Latest / Let's Kick It Off! / Ep 36: United Activating Crisis Mode Already?!
Transcript
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- 0:22Store. Let's kick it off.
- 0:39I'm Steve and I'm joined by Ash as Ron and Scott and it's the
- 0:45biggest pod we've ever done because Manchester United are in
- 0:50crisis mode after two games into the season.
- 0:53We've picked up one point in those two games.
- 0:56We had a defeat against Arsenal at Old Trafford and we picked up
- 1:00a point at Craven Cottage on the weekend.
- 1:03We drew one all so we'll get straight into it.
- 1:06I'm going to come to Scott first because I feel Scott is the most
- 1:09disgruntled out of all of us and possibly all of the United fans
- 1:13and the Let's Kick It Off community.
- 1:15So, Scott, starting with the game on Sunday, what did you
- 1:18make of that game against Fulham and United's performance?
- 1:22Yeah, it didn't surprise me. I wasn't expecting a thumping,
- 1:27but I think overall, yeah, I have to say that this, but I
- 1:34think I said it before, it's one, it's the worst full of team
- 1:37that we've probably played. They've not strengthened and
- 1:41they've got weaker and the fact we didn't actually get all three
- 1:46points just as it all to me. So yeah.
- 1:49So I think the performance, the 1st 10 minutes was a mirror of
- 1:54Arsenal, exactly the same, you know, nice football, nice
- 1:59movement, connection and all that kind of stuff.
- 2:02But after about 10-15 minutes it just dropped off.
- 2:06The high press kind of dropped and then Fulham exposed us.
- 2:10Like pretty much every club that exposes for the past 8-9 months,
- 2:16there's just no spine to us in terms of the sediment field
- 2:22which then just left us exposed. So yeah, for me, I think the
- 2:28draw was fair. I don't think we deserve to win
- 2:31it. I don't think we created enough
- 2:32chances, goal scoring opportunities, OK, we hit the
- 2:34post, but I just think we didn't create enough.
- 2:39And spending 200 + 1,000,000, that should be creating and
- 2:44scoring. It's Fulham.
- 2:47We should be getting 3 points and should be scoring a few
- 2:50goals at Fulham. With no disrespect to Fulham,
- 2:52but yeah, I just thought I was expecting that similar
- 2:58performance basically. No, it's, it's fine for Scott.
- 3:00It's a United part of we can disrespect Fulham, I'm sorry,
- 3:03but we should be beaten. We should be beaten.
- 3:04Fulham, I'm sorry. Like we're we're Manchester
- 3:06United. We have a huge Dick as shown by
- 3:11signing Cesco when you know other clubs were in forms, as I
- 3:14saw you kind of pull in your face when Scott said you know
- 3:17Fulham our team, we should be beaten.
- 3:19Does that mean you think Fulham are a good team and you know we
- 3:23shouldn't? Do you actually rate rate Marco
- 3:25Silva? No, it was, it was more, I think
- 3:28we should obviously want to beat Fulham.
- 3:30It was more, this is the worst Fulham team we've ever played.
- 3:32I actually think Premier League's just generally a lot
- 3:35stronger. So I don't think we're, it's the
- 3:36word and I do, I do rate Marco Silva in as a, as a manager.
- 3:40I think he's a very good manager and it's a decent team.
- 3:43But yeah, we should be winning. You know, we, we, we go into
- 3:45these games, I went into the game expecting to win.
- 3:49You want three points from from this type of fixture.
- 3:52It was more a comment on I do think this is a decent Fulham
- 3:56squad and a good manager, well coached.
- 3:58But yeah, you'd expect us to, well, you want us to get the
- 4:01three points And even if you know, we generally have a really
- 4:04good record as as well at Craven Cottage, even if we're usually
- 4:08like it's some last minute goal, even it even when we had prime
- 4:11Ronaldo, it was like we needed the last minute goal, but we
- 4:14usually pull something. Out the last eight games at
- 4:17Fulham we've won. It's 50, 15 years we have gone
- 4:21undefeated at Craven Cottage, so I know we didn't lose, but yeah,
- 4:25that that tells you how. Good.
- 4:26The record is it eight in a row and if we had won it would have
- 4:29been a record against, yeah, it would against any team away from
- 4:34home so. Just had to be right when you
- 4:35know it's going to be a club record, it just doesn't happen.
- 4:38Yeah, Reuben had history against him, so that that's the reason
- 4:41we didn't win. Yeah, just looking at the
- 4:43history, it's like all of these games are by one goal.
- 4:46There's a few that but it's it's always been close so but you
- 4:52still want to win, you still want to win the football
- 4:53matches. I thought we started really
- 4:55well. I was really excited.
- 4:58I love Cunha, just think he's brilliant, such a good player,
- 5:01such a good signing. I just want to keep watching
- 5:03him. He was unlucky wasn't he Like
- 5:05hit the, hit the post that was unlucky, hit the post and the
- 5:07one he brought down, the one he brought down from behind, there
- 5:10would have been some goal he scored that.
- 5:12Obviously myself and Scott are on polar opposite when it comes
- 5:15to to Bruno. And I was like, yes, Bruno's
- 5:18going to score and then he goes and hits it into, yeah,
- 5:22Hammersmith somewhere. So that was that was
- 5:25disappointing. To be fair to Bruno was he was
- 5:28very hardly done by the referee, right?
- 5:29So we will have to feel sorry for that nudge from the referee,
- 5:33is that right? That was really weird, wasn't
- 5:36it? The whole referee thing?
- 5:37I said like, great, just calm down.
- 5:39And then after that he seemed to, he seemed to lose his head
- 5:42right for the rest of the game, which didn't help.
- 5:46But so you actually think like, he's got no excuses.
- 5:50And what's he talking about Bruno in this instance?
- 5:53100% I mean, he even said after the game that's not a reason to
- 5:56miss a penalty. He didn't say, oh, the referee
- 5:58bumped me, that's why I missed it.
- 6:00So yeah, that's but. Even bringing it up the.
- 6:04Thing is he Ruben? Ruben said the same thing
- 6:06though. He.
- 6:06Didn't bring up the. Ruben said he had a bad attitude
- 6:10or he didn't start the game in the right frame of mind, so.
- 6:15You just need to mention the apology as in.
- 6:17This is this is your club captain, this is your club
- 6:19captain. And the fact that he's coming
- 6:22into a post match interview and is saying I'm waiting for the
- 6:26referee to apologise to me. I mean, this sums up where this
- 6:30football club is at that your club captain is more worried
- 6:33about that than actually focusing on the penalty and
- 6:36putting the penalty away. And even if you think like that,
- 6:39even if you are concerned about referee apologising to to me,
- 6:44don't come out and say in the media this is your club captain.
- 6:48Pathetic. Yeah, I I totally agree with
- 6:50that. I mean, I think I said it on the
- 6:51WhatsApp chat straight away, like, you know what?
- 6:53Because you could see him whining about something and it's
- 6:55Bruno, right? So he could be whining about
- 6:57anything. But I was like trying to compute
- 6:58it in my head. Is he actually whining that the
- 7:01referee touched him? I mean, doesn't that show that
- 7:04he's like pissed off generally? And is that maybe to do with the
- 7:07position he's playing on the? Pitch There was some rumours I
- 7:10don't know if you guys heard a couple of days before the game
- 7:13they were talking about rumours had circulated again about Saudi
- 7:16and I think there's still some some rumours today around
- 7:19potential last minute last couple of days at the window.
- 7:22So you just wonder, you know, was that potentially playing on
- 7:24his mind? And you know, the fact we know
- 7:26what he's like, you know, sometimes, you know, he's not
- 7:29necessarily the the most strong world of characters and has that
- 7:32affected his performance was going into because I think I
- 7:34noticed it in the first 5 minutes.
- 7:36You know, again, he was sort of throwing his arms around.
- 7:38He was going back to his usual self from last year, moaning and
- 7:41whining, and he didn't have a great game in general.
- 7:45I do feel sorry for him though because he's been put in this
- 7:47position by the manager. In terms of the position he's
- 7:50playing. Well, it's not even a position,
- 7:52right? He's all over the place like and
- 7:55you know, that happened obviously last Sunday.
- 7:57We were there and I, I know Scott, you were very vocal about
- 8:02that during the game and afterwards and rightly.
- 8:05I mean anything else you wanted to add regarding like how he was
- 8:10on the pitch in terms of like positionally or did he have a
- 8:14position? It's good with the stats that
- 8:17you can see the heat map. He's all over the place.
- 8:20He's like a headless chicken and he and he's been that for a
- 8:23number of months. And this is where Ruben is
- 8:26saying that he's a #8 #8 is a centre midfielder and he can't
- 8:32play that position because he doesn't stay there.
- 8:34And that's where you need a player that's got that ability.
- 8:37But also it's that the bloody word I use this morning.
- 8:41But it was kind of you've got to be so disciplined in that
- 8:46position that you don't go left back, you don't go right back.
- 8:49You've got to play that centre midfield position as that, but
- 8:53he's all over the place, he's everywhere.
- 8:56And I think this is Bruno as a #10 You can let him do what you
- 9:00want. And now that we've got multiple
- 9:04number 10s is that he's no longer that kind of focal point.
- 9:08So I look at it and kind of go, yes, he has to play a different
- 9:11role as a #8 which is probably not like him because he's no
- 9:15longer that focal point, that person.
- 9:17Everything goes through. He's got two players ahead of
- 9:19him now are really excited that everyone's talking about.
- 9:23I think he's that petulant that he's probably looking at that
- 9:26and going well, I'm no longer the main man, they're not.
- 9:30They're no longer using me as everything that goes through me
- 9:32and the focal point of a football game kind of things.
- 9:37I just think he's that type of player, that type of person that
- 9:41he will start throwing his toys out of the pram.
- 9:43And if, if there is an offer, tell me what the offer is, the
- 9:47flight number, we'll get him there.
- 9:50Because you'll be driving, you'll be driving the plane,
- 9:51Scott. Well, the thing I did think that
- 9:53you were asking for a #8 and we're talking and I will
- 9:55probably talk mainly later, but I look at it and kind of go, we
- 9:59know our centre midfield position is weak as what it is
- 10:03now. You look at Casameres, probably
- 10:06doesn't look like he's going, he's probably got a year left at
- 10:09best. And then you look at the other
- 10:11two midfields, there's still question marks around you got
- 10:13to, even though I rate them highly, mainly you should be in
- 10:17the 1st 11 full stop. There shouldn't be even an
- 10:19argument about it, but there's still that question mark of a
- 10:22cinema fielder and whoever that may be, believer or whatever.
- 10:26You've got 100 million for your 30 year old X #10 take it.
- 10:32Go sign believer and have a core midfield that can be disciplined
- 10:39and play in those positions. Where I want to go back to
- 10:43Carlos Believer in a bit when we talk about maybe transfers
- 10:47because I've got my own take on that having watched another
- 10:49game. But I guess like moving it on
- 10:52slightly because you guys have covered it in terms of how we
- 10:55started and how we ended. Unless Steve, you wanted to
- 10:58mention anything else. So obviously after the game
- 11:02there was a couple of quotes from Fulham.
- 11:06So Marco Silva was talking about the game plan and then Alex
- 11:12Hawaii. The quote is we knew that we
- 11:15would be able to get behind their two midfielders and that
- 11:17their centre backs would want to jump.
- 11:19So we talked a lot about this for the first couple of weeks
- 11:25regarding the pod, as you were very vocal on 2 in the middle
- 11:29being OK, you didn't even care apparently at one point in terms
- 11:33of like who Bruno's partner going to change your mind on
- 11:37that? No, I do care about who Bruno's
- 11:38partner is. I think that's the big weakness
- 11:41in this team. The the holding midfielder
- 11:45position's an issue and and I feel sorry for Bruno because
- 11:48he's getting asked to do just too many jobs and he's
- 11:52everywhere and he does need to calm down.
- 11:54So I agree with Scott, like positionally, it's never been
- 11:57his strength. It's it's always a trade off
- 11:59with players, right. No, there's no perfect
- 12:01footballer in the world. Even Ronaldo and Messi, right,
- 12:04didn't do their defensive job or their pressing or whatever.
- 12:07You always have trade-offs at the moment and Bappe Harland of
- 12:10the the Goats and you know, Harlan to link play isn't that
- 12:14great and Mbappe's defensive work, etcetera.
- 12:18So I feel sorry for Bruno because not having that partner
- 12:21in midfield is an issue. I I kind of laughed at the
- 12:24reaction to the silver and Iwobi quotes.
- 12:26It's like it sounded like old Fulham somehow dominated the
- 12:29game and they, you know, it was like, no, it was an even game.
- 12:32I think a draw was a fair result.
- 12:35We were on top at certain periods.
- 12:37I thought we actually, my concern was more, I actually
- 12:40think we played the first half well.
- 12:42It was more the second-half when the changes are made and we
- 12:45lost. Casamira comes off the pitch who
- 12:47can't last because he's just not got the legs anymore.
- 12:51I know Scott, you mentioned Agarte.
- 12:52I'd love you to talk more about Ugarte because I think he's been
- 12:56quite poor at United and I, I felt like we need the one thing
- 13:03I'd say Reuben versus 10 Hog is he, I think he analysed the game
- 13:06well and he said, oh, when once we'd scored the goal, we lost
- 13:10our heads. We didn't try and control the
- 13:13game. We got nervous and we were
- 13:14trying to protect the result. But I also felt he himself with
- 13:18his substitutions, I was going to say maybe, he said he
- 13:21contradicts. Himself.
- 13:21Maybe, maybe no no, because this is the thing I'm trying.
- 13:25To think he did, he did. I'll tell you why I contradicted
- 13:26himself because he put, he said we were thinking about the
- 13:29result and then he goes and makes substitutions where he
- 13:33takes off Ahmad puts on Dallow, he takes off mount and puts on
- 13:38Agate. So automatically his formation,
- 13:40his tactics, his team line up is about trying to protect the
- 13:44results. So he himself is doing that, yet
- 13:47he's putting on his players. Well, actually, if you set the
- 13:49team up in that way and make decisions in that way to try and
- 13:52protect the result, what do you think is going to happen?
- 13:53Your players are going to perform in that.
- 13:55Way so I, I, I basically agree with you.
- 13:57So I was like, that makes no sense.
- 13:59Obviously in my imaginary mind, I had a conversation with Reuben
- 14:03and trying to work out what does it how, how does this make
- 14:06sense? And I think how it makes sense
- 14:08is he saw the team doing this and then he did the wrong thing.
- 14:12So I, I felt his substitutions. I'm with you, Ron.
- 14:14I didn't like his substitutions. It almost was like he sensed the
- 14:18team needed more defensive stability and therefore bought
- 14:21those players on. But it made baited the problem
- 14:24and then Fulham got on top. While I felt like up to that
- 14:29point we were the better team, I felt like our goal was pure
- 14:33luck. I was like, wow, we got some
- 14:35luck for once, but I felt it was deserved.
- 14:37We should have been leading at that point.
- 14:38Yeah, based on the chance problem.
- 14:40The goal, yeah, but then from the goal was the bit where I
- 14:43felt like when he made the changes, Casimira off the one
- 14:46you mentioned, Dallow for Ahmad wasn't having a good game, but
- 14:50Dallow, terrible mistake on the goal.
- 14:52We don't track the run. Bruno Bruno Bruno's not trucking
- 14:56as well. You look at on the goal it was 3
- 14:58and Bruno but. That's the problem, guys.
- 15:03Like that's all Bruno's. Exactly.
- 15:05That's not Bruno's role there, guys.
- 15:07And this is the. Point why you shouldn't be
- 15:09playing central you. Have to play your you have to
- 15:11play your best players in the best positions.
- 15:13Like football's a real simple game.
- 15:15Like this guy's almost back to the starting lineups for the
- 15:18last two weeks. Like we're playing with no
- 15:20striker. Well, I think as to your point
- 15:21then I think we can we can roll it back.
- 15:23So if we talk about strategy and we rolled it back to the start
- 15:26of the transfer window, if you had 200 million, so you know the
- 15:30start of the window, I think none of us knew.
- 15:32And I include all funds in that. How much budget do we truly
- 15:35have? You know, financially we're
- 15:36going through a crisis, we're going through redundancies,
- 15:38we're laying people off left, right and centre.
- 15:41Have we got any money to spend this window?
- 15:43Well, I'm telling you now, we've got 200 million to spend in this
- 15:46window without making a single player sale, generating any
- 15:49income from any sales. How do you go about spending
- 15:52that 200 million when you've got Bruno, you've got Mason Mount,
- 15:55you've got Amad, you've got players that can play in the
- 15:57number 10. Well, I'll tell you what you do.
- 15:59You go and spend that money, the bulk of it on two number 10's
- 16:02and Boemo and Kunya and that all of a sudden you're presenting
- 16:06yourself with a problem because your best player last season and
- 16:09for many a year over the last three, Four Seasons has been
- 16:11Bruno Fernandez. And all of a sudden now because
- 16:13you've brought in those two number 10s, you now need to drop
- 16:15Bruno back back into central midfield.
- 16:18So you've created this problem and actually the budget that you
- 16:21had when let's be honest, you know, we scored, if you look at
- 16:24our goals in the last two or three seasons, we scored 44
- 16:27goals last season. I think we scored 53 or
- 16:30something the year before. So clearly goals is a problem in
- 16:32this team. So yes, I can understand the
- 16:34need to try and, you know, create and, and, and look at
- 16:37those attacking areas and we've done that.
- 16:39But actually, fundamentally you need a number 9, you need a
- 16:42centre forward and we've signed Cesco now.
- 16:44But you've created this problem because you were best player in
- 16:47the last few seasons. Bruno Fernandez is now having to
- 16:49drop back into central midfield. If he's going to play central
- 16:53midfield this season, I really can't see us going anywhere.
- 16:55Just look, look, if you look at the options though, look at the
- 16:58options they had because he had out of out of what is it 9 Subs
- 17:02and one's a goalkeeper is it? I think, yeah.
- 17:05So out of his eight on field, off play off on field players 6
- 17:11are defensive, he's got no options.
- 17:14So what is it? So this is what it's going to be
- 17:16like every every game he changes 2 Senate backs, he brings on
- 17:21Dalla or Amad depending on who started and he's got one forward
- 17:27attacking player. He's got no other attacking
- 17:29players whatsoever within the team.
- 17:32So. We know, we know what he does
- 17:34when he wants to try and win a game.
- 17:36He sticks on Harry Maguire. Very late.
- 17:39Scott's made it actually a really relevant point, which is
- 17:42like a lot of people are saying, oh, why did we sign all these
- 17:44attackers? But now Scott's saying, yeah,
- 17:46but we still needed those attackers because if we didn't
- 17:49sign those guys, we wouldn't have enough attackers.
- 17:52But that's also because Reubens isolated players, Kobe man who
- 17:56can't get on the pitch. Marcus Rashford's left.
- 17:59Ganacho is nowhere. His pitch is all on Dick.
- 18:02And Mason, I'm, I'm going to, I'm going to call it now.
- 18:04I think Kunia is a massive upgrade on Garnacha.
- 18:09Absolutely love him. I think he's a brilliant player.
- 18:12But you don't have Garnacha as a bench option either.
- 18:15That's the point. No, but we have to sell Garnacha
- 18:17to fight. Like Ron mentioned, we don't
- 18:19have the budget. So like really, Garnacha is
- 18:21getting sold, right? Anthony's getting sold,
- 18:24Rashford's wages are off and he's option to buy.
- 18:27They're going. They're not part of the squad
- 18:29now. They're not part of the squad.
- 18:31I love Kunia, I think he's a great, great player, I think.
- 18:33And Burmo when Bumo, sorry, we should be calling him finance,
- 18:38but Imbue doesn't look, doesn't look fully up to, you know,
- 18:42Brian big Brian is isn't fully up to speed in my opinion.
- 18:46He looks, but we know he's Prem proven.
- 18:48We've seen him at Brentford once he gets going and Chesco,
- 18:52clearly he's getting eased in as well.
- 18:55And I think we need a number 9 and I think hopefully he'll
- 18:57start tomorrow, get going, get that focal point.
- 19:01And then on the point of Bruno, you know, Scott's hit the nail
- 19:06on the head. At some point he's going to be
- 19:08he. We need to have a succession
- 19:09plan to Bruno either that I personally want it to be next
- 19:13summer. I think I'd like him to have
- 19:16another season because I just want the stability at the club
- 19:20for one summer, one season now and then next summer.
- 19:24But. If I if I offered you, if I
- 19:27offered you, Carlos Belaba, if we sold Bruno, would you dare?
- 19:32I think the team is stronger. The biggest problem, So I know
- 19:39like, you know, we can talk about systems because there's a
- 19:41lot of debate on Twitter around the system, right?
- 19:44The 343 and the 442 or the 4231, the four, three, all these
- 19:48systems, they all fall down because we don't have a good
- 19:51midfield. So it doesn't matter what system
- 19:53you play, you still don't have the midfielders.
- 19:55So I think it does matter. I'd like to.
- 19:56Compensate with with others I'd like to.
- 19:58Question that. I think with a 433, I think our
- 20:02midfield improves dramatically and by that I would say even if
- 20:05we don't sign a single midfield player now, between now and the
- 20:08end of the window, Casimera, Shrek, Agate, pick one from
- 20:12there as your number six menu plays in the number 8.
- 20:16And Bruno Fernandez plays in the number 10.
- 20:18That automatically is an upgrade on the midfield that we are
- 20:21currently presenting over the last two opening Premier League
- 20:24games. Yeah, but now you're working the
- 20:25centre back. So you're, we've seen it under
- 20:2810 hug, we concede a lot more shots and concede more chances.
- 20:31So yeah, you'll have a better mid.
- 20:32You football's a game of 11 players.
- 20:34You don't have 1213, right? If you give up a midfielder, you
- 20:39get a centre back. If you, I think you're
- 20:41forgetting Euro, Lenny Euro fully fit and now that he's had
- 20:45a season under his belt, I think he's going to be phenomenal.
- 20:48So I think. Don't you want an attacking team
- 20:50as that's what you said last week, you were like screw it,
- 20:53right? Like we we want more go goals.
- 20:55So just play. I mean, the Premier League is
- 20:57already evolving. We've talked about it, right?
- 20:59It's going on one-on-one defending.
- 21:01So we've just got to trust Euro Delete is fit and he's playing
- 21:07decent. Like, you know, you had a great
- 21:09game against Arsenal. Phenomenal.
- 21:11Grey against Jokaros and up until the goal yesterday he was
- 21:16decent. So why?
- 21:18Why don't we just play 2 Santa backs?
- 21:20I've seen it under 10 Haagen and this I, I feel like our
- 21:23defenders are better suited to the back through I think
- 21:25Lisandro Shaw, Mazrawi, Delict, McGuire, Heaven, all of them are
- 21:33better. Suited so you think with a back
- 21:352 will be trying you know the ping pong at all like basketball
- 21:40style 10 hog football was in the second season.
- 21:44You think that will happen again?
- 21:45The midfield is breached because Menu and Bruno are weak
- 21:48defensively, so you've got Agarti.
- 21:50Once that's breached, you're against two players.
- 21:53You're you're under threat, your goals more under threat, I
- 21:55think. Reubens got into your head then
- 21:57because like mainly. It's not.
- 21:58It's not Reuben. Mainly better than mainly is
- 22:00better than than you're saying like I think everyone they get
- 22:04it now. Defensively, he's not AS.
- 22:06He's not quick. He's not as bad though.
- 22:09He's not as bad though as Reubens making out because like,
- 22:12you know, even. He's trying to motivate him,
- 22:14right? Like he's he's.
- 22:15Doing a Really. Shit job of it then, because
- 22:17like he wants, he wants to leave the club, like that's his
- 22:20boyhood club. The, the, the, the, the thing I,
- 22:23you know, I, I, I'm more a 433 guy generally, but I'm saying
- 22:28that we need to sign a midfielder.
- 22:30Whatever the system, you need the holding midfielder.
- 22:33Obviously no, but this goes back to Ron's point, right?
- 22:37You, you at the start of the window, you, you, you look at
- 22:39your squad and you say what do we need?
- 22:41St midfield was one of the key positions.
- 22:43Do you remember why? Why, why did we go and let Bruno
- 22:46decide his future? Yeah.
- 22:47Do you remember, do you remember, Steve, when we were
- 22:50discussing which player we could bring back and you were like, of
- 22:52all the players in the whole of history, said Michael Carrick.
- 22:55And I'm like, you know what? That isn't the most ridiculous
- 22:58thing. And I was like, we need to sign
- 23:00Adam Wharton because to me, he's the next Carrick.
- 23:02Yeah, so. But yeah, now, now you're
- 23:06thinking of why should we let Bruno decide his future?
- 23:08Because that's the right thing to do.
- 23:10Because you can't go. Oh Bruno, fuck off to Saudi.
- 23:13Why would you ask Bruno? Why would happen to bigger
- 23:16players than Bruno? Yeah.
- 23:17Why not? Yeah, Yeah.
- 23:18Well, I think it's you're making a point about you can't play 2
- 23:22at the back. So back 4 is we're saying that
- 23:26we can't play that. No, no, it's not that we can't.
- 23:29I think you still need to sign holding midfield well I think.
- 23:31Yeah. But we we know that we're.
- 23:32Still going to sign and holding midfield, but I look at I look
- 23:34at it and kind of go the the current formation, you do not
- 23:39have a left wing back. You do not have a right wing
- 23:41back that can play left wing back and right wing back.
- 23:45They are very, very defensive. Ahmad is not a right wing back.
- 23:49Dalla is not a right wing back, the same with our left hand
- 23:52side. Sure is probably the only one
- 23:55that I can you could say who can play left wing back because he's
- 24:00got that attacking ability. With and that was five years
- 24:02ago, Scott. Yeah, he's not like that.
- 24:04Bull Go is good but again he's attacking ability you're still.
- 24:07He's 20. So he's so I look at him and
- 24:10kind of go, we've got players that cannot play this formation.
- 24:15He's just gone and spent 200 + 1,000,000 on a formation that
- 24:19he's still stuck with. Actually, you're saying he
- 24:22hasn't sold? He hasn't sold sorted the
- 24:24midfield out. He's got left two wing backs but
- 24:28we've got no players that can play that role.
- 24:31I think the good thing is that I think this squad is actually
- 24:36fine if if we move change manager like you guys can
- 24:39suggest other managers to a bat. I think the squad's actually
- 24:41fine. You can put put together A-Team
- 24:43all that. My only point, and you can
- 24:45disagree with this if you want or not, is you still need to
- 24:48sign a bloody midfield and and everyone agrees.
- 24:50We don't agree with that. Everyone agrees.
- 24:52And therefore this is everyone agrees the system's not working
- 24:54just 'cause we don't have a midfielder and then no, that's.
- 24:57No, I don't know. I disagree.
- 24:59The point the. System won't work 'cause we
- 25:00won't have a midfielder you. Lose.
- 25:02No, but you compensate. So you know, for example, you
- 25:05got two in the middle at the moment, right?
- 25:07If you play 231 or three, three, at least you have another body.
- 25:12And in, you know, in Steve's case in particular, at least
- 25:15Kobe's playing and he's not, you know, trying to leave the club.
- 25:19Like that's got to be better. That's got to be better than
- 25:23playing an extra sensor back Steve, right?
- 25:25It has to be. It wasn't under 10 Hug.
- 25:29Yeah, but 10 hugs gone so. Like, no, what I'm saying is
- 25:32it's shown that that that our our midfield, our front press is
- 25:36still not good. It ends up you end up at the
- 25:38centre back position, right? You end up defending the penalty
- 25:41box with two players. Now the only club that seems to
- 25:45be able to do this is Liverpool because Virgil Van Dyke seems to
- 25:49be doing like the job of two players.
- 25:51Like he watched the Newcastle game.
- 25:52They were constantly briefed, Newcastle were constantly at
- 25:55them and Van Dyke was putting out fires.
- 25:57We don't have Van Dyke. To me, they're two different
- 26:01points, what you're making right.
- 26:02We need a midfielder. All five of us agree with that,
- 26:05but I think at least four of us are saying compensate by playing
- 26:09free in the middle, whether it's two in the pivot or one in the
- 26:12pivot and then you have an 8 and a 10.
- 26:14And then you'll lose it. You'll lose at centre back is
- 26:16all I'm saying. So it's not it's.
- 26:18That's fine because you, like you said last week, who cares?
- 26:22Because we're going to attack more and probably have more
- 26:24chances. So we'll we should score goals.
- 26:26Now I was just going to say, I mean, I think the reason behind
- 26:29that is because there's so many other areas that you are
- 26:31compromising in playing this back three system.
- 26:34You know, the wing backs, we just don't have wing backs,
- 26:37central midfield, playing those, playing the two in this
- 26:40formation just doesn't work. Then we've got the likes of
- 26:43Emboymo and Cunha. Emboymo, last season, his best
- 26:45work came off the touchline at Brentford.
- 26:48Now you're playing him as an inverted #10 that's not his
- 26:50position. I'm not saying he won't do well
- 26:52this season because he's a good enough player to adapt to it,
- 26:54but actually his best position was off the flank coming in and
- 26:57then doing his best work there for Brentford.
- 26:59So there's so many other areas that unfortunately we're
- 27:01compromising by not playing, you know, to your point showed as
- 27:05having this extra defender. I wouldn't do that.
- 27:07I just want to take it back. Steve, I wanted to ask you, if
- 27:09we have the £200 million that we know we have at the moment to
- 27:13spend the start of this window, would you have gone and bought 2
- 27:16number 10s? Interested to hear your
- 27:17thoughts. No, I think the one position I
- 27:21would have said at the start of the window and I think we could
- 27:23probably listen back to recordings in Bilbao, is
- 27:25striker. That was the number one
- 27:27position, I think I said, and a lot of people said so obviously
- 27:30we got the striker in the end in Chesco.
- 27:33But I think thinking back, you know, goalkeeper we weren't too
- 27:37happy with at the start of the window, right centre midfield.
- 27:41I think yeah, it would have been one of the positions.
- 27:44But in terms of priority, I think I was thinking striker,
- 27:47goalkeeper, and then probably, yeah, centre midfield would have
- 27:52been in the mix, yeah, to, to, to address.
- 27:54And it doesn't really feel like we've addressed any apart from
- 27:57Striker, you know? So it feels like we've created
- 28:00more problems than we've solved, I'd say.
- 28:03Philip, the biggest flaw that we've got is the lack of goals
- 28:06is in the last couple of seasons 44 goals, I think 57.
- 28:10I've just checked the stats, 57 the year before that, 58 in fact
- 28:13the year before that and then 57 the year before that.
- 28:16So in the last Four Seasons United have not scored more than
- 28:19sixty goals in a Premier League season over 38 games.
- 28:22So clearly the issue is we don't score enough goals and for me,
- 28:25and we've all played football, yes, of course the score calls.
- 28:27You need a good striker, you need a good attack.
- 28:29But actually the build up play from the back is essential.
- 28:32Not having good enough midfield to then feed the front men, the
- 28:36number 10's, the wingers, you know, you're #9 that's where it
- 28:39comes from. And to go and spend the 200
- 28:42million on that in that attack and not address and balance the
- 28:46team up in midfield is a huge, huge error.
- 28:50Two points to you Ron, this is interesting.
- 28:52One is you said we would you sign these number 10s but but
- 28:55now he said we need goals. We signed two of the best goal
- 28:59scorers in the Premier League last season.
- 29:00So isn't that a good thing? You've got to feed them.
- 29:03You've got to feed them as you've.
- 29:05Got to feed now here's the next point.
- 29:06This is what I really actually wanted to get to is the the the
- 29:10442 system that you'll have of Delict, Euro, Ugate and Mayne
- 29:18who can't pass the ball so they won't get the ball forward.
- 29:20No, I think, I think we need to sign, which is why at #6 we've
- 29:23got to buy. Four can pass the ball.
- 29:25What is this about Kobe Mayne? Who what that that I shouldn't
- 29:29slag off our own ex admin since since I'm technically
- 29:32represented by him. But he tweeted Karl Anker with
- 29:36this little 2 minute segment where Karl Anker's talking to
- 29:39Kobe Mayne who can't make 2030 yard Bulls.
- 29:42Do me a favour, Kobe Mayne could make those passes in his sleep.
- 29:46The talent that he's got, you're telling me he can't be coached
- 29:49to make 20 to 30 yard passes? I'd back most of us 5:00 to be
- 29:53able to make them passes, let alone someone with Kobe Main
- 29:56who's talent. So don't tell me Kobe Main who
- 29:58can't take the ball off the centre backs and get it into the
- 30:00final third. Whether that's through passing,
- 30:02dribbling, turns. The guy is so talented.
- 30:06So I'm not having that that he can't be that number 8 that
- 30:09moves the ball forward. This goes back to coaching,
- 30:12right, and you know, as we'll have a good laugh about
- 30:15coaching. But Arnie slot he he had Ryan
- 30:18Gravenberg who wasn't a number six and he made him into one.
- 30:21So again, do you, as Roy Keane would say, do your fucking job.
- 30:26Yeah, but that's the thing, right?
- 30:27Gravenberg is doing it through carrying like Kobe.
- 30:29He's not. He's not passing line.
- 30:31No, he, he is passing like that. That's that's.
- 30:35Because he can make the basic passes.
- 30:37No, but so but great you were talking about Gravenberg.
- 30:40Let's go back, back to the Arsenal game, right?
- 30:42The passes that Carl Anka's talking about is Casimiro Long
- 30:46to Embermo, Bruno Fernandez and Mason Mountain.
- 30:50Those those big switch pass. Kobe mainly doesn't do the big
- 30:53switch pass yet. He can guess what we lost.
- 30:57Does it matter what we did? We lost.
- 30:59Yes, it does. It didn't work.
- 31:01It didn't work. It did.
- 31:03Did with the better team? No, but it.
- 31:05Didn't. No, you can be a bad.
- 31:06It worked. It did.
- 31:07A bad team. It didn't work.
- 31:08No, this is the one thing I will fundamentally disagree with
- 31:11people on. Do not look at the result.
- 31:13Football is a 38 game thing. Sometimes you you're the better
- 31:16team and you lose bad luck. It's not.
- 31:20It's process driven. No it isn't.
- 31:22You get 3 points for a win. Manager you get fired results.
- 31:26Fired without results. If you're a manager, you get
- 31:28fired if you don't get results. So it is a result.
- 31:30Process not the proven industry, but it's just the.
- 31:32Results come from the process. No, the results come from the
- 31:35process. Yeah, but if a manager has the
- 31:37process but doesn't get results, he gets fired, right?
- 31:40100%. There you go.
- 31:41So it is results driven. But you need to have a process
- 31:45to get the result. If you're the better team, you
- 31:47generally win football matches. So how did Jose Mourinho do be
- 31:51so successful over a number of years?
- 31:53Because he. Didn't care about performances.
- 31:54It was about result. It's about winning.
- 31:57Yeah, but he was the better team.
- 32:00He not. All the time?
- 32:01No, not all the time. I saw a number of games When
- 32:03When Jose Mourinho. You know what, Ash, Ash, Ash
- 32:06made a really good point actually on our WhatsApp and
- 32:08he's bang on. You also need a bit of luck and
- 32:12I think Ruben's an unlucky manager.
- 32:14Yeah, he's definitely got the David Moyes.
- 32:16That was such a good point you made.
- 32:18I was like, you know what, You're you're spot on.
- 32:20The amount of times I've watched a game where it's close and I'm
- 32:23like how we won this under 10, I don't understand how we won the
- 32:27game. No, no, no, Ron, I'm not saying
- 32:29I, no, no, no, no. Let me, just let me, just let me
- 32:33just make the David Moyes point so everyone understands it
- 32:36correctly. Then you can come in.
- 32:37So all I said was, and I think I said it to you, Ron, after the
- 32:40Arsenal game, I've even watched 28 games and Scott bear with me
- 32:45having watched 28 games last season, right?
- 32:48Look in, in isolation, there were moments in all these bloody
- 32:52games that we lost in, true, where if we had scored, you
- 32:56never know, right? I'm all I was like thinking on
- 32:59the way back from Old Trafford, I was like, he's like David
- 33:03Moyes in that, that moment that needed to go his way like.
- 33:07Bilbao, right? They've had a few.
- 33:09Yeah, that's what I mean, right. Like, look, go back to Jason
- 33:11Marino, 2004, Old Trafford, Paul skulls offside, wins the
- 33:14Champions League, right? Those types of things.
- 33:16Look, I'm not saying Rubens going to go and do that, but I'm
- 33:19just saying these little things in sports, it's not just in
- 33:22football. These little things in sports,
- 33:23you need them to go your way. And look, Ron, I know you're
- 33:27interested to say the process is shit.
- 33:28I agree, but it's just those little moments like if they
- 33:32don't go your way it makes it even worse.
- 33:34Like seven wins in is it 28 or 20?
- 33:37Nine games, I'm, I'm going to challenge that and say I'm
- 33:39looking at the data set. You know, if this was five
- 33:41games, six games, I can take your point about luck.
- 33:44You know, if I was a new manager today and I walked into a
- 33:46football club. It's not a big thing though.
- 33:47Like it's, it's a, it's a marginal thing.
- 33:50He's had 29. I know Premier League games.
- 33:53He's. Won and he's in the bottom three
- 33:54if it's Australia. Game season he's lost 7 right?
- 33:57His win ratio is 24.1%. That is the same win ratio as
- 34:01Neil Warnock. If I multiply that out over over
- 34:04this over a couple of seasons, Neil Warnock had 112 games, 27
- 34:08wins, same percentage, 24%. Guess what?
- 34:10He got relegated twice. This is not about luck.
- 34:13This is just you've got the data.
- 34:15You've got, you know the timeline of 27 games.
- 34:18Now if we were to 2029 games, if we were to multiply this out
- 34:21over 38 games, you know he'd be on 36 points.
- 34:23He's averaging less than one point a game.
- 34:26I'm not going to set a point about luck.
- 34:29This is just, I totally agree with that tactics and frankly,
- 34:32he's a bit out of his depth at the moment.
- 34:33Playing this three at the back. It's not going to work.
- 34:35We've got a good enough team. I think, you know, let's have a
- 34:38manager that can play 433 and I think we'll finish in top 6.
- 34:42Ron, I totally agree with that. I'm just saying, right, if
- 34:45you're the board, right when you look at it, you say all of that
- 34:50stuff that you just mentioned, but when you like zoom in and
- 34:56that's, that's the point, like when you look at these games,
- 34:59look, I'm sure you know, when people listen to this pod,
- 35:03they're going to be like, well, what about this chance for the
- 35:05opposition? I, I, I understand.
- 35:07All I'm saying is, though, in isolation, there were moments
- 35:11Steve's just touched on it, like if the Courier doesn't have
- 35:14like, you know, a decent game in the Europa final, we had the
- 35:17better chances. I'm not saying like that means
- 35:21Reuben's super unlucky and like keep him.
- 35:23I'm just saying when you look at it in like in like in isolation,
- 35:28certain points or certain games and you look at a moment in
- 35:32time, if we score X happens, right?
- 35:35It's like the Harry Maguire goal against Leon, right?
- 35:37He got that moment and he hasn't had enough of those.
- 35:40I think any any managers to be successful needs an element of
- 35:43luck. Look, Fergie over the years had
- 35:44that pot, but a lot fair enough. I'm not I'm not telling you
- 35:46don't need a bit of luck. Fair enough.
- 35:48But generally speaking, you make your own luck and we've got a
- 35:51good data that had 29 Premier League games is almost a season.
- 35:56You know, as I said to you, he's averaging less than a point a
- 35:58game. It's not good enough.
- 36:00That is not acceptable as a United manager.
- 36:02There's there's two things. One is you're right, but I'm
- 36:06looking at this as a fresh start because it's a whole new squad
- 36:09and a new start that so that that's one thing.
- 36:12But I totally agree with you. Like if you include last season,
- 36:15shocking, it's absolutely shocking on, on, on Ash's point,
- 36:20I'll quickly just make a quick point in that if you've read how
- 36:23to win the Premier League, the Ian Graham book, he makes the
- 36:26point of this variance. There's just variance that he
- 36:29makes the .0. We hired Jurgen Klopp and he was
- 36:31like 17th, but we looked at the data and it was like, oh, on the
- 36:35XG, it's not that bad. And I it's the same thing with
- 36:38us. We, we last season we scored 10
- 36:41less goals than we should have by XG.
- 36:42And it's, that's not a manager, it's just variance.
- 36:44And I hope the, the, you know, the, the, that evens out and it
- 36:50should even out a bit. It'll still put us last season
- 36:53mid table and mid table's not good enough.
- 36:55But we weren't the 5th. We, you know, we're basically
- 36:57solidly mid table. We should be a top six team.
- 37:00However, if we play like we did against Arsenal for the next 10
- 37:04games, we will win more of those games and lose them.
- 37:08The sample size for me is 445 minutes of football, of which I
- 37:13think three were good and 1 was bad.
- 37:15That's how I'm looking at it. Can I ask a question then on XG
- 37:19and I guess like the trajectory if we don't beat Burnley, what
- 37:23do we say then in terms of like we're looking at the data, the
- 37:27data's point in here, but to Scott and Ron's point, haven't
- 37:31got the results. It's a.
- 37:32Process. Apparently we've got to follow
- 37:34the. Results.
- 37:35It's about process if. If yeah, it's it's it literally
- 37:38is that if if we perform well and we're unlucky, you'd be
- 37:41like, well, dude, ball didn't go in net.
- 37:44Cunha hits the post, Bruno hits the penalty over the bar, Ball
- 37:46doesn't go in net. If we play badly against
- 37:49Burnley, if we start playing like we played last season, it's
- 37:53clear he's gone in one of the international breaks, right?
- 37:56The performance is the key and we played well against Arsenal.
- 38:00We were the better team against Arsenal.
- 38:02The midfield wasn't swamped against Arsenal, The first half
- 38:05against Fulham, If you look at it, the moment Mason Mountain,
- 38:08Casimira go off the pitch, we lose control of the game because
- 38:11we don't have. He needs to start winning
- 38:14football matches based on the based on the teams in the
- 38:17Premier League. Right now, his win ratio is 15%.
- 38:21He's beaten City, which is an amazing result away from home,
- 38:24he's beaten Bella, he's beaten Everton and he's beaten Fuller.
- 38:27That's it. I couldn't care less about how
- 38:29we play against Burnley. I want to win a match.
- 38:32I want three points on the ball. I want to start going up that
- 38:34league table so that when I'm talking to my friends that are
- 38:36Arsenal fans, Liverwool fans, Chelsea fans, my brother-in-law
- 38:39sports, New Course for goodness sake, and they're going to have
- 38:42a better season than us. How hard that is to have those
- 38:45conversations with those guys. Monday morning, Scott and I go
- 38:48go into work and we're talking to Liverpool fans and we're in
- 38:5215th and they're fighting for a league title.
- 38:55I want to win football matches. That's what the name of the game
- 38:58is. Even Tottenham fans are taking
- 38:59the piss out of us now, right Scott?
- 39:01Scott, this is, this is done for you, right?
- 39:02This was done for you a long time ago.
- 39:04It's not it's not changing and it and to us, you can throw all
- 39:07the stats, XG, all that crap at me.
- 39:11It hasn't changed a thing. All we've done is replace like
- 39:15for like. You still haven't solved the
- 39:18core of the problem. The core of the problem is those
- 39:20seven players behind them. They will not create chances.
- 39:24They will not score more goals. Yes, they are better players and
- 39:28you're saying that they're an upgrade.
- 39:30I agree with that. I love Kuno and they think it's
- 39:32brilliant, but you've replaced like for like.
- 39:36You're not. You're not creating more, You
- 39:37know, you're not going to create more chances, you're not going
- 39:40to score more goals because you've got a problem.
- 39:43It's those seven behind them. But do you think Scott, like if
- 39:47they, if we change to manager with the same seven players and
- 39:51Kobe obviously comes in now for one of the centre backs, is that
- 39:53a dramatic shift? Yeah, because you you could I
- 39:58look at any manager and you look at any of the top world class
- 40:02managers that have won things. They do not come in and go, you
- 40:06know what, I've got this philosophy.
- 40:07I'm going to play 3521, whatever you want to call it, I'm going
- 40:12to play this. I don't care who you are, I'm
- 40:14going to put you in that position to see if it works or
- 40:17fits. They work to the strength of
- 40:20that team, but the team that they've got, you work with it
- 40:23and say if I've got 3 left backs, what am I going to play?
- 40:27Left wing back or left backs. You play to the strength of the
- 40:30team as you've got, get the results, build from it, but make
- 40:35it over a period of time. That actually says we haven't
- 40:38got the city money where, you know, Pet came in and basically
- 40:41when I paid 50 million for a left back, didn't work out.
- 40:45Six months later he buys another one for 60 million.
- 40:48We haven't got that sort of money.
- 40:49So I look at it and kind of go, if you're not going to be able
- 40:52to completely shift the whole team, then work to its
- 40:55strengths. And every single player that
- 40:57we've had through the door by Anthony are being decent
- 41:02players. They've been badly coached and
- 41:05this is what I mean by you've got these players, you've got
- 41:08Kuna that that there's potentially a question mark
- 41:11about his attitude and his work right when it gets into the
- 41:14slumps of, you know, winter and all that kind of stuff.
- 41:17And he and he showed signs of that with walls.
- 41:20If we start, if there's results go the way that they are going,
- 41:24how long does it take for him to kind of go, you know what, I'm
- 41:27going to throw my eyes up in the air.
- 41:28I'm going to be getting sent off and I'm not going to be putting
- 41:31in the effort that he is doing now.
- 41:33Players change very quickly and this is what I mean by all we've
- 41:38done is replaced like the like. And I mean that in the sense of
- 41:42you just we're getting rid of Nacho, you just got replacement
- 41:46in. You've not fixed the core
- 41:48problem and the core problem, this formation doesn't work.
- 41:53It's been proven and it continues to be proven until we
- 41:58get results and that results is 678910 plus games on a run and
- 42:06it's too late. You've got another season that
- 42:09you're going to be finishing while off the table again
- 42:12because they can't make the decision.
- 42:14Two quick points I wanted to jump on.
- 42:16So regarding last season, I can't ignore it because it's
- 42:22five Premier League wins this year.
- 42:24I just had a look of which, but ones against Southampton, ones
- 42:30against Ipswich, ones against Leicester, right?
- 42:33So that means Fulham away in January, Martinez deflected goal
- 42:38and Aston Villa at Old Trafford and we're going into September,
- 42:44so I can't ignore that. The only other thing I wanted to
- 42:47mention in terms of like time, time on the training pitch,
- 42:52getting used to the club and all this stuff, Barney Slot, like
- 42:56everyone's going to bang on about the squad he inherited.
- 42:58But you know, I've spoke to a like friend of the pod, Kabir.
- 43:02He he was on the pod saying that if Reuben had taken over,
- 43:05Liverpool would have finished like 6 seventh.
- 43:07I totally agree with that. So I do think it's a manager
- 43:10problem. And also you look at the likes
- 43:13of what Arnie Slot did with that team.
- 43:15He had no signings bar Kiaza and he improves certain players that
- 43:21have never played in those positions.
- 43:22So don't tell me you can't improve players like Kobe Mane
- 43:26and then you look at Thomas Frank, he's adapted in three
- 43:30different games. PSG Super Cup, unlucky 22 lost
- 43:34on pens, you know, beat Burnley comfortably and then done a
- 43:38number on Pep away from home. So you know, like it's all I'm
- 43:43Ruben, I'm sorry. You know what's interesting as
- 43:46well, just final point is the fact that the narrative, even
- 43:49these two games, I don't feel like the the fans are actually
- 43:54on the players back. It's like we want the manager to
- 43:57do well, but the results aren't coming.
- 44:00So like you can keep on like banging on the door in terms of
- 44:04like how you played against Arsenal, but if you don't beat
- 44:07Burnley because you got to beat Burnley convincingly as well,
- 44:10you can't just beat them one nil deflected goal.
- 44:12You have to like put in a good performance so you're you're
- 44:16smiling. What do you think?
- 44:18No, I'm just laughing at the fact that we have to beat
- 44:20Burnley. But my.
- 44:21My I know and that shouldn't even put that shouldn't be the
- 44:25end of it. Just if we even if we won six
- 44:27nil and we played incredible football when XG was like 7
- 44:30right for the game. You got to do that every week.
- 44:33Are you seeming we're going to get through Grimsby, by the way?
- 44:35Yeah, exactly. That's the big challenge.
- 44:37Yeah, midweek, but that's the real quiz.
- 44:40What? What did we expect, guys?
- 44:42We hired a manager that plays his formation.
- 44:45We knew before he came in he was going to stick to this
- 44:47formation. So I actually don't, I don't
- 44:51knock Ruben for changing because that's what he is.
- 44:53That's what we picked. So again, for me this goes.
- 44:56Then he will get fired. Simple as that.
- 44:58I I he will eventually, but I think Ineos are too arrogant to
- 45:02admit they made a mistake and they'll ride this out until the
- 45:06very end. I feel so.
- 45:08November. I've I've made this point to you
- 45:11guys, I think all of you individually, I think this goes
- 45:13back to Ineos 10 Hog was struggling, results weren't
- 45:17there. To change and completely
- 45:21revisionize the way your football club is going to
- 45:23operate and go to a back three system requires a significant
- 45:27amount of budget. We don't have the budget to be
- 45:30able to do that. You know, we've discussed
- 45:31already around the wing backs, you know, the three at the back,
- 45:34the midfield that requires significant investment.
- 45:37This is not, you know, the 90s or the 2000s where you could buy
- 45:41a player for 20 million and brilliant, he's going to be
- 45:43great. You're looking at significant
- 45:45amounts of millions of pounds, dollars, EUR, call it what you
- 45:49want to be invested into this club to completely change the
- 45:52way you're going to play. And we haven't got that and any
- 45:56us have made the decision to completely change that.
- 45:58But then you've got to back it up financially, you've got to
- 46:00back it up and spending 200 million in one window isn't
- 46:03going to fix it to go from a back or to a back three and
- 46:07expect us to be winning so. He needs he needs World Cox and
- 46:11he needs so Jim having a word with him and not him to London
- 46:15to fuck off and having a word with him saying you need to get
- 46:18results. Fuck it up.
- 46:21Stop being stubborn about the formation.
- 46:23Stop being stubborn the way you want to play football.
- 46:25You've got to get results. Don't play.
- 46:27Look on him Scott, because when shit he he no, but he said in
- 46:31press conferences outright. I'm not changing my thoughts.
- 46:33Well, then I'm sorry, but if, if, if, if that's the stance,
- 46:36then his philosophy will not win games that he will be, then he
- 46:41should be fired. He's not the right fit for us.
- 46:44They've made that decision very quickly with other senior
- 46:47members within the football club.
- 46:49Then why can't they do it with this manager?
- 46:50They've made a mistake. They shouldn't have done it by
- 46:54one saying is essentially we didn't have the budget, the
- 46:57funds, the ability to go find those players and by players to
- 47:01suit this formation, to suit this manager.
- 47:04But I think I said it is willing to run.
- 47:06It's that you can go and buy the very, very best player in every
- 47:12single one of those positions. We will still not win football
- 47:15games under this manager. We just won't.
- 47:18Is is just practically not there.
- 47:22Is so naive, is not mature enough and I just don't think he
- 47:26understands this Football League, this league, It's above
- 47:31everything else. He's come from one of the worst
- 47:34European leagues to the league and quite frankly he's coming to
- 47:40it. You know, eyes wide shut
- 47:42probably. He's a rabbit in a headlight.
- 47:46Steve, on your point of him not changing, that's one of the
- 47:51reasons why essentially he got ruled out of the Liverpool job
- 47:54or, you know, in terms of the running, because he made it very
- 47:57clear to them he would not change.
- 48:00And he actually wanted more control of the transfer
- 48:04recruitment process as well, which he was clearly told that
- 48:07that would not be the case. So if he doesn't want to adapt
- 48:11in any form in terms of the shape of his teams, then all
- 48:16that's going to happen is he'll get fired pretty quickly at
- 48:20United. And then he will just go around
- 48:23a merry go round, like you know, VS Boas and, and those managers
- 48:27around Russia or wherever Saudi and just make money that way.
- 48:32Because he's not going to manage any top club if unless like
- 48:36everything falls in place for him.
- 48:39Looking forward, we all know where we currently are.
- 48:42But looking forward, what do you do, Scott?
- 48:44Are you saying if you're in charge today you'd fire him?
- 48:49Would you? Would you?
- 48:50Would you pull the bullet? Yep.
- 48:52You had what, 10 Hard had, what, 8-9 games at the start of the
- 48:55season? I think that's too late.
- 48:58If we're in the same position as we are in 99 games.
- 49:00I would be like I told you so, but get rid of him now.
- 49:02He's not. It's not working.
- 49:04And who you getting, Scott? Anyone that's got about a 25%
- 49:08win record, Sean, Sean Daish has got a 34%.
- 49:12I'll take that right now. Sean Dykes.
- 49:15There he is, There's your man, Exclusive.
- 49:17The thing The thing is, I think, I think, I think, I think, I
- 49:20think I don't know. Through his Asher has said it
- 49:22last on the last part I was on, I think somebody mentioned
- 49:25Thomas Frank and I think I frowned.
- 49:27I frowned on it. And actually I take that back
- 49:30because even in the couple of games that you these played at
- 49:34Spurs, the way he's just gone in there and kind of gone, I can
- 49:39get the very best out of these players.
- 49:41You have a child that he's completely new player.
- 49:44He's able to coach players and that's what we need.
- 49:47We need a coach that can develop and has a tactical awareness of
- 49:52this league that gets you results.
- 49:55So I don't know who said it, but whoever did, you were right.
- 49:59It was definitely me because the guy, the guy, the guy who below
- 50:05was saying that he, what was it like?
- 50:07He doesn't inspire you as or something like that.
- 50:10I know you. I know you're now going to sit
- 50:11on the fence and be like, I, I, I like Thomas Frank, but like,
- 50:15yeah, he's not good enough for United, essentially.
- 50:17Got the list of boring? Yeah, yeah.
- 50:21Exactly. No, I got the same list as Dan
- 50:23Ashworth made the guy that you wanted fired.
- 50:25Sorry, not fired. So.
- 50:27No, I I rate Thomas Frank. I'm wrong.
- 50:29You can remember when we were discussing him, Bill Bowers,
- 50:32like, oh, I actually like Thomas.
- 50:33Frank Yeah, yeah. Yeah, I did.
- 50:35Yeah. One thing I would say though,
- 50:36just calm again. Sample size.
- 50:39Burnley, spurs it. Burnley at home, Spurs won that
- 50:43game and then the City game, you know, they didn't control the
- 50:46ball. They they have a lot of runners
- 50:48in their team like it's. Yeah, but they don't have
- 50:51passes, so they're. Playing this to control the ball
- 50:54away to City is not about controlling the ball.
- 50:56So about the results. No, but The thing is, the thing
- 50:58with Frank, the question mark on Frank is or with Spurs is to get
- 51:02to the top five, which is what the the aim will be.
- 51:04It'll be interesting to see right in in more games where
- 51:09they have to do that. Why do they have to finish top
- 51:11five and United don't then? Well, if you look at my let's
- 51:14kick it off predictions, I've got us 5th.
- 51:17So I think we should be. We, we should be.
- 51:20We should I, I do think we should be.
- 51:22Complete. So it is about the results.
- 51:24It is about the results. 100% but it's it's also that the you
- 51:29know, this problem I saw with with 10 hog was even if we're
- 51:32getting the results I'm like, yeah, but we're getting lucky.
- 51:35So if we last season unacceptable, not good enough
- 51:39performances, not good enough results, not good enough.
- 51:43If I see better performances, then I'll be a bit more patient
- 51:47to wait for the result. But the result have to you have
- 51:50to win games like. It's as simple as that.
- 51:52Why is this game different? Why are the two games that we
- 51:55played any different to the Europa final?
- 51:57Like to me, it's pretty much the same.
- 52:00I mean way better. I think we've played way better.
- 52:03To me, like Kenya, Kenya is like obviously helped the defence,
- 52:09you know, push the line up a bit and you know, that's due to like
- 52:12pre season. But like, we look at the Fulham
- 52:15second-half, right? As I said, when Casimiro goes
- 52:20off and Mount goes off and the Subs go on, we lose can complete
- 52:23control of the game. We have to sign a midfielder,
- 52:26whoever the next manager is. This squad needs a proper
- 52:30midfielder and and I cannot believe that the window closes
- 52:35and we don't add some women in midfield.
- 52:37But we're making it out as if like there's only Adam Morton
- 52:41and Carlos Belay. But like our seven-year old, our
- 52:43seven-year old cousin could give you those two names, right?
- 52:47Like Paulina has gone to Spurs like the Portuguese mafia.
- 52:52Like why didn't we? Why didn't we like do that?
- 52:55Like Ron's talking about budget constraints.
- 52:57Well, be pragmatic for a season, get him on online with it, like,
- 53:01you know, option to buy and we'll buy him.
- 53:04I'll give you a He's actually good.
- 53:06Douglas Louise has gone to Nottingham first.
- 53:08Douglas Louise Also not good enough.
- 53:10We, we need to aim. Better than what we have.
- 53:11Not good enough like Mason Mount is playing pivot with Bruno in
- 53:16the second-half. Exactly, exactly right.
- 53:18That this is what I'm saying is like is Paulina and and Douglas
- 53:24Louise not an upgrade on that? Because that's our benchmark at
- 53:27the moment. No, I the benchmarks Ugarte,
- 53:30right And I think they're not much of an upgrade on Ugarte.
- 53:32I think Ugarte is pretty much just on the bench, isn't it?
- 53:35Like so let's we need. Someone who can, you know, be
- 53:38comfortable in possession. Us, us are you, are you willing
- 53:42to sell Cobby Mania to get someone like Belabour in, for
- 53:45example? Yeah, very worried about that,
- 53:47those reports. I think that must be to do with
- 53:51his contract situation. No, it's not.
- 53:54It's because Reuben doesn't want to play him and he and he, he
- 53:57wants to play. It's World Cup.
- 53:58Yeah, It's nothing to do with his wages.
- 54:01What you what you can keep happening potentially is a loan
- 54:03is a loan deal. So we don't a.
- 54:05Loan deal, yeah, Not selling though.
- 54:06No, no, a loan deal and then likely is Reuben will get fired
- 54:10this season and Kobe comes back in the summer under a new
- 54:12management. Hopefully January we can't sell
- 54:15Kobe. No, we can't.
- 54:17We can't sell him or even loan him out.
- 54:19Don't we need to sell him to actually fund ACM?
- 54:22Right? I don't know his.
- 54:23Loan. Well, if we, if we.
- 54:24How much are you going to get for him?
- 54:26If we can sell Anthony or at least loaner Anthony, Jayden
- 54:30Sancho going out. So we should be able to get
- 54:32there talking about 50 million bills somewhere, somewhere.
- 54:34This is all obligations though, right?
- 54:36Like Anthony will be alone, Sancho will be alone and and
- 54:39also Sancho's contracts up at the end of the year anyway.
- 54:42So he's gone for free basically because he's, he's made it clear
- 54:45that, you know, it's not about football for him.
- 54:48I was reading that PSR is not an issue.
- 54:50In fact though, I think there's another 100 + 1,000,000 to spend
- 54:53should we need it on a midfield player.
- 54:55You know, and the other thing, the other thing to bear in mind
- 54:58is we've just opened the PSR window, right?
- 55:00So July to July thing. So you can also sell in January.
- 55:03Or before June 30th. June 30th, yeah.
- 55:06So like we need to sign someone. One thing I would say is it's
- 55:12what I think it was Scott or Ron you were making.
- 55:14We didn't know what the budget was.
- 55:15They have put their hand in the pocket when we know Jim.
- 55:18I think we need another fishing trip to Iceland and Jason's got
- 55:22to tell Jim mate, we need another 50 whatever to get a
- 55:25midfield. It doesn't have to be Warton or
- 55:27Believer, but there are other players out there, Edison,
- 55:30Atlanta, Stiller we've been linked with.
- 55:33Doesn't that just get you another Agate though?
- 55:35Because we paid 50 million on Agate.
- 55:37No people who can play on the ball.
- 55:39Right. Cobby Maney, I, I, I was looking
- 55:42at the numbers. I was really interested to be
- 55:44like, does Reuben hate Maney? Has he not been playing?
- 55:46I'm sure Maney's been playing. And actually he started 15.
- 55:51He was injured for eight, came off the bench in three and
- 55:55another. Are you recycling?
- 55:57Adam Macolo's. That's it.
- 55:58Was it Adam Macolo? Yeah, No, it was.
- 56:01Someone tweeted it. I don't know if it was Adam
- 56:02Macolo. Yeah.
- 56:03Was it Macolo? Yeah, yeah.
- 56:05I saw someone else tweet that and I just checked it before the
- 56:07pod and I'm like, yeah, he has been playing games.
- 56:11So I was really disappointed he didn't come off the bench and I
- 56:14am worried with with the many situations.
- 56:16I think, I think the wider issue, the wider issue here is
- 56:19that even if we do go ahead and spend the money and a few of us
- 56:22are saying it on this chat tonight, we don't trust the
- 56:26manager to be able to then go out and implement the plan
- 56:29because tactically he's inept to do so.
- 56:31You know, Ash makes a good point about Thomas Frank.
- 56:34Thomas Frank is able to adapt. You know, Ash has mentioned
- 56:36three different games that he's played, three different ways to
- 56:39get results. This manager is unwilling to
- 56:41compromise on his philosophy and to be able to win games you've
- 56:45got to be tactically available to be able to change game to
- 56:49game and he's failing to do that.
- 56:51Disagree with with Scott is he said, you know, good, great
- 56:54managers come in and they they're adaptable.
- 56:56Pep is not adaptable. Clop is not adaptable.
- 56:59Antonio Conte is not adaptable. You know, the Jose Mourinho
- 57:03wasn't that adaptable. You know, they have their
- 57:05philosophy. Reuben's a bit stubborn as well.
- 57:07He has his philosophy. The bit I do agree with is all
- 57:10of these managers needed investment.
- 57:13Clock took the team clock took was basically nobody apart from
- 57:18Trent start that Champions League final.
- 57:20Pep just signs player after player.
- 57:22Kante does the same, right? He he makes big demands and that
- 57:26might be the bit where you're right.
- 57:28However, this is what I'm saying, Jim, get your, get your
- 57:31fishing rod out or whatever, get the private jet out to ice them
- 57:35with Jason. Pull out a little bit of extra
- 57:38money. I think I'm looking at that
- 57:41Arsenal game and I'm saying, oh, we, you know, they're the best
- 57:45midfield in the in the land with Super Mendi, Rice, Odegard and
- 57:49we're saying, oh, we're getting dominated.
- 57:51No, we dominated them. We controlled the game.
- 57:53We had the possession, we had the best chances.
- 57:55If we can do that consistently. Like I said, first half against
- 58:00Fulham, happy with it. It just dropped off like a Cliff
- 58:02in the second. Half I didn't think the Fulham,
- 58:04I didn't think the Fulham game was that good.
- 58:05I mean, you talk about the first half, the 1st 10 minutes, not
- 58:08sure. I thought the first 10 minutes
- 58:10with a Kenya hitting the post and obviously the ball from by
- 58:12and we had the moment, Bruno's penalty.
- 58:15But if you look at that first half, towards the end of that
- 58:18first half, Fulham were coming right into the game and it
- 58:20reminded me a lot of last season where countless times I was
- 58:23counting full at the edge of their box, basically counter
- 58:26attacking us, walking through our midfield and at the edge of
- 58:29our box within 5 seconds. That game reminded me of last
- 58:33season, yeah. It's a really good point and I
- 58:34want to say this again is that one the the compensation of
- 58:38having the less of midfield as his teams will get to the box.
- 58:41The benefit of the back 3 is they don't get as many shots on
- 58:45goal. So you're right that there's
- 58:48more of an end to end. We don't control the centre of
- 58:50the park but we also control the penalty area better and what we
- 58:54need to change this season is we need to score more goals in the
- 58:57other penalty area. We've signed three players that
- 59:00haven't really got well. Kunia's got going and Burmo
- 59:03hasn't got going, Cesco hasn't got going.
- 59:05I want to give them a little bit of time if when they're going,
- 59:08we're still in the same position.
- 59:10New manager? No problem.
- 59:12You're clearly. You're clearly Reuben in then as
- 59:14of now, then as. 100% like we can't change the manager after
- 59:17two games guys. Yeah, yeah.
- 59:19But I mean, I mean, let's, let's say even in the next couple of
- 59:22international breaks for you, you want to ride it out, you
- 59:24know, into Christmas at least. Is that what you're saying?
- 59:27And the other thing I always say with a manager change is manager
- 59:32changes. One is the guy out but who's
- 59:33coming in. You guys keep vetoing my Gareth
- 59:36Southgate and Kieran McKenna idea.
- 59:39If you give me if you give me Southgate, McKenna, Carrick.
- 59:42Yeah, Reuben's gone. I'll ask Reuben go to private
- 59:46jet. I just want to make a couple of
- 59:48points back on on. Scott, let's shake on it.
- 59:57You know what I've just realised on this pod?
- 59:59Scott does remind me of Sean Daish, so I'm wondering if he is
- 1:00:02actually Sean Daish. He.
- 1:00:04Wants to say he's a pirate. Go.
- 1:00:06On then Ash. Ash, make your points and then
- 1:00:07we're going to close with everyone telling us who they're
- 1:00:10going to replace Reuben with because I feel us might be the
- 1:00:12only one that's Reuben in. So, Ash.
- 1:00:13So just regarding everyone banging on about the Arsenal
- 1:00:18performance like that can't swing for like 5-6 games, we
- 1:00:22can't be referring to that. And also Arsenal scored after 14
- 1:00:25minutes, they decided to just give up the ball.
- 1:00:30You can talk about the pressing on United side, which is fine,
- 1:00:33we did, but Arsenal did also give up the ball.
- 1:00:36So that's why we controlled it probably more than it looks like
- 1:00:40because you just saw from the Fulham game, second-half we had
- 1:00:43no control. And on the point of we need to
- 1:00:46score more goals to almost like get out of this cycle of like
- 1:00:51not winning games. This reminds me of Louis van
- 1:00:53Hull in that because we created very little chances in a
- 1:00:58football match, when we do score naturally there's a tendency to
- 1:01:03give up the ball anyway and we're not good enough to keep
- 1:01:06clean sheets or see out games. And that was even apparent on
- 1:01:11Sunday because we got the goal and pretty much unlike Fulham's
- 1:01:15first attack with like any penetration, they got free.
- 1:01:20And that is what will happen during this tenure with with
- 1:01:24Reuben. I should make a great point on
- 1:01:26Louis van Gaal 2015 2016 season Louis van Gaal scored 49 goals.
- 1:01:33Guess how many goals he scored last season?
- 1:01:3544 Very similar. We drew, we drew a lot of games.
- 1:01:40I remember that we we went to a lot of games that season and we
- 1:01:43had a tendency to go one nil up. And as his mates Mike Smallin
- 1:01:48and Daily Blend, they would hold out till about the 80th minute
- 1:01:52and then we concede. So I've seen this before.
- 1:01:56So like I said, I just hope that the data and everything
- 1:02:00transforms into real performances where we start
- 1:02:03scoring goals because that's. What's going to happen?
- 1:02:05Positive like Ron, aren't you positive on and boom Moose,
- 1:02:09Cunya, Cesco? I am.
- 1:02:10You haven't seen them yet. You remember when we were
- 1:02:12signing and boom, I was super excited.
- 1:02:14He's not playing him. I love, I love and boom, I love
- 1:02:16Cunya. I've got no problems with those
- 1:02:18signings. My point is around the budget.
- 1:02:20We know the budget is 200 million.
- 1:02:22Would I have gone and spent 200 million on two number 10s when
- 1:02:25we had Bruno already in the number 10, We had Mason Mount,
- 1:02:27who by the way the manager really likes.
- 1:02:30I don't think I would have done that.
- 1:02:31You know, I think we need to address the midfield as you
- 1:02:34clearly agree. So I just would have used that
- 1:02:36money a little bit more wisely given that we've got 6 days of
- 1:02:39the window left and we don't have a number six.
- 1:02:42We don't even have a goalkeeper. I mean, we haven't even spoken
- 1:02:44about the goalkeeper issue. That's a whole different
- 1:02:46conversation. I agree, but aren't you looking
- 1:02:49forward to seeing those three together finally and hopefully
- 1:02:52banging some in? I was there on the first day of
- 1:02:54the season to watch Arsenal, super excited.
- 1:02:57But to Scott's point, we lost the game, and the game's about
- 1:03:00winning. Yeah.
- 1:03:01Come then, Ron, tell us, if you're replacing Ruben, who were
- 1:03:04the one or two top names on your shortlist?
- 1:03:07Oh, I really like Eddie Howe. I think he but what he's done at
- 1:03:14Newcastle, he's completely galvanised that football club.
- 1:03:17He's got the fans on side, he's playing exciting football, his
- 1:03:20school's goal goals, his brand is just brilliant and I just
- 1:03:25think that the wheels might come off with the whole ESAC
- 1:03:27situation. I can see him going to
- 1:03:29Liverpool. They've got Champions League
- 1:03:31this season. I'm just not sure how they're
- 1:03:33going to do. They'll do better than United,
- 1:03:35but I'm just not sure what they're going to quite have the
- 1:03:37season they had last year. So I just wonder in the summer
- 1:03:40if there's potentially something that could tempt him to to bring
- 1:03:44him across to Man United. We can't get him now.
- 1:03:48So what do we do in the interim? I do think Ruben won't last a
- 1:03:51season. So in the meantime, you know,
- 1:03:53we're looking at an interim. I know Scott's going to say
- 1:03:56Ollie. So perhaps it's back to Ollie in
- 1:04:00the interim until. I've got one.
- 1:04:01I've got one for you that Scott would approve of in Turkey,
- 1:04:05currently managing. How about Josie?
- 1:04:07No, I wouldn't bring him back. No, Sorry, Scott.
- 1:04:11It's going to be Sean Daish, unfortunately.
- 1:04:13Go on, Scott, tell us you'll give us a better name than Sean
- 1:04:16Daish. Come on.
- 1:04:17Gelati, let's stick with him. Yeah.
- 1:04:20And pine the sky. Yeah, and Gelati.
- 1:04:23But I think I'm very Ron, I think Eddie Howe is probably the
- 1:04:27top candidate to go and get. They're not going to get in
- 1:04:30Southgate, even though I think Southgate would do a quite a
- 1:04:33decent job and get us to that next level.
- 1:04:37It's a stepping stone with Southgate.
- 1:04:40I think I said last time he needs to prove himself like club
- 1:04:44football and winning something within club football if you did
- 1:04:49a fantastic job at England. But I just don't think they will
- 1:04:53go for Southgate, especially with the the scenario and the
- 1:04:58the second of the sporting director previously.
- 1:05:01So yeah, I think Eddie Howe is probably the best one to go,
- 1:05:06although I do like Thomas Frank. Yeah, difficult to get him out
- 1:05:10of Spurs. So Ash I assume?
- 1:05:12Still, you're boring CUNT #1 on your list.
- 1:05:18What Erola? I think if I was to bring in a
- 1:05:24manager right now, two games in and we want stability and that's
- 1:05:31why I brought the Thomas Frank point up when Scott was last on,
- 1:05:35probably I'd go Marco Silva. OK, after that game against
- 1:05:39Fulham, he impressed you even more.
- 1:05:40So, no, because he was on my list originally, even when 10
- 1:05:43Hart was fired, he was he was I can for that.
- 1:05:46Yeah. So the data guys like as can go
- 1:05:49and speak to cabs and and the rest of the, you know, data
- 1:05:52world, they all like him as well.
- 1:05:55And for this, and this is the point, like if it was a clean
- 1:05:59slate, Erella had time, I'd probably go with that because
- 1:06:03he's got a philosophy and I and I like his philosophy.
- 1:06:06But I think for this situation coming in where he's basically
- 1:06:11he would come in either October or November, I think Marco
- 1:06:14Silva's a better fit and he will do well with this squad.
- 1:06:18So that's three clearly Reuben out, one clearly Reuben in.
- 1:06:22I think I'll keep it relatively even and declare that I'm still
- 1:06:27Reuben in but very different reasons to us.
- 1:06:29And I said I'd be making. I thought there was a big reveal
- 1:06:31coming. There is a big reveal and my big
- 1:06:34reveal. My big reveal is that I'm not
- 1:06:37stepping foot into Old Trafford until Ineos and the glazes are
- 1:06:41gone. Because for me, we can go
- 1:06:43through this cycle again of new managers.
- 1:06:44I'm bored of it, guys. It's been 10 plus years, we'll
- 1:06:47get a new guy in, we'll have a little run of form, but the same
- 1:06:50problems will creep back in. And for me, the biggest
- 1:06:53disgrace, disgrace over the last 12 to 18 months is the way Ineos
- 1:06:57have treated us over ticket pricing, the redundancies, the
- 1:07:01way they treated people like Kath and now also getting rid of
- 1:07:04Kobe Manu, or talking about getting rid of Kobe Manu,
- 1:07:07getting rid of Garnett. Show Manchester United's about
- 1:07:10Academy players coming through the Academy.
- 1:07:12They've ripped the heart and soul out of the club, so I won't
- 1:07:15be stepping foot into Old Trafford until they're gone.
- 1:07:17I will be going to away games though, because I still love Man
- 1:07:20United and you can never take that out of me.
- 1:07:22But it's really hard because you're in conflict, right?
- 1:07:25Because you, you love the club. We all love the club, but we all
- 1:07:28hated the Glazers. We can all agree on that.
- 1:07:30And for me, the Glazers still there, we can't forget that.
- 1:07:33You know, the protests got cancelled early in the season.
- 1:07:36I think a lot of us are in conflict about what to do
- 1:07:38because you love the club, but not for me.
- 1:07:40I'm making the stand now and I'm not stepping foot into Old
- 1:07:42Trafford until they're gone. There you go.
- 1:07:45You're not going to buy any merch as well.
- 1:07:48I thought about that so I won't be buying any merch but I
- 1:07:50probably will have to get Raffi the baby kit because again, I'm
- 1:07:53in conflict so. Hey, Steve, come on.
- 1:07:58I'm sure Ron can sort you out with some Chinese.
- 1:08:00That's true, actually. Yeah, that's true.
- 1:08:01We'll get in the United kit but we won't put.
- 1:08:03Money in. Let's be hush hush about that
- 1:08:05now. I've actually got a point on
- 1:08:08any. I was thinking about it earlier
- 1:08:10in terms of recruitment, right, Because there's been a lot of
- 1:08:12talk about obviously the order of which we bought players and
- 1:08:16you know, could we have spent the money better etcetera.
- 1:08:18And this is the thing, it's not a slight against the players
- 1:08:21that have been brought in, right?
- 1:08:22Kenya and Embumi are really good Premier League players.
- 1:08:25I feel sorry for Chesco in terms of the criticism that he's
- 1:08:28already got. I've given how many minutes he's
- 1:08:31played and he's super young. But I was thinking about this.
- 1:08:35If someone like Michael Edwards was in charge instead of Jason
- 1:08:41Wilcox, I do wonder if we had made even the free trans, the
- 1:08:45big free transfers that we've made.
- 1:08:48I feel like it's like, you know, no one is leading that
- 1:08:54recruitment process. Like to me, it's just seems like
- 1:08:58Ruben is dictating and essentially Wilcox is just
- 1:09:02getting whatever he wants. And I don't think that would be
- 1:09:06the case if if Michael Edwards was like at the club or maybe
- 1:09:10some of the Brighton guys. I think it would be much more
- 1:09:14like, you know, technically driven as opposed to like coach,
- 1:09:19coach driven. And I've, I wonder like, you
- 1:09:22know, because you look at Jason Wilcox, his record, right, He's
- 1:09:25only done it as a sporting director at Southampton.
- 1:09:28He was youth director at Man City.
- 1:09:32So his knowledge I guess of like youth Academy football would be
- 1:09:36fantastic. But Steve, you know, I know
- 1:09:39you've mentioned it quite a few times, whether it's any or so or
- 1:09:42Jason is like, yeah, with a better technical lead.
- 1:09:48I do wonder if we could have made smarter recruitments in
- 1:09:53terms of what we need for the manager of this manager that's.
- 1:09:56Disgrace, isn't it? They've gone and fired people
- 1:09:59while they've gone and wasted, you know, millions on Ashworth.
- 1:10:02You know, that's there's, there's a whole number of
- 1:10:04reasons we could list off against Ineos, right?
- 1:10:07It's just, it's countless. So yeah, I think we have to wrap
- 1:10:10it up there, guys. We could carry on for hours.
- 1:10:11We will obviously do more parts, this is going to roll on and
- 1:10:14we've got Grimsby midweek. Hopefully Chesco might get off
- 1:10:17the mark if he starts. Sounds like we might play a
- 1:10:19strong team just to get a win on the board and then yeah, Burnley
- 1:10:24at home on the weekend. So again, surely we can expect
- 1:10:27to win against Burnley at home. Is that asking too much as?
- 1:10:30Mate, we've got to beat Burnley. There we go.
- 1:10:34Got to beat Burnley. He wants a performance.
- 1:10:37Yeah, that's true. That's true.
- 1:10:38That's not. Not about the result you'll play
- 1:10:40one run. No, no, no, it's true.
- 1:10:43It's true actually that I, I I don't just want a result, I won
- 1:10:47a performance. What XG do you want?
- 1:10:49Come on, what XG do you want? Thomas, the thing that Ash made
- 1:10:52a really good point of an LVG situation.
- 1:10:55I want to see more than one goal in the game.
- 1:10:57I want to see two and three. I want to see a dominant
- 1:11:01performance and not just a win, I want to see two or three
- 1:11:04goals. Three XG, Yeah, three XG.
- 1:11:07That's the. That's the requirement.
- 1:11:08That's the bar my. Friend, don't watch the YouTube
- 1:11:10highlights and when when Ollie was in charge.
- 1:11:12You'll see 2 three goals there. You won't see it this weekend.
- 1:11:15Exactly, Scott, you don't need to persuade me about Ollie.
- 1:11:19So yeah. Well, if we get desperate, we
- 1:11:21know where we're going mid season say all right, thanks for
- 1:11:24joining guys. That was a cracker.
- 1:11:26So thanks for tuning in, and we'll catch you on the next
- 1:11:29episode.