sure Cricket Australia
• 1:07:31
  aren't happy with missing a few days play in terms of ticket
• 1:07:35
  revenue, but that's not my problem.
• 1:07:37
  So I enjoy the entertainment and it was a nip and tuck Test
• 1:07:40
  match. Like there was, there was
• 1:07:41
  moments in the Test match where you thought each team were going
• 1:07:44
  to go and win it. So I I quite enjoy it yeah, I
• 1:07:48
  know ours is a bit depressed from getting back from Bali, but
• 1:07:51
  Christmas is upon us. We've got the festive period,
• 1:07:54
  we've got lots of United games even though we're not in Europe,
• 1:07:56
  we've got the Ashes, we've got the Formula One heating up.
• 1:07:59
  My boy Max is going to do the business.
• 1:08:01
  I think they're get the bet on right now you're.
• 1:08:05
  You're a Max fan. I love Max.
• 1:08:07
  He's he's, he's. He's the Josie.
• 1:08:08
  Of. The Josie FFI love that.
• 1:08:13
  And I love Josie, so yeah, I mean.
• 1:08:17
  It could be worse. Get get the big jacket out of
• 1:08:19
  the cupboard us and and cheer up.
• 1:08:23
  They could be worse, I guess. So we've got the same you've got
• 1:08:26
  Christmas movies. How can you go wrong?
• 1:08:29
  Exactly. I can load them up on Amazon
• 1:08:31
  Prime. Yeah, the old.
• 1:08:31
  Hallmark Classics. Exactly.
• 1:08:34
  Hallmark Classics and their Christmas.
• 1:08:38
  That's it. So we've got good things to look
• 1:08:39
  forward to amongst. Rachel Reeves, gloomy budget
• 1:08:43
  pending, but we'll focus on the sport because that's more
• 1:08:46
  exciting and more fun. So thanks for joining us on this
• 1:08:50
  episode, and we'll catch you on the next one.