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Football Weekly
Arsenal’s wobble worsens at Wolves and Bodø/Glimt stun Inter – Football Weekly Extra
00:51:58
Max Rushden is joined by Barry Glendenning, Philippe Auclair and Paul Watson as Arsenal feel the heat and Inter are caught cold in Norway
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- [00:00]
A
This is the Guardian. Hello and welcome to the Guardian Football Weekly. Califiore sitting in the net. Gabriel punching the air in frustration. The rain sodden fringe on a disconsolate David Raya. Gabriel Jesus losing his cool at full time. Are these the signs of champions? From the Collins English Dictionary bottle it informal to not do something because you are frightened. To fail because you are frightened. Are Arsenal frightened? It is still in their hands, but it's also now in Manchester City's hands. And if you don't win the title, dropping points when you're 20 up at Wolves is criminal. Amidst it all, what a moment for Wolves debutant Tomedozzi fan Dabedozzi, if you will, scoring 10 minutes into his debut. Also tonight, Newcastle make light work of Karabag. Quite a good half for Anthony Gordon Bodo Stunt Inter as they force us once again to ask, is this the greatest night in Norwegian club football history? Atleti give up a two goal advantage in Bruges. And Leverkusen have one step in the last stick scene after victory at Olympiacos. We'll look ahead to the Premier League weekend. Answer your questions and that's today's Guardian Football Weekly. On the panel today, Barry Glendenning. Welcome.
- [01:16]
B
Hi, Max.
- [01:16]
A
Hello, Paul Watson from the excellent Sweeper podcast.
- [01:19]
C
Hi, Max.
- [01:20]
A
Philippe. Whatever he said, Owen says, oh, my goodness. I don't think the world is ready for what will happen to Arsenal and their fans if this isn't their year after all. No humorous hyperbole I could come up with here will do it justice. Ah, Philippe, you didn't need this, did you?
- [01:40]
D
No, no, no, no, I didn't. I had actually. I thought. I thought I'm stepping into the lion's den and really hungry lions as well. A Spurs fan and Barry Glendenning. And I think I have to prepare myself. So I actually took notes. So I would remain compos mentis and not lose it because I would probably tend to actually be harsher towards Arsenal than either of you three will be. Because what we saw, first of all, long and short of it, obviously, two teams now have their decision in their hands in the Premier League. One of them is used to it and will relish this opportunity, which is of course Manchester City. And the other appears to be absolutely paralyzed by the prospect of doing something remarkable. And that is obvious. Arsenal, who look at the moment a bit in the state like or they did in second half, comparable to Barry when fate. Well, we had a meeting with the kind of fate in Munich. I think we all know what I'm talking About. But it very much looked like Michael Arteta could do a Barry and that his players did. So that's the first thing. The second thing is that there was such a. I mean, it's the fear of winning, what we call the small arm, le petit bras in French, you know, like a tennis player serving for the game and suddenly he's been, or she's been, you know, landing aces all game long and suddenly he's double fold after double fold. And here when you're winning 2, 0 without playing well at all against the team that is bottom of the Premier League, that, it must be said, didn't look like the worst ever team that has ever played in the Premier League, by the way. I thought they were absolutely superb, both collectively and individually. But if you're unable to get out of that, and in fact, if the prospect of winning is such that you start losing everything that has made you get to that position in the first place, you don't merit to be a champion. Because to be honest, that was shameful, really shameful, as was the loss of discipline at the very end, which honestly doesn't reflect very well on the players who were involved. And Nicolas Javert as well, who had to be restrained by his manager, which is really saying something. And also one thing which worries me more, I mean, it's not the result, you know, drawing too all away from home can happen. It's obviously it's the performance, which was not a performance. And one thing which is particularly worrying is that, I mean, that was my first reaction after the game, trying to make sense of it, is to think that team systems are much more prone to collapse than teams which also rely on fluidity, imagination, individual skill primarily. And what you have is that every time with Arteta's team, if a single element of the machine is suddenly misaligned, the effect of it is to congealed the whole machine. It grinds to a halt and the players start looking at each other wondering, should I be here, should I be there? The number of times when two of those players would be almost colliding in midfield. The way in which the equalizing goal was conceded, when arguably the best central defender in the league and one of the very best keepers in Europe collide for a ball that was there to be picked and is insane. And that shows that something has gone within the system as well. And what has gone within the system itself is fear, or rather fear has arrived. What has gone is the ability to control games. And instead of controlling games, it's a masquerade so you pretend to control games, you slow down the tempo, when in fact you should be playing at a higher rhythm. What you do is that you take a short Corner in the 88th minute when you should go for it. Because you've been scoring so many goals since the beginning of the season. What is happening is basically you're shitting yourself. And the result of that is that you lose two points, which are in the pocket in the second half. You were leading 2:0 against the last team in the Premier League. And the result of that is deflation, I think, all across the board. Because you have no excuses. Okay, Kai Havers would have. It would have been great to have him, but he's not around. Then you had a, you know, Saint Martin udugal, but you have a very, very, very good squad. But that very good squad was shown lacking in what makes champions on that evening, I'm afraid. And again, it's not the result. It's not that it's not dramatic can happen, but it's the manner of the performance was honestly shocking. And I think every single Arsenal fan who is not completely, I mean, blinded by his devotion to the cause that I've talked to and I've talked to an awful lot, believe me, since last night will agree with me on this one end of the rant.
- [06:42]
A
And that'll do for today. Thanks for your time. Thank you, Barry. Also, Barry, it is objectively hilarious for
- [06:50]
B
those of us who have long questioned Arson's mental fortitude and being dismissed as haters or anti Arsenal, it is hilarious. Before the start of the season, in the preview pod, I think a couple of us said that Arteta has everything he needs in place to win the title. And the only thing that will stop Arsenal winning the title is their questionable mental fortitude. And on the evidence of recent performances generally, and last night's in particular, they don't have it in that department. It never even crossed my mind that they might lose this game. And I was watching a European game and I checked and saw there were two nil up and went rock grand. That's it, they've won. They'll win three, four or five nil. And I could not believe my eyes of the final score. And looking back at the game this morning, they shut the bed, basically, they were 2 nil up against one of the worst teams in Premier League history. They conceded a wonderful, wonderful goal scored by Hugo Bueno and just panicked. They looked terrified. And when they were 2n up, I think a lot of neutrals don't particularly Want Arsenal to win the title because they're quite a hard watch and they were a very hard watch when they went. Even when they were 2n up, they instead of going for wool's throat, it's just sideways passing backwards passing, not picking out the runs of Gawker's. This, this horseshoe passing, you know, that is worthy but dull and, and ineffective. And then when they conceded that bueno gold, they just look paralyzed with fear. And in his post match interview, Michael Arta looked really, really rattled. And they may go on to win the title, but on last night's evidence, they're going to make extremely heavy weather of it if they do. It was, it was a pathetic performance from 2 nil up.
- [09:11]
A
Yeah, you know, I think a lot of neutrals probably don't want Arsenal or Manchester City to win the league, Paul. But you know, as and when a game happens, you support the underdog, I guess. But it is, it is and it's. And that goal is so, it's so deflating from an Arsenal perspective, isn't it? Because it's, there's just no, Philippe's touched on it already. But this, you can't concede that goal like, you can if Buenos is the equalizer, like, okay, fair enough. But that goal in that, you know, even with California, it's all bouncing off him on the line like pinball. You're like, this can't go in like, like when it cut to the Arsenal fans, there was just this, oh no. Oh really, oh no, I've got to exist in the world the day after this has happened.
- [09:55]
C
It felt like a really long setup to a joke that pays off at the end because as you say, Arsenal were just shrinking and shrinking back and you were thinking they can't really realistically give this away. But they're doing a great job of looking like they could. And then on comes Tommidozzi and they're saying, you know, amazing trust to put this 19 year old on, you know, first senior start. And you're thinking, okay, I wonder if he'll be part of this kind of, this kind of denouement here. And then when Califuri comes on and his first thing that he does is get whacked on the line by the ball and it goes in, it's almost like all the pieces were put in place to make this as insulting a end to the evening as possible for Arsenal. I do think we've got to give Wolff some credit because you know, that will be the message that you get from Wolvestein. But I do Think deservedly they looked absolutely dead in this game. They couldn't even get out of their own half at one point. And I thought, God, this is. This is, you know, this is the typical 3, 4 nil, that could be 7 or 8 nil. But actually for them to battle back from, from where they were given the fact that everyone, themselves included must have thought there's no chance of getting anything out this game, I thought they did really, really well. And if this season was 300 games long, I think they might stay out.
- [11:08]
A
Yeah. And actually that sort of. Because teams are better and worse at different points of the season. Even though Wolves are at the league table, would suggest one of the worst in the division. They are not as bad as that. Now Rob Edwards has got a tune out of them. It was a great moment for Adozee, wasn't it? I credit Mr. Plough on social media who gave me the fan debidozy headline. So thank you for that. I enjoyed it tremendously.
- [11:32]
D
Yeah, no, I just want to add one question because to make this season even funnier would be, of course for the Premier League to finally reach a verdict for Manchester City and deduct them exactly the right number of points for their to be deprived of the title. Now that would really make my day, my decay. And I think all neutrals would celebrate
- [11:52]
A
with me because then neither of them really win it. Do you know what I mean? That's the thing, you know, like, like, would Arsenal win the league? But there would always be. You know, people love an asterisk. Oh, no, I am saying Asterix, of course, but. But Philippe, you know, since the turn of the year, they played 813 drawn, four lost one. Only palace and West Ham have dropped more points from winning positions in 2026. You know, and seasons are long and tough and you don't play brilliantly all the time, but they, they have lost that total calm and that relentlessness that they had. And there were. There can be lots of reasons for that, you know, like because there was a point in the season where Declan Rice was. Was unbelievable. He's still playing well, but it was unbelievable. You know, they had. They just had so many players playing well. And that doesn't. That's why a season is hard to gauge. And when you're doing this, you. I think we all gave them the title.
- [12:41]
B
Whoever the panel was, max, they were. There were two nil up against Wolves.
- [12:46]
A
No, I know. No, okay, I know that. But I'm trying to be. I'm trying to be generous. I'm a generous host.
- [12:53]
D
This is not the morning to be generous. This is a morning to be actually realistic and to say things just, you know, like, remember Liverpool at the beginning of the season, we were saying they're getting all these fantastic results late in the game, but that can't go on because you cannot live like that for a whole season. Similarly, every Arsenal fan that you talk to will tell you that there have been a number of really average and sometimes even mediocre performances which were made palatable by the result and in particular by the team's extraordinary capacity to make the most of deadball situations. And so it's been coming, but it's a little bit different from what happened at Brentford because Brentford, we know, are going to cause primes to absolutely any team at home and they can create chaos. Wooves not expecting that at all. Despite the fact that I actually go, absolutely. I support your point. This is not the worst team I've ever seen in the Premier League. And in fact, over the past couple of months there have been some pretty decent performances considering the predicament they're in at the moment. But it's not mental, it's not tiredness, physical tiredness for Arsenal. You cannot use that as an excuse. In fact, Arsenal played better when they had injury problems at the moment, as I said, yes, Odegaard is not there and Kai Haverz isn't there either. And these are two big players, but there are plenty of other very big players indeed. And Mikel Marino, who could have actually, they missed Mikel Marino last night and they have a few players missing, but they still have the squad to do that. You could also question the fact that maybe like what's happened to Eberechiese a few weeks ago. I mean, it feels like a few weeks ago that young man was lauding it after his performance against spurs, he's disappeared to the point that Bukayo Saka was preferred in the number 10 role at kickoff rather than who was, you know, physically okay. Ish. And actually had to walk off the pitch with an injury. And it was not easy. There are loads of things like that happening. You see what happened. Urine Timber, whom I hold to be one of the very best right backs in world football, had an absolutely horrible game. He could. If you just forgot what the name on his shirt, color of his shirt, you put him in a carabag shirt, he would actually wouldn't have looked out of place in that first half against new
- [15:27]
A
Steady. We'll get to Karabak's defending in a bit.
- [15:30]
D
Awful. Look At I actually concentrated on him in the second half in particular. He completely lost all his bearings. And given the standards that he has been playing up to throughout the year, that is really quite worrying because a player of that quality and he's a super, super player, he's got the right attitude. Physically, he's fantastic. Mentally as well, he's very strong. And to see him fall to pieces as he did at the end of the game is actually something which should be put at Arteta's door. This actually lies not with the players, but with the manager. If he can't prepare his teams for a situation in which they have to manage once leading 20 away at the team that is last in the Premier League. There is a serious problem here.
- [16:16]
A
A lot of people pointing out Conor Cody mixing his metaphors by saying, will Manchester City be rubbing their lips at the equalizer? But you know, they'll. They'll be, I would say, rubbing their hands, Barry, or even licking their lips or, you know, licking their hands, rubbing
- [16:35]
B
their thighs in the freeze style.
- [16:38]
A
Yeah, absolutely. I mean, you know, Arsenal have dropped, what, four points now in the last two games. And we know City know how to do this.
- [16:47]
B
Look, Sunday's game against spurs now is massive, isn't it? I think Arsenal would much prefer to be playing a Thomas Frank spurs than this unknown Igor Tudor. Potential spurs bounce Spurs.
- [17:03]
D
And
- [17:05]
B
I think if, if they lose that game, I mean, the alarm bells are already clanging loudly, aren't they? But if they lose that game, it will be, yeah, we're in for a treat. And the title running. I mean, Arsenal fans must be absolutely twitching in their nether regions now. And I don't envy them at all.
- [17:31]
A
But the thing is, Barry, I mean, I can only be sort of like find this funny for three days because I don't give. You know, I mean, Igor Tudor would have to do something, Paul. You know, we'll do most of the Premier League preview in part three, but we might as well look ahead to Sunday's game because now it's fascinating, but I suspect there isn't a Spurs fan who thinks spurs will get anything from this game.
- [17:52]
C
No, but the thing is, Igor Tudor's whole thing is coming in and making a fast impact. Whether he can ever see that through is another matter. But you know, he. He's notorious for being parachuted into places where things are going very badly wrong and pretty quickly making an impact. So, okay, this is a bit quick even for him. You know, it's. It's hard to imagine he can have made Some profound change within, you know, 10 days, a week or whatever. He's barely even been in that long. But, but I, I mean, I think you said on one the. I saw everyone saying on one of the other pods that in a way, this was a really terrible game for him to go into because if they, if, you know, if Arsenal thrash Spurs and he's already on the back foot, I kind of see it the other way. It's a, It's a free hit for, for, you know, if he delivers a miracle here, he's already off to a heroic start.
- [18:42]
A
He's such a hero. He's like an unbelievable hero now.
- [18:45]
C
Yeah, you might as well resign then. Resign immediately on the spot as your greatest ever manager. But I do think spurs fans may be, you know, whatever spurs fans are, they aren't going to hold everything against Tudor if they lose this game. No one's going to say, well, how has he not solved this, this, you know, binfire of a situation within seven days? So I do think in a way you couldn't have a better setup for Tudor. As a guy who is used to, I think also is used to going in and basically, yeah, tearing everyone a new one. Like that seems to be the. When you hear players talk about the way Tudor has announced himself or the way he manages players, it sounds like he just does not take any shit. He just goes in and just, you know, nobody ever talks about him without saying, oh, he's demanding or he's exacting and these euphemisms for sort of. He is a pretty hard guy to work for. So, yeah, I would say you couldn't have a better setup for. For Tudor for this one.
- [19:39]
A
And actually, Philippe, the, The thing that we. We don't talk about it a lot, but, you know, these. The seasons are long and tiredness comes in and the difference between a team that hasn't played a game midweek and has. I'm sort of trying to talk my hopes up here, but I. I think that does make a difference, you know, that they should be. Even though they obviously have so many injuries, which I think is a problem for. For Tudor and what he wants to play. I just wonder, how are you feeling about. How are you feeling about this game now compared to how you were feeling about it, you know, when you were 2 nil up to Wolves.
- [20:09]
D
I have no doubt Arsenal will win against Tottenham and then cock it up against Fulham at home, something like that. I think that's far more likely because, I mean, the players, to be honest, there has to be a reaction after that, and I cannot believe there won't be a reaction after that if it happens that things didn't go the way that Arsenal fans would like things to go, and Igor Tudor is canonized by spurs fans. I think there would be some. Which is crazy. There would be some very serious questions asked about the manager as well, which is completely insane considering what he has achieved so far this season and what the club is still in. And, you know, the club is still fighting on four fronts, but there is this element of frustration which has been at the back of many people's minds for a long time, which, again, is crazy. When you see the results which have come this way, apart, of course, from yesterday. Yeah, I do expect them to do something. I do expect them to do something against spurs and then to do something really bad later on. The bounce. You talk about the bounce of a new manager. You can also have the bounce of the reaction after a very, very stinging defeat. That also happens.
- [21:29]
B
Can I ask, Philippe, do you think Arteta might be part of the problem?
- [21:34]
D
Yes.
- [21:35]
B
In terms of Arsenal developing a reputation as bottlers because he looks so wound up and anxious and stressed out on the touchline. I can't help but feel that bleeds onto the pitch and into the players. When they see this guy, you know, he's micromanaging them and. And just looks so anxious, they can't help.
- [22:00]
D
No, I. I entirely agree with you. And this tension is. It's like. Yeah, you know, like a feedback in a bad venue. It's. It just goes from the. From the bench to the players to the stands, and. And it goes on and it gets really, really loud and very unpleasant.
- [22:18]
A
On the flip side, like, he has got. He has got Arsenal here. I know he has all the tools. They have a really deep squad. He's been given what he needs. But he has, you know, won every game in the Champions League, as you said, got them to the fifth round of the FA cup, the final of the Carabao cup, you know, top of the. Still top of the Premier League right there.
- [22:35]
C
Still.
- [22:35]
B
What.
- [22:35]
D
It's also. It's the kind of criticism that goes the way of Didier des Champax. It's also because of the way the team plays.
- [22:41]
C
Right.
- [22:42]
D
It's not just all about the wins and the titles, which, by the way, we're still waiting for one at arsenal since the FA cup in 2020. So that's the way in which we. Which is not exactly the most seductive of ways at the moment, to say the least. Makes it, you know, the Fans are willing to accept that if you've got results at the end, if the results are there, and then threaten not to be there anymore. People get very, very cagey. And the things that we have been saying about Arteta's approach to football for a long time. That's why I started by talking about system teams. And he's one of those people who has an obsession with control, which is why I mentioned essay. You bring an essay, you think, okay, maybe you're going to bring a little bit of improvisation, bit of craziness. I don't know. Do you see it on the pitch? No. I mean, the typical Arteta player is Zubimendi. He's fantastic. He's really fantastic. On the other hand, Zubime Mendy spends about 75% of his time looking around him to see which player he can play the ball backwards or sideways. And after a while you get frustrated by that. And if the results don't come, that frustration moves to something different, which is not very pleasant. And of course the manager is the one who has to be. To take. To take the blame for this.
- [24:02]
A
Yeah, no, right. But if you want sideways and backwards, then the Paolinia Bentonkur double pivot, which you know, you can't have on Sunday, you know, that is a whole. That is a whole new level. Anyway, look, we can. We can talk about the North London derby on Monday's pod, but that'll do for part one. Part two we'll do the Champions League and we'll begin with Bodos humbling of Inter Milan. Welcome to part two of the Guardian Football weekly. As such, a Newcastle's excellent victory in Carabag in a second. But before that, Bodo three into one. Another amazing moment for them in this incredible Champions League run, Paul. And they like they were going out and they have just beaten Man City Athletic away. And now Inter, who are seven points clear at the top of Serie A. And maybe we're forgetting quite how seismic this is because they keep doing it.
- [24:53]
C
Yeah, I think that's true. I've never seen a team so frequently and repeatedly underestimated as Buddha Glimt. Because every single time they get one of these results, everyone says, well, that'll be the end of it now. You know, we've seen them do it. They won't be able to keep doing this, but they are. And I think one of the things people forget, as you say, they look dead and buried in this tournament. They got wins over Atletico away from home and then they beat Man City. But the thing that I think Sometimes happens is people are almost undervaluing just how good this team is. They're not winning because they play on the edge of the Arctic Circle. They're not winning because it's a really horrible place to go. They're winning because they are a very, very capable, brilliantly managed football team. And they are doing all of this. And I don't know whether this is a pro or a con at this point. They're doing all this even though they're not even playing any league football. And this, I think, is a really interesting debate, because you would assume this was surely a disadvantage that they're going into these games. You know, cold is probably a wrong phrase to use for bodeglymp, but they're going into these games without any action in the league. But I don't know, at this point, is it possibly actually helping them? You see these other teams that are trying and failing to juggle their domestic and their European engagements. I don't know if there's a possibility that this is actually one of their big advantages, is they're going into these games and every one of them is. Is just an individual game without anything else to distract them.
- [26:22]
A
Yeah. And, I mean, the first goal is such a nice move, Barry. I don't know if you noticed it was Fett who scored. I think it was him immediately ran into the goal to get the ball. To be like, we are home advantage is everything for us. I just thought, like, it's just so rare you see a team go one nil up after 20 minutes and they're getting the ball to go. We go again. Because they clearly realize that they have a chance of getting past Inter and if they're going to do it, they needed a good win and they got that.
- [26:48]
B
They had an early scare. Martinez was put through, but I think it was Gunderson blocked his shot with a real, real good sliding block. Then they went to goal up. I did notice that Fat grabbing the ball out of the net, running back to the center circle. Home advantage clearly is important for them, but, I mean, they. They didn't just beat Manchester City, they battered them, absolutely battered Manchester City. And I think them being so far away and on the edge of the Arctic Circle is important because people are kind of aware that it's a tough place to go, but they're not quite aware of how tough it is until they get there. And I think that makes a big difference. They won comfortably last night in the end, and if they do get through this round, despite the fact that the weakest team in the tournament. I don't think anyone's going to want to play them. I'm not sure who they're in line to play in the last 16 if they see off Inter in the second leg and that's going to be a big task, you know, really difficult for them, but they're really well positioned. The risk is stating the obvious and I mean I, I just, I. When I saw them beat City, I couldn't believe what I was seeing how. How comprehensive a thrashing it was. The scoreline flattered City in that game.
- [28:19]
D
Yeah.
- [28:20]
A
And they have good players. You know, Hauga's finished something the Jeff Hurst arc, isn't it? And he scored I think both goals in the draw with Spurs. They really should have beaten spurs early in the tournament. Easily confused with Hoga. They've got Hauga and Hoga and Hoga scores score some big goals in the Champions League this season. And they are Philippe, they are as Paul's all. They are like incredibly talented footballers. Like, like it. And it's sort of seen that if, if they, if you beat them, everyone goes, well, you should have be in them. And if you don't, it is becoming less of a shock. Like I saw this result and I was like, okay. I watched this game and I was like, okay, I am surprised, but I'm not as surprised as I was, you know, two games ago, I guess.
- [28:58]
D
Well, you know when we were talking before, before the games where you were saying and producer Cho was asking who's going to watch that? I thought, I'm watching bother. I'm watching bother. I really want to watch them because they're the anti Arsenal in some ways. They're one of the most exciting teams to watch, whether they defend or their attack. And I have to go back to that first goal because it is just delightful to see a team play, to play with that kind of speed through the lines. I think five players are involved in the actual move for a total of seven touches, which includes Hug's superb flick and the finish. Seven touches, five players. One of the best goals, I mean the best goal we saw last night as a team goal. And you know, they are. It's really strange because apparently quite a few of those players were players who struggled to make it in other teams. And like, I mean the best example of which is Caspar Hog, who was struggling to make it in the second division in Denmark and yesterday finished with one goal and two assists, if I'm not mistaken. And so, yes, they are far, far better than the rank outsider they're supposed to be, you know, last year you remember there was Brest who was also doing a bit of a Bordeaux, but Brest was doing it purely on adrenaline, home support, never say die. Physicality. And the rest of it, this is different. Bodo Glimt is doing it by playing an absolutely magnificent type of football and obviously the type of football that has been instilled in that team. Well, for, you know. How many years has Ketuk Knudsen been in place now?
- [30:35]
A
Yeah. And you hope he stays. You hope he. I don't know what you think, Paul. I sort of think it's such a risk to leave.
- [30:43]
B
Well, hasn't he had approaches from other teams and he doesn't seem particularly interested in leaving. He seems perfectly happy where he is.
- [30:51]
C
He's an amazing character. He's an incredible character. And one of the things, I don't know if you've mentioned this before on the part, he. He doesn't use the word win. He will never talk about winning in any of his interviews. And it feeds into this thing about Buddha Glimp which is really special, which is that mentally, as Philippe says, the anti Arsenal, well, they certainly were last night but they have this incredible mental strength and it feeds back I think a lot to when they 2017, when they were relegated to second tier. The whole club was absolutely kind of devastated by this. And they ended up bringing in a psychological coach who was former fighter pilot. He was like a military guy and he didn't even like football, this guy Bjorn Mansvik. And he came in and said, look, I will talk to the players but you know, on my terms. They can chat to me if they want to. I will get them to be a better team. And he's had this incredible effect on the mentality of the whole squad. It feels like they have this unique mental fortitude and there are all these little things like these. I don't know if they always do this or if it's something they did for a while. They have a huddle after they concede a goal, for example, so that they can kind reboot they at their team meetings. Apparently they were finding the players just weren't talking frankly about how they were feeling about the game at all. They were all very regimented. He said, no, I want people to talk about how you're feeling. And the players felt really empowered by that. So there's all these little things that Buddha Glimped have done to almost mentally become leaders, you know, pioneers on the mental side of the game. And I think you kind of see It. When they're lining up for these games, they don't look phased, they don't look worried. It feeds back to a whole club ethos. Like people talk about a philosophy. There is genuinely a sense of a philosophy in the way that Buddha glimpsed approach things. And it's. It's really working for them.
- [32:36]
A
Yeah, I mean, I guess if I was a fighter pilot, I would just say to anyone, you think this is hard, try being a fighter pilot.
- [32:42]
C
Because that's really. You just said that 30 times. He just said, what are you worried about?
- [32:45]
A
You've got to fly really fast at war. Like, this is not. He's just kicking the ball. Don't stress about it.
- [32:50]
C
Lads.
- [32:51]
A
Let's go. Karabagh 1, Newcastle 6. Kieran says shouldn't there be a goals threshold for first legs where you can just waive it if you win in game one? I mean, I think, you know PSG means that you can't. Whenever that game was, he said, honestly, I'm not. I'm not just thinking of the money I've paid for the second leg. Miles. There's any chance Newcastle could sign this Anthony Gordon fella for their Premier League matches? Juicy Joel was right. He listened to Pat Nevin on. On the radio on 5 live, spending 45 minutes expressing disbelief at Carabag's defending. And he'd never seen football. This is that bad at this level. I mean, it was Barry Extra that moment where basically Anthony Gordon scores his second goal or third goal almost before he scores his second. You know, like. Like he scored the penalty and then the ball's in the net again before it's gone in the net.
- [33:39]
B
Yeah, this was odd because we know Carabag can play a bit. They've beaten Ben Fico, they've beaten Copenhagen, beat Night Frankfurt. The drew with Chelsea in November. So they're obviously not as terrible as last night's evidence suggests. But last night, I think a combination of them being awful and Newcastle being really good meant the tie was over. By half time in the first leg, Newcastle were five nil up. The Carabag goalkeeper Kachelski was their man of the match. It could have been a lot more than five at halftime, but for him, and it's difficult to know how much you can read into this. Newcastle brought a big crowd to Carabag, Azerbaijan. Fair play to them for that and I'm sure they had a marvelous time. But this seemed to be very much a case of you can only beat what's in front of you and what's what was in front of Newcastle last night just seemed to be a. A very bad pub team. They sized through them at will. Anthony Gordon seemed to be one on one with the keeper. Like every time he glanced at the screen.
- [34:55]
A
It's like a computer game.
- [34:57]
B
Yeah, yeah. It was just an awful performance from Carabag and a very good one from Newcastle.
- [35:06]
D
How bad a performance it was, I think is demonstrated. Like, the thought crossed my mind at some point in the first half. Surely this is fixed. You think I want to check the odds. I actually texted a couple of friends of mine who look at the way that the odds move on the markets to flag anything weird. And by the way, nothing weird happened. But in fact, after a while I thought, they are actually so bad that they can't be fixing this. It's actually gone beyond that level where you're bad to fix it. And in particular Kevin Medina.
- [35:39]
A
It's too obvious.
- [35:41]
D
It was too obvious. I mean, Kevin Medina, I don't know how he stayed. I mean, he stayed on the pitch for the second half, but my goodness, that horror show was. I mean, the way he fails to control the ball, you know, when he's running alongside Anthony Gordon and he genuinely looks like something out of a tech savory cartoon there. Where's the ball? Where's the ball? Where's the ball? And the ball is in his feet and he's knocking from one ankle to the next, then to the toe. Then he puts it in the path of Anthony Gordon, who is again one on one with the keeper who faced 16 shots on target. 16 shots on target. It's absolutely extraordinary. That's how bad they were. And then they scored a goal.
- [36:23]
A
Anthony Gordon didn't actually have a brilliant game, finishing like he probably should have had eight, shouldn't he, Paul? You know, you sort of normally stick up for the lesser known lights. Can you mount a defense for Carabag here? I mean. I mean, they didn't.
- [36:40]
C
No, I don't think they could either. No. Look, far be it from me to slag off Gorban Gorbunov, their coach, who's been there, you know, since 2008. But yeah, you would say what you probably want to do is keep it tight for at least 180 seconds. And they weren't really able to do that. What I will say. So what I will say is Karabag are struggling. Karabag are clearly coming apart with the weight of the number of games that they're playing, I think. And they're not even topping Azerbaijan. They look like they're going to lose the Azerbaijani title. To Sabah, who seem to have more momentum. So then they're not doing great domestically at the moment, I think. Also again, you know, Budeh Glimt are a great example of how you can overcome the odds and the realities of the modern financial game. But it is worth bearing in mind Karabag spent something like £750,000 in the summer on players like that was the extent of their war chest. And they also got a grant that the Azerbaijani government were able to sort of justify paying to them when they got to the stage of the Champions League. And it was seen as a really big thing for them to get this advantage now Azerbaijani football. But the extent of this grant is probably about US$5 million. So the kind of sums of money this, this club run on and the, the amounts these players are being paid, the, the, the relative budgets, the two teams are so vastly, vastly different. And as I say, that's not an excuse necessarily. What I will say is that going to the uk, going for the away leg, it's going to be hard to get them up for this one. And it's even harder because I think the combined scoreline of all their games in the UK and 18:1 deficit so
- [38:20]
A
far, maybe because of their good results earlier, you start thinking, you know, you know, we, we sort of forget the financial differences. Anthony Gordon is Newcastle's top scorer in the Champions league. He has 10. Alan Shearer second with six. Just the second Englishman to reach double figures for goals in a single Champions League campaign after Harry Kane in 20. 24. 25. And the third Newcastle player to score a Champions League hat trick. Fun quiz. Who are the other three?
- [38:47]
B
Sheer Ferdinand.
- [38:49]
A
No.
- [38:51]
C
Yeah.
- [38:52]
A
Yeah. Was the Osprey's against Barcelona. Was. It was. That was a great. That was an amazing night, wasn't it? And scored a lot of goals for Newcastle.
- [39:02]
B
Peter Beersley.
- [39:04]
D
No.
- [39:05]
A
Played alongside Peter Bisley. They had a great partnership. No, no. Andy Cole.
- [39:12]
D
Off to you.
- [39:13]
A
But there we are. Anyway, Philip, you've been. You've been writing about Saudi investment and we've talked about this a bit before about how Piff might be sort of getting bored with sport or running out of money.
- [39:24]
D
It's. It's not getting bored with sport and they're not exactly running out of money. But there's been, you know, you probably. You must have noticed as I did, that even though Newcastle looked really short on players, you know, when the transfer market opened last month, that nobody came to Newcastle, you thought, this is weird. Most people think it's PSR rules and it's True that Newcastle having spent so much money in the early two years basically of Saudi ownership are in a bit, in a difficult situation because they cannot spend too much, but they can spend a bit. But the problem is that it's something that you're seeing all across the board with the Saudi so called investment in full port as the handbrakes are on and football and sports in general. You might have seen that recently they postponed indefinitely the staging of the Asian Winter Games which they were supposed to welcome in 2029. That the NEOM Super Mega Project Giga whatever both the line, you know this crazy idea that you would have 150km of skyscrapers in the middle of the desert that's been scrapped basically and reduced to a very much smaller portion. The idea of this skyscraper as well which would welcome 100,000 people in it has been scrapped. And when it comes to the World cup itself, the 15 stadiums need to be built or refurbished in such a way that they have to be built from scratch almost. And, and apparently all of the plants have been sent back to the architects because they're too expensive. And the reason for that is that the price of a barrel of oil which was about $85 in 2023 is now 64. So you've got 25% drop in the price of oil. And when you know that the oil revenue, oil and natural gas, but especially oil basically, I mean it's 55% of government revenue in Saudi Arabia. You can imagine the impact it has. And therefore yes, they're realizing, oh hell, we do not have quite as much money as we thought we had and perhaps we'd better be a bit more careful with what we're doing with our money when it comes to sport. And I think Newcastle, I'm not saying they're going to dump them and forget everything about Newcastle United, but the idea that there are some, I mean those pockets are bottomless and you can take money out of them anytime you want. That's gone. And the reason is it's got nothing to do with the results of the team which has done actually very well under id. How it's got to do with something which is affecting Saudi economy as a whole and therefore their investment in sports. So if I were a Newcastle fan, I wouldn't be expecting my owners to put the kind of money in the club that say Liverpool or Arsenal have done in recent years. It's a problem that is way, way, way beyond the difficulties that the club itself is having.
- [42:29]
A
Interesting stuff. The other two games Club Bruges Three Athletic. Three Athletic. Two nil up at half time, courtesy of an outrageous handball penalty. Oh, God. I can't begin with that one. His hands on the floor. He's trying to land. He's trying to. You know, he's trying to. He's trying to not break his shoulder.
- [42:43]
B
No, that was in the Newcastle game.
- [42:45]
A
Oh, yes, sorry. Sorry. You're right.
- [42:47]
C
That cost Carabak the game.
- [42:48]
A
That was in the Newcastle game. Yes, it did cost Carabelle again. I was furious about that. I was furious about this one as well. But this was just like a little. Just sort of touched his hand as he was jumping about, doing a twizzle. But still annoyed. It was also when I learned that Adam Ola Lookman played for Athletic. I hope, Barry, you're in the same boat as me.
- [43:03]
B
No, I knew that, actually.
- [43:04]
A
Oh, okay. Well done. But a great comeback from Bruges Bass.
- [43:07]
D
Yeah.
- [43:07]
B
Athletic returning up cruising at halftime. That soft ALVAREZ Penalty. And Mr. Lookman stabbing home across Bruges. Got it back to two two. Atletti went ahead again. An own goal. Ordinary zone goal from a Marcus Llorente cross. And Solace scored past Oblack near the end. He's equalized. It was initially ruled out for offside, but it given by Var. So another tie. Nicely poised as they're all quite nicely poised, apart from the Carabag Newcastle one.
- [43:45]
D
Yeah.
- [43:45]
A
Yeah. I mean, you have got work to do. Haven't. A lot of teams have got work to do, but they're all alive, I guess.
- [43:50]
D
And.
- [43:50]
A
And Paul finally Laborkusen 1 tuna Olympia cost and actually it was a pretty open game this. And then Patrick Schick had a really good three minutes and that is, you know, gives Laborkus a huge advantage.
- [44:02]
D
Yeah.
- [44:02]
C
Olympiacos had a goal disallowed from a free kick by Var, which. It's another one of those that I. I suppose it probably was, but it felt.
- [44:11]
A
Yes, because he doesn't head it, does he? The guy is beyond the player that heads it.
- [44:15]
C
Y. Yeah, I think it was. But. But I felt. I felt for them and it did really end up costing them and these three minutes. Patrick Schick, two goals in three minutes. He'd also. He'd had an amazing game. Patrick Schick. He. He nearly scored, I think, at least two other occasions. He's. He always looks brilliant when I see him play. He's one of those players that you think, God, he must be the best player in the world. And then obviously he's not when I'm not watching him, but he was fantastic. And yeah, Leverkusen, I don't know if they were good value for 2 nil but they, they, they were the better team I reckon. And it's hard to see Olymp fighting their way back in that one, I'd say.
- [44:49]
A
All right, that'll do for part two. Part three we'll give you the latest on the Vinicius Junior racism story and we'll look ahead to the Premier League weekend.
- [45:01]
D
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- [45:08]
A
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- [45:10]
D
Introducing store to door switch and get a new device with expert setup Delivery
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C
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- [45:26]
A
Welcome to Part three of the Guardian Football Weekly so UEFA have launched an investigation into those claims that Gianluca Prestani racially abused Vinicius Junior in Real Madrid's win over Benfica on Tuesday night. On Wednesday, Benfica defended Prestiani via a post on their official X account alongside a video of the incident, saying given the distance, the Real Madrid players could not have heard what they claimed to have heard. The club added that they fully support and believe the aversion of events presented by Prestiani. They say his conduct in the service of the club has always been guided by respect for opponents, institutions and the principles that define Benfica's identity. The club regrets the defamation campaign of which the player has been a victim. Jenna Infantino said he was shocked and saddened by the incident, commended the referee for activating the anti racism protocol. I will always continue to reiterate to racism, no to any form of discrimination, although Rob Harris from Sky pointed out that Gianni made no such statement when Antonio Rudiger was accused someone of racial abuse during the FIFA Club World Cup. But I don't know why there would be a difference if Gianni to not mention that Mark Clattenberg, who was a pundit on Amazon prime, has apologized for his clumsy comments. He says nothing justifies racism in sport or in life. I'm grateful to have a chance to follow up on last night. I got it wrong. I'm sorry it was live tv. My job is to respond to the moment and the words I used were clumsy and not right. I'm already learning learning from this and appreciate my colleagues who've covered the situation with class throughout. We had a few emails and comments suggesting players should be mic'd up, which is interesting, but I thought Joe Cole was more interesting, actually a much more Sensible idea Philippe, which is if you put your hand your shirt over your mouth to say anything, you either just get straight red or you get a yellow card because then you can't do that.
- [47:10]
D
You know what about if you do what they all do puts your your hand over your mouth. So that even you told me Max that you'd seen players in non league football doing this.
- [47:22]
A
Imitating players Sunday League.
- [47:24]
D
Yeah. Sunday League. Yeah.
- [47:26]
A
I don't know.
- [47:27]
D
I don't know to be honest. I don't know about that to be honest. I don't have an opinion about. Was very, very unsavory to say the least. But it was good by the way to see the. The ref implementing the protocol as he did. That's one side of it which, which worked okay. The rest pretty awful really as was by the way the behavior of some of the Benfica supporters towards the Real Madrid players. Showering them with objects of every. Some of them quite dangerous actually. A full bottle at one point.
- [48:03]
A
There are so many videos where you can see the Real Madrid players are not that far away from Prestiani. Like Benfica's actions in this were big been frankly ridiculous. Premier League preview then we don't have a huge amount of time. Barry, what games stick out for you if you were to pick a couple.
- [48:18]
B
Well we spoke about Tottenham Arsenal so obviously man City play Newcastle the night before Newcastle have their 15 hour flight home from Carabag. They beat City in the corresponding fixture earlier this season. But Eddie how's record against Pep is pretty dismal I think. 21 games as manager of Bournemouth and Newcastle. He's got two wins, two draws. Guardiola's won 17 of them. I think I like the cut of Brentford v Brighton's jib. Just the Brighton have won two the last 15 in all competitions. A league match against Burnley and the cup match against Liverpool or against Manchester United seven points above the relegation zone. But I did notice that their CEO Paul Barber obviously received some very disparaging correspondence from a fan not happy about the way Brighton are going this season. And he wrote back to him and pointed out that Brighton have spent 113 years of their 126 years of existence outside the top flight. He pointed out that in the past four seasons they've finished 9th, 6th, 11th and 8th. Pointed out they can still qualify for Europe this season and pointed out that the Premier League is really hard
- [49:41]
C
and
- [49:41]
B
called on this fan. I think his name is Oscar to to. To have a bit of perspective. So maybe we should all have a bit of perspective.
- [49:49]
A
Yeah It's a great message. Vito Pereira starts for Forest at home to Liverpool, which is not straightforward. Paul, do you think he'll get them out of it?
- [50:00]
C
No. Is that the honest answer? No, I don't, I don't think he will necessarily. I mean, still think he's a relatively odd appointment. I suppose he's actually before that he's got to navigate Fenerbahce, hasn't he? I think. Is that his first outing tonight? Yeah, tonight, yeah. As we're recording tonight, he's got Fenerbahce as his opener. No, I, I, I don't think things look particularly good for him. I don't think he's ever particularly proven that he's able to, to take a job like this. I think he admitted he's been desperate to, to be a Premier League manager and perhaps rushed into other appointments he shouldn't have taken. But, yeah, I would say for a man who's famed at having very short spells at clubs, Forest at the moment having already managed that historic, four different managers in charge of the club, this looks pretty ominous, I'd say.
- [50:50]
A
Oh, well, look back at all these games on Monday and we look forward to doing that. Moonlight hanger says, for Paul, what's more remote, the autonomous region of Bougainville or the new camera angle at Ashton Gate? It is incredibly, it's mad. I mean, it's always been high, but it's mad now.
- [51:09]
C
Someone's really got into my Two things that bug me on just a weekly basis are the, the situation of Bougainville and whether they'll become FIFA's newest member, which we talked about on our latest sweeper pod. So lovely to hear that. That's really getting to people. And also, yeah, just when you watch a Bristol City game, the, the on tv, you basically do feel vertigo. You kind of feel this. But I think it's made it a tough place to come for teams. Like the, the angle makes it look like, God, I wouldn't want to play.
- [51:37]
D
Do you mean they have to, do you mean to have they play that high as well?
- [51:40]
C
Well, it, it feels like that some sometimes.
- [51:43]
D
Yeah.
- [51:43]
C
No, it's, it's one of the things that just, just always amuses me is how many people make that comment of just, oh, God, I watched watch Bristol City highlights and oh, God, it just looks horrible. Yeah, it does. Everything looks a bit wrong.
- [51:55]
A
Yeah. Anyway, that'll do for today. Thanks, everybody. I had a nice time. Thank you, Philippe.
- [51:59]
D
Thank you very much, Max.
- [52:00]
A
Thanks, Paul.
- [52:01]
C
Thank you.
- [52:01]
A
Cheers, Barry.
- [52:02]
B
Thank you.
- [52:02]
A
Football Weekly is produced by Joel Grove. Our executive producer is Danielle Stevens will be back on Monday.
- [52:11]
C
This is the Guardian.