Latest / Let's Kick It Off! / Ep 41: The Reds singing in the Rain!

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Ep 41: The Reds singing in the Rain! · Let's Kick It Off!

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  Let's kick it off. My name is Ash.
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  I'm joined today by AS Ron Scott and Cabs.
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  We're going to be reflecting on the Manchester United
• 0:48
  performance against Chelsea having 121 at Old Trafford on
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  Saturday. We're also going to have a look
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  at the Merseyside Derby, have a quick look at the Arsenal Man
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  City game and talk about who's going to win the title.
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  So Scott, going to be one of those rare occasions where I can
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  come to some Manchester United fans and say we won a bloody
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  game. What was your take?
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  Crazy, right? Absolutely crazy.
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  That's why I'm wearing a Man United top.
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  So proud to wear it live on again.
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  It's the ninth time we've ever to celebrate winning a league
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  game. It's crazy.
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  I get for me, obviously there was a massive bit of luck with
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  the sudden enough. That's obvious.
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  I think it does, although I'm not going to complain these
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  three points. We're never going to remember
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  the performance or the the the sudden enough.
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  It's going to be the three points.
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  But I do feel it must the same issues and when it went to 10 V
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  10, if Chelsea didn't take all their attacking plays off in the
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  1st 20 minutes, I think the game might have been different.
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  So I don't know it's if buts and maybes, but I just look, I felt
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  this does start again was pretty much similar to pretty much
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  every 15 minutes in all of the other previous games.
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  You know, high press fast, and then it kind of appears this one
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  felt a bit. Different Scott for me the the
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  aggressiveness at the beginning with the 50 fifties felt better
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  than I've ever seen under Ruby, but.
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  It's changed. It's Chelsea though, isn't it?
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  And this is what I mean about we get up for these.
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  We'd get up for Arsenal. We we didn't get up for City,
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  but we got up for Chelsea. And it's kind of like, are we
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  that kind of football club that we'd get up for these so-called
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  top six and the rest of the the Premier League, you know, are we
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  going to get up for Brentford and we're going to put in
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  exactly the same performance. Like you said, the high energy,
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  that real tackling kind of thing.
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  I just, I just, there's no proof there to say that that
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  performance or that kind of high energy tackling is going to, you
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  know, replicate for for Brentford.
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  So, and that's why I expect it's, it should be like this
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  every single game. But yeah, I just think it was
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  great to have three points. I I can't argue it was buzzing
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  just to get a win. Nice feeling waking up on Sunday
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  morning. Oh, and The thing is it is nice
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  because you can watch the rest of the Premier League games on
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  Sunday. Just literally, yeah, take take
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  the Mick or the rest of them while while you just, yeah,
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  sitting back with a win. But yeah, I just, I just still
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  think it masks quite a lot of issues to us.
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  As I know you were in Manchester, managed to find ATV
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  or a screen? I did, yeah, just about.
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  I missed the I actually missed the sending off.
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  I don't understand why that was luck.
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  I thought that was a good move. I've just really watched it
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  again just to make sure it was a good move.
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  Flick on headed by Cesco and by most throw on gold.
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  And wasn't that a red card, Scott?
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  You don't think it was a red card?
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  You think we got lucky? 5050 to me it wasn't.
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  I don't think it was like. 2 red cards.
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  To me it looks like a bad challenge.
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  It looks like violent conduct anyway high and it's a denial of
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  a goal scoring opportunity as a goalkeeper's off his line.
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  Bad judgement, but. OK, so maybe I reiterate having
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  a man sent off in the 1st 5 minutes.
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  There isn't an element of luck of that.
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  Was it lucky to get a man sent off?
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  No, but we did have an element of luck that they were down to
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  10 men after 5 minutes. There you go.
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  Due to our good play, right, We should have had a goal.
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  I'm actually curious in terms of, I was thinking maybe I was,
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  there should be a rule change where you get to decide if you
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  have the goal given or the red card or something.
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  Because I was like, I take the goal.
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  That was a good move. I, I, I think looking at that as
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  well, it's not a header that I think Hoyland makes.
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  So that was good, good play by Cesco, actually.
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  Like, I think part of the reason we're signing him is that aerial
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  ability. And I think, and Boomer makes a
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  really good run there. Clear on goal misjudgment.
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  Yeah. And the rest, I think we did.
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  We we played a really good half because it didn't give us a
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  goal. He's still nil, nil at that
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  stage. And then you need to still
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  capitalise on it. Yeah.
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  And it was great to actually score 2 good goals.
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  I think if you want to talk about luck, I thought Bruno was
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  offside and then they I was like, oh he's off, he's off,
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  he's off. And then I thought.
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  He was off. Yeah, I thought he was
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  initially. And then I was like, Oh my God.
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  And I was looking at the screen. I'm like, there's a foot there.
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  Foot. Wait a minute.
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  I was like that that that's where you talk about 5 margins,
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  right? That is it.
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  Tosin's foot, one of the Chelsea defenders is yeah, Shallaba's
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  foot is just literally there. And I'm like, Oh my God, that he
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  might be on and, and Bruno is in my FPL team as well.
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  I was thinking of cages. Like that decision, right?
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  Yeah, because it was clearly marginal.
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  And I was thinking what how does this automated offside thing
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  work? Because surely it should have
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  been quicker and that's the luck you need to to get the goal.
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  Once you've got the goal, that's the big one to me to get ahead.
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  Really nice to see us capitalising on that and keep
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  going to get the second goal. Did you question?
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  I was a bit confused. When I talk about luck, I think
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  that to me that's a red card. Was Casimiras really a second
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  yellow? Seemed odd to me. 5050, I would
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  say 5050, yeah. I mean, I've seen those given in
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  games and. What was it given for?
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  Do you think it was for the challenge which he wins the ball
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  or was it? I think he was.
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  Pulling back his shirt. Yeah, I think it's the shirt.
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  Pull. Was he pulling back his shirt or
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  did he just have his arm around? The arm around him grabbed
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  underneath from the. Front, but from the front right
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  wasn't, you know, the usual tug and the shirt coming back and
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  that is a definite yellow because you're stopping the guy
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  running away. This felt more like he was
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  trying to get round him to make the tackle and I was.
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  I just thought. It was naive I.
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  Mean you could see it was Chelsea.
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  Chelsea. Yeah, What was more naive was
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  the first challenge. I'm like, oh, Casimira, stop
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  going to ground. And I think at some point
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  Raven's got to like, you know, move, move on from this guy.
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  I know we don't have midfielders.
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  We've got Kobe and Agate on the bench.
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  Just play one of these guys. Hard to say that, though,
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  because Casimira also scores, right?
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  So he's useful in both boxes, but in that in that kind of
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  tearing around the middle, yeah, that kind of I was really
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  worried then coming into the the second-half, but we defended
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  brilliantly. We I don't think they they had
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  one chance and they scored from it.
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  Did they have another chance? I don't remember them having
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  another shot or saved by the goalkeeper.
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  So I. Think they only had a disallowed
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  goal, but yeah, I don't think the goalkeeper.
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  Was way offside though, and that was a set piece.
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  It felt like every chance that they created was some set
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  pieces, which is our weakness. But in the general play, I
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  thought we control them well. I thought Delict was just
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  fantastic. He's just growing into his sort
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  of role. I thought Harry was great and I
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  don't know why. Again, Reuben subbing off a
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  centre pack was just like, dude, he's playing well, why are you
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  subbing him? But I thought we defended,
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  defended really well. The thing that we missed out and
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  was all those chances that weren't really chances are like
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  opportunities to attack. We often misplace thing.
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  One thing I would say, I was in Manchester and I was driving to
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  get to ATV and it was honestly, it was biblical.
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  I could just the level of rain, only in a monsoon in Thailand
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  have I ever seen anything like this.
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  So I can imagine I didn't like it looked bad on TV, but you
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  cannot imagine how bad it was in real life and to play football
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  in those conditions. So if you're watching some of
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  these misplaced passes in control and stuff, honestly, it
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  was horrendous. I thought we could.
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  It was so bad that I was I was worried it could get called off
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  because if it kept going like that.
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  Can you imagine? Are you in Manchester, Scott?
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  Yeah, well, Wilmslow, which is about what, 20?
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  Miles away I was. I was in Wilmslow.
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  But it was the same. Yeah, so not if not far.
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  In the airport, right? Yeah, no, I was.
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  I was quite closer to the airport than like the top of
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  Wilmslow Road. And we did.
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  You. Were you there with the rain?
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  Yeah, it was. Crazy I that's why I messaged
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  thinking that giving them is already starting to be war and
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  logged at half time. It was like, this ain't going to
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  hold up if it continues like this monsoon kind of thing.
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  Unbelievable. So like some of these misplaced
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  passes, I was like, you know what is this is not a football
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  condition, this is having a fight.
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  And I thought in that kind of conditions, we put in a really
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  good fight and deserve to win, you know, So I don't I think,
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  you know, you can say luck, but it's like, oh, if if Mariska had
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  done this or done this, he didn't.
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  He they whatever he did wasn't right.
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  And I think our players on the pitch deserve the three points.
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  And I'm glad we if it was like that, we got some luck for once
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  because we haven't had I don't think that luck.
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  And yeah, I'm glad, like you said, Scott, that you can, you
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  know, watch the Baku Formula One on Sunday with, like, without
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  pain in your heart. Until Piastry put it in the
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  wall, of course. Ron, from your southern spot
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  with less rain, what was that second-half?
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  Could you bear it, or did you understand Reuben's substitutes?
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  We're just coming back to football kits for a start.
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  Similar to Scott, this is only the ninth time in the league I'm
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  actually wearing this tops. Yeah, doesn't happen very often.
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  So I'm. Going to enjoy that moment, come
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  on. I love the gas room.
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  You should you should update us on the win percentage you're on
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  as well. It's 28.
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  Percent now 28, I don't have the 28 points something I don't have
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  that for you, but it's 28%. Where's that?
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  Where's that .17 gone? I'm not quite sure about that,
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  but it's 28%. What did I make of it?
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  Beginning of the game, I thought the aggression, the intensity,
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  you know, credit to our team. Do you think that's one of the
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  best starts you've seen under rubing?
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  I I thought that personally. I know it was only about 40
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  minutes, but it's still good to see something right?
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  He spoke during the game. If you listen to his pre match,
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  you know, he spoke a lot about the aggression, the intensity
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  and these players came out, you know, from the get go, the first
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  whistle. But of course, you know, sending
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  off helps. You know, we played 85 or not 85
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  minutes. We played the first half rather,
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  you know, with a man advantage, which obviously helps.
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  But the the way we came out of the the blocks was, was super
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  impressive. I thought a week of training,
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  obviously, you know, no midweek games potentially.
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  Is that benefiting as well? Interestingly, if you think
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  about the six teams in the Champions League, only one of
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  them actually won on the weekend.
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  So as you made the point last week about, you know, the
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  Champions League and that now having a knock on effect.
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  Are we starting to see that already from sort of game week 1
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  where, you know, one in six have actually won their game and that
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  was Liverpool. And then I thought Cesco and he
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  actually had probably his best game so far.
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  I thought I was really disappointed that Ruben took him
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  off in the second-half. Why do you think?
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  He did because. Sorry, why do you think he did
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  take him off? I think obviously he had to
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  bring Agate on so you know, you had to shore up that midfield
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  and he probably looked at his options and I just think he
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  thought and bueno, we couldn't take him by more off.
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  So probably play him by most through the middle.
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  But I felt like we just we just lose a focal point in this team
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  and Romo is not a #9 as such, particularly what we are doing
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  at the moment. And by and obviously he's at his
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  critics, but his kicking, his distributions been OK this
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  season. And we saw it from the goal when
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  he played it up to Cesco, who wins the header and Bomo's
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  Claire on goal. So I thought he's probably
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  thinking that we need, you know, Cesco obviously going to take
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  him off, but he needs to have that sort of focal point in
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  midfield. But I just felt like we lost
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  that aerial presence with taking Cesco off.
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  And in the second-half I felt like, you know, we sort of just
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  sat back a little bit too much, you know, we were too defensive.
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  Possession stats were 7013 Chelsea's favour.
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  And that's the piece where I think, you know, we don't really
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  want to see this coming into our play.
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  We're tuning a lot, we're playing at home and we were sort
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  of inviting pressure and you just wonder and show us you got
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  it back to two one. But you know, had the game gone
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  on for another 10/15/20 minutes potentially, who knows.
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  Coming on 50 minutes, I mean, come on.
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  No, they had what? Come on guys, said One shot in
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  the whole second-half. No, but I don't know if you look
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  at towards the end of the game that they they were crossing a
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  lot and and Bande had to like push out one ball and you know,
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  there was a bit of carnage. But it's going to happen in a
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  game like this. We're low on confidence and it
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  was all about getting. They needed the result, right?
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  That was it. It was like that you could.
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  Feel, of course, no, it's all about, it's all about the win.
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  No, no, definitely, yeah. But we saw signs.
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  I mean, one thing I thought was lots of crosses coming into the
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  box and we haven't really seen that much and you know, maybe
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  with Cisco's presence as well. And one thing I noticed, I know
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  if you guys did as well, but we talk a lot about the system.
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  We talk about 3 at the back, but I sort of saw dual Dolby play
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  pretty high up and Maserati sort of make himself almost into a
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  back four and at times that allow Bruno to sort of go
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  further up into midfield. And at times, you know, we were
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  we were about four. And you just wonder all the
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  conversations and all the other media attention around and all
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  the questions to Ruben. And he has said, look, you know,
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  slowly he will transition. And probably for the first time
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  that Chelsea game, I really began to say that at times, you
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  know, we had a back forward, Maserati and Dorga on the other
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  side really high up. It's been happening a lot.
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  People just don't watch the games properly.
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  There's a lot of times when. Not as much as this.
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  This was really evident I thought and perhaps maybe we
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  Chelsea having their ten men, perhaps, you know, it's a bit
• 15:01
  more easy to do because you've got more control, you should
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  have more possession and we did in that first half.
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  But I thought it was really evident in this game.
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  You know, it's just it's the, the the our team does go into
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  A442 block off the ball a lot. It does it a lot like you, you
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  you're supposed to move around positionally and, and the same
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  thing as well as if you watch City, Arsenal, Liverpool, often
• 15:26
  the back four moves into a three bit where a full back comes into
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  midfield and they they become a three two.
• 15:32
  So like those movements happen a lot.
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  It's we haven't executed well, I would say generally in moments
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  that rather than the system being an issue.
• 15:43
  And I think a bigger point has been, you know, has he been
• 15:47
  playing too many defensive players in those wingback
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  positions? And but I thought Dorga and
• 15:53
  Masrawi actually had really good games.
• 15:55
  I thought even Luke Shaw hasn't had a good start to season.
• 15:58
  I thought he played well as well.
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  Basically, I think generally speaking, apart from Casimiro's
• 16:03
  moment of stupidity, you could say all of the individual
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  players, you could say something good about them, right?
• 16:11
  Pretty much. When I saw the line up I thought
• 16:13
  I was a bit disappointed. We've got we're playing at home
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  and we've got Mazzaro, you know, in that wing back position.
• 16:19
  Would you have liked to see Ahmad as an example a bit more
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  of an attacking option, a bit more of a goal for it going
• 16:23
  forward as well? But actually, when you start to
• 16:27
  see it in the flesh and you know, to your point, if we are
• 16:30
  going to play that sort of back 4, then of course you want
• 16:33
  Maserati to sort of shift back into that traditional back 4
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  right back and have dual go on the left sort of pushing up.
• 16:41
  But it'll be interesting what he does now moving forward because
• 16:43
  I actually think Maserati every time he plays, he's really
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  impressive defensively, one of our best defenders and just
• 16:52
  great composure at all times as well.
• 16:53
  And he strikes me as a bit of a leader too.
• 16:55
  And this team clearly lacks leadership.
• 16:58
  So he he needs to play. It's just a question of how you
• 17:00
  fit him in now in a system that we know he's obviously going to,
• 17:04
  you know, continue with. Cabs, you're in the Reuben in
• 17:08
  camp. So as the neutral of the group,
• 17:12
  did you get time to watch the game or see the highlights?
• 17:15
  Is that? Because Cabs is part of Shake
• 17:17
  Jess Evenser. Yeah, one thing in the full
• 17:21
  collapse of the club for the takeover.
• 17:26
  So I did watch the game. It was, it was, it was
• 17:29
  interesting in terms of I think it was, it was a little bit
• 17:35
  redundant. There was so much water on the
• 17:37
  pitch. It was just, it felt like just
• 17:39
  people's like it felt like a Sunday league.
• 17:42
  Trying to say it's playground. Football and basically, I mean,
• 17:44
  it's, it's, it fitted quite well with Manchester United's
• 17:47
  football, right? I mean, basically amateur
• 17:50
  football, like you're basically running around and sliding
• 17:52
  around and you know, and somebody hits a big ball, but
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  you know, so you know, I don't think.
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  And also you're making, with all due respect, I think you guys
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  are making far too wide-ranging conclusions on a game that
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  essentially was a non event as soon as you were playing against
• 18:11
  10 men. Right.
• 18:13
  And I think as as points actually really valid is that if
• 18:17
  you want to see this kind of structurally what he's what he's
• 18:19
  trying to do is probably a good way because it's training ground
• 18:22
  game, right. One less you're playing against
• 18:23
  one less player. You want to see where the
• 18:25
  patterns of players are. This is basically how you can
• 18:28
  map that out. One thing I disagree here it
• 18:31
  though, as I'm sorry, just Ron, I think you were mentioning that
• 18:34
  Mesroui being there in a is quite helpful in the backfoot.
• 18:38
  Well actually no. If you're entire the premise of
• 18:41
  your attacking football is to have a 325 like but you're
• 18:45
  structurally you're trying to do a 325 using 3 centre backs, then
• 18:49
  it's the exact opposite. You want Maserati, you want your
• 18:52
  wing backs to be extremely good at best, being able to go high
• 18:57
  and wide to be able to create, not not to sit back
• 19:01
  structurally. That's what he's trying to do,
• 19:03
  right? Because if he wasn't trying to
• 19:05
  do that, you wouldn't have two central midfielders because like
• 19:09
  defensive by or theoretically defensive by the midfielders
• 19:12
  because they're not running past the ball At the moment, what
• 19:16
  you're doing is you're basically playing 325 but with your with
• 19:22
  with five behind the ball essentially, right.
• 19:25
  And I think this is going back to, and I think my, my previous
• 19:27
  criticisms with Amarin again, look, I'm going to keep saying
• 19:32
  this, this was my my reaction to Amarin the day we got linked to
• 19:35
  him after I watched a lot of games of his.
• 19:39
  I think he's an inherently defensive manager.
• 19:41
  He's a reactive manager. So therefore, I think he tends
• 19:44
  to have more players behind the ball than he needs to now that
• 19:48
  he doesn't react to that. And I'm not sure how well
• 19:51
  Manchester United as a club aiming for the top, like as in
• 19:55
  pretty high up in the league is conducive to being that
• 19:58
  defensive minded. And and I think that's what his
• 20:02
  default position is. So anything, anytime he's
• 20:04
  basically in a bit of fix, he'll just go a bit more defensive.
• 20:07
  And I think that's what you're going to have to deal with going
• 20:10
  forward in terms of the game. Look, I thought you you were
• 20:13
  quite well, but then I have also thought, I mean where I'd
• 20:16
  disagree. I think you've started well in a
• 20:17
  few games. The the difference was that
• 20:21
  you've just got you've got counted and somebody else, yeah,
• 20:23
  or the other team scored all right and completely defunct.
• 20:26
  It what happens to Manchester United every time I see them is
• 20:29
  that they play well for 20 minutes and then they go to
• 20:32
  shit, right? Every they, they can see the
• 20:34
  goal and the whole thing collapses, right?
• 20:36
  Or you don't score, you run out of legs and then the, the
• 20:40
  opposition just smash you in the like Fuller was a classic
• 20:42
  example. I thought you were quite for the
• 20:43
  1st 20/20/25, right? But then, like I, I think on, on
• 20:47
  Azar and Asha's chat, I basically said there's no way
• 20:50
  you can sustain this because you were just running after the
• 20:53
  ball. But like aimlessly running after
• 20:54
  the ball. There was no like passing angles
• 20:56
  closing down. It was just like, oh, there's
• 20:57
  the ball, let's chase it, right? Which is great for 20 minutes
• 21:00
  because you can do it because you've got legs.
• 21:02
  But after like 40 minutes you're knackered, right?
• 21:05
  And you could, you can see this in, and this is where I am very,
• 21:08
  very sceptical of Amarin because I don't see any of those people
• 21:12
  aren't intelligent, intelligently closing down
• 21:15
  passing angles and creating and pressing areas.
• 21:20
  And wasn't that the case? Could be when Klopp first took
• 21:23
  over. No, it was a bit hectic.
• 21:24
  No, but it was a bit hectic. It was but.
• 21:26
  I thought it was hectic. Adam Lallana was trying.
• 21:29
  Just mentor basically. For about a month, which is
• 21:32
  fine. I mean if it was a month it was
• 21:34
  2. Months we've only had a month of
• 21:35
  the new front three right, That's the point.
• 21:37
  No you can't count last season but you can't hold pre season
• 21:39
  they that in. The you had a whole pre season
• 21:41
  though, right? Yeah, and they're getting going.
• 21:43
  I think the fresh things actually been much better this
• 21:46
  season than last season. So I don't see a distinct
• 21:49
  difference personally, right? And I've watched probably 2-3
• 21:53
  full games and I don't see a difference.
• 21:55
  I see a lot of chasing after the ball, I see a lot of breaking.
• 21:59
  I see the ease at which people can just play around you, right?
• 22:02
  There's just people just pass about.
• 22:04
  Like, I mean, even in the first half of the the Fulham game,
• 22:07
  right when you were pressing aggressively in your 1st 20
• 22:11
  minutes, I mean, Fulham was still passing the ball around
• 22:13
  you. Because it's not, I don't think
• 22:15
  it's structured well enough. And that's my criticism of my of
• 22:18
  of. I think the the difference Kabir
• 22:21
  is I guess when Mount Kuya and Embryo play.
• 22:24
  I know we haven't really seen that much this season because
• 22:27
  obviously with the injuries to Kenya and Mount, but I thought
• 22:29
  against Arsenal was a classic example.
• 22:31
  When yeah, you think Arsenal were playing around us that
• 22:33
  much? No, exactly.
• 22:35
  We we. We were.
• 22:35
  Pressing very well in the best passing teams in the country.
• 22:39
  And even the Fulham game, I thought we started very well
• 22:41
  with the press and of course Kuna and Mount got injured.
• 22:43
  But I just want to come back to could be your point about the
• 22:46
  system. And I agree with you.
• 22:47
  That's kind of what I'm saying here is that when I saw the team
• 22:49
  sheet at home to Chelsea, I was disappointed to see Maserati as
• 22:53
  that wingback. I would much prefer, given that
• 22:56
  I know he's going to play through the back, to see an
• 22:58
  attacking wing back in Ahmad play in that position.
• 23:02
  But as the game evolves and I was watching it through, he was
• 23:05
  reverting and pushing Maserati into a back 4, conventional back
• 23:10
  four. And Dolgu on the other side was
• 23:12
  so much more further afield. So he's not necessarily playing
• 23:17
  this. You know, yes, of course, the
• 23:18
  system is 3 at the back. But so many times during the
• 23:21
  course of that game, and it might be that Chelsea had, you
• 23:23
  know, in the first half, we had an extra man, perhaps we don't
• 23:26
  need to have that sort of back 5 or back three.
• 23:28
  And he was sort of sitting in as a back 4.
• 23:31
  But that's what's what's happening with Maserati.
• 23:34
  You know, he's sort of coming in and playing that sort of
• 23:35
  conventional right back in a back.
• 23:37
  But I get that, I get that. And but what you're talking
• 23:39
  about is basically out of sorry, in possession, right?
• 23:44
  You operate in the in possession phase, right, The build up
• 23:47
  phase. And my, my counter to that is
• 23:50
  actually in a, in a, in, in a build up phase, you shouldn't be
• 23:53
  back. You shouldn't have a back 4
• 23:55
  right every. Yeah, I'd much rather than
• 23:57
  attacking fullback. Yeah, because every every kind
• 24:01
  of progressive team in the Premier League has a
• 24:05
  construction of 3325 of some description, right?
• 24:09
  Whether that's the central midfielder drops into the back
• 24:11
  2, gets a three and then the full backs go, whether that's a
• 24:14
  back three with kind of wing backs going or you know,
• 24:18
  Bournemouth, everybody's got a different form formulation of
• 24:21
  that, right. But essentially all of modern
• 24:23
  football is constructed around this this idea.
• 24:26
  Which is which is why I'd like to see Ahmad as that if I was
• 24:29
  blaming the team. Absolutely.
• 24:30
  The the reason I've decided he's played Ahmad is because Mount
• 24:34
  and Kunia weren't ready to start.
• 24:36
  And I think he's the he wants that front three to press.
• 24:41
  And I think Ahmad, Cesco and and Bumo are a good pressing unit
• 24:48
  and that's what I think. I think that.
• 24:50
  But your second line presses creep your it's non existent.
• 24:52
  The second line is but the first line, so this this.
• 24:55
  But then you get past round, right?
• 24:58
  Because you can't but then. You can't compress space.
• 25:00
  It's. True, but but we defended the
• 25:01
  box well in this game and we've generally defended the box OK
• 25:07
  that, but we do need to improve. But you're right there.
• 25:09
  There's a weakness through the middle of the team.
• 25:11
  But I'm saying why did he play Ahmed that?
• 25:13
  I think if Mount or Kunia were fully fit to start, he would
• 25:16
  have done that run. I think that was the issue.
• 25:19
  You think he, you think. He does.
• 25:20
  He does play like a aggressive. Wing back, I think on both
• 25:25
  sides. I can't say for certain, but I
• 25:28
  think that the option wasn't there for him because he didn't
• 25:32
  have. He didn't believe either of
• 25:34
  those two could start. Did he start Ammar against
• 25:36
  Arsenal at home? No, no.
• 25:39
  Exactly. Yeah.
• 25:40
  So he doesn't do that. And Dallow was injured, which I
• 25:43
  think played a big part in the team selection this.
• 25:45
  Week and The thing is with team, I agree in the team selection,
• 25:48
  but I still felt we were aggressive.
• 25:50
  We went forward and we were putting balls into the box and
• 25:53
  we were getting players into the box.
• 25:55
  And if I compare, for example, you know, we are what, the 8th
• 26:00
  or 9th best team in the country playing against the world and we
• 26:03
  are the world champions now, sorry, because obviously we've
• 26:05
  beaten Chelsea. But before the game, before the
• 26:10
  game, we were playing the current world champions and I
• 26:14
  thought we, we were aggressive. You can compare that to, you
• 26:18
  know, I don't know if we'll discuss, for example, the, the,
• 26:20
  the, the city Arsenal game. I mean, Michael Arteta's team
• 26:25
  selection was very defensive. He's always keeping five men
• 26:28
  behind the ball. When City went ahead, I thought
• 26:32
  Pep basically parked the bus and then went to a back five as
• 26:34
  well. When he brings Akay on, the top
• 26:36
  managers are doing this so. OK, so my counter to this is I
• 26:40
  think you're with Arteta. You're absolutely correct,
• 26:43
  right? But has that not been the
• 26:44
  criticism of Arteta for the last two seasons, right?
• 26:47
  That he's he's overtly defensive and plays plays four set pieces,
• 26:51
  right? There, but he has a much better,
• 26:53
  stronger squad. He doesn't need to.
• 26:55
  He doesn't need to. We are limited in in the options
• 26:59
  we have, right. We don't have the same quality
• 27:01
  of of a player that Arteta does. No, no, agreed.
• 27:04
  I'm not disputing and. We're not going for the league
• 27:07
  title, so a game against Chelsea for us is we are playing a team
• 27:10
  stronger than us, so to to it's natural to think, oh we need to
• 27:15
  resist the stronger team, but isn't it?
• 27:17
  Right. No, no, because I think this is
• 27:18
  where I disagree, right? Because I think there's an
• 27:19
  element where if you're trying to build something, right, as in
• 27:24
  like constructively build something for a long term goal,
• 27:27
  then there are principles you should be putting in place as
• 27:29
  this is how we want. This is the default position.
• 27:31
  It doesn't matter if we lose a few games, right?
• 27:34
  But the default position should be this.
• 27:36
  Now the, the antithetically, I think this is the issue that I
• 27:39
  have right, with Amarin. Amarin keeps talking about
• 27:42
  firstly, he keeps and again, it's Portuguese, so therefore
• 27:45
  it's not his first language, but he keeps confusing philosophy
• 27:49
  with tactics or like system, which is not the two the same
• 27:54
  thing. But the like my my thing is that
• 27:59
  what you should be doing and good like every progressive
• 28:02
  manager would do this is embed a system.
• 28:05
  Even if you lose a few games, that's very progressive that
• 28:07
  lets you be. So if you're a, if you're coming
• 28:10
  into a A-Team that's aspiring to be top six, right, what, what
• 28:15
  the aim is to beat the bottom 10 teams home in the way, right?
• 28:18
  The rest of it, you can work out.
• 28:19
  It doesn't matter. It doesn't really matter, right?
• 28:21
  Because right. So what you do is you embed a
• 28:24
  system that basically allows you to, to do that, right?
• 28:27
  So you have to have a very, you have to have an aggressive
• 28:30
  system that that shows that actually this is how we play
• 28:32
  when we can swat these teams aside right now.
• 28:35
  My, my, my, my critique of Amarin is she keeps talking
• 28:40
  about, about all about embedding a system, but I don't see a
• 28:44
  system that's progressive in any way.
• 28:45
  I see a reactive system here, right?
• 28:47
  And you keep, you know, and your point is, well, no, but he's
• 28:51
  got, but Arteta's got five men behind the ball.
• 28:54
  Yes, but Arteta's trying to win a league title and make that
• 28:56
  jump. You're trying to embed a system.
• 28:58
  Arteta embedded that system for three years with the passing
• 29:01
  and, and all of that stuff, right?
• 29:03
  And we can have a conversation. We need to also win football
• 29:05
  matches. But do you?
• 29:06
  Do you? Need to do that.
• 29:07
  Yeah, it is a criticism of Amiram.
• 29:08
  He's not pragmatic enough. No, but the I mean it's not
• 29:11
  pragmatic enough in what, though?
• 29:12
  That's my question, right. He's not pragmatic enough by
• 29:15
  being fluid in in changing his his his system, right.
• 29:20
  What he's not what what he seems to be not pragmatic with is
• 29:24
  basically embedding a system that wins you those games.
• 29:28
  Now I'm saying that's the floor, right?
• 29:29
  The floor is that pragmatism isn't defensive, right?
• 29:34
  Pragmatism can be all out attack because I've got, I've got this
• 29:37
  bunch of players. When you play a superior team
• 29:40
  typically, pragmatism is to be more conservative typically.
• 29:44
  And I don't, I don't think so. I don't, I don't think that's
• 29:46
  necessarily because I think that's just depends on which
• 29:48
  players, which comparative advantage you have in which area
• 29:51
  you've got lots of, lots of defenders.
• 29:53
  We have no comparative advantage against Chelsea in any area, or
• 29:56
  us but Chelsea or City. Who are the teams?
• 29:58
  Three teams of the four or five we play?
• 30:00
  No, but 5. Yeah, I'm talking about the
• 30:02
  holistic map of the of Amarin's Manchester United, right?
• 30:07
  There has been no Congress last season doesn't.
• 30:10
  Count. It has to count.
• 30:10
  Let's give up. Last season, but you we're
• 30:12
  looking. At this season there's a new
• 30:13
  players we've got brand new, brand new.
• 30:15
  You can't do that right? Because last.
• 30:17
  Season is indicative like. Progressive.
• 30:19
  No, because last season was it was just a mess.
• 30:22
  We're starting again. We're and we're playing better.
• 30:24
  But why don't we then start again from today?
• 30:26
  Or maybe. Next week.
• 30:28
  Like why? No, What's your?
• 30:29
  What's your? Why is it an arbitrary line?
• 30:31
  Start again from today then We we we've got three points from
• 30:34
  three. So brilliant.
• 30:35
  That would be ridiculous. Yeah, but why not?
• 30:36
  No, Ruben N exactly. Ruben.
• 30:40
  We've got to we've got to we we we it's obvious.
• 30:42
  There's definitely Ruben N I'm. Definitely Ruben N like look.
• 30:45
  I this is, yeah, I bet you are 100% because fundamentally,
• 30:48
  look, I'm Ruben N and the reason I am is because I don't see, I
• 30:52
  don't see any chance of Ruben succeeding in Manchester United,
• 30:56
  right? So I want him to be there as
• 30:57
  long as possible because I, I'm, I'm a Manchester United
• 31:00
  supporter, right? In the same way as but and I
• 31:02
  think and and my point is if but but if you're, do you think
• 31:06
  Arteta would do a better job? At United or do you have the
• 31:09
  same criticism of No absolutely, I think I.
• 31:11
  Think Arteta would do a much better job?
• 31:13
  So what's the thing Arteta is doing at?
• 31:16
  Arsenal that Ruben, if I'm saying that, no, he's also being
• 31:19
  defensive because Arteta is sure, because Arteta.
• 31:21
  Has shown us that you can play passing football in this league
• 31:23
  and win games. He did it for the first three
• 31:25
  seasons. He got them from whatever it
• 31:28
  was. So your issue is actually.
• 31:29
  That that we are playing more direct.
• 31:31
  No, that's my issue with. You don't play progressive
• 31:34
  football, you don't have a no no, but when you say.
• 31:36
  Progressive. That's like, that's a very like
• 31:39
  esoteric term. What do you, what do you mean by
• 31:40
  progressive? What is progressive football?
• 31:42
  I mean, you basically set up. Very, very defensively as and
• 31:46
  what is progressive. Football explain progressive pro
• 31:49
  like as in where you. Proactively play, it's not, it's
• 31:51
  not reactive, right? It's not a reactive system where
• 31:54
  you're basically thinking my first point of reference is to
• 32:00
  to counter the, the tactics of the opposition as the, as the
• 32:05
  centre point of my of my of my tactical setup.
• 32:09
  Right. So explain to us how.
• 32:11
  We would what in the Chelsea game, why we were reactive when
• 32:15
  we if we were on the front foot, if we were trying to score goals
• 32:18
  early, if we went into half time 2 nil up, what was reactive and
• 32:22
  what would tell us why that? Well, because I mean, but then
• 32:24
  my my argument is that that's that game is not worthy of
• 32:27
  analysis. They're down to 10 men after the
• 32:29
  first Test. What's the next thing on the
• 32:31
  agenda then, Ash? So we wanted.
• 32:34
  To to get a listener question in you might have noticed a
• 32:39
  wonderful host Steve is not in the hot seat today because he's
• 32:44
  Sunday somewhere in the Mediterranean.
• 32:46
  But the listener question quickly is Kobe Mane, Scott
• 32:53
  discussed. For me, I would have started.
• 32:55
  Him and pushed Bruno as one of those front three.
• 33:00
  That's what I would have done. That would have been a bit more
• 33:02
  attacking sense for me. I think you're fitting Bruno
• 33:08
  into a team and into a position that we know he can't play
• 33:13
  positionally. So you're actually retrofitting
• 33:18
  your best player for the past few years into a position that
• 33:23
  actually there are two other players that could probably play
• 33:26
  better positionally as a centre midfielder.
• 33:31
  Who are the team Bruno? Well.
• 33:34
  Both Ugarte. And both at Gothic and Main
• 33:36
  mainly OK. Fine.
• 33:37
  Not Casimiro. So no, no I.
• 33:41
  Think yeah anyway, so I would have.
• 33:44
  I would have definitely. Started Bruno in one of those
• 33:47
  from front 3. So yeah, I think from the main
• 33:51
  perspective it's bonkers what's going on.
• 33:56
  It really is. It's mind blowingly bonkers that
• 34:01
  this guy is not starting when he and I and I, it's a little bit
• 34:04
  difficult to like gauge his performances because obviously
• 34:08
  he came on against City and I thought he was outstanding.
• 34:12
  Yeah, the touches, the the passes and again, he was able to
• 34:16
  close down tackle. I just don't think he's getting
• 34:20
  an opportunity. And I don't know if it's the
• 34:22
  fact that he just doesn't fit or he does fit, but Reuben doesn't
• 34:27
  want to upset Bruno and then it doesn't or it doesn't upset
• 34:30
  Bruno because then it upsets his preferred front three, as in
• 34:34
  Kuna and Buna and Cesco. You know my personal opinion on
• 34:37
  that. Scott is, I think Reuben's
• 34:39
  trapped himself with his mindset on Kobe and he thinks in his
• 34:45
  head that he can't play in those positions that Reuben sets up
• 34:49
  with. But I, I forgot to mention this
• 34:52
  actually last week, I totally agree with you for the cameo
• 34:56
  that he was on for in the Derby last week, he was really good.
• 35:00
  He progressed the ball. He he done enough in terms of
• 35:03
  off the ball, right? It's not great.
• 35:05
  We know that's one of his like areas to improve and that's one
• 35:08
  of like Reuben's concerns. But I thought he was decent last
• 35:12
  week. And I think the main point from
• 35:15
  Steve is he got 5 minutes yesterday, Ron, I mean, in a
• 35:19
  game like that as well, or Garter comes on at half time,
• 35:23
  other substitutes come on, Euro comes on, Kunya comes on and the
• 35:29
  kids not playing. And he was promised by the board
• 35:33
  to stay to play minutes because he's got a World Cup next summer
• 35:37
  as well. It's not looking good, is it the
• 35:41
  writing? 'S on the wall for me.
• 35:42
  If Reuben stays in charge all season, I can see either in
• 35:45
  January or in the summer, you know, Kobe, Kobe will depart.
• 35:50
  You know, Kobe wants to play football.
• 35:52
  And you look at the options as well.
• 35:54
  I mean, if this was, you know, the Arsenal midfield or the
• 35:56
  Liverpool midfield or the City midfield, fair enough.
• 35:59
  You know, he may well struggle to get into that.
• 36:01
  But we're talking about, we've got Agate Casimiro, Bruno's not
• 36:06
  central midfield players in #10 how he doesn't start, how he
• 36:10
  doesn't get in, you know, frankly is just mind boggling.
• 36:14
  This guy's played in FA Cup final, played very well in the
• 36:17
  FA Cup final, he's played in the EUR and he is a generational
• 36:21
  talent for us. And how he's not starting, yeah,
• 36:25
  it's just absolutely amazing. I totally agree with you.
• 36:27
  I think it said so. You know, he was one of our head
• 36:29
  of players that he came on progressively moving the ball
• 36:32
  forward. He can create and I actually
• 36:35
  believe he can play in a number six.
• 36:36
  I think he's got the ability to do that.
• 36:39
  What we're often, what we lack so much last season was
• 36:42
  controlling games, and we're starting to see a bit of that at
• 36:46
  times. But he brings control to our
• 36:47
  game. Yes, of course, he might have
• 36:49
  the odd mistake, you know, just sort of looking over his
• 36:52
  shoulder. But we've seen that already this
• 36:53
  season. The likes of Bruno playing
• 36:54
  midfield, being caught out for goals, going back, going back
• 36:58
  the other way. Kobe's one of our better
• 37:01
  midfield players. He's got to play.
• 37:04
  Yeah. And.
• 37:04
  I think to. Bookend Manchester United,
• 37:07
  Chelsea game Garnache his best mate didn't get on the pitch, so
• 37:12
  good riddance to him moving 30 odd miles down the road.
• 37:16
  Cubs Mazzai Derby on Saturday. Good win.
• 37:21
  The talk on the streets is obviously you're still not
• 37:25
  playing well, but five out of five, top of the table, five
• 37:30
  points. Claire, what's wrong?
• 37:32
  A lot, to be honest. First I thought, I thought we
• 37:35
  were very good first half to be honest and then ran out of legs
• 37:39
  totally. We had three games in six days
• 37:43
  with a with Athleti in the middle so it was inevitable.
• 37:48
  But I thought first I thought the first half was probably the
• 37:50
  best we played this season. There was some Do you need E
• 37:54
  SAC? Oh God, he's good.
• 37:56
  By God, he's good. I saw him on, he came on in the
• 38:02
  athletic game and it's just his runs are just phenomenal.
• 38:04
  Like I, I cannot wait to see him kind of just, but Ekatika, he's.
• 38:09
  He's had a blinding start. He has, especially in FPL, he
• 38:12
  has. He's been very good.
• 38:14
  He basically the issue they played very differently, but
• 38:18
  like the class ESACS class is so like it's so evident as soon as
• 38:23
  he steps foot on the pitch. So that mean look, there's not a
• 38:26
  lot wrong. There's a lot of things.
• 38:27
  We we're still trying to work out the system in how we're
• 38:30
  playing. We've changed quite a lot trying
• 38:33
  to fit in a #10 that's a creative hub, which we net.
• 38:38
  We we haven't had for a well, we haven't ever had since Coutinho
• 38:42
  left and which is, you know, seven years, eight years ago,
• 38:46
  seven years ago. And like you said, I mean, we're
• 38:49
  seeing a transitioning slowly into what slot wants in his
• 38:53
  team. And the biggest positive for me
• 38:56
  is that we are trying to create a structure for the post Salah
• 39:01
  world. How are we going to attack post
• 39:03
  Salah? And I think that's the obviously
• 39:05
  as a Liverpool fan, it's been one of our biggest concerns
• 39:08
  between him and Virgil and obviously Virgil's.
• 39:14
  Yeah. I mean, I don't know how, I
• 39:15
  don't know how you replace Virgil.
• 39:16
  And hopefully we don't have to think about that for a couple of
• 39:19
  years, but but yeah, so it's it's going well.
• 39:22
  We're starting, things are starting to make sense.
• 39:26
  You know, people that the the new players are starting to find
• 39:29
  their feet. Kirkus was very good.
• 39:31
  I thought on Saturday, probably his best game again for
• 39:34
  Liverpool. Yeah, I'm.
• 39:38
  But what's has been slow, but you can, I mean the talents.
• 39:42
  So there. It's just one of those where you
• 39:45
  eventually like, how long will we wait?
• 39:47
  The one thing about Florian at the moment is that you can see
• 39:51
  that there's a pace element. That's the only thing lacking.
• 39:55
  And this is he's struggling. He's struggling slightly with
• 39:57
  the gains. Yeah.
• 39:58
  So like he's just wants a second too long on the ball.
• 40:03
  But like I like. I've said it to you offline, but
• 40:08
  like the way he just hold he the way he just is able to caress
• 40:11
  the ball is just it's like gas coin.
• 40:14
  It's just so it like he moves the ball between his feet
• 40:16
  without even thinking about it. It's just beautiful to watch.
• 40:20
  So yeah, I mean the great start Arsenal look pretty good I would
• 40:28
  say, even though I'm a bit concerned about yeah, about City
• 40:34
  putting something together in in due course.
• 40:37
  I'd be intrigued. I'd be intrigued to see where
• 40:39
  this where the season ends up in terms of what the numbers are
• 40:42
  for the for who wins the title. I think that's the interesting
• 40:46
  concern at the moment. Well, not concerned.
• 40:47
  I think like the question at the moment is this one of those
• 40:49
  where there's a bunch of teams that are going to take points of
• 40:53
  each other? Because I kind of feel that
• 40:55
  there's a lot of good teams in this league at the moment, like
• 40:57
  even like Everton, Everton Football Club under David Moyes
• 41:01
  had and I Greenish and the Dewsbury Hall in like the three
• 41:11
  behind the one. That's like, that's ridiculous.
• 41:13
  That's like champions of equality footballers there.
• 41:17
  And that's Everton, who was 16th, 15th last season.
• 41:22
  So yeah, I mean, they played well second-half.
• 41:24
  Yeah, they did. And they were they.
• 41:26
  They, they look like a really good team and you know,
• 41:28
  Newcastle have been great. When we played them they were
• 41:30
  really good. Fulham I thought would have been
• 41:33
  good. Sunderland have been good.
• 41:34
  Like you go through the lead and just like, well, where are the
• 41:36
  easy games here? Do you see just going back?
• 41:40
  To. What once once he sucks fully
• 41:44
  fit who's who's in your front three?
• 41:46
  Are you going to play gap path the left or is it going to be I
• 41:48
  think it will be the first. Are you asking?
• 41:50
  For FPL, run. Is that why?
• 41:52
  Well. You screwed me over this week.
• 41:55
  You wouldn't find that out, but yeah, probably.
• 41:57
  AM. I think it will be I think it
• 42:00
  will be gap pro because it's interesting what we're trying to
• 42:03
  we're trying to do is sort of a hybrid between a 433 transition
• 42:07
  into a diamond midfield. So what happens is that it
• 42:11
  becomes a two. We OK, well, half of the time we
• 42:16
  press in a 442 rather than a 433, which we used to right.
• 42:19
  So what happens is there's a skewed clockwise where Salah
• 42:24
  becomes a striker with Isaac, which who pressed the two centre
• 42:30
  backs or closed pass lanes. And then Florian becomes the not
• 42:34
  becomes the 10 with gap could dropping.
• 42:37
  So he ends up being being on the left of a diamond midfield.
• 42:41
  So he's the only one who could do that in that role.
• 42:44
  The thing is, you've got so many games right you.
• 42:45
  Know you've got obviously all the four competitions you've got
• 42:48
  midweek weekend, there's going to be rotation there has to be
• 42:51
  exactly, yeah, I mean I think must.
• 42:53
  Be good to have the option to be honest.
• 42:54
  I thought like, I mean I've. Said this on the previous, but I
• 42:56
  thought we were I coming into the season, I thought we were
• 42:58
  one light up in the front line because last year we had five
• 43:03
  plus kiazza this year we've got 4.
• 43:07
  So yeah. So that's the one that's the one
• 43:11
  issue because most of them it is 6 games because of AFCON.
• 43:16
  So so that's where the concern is at the moment.
• 43:20
  Well, that's the concern in terms of the offensive line push
• 43:22
  your new best friend I. Say is your best friend because
• 43:24
  he's on first name basis Florian could you put Florian into the
• 43:28
  front 3 so we've. Tried that a little bit.
• 43:32
  I don't like him there personally.
• 43:34
  I think it I think it will happen.
• 43:35
  I think it will happen as a game state.
• 43:39
  So if we are defending the lead, I think one of the things would
• 43:41
  be where we basically have him left forward in the in the Cody
• 43:45
  Capko role where he drops slightly deeper progresses
• 43:50
  because he carries very well. He carries the ball very well.
• 43:53
  And he's also really good at as as a as a receiver, a ball
• 43:59
  receiver from from deep. I think he's just very, very,
• 44:02
  it's one of his like superpowers of finding space.
• 44:05
  So I think to kind of. Could you put your better than
• 44:08
  Kobe May new generational talent Curtis Jones then into midfield
• 44:11
  as well? Well, I think that's where we've
• 44:13
  got, we've got. Like A5 midfielders for three
• 44:15
  positions essentially. So that's that rotation.
• 44:18
  It will happen in the invariably between games.
• 44:21
  So we've got Curtis, we've got Mac, Mac, Graham, Birch, Sober
• 44:27
  Sly, and then Florian Wurtz. And those five rotate and in and
• 44:30
  out and depending on game, game state and who and though dead
• 44:34
  basically. Yeah, he well we've.
• 44:35
  We've been trying to get rid of him for two years.
• 44:38
  He refuses to go, He refuses to leave.
• 44:42
  But yeah, he's comes together. If I, if I.
• 44:44
  If I was in your. Position I I wouldn't be worried
• 44:46
  about anything. I just think the I don't Arsenal
• 44:49
  are going to be Arsenal, they're going to continue to do what
• 44:51
  they normally do, which is bottle it.
• 44:53
  Scott, what do you think Arsenal will end up?
• 44:55
  With how many points do you think that that they're ceiling
• 44:57
  is whatever, basically, Scott says.
• 44:58
  Whatever they need 80 points I think I.
• 45:00
  Think whatever they need to win the title.
• 45:02
  They'll get 5 less basically, right, Scott?
• 45:04
  I think, yeah, it's going to be that.
• 45:05
  I think they've got more losses in them than anybody.
• 45:10
  Title challenges. I think that's, that's just
• 45:12
  their nature and I don't think they've fixed anything this
• 45:16
  season from last season. I don't think they've got a
• 45:20
  prolific striker, but I do feel that they are still the Arsenal.
• 45:26
  And to your point around he, he started that defensive football
• 45:31
  in formation or what do you want to call it, where I the
• 45:34
  second-half completely changed it.
• 45:36
  But I don't think he's brave enough to do that every single
• 45:39
  game from the start. I think that's his option to
• 45:42
  say, OK, soccer's coming back, you know, from injury, so you'd
• 45:47
  expect him to take a couple of weeks to get up to speed but
• 45:49
  drop it as as a was just criminal, my view.
• 45:53
  So I just think Arsenal are typical Arsenal.
• 45:55
  They will drop points and they continue to drop points.
• 45:58
  I think City, I don't think that I think he's doing something
• 46:02
  there that this season is too early.
• 46:05
  I think he's probably next season, maybe the year after.
• 46:09
  I think he's a couple of players.
• 46:10
  You think he'll be there for two or three years then?
• 46:12
  It's good you I don't. You you never know here with
• 46:16
  him. It's like next minute he's
• 46:18
  leaving, the next next minute he signed a new contract.
• 46:20
  So I think he's doing something. I think this is this is probably
• 46:24
  his most challenging period as a manager.
• 46:28
  Can he actually rebuild a team now?
• 46:30
  I can't. And again, I wasn't close enough
• 46:33
  to his like previous like obviously Barter in Munich, what
• 46:36
  he had there was an absolutely astonishing teams of Munich and
• 46:41
  Basa that won everything. And then he left at the time of
• 46:45
  when, OK, there was an element of decline where he's actually
• 46:49
  stayed within city where now that is kind of the old God, if
• 46:53
  you want to call it, have now moved, moved on and he's brought
• 46:56
  in these quite a lot of youngsters or talented players
• 46:59
  from Europe. I just think he's building
• 47:02
  something that may just take a little bit longer.
• 47:04
  So I think this season, I just think he's out of reach.
• 47:07
  Well, I think for you, I just think you're still that kind of
• 47:12
  you're in that top tier at the moment.
• 47:14
  Well, I think everybody's trying.
• 47:15
  I think the others to Arsenal and City are trying to get in
• 47:18
  there, but I think there's still a lot second tier.
• 47:20
  They'll they'll be close, but I don't think it's going to be,
• 47:23
  you know, you guys continue to play the way you'll play and and
• 47:26
  the rotation that you've got with the squad that you've got,
• 47:29
  it's ridiculous. So yeah, I think it's it's
• 47:32
  called. Arsenal's squad at the moment,
• 47:35
  based on what they've done in the summer, I would say it might
• 47:38
  even be slightly better than Liverpool's in terms of that one
• 47:41
  to 11. And then actually if you look at
• 47:44
  their substitutes, their sort of 2nd 11 again, 1 to 11 I think is
• 47:49
  super strong. I think they have an incredible
• 47:51
  window as did to be fair, I said obviously Liverpool and many
• 47:56
  other clubs, but I thought Arsenal bought really well.
• 47:59
  Where I agree with you and I think a lot of us guys do, is I
• 48:02
  think our Teta in terms of his tactics, his line up, you know,
• 48:08
  he goes ultra defensive and I think to go and win a league
• 48:10
  title, particularly when you're competing against Liverpool,
• 48:13
  City of the World, you've got to be attacking, you know, you've
• 48:17
  got to go for it. And too many times in games over
• 48:20
  the last, you know, couple of seasons now where they finished
• 48:22
  second, he's had opportunities to really go for it and he
• 48:25
  hasn't quite done that. And I think that's where they
• 48:28
  will probably end up short again and we saw it yesterday to
• 48:30
  certain degree as well. You know, first half cautious
• 48:34
  and second-half as well. You could see since he was
• 48:36
  sitting in how many chances they really create, do they really go
• 48:39
  for it? Probably not.
• 48:41
  So, Ron, fun question. For you, if Arnie Slot was in
• 48:44
  charge of that Arsenal squad, could they win the league?
• 48:48
  Yeah, I think so. Yeah, I think so.
• 48:50
  Which is why I think if Arsenal don't win anything this season,
• 48:54
  I can see this being our tattoos last season.
• 48:56
  I still I. I do get your point, but I
• 48:59
  disagree in the sense that they haven't got a striker.
• 49:04
  For me, they should have post Isaac, they should have done it
• 49:06
  really. And I don't know if it was all
• 49:08
  done and dusted and that's Little Boys, the only club that
• 49:11
  he was ever going to go to. But if it was me, I would have
• 49:15
  basically said during the end of last season, that's the striker
• 49:19
  I won, go pay the 130 million or whatever and then Diaz.
• 49:24
  So I think those two positions, those two players would have
• 49:27
  turned Arsenal into the title favourites in my eyes.
• 49:32
  They still haven't fixed to send it forward.
• 49:34
  I don't rate that joker as he couldn't even score a flip in
• 49:38
  get a Bond or at Coventry and he's coming in and he's coming
• 49:43
  from a league that we've just got a manager from that.
• 49:45
  There's only probably 2-3 teams that are any good and the rest
• 49:48
  of them are all flipping Division Three teams.
• 49:52
  So it's it's a crap league, the worst in Europe and you look at
• 49:56
  it and kind of go they've just spent all of that money on a
• 50:00
  strike of that. I just I just don't think he
• 50:02
  fits for him. Yeah, but he's got an 8 pack
• 50:04
  Scott and. I'm not talking about this.
• 50:06
  He's got he's. More worried about?
• 50:07
  His flipping hairdy than than put it in the back of the net,
• 50:10
  but I just think he's out for them would have would have
• 50:13
  accelerated him to title Ron defend defend.
• 50:17
  Your man, Ron, You loved your careers.
• 50:18
  No, I know. I mean what I've.
• 50:20
  Seen so far, I agree with Scott, I think.
• 50:22
  Oh, so you think we did a good job staying?
• 50:25
  Away from him in the end in in the lesser games.
• 50:28
  Fair enough. But in the big games, I think
• 50:30
  big question mark, but too fair to him again, you know, five
• 50:32
  games in new, new new league. We know what it's like coming
• 50:35
  into and it's it's very difficult.
• 50:38
  Yeah, I'll take your point, Scott, in terms of that centre
• 50:40
  forward for Arsenal. But generally I think if you
• 50:42
  look 1 to 11, you know that they are they are stopped and some
• 50:46
  for me, it's more about the manager.
• 50:48
  You know, his defensive approach could well cost him the title.
• 50:51
  Yeah, I just want to go back to Liverpool.
• 50:53
  As you you're very vocal on Liverpool whenever especially
• 50:57
  United fans talk about Liverpool because obviously they're
• 51:00
  winning. They still haven't hit like Top
• 51:02
  Gear. Are you worried because they've
• 51:05
  won five in a row with not not playing well?
• 51:07
  We'll put aside the fact that Van Dyke is going to stay fit,
• 51:11
  but are you worried that Liverpool are going to get
• 51:13
  better or do you think like, they're going to play like this
• 51:18
  for like more more of the season?
• 51:20
  Because it feels like they're kind of like at a crossroads in
• 51:23
  terms of the way they're playing.
• 51:25
  I'm worried, of course. I'm always.
• 51:26
  Worried about Liverpool. I would say they've been shit
• 51:30
  this year. I've I've whenever I've watched
• 51:32
  Liverpool I'm like how would this team winning these games?
• 51:35
  It makes no sense to me. They score all these last.
• 51:38
  It's always a last minute goal as well.
• 51:39
  It's like you don't deserve the win and you get the win.
• 51:43
  It's really annoying. And that that makes me worry
• 51:45
  because that shows you've got a winning mentality that they
• 51:48
  you've got was it 15 points from 15 when you don't deserve it?
• 51:52
  I mean, like the Liverpool Arsenal game was dead, nothing
• 51:54
  happened. And sober Sly hits 1 from 38
• 51:56
  yards into the top corner. It's like what's going on?
• 51:59
  It's just madness. So yeah, you've got to be
• 52:02
  worried when when things like that happen.
• 52:04
  But the one thing I would say is I'm with Ron on this.
• 52:08
  I think there are certain pressure points in their squad
• 52:12
  that if they lost like they're not getting the gay he done over
• 52:15
  the line. Like if they lost Van Dyke cabs
• 52:18
  mentioned they they had, you know, 5 + 1 in their 4 + 1 with
• 52:22
  seller AFCON this year. So there's another pressure
• 52:25
  point potentially. So I do think that we the season
• 52:30
  hasn't really got going yet where the the tiredness and the
• 52:34
  injuries could come in and Arsenal were very unlucky last
• 52:37
  season have covered that. I think Jacques as I agree, big
• 52:42
  teams maybe not, but I think in the smaller games could convert
• 52:45
  drawers into wins and that's what a big problem.
• 52:49
  So if if Arsenal could have a bit more luck with the fitness
• 52:52
  and Liverpool have a bit bad luck with the injuries, we'll
• 52:56
  see around that AFCON time, we'll really know.
• 53:00
  But yeah, you've got to be worried when every time it's
• 53:02
  it's ridiculous. I didn't actually watch the was
• 53:06
  it Burnley? And it was like they couldn't
• 53:09
  even beat. Burnley.
• 53:10
  And then somehow they got a fake penalty because they whacked it
• 53:13
  against someone's arm. It's like the Champions League
• 53:15
  final. It's just, yeah, but it's like,
• 53:18
  I've just smashed it. He's nowhere near the box.
• 53:20
  They're not even creating a chance.
• 53:21
  He's right on the edge of the box.
• 53:22
  And you get a goal for that football.
• 53:25
  Football is ridiculous. That should be an indirect free
• 53:27
  kick or something. How do you get a goal from
• 53:29
  whacking a ball into someone's arm with no way If he's on the
• 53:32
  goal line and he's like, saving it fine, right?
• 53:35
  Somehow we're we're lucky because we create a proper,
• 53:37
  genuine chance and the guy whacks him in the shin gets in.
• 53:40
  Hannibal was playing basketball. No, in football seriously
• 53:45
  smashes the ball into its. Arm, they get a penalty in the
• 53:48
  last minute and everyone's got salary as captain in their FPL
• 53:50
  team. I'm, I'm fearing, oh, what's
• 53:53
  going on? It's got the they're a man.
• 53:56
  Up against Newcastle. And Newcastle are going to like,
• 53:59
  you know, get get a draw. It's like what's going on again?
• 54:02
  It's like somehow this somehow they bring some like 16 year old
• 54:06
  kid off the bench and he scores in the 90 something minute.
• 54:09
  It's ridiculous, right? Last week as well was.
• 54:11
  It if that's OK? Honestly, I was just.
• 54:14
  Like I'm baffled at how come on but then.
• 54:17
  I'm not, I'm not. I can't to Liverpool, but how
• 54:22
  many decades were you guys did that?
• 54:25
  Absolutely no. 100% that's why I'm worried.
• 54:27
  That's it. It's the mentality, always just
• 54:29
  putting mentality. It's like, yeah.
• 54:31
  It's mentality. I mean Federico Kiesa played
• 54:34
  like 10 minutes last season and somehow comes off the bench and
• 54:37
  scores a worldly against Bournemouth.
• 54:40
  It's. Like what's going?
• 54:41
  On here, it's unbelievable. It's it's probability.
• 54:44
  Right. It's like as much as when it was
• 54:47
  happening, I was like, how lucky at Man United, disgusting, how
• 54:50
  lucky they get and how jammy they are.
• 54:52
  But ultimately what happens is if you're parked in the
• 54:55
  opposition box for 20 minutes, at some point somebody makes a
• 54:58
  mistake, which is what you used to do, right?
• 55:00
  You just used to have strikers upon strikers.
• 55:02
  Just throwing people in. The one thing I've yeah, it's
• 55:05
  the ability to keep going. Right all the way to the end
• 55:07
  the. Newcastle game you didn't.
• 55:09
  Settle. You went for it.
• 55:10
  You know, it's not like you're away from home.
• 55:12
  It's a pretty good result, actually, away from home to take
• 55:14
  a point at Saint James's. But no, we're actually going to
• 55:16
  try and win this. Another one, Another one.
• 55:17
  And we were the same in the 90s, yeah.
• 55:19
  And I remember Ferguson just. Used to keep on putting strikers
• 55:22
  on forwards, forwards, forwards, right, and this is one of the
• 55:24
  things I really, really, really like about Arnie slot, right.
• 55:28
  There was a conversation about before the Burnley game.
• 55:31
  He was just like, well, and they asked him like, you know, did
• 55:35
  you? He was like, well, look, it's a
• 55:37
  one points pretty much equivalent to 0 in this league.
• 55:40
  So you know, I've just got to go for it.
• 55:42
  So I've just got and you know, he keeps and he put it pulling
• 55:44
  these switches right where he puts Ryan Grabenberg, Ryan
• 55:48
  Rabich, the attacking midfielder as a centre back is his
• 55:52
  basically break glass Yaya Torres switch.
• 55:55
  He goes to centre back and basically takes off a IBU canate
• 55:59
  so that he has a progressive passer from the back that can
• 56:01
  progress the ball because you know, in the last 10 minutes
• 56:04
  we're going to have all of the ball anyway.
• 56:05
  We don't need we don't need 2 centre backs in the page.
• 56:08
  So these are the kind of things that I kind of really like and
• 56:10
  think it shows he understands this league.
• 56:13
  He understands you need 90 points in this league to win the
• 56:16
  league, which is going back talking about managers, do you?
• 56:19
  Think Pep starting to play slightly differently.
• 56:22
  You know, he's starting to sit back a little bit, you know,
• 56:26
  allow teams on to him and then go for the punch.
• 56:29
  Can you see a slight change in his approach?
• 56:31
  I'm fascinated by Pep. Guardiola, I personally, and
• 56:34
  again, this is a very, as a Liverpool fan, it gets me into a
• 56:37
  lot of trouble, but I think he's probably the most influential
• 56:39
  manager in the history of football.
• 56:42
  Pep Guardiola, Why is a Liverpool fan?
• 56:45
  Did his Liverpool fans think Kenny Delta?
• 56:46
  Well, no, I think. I think it's always.
• 56:48
  Like as in a he played he we've got the rivalry with City,
• 56:50
  right? So it's club versus Pep.
• 56:52
  But like, I think he's just the way which makes he's too
• 56:56
  intelligent for this to be a fix, as in a temporary fix.
• 57:00
  He's obviously trying to put something together in a longer
• 57:03
  term where he's what happens with that guardian I think is he
• 57:06
  sees the game a couple of stages before everybody else sees where
• 57:09
  the game is going towards, which is one of my issues with Arteta.
• 57:14
  Arteta is doing what Pep Guardiola did four years ago
• 57:18
  with his four centre backs and he hasn't transitioned out that.
• 57:21
  So at that point, Pep Guardiola was completely obsessed without
• 57:26
  a possession, being great out of possession.
• 57:29
  And so because he was shit scared of Klopp's transition.
• 57:33
  So he just killed the transition, right?
• 57:35
  He just did not want to get negative transitioned on.
• 57:38
  Pep's gone away from that. He's now playing fullbacks that
• 57:41
  are fullbacks that go up the pitch.
• 57:42
  He's doing something like that. I want to see what I'm quite
• 57:46
  intrigued to see what he's doing.
• 57:47
  I think he might actually be going away slightly or try at
• 57:51
  least going away from his stock positional play thing, which is
• 57:57
  why he's bought Doku and Rinders and all of these players who
• 58:02
  don't really fit that mould of like hardcore positional play
• 58:06
  footballers. And he worked out that he's got
• 58:09
  the. Best striker in the world and he
• 58:10
  should play this but he but he's had him.
• 58:13
  For like 5 years, four years, right?
• 58:15
  He's it's not as if this is a, this should be a new like
• 58:19
  realisation to Pep Guardiola I think as well.
• 58:21
  You make a good point there. Yeah, City had messed up point
• 58:24
  recruitment I think as well, which means he if he wanted to
• 58:26
  play the old way, it wouldn't work.
• 58:28
  You don't or do you think? I don't think so because like
• 58:31
  Rinders isn't as the control. I think Rodri needs to come back
• 58:34
  for one. Maybe when Rodri comes back
• 58:37
  it'll settle down a bit, but all these these it's an interesting.
• 58:42
  Do you think Pep buys the players and he's doing it or
• 58:44
  have is it the guys in the background buying the players?
• 58:47
  Their recruitment has been a bit weird, hasn't it?
• 58:49
  Yeah, that's fair. It is.
• 58:51
  But. I still think he's got enough
• 58:52
  players to keep playing the way the same way, right?
• 58:56
  He's got Bernardo Silva, he's got, he's got who's the guy
• 59:01
  who's the Rodri replacement that they bought?
• 59:04
  But Nico Gonzalez, that's. Good.
• 59:05
  No, but he's but. But he still does the job,
• 59:08
  right? So if he wants to play in that
• 59:10
  system, he could still do it. But he's decided to go away from
• 59:13
  that. And I don't think that Guardiola
• 59:14
  does tangential tactical fixes. That's my thing.
• 59:18
  I don't think he basically says, oh, I'm going to do this with
• 59:20
  four games and then I'll come back.
• 59:22
  I'll come back to how I really want to play.
• 59:24
  I think he just because of the coaching element, right?
• 59:27
  He coaches, coaches, coaches, coaches.
• 59:28
  And he thinks everything has to be patterns of play that needs
• 59:31
  to be integrated into a system so much to within an inch of
• 59:34
  their lives that the players normally say so Ron, what do you
• 59:38
  think? Do you think that the what do
• 59:39
  you think the end goal here is? What do you think the the last
• 59:42
  way? Where do you think is going?
• 59:45
  No, I'm not you. I'm fascinated.
• 59:46
  By the way, he's playing. You know, if you look at their
• 59:49
  stats, the possession is down compared to Man City.
• 59:53
  We know Man City over the years to control games.
• 59:55
  You know, possession stats at 60-70, sometimes even at 80%.
• 59:59
  Yesterday's game I think was 1/3 of the ball they had.
• 1:00:03
  It's the lowest he's ever had. In his management career, 32.8
• 1:00:09
  or something like that. Yeah, yeah.
• 1:00:11
  And. Going to other's point, I think
• 1:00:12
  it was a really interesting point you made as playing to
• 1:00:14
  Holland strength. You know, they've got the best
• 1:00:16
  striker in the world. I know Kobe, you might think
• 1:00:18
  differently with Esac, but to me Holland is the best striker in
• 1:00:21
  the world. You know, his numbers are just
• 1:00:22
  phenomenal over the last few years.
• 1:00:25
  And I thought the goal they scored yesterday was like
• 1:00:28
  Holland sort of going back to Borussia Dortmund days, right?
• 1:00:31
  They were. They were literally sitting in
• 1:00:33
  and then bang, you know, counterpunch, Harland, strength,
• 1:00:38
  power press, you know, and he got through linked with Rynders
• 1:00:42
  and a great finish. That's the benefit of Rynders,
• 1:00:44
  though. He is more of that like box to
• 1:00:46
  box athletic type midfielder. This is why.
• 1:00:50
  But before. I was asking what do you mean by
• 1:00:51
  progressive football? Because football is the Premier
• 1:00:55
  League is getting more direct. You're seeing Pep Guardio
• 1:00:57
  playing more direct and looking for those things.
• 1:01:01
  I think what's happened is he's what Pep Guardio's done is he's
• 1:01:05
  seen what Reuben Amarin did against him when he was at
• 1:01:08
  Sporting Lisbon and goes that is the future and he's trying to
• 1:01:10
  play Amarin football at Manchester City when you know,
• 1:01:13
  because that was it. 4 one with gawkers on the counter attack.
• 1:01:16
  He's gone right? I've got Erling Harlan Scott
• 1:01:19
  told me. It's a pub footballer from
• 1:01:23
  Harland. So I could do what?
• 1:01:24
  Amarin was doing but do it even better.
• 1:01:28
  What do you guys think? Does he have three in the back
• 1:01:30
  as well? Well, he did he DPP went.
• 1:01:33
  To a back 5, didn't he to try and defend the lead and he's
• 1:01:36
  often he's often if you saw in the city against it like you
• 1:01:39
  were mentioning cabs, you'll often push in the full back into
• 1:01:41
  midfield to make a back three in the 32 right and then bring you
• 1:01:45
  know you've got the two number 10s floating in between the
• 1:01:47
  lines. Then the focal point striker.
• 1:01:51
  He's just, you know, it's it's all Ameren ball if Pepper.
• 1:01:55
  Is in charge of man. United team right now, we will
• 1:01:58
  win the league. Wow, there.
• 1:02:00
  You go, there's your main. Will be starring.
• 1:02:03
  In that team. I think we.
• 1:02:06
  Will. Because I think he he will
• 1:02:08
  automatically play for the strength coaching ability is
• 1:02:12
  like they're saying it's out of this world.
• 1:02:15
  And like you said, he's probably 2-3 steps ahead of anybody else.
• 1:02:19
  And I just I think he will instantly change again.
• 1:02:23
  It could be it'll do it out any other club he would do the same
• 1:02:26
  thing. And I just think he's.
• 1:02:29
  Doing something? There's that.
• 1:02:30
  I'd hate to say it, but you can just feel it that it's the first
• 1:02:35
  time in his career probably that he's had to do a rebuild.
• 1:02:38
  But he's rebuilding not just for one year.
• 1:02:42
  I want to win the title. This is going to be potentially
• 1:02:45
  scary where he's got a team that is 345 years in the making of
• 1:02:52
  just domination again. But it's going to be a lot
• 1:02:55
  harder given what Liverpool have done this season.
• 1:02:59
  And I think that's what I think I, and again I hate to say it is
• 1:03:03
  that's what we're going to see for the next 5 years, is going
• 1:03:06
  to be city, City in Liverpool, city in Liverpool.
• 1:03:10
  And I'm just, I think Cynthia and Arsenal squad.
• 1:03:12
  Sorry, Liverpool and Arsenal squad so are better at the
• 1:03:14
  moment in cities. Yes, you might have the coach
• 1:03:16
  and Pep Guardiola and amazing at what he does, but I look at
• 1:03:20
  those squads. Arsenal's probably just slightly
• 1:03:23
  ahead of Liverpool's, but I think the manager potentially
• 1:03:26
  would let them down. But even Liverpool squad, I mean
• 1:03:29
  Kabir, you're you're attacking frontline there.
• 1:03:32
  The options that you have. It's just out of this world to
• 1:03:35
  compete in Europe and to play in the league.
• 1:03:37
  You know, week in week out hasn't got going though yet.
• 1:03:40
  That's. Not the question, isn't it?
• 1:03:43
  Yeah, right. Are they going to fire this
• 1:03:46
  season like last season they were pretty consistent.
• 1:03:49
  What do you what do you think, Ash?
• 1:03:50
  I mean in terms. Of your, your, your title
• 1:03:52
  favourites, out of those three, who at the moment would you say
• 1:03:57
  so it's a good segue because. That's what I was going to
• 1:03:58
  discuss with the rest of you anyway.
• 1:04:00
  So am I. Well done.
• 1:04:02
  Yeah, exactly. My.
• 1:04:03
  My original pick was Liverpool. I see nothing to change that.
• 1:04:08
  I'm actually with Scott in terms of like, I'd still have
• 1:04:11
  Liverpool squad because of The X Factor players.
• 1:04:14
  Like I want Van Dyke, he's a gun player.
• 1:04:16
  I want Salah, he's a gun player. I want Alison, he's a gun
• 1:04:19
  player. Because as mentioned earlier,
• 1:04:23
  these guys know how to win. They will win more of the big
• 1:04:26
  football matches than Arsenal. Arsenal in terms of numbers have
• 1:04:30
  a better squad. I love as AI think he's already
• 1:04:34
  been under used. I couldn't believe he didn't
• 1:04:36
  start at Anfield again. He didn't get started yesterday
• 1:04:40
  but I don't see any reason to change.
• 1:04:44
  Scott, who was your original pick and are you switching?
• 1:04:48
  I can't remember. But I think it might have been
• 1:04:52
  Liverpool. So I'll stick with Liverpool.
• 1:04:54
  But I've got a funny feeling I may have put City at the
• 1:04:57
  beginning of the season, but I think it's those would like to
• 1:05:01
  correct me if I'm wrong, but I think Liverpool is my choice.
• 1:05:03
  And I think Liverpool I think in the end will comfortably win it.
• 1:05:07
  It's going to be a double digit margin I think as.
• 1:05:12
  I'll stick with. Arsenal, but they've already got
• 1:05:15
  5 point head start, right? That's the thing, it shouldn't
• 1:05:17
  be a 5 point head start. Should be about level based on
• 1:05:20
  performances. They should make that level.
• 1:05:24
  X. Shield just performances
• 1:05:25
  generally, like like I said, so, but it's like unbelievable
• 1:05:28
  strike rate is that on a slot is this, you know, it's just
• 1:05:31
  unbelievable. Sometimes a ball just hits the
• 1:05:33
  post and goes in and that got them the three points in a game
• 1:05:37
  which to me should have been a draw And and and with the five
• 1:05:41
  point head start, Liverpool probably are now favourites.
• 1:05:44
  But you might, I might as well stick stick with Arsenal.
• 1:05:48
  Hopefully soccer can actually have a full season again like
• 1:05:51
  it. It'll come down to the fitness
• 1:05:53
  as well. I think Arsenal do have a good
• 1:05:55
  squad, but it's key players staying fit.
• 1:05:57
  You've got to have your haverts and your sackers and your odour
• 1:05:59
  guards playing more minutes. If Liverpool have their key
• 1:06:03
  players playing more minutes, we'll see the player.
• 1:06:05
  I'm interested. I want to know your opinion on
• 1:06:08
  this. Actually.
• 1:06:08
  I really why I don't think it's got going is I think an
• 1:06:14
  underrated player who Liverpool have lost his trend.
• 1:06:16
  No trend with the deliveries. Do you think you're missing him
• 1:06:19
  or do you think, no, actually you're fine without trend and
• 1:06:22
  it's more getting used to, you know, different Florian, your
• 1:06:27
  best mate. Like what what what is the thing
• 1:06:29
  that you think? Do you think it'll just
• 1:06:30
  naturally come together or, or do you think Trent will be a
• 1:06:34
  loss this year? Should we take Ron's view?
• 1:06:36
  1st on the Who's going to win the league?
• 1:06:39
  Who's going to win the league if?
• 1:06:40
  You put on a Slot or Pep in the Arsenal dugout, we're going to
• 1:06:46
  say that United are going. To win again like Scott, we're
• 1:06:50
  back. Stall would have us win in the
• 1:06:53
  league, wouldn't he with Pep? Yeah, if you put if you put any
• 1:06:57
  of those managers, Arne or Perpin the the Arsenal dugout, I
• 1:07:01
  think Arsenal win the league. I think the manager lets him
• 1:07:03
  down with Arteta because he is defensive in terms of being able
• 1:07:07
  to make the right decisions at the right times.
• 1:07:10
  I said Liverpool, unfortunately from my perspective at the start
• 1:07:13
  of the season. And yeah, I think Liverpool,
• 1:07:16
  particularly now with that five point gap, should win this
• 1:07:19
  league. Caps Trent.
• 1:07:22
  So the trend question? Yes, we are missing him.
• 1:07:24
  I think it's inevitable. He's basically the best on ball
• 1:07:27
  value footballer on the planet. From his position I think it's
• 1:07:32
  hard not to. Also, I think he was really
• 1:07:35
  pivotal to our our offensive game because it just allowed you
• 1:07:40
  to count whenever we got pressed and didn't have when able to
• 1:07:45
  play through the midfield. You could just bypass the
• 1:07:47
  midfield and he can just basically get one of the wide
• 1:07:51
  players in possession. The thing is, and I think this
• 1:07:54
  is you're absolutely right. This is one of the reasons why
• 1:07:56
  it's not working because what we're doing is we're now
• 1:07:58
  replacing that with structural buildup and A10 right, that one
• 1:08:01
  that that and that requires everybody to shift.
• 1:08:05
  I think that in combination with the fact that Mac has just been
• 1:08:08
  injured and not been on it, who has who has probably our best
• 1:08:12
  midfielder Last year, even though Grabenberg was fantastic
• 1:08:16
  for the first half, he was absolutely brilliant.
• 1:08:17
  But I think overall Macca's influence because he's the only
• 1:08:20
  play in the team who knows who can slow the game down and
• 1:08:23
  quicken the game. So he actually has the ability
• 1:08:26
  to kind of set tempo. So I think a lot of those things
• 1:08:29
  are feeding into it. So yes, but I think this whole
• 1:08:34
  setup, this whole acquisition this year is basically partly to
• 1:08:38
  make up for that, right. So you have a number 9 who runs
• 1:08:41
  in behind to Createspace for a tend to basically be able to be
• 1:08:44
  that creative ball player, which you couldn't really do with
• 1:08:48
  Trent because because then you had more salary doing other
• 1:08:51
  things and you wanted that because and he was pretty, you
• 1:08:54
  had to compensate, your midfield had to compensate.
• 1:08:56
  But Trent being being a #10 playing right back.
• 1:09:00
  So yes, the answer to the answer is yes.
• 1:09:02
  And I think that's partly why we're not.
• 1:09:03
  We haven't looked great. The one thing I would slightly
• 1:09:07
  be at odds with, and I know you've mentioned this, that we
• 1:09:10
  don't deserve to win the games. And I don't disagree with the
• 1:09:13
  Arsenal game, but I think what Arsenal do is they set
• 1:09:18
  themselves off up to with such small margins to win games that
• 1:09:24
  the opposite result is, is is viable.
• 1:09:28
  They don't, they don't try to basically blitz team and get
• 1:09:31
  leads, right, which I think is, which therefore means that
• 1:09:35
  they're predisposed to either having a bad day upfront or
• 1:09:38
  somebody just basically scoring. In which case then because it's
• 1:09:41
  always that one goal margin that they're playing for that that
• 1:09:44
  basically means that they don't win enough games.
• 1:09:47
  And I think that's that that thing is endemic in the way that
• 1:09:50
  Arteta managers. And I think again, yesterday was
• 1:09:53
  the example of that, right? Where, with all due respect,
• 1:09:56
  this City team at this point in time isn't one that you needed
• 1:10:00
  to basically have 7 defensive players on the pitch for at
• 1:10:03
  home, right? Especially because you have SA,
• 1:10:07
  right? The kind of player who
• 1:10:08
  completely disrupts us. And so I think that's where
• 1:10:12
  that's going to cost them. Now, the the interesting thing
• 1:10:15
  is, and I think Ron, I think you alluded to it or I think both
• 1:10:18
  you and Scott is whether he's got the guts or sees something
• 1:10:22
  after that second-half performance that says actually,
• 1:10:24
  no, maybe I'm going to start doing this going forward.
• 1:10:26
  Whether there's a because he's he's right, we'll find.
• 1:10:30
  Out next week we will because you've got playing at Newcastle.
• 1:10:34
  He started Trustard yesterday. I thought that was a big
• 1:10:37
  indicator. I think that's, you know,
• 1:10:39
  slightly going back to the Reuben conversation, that's kind
• 1:10:42
  of like where the negativity or the conservatism comes around
• 1:10:46
  the Reuben talk, it's the selection.
• 1:10:48
  So if Trustard starts, you know, like where this is going to what
• 1:10:52
  probably Scott's mentioned like this could be a big a big
• 1:10:56
  Liverpool win in terms of like points points wise.
• 1:10:59
  I think what you what what you guys.
• 1:11:01
  Feel about you know, Kobe man who has to start etcetera,
• 1:11:04
  etcetera. I think as a is so good, yes,
• 1:11:07
  that once he sees how good he is, he will 100% just have to
• 1:11:12
  play him because he's he is actually brilliant.
• 1:11:15
  He's a gun player. He's.
• 1:11:16
  Brilliant, he's. Brilliant.
• 1:11:18
  And I just think, but where would you play him?
• 1:11:19
  Well, where do you play it? The left you would play him in
• 1:11:22
  the. Front 3.
• 1:11:23
  Not in the midfield, soccer on the right.
• 1:11:26
  Eze on the left. I would be perfectly happy.
• 1:11:28
  With playing where Bryce is playing the left of three as
• 1:11:30
  well, Yeah, I would be in class because I would.
• 1:11:33
  Play Audigard. Yeah, you wouldn't play
• 1:11:35
  Audigard. Right.
• 1:11:36
  You'd play Eze, but Audigard's the captain.
• 1:11:38
  That's the issues. Well, I guess Arteta won't
• 1:11:40
  change that, but yeah, I agree with yesterday's game.
• 1:11:43
  For example, just just move right across to the right and
• 1:11:46
  put as a on the left of the three.
• 1:11:48
  Like in the central position to be more to have influence.
• 1:11:51
  You're not going to play order guard right?
• 1:11:52
  He's your club captain. You can.
• 1:11:53
  It depends on the. Just take him off.
• 1:11:56
  Yeah. On the specific game situation,
• 1:11:59
  you can play Rice in the six and play Odegarden as a if you want
• 1:12:02
  to be more offensive, but obviously this is our Teta.
• 1:12:06
  But yesterday it's just like, come on, Marino and Rice and
• 1:12:09
  Zubamendi, he did it against us. And yeah, and I think I think
• 1:12:15
  with you guys, Anfield is the thing, right?
• 1:12:17
  But it's like it's an intimidation and it kind of
• 1:12:20
  basically. But you say like the way Arsenal
• 1:12:24
  set up, leave it to that. But you guys didn't create bug
• 1:12:26
  rule either. How did you score in that game?
• 1:12:29
  It just doesn't make any sense to me.
• 1:12:30
  But I think it partly so the. First half we weren't, we
• 1:12:33
  weren't very good. I thought the second-half we
• 1:12:34
  looked like we actually wanted to play football, right.
• 1:12:36
  But then you're playing against, as you've all mentioned, a very,
• 1:12:39
  very good team that's got 7-8 players behind the ball
• 1:12:42
  consistently, right, To the extent where Martinelli was
• 1:12:46
  playing as an auxiliary right back, right?
• 1:12:49
  So the point is like even his forwards are so deep that what
• 1:12:52
  are you going to do, right? Especially in this at this point
• 1:12:55
  in time in our team, right? But would you agree?
• 1:12:57
  I'm feel. This something but I think this
• 1:12:59
  is my point. I don't think so.
• 1:13:00
  Because I think there's an element where this is the time
• 1:13:03
  to basically put the market out Liverpool of transitioning into
• 1:13:07
  this new team. They've got lots of flaws.
• 1:13:09
  You can see it. You can see that they're
• 1:13:11
  basically not set yet, right. So and you've got the players.
• 1:13:15
  It's not as if, look, let's be completely honest, it's not as
• 1:13:17
  if we're saying as a is some wild card that we're putting in.
• 1:13:20
  That's basically all. We don't know what we're going
• 1:13:22
  to get because you know, he might be good, but he might not.
• 1:13:23
  He's a brilliant footballer, as you've all said.
• 1:13:25
  We've seen him for the last, you know, 5-6 years of just
• 1:13:28
  destroying teams and you can just that and that and that's
• 1:13:31
  the bit about going. For it, right?
• 1:13:32
  Actually, Can you imagine winning at Anfield in the first
• 1:13:36
  month of the season? What a statement that would have
• 1:13:38
  been. I I forget it last.
• 1:13:40
  Season as well. I remember they.
• 1:13:41
  Had their chances and they didn't quite go for it.
• 1:13:44
  And it's that piece with Arteta where he's sort of grappling.
• 1:13:48
  It's the David Moses. Yeah.
• 1:13:50
  Yeah, no, no. I.
• 1:13:52
  Do you think he was in the plans though?
• 1:13:54
  Just I, I found it weird that the way they came in and the
• 1:13:59
  timing they came in, they just wanted Spurs to do.
• 1:14:02
  The deal so that they didn't have to do the heavy lifting of
• 1:14:05
  negation. Yeah, I.
• 1:14:06
  Just don't. I don't know either.
• 1:14:08
  I just don't. I don't, I don't think he was
• 1:14:10
  like, I think Havas. Got injured.
• 1:14:13
  That's why we thought it was that as well.
• 1:14:14
  It's they weren't able. To buy Haze and then Havas.
• 1:14:17
  Got injured but they leverage no.
• 1:14:19
  They definitely. Leverage off it, but.
• 1:14:21
  I'm with Ron. I don't think they're no they
• 1:14:23
  did, but I think it's the Havas. Injury and I'm not quite sure
• 1:14:25
  his Havas is he out for a few more months?
• 1:14:27
  Yeah, yeah. He he that, that.
• 1:14:29
  Was the trigger, so that that was the game changer.
• 1:14:31
  Yeah, I had have had Havas not got injured.
• 1:14:34
  I don't know if they had bought Eze on they they they were
• 1:14:36
  working in all. Summer basically so that that
• 1:14:39
  was true they didn't want to pay the fee that palace wanted and
• 1:14:44
  if habits hadn't got injured, I don't think they would have paid
• 1:14:47
  the fee Palace wanted but because habits got injured they
• 1:14:50
  were like OK, we'll pony up the extra 15 mil and because they
• 1:14:53
  were left for no choice and and because.
• 1:14:55
  Spurs were getting. Him as well so they couldn't
• 1:14:56
  wait on it so this is like a sequence of events that happened
• 1:14:59
  that I think means that Arsenal are going to win the league
• 1:15:01
  thank God, thank God I think if you.
• 1:15:04
  Look if you know. If you look, I don't want
• 1:15:06
  Liverpool to win 21. Scott, I can't deal with it.
• 1:15:09
  Hey, that's that's how bad it is, guys.
• 1:15:15
  Actually, I'm just going to say just just very.
• 1:15:17
  Quickly, if you look back over the years, defensively, you
• 1:15:19
  know, it's teams that are defensively sound that typically
• 1:15:22
  win league titles. And I think that's what Artesa
• 1:15:25
  is banking on. You know, defensively you could
• 1:15:27
  argue obviously you say this like at Liverpool.
• 1:15:29
  Interestingly enough, the statisticals don't back this up.
• 1:15:32
  But statistically, the team that scores the most goal actually
• 1:15:35
  win the league much more often than the team that has the best
• 1:15:38
  defence. Yeah.
• 1:15:39
  Which is really interesting because I know historically it's
• 1:15:41
  always been the the actual theory.
• 1:15:43
  Though is always that. It's always.
• 1:15:44
  It's always that. The amount of time and that's
• 1:15:47
  what Jose Mourinho quote. Clean sheets.
• 1:15:49
  Winnie Leagues. So we've got some breaking news.
• 1:15:53
  Guys, so it's Balandor night, so we've had some of the news
• 1:16:00
  clippings come in. Our boy Scott Mctominy was #18
• 1:16:05
  on the list. Who would have fought it, eh?
• 1:16:08
  Scott Mctominy on a. Balloon list Top 10 exactly.
• 1:16:11
  Top five. Who's a player?
• 1:16:13
  Of the year in Italy. And Natalie won the lead, won
• 1:16:15
  them the title. Who the Hell's?
• 1:16:16
  Above Mctominy. So do you want?
• 1:16:19
  A few of the names, well, Dembele must have won.
• 1:16:22
  It surely, Yeah, I think he would, Osman.
• 1:16:25
  Dembele is. The new balloon door winner.
• 1:16:28
  Yeah, and. Lamine was number 2, was he?
• 1:16:31
  The mean Yamar was #2. Who was 3?
• 1:16:34
  Rafina. No, they would have split, no.
• 1:16:36
  Would have split the world most of that my seller is not in the
• 1:16:41
  top. Three.
• 1:16:42
  Wow. No way.
• 1:16:43
  Wow, Yeah, they didn't go deep. Enough in the What about
• 1:16:47
  Petinia? Petinia is number.
• 1:16:49
  Three Yeah. Solid yeah.
• 1:16:51
  Bettina because the PSG. Right, yeah.
• 1:16:53
  Got to the final and he was their one of their best players.
• 1:16:55
  He was brilliant. Anyone want to guess where my?
• 1:16:58
  Seller is on the list Top ten 7. Higher than that.
• 1:17:04
  Five fourth. Not bad.
• 1:17:06
  Unbelievable. Where's our mate Harry Kane?
• 1:17:09
  Harry Kane did not get in the top 10.
• 1:17:12
  Didn't do shit. Wow.
• 1:17:13
  Oh. Jesus.
• 1:17:15
  He won his first trophy, didn't he?
• 1:17:18
  He's just like his greatest achievement ever.
• 1:17:21
  And he's not in the top ten. He's scored about 80 billion
• 1:17:24
  goals for that. And his numbers, yeah, his
• 1:17:25
  goals, he's. Gone, but I mean scored so many
• 1:17:27
  goals. They didn't do anything they
• 1:17:28
  should. Be sponsored.
• 1:17:29
  By whatever La Liga is called these days, that flipping Trophy
• 1:17:32
  Italia should be just a Spanish Spanish trophy that people win.
• 1:17:36
  But frank person even most. Most.
• 1:17:38
  Most sellers should have been higher than 4th.
• 1:17:40
  It's good. He's, I mean, it was a Champions
• 1:17:43
  League. This is the problem.
• 1:17:44
  It's so. Champions League centric or if
• 1:17:47
  it was World Cup, Yeah, because like, Salah should be at least
• 1:17:50
  second on this list, but because of what Barcelona did in the
• 1:17:53
  Champs get into the semis, that's why Yamal has got second.
• 1:17:57
  But yeah, it's astonishing. Scott says it's just LA.
• 1:18:00
  Liga isn't it, if you play in La Liga, well, this year.
• 1:18:04
  Real Madrid are not there again, but this time they have a game
• 1:18:07
  and actually PSG, who obviously dominated this Enrique I guess
• 1:18:13
  won the. Manager.
• 1:18:15
  He won manager. As do.
• 1:18:17
  You want to know who? Won the Goalkeeper of the Year.
• 1:18:21
  Let's go. Can we can we say that he made a
• 1:18:24
  mistake leading to a goal? Is are we going to count on
• 1:18:26
  that? Because everyone's like, oh, and
• 1:18:28
  Anna makes X Mason, they're going to go.
• 1:18:30
  Was that when it's done a room, a mistake leading to a goal.
• 1:18:32
  It was a brilliant finish. I can.
• 1:18:34
  Tell you that much? Second game.
• 1:18:37
  A mistake leading to a goal and and of the things that he's weak
• 1:18:40
  at right, which is just the kind of sweeping we talk about ball
• 1:18:43
  playing the sweeping. He had one punch as well where
• 1:18:45
  he punched it straight up in the air.
• 1:18:48
  Is he worth £500,000 a week? It's always good.
• 1:18:52
  Yeah, he's on. He's on a ridiculous.
• 1:18:53
  Amount of money. So yeah.
• 1:18:56
  But did you know? Did I?
• 1:18:58
  I thought wage wise he was a lot, but if you thought if you
• 1:19:01
  saw him against Arsenal it was his best game of the year.
• 1:19:05
  Last year I I just thought there's a way he.
• 1:19:08
  He can come out, punch it, clear it and he's he's actually
• 1:19:11
  footwork and groundwork. He's pretty good not.
• 1:19:14
  According to Enrique, because he's got shot everybody.
• 1:19:18
  No according. To Enrique.
• 1:19:19
  And Azar, I actually, I actually agree with that.
• 1:19:22
  By the way, I don't think he's good, good on the feet, which is
• 1:19:24
  why I was really sceptical about when City Boeing again, going
• 1:19:27
  back to what the hell is what the hell is Pep doing cooking up
• 1:19:31
  Amarin ball? Because that's something.
• 1:19:34
  Yeah, Reuben Ameren is. Ahead of his time and we will
• 1:19:37
  see if Le Mans might start next week.
• 1:19:41
  Saturday on. You're going to be there.
• 1:19:44
  I'm going to be there. In the away end, yeah, I want
• 1:19:48
  to. See.
• 1:19:48
  I want to see. I want to see menu in the number
• 1:19:50
  six. Do you think I'll get menu in
• 1:19:52
  the number six? Sure thing, Scott.
• 1:19:54
  Might get Sidney Sweeney before. That.
• 1:19:59
  The fake, the fake account said. He's really on Twitter, God, I
• 1:20:03
  think. Ash is right, it's probably more
• 1:20:04
  chance of that. And on that bombshell?
• 1:20:07
  We thank you and we'll see you on the next one.