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Week 26 Premier League Recap · Premier League Playground: Lad and Dad

• 0:04
  All right, and welcome into the Week 26 edition of the Premier
• 0:08
  League Playground. I am the dad Bjorn with me as
• 0:11
  the lad our *. Luca Miller.
• 0:14
  And how are you today? Luca, I'm doing good.
• 0:16
  How are you? Doing well?
• 0:17
  How have you been lately? I've been good.
• 0:19
  How? How have you been?
• 0:20
  I've been just fine. So we're wrapping up Week 26
• 0:24
  midweek game, so we're recording this before and really an FA Cup
• 0:28
  weekend. So we're weekend without Premier
• 0:31
  League games, but we've got some FA Cup to kind of tune into.
• 0:34
  So we have. That's why we're doing it a
• 0:35
  little bit early here with the midweek.
• 0:37
  So do people get teams, get a break through the weekend?
• 0:40
  Well, if you're out of the FA Cup, you do so, but we're still
• 0:44
  at a point where most teams are in the FA Cup.
• 0:48
  Some of the United is out, I think Spurs are out.
• 0:52
  So they're definitely a couple Premier League teams that are
• 0:54
  out. But I feel like for the most
• 0:56
  part, the Premier League teams have games.
• 0:59
  Arsenal play Wig in on Sunday. I think Chelsea's playing Hull
• 1:04
  today. I don't really know.
• 1:06
  It was not a lot of other great matchups.
• 1:08
  I actually don't know a lot of the matchups coming up for the
• 1:10
  FA Cup, but we'll be tuning in. FA Cups always fun.
• 1:13
  Yeah. So how how's your soccer been
• 1:16
  going? Look at you finally finish up
• 1:17
  your football season. How did it finish up?
• 1:21
  It was good. We got the win for two.
• 1:23
  I scored the last goal with my right foot with like 20 seconds
• 1:26
  left. Yeah, it was a good game.
• 1:28
  Yeah, take me through your. Take me through your goal.
• 1:30
  So I got goal. I know goal, goal.
• 1:34
  Yeah, well, I was driving down the wing and I hit it with my
• 1:40
  right foot and the goalie was really big, so I had to hit on
• 1:43
  the ground and it hit off the post and in.
• 1:46
  Yeah, the goalie, you guys are playing so footstall, the goals
• 1:48
  are obviously smaller and the goalie Luca was huge he's not
• 1:51
  gonna be 1 of the biggest goalies.
• 1:53
  You played again yes. I mean, so you, you and your
• 1:56
  teammates spent a whole first half almost hitting every ball
• 1:59
  high, which I think that goalie loved.
• 2:02
  Yeah. Because obviously tall goalies
• 2:05
  have a harder time getting down low.
• 2:06
  But yeah, once you guys started putting the ball a little bit
• 2:09
  lower, he started having some success.
• 2:11
  And yeah, you guys finished up pretty, I think a pretty
• 2:13
  successful fall season for for you personally and your team.
• 2:17
  We never really got blown out or anything.
• 2:19
  No, I know there were there were two teams that were really
• 2:21
  pretty good that that you guys, guys hung in there.
• 2:24
  You guys lost those games. They were, they were really good
• 2:26
  teams and then you guys pretty much won every other game.
• 2:29
  Your first game, you guys, I think was a team you guys could
• 2:32
  have beaten, but you guys. Had it was four, it was 43 and
• 2:34
  we had no Subs. I know and a.
• 2:36
  Whole team of Subs. Yeah, they had a, but they
• 2:38
  showed up with football. There's four on the on the court
• 2:41
  or field and a goalie. I think that team showed up with
• 2:43
  about 9. You guys had literally 4 and a
• 2:46
  goalie. And I think if I remember that
• 2:47
  game, you guys were up 3, two and then in the last like 5 or 6
• 2:50
  minutes gave up two goals. It felt like maybe you guys were
• 2:53
  all running out of gas. It happens.
• 2:55
  It happens. Yeah.
• 2:56
  You do, but all right, Lukeable, Week 26 in the books.
• 3:01
  We are chugging along in the Premier League season.
• 3:05
  I think we're not quite in the home stretch, but the home
• 3:08
  stretch is out there. After this week, Luca will have
• 3:10
  12 more games. So you know, it's starting to
• 3:13
  sort of see the ends insight here.
• 3:15
  I think we're going to have a tight title race as we'll get on
• 3:18
  to as Arsenal drop points. Cities come in, they're chugging
• 3:22
  along here. I think we're going to have a
• 3:23
  really tight title race coming down, or at least I hope so.
• 3:26
  I mean, I hope City just doesn't blow by us and wrap this up in
• 3:30
  five or six weeks. But we will see.
• 3:33
  But let's talk about the games. Let's get into it.
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  Our first game of the week was Chelsea hosting Leeds.
• 3:39
  This game ends 22 average B21 Chelsea.
• 3:43
  Gio Pedro scores in the 24th minute and then Palmer gets a PK
• 3:47
  in the 58th minute after Gio Pedro just gets shoved shoved
• 3:51
  down by BOL. The Mecca then gets a PK in the
• 3:55
  67th minute and Okafor it was like a FIFA glitch, scores in
• 4:00
  the 7th 3rd minute and then in like added time Palmer gets like
• 4:06
  a chance right in front of goal and misses it.
• 4:08
  Yeah, it's unbelievable. I mean, it's almost, I hate to
• 4:11
  say, go look it up. I mean, you can't believe he
• 4:13
  misses his ball. Balls played like right across.
• 4:16
  He comes in at the far post. I mean, he's wide open.
• 4:19
  The goalies at the near post covering it.
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  I mean it is literally just a tap in.
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  He skies he. Skies it over the bar.
• 4:26
  I mean just he's such a good player.
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  I mean it just happens to even the best players in the world.
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  But I mean it is an awful miss, especially when that would have
• 4:34
  won them the game. And Chelsea, Luca, they're
• 4:36
  they're fighting for a Champions League spot.
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  We talk about this every week. They're now sitting in 5th place
• 4:41
  on 44 points, one behind United and 4th.
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  But they've got, you know, Liverpool 2 points behind them,
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  Brentford 4 points behind them. So look, they need points.
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  Luca. There's no assurances right now
• 4:53
  that Chelsea's going to get Champions League.
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  So, you know, going up to nothing against Leeds and then
• 4:57
  dropping, you know, giving up two goals.
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  I mean, Chelsea usually own Leeds.
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  They're unbeaten in their last eight verse leads at home, Luca
• 5:05
  they had 66% possession, 9 shots to 4.
• 5:09
  The XG in this game. Luca, Chelsea 3.65 leads 1.35.
• 5:14
  I mean, this is just sort of like total domination, except
• 5:17
  the only stat that matters is the score line and leads.
• 5:21
  Luca. You know, they just keep sort of
• 5:22
  chipping away with draws here. You know, like, you know that
• 5:25
  getting a draw at Stamford Bridge is good for them.
• 5:28
  Again, we talked about, look, they're certainly not safe from
• 5:31
  relegation, but they're in a good spot.
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  They're in 1530 points. They're essentially 6 above West
• 5:36
  Ham for that last spot. So they, if they just sort of
• 5:39
  keep doing what they're doing here, like I said, I think
• 5:41
  they're going to be in good shape, you know, and like I
• 5:44
  said, it's always good to kind of go on the road and get a
• 5:46
  draw. How far are they from Tottenham?
• 5:48
  How far are they from Tottenham? Well, they are above Tottenham.
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  They're a point above Tottenham. They're in 15th.
• 5:53
  Yeah, leads are in 15th. They are a point above Spurs in
• 5:55
  16. Who's in 17th?
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  Forest. How far is Forest from
• 6:00
  Tottenham? Two points.
• 6:01
  Oh, my God, Yeah, it's actually going to happen.
• 6:03
  I mean, really, the the, the, I mean, West Ham sit in the last
• 6:07
  relegation spot in 18. They have 24 points.
• 6:09
  Then we'll get on to some of these.
• 6:10
  Other points behind. But they are.
• 6:13
  Tottenham are 5 ahead of getting possibly relegated, which we've
• 6:16
  talked about this a couple times on the show.
• 6:18
  The six teams from the Premier League, the original Premier
• 6:20
  League that have never been relegated.
• 6:22
  Spurs are actually one of them. They've never been relegated
• 6:25
  from the Premier. League.
• 6:25
  Oh my gosh. I don't think it's going to
• 6:27
  happen. Of course, we'll get on to them.
• 6:29
  I I said it last pod. No, look, I I just I.
• 6:32
  Is going to. I mean, not even Forests are a
• 6:35
  better team than Spurs. Not even forests are not bad.
• 6:38
  It's not a bad call that they are a decent team.
• 6:41
  I just think Spurs are better than West.
• 6:42
  No, they're not. No, not not right now.
• 6:45
  Not right now, not in a million years.
• 6:47
  I don't know what West Ham. Like I said, I I just.
• 6:50
  No, they're better than Spurs right now.
• 6:52
  Right here, right now. You you make way too many of
• 6:55
  these predictions with your. Heart so.
• 6:57
  When you talk about some of these teams, specifically City
• 6:59
  and Spurs, you do way too much with your heart if you take a.
• 7:03
  No, I'm speaking facts. Here, look at the roster.
• 7:06
  And they shock. Look, God, they're really,
• 7:10
  really bad. In fact, we'll talk about Sirs
• 7:12
  when we get on to them. We'll put a bow on Chelsea here.
• 7:15
  But just by saying they, like I said to me, you know, they've
• 7:19
  been playing really well. Look at their last five games,
• 7:22
  four wins and a draw. Chelsea, like I said, they are
• 7:25
  right now playing really, really well.
• 7:27
  We've talked about the new manager coming in and like I
• 7:29
  said, they've been playing really well.
• 7:30
  But so have kind of the teams around them.
• 7:32
  So they don't have a whole lot of separation.
• 7:34
  They're moving up in the table. So all right, Luca.
• 7:38
  Well, let's let's get into it here.
• 7:39
  All right, let's talk about Tottenham host in Newcastle.
• 7:41
  And I got that spread on Newcastle 2.
• 7:48
  It's hot in the moose. Hot in the moose.
• 7:50
  Oh yeah. Oh yeah, yeah, sorry, sorry
• 7:54
  about that. Child scores in the 45 + 6 off
• 8:00
  of like a rebound of Ricario saves it a nice a nice header
• 8:06
  save and then chow just that bright place right down.
• 8:09
  Well, he's the one who heads it and then he gets his own
• 8:11
  rebound. I mean, to me, I'm like, where's
• 8:13
  he? I thought he's, I think he's the
• 8:14
  one who heads it down and then he gets there to poke it in.
• 8:17
  I didn't think, oh, I didn't know that.
• 8:19
  I didn't. I didn't think he was.
• 8:21
  He got his own. Maybe not, I thought he was the
• 8:23
  one. But yeah, he did poke it
• 8:24
  through. Well, then Gray scores in the
• 8:28
  64th minute. I think that was his second goal
• 8:30
  for Tottenham now and then Jacob Ramsey his first.
• 8:34
  First goal for Newcastle in the 68th minute.
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  He gets the winner. Spurs haven't won in last eight
• 8:40
  Premier League matches. Worst run since 2008.
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  Spurs now 16th in the table. They're going down.
• 8:47
  Well, yeah, so this game, this is the 62nd time they've played
• 8:52
  this game tot numbers Newcastle, and it's never finished 00.
• 8:55
  It's the fourth highest scoring Premier League fixture, the
• 8:59
  number one top scoring Premier League fixture.
• 9:03
  Liverpool versus Spurs I yeah, 209 goals.
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  Number 2 is Liverpool, Arsenal, it is 199.
• 9:10
  Goals. Oh, because of that like or
• 9:12
  seven game well. It's not just one game,
• 9:14
  obviously 199, but yeah, it tends to be, you know, look,
• 9:17
  Liverpool are involved in three of the top four.
• 9:21
  What's? What is behind Arsenal?
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  Well, I'll get to it. Give me a second.
• 9:24
  So you have Liverpool, Arsenal in second at 199, Liverpool,
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  Newcastle in 3rd at 196, and then Spurs, Newcastle in fourth.
• 9:34
  So you know, three goals in this game.
• 9:36
  That's kind of what we expect. So look, we've talked about
• 9:39
  Spurs at home. Now they have two wins, 4 draws
• 9:42
  and seven losses. I mean, it is just incredible
• 9:46
  how they just cannot get any kind of results at home.
• 9:49
  We talked about how many these teams are so hard to beat at
• 9:52
  home, Brentford so hard to beat at home, Sunderland so hard to
• 9:55
  beat at home. I mean, you've had to defend
• 9:56
  your home turf and they just are awful at home.
• 10:00
  Lucas, since the start of last season.
• 10:02
  OK, so take last season and all the way through this season, the
• 10:05
  team with the most losses is Wolves.
• 10:07
  No big surprise, right? They've 39 losses since the
• 10:10
  start of last season #2 are Spurs.
• 10:13
  They have 33 losses since the start of last season.
• 10:16
  I mean West Ham Luca have 31. Yes. 25 Brentford and Forest
• 10:21
  have 24. That's incredible.
• 10:23
  I mean, that is incredibly in a bad way, like they are.
• 10:26
  I mean, they have the second most losses.
• 10:28
  It is unbelievable. So what's happened to this team?
• 10:31
  If Arsenal win the league and Spurs get relegated, it's the
• 10:34
  best day of my life. Be pretty amazing.
• 10:36
  It'd be the best day of my life. Well, so Luca, with all this
• 10:40
  negativity that we're saying towards Spurs here, they went
• 10:42
  and fired their manager. This So Thomas Frank getting the
• 10:45
  manager came in, started the season with a lot of promise
• 10:48
  first, got off to a pretty good start after a couple games.
• 10:51
  I hope they bring in a worse manager.
• 10:53
  Are you tell me honestly, though, are you surprised that
• 10:56
  he lasted this long or are? Yeah, But like, don't you think
• 11:00
  managers should be given at least a little bit?
• 11:02
  Like they fire managers, Lucas, so quickly in this league?
• 11:05
  Don't you think they should be at least given like he got
• 11:07
  basically 2/3 of a season? A lot of people will say that's
• 11:09
  still not enough. You got to just.
• 11:10
  I think that's enough. You get 2/3 of a season and you
• 11:14
  still have not produced anything.
• 11:17
  I think you got to give him a little bit of time.
• 11:18
  Wasn't like Arteta came in in his first year.
• 11:20
  Pep, I don't think won the lead in his first year.
• 11:22
  Arteta wasn't in 16th place. No, no.
• 11:25
  But you know, look, we had a couple 8th place finishes which
• 11:28
  you know, it's. Not bad I.
• 11:29
  Understand it's not this bad. I get it that it's not this bad,
• 11:32
  but last year wasn't his fault. You know, we don't blame Thomas
• 11:35
  Frank for last year. He wasn't even managing the
• 11:37
  team. So all the losses and what did
• 11:39
  they finish last year 16th or something?
• 11:41
  17. 717 yes. So you know, we don't blame him
• 11:45
  for any of that, that that he inherits all that.
• 11:48
  That was Anne Pashkaglu, who was the coach back then, but this
• 11:52
  year is all on him. But Luca, the other side of this
• 11:54
  is they did great in the Champions League.
• 11:57
  You know, like they they did well in the Champions League.
• 11:59
  I I don't know, I actually think he's a decent manager.
• 12:03
  I think he probably maybe is not the right manager for Spurs.
• 12:06
  He maybe is one of these guys. It's a more of like a mid table
• 12:09
  team. He did great at Brentford and
• 12:10
  maybe that's sort of where he needs to be.
• 12:12
  Some of these guys can't really go up to a big six club.
• 12:15
  It's a whole different world coaching, you know, but it's a
• 12:19
  bit of a, like I said, it is a disaster a little bit how?
• 12:21
  He's taught in the Big Six club. Please be honest with me.
• 12:24
  How decided that? I mean, I think it's a, you
• 12:28
  know, I think look at they had a little bit of success, like I
• 12:31
  mean it now. Did they go?
• 12:32
  Well, they did. They did the double in I think
• 12:34
  in 1960 when they won the FA Cup.
• 12:36
  That's on the FA Cup. Not great.
• 12:38
  It was 1960, that is 65 years ago.
• 12:42
  They did win Europa League last year, so I I will say that.
• 12:45
  It's the most boring game I've ever seen in my entire life.
• 12:48
  United, it was also a bit of. A They were in 15th last year.
• 12:51
  I yeah, I think Luca, that's it. You know, they, they typically
• 12:55
  had had a lot of good, but they've had some good players
• 12:57
  come through there, which is kind of the knock.
• 12:59
  They've had good players and not want.
• 13:00
  They're based in London. London's like the biggest city
• 13:03
  in England. I hear you though.
• 13:05
  I get it. Like nowadays, I don't think if
• 13:07
  you ask most people nowadays like what are the big six clubs,
• 13:10
  I doubt people would be kind of considering Spurs.
• 13:13
  Or should be the Big 5. Well, if Spurs get relegated,
• 13:18
  they're just kicked out of club. Kick them out, get them out of
• 13:21
  here. You have to be in the Premier
• 13:23
  League to be a Big 6 club and it's gracious.
• 13:26
  Wow, wow. Well, let me show some love to
• 13:29
  the other manager on the other side of this.
• 13:30
  Look at Eddie Howe, who I actually think is a very, very
• 13:32
  good manager. He now has the third most
• 13:35
  Premier League wins by an English manager.
• 13:37
  So Redknapp has 236 wins, Sam Allardice has 178 and Eddie Howe
• 13:43
  now third most wins with 136 wins.
• 13:46
  In the Premier League of all time, yeah.
• 13:48
  Couldn't it? Good for an English manager.
• 13:49
  I kind of thought there'd be like more wins by English
• 13:52
  managers, but then I started thinking, I'm like Sir Alex
• 13:54
  Ferguson, Scottish Arson, Wenger, French, Pep is Spanish.
• 13:59
  You know, like, it's hard to sort of think of those sort of
• 14:01
  classic English managers that have been there for a long time
• 14:05
  and, you know, Eddie Howells. So I didn't, I didn't hear who's
• 14:08
  ahead of it. Harry Redknapp has 236 and Sam
• 14:13
  Allardyce has 178. Who are any of those two?
• 14:16
  Players, well, Harry Redknapp managed forever.
• 14:17
  He's very, very old now, but he managed, I mean if you look like
• 14:21
  he probably managed like 8 different teams, I think he
• 14:23
  managed a couple of them twice. Sam Allardyce was a guy who
• 14:26
  typically they almost really bring him in.
• 14:28
  Like when the team was like a team was struggling and you
• 14:31
  didn't want him to get relegated.
• 14:32
  It always felt like they went to Sam Allardyce because he just
• 14:35
  did enough to kind of like keep the team afloat.
• 14:37
  Did he always do that? He kind of did a good job of
• 14:39
  like he never managed, I don't think at any of the big clubs as
• 14:42
  far as I know. I don't know his whole career,
• 14:43
  but yeah, he did a good job. Or like your team would be an 18
• 14:46
  and he'd just do enough to keep you in the Premier League.
• 14:49
  And then the team would the team would be like, all right, we
• 14:50
  want to go get a real manager and they go hire somebody else
• 14:52
  and. Bye bye, you know.
• 14:54
  So how is he #1? You know, Harry Redknapp's
• 14:57
  number one 236 Allerdice is number 2.
• 15:00
  And then Eddie Howe, like I said at #3 but if Eddie Howe sticks
• 15:03
  around for a couple years, I mean, you can, you can see him,
• 15:06
  you know, making right. He's about 100 behind Harry
• 15:08
  Redknapp. So I mean.
• 15:09
  You know, I mean a couple more seasons, I guess.
• 15:11
  And he's super young. Eddie Howe now, who knows?
• 15:13
  I mean, he may go to Spain, Germany, maybe he manages the
• 15:16
  national team. But how I like him as a manager,
• 15:18
  I think Eddie Howe does a really good job.
• 15:20
  Yeah, yeah. All right, well, let's move off
• 15:23
  of this game. Let's move over to Everton,
• 15:24
  Bournemouth. This game ends 21 Bournemouth I
• 15:28
  predict to be 11. Enjoy PK in the 42nd minute and
• 15:33
  then Ryan the new sign again. Just Bournemouth find another
• 15:39
  talent and he scores his header. Nice header in the 61st minute.
• 15:43
  3 minutes later Adley gets one in the 64th minute, gets to
• 15:46
  winner and then in the 69th minute O'Brien gets a red card
• 15:51
  for last man. Ever since now fourth red card
• 15:54
  this season, only Chelsea have more with five and Ryan two
• 16:00
  goals and one assist in three games since signing in January
• 16:03
  from Fosco de Gama. Yeah, it's just amazing.
• 16:06
  Bournemouth, they just like every player they sign.
• 16:09
  You're like, I've never heard of this guy before and they come in
• 16:12
  and they're awesome. Like, it's incredible, like.
• 16:15
  Proofy Simeno. Yeah, I mean like.
• 16:17
  Susan. Yeah, I mean, yeah, like this
• 16:20
  guy Ryan, I mean, it's just unbelievable.
• 16:22
  Like the, the, the recruitment, how well they do with it, you
• 16:26
  know, kudos to them. I mean, is there a more streaky
• 16:28
  team in the Premier League than Bournemouth?
• 16:31
  Like the, I mean, we started off the year, they were in second
• 16:34
  place for a while. What a great story.
• 16:36
  Little Bournemouth, plucky Bournemouth, you know, doing
• 16:38
  great. Then they went on this crazy
• 16:40
  run, like what was it like 10-11 games where they didn't get a
• 16:43
  win. Now here they are in their last
• 16:45
  five, three wins and two draws. They're back up to 9th is
• 16:49
  exactly what we've been saying though.
• 16:50
  If like if a team can like go on a run in and you're a mid table
• 16:55
  team here, you can move up and down this table so quickly
• 16:57
  because there's just this sort of big bunch of teams.
• 17:00
  Like I said, we've always had this sort of top three.
• 17:02
  We've kind of had the bottom 2 and maybe like bottom 4 now, but
• 17:07
  these everybody in the middle, it's like you go on a run.
• 17:09
  Bournemouth, weren't they down on like 15th, 16th?
• 17:11
  Yeah, now here they are back up to 9th. 3.2.
• 17:15
  Well, and now Fulham's a classic example.
• 17:17
  Now they've had four losses in their last five and now they're
• 17:20
  down to 12. You know, I mean, it's like you,
• 17:23
  it's a consistency that eludes these teams in the middle, like
• 17:26
  the consistency to grind out results.
• 17:28
  Like when your game you maybe should lose, you get a tie,
• 17:31
  game, you should tie, you end up getting a win.
• 17:33
  It's just harder for these teams.
• 17:34
  And like I said, I think to me, the Premier League, I don't
• 17:37
  think this year Luca has like the standout amazing team.
• 17:42
  So I think maybe from top to bottom we're seeing these teams,
• 17:46
  like some of these teams are just so good.
• 17:48
  Like, I mean, and it's just they're better than they sort of
• 17:50
  ever been. You know, Bournemouth,
• 17:52
  Sunderland, maybe Fulham to a certain extent, Brentford and
• 17:55
  Everton. I mean, can we think of a better
• 17:58
  Brentford team? And we will get into Arsenal,
• 18:00
  Brentford, Luca, but they're sitting there in 7th on 40
• 18:02
  points, 2 points behind Liverpool.
• 18:05
  You know, that's what I think we're seeing is it's just,
• 18:07
  that's why I think even the top teams like City, Villa, Arsenal,
• 18:12
  like there's no gimmies. You don't just like show up and
• 18:14
  win. It used to be like, you know,
• 18:15
  it'd be 5 or 6 games. You're like, oh, you're going to
• 18:16
  just basically show up. You're going to win the game,
• 18:19
  man. Every game is tough.
• 18:21
  Oh yeah, definitely. I mean, it's the Premier League.
• 18:24
  Even games against Wolves, they're not easy.
• 18:28
  They're not just like just guaranteed wins.
• 18:31
  Like they showed that when we had to get 2 own roles to win
• 18:35
  that game. Yeah, at home, I mean, yeah, I I
• 18:39
  think the thing you look at wolves and they're kind of like
• 18:40
  historically bad right now, but they're not getting blown out of
• 18:44
  games really. It sound like they're like
• 18:45
  losing 5-6, nothing every week. I mean, they're not a good team,
• 18:49
  but I think they're also falling into this where everybody else
• 18:52
  is just really solid and really good.
• 18:54
  So for them it's like every week, you know, even Burnley and
• 18:58
  even Forest, like I mean, Forest and 17th is crazy to me.
• 19:01
  You know, like I said, they've got they've got a pretty decent
• 19:05
  team. Like they're not a 17th place
• 19:06
  team. I think they.
• 19:08
  Are are they still in or? Are they knocked out?
• 19:11
  I think they still may. Be in.
• 19:12
  I think they've done OK there. I I don't pay as much attention.
• 19:14
  Is it like a league stage? Like the Champions League?
• 19:17
  Yeah, yeah, Europa. League follows like and I think
• 19:19
  Europa Conference League follows the same format now as the
• 19:22
  Champions League, but I I just don't pay that much attention to
• 19:24
  it. So I can't say for sure, but
• 19:27
  Luca Everton have the most red cards in the Premier League
• 19:30
  history. They have 113 red cards with
• 19:34
  that one. They.
• 19:35
  Broke their records I well, I I. Don't know if they just added to
• 19:38
  their record, if they broke it, but you know, not a record you
• 19:41
  want to have for sure they they're.
• 19:43
  Like for the record, yeah, yeah. Any problem with the red card in
• 19:47
  that game? So is O'Brien?
• 19:49
  No, Probably. Last man, Last man, Yeah, he.
• 19:51
  Kind of. I can't remember who is going
• 19:54
  by, but it's a clear foul. It's a clear last man.
• 19:57
  I don't think, you know, ever thinking of any complaints that
• 20:00
  that's a red card. All right, Luke, well, let's
• 20:02
  move over to Speaking of West Ham, West Ham hosting Man
• 20:05
  United. This game ends one.
• 20:08
  One, I pretty be two, nothing United Sue check in the 50s
• 20:12
  minute gets a nice goal and then chest going in 97th minute.
• 20:16
  A little bit of luck involved in that goal, but still a nice one.
• 20:21
  The guy who is trying to go five matches in a row, five United 5
• 20:27
  games in a row with until he cuts his hair.
• 20:30
  He'll that was this would have been their five fifth match if
• 20:33
  they won. They did not again to West Ham.
• 20:36
  So yeah, that guy does not get to cut his hair.
• 20:40
  West Ham dropped 20 points from winning positions and the XG was
• 20:46
  West Ham was 1.11 and United was .57.
• 20:51
  So United actually or West Ham actually played better in this
• 20:54
  game? Yeah, Well, you know Luca.
• 20:56
  West Ham, they won three that won the last three at home
• 20:59
  versus Man United before this game.
• 21:00
  West Ham had done pretty well against Man U before this game.
• 21:03
  And I mean, this looked like all sewed up for him.
• 21:06
  I mean, you're an extra time, you're like 6 or 7 minutes into
• 21:08
  extra time. It's there.
• 21:09
  We're going to get a win like I'm.
• 21:11
  It would have been a massive 3 points for them.
• 21:13
  And then Cesco kind of rescues Man United with that goal.
• 21:17
  I don't know how United. Just kind of just pick, pick out
• 21:24
  us and then almost lost to West Ham.
• 21:27
  Well, but I bet. Again, that that's what I'm
• 21:29
  saying. It's like it's I don't think
• 21:31
  there's a lot of consistency with a lot of these teams.
• 21:34
  You know, I think it's, you know, look, and again, every
• 21:36
  game is hard and going on the road in the Premier League, even
• 21:40
  when you're playing a bad team, you know, West Ham are not a
• 21:43
  good team. Look, like I said, they're in
• 21:44
  18th place. You know, West Ham have won four
• 21:47
  of their last 21 and three of those wins were against newly
• 21:50
  promoted sides. So West Ham, like I said, are
• 21:52
  not very good, but it's still hard.
• 21:54
  They still have like really pretty good players.
• 21:56
  You know, like Jared Bones, like a great, great player.
• 21:58
  He plays for the English national team.
• 22:00
  You know, I think he had the assist on the goal.
• 22:03
  You know, SU Czek, Luka, he's like a good player.
• 22:05
  I'm not saying he's a great player, but like I, I think it's
• 22:08
  just, you know, we take for granted like these good teams at
• 22:11
  the top and we're Arsenal fans and they are very, very good
• 22:13
  team. But you, you know, I, when you
• 22:17
  watch them play, like I said to me, I watch them play against
• 22:20
  these teams. These teams are well organized.
• 22:22
  A lot of times they play a low block.
• 22:24
  You know, these teams at the bottom of the table can be hard
• 22:26
  to break them down. They look the counter and I
• 22:28
  think it can be very difficult even for very good teams.
• 22:31
  And United have been in great form.
• 22:33
  They've been a really good form and they're still in fourth
• 22:35
  place. You know, there are 45 points,
• 22:37
  Chelsea's only one behind them, Liverpool three behind them.
• 22:39
  They've, you know, sort of closed the gap on Villa but with
• 22:42
  Villa winning now it's a 5 point gap from 3rd.
• 22:45
  But United are basically really they can't win the league.
• 22:47
  They don't really probably care if they get second, third or
• 22:49
  fourth. They just want to be in a
• 22:51
  Champions League spot. But you know, Cesco Luca rescued
• 22:55
  him against Fulham, rescued him here.
• 22:58
  You know, he's become kind of a useful player off the bench for
• 23:01
  him right now as he's kind of gotten.
• 23:02
  He's not starting. He doesn't start.
• 23:04
  Most games, I mean, I, I, you know, wow, he there was.
• 23:07
  Like 50 million for him too. More than that, look.
• 23:10
  He was like for a bench. Player he was 100 million.
• 23:12
  Dollars. He's more than Gilchrist.
• 23:13
  Yeah, yeah. For for.
• 23:16
  For a bench player, 100 million. For a bench player, look he has
• 23:19
  started. Games for them.
• 23:20
  And look, they've got good attacking forwards.
• 23:22
  I mean, remember they got Kunya Imbumo Ahmad, you know, they've
• 23:26
  got good attackers. So you know, and again, look,
• 23:28
  he's a young player. I think he's got to like give
• 23:31
  him time, let him get settled in only 2/3 of the way through the
• 23:34
  season. He came from the Bundesliga.
• 23:36
  It's a big jump up for him, but he's scoring some big goals for
• 23:39
  him like a So you know, I. Don't know.
• 23:42
  I mean, you got, like I said, it's, you know, it's a big point
• 23:45
  for them, you know, as they're kind of battling for Champions
• 23:47
  League, yeah. All right, look well.
• 23:49
  This Let's go over to a game that certainly was not close Man
• 23:52
  City hosting Fulham this game in.
• 23:55
  Three nil City I predict to be two two Simano in the 24th
• 23:58
  minute, it's a goal. Then O'Reilly in the 30th minute
• 24:02
  and Holland in the 39th minute. I mean, this game was over a
• 24:05
  halftime. City now seventeen wins in a row
• 24:09
  against Fulham and yeah, pretty much it yeah, that's that's an.
• 24:13
  Incredible stand, Lucas. So look at that.
• 24:16
  The city of Oman 17 times in a row against Fulham.
• 24:18
  It's the longest winning run by any team versus another in
• 24:22
  English league history. OK, we've talked about the
• 24:25
  English Soccer League. What was it like 1888 or
• 24:29
  something? I mean, it's essentially been
• 24:30
  around for like 140 years. This is the longest run of one
• 24:34
  team against another winning ever.
• 24:37
  I mean. That's incredible.
• 24:38
  Wouldn't you have thought like one time Fullen would have
• 24:41
  gotten lucky with a call or a goal and and won a game?
• 24:43
  I mean, this game, look at this game was over at halftime.
• 24:46
  I mean literally was this for the?
• 24:48
  Record this game? I think so.
• 24:50
  I mean, like I said, I'm pretty sure.
• 24:53
  I mean, they pulled Holland off at halftime just to rest them.
• 24:56
  I mean, they literally were just like kicking the ball around in
• 24:58
  the second-half. They, you know, did all their
• 25:00
  work essentially in the first half and they just get the
• 25:02
  cruise in the second-half. Rest guys pull them out.
• 25:06
  It's exactly the type of win you want at this point in the
• 25:08
  season. One that is like not mentally
• 25:10
  fatiguing, not physically fatiguing.
• 25:12
  You can just do your substitutions because you know,
• 25:14
  you have AFA Cup game on the weekend probably.
• 25:17
  I think they have a midweek game coming up.
• 25:20
  So it's this is it. It's like City just doing what
• 25:23
  they do basically, you know, like this time of year, get the
• 25:26
  win, an easy win. You're not having to grind it
• 25:29
  out. And I do want to ask you, Luke,
• 25:31
  a situation there was a there was a situation where Foden
• 25:35
  picked up a yellow on Bassie. Take me through this foul and
• 25:38
  your thoughts on it, though. So Foden.
• 25:40
  Kind of Bassie beats Foden, Foden tries to grab him.
• 25:44
  That does not work. So he kind of just studs up,
• 25:48
  gets him on the high ankle. This is a definite red card for
• 25:54
  me. And it's course Rodri the the
• 25:56
  week before screaming and crying about how they don't want the
• 26:01
  refs don't want City to win the title.
• 26:03
  They got super rocky on this call.
• 26:05
  The voting should have been off for me, so tell me.
• 26:10
  Why you thought it was a red? So the the call on the field was
• 26:12
  yellow. I think VAR looked at it upheld
• 26:14
  it as a yellow. In your opinion though, what
• 26:16
  made it a red for you? It was high up on the.
• 26:18
  Ankle and it came in with decent force, OK.
• 26:21
  Now it was more like, I know what you're saying, ankles, more
• 26:24
  the Achilles. So we kind of got him on the
• 26:25
  back. Yeah.
• 26:26
  So yeah, basically, Bassy's moving away from Foden.
• 26:29
  Foden first tries to grab him. He's clearly trying to foul him,
• 26:31
  which that's fine. I mean tactical foul.
• 26:33
  Tactical foul so. That's fine.
• 26:35
  So he's trying to grab him. He misses by grabbing him.
• 26:37
  Then I mean it, it kind of is a little bit of a stamp and it
• 26:42
  studs up. And then so Bassi's moving away.
• 26:44
  So he catches them right high up on the Achilles.
• 26:47
  So I, I do kind of agree with you that there's a significant
• 26:50
  force. It's high up.
• 26:51
  It's on the Achilles, you know, you say, so is it in danger in
• 26:55
  endangering the player? Like I can, like, I mean, I
• 26:59
  think that easily can tear somebody's Achilles.
• 27:02
  You can you know, possibly break a bone in the ankle there.
• 27:06
  Yeah. This surprises me a little bit
• 27:08
  on this one and I'm surprised when it goes too far that they
• 27:10
  don't like I said do a little bit more on that because I don't
• 27:14
  know. I agree with you.
• 27:15
  Look like if we've seen that in other situations easily been
• 27:19
  called I. One comes to mind is Gordon on
• 27:21
  Van Dyke early on when Gordon goes running he gets some kind
• 27:25
  of studs up. I guess that was more the front
• 27:26
  of the ankle there but kind of similar in terms of like how the
• 27:29
  foot comes down on the ankle kind of similar type of force.
• 27:33
  And Gordon immediately shown a red and, you know, this one.
• 27:37
  And again, I, I don't mean to kind of keep pointing out these
• 27:40
  things, but it's just that like, you know, Rodri goes on this
• 27:42
  rant after the Tottenham game saying that people don't want us
• 27:46
  to win. The referee wasn't neutral.
• 27:48
  These are his words, OK, what he used, you know, and in a game
• 27:51
  where he should have been sent off for a rent or two.
• 27:54
  Yellows. And and here we're seeing, you
• 27:57
  know, in a couple weeks them getting some pretty good calls
• 28:00
  to benefit. Them I.
• 28:01
  Mean, you know, I don't know. I don't look it.
• 28:04
  Would it have changed the outcome of the game?
• 28:06
  Who knows? I don't know.
• 28:07
  Like red cards can. I mean robbery.
• 28:09
  Off the field for Sydney, that's big.
• 28:12
  Well, I'm saying in this. Game if Foden got sent off.
• 28:14
  If if you give Foden a red here, would it have changed the
• 28:17
  outcome? I don't know, maybe not now.
• 28:19
  The other game, yeah. Certainly possible, but, you
• 28:22
  know, look, we'll get on to Arsenal and City here in a
• 28:25
  second. I mean, City with this win have
• 28:27
  closed the gap before. Just feels like, you know,
• 28:29
  they're coming here. They've now three wins and a
• 28:33
  draw in their last four games. They're getting guys back,
• 28:36
  they're getting healthy. You know, they've added, you
• 28:39
  know, Gay, he and Simeno in the January transfer window when
• 28:42
  other teams, most teams did not add anybody.
• 28:45
  So United, Liverpool, Arsenal added nobody.
• 28:49
  So City has the advantage of being able to spend $100
• 28:52
  million. In fact, I, I don't think there
• 28:53
  was a team in Europe, any team in any of the leagues that spent
• 28:57
  as much as they did in January on Gay and Semenyo.
• 29:00
  It's a massive advantage, Luca, to be able to do that.
• 29:02
  And I'm not saying, look, I'm not trying to buy your way out
• 29:04
  of trouble. Well, I mean.
• 29:06
  It helps, right? I mean it's like they needed
• 29:07
  central defenders. Boom, you get to go buy a guy,
• 29:09
  they need a winger. You know Doku and Savinia have
• 29:11
  been hurt. You go by and you go get the
• 29:13
  best player off of Palace. You could get the best player
• 29:15
  off of Bournemouth. It's a massive advantage to
• 29:18
  have, not to mention the salaries that they put these
• 29:20
  guys on. So it's 100 million KA week for.
• 29:23
  Gay. Yeah, so.
• 29:24
  He's one of the top paid defenders in all the Premier
• 29:26
  League. You know, it is.
• 29:28
  It's a massive advantage that they have over really other
• 29:31
  teams. And again, it's not that Arsenal
• 29:32
  don't spend money. It's something United don't
• 29:34
  spend money. You're not the Liverpool don't
• 29:36
  spend money. Now Chelsea's in a different
• 29:37
  world too. They spend like crazy too, but
• 29:39
  that's their own thing. But these other teams, you know,
• 29:42
  they just can't do it every window, you know.
• 29:44
  So Arsenal spent a lot in the summer, Liverpool spent a lot in
• 29:48
  the summer, but they didn't spend anything in the January
• 29:50
  before or this January. It's like they just can't spend
• 29:53
  $100 million every transfer window.
• 29:55
  City can. It's like they get into a little
• 29:57
  bit of trouble, boom, two players come in and look,
• 29:59
  they've both been very good for them.
• 30:01
  You know, I mean, you have to sign the right players.
• 30:03
  So credit on them for doing that.
• 30:06
  But you know, we'll get on to it.
• 30:07
  We'll talk a little bit about the title race when we get into
• 30:09
  the Arsenal game. But certainly feels like, you
• 30:12
  know, the inevitable city March towards the title is coming.
• 30:15
  But all right, Luca, well, let's get into a pretty boring game.
• 30:19
  Nottingham Forest hosting Wolf. This was 00.
• 30:22
  I predicted it'd be two one Nottingham Forest.
• 30:25
  Nottingham Forest remained 3 up on West Ham for final relegation
• 30:28
  spot. So nothing really to talk about,
• 30:31
  no. Jose Saw was great, he made 10
• 30:33
  saves in this game, Nottingham Forest, we had 35 shots, an
• 30:37
  extra 35. Shift actually of two. .730 my
• 30:41
  and it ended 00. Ended 0. 0 Yeah.
• 30:45
  And then they go on and they fire Sean Deitch.
• 30:47
  So what? They're now 2.
• 30:49
  Managers fire were 2/3 of the way through the season.
• 30:51
  They fired 2 managers. I mean, why did they fire Sean?
• 30:54
  I didn't even think he was that bad.
• 30:56
  Well. They're just look there again,
• 30:58
  this is a situation, right? They're desperate to stay up.
• 31:00
  I don't think he's been that bad either.
• 31:02
  And in this game it just feels like they just got a little
• 31:05
  unlucky. I mean they had a couple
• 31:06
  chances. Like I said, saw for Wolves I
• 31:08
  thought was really good. 10 saves by a goalies a lot in a
• 31:11
  game, whoever had him on. Fantasies.
• 31:13
  Yeah, probably very. And I know it's not many people.
• 31:16
  Yeah, yeah. Nobody's starting the worst or
• 31:19
  the second word. It's actually third worst.
• 31:21
  I'm sorry. West Ham and Burnley now worse
• 31:23
  defenses than Wolves? Oh yeah.
• 31:25
  Wolves the third. Or third worst defense in the
• 31:28
  league, but they. Got a point they gain, not a
• 31:30
  point when everyone they're going up trust.
• 31:34
  No, they're not. Going Yes, they are just.
• 31:36
  Have faith they're on 9 points. We're still in that.
• 31:39
  They've not still passed Darby County for the worst.
• 31:42
  You'll remember 11 points is the worst Premier League season
• 31:45
  ever. They're still just get a win.
• 31:48
  They're good. I mean, I still I think.
• 31:50
  They'll do it, but they haven't officially clinched.
• 31:52
  We're not the worst ever Premier League team.
• 31:54
  So yeah, Forrest look at gains a point, but luckily for them,
• 31:59
  Spurs lose Leeds tie and West Ham tie.
• 32:02
  So they net they don't really lose any ground in that kind of
• 32:05
  battle there for for the 18th spot.
• 32:07
  But yeah, we'll see. I think the word is they're
• 32:10
  hiring Vitor Pereira, who I think was the Wolves coach the
• 32:14
  I. Think I'm I know who you're
• 32:16
  talking. I've heard of him, but I no idea
• 32:18
  what. Yeah, they.
• 32:19
  Basically, but you'll find, look at watching the Premier.
• 32:21
  They just recycle like referees, they recycle coaches.
• 32:25
  It's just like that guy was there for a little bit, He gets
• 32:27
  fired. Six months later he comes back
• 32:29
  for another deal like Nuno has been with like Spurs, who is
• 32:33
  like Wolves, I think. Wolves and.
• 32:34
  Now he's Where is he now with West Ham West?
• 32:37
  Ham. I mean, it's just like.
• 32:38
  It's and he was at forest. Too.
• 32:40
  Yeah, right, Right. Yeah, I mean, nuts.
• 32:43
  All right, Luca. Well, two other teams kind of in
• 32:45
  the relegation battle. Well, one certainly, but Crystal
• 32:48
  Palace and Burnley? This.
• 32:50
  Game ends 32, Burnley Strand. Larson gets two goals in the 17
• 32:55
  minute and the 33rd minute. Then Majori Or Majori.
• 33:01
  I think it's like Mabry. You say it like Mabry, Hannibal
• 33:04
  Mabry. It's like the J becomes.
• 33:06
  Like AY, like almost like mabry oh.
• 33:10
  Oh, mabry. OK, in the 40th minute he gets
• 33:15
  one back. Anthony in high school in the
• 33:17
  44th minute tied up and then Larma own goal in the 45 + 3
• 33:22
  crucial powers. No wins in the last 8 home games
• 33:25
  in the Premier League. Yeah.
• 33:27
  I mean, the fifth team in the Premier League, Luca, ever to go
• 33:30
  two goals down and lead at halftime.
• 33:35
  I mean, it's only happened five times in Premier League history
• 33:38
  where you give up two goals and then you go into halftime
• 33:41
  winning. I mean, that's how rare that
• 33:43
  sort of is. Well, what about?
• 33:44
  What about that same stat, but you actually end up winning the
• 33:48
  game? Yeah, I, I don't.
• 33:50
  Have that. But yeah, I mean, it's it's a
• 33:52
  big comeback by Burnley. It's a bad loss, yeah.
• 33:55
  I mean. Like they had this one in the
• 33:56
  bag too. They are just struggling.
• 33:58
  At home right now, they're just struggling everywhere right now.
• 34:01
  Again, they're on 32 points, so they're still in pretty good.
• 34:03
  They're in Europe though, right? They are in the Conference
• 34:09
  League, yeah. And I don't know how they're
• 34:10
  doing there, but they're they're you know, as far as the Premier
• 34:13
  League goes. I mean, this season just feels
• 34:15
  like unfortunately it's sort of like blown up for them with, you
• 34:19
  know, probably a little bit with Eze moving in the summer and
• 34:22
  then but with Gehey and and everything, the drama with the
• 34:24
  coach and Glasner, I think it feels it's it's rough, you know,
• 34:29
  I just feel like they're just waiting for the end of the
• 34:31
  season. Yeah, kind of like regroup, get
• 34:33
  a new coach, get a new plan. So tough for them.
• 34:38
  But yeah, big three for Burnley, they still have their work cut
• 34:41
  out for him. Luca, they're the 19th on 18
• 34:44
  points. So I mean, they're like 11
• 34:45
  points from safety. It feels still like a mountain
• 34:48
  to climb for Burnley. But like I said, they'll be just
• 34:52
  happy, you know, these are the moments that you're looking for
• 34:54
  if you're a Burnley fan, you know, like I said, make this big
• 34:56
  comeback. So yeah, crazy first half, five
• 34:59
  goals and none of the second-half.
• 35:01
  All right, Luca, what about Villa and Brighton?
• 35:04
  This game ends one novella. I predict to be two novella.
• 35:08
  Jack Henchelwood own goal in the 86 minute gets the win for
• 35:12
  Villa. Milner now tied with Giversberry
• 35:17
  for Premier League all time appearance record 653.
• 35:21
  So yeah. And Brighton 4th own goal of the
• 35:25
  season. That's a lot, yeah.
• 35:27
  Yeah, that's tough. I mean, on goals tend to mostly
• 35:30
  just be, I think luck. I mean, it's just bad luck for
• 35:32
  them. I don't know that they're doing
• 35:33
  anything but four on goals is tough.
• 35:36
  But yeah, Luca Milner made his debut in the Premier League
• 35:39
  November 10th, 2002. Oh my gosh.
• 35:43
  I mean 23 years, 23. Like years he's been playing.
• 35:47
  It's just that's insane, That's incredible.
• 35:50
  And he's, I don't think he's. Gone to any other league but I
• 35:53
  don't think. So he's been on a bunch of
• 35:55
  different Has he been on the championship?
• 35:58
  I don't. Know he's played he.
• 36:00
  He played on Villa, played on Villa, put on Liverpool City.
• 36:06
  Yeah, he played. He's played, obviously.
• 36:09
  On, on like a bunch of teams to be playing.
• 36:11
  I mean, you figure you play for 23 years, you know he's played.
• 36:15
  He came up with leads, Newcastle, he got loaned to
• 36:19
  Villa, then went to Villa with Man City, Liverpool, Brighton,
• 36:24
  Yeah, just incredible. It's an incredible career.
• 36:26
  You know, he's never Luca as far as I can.
• 36:28
  He got loaned to Swindon Town in 2003.
• 36:31
  So like very early on I'm assuming.
• 36:34
  I don't think Swindon Town has ever been in the Premier League,
• 36:37
  so probably. Not and he only made. 6
• 36:39
  appearances there but every other team I'm guessing he's
• 36:43
  basically been with a Premier League team the whole time.
• 36:45
  I mean, he's he's made 61 caps for England, you know, like he's
• 36:49
  been like a really, really good player and like credit to him
• 36:52
  for like staying healthy, wanting to keep do it.
• 36:54
  He's still a useful player comes off the bench and he's well and
• 36:57
  you get one more appearance. It'll have the record all by
• 36:59
  himself. I bet they'll just.
• 37:00
  Start him for that game. Yeah, I know.
• 37:03
  I. Mean you know it would be.
• 37:04
  Nice. Yeah, that'd be pretty.
• 37:05
  Cool, wouldn't it be nice to be? Scored scored in his.
• 37:09
  Record setting appearance, That was pretty cool.
• 37:10
  Be a pretty good story. So yeah, keep an eye on on
• 37:14
  Brighton next week. We'll see if Milner starts parts
• 37:16
  or gets in, because then the record will be officially his
• 37:18
  all by himself. I like the crowd's.
• 37:20
  Gonna like that when he comes in yeah, yeah, I'm.
• 37:22
  Sure. What if he like tears?
• 37:24
  His ACL in practice or something?
• 37:26
  Gosh, I don't. Know then could you like like
• 37:28
  start him for the first minute and sub him out?
• 37:30
  Like literally just put him in the corner a minute.
• 37:33
  Later sub. Him out like he gets the
• 37:35
  appearance. Hey, that counts.
• 37:37
  He could literally be subbed out and the first throwing of the
• 37:42
  game played for one minute. Subbed out team would have to
• 37:46
  burn a. Sub but I think I.
• 37:48
  Think they'll live? Yeah, yeah, I know.
• 37:50
  But. Yeah, exactly.
• 37:50
  Brighton are kind of not, you know, they're going to finish,
• 37:53
  you know, probably 14th where they are now.
• 37:55
  So like, yeah, come on, he deserves a break.
• 37:58
  Yes. All right, Luke.
• 37:59
  Let's move over to Sunderland hosting Liverpool, yeah?
• 38:03
  I thought this game was going to be a little bit better than it
• 38:05
  actually was. Van Dyke, in the 61st minute,
• 38:09
  gets the only goal. Liverpool get the win one now I
• 38:11
  predicted 11 so I'm doing last team in the Premier League to
• 38:16
  lose at home and Liverpool 56% possession, 23 shots and an XG
• 38:21
  of 1.95. Yeah, Sunderland.
• 38:24
  Luca only had eleven shots and an XG of .66.
• 38:27
  Or just, you know, this game was kind of tilted way more towards
• 38:29
  Liverpool's favor, which is surprising because like you
• 38:32
  said, Sunderland have been really good at home.
• 38:34
  Finally, look at the last team. Everybody's now lost at least
• 38:37
  once at home, but it took them 26 weeks and and credit on
• 38:42
  Sunderland. I'm happy.
• 38:43
  Look, I mean they're going to stay up.
• 38:45
  They're probably going to finish mid table.
• 38:47
  They've been an awesome story this year.
• 38:49
  I like their team there. I just feels like they're
• 38:51
  running out of gas here a little bit though. 3 losses in their
• 38:53
  last four announced at 11th. Feels like that's probably where
• 38:57
  they're going to be. So you know, it is what it is.
• 39:02
  You know, Liverpool, like I said, it's a big three points
• 39:04
  for them. We talked about they're sitting
• 39:06
  in six on 42 points. They remain 2 now there, they
• 39:10
  actually move up to be two behind Chelsea.
• 39:12
  So again, I think it's a we got a good battle here for that last
• 39:16
  Champions League spot for the number 5.
• 39:19
  Brentford still even hanging around a little bit.
• 39:21
  Maybe Everton. Bournemouth, probably last year,
• 39:23
  the premier. League season was kind of
• 39:25
  boring, honestly. It was boring, yeah.
• 39:27
  Liverpool ran away with it and then the Champions League spots
• 39:30
  were pretty well wrapped up and the.
• 39:32
  Relegation spot was like the best thing.
• 39:35
  People had the gut to watch, but it was still pretty sealed.
• 39:38
  Yeah, yeah. You're right.
• 39:40
  I know. And that's what I'm, I'm hopeful
• 39:42
  for like that. It has been good.
• 39:44
  Because there's a tight battle for the title and the Champions
• 39:48
  League and there's one more Premier relegation spot that's
• 39:52
  up for grabs that like Tottenham Weeds and Forest and West Ham
• 39:56
  World battling to get out of. But so, yeah, I think this will
• 39:59
  be a lot better than last year. Yeah, I agree with you and.
• 40:02
  I think that sums it up pretty well.
• 40:03
  Is like you've got Arsenal and City battling it out like it's
• 40:07
  one of them is gonna win the title.
• 40:08
  I just don't think Villa, not it's not.
• 40:11
  Yeah, but then. You've got like you said, so
• 40:14
  then there's three more probably Champions League spots, Villa,
• 40:17
  United, Chelsea, Liverpool. Throw Brentford in there, Luca.
• 40:22
  So what for a? Last champions.
• 40:23
  League spot so that Brentford are four behind Chelsea for that
• 40:27
  fifth spot. Do Brentford have a realistic
• 40:29
  chance of Champions League? OK, what makes you say that?
• 40:32
  I mean, that would be that would be a massive upset.
• 40:34
  They would have to jump Chelsea and Liverpool.
• 40:38
  That would be, that would be one of the stories of the year.
• 40:41
  What makes you say? I mean, I know you're not saying
• 40:42
  they're going to get it. You're saying they have a
• 40:43
  chance? Yes.
• 40:45
  OK, tell me why. You think?
• 40:46
  I think because. They proved that against
• 40:48
  Arsenal. They they almost beat us.
• 40:52
  They probably should have beat us.
• 40:52
  That's the last game we'll get to.
• 40:53
  They probably should have beat us.
• 40:56
  Yeah, and I think they could take down Liverpool possibly at
• 41:01
  home or if they or if they've already played them at home,
• 41:04
  they could take them down away. I think they could take down
• 41:07
  some of the biggest teams. I think they definitely have a
• 41:09
  chance. Yeah, I think it's.
• 41:11
  Something look, we're now like 26 weeks in and I to me that's
• 41:16
  like that's a proven track record now, you know, like I
• 41:18
  said, you're 26 weeks in and you're in 7th place on 40
• 41:21
  points. Like they're the real deal and,
• 41:23
  and you know, I've watched a little bit of their games and
• 41:26
  I've been impressed like all season long.
• 41:27
  And then obviously we'll kind of talk about Arsenal, Brentford
• 41:30
  here. But yeah, they're like a
• 41:32
  legitimately good team. I don't think they'll do it, you
• 41:35
  know, but I think they'll be sort of, I think they'll
• 41:37
  probably be 3 or 4 points off of it.
• 41:39
  And I do think they'll probably qualify for a European spot,
• 41:42
  whether it's Europa League or and I think or, or Europa
• 41:45
  Conference League. And I think that will be a huge,
• 41:47
  big deal for that club. You know, with a new manager,
• 41:50
  he's never had any experience. He was a set piece coach.
• 41:54
  Yeah. You know, they're kind of a fun
• 41:56
  team to watch actually. You know, not so much when
• 41:58
  Arsenal's tying them, but they've got some like
• 42:01
  interesting players or great at set pieces.
• 42:03
  They've got the best long thrower in the Premier League by
• 42:06
  a mile. This guy's unbelievable.
• 42:09
  Umm. So anyway, well, let's quickly
• 42:11
  move on. We got Luca, we'll talk about
• 42:12
  Brentford hosting Arsenal the last game of the week.
• 42:15
  Uh, yeah. This came into one, one I don't
• 42:18
  really want to talk about this much I predict to be two.
• 42:20
  One. Arsenal mad awake, a header in
• 42:22
  the 61st minute and Lewis Potter header in the 71st minute.
• 42:26
  Brentford now seven wins, 4 draws and two losses at home
• 42:29
  this year and Arsenal lead shrinks to four points every
• 42:32
  city. So, yeah, yeah.
• 42:34
  So I mean that's. Sort of the story in this game
• 42:36
  from an Arsenal standpoint, you know, it's them dropping points
• 42:39
  again and so you know, City now 4 points behind and it just
• 42:45
  feels like from a momentum standpoint, City have a lot of
• 42:49
  momentum. You know, again, when you watch
• 42:51
  this week, they just blew Fulham out of the water in the first
• 42:55
  half and then cruise in the second-half, right?
• 42:58
  Low stress. Make the substitutions you want,
• 43:00
  get guys rest Arsenal, high stress, right?
• 43:05
  Like we're playing everybody. You're going down to the wire in
• 43:08
  this game, you know, So it's mentally taxing, it's physically
• 43:11
  taxing and it feels like every week it's like that for us.
• 43:14
  I mean, honestly, look, I can think of like the Leeds game and
• 43:17
  maybe what the Burnley game we're like.
• 43:19
  The first Leeds game, Well, the Leeds game we want.
• 43:22
  Probably, OK, let's say both Leeds games, the Sunderland game
• 43:26
  and I guess Burnley, we're like feel like the only easy wins
• 43:30
  that we've even had in Sunderland did.
• 43:31
  You say? Yeah, Sunderland too.
• 43:33
  You know, although that Sunderland game, Luca was that
• 43:35
  was 1 nothing for a while it was, but then.
• 43:38
  We just put 2 on them. Yeah, I know, but I mean.
• 43:40
  You know, in terms of a game where you're just like, almost,
• 43:42
  you go into halftime and you're like, this is done and dusted,
• 43:44
  like we're good. It doesn't feel like that
• 43:46
  happens in the wire. No it did not.
• 43:48
  It did not and it got to be a little bit of an easier win
• 43:51
  there. But like for the if you're top
• 43:53
  of the table, Luke, with 26 weeks in, I feel like we should
• 43:55
  have like 10 of those games where you're like, Oh yeah,
• 43:58
  well, we blew them out. We blew them out.
• 43:59
  That game was over at halftime. Because you need those like easy
• 44:03
  games where you sort of just take care of your business.
• 44:06
  And then like I said, you can make tactical substitutions
• 44:08
  where you're resting. Guys, when did Liverpool?
• 44:10
  Blow out a bunch of teams. They didn't blow out that many
• 44:12
  teams last year. I mean, I, yeah.
• 44:14
  I'd have to look back on it look, but I feel like I do
• 44:16
  remember Liverpool getting, you know, they did have a lot of
• 44:19
  crazy kind of things happen like in they were so lucky.
• 44:22
  They got a little bit of. That too, but there I do feel
• 44:24
  like there were some easy games where they just sort of again
• 44:27
  took care of business and you know, so I don't know Luca, I
• 44:30
  mean like where where are you like where from an opinion like
• 44:33
  for our title race, where do you fall right now with Arsenal
• 44:36
  City? I think it's going to be.
• 44:37
  Very close. OK, so you're.
• 44:39
  Saying this like you're saying this is going down like last
• 44:42
  year you just said boring Liverpool, it's going to go down
• 44:44
  to the. Wire, it's going to go down the
• 44:45
  final day, I think. All right, And who do you?
• 44:47
  Who do you think right now? I'm going to, I'll probably ask
• 44:49
  you this a bunch of times as we run in here, but if week 26, we
• 44:53
  have 12 weeks left, who do you think then takes it in the end,
• 44:57
  I think. It's tough, I.
• 45:01
  Agree with you, it's not an easy call right now you know it's you
• 45:04
  know Arsenal are up by 4 points. Goal differential were plus 32
• 45:08
  City or plus 30. But you figure if City make up
• 45:12
  the difference in points, you know that means we've lost or
• 45:16
  drawn and they've won. So they probably would go ahead
• 45:20
  of us on goal differential if we're on the same points.
• 45:25
  You know what I mean by that? Yeah, Yeah.
• 45:26
  So like. If we tied, yeah, like if we if.
• 45:29
  We tie next week and they win, OK, They've made-up two points,
• 45:32
  but they've also made-up probably 2 in the gold
• 45:33
  differential and they're then equal in gold differential.
• 45:36
  So that gold differential, that's the tiebreaker.
• 45:38
  In case anybody doesn't know, like if you finish same on
• 45:41
  points, the tiebreaker is gold differential.
• 45:43
  So it's I can add a point. It's actually kind of an
• 45:46
  important thing is that's why when like city win 3 nothing and
• 45:49
  we tie, they just gain 3 on us. Yeah.
• 45:54
  All right, come on, You got to give me your pick right now.
• 45:56
  Who do you like? I mean, I know.
• 45:59
  Who you like, but if you had to bet all your soccer cards, your
• 46:02
  most valuable soccer cards? All your soccer right now.
• 46:05
  You bet them all, Luca, on this team.
• 46:07
  Who is your team to who's the team that you think will win?
• 46:09
  Not who you want or who you, you know, hope.
• 46:13
  Who do you think? Oh, man, I'm.
• 46:18
  I want to, I want to say Arsenal.
• 46:21
  OK. All right.
• 46:21
  See. So I think you think Arsenal
• 46:23
  have enough to get it done. Kind of kind of, it's, it's kind
• 46:30
  of impossible to say at this point.
• 46:32
  Still 12 games left. Maybe when there's six games
• 46:36
  left you can ask me, but, well, I'll probably be.
• 46:39
  Asking you almost every week because I do think it's going to
• 46:41
  be very, very tight. It's going to be the massive
• 46:44
  game, of course is Arsenal go to City, I think the end of next
• 46:47
  month maybe I think at the. End of March, maybe.
• 46:49
  End of March, yeah. So you know.
• 46:51
  Next one. So that's a huge, huge game in
• 46:53
  terms of, you know, who knows what the difference in points
• 46:56
  will be going into that game? Who knows who will feel like
• 46:58
  they've got to win or get a tie tie in that game.
• 47:01
  But I I can tell you right now I I definitely feel like city have
• 47:04
  the momentum right now. They've got the healthier squad
• 47:07
  Arsenal, Luca this week. They're without haverts now for
• 47:10
  a month. So leave it in play.
• 47:11
  He was just sick. He didn't.
• 47:13
  He was just sick, I know, but. That's a massive loss.
• 47:15
  So go like you look at Arsenal's win percentage with him, without
• 47:18
  him, it's a huge difference. I mean, he's an important
• 47:21
  player. Luca yeah, you know, I I think
• 47:24
  the guys we have on the bench that can come in do a really
• 47:27
  good job. Mascara played.
• 47:28
  Very well. I thought he did pretty well.
• 47:30
  I thought he did pretty well and he caffier, I think does well,
• 47:33
  you know, but we look at we couldn't even start Cala Fury.
• 47:35
  We couldn't even start soccer, couldn't even start Odegard.
• 47:38
  You know, they came in but not having them and and Luca to me,
• 47:41
  I'm going to give a shout out to your boy Kai Haberts.
• 47:44
  Luca look at the haverts comes when haverts is played and he's
• 47:49
  kind of back healthy, playing significant minutes.
• 47:51
  We blow out leads and Sunderland 4 nothing 3 nothing.
• 47:55
  I'm not saying it's all because of him, but I think Luca, he's
• 47:57
  just that he's that important piece that can do a lot of
• 48:01
  different things and I think he's almost like a little bit of
• 48:03
  the glue when he's missing Luca, it feels like our attack is
• 48:07
  stale, predictable. It's the same thing, right?
• 48:10
  It's play it out wide. Let's Saka try to do something,
• 48:13
  play it out wide, circle it like a horseshoe, pass pass, pass,
• 48:16
  pass, pass, pass. There's no creativity, There's
• 48:18
  no just sort of that little bit of a different dynamic.
• 48:21
  Yocharis Luca feels lost When Haberts was in there felt like
• 48:25
  Yocharis was we were like, what were we saying?
• 48:26
  Hey, he's kind of getting it feels like he's getting it a
• 48:28
  little bit. I think Haberts and provide that
• 48:30
  sort of service that hold up play.
• 48:32
  He's good in the air. So I actually think it's a big
• 48:35
  loss. And again, you know, he's been
• 48:36
  out basically the whole season. He's going to be out now another
• 48:39
  month. But I I was so excited to have
• 48:41
  him back of all people, because I just think he provides
• 48:44
  something different. You know, that look as they
• 48:47
  started this game, Luca, he was not good.
• 48:49
  Got pulled at half time. You know, Odegard to me, Luca,
• 48:52
  just not physical, not quick enough.
• 48:55
  So I don't know, I, I what I worry about.
• 48:57
  It's just the same thing that always seems to bring us down or
• 48:59
  like we can't keep guys healthy. Like when it we had like our our
• 49:04
  first starting 11 and you look at the bench and you're like,
• 49:07
  yeah, there's like four or five guys right off the bench that
• 49:10
  can make a difference in a game, the first game of the season.
• 49:13
  Yeah. I mean, I guess so, you know, I
• 49:15
  mean, but yeah, other than that, it just always feels like, well,
• 49:19
  you know, we have 3 or 4 guys that are out, you know, this
• 49:22
  guy's out for a week. This guy's out for now a month.
• 49:26
  Saka missed four or five weeks. I mean, we can go down the list.
• 49:29
  And then I know every team has injuries.
• 49:31
  I get it. You know, nobody's going to
• 49:32
  like, you know, give us a pity party.
• 49:36
  But, you know, we'll see. Luca.
• 49:37
  It'll be interesting. But all right, Luca.
• 49:39
  Well, let's wrap up the week with your player goal and team
• 49:41
  of the week. My player of the week, I'm going
• 49:46
  with tough call. This week, you know, Yeah.
• 49:53
  Maybe who's I'll I'll go strand Larson for his two goals.
• 50:01
  Yeah, it's good. I think he.
• 50:02
  What I think when he got bought by Wolves, he had one goal in
• 50:05
  the season, so he was against Burnley.
• 50:07
  Right. Yeah, I think all his goals.
• 50:08
  Have been against Burnley, so that's pretty good for him.
• 50:10
  I mean, we're trying to find something positive for Crystal
• 50:12
  Palace, right? They signed him.
• 50:13
  They spent a lot of money on him, but that's I hope he does
• 50:17
  well there. Like I said, he looks like a
• 50:18
  good player. They'll probably sell Mateta in
• 50:20
  the summer, so he's probably going to be their striker moving
• 50:22
  forward. So happy to see him get a brace.
• 50:24
  Good call. Yeah.
• 50:26
  And I've got to give my team the week to Burnley.
• 50:29
  Burnley. OK.
• 50:30
  Yeah, yeah. I mean, that's, yeah, doing
• 50:32
  something like like has only been done five times ever in the
• 50:34
  Premier League. That's really good.
• 50:36
  And they're in eight 19th, so yeah, right.
• 50:38
  Yeah, they're not even. That good?
• 50:40
  And goal. Of the week, I mean, there
• 50:43
  wasn't. Any like screamers this week?
• 50:45
  I was going to say there's. Not really any sort of stand out
• 50:48
  goal maybe. I know.
• 50:57
  I mean, it's, it's, it's tough. There really weren't any kind of
• 51:00
  screamers or great goals. I'll, I'll.
• 51:04
  Just go with O'reilly's O'Reilly, yeah?
• 51:08
  It was pretty nice. It was well taken, a little nice
• 51:11
  trip and. It was like into the top corner.
• 51:13
  Stuff kind of runs off. It's a.
• 51:14
  Good call. Yeah, that was a nice one.
• 51:16
  I like that. All right, Luca, well, we talked
• 51:19
  about this weekend there is no Premier League, but we do have a
• 51:22
  bunch of FA Cup games, so people can tune into that.
• 51:25
  But we will look ahead to Week 27.
• 51:29
  Now we have a little glitch in the schedule.
• 51:31
  Luca, we have 11 games to go through.
• 51:34
  Were your predictions because Arsenal play Wolves midweek
• 51:38
  because that game is getting rescheduled because of the
• 51:41
  Carabao Cup or the League Cup final?
• 51:43
  So because Arsenal have made the League Cup final, they were
• 51:46
  supposed to play Wolves like that day or the day before.
• 51:48
  So they have moved the Arsenal Wolves game to Wednesday.
• 51:53
  Then we have the weekend games. Oh my gosh, we've no.
• 51:57
  Oh my gosh. So yeah.
• 51:59
  Rest what's? No, what is?
• 52:01
  So when are Arsenal going to play the Carabao Cup final?
• 52:04
  The Carabao Cup final. I believe it is it March 22nd,
• 52:07
  but what's the day of the? Week is that.
• 52:11
  I think it's a Sunday, so Sunday March 22nd is the Carabao Cup
• 52:15
  final, which of course is Arsenal versus Sid, so that's
• 52:18
  enough rest. I get like Monday, then Tuesday
• 52:22
  and then the beginning of Wednesday.
• 52:24
  Well, like I. Said that's in March.
• 52:26
  I mean Arsenal I think play Everton that weekend that does.
• 52:31
  Give us a game in hand though, which could be helpful.
• 52:35
  Well, yeah. It's interesting with that, you
• 52:37
  know, like you said, I mean, look, they got to go win, right?
• 52:40
  I mean, you just, you can't. I know it's on the road, but I
• 52:42
  mean, goodness gracious. Well, it's one game all year.
• 52:45
  So you've got to we've got to turn up, give a good
• 52:47
  performance. You know, you've got to just I
• 52:50
  mean, look, ultimately just three points is the only thing
• 52:52
  that matters. So theoretically you're right,
• 52:54
  Luca, like from the psychology of like that you're then seven
• 52:58
  points up before city play, even though city you have a game in
• 53:01
  hand. But I do think there's a little
• 53:04
  something to that, you know, where you can sort of keep ahead
• 53:07
  from the point total, even though, you know, there's that
• 53:10
  game in hand. But I do think you're kind of
• 53:13
  right that that it does help to sort of have it.
• 53:16
  But again, you've got to go win the game.
• 53:18
  And we know we struggled with wolves at home.
• 53:20
  You know, they're going to play a low block, but this is a game.
• 53:24
  I mean, you know, look, this is the first game.
• 53:26
  So I want to know your your pick with it.
• 53:27
  But I mean, you've got it. Arsenal have to meet you have to
• 53:30
  show up here and put in a better performance than we've been
• 53:34
  putting in. You know, we've had such fine
• 53:36
  margins with all our games. Look, it's like we it's like we
• 53:38
  have to win every game one nothing just relying on our
• 53:40
  defense and then we give up a goal and then we end up tying a
• 53:43
  lot of these games. So what do you think the what is
• 53:47
  your call here? Midweek game, not a lot of turn
• 53:50
  around. We're going to wolves.
• 53:52
  What's your pick for the game? Wait before I say.
• 53:54
  That you said the Carabao Cup was when?
• 53:56
  March 20. Second.
• 53:59
  Oh, OK, yeah, but I'm just asking about, like I said,
• 54:03
  Wolves this week on Wednesday here.
• 54:05
  OK, so we have a midweek game against Wolves.
• 54:08
  Like I said, the game got moved because of the Carabao Cup.
• 54:10
  There's nobody else playing. We're going to get into Arsenal,
• 54:13
  have a weekend game too, but like I said, that's why there's
• 54:17
  an extra game that we're going to go through, OK?
• 54:20
  OK. All right, so do you have a pick
• 54:22
  for me for Arsenal Wolves? Any thoughts on the game?
• 54:24
  I'll go. 3131. OK, I'm assuming you're picking
• 54:28
  Arsenal, not Wolves. Well, yeah.
• 54:30
  OK. And.
• 54:31
  Why? Why are you thinking 31 in this
• 54:32
  one? I think we will.
• 54:33
  Get the win here, but I do think maybe Monet will score for them.
• 54:37
  So I think we will kind of cruise to a victory and they'll
• 54:40
  get like a consolation. OK, well, I.
• 54:43
  Mean, tell me like, why do you think we're going to crew?
• 54:44
  We have not been cruising to victory.
• 54:46
  What what is your thought on this one?
• 54:47
  Where that that they are the worst?
• 54:49
  Team in the week so I that's more than just wolves are so.
• 54:52
  Bad. Kind of, I mean.
• 54:54
  We should, we should do that. That's that's why I'm picking
• 54:57
  what we should do. OK.
• 54:59
  All right. All right, how about Chelsea
• 55:01
  versus Burnley? 2 Nothing, Chelsea, we have
• 55:06
  Brentford. Hosting Brighton.
• 55:10
  I'll go O2 No, Brentford. There's no way Brighton's
• 55:15
  winning on the road. Brentford.
• 55:17
  Brentford. Do you?
• 55:18
  Good at home, they get a 2. Nothing win.
• 55:20
  All right. What about Villa hosting Leeds?
• 55:24
  2222. Two OK high scoring game but
• 55:28
  leads seem to be able to grind out some ties here so West Ham
• 55:32
  hosting Bournemouth. 022111111 Tie.
• 55:41
  OK, here's an interesting game I guess.
• 55:44
  City hosting Newcastle. I'm going to go 32 Newcastle, Oh
• 55:55
  my goodness. Newcastle get a win at the end,
• 55:58
  they get in the 90. 5th minute. Oh my gosh.
• 56:01
  Newcastle winner in the 95th minute Harvey Barnes.
• 56:04
  Harvey. Barnes All right, here you go.
• 56:06
  You're on the what? A prediction.
• 56:07
  That would be if I got that correct. 95th minute they win 3,
• 56:10
  two in. It's Harvey Barnes, but you
• 56:12
  heard it here. 1st All right Luca, Nottingham Forest hosting
• 56:17
  Liverpool. Something about like forests,
• 56:22
  how they play Liverpool, they always seem to just get the
• 56:24
  edge. I'm going 1 nothing forest OK.
• 56:29
  All right, yeah, they do. Like I said, play, play them
• 56:31
  tough. Let's see, they'll have a new
• 56:33
  manager coming in, so we'll see if that kind of, you know, gives
• 56:36
  them a little new manager bump or not.
• 56:39
  What about Sunderland hosting Fulham?
• 56:43
  I'm going 0000. There's lots.
• 56:46
  Of Defense Crystal Palace hosting Wolves.
• 56:53
  Ah, I'll go one nil Crystal Palace, OK.
• 56:56
  One nil and we got Everton hosting Man United.
• 57:02
  Oh United win 3131. All right, and then the final
• 57:06
  game, Luca, North London Derby. So like I said, Arsenal quick
• 57:11
  turn around, they play Wolves midweek.
• 57:13
  Then this weekend we have a north London Derby, Spurs
• 57:16
  hosting Arsenal. What do you like for this North
• 57:19
  London Derby and tell me why? As they better play well again,
• 57:26
  you're going to. Get another hat trick and win it
• 57:28
  for us. I mean, yeah.
• 57:29
  We'll need it. It could.
• 57:31
  Well, OK, I think we're going to win three now.
• 57:35
  Oh boy. Jeez.
• 57:37
  Because. It's not home, but I don't care.
• 57:41
  I I think just Spurs are so bad at home.
• 57:44
  It's like a home game for us. It doesn't matter.
• 57:47
  No one cares where you play Spurs.
• 57:50
  They just are not good anywhere. Oh my gosh, that felt good to
• 57:54
  say. Yeah, I I think we just have a
• 58:01
  better overall team on paper than them and I think we'll
• 58:04
  stack them. Yeah.
• 58:06
  So it's. Tricky with Derby games because
• 58:07
  this is a massive rival. This is one of the biggest
• 58:09
  rivalries in the Premier League and Derby games kind of in some
• 58:12
  ways, like all bets are off. You do throw the records out the
• 58:15
  window to a certain extent. You know, I, I, I look, Arsenal
• 58:19
  are clearly a better team. But again, in these kind of
• 58:21
  games, you know, like when City played United, City were clearly
• 58:26
  a better team. United won the game.
• 58:28
  You know, it's like these are the things that can kind of
• 58:30
  happen. You know, look, they're going to
• 58:33
  have a new manager. OK, So that's interesting.
• 58:36
  So new manager can come in. Spurs now have like like a full
• 58:41
  week or almost week and a half now to prepare for this game
• 58:44
  where Arsenal have to play an FA Cup game and a midweek game
• 58:49
  before we even get to this. So we have two games before we
• 58:52
  have to deal with the North London RA, but all this.
• 58:54
  Time to. Sort of prepare to plan again.
• 58:56
  Now who knows? They have a new coach coming in.
• 59:00
  I think I saw that. It's that guy Igor Tutor, who I
• 59:03
  think managed Dortmund, but he's been around a little bit.
• 59:07
  I like I said, I'm not going to pretend like I know anything
• 59:09
  about his plain style or anything like that.
• 59:14
  With Tottenham, they always have a list of about 30 players
• 59:17
  injured. So it's like who's coming back?
• 59:19
  You know injured Romero will be out because of the red card.
• 59:22
  Wait, does he get a? Four-game suspension because of
• 59:25
  the Yeah, it's his second. Red so he gets not the three
• 59:28
  games with the four-game suspension.
• 59:29
  So I I think The thing is, is like you just have no idea what
• 59:33
  to expect with Spurs. And again, think of the City
• 59:36
  game, right? First half, they're awful, like
• 59:38
  one of the worst performances I've seen from any team in the
• 59:40
  Premier League. The second-half they scored two
• 59:42
  goals and they tie them right. I mean, it's like one of them
• 59:45
  was a. Scorpion kick?
• 59:46
  Yeah, one of them is a scorpion. Kick, which I guess you can say
• 59:48
  like well they just got lucky which over down a.
• 59:51
  Rumor, yeah. Like right, Scorpion kick over
• 59:54
  like with the maybe the best goalie in the world.
• 59:55
  Like it's just so I don't know, like, is it that they're just
• 59:59
  like a lucky team to get that result?
• 1:00:01
  Or maybe they did look better in that second-half, But I think
• 1:00:04
  that's the problem. Is you just sort of have like no
• 1:00:06
  idea, new coach, you have no idea the lineup, who's going to
• 1:00:09
  be healthy. It's a Derby game that always
• 1:00:12
  adds an element of just like craziness to it.
• 1:00:14
  So I think it'll be fascinating to watch, to be honest with you.
• 1:00:17
  You know, clearly I'm hoping Arsenal come in and just smash
• 1:00:20
  them and win 3. Nothing.
• 1:00:21
  Like you said, they're terrible at home.
• 1:00:23
  They're just not a very good team.
• 1:00:25
  But it always makes you nervous in this Derby game that
• 1:00:27
  something weird can happen. Emotions run high.
• 1:00:31
  Do we, you know, somebody get a weird red card, you know, does
• 1:00:34
  somebody make a dumb play leads to apk?
• 1:00:37
  You never know. But it's going to be a must win
• 1:00:40
  for us. You know, like I said, you've
• 1:00:41
  got this is where you've got to try to like I said, get the win
• 1:00:43
  against Wolves. You got to be, you know, Spurs
• 1:00:46
  in this situation. So yeah, so interesting week,
• 1:00:49
  Luca, week 27 hard to believe coming up.
• 1:00:51
  But all right, Luca, you ready for our viewer mailbag question.
• 1:00:56
  So the question comes from me to you for our viewer Mailbag has
• 1:01:01
  to involve you, Luca, as a player and some of your
• 1:01:03
  coaching. And I want to know, Luca, like,
• 1:01:06
  what is the best piece of advice a coach has ever given you?
• 1:01:11
  May maybe you have to play team ball.
• 1:01:17
  You can't. You can't play hero Shocker.
• 1:01:21
  Where so describe? That a little bit so hero
• 1:01:23
  shocker. How my coaches describe that is
• 1:01:28
  when you just try and dribble everyone and that never works.
• 1:01:31
  So we have to play team soccer. We have to move the ball around
• 1:01:35
  and you can't just take on five guys because unless you're maybe
• 1:01:39
  Messier and although that's never going to work.
• 1:01:42
  But yeah, that's. I always thought that was good
• 1:01:45
  advice because some kids do do that.
• 1:01:48
  Yeah. I mean, look.
• 1:01:49
  Soccer is a team sport, right? You need everybody, right?
• 1:01:53
  You need the goalie, the defense of midfield, the forwards, and
• 1:01:56
  sort of if one unit is not functioning, it sort of affects
• 1:01:59
  the whole team. And you're right, I've seen it
• 1:02:02
  from what I played and I've seen it watching you from the
• 1:02:04
  sidelines. It very rarely at your level,
• 1:02:08
  Luca, can a player just dribble to an entire team.
• 1:02:10
  But I've seen players try to do it all the time and they always
• 1:02:14
  fail. And they almost always.
• 1:02:15
  Fail and but you know, I think some of the best times I've seen
• 1:02:20
  your team play is when you guys sort of do play as a team and
• 1:02:23
  also you're stringing together some passes and you're, you
• 1:02:25
  know, creating a lot more opportunities.
• 1:02:27
  But you're right. I think it's it's you know, as a
• 1:02:30
  player, knowing when to take a guy on and knowing when to pass.
• 1:02:33
  That's a, you know, a big thing that I think kids sort of have
• 1:02:36
  to learn from a coaching style standpoint.
• 1:02:39
  Luke alike you've had you've had a lot of different coaches and
• 1:02:42
  obviously you were like, like anybody, you're going to respond
• 1:02:45
  to certain coaches better than others.
• 1:02:47
  Like what is the type of coaching style that you respond
• 1:02:51
  to the most? Like you really are like, like
• 1:02:53
  when you think back on your like, boy, that coach was great.
• 1:02:56
  They're one of my best coaches. Like, what is it about a coach
• 1:02:59
  for you, you personally that sort of makes it like where you
• 1:03:02
  really make that connection? Like a good coach for me is one
• 1:03:08
  that doesn't like punish you for your mistakes, but tell Z what
• 1:03:13
  you can do better to fix that and to learn from that.
• 1:03:17
  And that will push you to your limits, but not in a bad way and
• 1:03:24
  will just overall help you if you need help on like a scale or
• 1:03:30
  move or when do you want move something like that or like a
• 1:03:35
  pass or the way you pass or something.
• 1:03:38
  But that makes that would make a good coach for me.
• 1:03:41
  Yeah, that. I that I like that, Luke, and
• 1:03:43
  you're right because I've seen coaches where you can't just
• 1:03:46
  yell at a kid to not do something right Like I, I, how
• 1:03:49
  is that ever going? To work right like explain.
• 1:03:51
  To him, like, you know, I see it all the time, like and also kids
• 1:03:55
  a lot of times know when they've screwed up.
• 1:03:56
  They know when they made a bad pass, you know, when you've
• 1:03:58
  given the ball away, like don't tell somebody like stop giving
• 1:04:01
  the ball away. Like how's that helpful exactly?
• 1:04:04
  You know, like. You.
• 1:04:05
  Know, and so you're right, I think coaches that can take the
• 1:04:08
  time and sort of explain like, OK, the reason why I saw you
• 1:04:12
  give the ball away was you didn't do this, you know, tell
• 1:04:16
  you tell somebody that rather than stop giving the ball away.
• 1:04:18
  You're like, I know I'm not trying to give the ball away.
• 1:04:21
  You know, like we've all been in those situations or you you make
• 1:04:24
  a bad pass, you know, you see somebody that's open, you're
• 1:04:26
  like, I play that pass and they're in for a goal and you
• 1:04:28
  overhit it, you know, like don't just yell, you know, make a
• 1:04:32
  better pass. Like, yeah, I know, I know I
• 1:04:34
  need to make a better pass. You know, tell them like people
• 1:04:36
  could take a little bit off of it or maybe try to curve it
• 1:04:39
  around or, you know, play it kind of like into space, let
• 1:04:41
  them run onto it. You know, I think you're right.
• 1:04:43
  And and maybe this sounds obvious, but not all coaches do
• 1:04:47
  do that. You know, and you're right.
• 1:04:48
  I think taking the time as a coach to sort of explain, you
• 1:04:52
  know, and look, I get it's probably going to be frustrating
• 1:04:54
  at times when coaches probably have explained things to kids
• 1:04:57
  different times and you see them make the same mistake again and
• 1:04:59
  again. Like I understand that
• 1:05:00
  frustration. But yeah, I think that's I think
• 1:05:03
  that's good. I think you're right.
• 1:05:04
  Look, I think by most people would say they would respond to
• 1:05:06
  a coach like that. So all right, look, well, that's
• 1:05:09
  good. I like that from mail back
• 1:05:10
  question. Get your insights on coaching.
• 1:05:13
  All right, look, well, let's move over to our did you know
• 1:05:15
  section. We continue to roll through the
• 1:05:18
  Premier League teams. We are up to Sunderland AFC.
• 1:05:21
  The Black Cats Luca red and white stripes shirts with black
• 1:05:27
  shorts of the classic colors of Sunderland.
• 1:05:30
  They were founded in 1879 by a school teacher named James
• 1:05:34
  Allen. They joined the Football League
• 1:05:36
  in 1890. The 91 season.
• 1:05:40
  They're actually look a First Division champs in 189293 and
• 1:05:45
  95. So they were crushing it in the
• 1:05:47
  1890s, they were nicknamed look at the team of all talents.
• 1:05:53
  They won again in 19 O2 1913 and 1936.
• 1:05:57
  So they have 6 top flight championships to Sunderland's
• 1:06:01
  names now. They haven't won one since the
• 1:06:03
  193536 season. But hey, listen, that's that's
• 1:06:07
  you know, six more than a lot of other clubs.
• 1:06:09
  Still more than. Arsenal.
• 1:06:11
  Well, no, not. For top flight champ, these are
• 1:06:13
  just This is top flight championships, not just Premier
• 1:06:15
  League championships. How many?
• 1:06:17
  Top flight championships did we want I have.
• 1:06:19
  To look back on the episode, I'm not quite sure, but I mean,
• 1:06:22
  we've won three Premier League titles.
• 1:06:24
  I think it's like 18 or something, but they've won two
• 1:06:27
  FA Cups, one Charity Shield, so they have some decent trophies
• 1:06:31
  in their trophy room. They look are owned by Kiril
• 1:06:36
  Lewis Dreyfus. His family has a small ownership
• 1:06:40
  and Olympic Marseille as well. He's 28 years old, that guy.
• 1:06:44
  Yeah. And the other owner is Juan
• 1:06:47
  Sartori. He's a Uruguayan, so mostly
• 1:06:51
  owned by this guy, Kira Lewis Dreyfus.
• 1:06:53
  And his family has a lot of money.
• 1:06:54
  Is that young? For that's very young to own a.
• 1:06:57
  Team at that age, yes, it's very, very young, but he came
• 1:07:00
  from a lot of money. His family has a lot a lot of
• 1:07:03
  money. So what?
• 1:07:04
  How? I don't.
• 1:07:06
  Know their business, so they're big.
• 1:07:10
  For no questions, Luca is Newcastle.
• 1:07:12
  The Tyneware Darby Yeah, they play at the Stadium of Light,
• 1:07:18
  which hose is a 49,000 capacity stadium.
• 1:07:21
  It opened in 1997, so it's one of the newer stadiums.
• 1:07:25
  They used to play at a place called Roker Park.
• 1:07:27
  They play there from 1898 to 1997.
• 1:07:30
  So Stadium of Light, like I said, a newer one call the
• 1:07:34
  Stadium of Light Luca, because a lot of coal mining in this area,
• 1:07:38
  you think of coal miners Luca, they hold that Davy lamp, that
• 1:07:41
  sort of famous lamp that go down to the coal mines with so the
• 1:07:43
  light from the lamp. And in fact, they have a big
• 1:07:45
  Davy lamp statue because you walk up there to honor like the
• 1:07:49
  heritage of the area. The only other statue Luca is a
• 1:07:53
  guy named Bob, I guess Stoko Stoko, he was a world famous
• 1:07:59
  manager. He managed from from 72 to 76
• 1:08:02
  and he also managed in 1987, but probably the most famous manager
• 1:08:06
  at Sunderland ever and he won that like FA Cup Luca those in
• 1:08:11
  like I said, the 7273 FA Cups Luca they are high as Premier
• 1:08:17
  League finish with 7th they did. They did that.
• 1:08:20
  In the 99 two thousand season and then the O1 O2 season, they
• 1:08:25
  finished with 58 points and I was looking I was like, could
• 1:08:28
  they maybe get that on 36 points right now?
• 1:08:31
  So they would need 22 points from their last twelve games.
• 1:08:36
  Feels like a lot. I mean.
• 1:08:38
  The most you could get is 36. That's if they win.
• 1:08:41
  Every game, yes. That's why yeah, probably if you
• 1:08:45
  if. Like with 12 games left, if you
• 1:08:47
  win 6 and drew four that gets you 22, but that's like six
• 1:08:52
  wins, 4 draws and too long Feels a lot.
• 1:08:54
  Feels like a lot so I don't. Know if Sunderland are going to
• 1:08:56
  equal their record highest finish or point total but still
• 1:08:59
  having a great season this year. They're newly promoted this
• 1:09:02
  year. Some of their club legends.
• 1:09:04
  Luca Kevin Phillips record Premier League goal scorer for
• 1:09:08
  them. He played from 97 to O3, Jimmy
• 1:09:11
  Monab, most appearances ever, Kieran Richardson, Niall Quinn,
• 1:09:17
  Bobby Kerr. He was the captain of the 73 FA
• 1:09:19
  Cup team. Brian CLO, Lynn Shackleton, Luko
• 1:09:23
  Nyan has been there since 2018. He still plays there.
• 1:09:27
  Of course, our coach now, Regice Labrese, He was, he was at
• 1:09:31
  Laureate. He's a French manager.
• 1:09:33
  He's about 50 years old and he's been there since 2024.
• 1:09:37
  Premier League players to come through Pickford, Jordan
• 1:09:40
  Henderson, Darren Bent, Simo Minole Danny Welbeck was there
• 1:09:44
  on loan Van Anholt, James McLean who played it.
• 1:09:49
  Wrexham, Claudio. Reyna's.
• 1:09:52
  Dad was a Great American player back in the day.
• 1:09:55
  Jermaine Defoe, John O'Shea, Marcus Alonso was on loan there.
• 1:10:01
  Johnny Evans, I think. Calvin Phillips even too.
• 1:10:06
  They're high. Most expensive buy ever.
• 1:10:08
  Habib Dyara this summer. Got bought from.
• 1:10:13
  Strasbourg for 40.7 million and their biggest sale.
• 1:10:18
  Jude's brother, a job Joe. Bellingham.
• 1:10:22
  Got sold to Dortmund for the same amount, $40.7 million.
• 1:10:25
  So that's just a little bit on kind of the history of
• 1:10:28
  Sunderland. Luca, that's cool.
• 1:10:30
  All right, real quick, Luca. We'll plug our Instagram page
• 1:10:34
  Premier League playground on Instagram we have a YouTube
• 1:10:37
  channel Premier League Playground.
• 1:10:39
  E-mail us with any questions, concerns, plugs,
• 1:10:43
  premierleagueplayground@gmail.com. So we're going to end our show
• 1:10:47
  with our penalty Kick trivia shootout.
• 1:10:49
  Luca, do you want to go first or second?
• 1:10:51
  I will ask. 1st All right. Luca Go, who is Manchester?
• 1:10:54
  United's all time leading goal scorer I for all my questions I
• 1:10:59
  have choices if needed. All right, I'm.
• 1:11:02
  Assuming this is Premier League or just all time?
• 1:11:04
  All time? I think these are all Premier
• 1:11:07
  League questions you have. I'm going to go with my answer
• 1:11:10
  is going to be Wayne Room. That was correct.
• 1:11:12
  All. Right, All right, Luco, who
• 1:11:14
  holds the Premier League record for most all time Arsenal
• 1:11:19
  assists. So Premier League record for the
• 1:11:22
  most assist ever by an Arsenal player?
• 1:11:26
  Oh, wait, was it? What's your name?
• 1:11:29
  Where's it? Bergkamp?
• 1:11:31
  I will tell you that it. Is one of the two I I know.
• 1:11:35
  OK. All right.
• 1:11:36
  Well, that kind of oh, geez, Bergkamp, what did if I get a
• 1:11:41
  good amount of assist? But then we talked about how
• 1:11:44
  like Henri got a bunch of the like what leading assists,
• 1:11:48
  didn't he? Or was that the going?
• 1:11:50
  Oh crap, Bergkamp it is Bergkamp.
• 1:11:56
  Let's. Go Dennis Bergkamp at. 94
• 1:11:59
  assists. He played from 95 to 2006.
• 1:12:02
  Yeah, just won an Arsenal legend as a statue outside the state.
• 1:12:06
  All right, look. What's your second one?
• 1:12:07
  More one. Who is the all time leading goal
• 1:12:10
  scorer in Syria history Syria. History.
• 1:12:15
  It's not like. I don't know this player very
• 1:12:18
  well, but I have choices. I'm just going to wager.
• 1:12:22
  A guess. I'm going to say Del Piero.
• 1:12:25
  Well, that wasn't even one of the choices.
• 1:12:28
  Silvio Piola. Oh wow, you could have asked for
• 1:12:32
  choices. Who is Liverpool's captain?
• 1:12:37
  Isn't it Van Dyke? It is Virgil.
• 1:12:39
  Van Dyke. OK, how many Champions League
• 1:12:43
  titles has Cristiano Ronaldo won in his career?
• 1:12:46
  Champions League. Titles. 5.
• 1:12:50
  Correct. OK, 32.
• 1:12:53
  All right, Luca. What is the highest scoring game
• 1:12:56
  in the Premier League this season?
• 1:12:58
  So about 2/3 of the way through the season, what was the highest
• 1:13:01
  scoring game? Oh, oh, isn't it Fulham City?
• 1:13:07
  Yeah. What was the?
• 1:13:08
  Score 5 four. Yeah. 54.
• 1:13:10
  I was on December 2nd, City 154 they are up five one and Fulham
• 1:13:15
  came back and almost tied but they did like.
• 1:13:19
  Josh King had like 1 cleared off the line in the last minute.
• 1:13:21
  Yeah, could have been ten goals, nine goals and that.
• 1:13:24
  One could have been ten. Yeah, that's our highest scoring
• 1:13:26
  game so far this year. All right, that's a manager.
• 1:13:28
  Trivia for you Which country is Michael Archeta from?
• 1:13:32
  Spain Yeah, I. Knew you'd get that one but the
• 1:13:35
  other two are not as easy. I think he's from San.
• 1:13:38
  Sebastian in Spain and area well, you.
• 1:13:41
  Even know the city, you're right.
• 1:13:43
  Luca speaking to managers who is born this current manager Ariel.
• 1:13:48
  Arioli. Yep.
• 1:13:49
  He's another Spanish manager. He's been managing them since
• 1:13:52
  July of 2023. I don't know who's Spanish.
• 1:13:55
  OK. And in fact.
• 1:13:56
  I think Speaking of Arteta, I think they're actually friends
• 1:13:58
  because they're from the same area of Spain.
• 1:14:00
  Oh cool. They knew.
• 1:14:02
  Each other, I think just even coming up to managerial ranks
• 1:14:05
  and maybe even before that. But yeah, they're from, I think
• 1:14:07
  they're pretty sure they're from the same area.
• 1:14:08
  That's pretty cool. Which country is Pochettino
• 1:14:11
  from? I believe he is from Argentina,
• 1:14:17
  correct? All right, Luca.
• 1:14:19
  Champions League this year, OK, we are in a little bit of a
• 1:14:23
  lull, but the top eight teams in the Champions League table have
• 1:14:26
  a bye. They don't have to play in the
• 1:14:27
  next round. Can you name me the top eight
• 1:14:30
  teams that are in the in the Champions League?
• 1:14:33
  In no particular order. So you have 8 teams, OK.
• 1:14:37
  Arsenal, they're number. One Bayern.
• 1:14:39
  They're number. 2. PSG.
• 1:14:41
  No. They did not qualify in the top
• 1:14:44
  eight. What?
• 1:14:45
  Yeah, what did? Barcelona.
• 1:14:48
  Barcelona finishing, they have fifth Real Madrid.
• 1:14:52
  They did not. They did not either.
• 1:14:55
  That's insane. Your PSG, It's Tottenham.
• 1:14:58
  I know they did. Tottenham 4th. 4th is
• 1:15:03
  diabolical. That's crazy.
• 1:15:05
  I know. Wait, who is doing well?
• 1:15:12
  I know Inter didn't. Inter did not.
• 1:15:15
  They were off to that insane. Run and then who finished third?
• 1:15:24
  I'm trying to think somewhat. A lot of them are like big.
• 1:15:31
  Clubs you would think would be there.
• 1:15:33
  You know, you mentioned some of the big ones that are not, but
• 1:15:36
  there's one very surprising team that I almost forgot Dortmund.
• 1:15:40
  No. No, it's a good call though.
• 1:15:42
  But no, it's not Dortmund. I think we're done.
• 1:15:44
  With Premier League, no we are not.
• 1:15:47
  Definitely not done with Premier League teams, yeah.
• 1:15:49
  Goodness. Yeah, definitely not done.
• 1:15:51
  Good heavens. Liverpool.
• 1:15:54
  Yeah, they finished third. Newcastle.
• 1:15:56
  No. Oh my gosh, how are we not done?
• 1:15:59
  And then? Well, you're missing two big
• 1:16:02
  boys here, City. City finished in eighth.
• 1:16:06
  Steve finished in. Eighth.
• 1:16:07
  Yeah. They snuck into eighth on that
• 1:16:09
  last day. A lot happened and they got
• 1:16:11
  eighth spot. There's.
• 1:16:13
  So 2. More One more Premier League
• 1:16:15
  team and then one more United's not.
• 1:16:18
  In the Champions League though, so villain?
• 1:16:21
  Nope, Chelsea and then the. Last one, not a team from any of
• 1:16:29
  the big 5 leagues. What?
• 1:16:35
  Yeah, not from SO. Not from France, England, Italy,
• 1:16:38
  Spain or Germany. So what's sort of maybe like the
• 1:16:41
  next biggest league and one of their best teams?
• 1:16:46
  Portugal. Oh.
• 1:16:49
  Sporting Sporting finished in. 7th.
• 1:16:52
  Yeah, wow, they finished higher in the city.
• 1:16:56
  Yeah, on this. They beat PSG, Yeah, I know they
• 1:17:00
  they. Obviously they did really well.
• 1:17:02
  I have one more. Consolation question for you,
• 1:17:04
  which country is Roberto Martinez from?
• 1:17:08
  Roberto Martinez, I'm pretty sure is he, I was going to say
• 1:17:15
  Belgium, but I think he just, that's one of the choices.
• 1:17:17
  Honest, yeah, but I don't think. That's it.
• 1:17:19
  Because I think he he manages Belgium, right?
• 1:17:22
  I've definitely heard of. This guy, I I heard his name,
• 1:17:26
  but I'm gonna go with I mean, you could just ask for choices.
• 1:17:30
  No, no, I don't want. Choices.
• 1:17:31
  I'm gonna go with Belgium. I mean, I don't think that's it
• 1:17:34
  though, Did it really? Did that name really sound
• 1:17:36
  Belgian? No it does not.
• 1:17:37
  Spain. Spain I was.
• 1:17:39
  I was well, my other guests would have been Italy.
• 1:17:42
  Choices were. Belgium, Spain, Argentina and
• 1:17:44
  Europe. I didn't think I'd have two.
• 1:17:45
  You have two Spanish choices. Those.
• 1:17:49
  Oh my goodness. Alright, well, there it is.
• 1:17:51
  There's another episode in the books.
• 1:17:55
  There's the final lesson that's full time for us.
• 1:17:57
  Thank you for listening. Bye.