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Football Weekly
Blimey, O’Reilly: Carabao Cup glory for Manchester City against Arsenal: Football Weekly
00:59:56
Max Rushden is joined by Seb Hutchinson, Dan Bardell and John Brewin to review Manchester City’s 2-0 win over Arsenal at Wembley, ending hopes of Arteta’s side winning the quadruple
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- [00:00]
Max Rushton
This is the Guardian.
- [00:09]
Hayden
Howdy, howdy ho, and welcome to Fantasy Fan Fellas. I'm Hayden, producer of the Fantasy Fangirls podcast and your resident lover of all things Sanderson.
- [00:17]
Stephen
And I'm Stephen, your bookish Internet goofball, but you can call me the Smash Daddy.
- [00:21]
Hayden
And we are currently deep diving Brandon Sanderson's fantasy epic Mistborn. But here's the catch. Steven here has not read Mistborn before.
- [00:30]
Stephen
That's right.
- [00:30]
Dan Bardell
Hei, hei.
- [00:31]
Stephen
So each week you'll get my unfiltered raw reactions to every single chapter.
- [00:35]
Hayden
And along the way, we'll do character deep dives, magic explainers, and Steven will even try to guess what's next. Spoiler alert. He'll be wrong.
- [00:42]
Stephen
News flash, I'm never wrong. Episodes come out every Wednesday and you can find Fantasy fanfellas wherever you get your podcasts.
- [00:49]
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- [01:28]
Dan Bardell
Hello and welcome to the Guardian Weekly. The oh O O'Reilly final. Manchester City win the Carabao Cup. Two goals for Nico. As Pep danced with anyone and everyone. He played a reserve keeper who was good. Arteta played a reserve keeper who wasn't. But Arsenal didn't really turn up. What does that mean for the rest of the season? Could they come second in everything? Arsenal fans are still on track to celebrate a Spurs relegation. The fans took to the streets in their thousands to try and motivate Igor Tudor's men. This would be the turning point. Narrator. It wasn't the turning point. A massive win for Forest. Fortunately for Spurs, West Ham got battered by Villa, but and leads through a blank at home to Brentford. In the race for top five, should we include the Bees? And should we include Everton who dispatched Chelsea 3.0arna slot under more pressure after defeat at Brighton. And Manchester United's progress is sort of halted at Bournemouth. Where will Sunderland put Brian Brobie? Brobbie. Brobbie's statue. A last minute winner at Newcastle, helping the Black Cats do the double over their neighbours. We'll do all that, answer your questions. And that's today's Guardian Football Weekly. On the panel today, Seb Hutchinson. Welcome.
- [02:29]
Seb Hutchinson
Hello, hello.
- [02:30]
Dan Bardell
Dan Bardell.
- [02:31]
Max Rushton
Hello. Max Rushton.
- [02:32]
Dan Bardell
And good morning, John Bruin.
- [02:34]
John Bruin
Good morning.
- [02:35]
Dan Bardell
We begin. Oh, you sound very sizzled, John. With that Is everything okay?
- [02:40]
John Bruin
Everything's fine. Everything's just fine. Great.
- [02:43]
Dan Bardell
Let's start Wembley then. Manchester City 2. Arsenal nil. Two goals for Nico O'Reilly. Pep's fifth League Cup. His first win against Arteta at Arsenal since April 2023. Arsenal have lost more League cup finals than any other club in the competition's history. 7. Simon says, Did Pep think it the right amount? And that's a good question, John, isn't it? I mean, City was so dominant this game. You feel like Pep was just, it was just all power, all conquering Pep that we sort of haven't seen for a little while.
- [03:12]
John Bruin
Yes, the tactical master puts on a tactical master class. He was ready for Arsenal, wasn't he? I mean, Arsenal, the first half, you would say, probably were the better team without really doing that much with it. You have to say though, in my mind's eye, is that Arsenal trying to pass the ball around the back, dallying on the ball. Kepa who I'm sure we'll get to later, having the ball. That's not really hurting anyone, is it? City just pressed, kept Arsenal where they wanted to be. And in matches like that between top teams, it comes down to a mistake. City seized on that mistake, then built on that mistake. Nico O'Reilly. Where did they find this guy? He's been brilliant, hasn't he, all season. And then, you know, at such a young age he's, you know, he's a Stan Matthews writing his name into a final. Absolutely brilliant. From him, City were truly worthy winners. It's funny, isn't it? They're so used to going to Wembley. Maybe that formed part of it. Arsenal got very, very excited about this occasion. You know, I saw footage of the Box Park. I heard several versions of my favorite song, Northwind and Forever, and it just didn't happen for them. It felt very, very flat. But I think the credit has to go to Pep Gragliola, who really, really enjoyed this, didn't he? His post match celebrations, calling over friends and relations to celebrate with him. At that point. Do you think it's a bit like Jurgen Klopp winning the League Cup? Well, we'll have to see. But it was a great occasion for Manchester City. Credit to Pep. Credit to City. Oh, dear Arsenal.
- [04:54]
Dan Bardell
Yeah, just on Pep celebrations, Seb, I don't know how much we should read into them. Like John says, you're meant to enjoy rather than thinking, what's the impact on the title race? You win a cup, that's great, but. And I'm too lazy to look back on how Pep has celebrated previous Carabao Cups. But it felt like. It felt like there was a real significance. This, like he knows he's going or he's so pleased they beat an Arsenal and he thinks that means they can go on and win the treble. I think they could. You know what? Am I reading too much into this?
- [05:22]
Seb Hutchinson
I think you are. Because Pep Guardiola, we can't take anything from his body language. He's this special individual in the sense that whatever we think we want to almost garner from his body language and how he is with his players and everything else, he'll switch. He'll go completely to the opposite, what we think. So we think, oh, Pep's really sad. And he'll reply with, no, no, not at all. No, I'm really happy. And that is Pep Guardiola. He will be that person. He has everybody on strings and of course he knows deep inside what he wants to do at the end of the season. But because he's so used to winning, because his career template is if he doesn't win, then something's not right. And that's also how he's analyzed as well. I think in the build up to this game, it was incredible, the amount of people saying that Pep Guardiola is done, his time at the top is over. Has he got the energy for this? And when you break down and look at his team, you can see where the flaws are in his team. But the great strengths of his team are enough to win trophies still. And we saw that in this game. He knew that if he could nullify Arsenal's attacking threat, then City would make opportunities in the League fixture. Of course, he adopted a different approach and he's trying to switch things up with Arteta each time to keep him guessing. City won't do the same thing when they play at the Etihad, that's for sure, in. In the Reverse League game. So it was fascinating to watch because you saw at the beginning of that second half, you're watching that spell, during the spell when Keba had the ball and was holding onto it, you could see what was going on quite clearly. And you could also see where Arsenal have struggled in games, even recently against Brentford. In the game against Wolves, they struggle to play the ball out from the back. And he would have identified that. They don't have. Well, they do have. He's only 16, but they don't have a one. One on one player who can really change the game in a moment in the way that I think City do to an extent, to a higher level. And he knows his team is good enough to still overhaul Arsenal at this point. If he had a, I would say a more resolute side, a side that's one more things, maybe a Liverpool under Klopp who were this far ahead, he probably would give it up. I think he still believes he can get to Arsenal at the back end of the season.
- [07:40]
Max Rushton
I was on Pep watch like you, Max. Sorry. And I am reading a lot into those celebrations as well because I'm with you.
- [07:47]
Dan Bardell
Yeah. Maybe we're the two most simple of the four. Dan, I'm looking at us thinking with definitely the case.
- [07:52]
Max Rushton
I'm definitely in the bottom one for the most simple. He's just gone a season without winning a trophy. For him, that's. That's a lifetime. I know obviously Arsenal have gone a lot longer, but a season without Pep and Manchester City winning a trophy is a long, long time for him, him in football. And I just think there's so much other stuff going on between them and Arsenal that there's so much competition with them, obviously with the Premier League and what's going to happen there. I think this is a massive victory for Manchester City for so, so many. Pep then saying so, so many for so many reasons. That's a. That's a massive psychological boost. And yet I think the trophy is the biggest thing to him because as I say, a whole season, that can't have happened too often in Pep's career.
- [08:33]
Dan Bardell
Yeah. I think it is interesting, John, that where City, they didn't like press high, you know, they. But they didn't drop off. They were just sort of saying to the defense, you have the ball. It's interesting. I just don't. I don't know how many teams I've seen do that against Arsenal, but, you know, I don't know if it's a blueprint for everybody, but it seemed. They seemed so rudderless. Arsenal, they seem so like it was just sort of apathy, this sort of anodyne. It was quite painful to watch actually, how laborious they were at the back.
- [09:00]
John Bruin
It's not the first time this season we've seen Arsenal be. What's the word? Constipated in attack, shall we say? To use an interesting metaphor. The secret is out really, isn't it, that Arsenal don't necessarily flow like other teams do. Their strong points lie in other areas of the game. They actually have the players that could do that. And this has been the thing that Arsenal fans would say, is that they have the ability to play very different types of football. But Pep stymied their ability to be creative. They just couldn't get it going. And, you know, I often think does. Is Wembley a factor in that? You know, the occasion? Was that a factor in that? They have found it difficult, as Seb said, against teams like Wolves and Brentford. It's like Arsenal in, you know, that we. I do think they will win the title, but it's not been easy for them. And so the issue for Pep was trying or City is make it more difficult for them. And they managed to do it. Just on Pep. Can we mention his style? You know, he went from grunge. We went from grunge in midweek, you know, which didn't really happen for him, that, you know, the plaid shirt to. I thought that the trousers were sort of like Ian Curtis chic. They sort of, you know, like almost school trousers. And there was a point where he did that sort of flailing kicking celebration against the advertising board, which he got booked for, actually, which I thought, you know, betrayed a bit of the old joy division. Ian Curtis dancing. I thought it was very impressive. Just again, as Seb says, Pep is just so fascinating. I mean, you need a Pep cam on certain games, don't you? Just because when he's gone, we will miss this guy because he has dominated, dominated almost to a fault at a certain point, because it's all been about him at certain points. But, you know, inside the mind of a genius, a mind that none of us can get into, but you're just watching this guy and thinking, how have you managed that? And I tell you, one person that thinks that today is Mikel Arteta, someone who's been closest to that mind of a genius, probably in the game. And in the game that was. Jonathan wrote a piece about Master versus Apprentice. The Master showed it once again that, you know, I'm still the daddy around here.
- [11:25]
Dan Bardell
Yeah, Park Ian Curtis part to Murray K. The perfect mix, isn't it? We should mention Nico O'Reilly, Seb, you know, like I, I John brought it up and I'd written exactly the same thing, you know, like, do Carabao cups get remembered like FA Cups, like the Matthews Final? I can't imagine in 50 years it'll be the O'Reilly the O O Riley Final. But. But what a day for him. What a brilliant season he's had. You know, he has played at left back, he's played at 10, keeping Foden out for City. He's such a talent. And just, just on a pure Brilliant footballing level. What a perfect day for this guy.
- [12:01]
Seb Hutchinson
What stood out to me was his celebrations for the goals and his interview at full time. The level headedness on somebody who only turned 21 the day before was extraordinary in a way. I don't know what it says about maybe modern football, maybe the mechanical way of thinking, but what he achieved there even in a League cup final is still a huge thing for a player at a club that can bring in almost any player they want at times from across the world. And he's come through playing out of position essentially and excelled to the point where he is probably going to start for England maybe. I know Lewis Hall's in this debate as well and yet he was so assured in the interview. It's almost, it's put to him what an amazing achievement. What incredible final. You scored both goals and he's very much just, you know, yes, it's a great day and, and this is, this is in a special occasion but he's not going overboard and it's interesting because that I guess is the temperament required to be at the top level of football. You're not allowed to, you can't get ahead of yourself because people will rip you down and you have to have that self confidence without seeming, without seeming like you are overawed by this situation. And he got the balance totally right. And what I also liked about his performance was he knew and obviously Manchester City knew there was that period where they had Arsenal contained, Arsenal could not get out and he could get into the positions where he's got into on more than one occasion this season and scored goals and be impactful in the box in a way that maybe Arsenal would be hoping that Califiori could have been in that final. But it just shows the whole game state and how he was able to take advantage of it and it's fantastic. And you know, as a, as a massive England fan as well, these things excite you. So it's just, it's just, it's just
- [13:50]
Dan Bardell
great to see he will miss the penalty. Oh God. I like it when that someone said, someone said oh you know, look he's so young, he's got no fear and I just think when, if I was 21 there I'd be shitting bricks. Worth mentioning City where without Mark Gaze, well has been so good for them. So you know, Kusanov Monake, sort of largely untroubled were they? We should Dan talk about the goalkeeper, shouldn't we? Jim says should Kepa retire from Carabao cup finals you have James Trafford didn't have much to do but made that brilliant triple save early on and that, that is pivotal. It changes the whole, changes the whole game that he makes those saves and then you have Kepa who basically throws one in.
- [14:26]
Max Rushton
Yeah, James Trafford slightly undoes my argument here but I know it's the modern way and managers play second string goalkeepers in cup ties but in a final that like you're so desperate to win that your, your fan base is so desperate to win as well. Something that can an event, an event that can have a knock on effect for the rest of your season. I would suggest that David Rayer is probably more integral to the way Arsenal actually play going forwards as well than Donna Roma is for, for Manchester City. So to, to change that and put in a goalkeeper. You know that unfortunately for Kepa he does have a, have a rick in him. There's a massive drop off and I'm not saying there's not a drop off between Donnarumma and Trafford because, because obviously there, there is. But I think Roya's integral in different ways to, to Arsenal. I think it almost maybe gives Manchester City and if you were to pick Arsenal's top three players I think Royal would probably be, be in there. He's, he's that important to them. Big games are often decided by mistakes and you felt as the game went on and you know Kepper had obviously had that incident where he got the yellow card. He was dallying on, on the ball. It felt taking too long. I think he took 40 seconds at 11 point to pass the ball. It did feel like it might come down to him and in the end Arsenal have lost that final I think because they've changed goalkeeper. I don't think he's got any business playing in a, in a cup final. That, that's my personal opinion. I don't know much about man management. I'm not a football manager so I'm sure managers all over the world would disagree with what I'm saying and there's things to do with keeping the dressing room happier and whatnot. But if you're in a cup final that's that important, you have to play your number one goalkeeper.
- [16:01]
Dan Bardell
Yeah, he's right. It's an eternal. I mean it just unless part of the contractual agreement it won't be written down but is you will play in these games and you obviously want, look, you want your reserve keeper to play some football so they don't just come in. Having never played like Kingski last week for Tottenham. But it's mad. You're right, it seems mad.
- [16:20]
John Bruin
It feels to me like goalkeepers this season have become. Come to the fore in a way. I mean, you look at Chelsea with the Jorgensen and Robert Sanchez thing, Kepo, obviously. And obviously the situation at Tottenham where they've been playing a goalkeeper with a hernia problem for as long as he possibly can and it's not really worked out for him. Yeah, the thing is, at my beloved Bournemouth, Kepa had really quite a good season last season. You know, it was. He's not a bad goalkeeper. At one point he was the world's most expensive goalkeeper. But, yeah, there's a Rick in there and it's absolutely correct. You know, the style of football that Arsenal like to play is actually very reliant on David Raya, as Manchester City used to be when Edison was there. You know, he provides that outlet and a player like that and a goalkeeper in a final needs to pull off big saves. You know, you talk about finals being remembered for. For players, often it is the goalkeeper, you know, you go back to Dave Bezant or whatever, you know, and it's that pulls off those important saves. You know, as a Manchester United fan, Les Seely coming in for Jim Layton, you know, you've got this idea where if a goalkeeper flops at Wembley, you probably had it as a team, haven't you? And one thing you would say is City, as soon as they'd scored, went and scored straight away, didn't they? They didn't. They gave Arsenal no time to lick their wounds and come back into it. They were ruthless with it. And, yeah, poor old Kepa. I mean, you know, I think, you know, obviously there was the one where he refused to leave the pitch. I think he'd let in every penalty in a penalty shootout in.
- [18:02]
Dan Bardell
I mean, it's, you know, missed a penalty as well.
- [18:05]
John Bruin
Missed a penalty, of course, yeah. I mean, the thing is, perhaps Kepa should have gone. Arteta said, listen, Gaffer, I think I should sit this one out, you know. Yeah, I'll accept that. Accept them, you know, and I suppose the reason they do it is for some sort of esprit de corps within the team, isn't it, that, you know, that the role of a number two goalkeeper is actually very important to the team and you can't really have number one and number two and interchange goalies. We've known that over the years and this is proof positive of that. David Raya, I think, will play in Arsenal's next game. And if they get to The FA cup final. I'm prepared to bet he might start that game as well.
- [18:45]
Dan Bardell
Yeah, we've managed to get 20 minutes in Seb without saying the word bottle. With regards to Arsenal and, and you know they are still hot favorites for the title. You know they are in. They have a favorable draw in the Champions League in. In as much as you can have in the quarterfinals of that. They've got a nice draw in the FA cup as well. I think so. But in terms of the title race, this for the neutrals, this is the perfect result. Right. Arsenal have two weeks this international break to to stew on that and you know they've got the game at the ETI Head now which is fascinating to see how City play, how Arsenal play it and it is possible that they come second in everything.
- [19:23]
Seb Hutchinson
My opinion on this is if Arsenal don't win a Cup competition, I think cup competitions are often won by sides. You need to be decisive at the front end of the pitch. And having watched Arsenal countless times this season, you're rarely convinced with them in an attacking sense. Their defensive organization is second to none. They don't concede many goals as we've seen. They are happy to defend. The wide players are happy to track back and defend. But I find it they're at their best in attacking sense when teams have slightly come onto them and they're able to play through them. And Ezzer was a good signing for them in that respect. He's somebody who can create that, link things up, release the pass or shoot from distance and that's probably why they bought him. If they don't get over the line, I don't think it's going to be a mentality thing. I just think they're going to have those situations which in a weird way City have had in certain games where you just can't find that way through against a side home because you look at the fixtures they have left and that is going to decide it for them. It's not the Etihad game. It's going to be can they beat Bournemouth, can they beat Newcastle, can they beat Fulham, can they beat Burnley? And they're the ones that are going to decide it in that scenario I think defensively you trust them but do you trust them in attack? When it comes to the latter stages of the Champions League, are they going to come up against in Barcelona, say in the semi finals, not to jump ahead but we have to do that or a Bayern Munich in the final? PSG in the final. Who have the talent at the front End to take advantage. Think of the Manchester United game at the Emirates. The only game they've lost at the Emirates this season was won by some screamers, really, from Man United players. And an error at the back, some errors at the back from Arsenal. That can happen in matches. It happened in the final. So the mentality thing is going to be thrown at them if they don't get over the line. But I just think it's going to be a summer where if they don't invest in elite talent in the front line, then they've, they. They are always going to find themselves in this sort of situation until they win things. Arteta's pressure is going to come from up above, obviously, if he doesn't win things simply because of the investment, but I do think he is a lesson in just give a manager time to create something within a club. And Arsenal supporters, something has been created over the last few years with Arteta to the point. You just have to remember where they were when Arteta came.
- [21:43]
Dan Bardell
Absolutely. Totally right. Worth mentioning the Turkey kick ups and Ben White saying, no, thank you reminded me of, I think Ronaldo doing loads of step overs for Man United. I mentioned Graham Stewart at Charlton, was it, or Everton. I can't remember just going, nah, sorry, mate.
- [22:00]
John Bruin
I was going to say Max. He actually did it in the 2006 League cup final and I think it was against Leighton Baines or someone like that. And I remember I was at the game, I remember Ryan Gigg running over to him and saying, don't do that. Like, don't you know that's disrespectful for a fellow professional. Giggsy would know that if you do that, eventually you're going to get a wallop. So, yeah, and I think Ben White was more than happy to dish that out.
- [22:24]
Seb Hutchinson
That was a really satisfying exchange, I think. I think if you're from a more City persuasion and you want Arsenal to lose, you're loving the fact that Cherokee's doing the kickoff and you think it's great to see and it's fun. And if you're on the other side and you don't like it, well, Ben White gave him a whack, got a yellow card and everything was fine. I think I saw Ben White say, have a word with him, as in have a word with Cherokee. Not in a Gary Lineker way, but just, you know, have a word with your player before he does that again.
- [22:49]
Dan Bardell
Producer Tayo, who is an Arsenal fan, saying, one of the worst places to be as a fan is on Wembley way after a defeat with the Stop Go signs and the horses, you just can't get to the tune you want to be anywhere else. It's such a good observation worth saying it's another City trophy. While these charges, the 150 charges are we know nothing. We don't know what's going to happen. It is worth putting that on record and Aiden says, was City's win at Wembley the best result spurs have had in 2026? That will lead us nicely to part two, which sadly begins at the Tottenham Hotspur stadium.
- [23:22]
Pablo Torre
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- [24:18]
Hayden
Howdy, howdy ho, and welcome to Fantasy Fan Fellas. I'm Hayden, producer of the Fantasy Fangirls podcast and your resident lover of all things Sanderson.
- [24:26]
Stephen
And I'm Stephen, your bookish Internet goofball. But you can call me the Smash Daddy.
- [24:30]
Hayden
And we are currently deep diving Brandon Sanderson's fantasy epic mattress Mistborn. But here's the catch. Steven here has not read Mistborn before.
- [24:39]
Stephen
That's right. Hey, hey. So each week you'll get my unfiltered raw reactions to every single chapter.
- [24:44]
Hayden
And along the way, we'll do character deep dives, magic explainers, and Steven will even try to guess what's next. Spoiler alert. He'll be wrong.
- [24:51]
Stephen
News flash. I'm never wrong. Episodes come out every Wednesday, and you can find fantasy fan fellows wherever you get your podcasts.
- [25:09]
Dan Bardell
Welcome to Part two of the Guardian Football Weekly, Luke says. Has a team ever had a parade before losing three nil at home. Before spurs nil Forest three and Dan, the fans, you know they, they gathered in thousands with flares. They had a cup final atmosphere. They welcomed the team bus and you sort of have to give spurs fans credit. They did an unbelievable. Considering what they've been served up all season, they were going to have a protest and they decided not to have it because this game is so important. It just gave me even more hope and now those fans have got to do it again sometime because it didn't work. You know, this is a, this is an absolute disaster.
- [25:46]
Max Rushton
You've got to give the spurs coaching staff, manager and players credit as well for completely dissipating any good feeling within 45 minutes of a game kicking off as well. Because I saw all the, all the statements coming from the fans in the wake and obviously things have been very, very fractured at spurs and I thought fair play because sometimes when things are going wrong at a football club, sometimes as fans you have to try and do something and I think the spurs fans tried to do that and spurs had obviously had a couple of decent, decent performances as well. They got the, the one one at Anfield which not many people would have seen coming. And then I watched them on Tuesday or Wednesday whenever it was they played in the Champions League and thought they played really, really well. And then suddenly they turn up on Sunday to play. And a couple of the things that were really good about what you did, the managers just completely decided to rip that apart. Xavi Simons was Tottenham's best player. How can he then not play on Sunday? It beggars belief that you would take away. He's so spurs that you would take away something that was one of the best things about your team against a high level side in Athletic in the Champions League and then not do that same thing again. Van de Vent left back. Spurs are just the all round everything factored in. Spurs are just the strangest football club that's ever existed. Max.
- [26:58]
Dan Bardell
I mean well, Chelsea might want a word with you but I. Yeah, they're
- [27:00]
Max Rushton
up there as well.
- [27:01]
Dan Bardell
I don't disagree and, and Dan is so right. Seb. Tactically it's mad. Is it? It's just. What do you like that it was such a good like okay, the athletes again, they actually could have got something. There were moments Athletic game where they were, you know that a great chance that tell had a chance part of chance. You think they could have actually won that tie. They didn't but like take that approach and play a team that have Won twice all year. I know that's infinitely more than Tottenham have won this year, but it is like, you know, just. Just do that.
- [27:31]
Seb Hutchinson
Yeah, it's. It's funny because people saying this about Amarim just before he departed, you know, think something would go well and then he would change it. And people say, why are you doing that? And that to me is a sign of a manager in trouble because to play a centre back out of position, to play a midfielder out of position. We spoke about the injuries, but some players were back for this one. That's what's interesting. They've been getting players back. So then you're looking to think, well, what can they do from this situation now? I think the draw against Liverpool was more about Liverpool said a lot more about Liverpool than it did about Spurs. The Atletico tie was done. I think at Atletico, if it had been tighter, they might have turned up a bit better.
- [28:11]
Dan Bardell
Yeah, maybe.
- [28:13]
Seb Hutchinson
And I found yesterday. And I am going to diverge onto Forest because I'm sure you are going to ask about them, but I think that also played. That was a really interesting marker because I, at the start of the season didn't think Forest would go down. As the season's gone on and the manager managerial changes have happened, I've been worried for them and I genuinely thought last weekend that they needed to probably get a win over Fulham. But that's not easy. And you looked at the fixture, thought, this is going to be tricky. This could be the thing for them. This could be the moment where they keep themselves up. They're still in the Europa League and Villa could still be the team that helped spurs out again, as they did this weekend. But just to go back to spurs, it feels as if everybody's feeding in this circle. So supporters tried after the game in midweek to give a boost, to give the feeling, the players give it everything at the start of the game. But I think we can apply this to so many teams. As the game goes on, those doubts creep back in again. And you can see by the. Once Forest took the lead, it was done. The game felt done.
- [29:14]
Dan Bardell
Yeah. And spurs were actually okay in that game. Spurs were good. And then it was such a soft goal to concede and that. And look, we obviously must send our condolences to Igor Tudor and it is more important than football, you know, to find out he'd lost his father and have to rush back and we send our love to him, but. And so it seems really sort of awful to say but he needs to get sacked. But you know, in Footballing terms, John. They've got two weeks now, Tottenham, and they surely they have to do whatever it is. I don't know what it is, you know, and I can't say Harry, red up again, you know, because every time I mentioned it last sends me a barrage of messages going, he's 79 and he just, you know, the professional footballers are elite sports people. Stop being an idiot. But even still,
- [30:01]
John Bruin
yeah, I mean, it is difficult to talk about considering Igor Tudor's personal circumstances, which is just horrendous, isn't it? You know, and unfortunately, Tottenham may have to make a decision that goes against sentiment really. Here though, again we ask the question where and who is making this decision? Because that is the issue that we've got at Tottenham is that the, since the departure of Daniel Levy, that there is a level of disorganization at the club, complacency crept in. We just don't know who's making these decisions. I mean, people will come forward and say they are in the case of Johann Langer and stuff like that, but we just don't know how it's happened. And you know, the fact that Igor Tudor is, we think the appointment of someone, Fabio Paratici had actually left the club, I mean that speaks to the. That's just classic Tottenham. As Dan says, this, you know, club was running off, you know, almost like psychedelic patterns of behavior. And it is crazy, that performance and the confidence within that team you would have felt after beating Atletico Madrid there would be confidence, but it's so easily sapped, didn't it? And an ego. Jesus. And then, I mean, I think it's Andy Reid on the sky commentary talking about Morgan Gibbs White's goal and he's just saying, I don't know how he's been allowed that amount of space to score. And it's true. It's just like how, I mean, he's just there and it is so easy for him and, and it being Tottenham, of course, who was the player they wanted last summer? Morgan Gibbs White. And it's
- [31:46]
Dan Bardell
as well, yeah, it just
- [31:47]
John Bruin
feeds into this total disaster that there is a really good story of the season to be written there that you know, at the end of every season, you know, the cub reporters of clubs will do that this happened, that the spurs journalists are going to have to do a 10 parter because it's been, whatever happens, if they stay up, it's been absolutely amazing. And we're all rubbernecking it, aren't we? I just, it's. I cannot not watch.
- [32:13]
Dan Bardell
Well, I'm not. I'm in it. I'm in it, John. You're rubbernecking it. I'm there going, I'm going. I'm going to get the fire brigade to cut me free. I know it is worth saying what, what a brilliant result that is for Forest. I think the relegation, you know, now I'm looking at all their fixtures, you know, clearly they're not out of it. Forest, the run ins are fascinating. That ball from Nico Williams was brilliant. Of course that'll give them so much confidence. But you know, there's a long way to go. And West Ham are mercifully below Tottenham in the Premier League. For how long? Well, at least two weeks or until West Ham next play because they went to Villa Park, Dan, and actually like this could have been 10. I mean it was 2 nil. But Villa were. Will you tell me how much this was? Villa being brilliant, how much this was? West Ham who we thought had kind of turned a bit of a corner were appalling.
- [33:00]
Max Rushton
First off, I feel incredibly guilty for kind of everyone that isn't a Spurs fan that Villa decided to sort themselves out against West Ham. Because if West Ham had managed to be Villa and Spurs dropped into the bottom three after that result yesterday, you know, it would have been absolutely box office, wouldn't it? And West Ham were bad. But in 2026, Villa have played lots of other teams that have been bad and not managed to get a result. Villa played really, really well in a weekend where other results have been very, very favorable to them as well. They're the only team that are kind of gunning for Champions League that have picked up three points. That feels like a huge, huge moment in the season for us. Feels like a big turning point and kind of pre game recently when Emery's picked his team, there's always been something there that I've not liked and that I've wanted to unpack and unpick. He picked the team that I think most of the fans would have wanted at the weekend. He picked the players that have been informed. Did a bit of the opposite of spurs in that the players that played well on Thursday who maybe aren't regulars like Jad and Sancho, he kept them in and just because it worked on Thursday, he went with it again. And I think Villa took a little bit of confidence from Thursday. I think there was the, the shoots of recovery against Lille and they bought it into this game. And in the first 10, 15 minutes I thought, right, we're on it, on it here. And McGinn makes such a huge difference not just to the crowd but I think to those around him as well, that the players just seem like they've got a new lease of Life with John McGinn in the team. He's the, he's the standard bearer for the football club. He's been there for so long and actually he's a, he's a fabulous footballer as well. And Villa could have been 3, 4 up at half time. West Ham probably you would say that they've done something strange tactically and that Todaybo's gone down in the warm up and they've obviously plan the whole week to play a back three to Debo gets injured and they've ended up going to four at the back and they looked like a team that hadn't worked on that formation in, in the week and it was two nil but it, it honestly was a, was a two nil trounce in West Ham. Were, were never in that game.
- [34:55]
Dan Bardell
Yeah, Watkins scored. Dan. He still looks rusty, doesn't he? Are you surprised he's not made Thomas Tuchel's 80 man squad?
- [35:04]
Max Rushton
No, I don't think he can have any complaints. In, in all honesty he's had a, had a poor season. He's had the O hit here and there and yesterday was one of those games. I thought he played really well but overall I just don't think he can say that he's, he's had the consistency or the performance level this season to justify being selected. You could probably look at it and say like maybe has he done more than Solanke this season? Arguably, but he just hasn't been there. Unfortunately for him, he set himself such high standards under Emery and scored so many goals, got so many assists. They haven't been there this season and the performances haven't haven't been there either. In previous kind of bad runs he's had. He's always still chipped in in with assists. There'd been nothing in some of these games but it was good to see him play. Yes, I think he deserved to play because he came on and played well on Thursday. Like I said about Emery doing the things of keeping the players in that did well on Thursday but at the moment I don't think he, he deserves to be in the England squad and I don't unless he suddenly hits another 5, 6 goals towards the end of the season, I don't think he'll be in the World cup squad.
- [36:06]
John Bruin
Thursday I went to the Lille game and chatting to a few Villa people before the Game, they were saying how Tammy Abraham, a lot of the fans wanted him to play and it was the right selection. But the difference when Ollie Watkins played compared to Tammy Abraham in that game, like his movement, he is a really. And obviously the team ticks better with McGinn in the team, that's for sure. But Watkins is played really well there and I thought. I thought it's unfair that he's not in the squad, considering there's probably a few players in that England squad that I would have doubts over, Solanke included. Another thing I want to say is Sancho Emery is the master at reviving and turning over players that other people have given up on. And if he's getting a tune out of Sancho, then he really is a genius because, you know, so many, considering he's been at City, he's been at United, he's been at Chelsea, and they've all thought, this guy is so talented, let's get the best out of him. And he haven't done it. And even to get the slivers of Sancho that we've seen, it feels like an achievement. I mean, he's so talented. Yeah. I think the other night there was one point where he just ran the ball out because I don't know why he ran the ball and then the next minute he set him up a goal. That's just, you know, incredible player for many reasons.
- [37:22]
Max Rushton
The thing that surprised me and the thing that Emery has got out of him, even though the productivity maybe hasn't been there, he doesn't half work hard. I've not seen that at the previous clubs. He's been out, like defensively, he's been very, very astute. Sancho helping out his full backup. I think he's got another level or two that he can go. And obviously productivity is probably the next phase for him. But at the moment, on a free transfer, I'd quite like to sign him if he's going to be working under Emre Dan.
- [37:46]
Seb Hutchinson
I don't know how you feel about this, because I've followed Sancho since he was playing for England under 17s and from a talent point of view, he is right up there. But I've always felt physically he doesn't have the physicality to get away from players. He can beat a man, but then he can't accelerate away. He hasn't got that. That, say, a power that maybe an elite winger would need to have to really make a difference at that end of the pitch.
- [38:11]
Max Rushton
Yeah, I think that's fair. He's I think sometimes there's a misconception about Sancho, about what type of player he actually is. He works incredibly well in tight spaces. I know Villa scored the goal the other night where he was kind of running onto the ball. It was a great pass from Emmy Martinez. But actually the way Villa play with the number tens, you want to be giving him them ball in the, in the tight spaces because he can wriggle his way out of it. His passing is quite intricate. He works well in those kind of small spaces. And I, I just think he's been a really good player. I think Villa revived Rashford's career on loan last season from, from Manchester United. Like John says, does seem to have this knack of kind of rescuing people. And I don't know whether it's a good thing for him or not. If Villa qualify for the Champions League, I don't know what gives Sancho more chance maybe of staying at Vil. Speaking about, about Emery and the club with, with quite a lot of love recently. John McGinn's been really good with him apparently as well. It'd be interesting to see what happens to him in the summer and what Villa do, what Villa do with him, whether they've got a chance of getting him permanent.
- [39:10]
Dan Bardell
Worth mentioning Mavropanos making a number of goal line blocks. Luke, I think it was Luke got in touch to say, is Mavropanos now more ball than head with reference to, you know, when Harland left one on him? And look, West Ham's next game is at home to Wolves and it is on the Friday night. So they're at the first game of the weekend and you know, that feels absolutely enormous for West Ham because obviously if they win that, they would no longer be in the relegation zone. Leeds still in trouble. They drew nil. Nil with Brentford. Rob, can anyone possibly find anything interesting to say about Leeds? Brentford? Well, look, we just don't have a lot of time and we should do. I mean, Brentford are like, they could get into the Champions League and we'll talk about them alongside Everton in part three.
- [39:55]
Pablo Torre
Hi, this is Pablo Torre from Pablo Torre finds out. And today I want to talk to you about Boost Mobile because we spend a lot of time analyzing inefficiencies in sports, overvalued contracts, money tied up in the wrong places and so on. But those inefficiencies aren't just on a roster. Sometimes they're in your own monthly expenses. Boost Mobile says switching to their $25 Unlimited Forever plan can unlock up to $600 in savings a year. That's $25 a month for unlimited data, talk and text when you bring your own phone. If that money is trapped in a pricey phone bill, it might be worth a second look. Visit boostmobile.com to learn more. After 30 gigabytes, customers may experience lower speeds. Customers pay $25 per month as long as they remain active on the Boost Mobile Unlimited Plan savings claim based on a January 2026 Boost Mobile survey of 1,000Americans with single line unlimited plans, comparing average annual payments of major carriers to 12 months on the Boost Mobile Unlimited Plan. For full offer details, visit boostmobile.com Howdy,
- [40:52]
Hayden
howdy ho, and welcome to Fantasy Fan Fellas. I'm Hayden, producer of the Fantasy Fangirls podcast and your resident lover of all things Sanderson.
- [40:59]
Stephen
And I'm Stephen, your bookish Internet goofball. But you can call me the Smash Daddy.
- [41:03]
Hayden
And we are currently deep diving Brandon Sanderson's fantasy epic Mistborn. But here's the catch. Steven here has not read Mistborn before.
- [41:12]
Stephen
That's right.
- [41:12]
Dan Bardell
Hey Hei.
- [41:13]
Stephen
So each week you'll get my unfiltered raw reactions to every single channel.
- [41:17]
Hayden
And along the way we'll do character deep dives, magic explainers, and Steven will even try to guess what's next. Spoiler alert. He'll be wrong.
- [41:24]
Stephen
News flash. I'm never wrong. Episodes come out every Wednesday and you can find Fantasy Fan Fellas wherever you get your podcasts.
- [41:41]
Dan Bardell
Welcome to Part three of the Guardian Football Weekly. Vicker says, after this weekend's action, should you reintroduce the Everton Cup? And John, this is really interesting now because we sort of looked at the six teams going for the top five places, but then now is a bit of a jump. We were just talking about villa. They're on 54. Man United will get two, we're on 55. And then there's a little drop down. Liverpool on 49, Chelsea on 48. Brentford and Everton on 46. I guess you can't discount, I don't know. Fulham on 44, Brighton and Sunderland on 43 seems unlikely, but Everton beating Chelsea 3 0, they could get into the Champions League. And it's odd, John, because I haven't noticed them win any games this season.
- [42:18]
Max Rushton
I don't know.
- [42:19]
Dan Bardell
And they sort of, they've done it by stealth.
- [42:21]
John Bruin
And we spend so much time talking about Beto and Barry, don't we, as these, you know, happy strikers. And yet both of them, every time I'm on the pod, they seem to have scored. So someone's doing a good job. And I think it might be David Moyes. I think David Moyes is one of those coaches that is mischaracterized as sort of, you know, last of the dinosaur or whatever, but actually is a very progressive coach in his own way and has been, you know, you think back to him back in his days at Preston. He was, you know, the new, the guy who was having lots of ideas and obviously there's an old, there's old school values there, but he knows how to set up a defense. He knows his way around midfielders. He will give creative midfielders their head if they're willing to work for him. And he's also quite good at getting a tune out of strikers that aren't actually very good, that the club can't really afford to buy him at all. You know, you think back to the days of Dennis Straquillursi and he managed to get a tune out of someone like that. I mean, he's a. Okay. David Moyes has had his failings in his career, but actually, John, you're gonna
- [43:26]
Dan Bardell
have to remind me, I, I, I, I pride myself on knowing random footballers on, on who? Dennis Strakwellersi.
- [43:34]
Max Rushton
I'm good at that stuff as well. And I don't remember him.
- [43:36]
Seb Hutchinson
You've lost me.
- [43:37]
John Bruin
It was an Argentinian that I think was signed in some element of desperation. We're talking about. Well, in Moyes first time in charge and he, I think he managed to score like one goal or something like that. Let's, I'm gonna have to look it up, aren't we?
- [43:52]
Dan Bardell
Here we are. I've got him. I've got him. Dennis Straquilasi, Everton on loan. 20 games, one goal. I mean, he may play for many clubs, I presume all in South America because I don't recognize any of them.
- [44:04]
Max Rushton
Yeah.
- [44:04]
Dan Bardell
But there we are. That's great knowledge. Thank you for introducing me to Dennis Straquilasi. Do carry on.
- [44:09]
Max Rushton
I love that we don't have time, we don't have time to talk about Brentford, but we've got time to talk about Dennis Dracwalasi.
- [44:15]
John Bruin
David Moyes has not been lucky with the strikers he's had to work with, and yet he's still doing this fine job. I suppose one thing we should say about that, you know, the Hill Dickinson is a young stadium. Yeah. But I think that was the first night we've heard it crackle as they wanted it to under light. Yeah. Brilliant. David Moyes, a guy that just keeps coming back for more and Keeps showing us that he is actually a really, really good manager and he's at the right club, the club that he probably should never have left in the first place.
- [44:47]
Dan Bardell
Yeah, I mean. And the beto finish, you commented on the game, Seb. The beto finish is the first one.
- [44:51]
John Bruin
Amazing.
- [44:52]
Dan Bardell
Brilliant. Absolutely. Like it's brilliant. And then the, the endy goal. I mean, that is as. In the top corner. You couldn't place it in the top corner if you walked up with the ball in your hand. What did you make of. What did you make of them? What did you make of Chelsea as well?
- [45:06]
Seb Hutchinson
Well, on Everton, I think while I was covering the game, that was what kept crossing my mind. I'd done their. Covered their previous game against Arsenal. They played so well in that game. They should have scored a couple of goals even. But Arsenal obviously gave them enough resistance for them to not be able to get the result they needed. Chelsea gave them no resistance in this particular fixture. And Beto's finish reminded me of the Fernando Torres finish in the Euros final in 08. I. I love finishes like that because the moment he left his foot, you think, you think maybe the spin of the ball might take it wide, but it never does. It always just nestles just exactly where you wanted it to go. And Jai's finish was. You couldn't get it more into that top corner without it kissing the woodwork. It was. I said it was in the postage stamp. I don't think stamps get that far into the corner. I just thought that was chef's kiss. An amazing, amazing angle to see it where it placed in the end. And everything went right for Everton in the game. I thought they were fantastic. And we're. It sort of moves on nicely to the Chelsea situation in that David Moyes is at a club where, as John mentioned, results can pass by and the vast majority of football fans who aren't, say, Everton supporters, this applies to Brentford, this applies to Fulham. They're not going to know if you've lost or won. It doesn't really affect the swings and roundabouts until they look at the league table go, oh my God, Everton are down there or Everton are up here. If you manage Chelsea, you know every single result is going. People are going to go through it with a fine tooth comb. And that's the reality of it. You have to go through that. And if that happens in more than one game in a row, then obviously the spotlight comes down on you and everybody's going to be honing in on everything you say, everything you do to Try and get it right. And so many managers at clubs that are investing in competing for trophies have to go through this. Eddie Howe's in that situation but he's. He's coming out with the inverted commas excuse of why he can't get to that next level. And that certainly when you're watching Chelsea you're thinking so many of these players cost so much money but they, they were bought for money with the idea that they would hold that value, maybe even increase it in times gone by. They're not finished pieces. They're not players that are going to get you over the line in games like this where you are away to a side who are tough to beat and you require experienced players on your team. Chelsea have no experienced players in their team at all. They've got players who've done well in recent years but they just. That leadership is not there. Especially as Rhys James is. Is injured and they felt rudderless on the pitch. Little, little moments here and there during the game where you could see players talents but they look a lost side. And are you. You wonder even if whatever manager they bring in, I think the whole structure of the club needs to change of how the. What direction they're going in. Because the direction they're going in they will not be competing for the major honours anytime soon.
- [48:13]
Dan Bardell
The direction Liverpool going is interesting. Dan. Isn't it a defeat at Brighton? We should talk about Danny Welbeck because he's not made the, the Tuchel squad. It's perhaps unlucky. You know, when we're talking about Calvert, Lewin making it and Ollie Watkins not making it and he's. I think he's scored more than any other Englishman in the Premier League this season. But on Liverpool they weren't great in this. They weren't great in this game. And I think, I don't know, you just thought after that Galatasara game you're like this is clicked now and they're on it and they weren't.
- [48:44]
Max Rushton
I think they've had that moment quite a lot of times this season. Liverpool where they won a game and then they followed it up with a, with an abject performance. And that 10 Premier League defeats for Liverpool now that is. No one would have seen that coming at the, at the start of this. And they were so astute with what they did last last season. Like winning games. And they never really looked in any trouble at all this season. Every time I've watched them, by and large they've looked in trouble and there's just so many Basic issues there that you'd think slot would have fixed by. To be in, you know, the end of March and the same kind of things are happening that that were happening in. In September. He's not adjusted the distances between the players in kind of every area always look off in terms of the distance between the center backs and the fullbacks, the distance between the defense and the midfield. I watch them and they just look like a. A mishmash of players. They've got a lack of intensity. They're quite passive which all the things Liverpool weren't under Klopp and then when they, when they go behind in games he makes subs that nearly always make them worse and make them even more unorganized. Like this has happened so many times this season and it's felt like nobody really wants to take charge and, and take hold of the top four or the top five to get in the Champions League. Liverpool, I can't. Can't see them doing it if they continue making the same mistakes that they've made all season.
- [50:07]
Dan Bardell
Yeah, they, I mean we talked about that England squad John Liverpool even if England won't or might. But Liverpool miss Alexander Arnold, don't they? I mean maybe you're always better when you're not there, right? And maybe, maybe he, he wouldn't have changed this season but he just, just feels such an absence of, of that creativity.
- [50:26]
John Bruin
Conor Bradley was supposed to be the heir apparent but unfortunately has suffered an injury frimpong from the very first game actually from, from the community Shield did not. He was clearly a very different player to Trent. So they've lost that the creativity and the players and I think we talk about this almost every time Dominic Szabiszlai has to drop back to right back because so your best player playing right back. Well they had that before maybe with Trent but it's not working when Szoboszlai is going there or having a drop there because it's a. It's a waste of his, of his excellence. It's interesting a player that I know both you and I are fan of Florian Wirtz is now getting stickers in he for not being effective enough. You know, you're in that territory of floating like a butterfly, stinging like one is sort of the description of Steam. You know, it's just not, it's just not happening for him. But again he needs the players around him and do they run lucky that Ekitike gets an injury early but, but they just don't have the players now despite all that money and you know, this shows you. You know, we've had a weekend of Eddie Howe complaining about not being able to buy players, but Liverpool and Manchester United in the past have shown that you can spend as much money as you like, but you don't spend it on the right players, then it's. It doesn't work for you. And Arne Slot, to me, every time I hear him speak, is defending his own record. That's not a good sign, is it?
- [52:00]
Dan Bardell
Yeah. Four wins in five for Brighton, I mean, and Herzler was under real pressure until Run Seb and. And two for Danny Welbeck. I mean, we've had. Danny Welbeck's good that conversation so many times. Are you surprised that he hasn't? You know, because by all accounts, he's a really good clubman as well. You know, he's good around the place, but he's also really talented. Are you surprised he's not made that squad?
- [52:22]
Seb Hutchinson
I am because of. Obviously the squad contains a thousand players, so I would have thought he would have got into that mix. He ticks all the boxes for that striker that. That player that you want in the squad, knowing that Harry Kane's going to start every game if he's fit, somebody who's going to just be. Danny Welbeck's the sort of person who just gets on with everybody. Every player that's with him, he's one of the most popular players. Older players love him, the younger players love him. And he's just had one of those careers where in the way, when he came through, people thought he's not the sort of player that would still be at his best at this age. But he's actually shown that if you look after your body, having gone through all the injuries he's been through that you can still get that time at the back end of your career. In a weird way, if you are available for every game for season after season, you can get burnt out, I think, but if you have injuries here and there, you can. Maybe your body's not been through enough of that game. Time to think, actually, I can still go on now to play into my mid-30s and he's showing that. I am surprised he's not in the squad. It could be a timing thing because he didn't score the goals just before the squad was announced. That might have helped, but he certainly seems like considering the other strikers brought into the squad, I think he could have certainly been considered.
- [53:34]
Dan Bardell
We'll round off the top five chat with Man United in just a second. But I Wanted to talk about Newcastle Sunderland Dan. Because a. It was more recent. I can't really remember the Manchester United game. It was so long ago. But. And you know Newcastle fans sometimes feel we have an agenda against the club.
- [53:48]
John Bruin
And look.
- [53:48]
Dan Bardell
No Wilson. No Barry on this pod. So that is something at least. But it is impossible to understate how big a result this is for Sunderland. And doing the double over Newcastle in their first season back in the Premier League. And they have such a good record against them. But that is absolutely enormous.
- [54:04]
Max Rushton
Yeah. And look Sunderland have. It's felt like they've tailed off. Like they've almost done that thing where they've got to safety and then kind of took the kind of foot off the gas a little bit. But they could have gone under yesterday against Newcastle. Bearing in mind they're not completely free flowing at the moment. Going one nil down. Made a. Made a mistake for the goal. Which One of the most bizarre goal kick formations I've ever seen in my life. The way he ran onto the ball. I don't think we'll ever see that again. I'm not sure that's good that's going to catch on at all. Sunderland could have could have gone under. But they didn't. Somehow after that first half it was Newcastle that ended up going under. And they've obviously had that basketball match with Barcelona in the week. I'm sure there is an element of fatigue there. But they can't be losing that game. And then Eddie Howell's comments after the game. I've got some sympathy with them around PSR which probably won't be a popular opinion with listeners. But Newcastle season has just been bizarre the whole way then. There's lots of teams that have had bizarre seasons as we've spoken about earlier. But I'm not sure when you've had the kind of outlay that they've had in the summer and you've probably made your team worse that you can come up and pedal the PSR excuse. I think Newcastle have coasted by this season on the fact that they're struggling in the league. But they were still in the Champions League. They're not in the Champions League anymore and their league position is pitiful.
- [55:23]
Dan Bardell
Yeah. I mean it. It is. Was a basketball game but very much the fourth quarter was just a sort of Harlem Globetrotters basketball game. Worth. Worth saying. Brian. Robbie. Robbie. Brobbie said very similar physique to me was my first observation. But what a brilliant of one of many. But like a brilliant signing for Sunderland.
- [55:42]
Seb Hutchinson
Yeah. People Forget how old he is, he's only 24. And that Sunderland side had a lot of youth in it. You know, Talby's 20. Chris Rigg starting in that game. Local boy who just I thought put in a fantastic performance, particularly in the second half. Diara Siddiqui. These are all very, very young players. Even the goalkeeper. Elborg's only 22, but they had the energy, they had the legs on Newcastle by the back end of the game. And a figure like Brobbie is certainly somebody. Even when he was, you know, he's been in Netherlands squads, they clearly see somebody who can be that different focal point for somebody up front. He is somebody who we were talking about Beto earlier probably can pin defenders. He can make it really difficult for them. But he's also shown when he gets a chance, he can take it. He's a penalty box presence and he scored some big goals this season. But this was the biggest you could see him at the end. He was praying, he was hoping, can we just win this? Because he knows down the line in years to come. There was a cutaway of Ryan Taylor in the crowd. Okay. And this is a guy who scored a free kick in this fixture. And it's still talked about by supporters. So from a Sunderland point of view, they'll still be talking about this because they're on an I think 11 game unbeaten run against Newcastle now, which is just astonishing when you think about it, their season. When we look through the league and we see so many people saying this is a poor league season, the quality is not great. It's the Premier League's dropped, but the Premier League has been so competitive. It feels very condensed. It feels like any team can get a result from any team. And for Sunderland to be in that scenario and find themselves where they are, they will be one of those sets of fans that in the happiness chart. Is there an argument to say they're top?
- [57:34]
Dan Bardell
I'm possibly, yeah. Talby, the youngest player to score for Sunderland against Newcastle in the Premier League. The pressure is on Eddie Howe, John. Like the fans booed and you know, there's a lot of online pressure, but they're in the stadium. They've been behind Eddie Howe. I mean, it would still be a massive risk to replace him, I think.
- [57:54]
John Bruin
Yeah, I think so. And I think that he's earned the right to give it another go. You would say there is this idea that Eddie Howe lacks support from those above him in the club. Last summer when all the Alexander Isaac saga was going on, I think the signing Volt Samada, as much as we may enjoy him is now seen as a mistake. A mistake actually that of course Eddie Howe and his nephew wasn't it that was involved in the recruitment team will have to take some of the blame for it.
- [58:24]
Dan Bardell
Always sounds like his nephew would be about six, you know.
- [58:27]
John Bruin
But he's just in his 30s. Yeah, yeah, yeah, exactly. His nephew is just oh, he's tall.
- [58:34]
Dan Bardell
He's really tall. Let's buy him.
- [58:36]
John Bruin
That's work experience. Yeah, that's what I've been hearing from some of the. I was at the Newcastle game at Chelsea the week just chatting to some of the local lads about that. And listen, Eddie Howard has a good relationship with the local press there. I think that counts for quite a lot. The thing is how has built something there. It's just that he perhaps hasn't had and he can blame BSR if he'd like but he hasn't had the support to take it to the next stage. I think that's fair to say. Should it go start going wrong next season then yes, he could have a problem. You know when Anthony Gordon scores that goal, you're thinking right, okay, this is it. And then the second half, a bit like the spurs thing, a bit like Arsenal. They just don't show for the second half. And Sunderland deserved that. And you know, Mr. Brobbie is. Yeah, I've really enjoyed watching him. I saw him play for Ajax a few years ago and he was absolutely hopeless. And now I'm watching his kite thinking, wow, he's great. So there you go. What do I know.
- [59:30]
Dan Bardell
Important to say the derby was overshadowed by the reports that Luchael Getrada had been the subject of racist abuse from home fans. The ref Anthony Taylor stopped the match in line with the league's on field anti discrimination protocol. It was early in the second half. Premier League match center said the incident at St. James's part will now be fully investigated. We offer our full support to the player and both clubs. Racism has no place in our game. Newcastle said we're aware of a report of racism made by a visiting player against someone who in the crowd during our Premier League match against Sunderland. Our stance is clear. We do not tolerate discrimination of any form. We'll work with the authorities to fully investigate and we'll ensure any individuals are identified and held accountable. Bournemouth 2 Man United 2 Quickly. John, you were there. Did you have a nice time? Really fun game this, wasn't it?
- [60:12]
John Bruin
Oh, it was a really exciting game. Yeah. A little difficult for those of us that have to work to a 10 o' clock deadline thanks to 10 minutes of added time and obviously a lot of VAR chat. Now my view is that the referees probably got this right. I did think there was enough in the Ahmad foul. I mean you could see why and you could see why VAR would not interfere with it. United got themselves in a good position and let it slip because Bournemouth is so difficult to play against when they're on it. Mainoo vs Alex Scott Another one When we go back to the 80 man England squad, why Alex Scott wasn't in the squad. He's been dumb as best player this season.
- [60:52]
Dan Bardell
I really like him.
- [60:53]
John Bruin
It's brilliant to watch. He glides like, you know, the socks rolled down or whatever. Gives it a sort of, you know, slightly 70 70s, 80s feel which I think as soon as we all buzz off. But him against Mainoo, Scott had the better game. I had to say he is an excellent player. No, Seb's seen quite a lot of him as well. Wow. Thomas Tuchel was at Wembley yesterday and I think had to sit with a load of journalists fielding questions from him about that. It turns out it wasn't that bad a result for Man United but it did show that the weakness within the squad that they've got. But Casemiro got booked quite early and then couldn't put himself about as he quite liked and then they lost control of midfield. One more thing actually should say, Cunha. This guy is being red hot for United recently I had my doubts about that signing but he's looked really, really good.
- [61:43]
Dan Bardell
Thank you John. Fulham beat Burnley 31 in I would suggest is the first really pointless game of the season. Burnley might have had a chance to survive. My apologies. Fulham were bound to be in that game, weren't they? I mean you could have looked at the start of the season and gone maybe this will be the first one. But you know Burnley, I guess if they do something, if they do stage a great comeback and I have traduced them to pointless at this point, I will forever apologise.
- [62:08]
Seb Hutchinson
I'll just give one point on the Fulham game. Obviously Raul Jimenez, his father passed away really emotional at the full time whistle but his penalty record is exceptional. The best there's been in the in the Premier League. 14.
- [62:22]
Dan Bardell
14 in 14.
- [62:23]
Seb Hutchinson
Yeah, 14. Question marks about his run up. I think it's just about okay, isn't it?
- [62:27]
Dan Bardell
I just don't know what the rules are on the run up.
- [62:29]
Seb Hutchinson
That's exactly it. Nobody knows and I don't think it's defined Enough in that particular circumstance. I think if you stop just before you strike the ball right then that's a problem. But he stopped several times in the run up. I mean, we've seen players do it in the past, Pogba and. But he didn't. He didn't stop just before striking and maybe that's how he got away with it.
- [62:48]
Dan Bardell
We sent him our love and our condolences. Finally, Ross got in touch to say. Dear Max, Barry and the other illustrious members of Football Weekly, I write listening to this latest episode as I sit here in two pairs of boxer shorts, excess padding, and feeling rather sorry for myself. More importantly, it's come to my attention by my good friend Phil that I completely forgot to listen to the podcast as I had my vasectomy this morning. As a long standing listener of the pod, I feel I've let you down. I've let Barry down. Indeed, I've let the recently singed tubes in my balls down. A dull ache of. Regards to Ross. Thank you, Ross. We accept your apologies. Go and get it done again and listen to us.
- [63:26]
Max Rushton
I'm about to have one and that's not filled me with confidence.
- [63:28]
Dan Bardell
Oh, yeah.
- [63:29]
John Bruin
Okay. Well, good luck. Can you do the POD while having it done?
- [63:33]
Dan Bardell
We were suggesting that I film myself having it done and it's the halftime show of a live show. I'm really dedicated to this podcast, but that does feel like taking it to quite the extreme.
- [63:44]
Seb Hutchinson
Do you have to pay for it or is it on the NHS or nh?
- [63:47]
Max Rushton
Nhs?
- [63:49]
Dan Bardell
I thought you were suggesting Seb. For the first time ever, I use do you know who I am to try and get myself a free vasectomy. I'm not. I'm not after a Hummer. I just want a vasectomy. Anyway, that'll do for today. Thank you, everybody. Thank you, John. Thank you. Cheers, Seb.
- [64:03]
Seb Hutchinson
Thank you.
- [64:03]
Dan Bardell
Thanks, Dan.
- [64:04]
Max Rushton
Thank you, Max.
- [64:05]
Dan Bardell
Football Weekly is produced by Tyler Papulo and Jesse Howard. Our executive producer is Daniel Stevens. EFL Pod on Tuesday and then International Pod on Friday. After all those playoff games featuring the home nations,
- [64:25]
Max Rushton
This is the Guardian.
- [64:35]
Pablo Torre
Hi, this is Pablo Torre from Pablo Torre finds out. And today I want to talk to you about Boost Mobile because we spend a lot of time analyzing inefficiencies in sports. Overvalued contracts, money tied up in the wrong places and so on. But those inefficiencies aren't just on a roster. Sometimes they're in your own monthly expenses. Boost Mobile says switching to their $25 Unlimited Forever plan can unlock up to $600 in savings a year. That's $25 a month for unlimited data, talk and text when you bring your own phone. If that money is trapped in a pricey phone bill, it might be worth a second look. Visit boostmobile.com to learn more. After 30 gigabytes, customers may experience slower speeds. Customers pay $25 per month as long as they remain active on the Boost Mobile Unlimited Plan Savings claim, based on a January 2026 Boost Mobile survey of 1,000Americans with single line unlimited plans, comparing average annual payments of major carriers to 12 months on the Boost Mobile Unlimited Plan. For full offer details, visit boostmobile.com Howdy,
- [65:32]
Hayden
howdy ho, and welcome to Fantasy Fan Fellas. I'm Hayden, producer of the Fantasy Fangirls podcast and your resident lover of all things Sanderson.
- [65:39]
Stephen
And I'm Stephen, your bookish Internet goofball. But you can call me the Smash Daddy.
- [65:43]
Hayden
And we are currently deep diving Brandon Sanderson's fantasy epic Mistborn. But here's the catch. Steven here has not read Mistborn before.
- [65:52]
Stephen
That's right. Hey hey. So each week you'll get my unfiltered raw reactions to every single chapter.
- [65:57]
Hayden
And along the way we'll do character deep dives, magic explainers, and Steven will even try to guess what's next. Spoiler alert. He'll be wrong.
- [66:04]
Stephen
Newsflash. I'm never wrong. Episodes come out every Wednesday, and you can find Fantasy Fan fellows wherever you get your podcasts.
- [66:11]
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