Loading summary
Transcript152 lines
- [00:00]
Karl Anker
This episode is brought to you by Progressive Insurance. Do you ever think about switching insurance companies to see if you could save some cash? Progressive makes it easy to see if you could save when you bundle your home and auto policies. Try it@progressive.com Progressive Casualty Insurance Company and affiliates. Potential savings will vary. Not available in all states.
- [00:20]
Thumbtack Ad
Avoiding your unfinished home projects because you're not sure where to start. Thumbtack knows home so you don't have to don't know the difference between matte, paint, finish and satin or what that clunking sound from your dryer is. With Thumbtack, you don't have to be a home pro, you just have to hire one. You can hire top rated pros, see price estimates and read reviews all on the app. Download Today.
- [00:44]
Podcast Host/Announcer
The next evolution in football storytelling, Football Manager is back in our lives. Made with the Unity engine for the first time, Football Manager 26 refreshes the managerial experience and sets the stage for you to define your football destiny. Wild Nights with Tommy Spindle, Arsenal and Cherno Samba. Check. Memories of a much better in the game than in real life. Toribo West. Check check. Chances are, if you're listening to this podcast, Football Manager has been part of your life since you were a teenager. Well, FM26 is going to give you the richest matchday experience ever with enhanced player movement and greater on pitch detail, bringing new levels of depth and drama to every single match. In FM26 you can compete at the pinnacle of English football as the Premier League debuts. With fully licensed club badges, kits and official player photos and with a completely overhauled UI by the genius developers at Sports Interactive, every aspect from training to tactics to transfers belongs to you and your vision. FM26 launches from November 4th across platforms and you can pre purchase right now on Steam or epic to get 10% off and advance access available approximately two weeks before the official street date. So change the game with Football Manager 26 where football belongs to you and your vision. Pre order now.
- [01:56]
Matt Davis Adams
The Athletic FC welcome to the preview from the Athletic fc. It's the show where we get you set for the weekend's Premier League action. The standout fixture this time around is the often goal and card laden London Derby between Tottenham Hotspur and Cheltenham. Joining me today for a preview debut is Jay Harris. How you doing Jay?
- [02:21]
Jay Harris
I'm all good, thanks. How are you?
- [02:22]
Matt Davis Adams
Yeah, can't complain. Karl Anker's back with us as well. How are you doing Carl?
- [02:25]
Karl Anker
I'm doing well, thanks.
- [02:26]
Jay Harris
How are you?
- [02:27]
Matt Davis Adams
Yeah, I'm all right, I'm all right I'm slightly trepidatious ahead of the weekend's football, but that is because my team are not doing very well. As well as Saturday's showdown. We're also going to take a look over some of the other key games taking place on matchday 10 in the Premier League, but first let's get to our feature presentation. Spurs have won just one of their last 13 Premier League games against Chelsea, losing the last four in a row since a 20 home win in February 2023. Both sides drank from the cup of Carabao on Wednesday night. Spurs, eliminated by Newcastle in the Northeast after being so impressive in the Northwest against Everton last week, can flip that script for Chelsea, who beat Wolves 43 at Molineux in a game which could best be described as ludicrous that following their surrender to Sunderland at Stamford Bridge Jay we'll start with Spurs. Fair to say your old pal Thomas Frank, still searching for some consistency, was looking at the last 6 all comps DWL DWL I actually didn't quite realize that.
- [03:27]
Jay Harris
I think just quickly to talk about what happened in the Carabao cup on Wednesday night. It's obviously going to be dominated by quite a bizarre goal from a corner where Jed Spence was doing his laces. I think that was probably the most difficult draw that they could have got against the Holders, who I think they've not lost a game in the Carabao cup in 681 days or something ridiculous. But some of their other performances this season, particularly at home, have been a little bit concerning, a little bit frustrating for the fan base. They've only won three of their last 18 home games across the Thomas Rank and Ange Postecoglou eras. But I think the the main issue with Thomas Frank at the moment is that he's exceptionally good at coaching a defense. You know, they look so more solid and compact than they did this time a year ago on the postecoglou. But then they're not really blowing teams away. They're struggling a little bit with the chance creation from open play. And so much change has happened at spurs in terms of the coaching staff, the playing squad and at executive level. It's obviously going to take time for things to settle down. But I guess one thing people need to realize is that Thomas Frank has not had the use of Dominic Solanke who has been injured for the majority of the season and is I don't think he's going to be back for a couple of weeks. The Dan Kulasevski and James Madison so three of his most senior high profile attacking players are unavailable. So I think it's important to look at their struggles going forward through that prison.
- [04:43]
Matt Davis Adams
Okay, Chelsea wise then, Carl. They were 30 up at halftime against Wolves. They did all they could to chuck that away. Liam delap, back after injury, made up for lost time by getting sent off, as is the style of Chelsea Football Club at the time. Six red cards in their last nine games. Wonder if it'll cost them over the course of the season. I mean, it's definitely going to cost them on Saturday, right? Because the Lapp would have featured in the game.
- [05:05]
Karl Anker
Absolutely. It's weird to see a team this moneyed and with such a coach known for structure behave in such a bizarre manner as the lap's sending off was. Why are you making that sort of tackle or physical contact when you're already carrying a booking? I've said before that Chelsea are a young team, but both young in terms of they've not spent too much time with each other and also they've got a lot of young players, which often means there's going to be inconsistency. Two or three things that you can chalk up to the buoyancy of youth, shall we say. But it is so strange to watch a Chelsea team that isn't really regarded for their physicality get so many red cards. You'd be expecting this sort of red card record from a team that has a player like Joe Ellington, for example. Not necessarily a team that's got the lap.
- [05:57]
Jay Harris
It reminds me of Arsenal in the first couple of years under Mikel Arteta, where they were extremely emotionally volatile and you'd get Gabriel sent off one week and you'd get Granit Xhaka sent off one week. So I wonder if those creases will sort of sort themselves out over the next year or two.
- [06:15]
Matt Davis Adams
Yeah, and you can kind of break some of them down. As acceptable as Maresca. Did the Robert Sanchez one of the Trevor Chalaba one spring to mind. But then, yeah, dalap and gusto and even Maresca himself. Not us ideal. If we look at the last games in the Premier League, Jay, that. That three nil win for spurs at Everton, did that show the best of what you were talking about in terms of Thomas Frank's ability to bring defensive solidity and. And are you seeing any a lot? None of Frank's Brentford in. In Spurs.
- [06:44]
Jay Harris
Yeah. That free nil victory over Everton on Sunday was just. That is what spurs are at the moment. They're a little bit too over reliant on set pieces. And even though they kept a clean sheet, they were at the mercy and gratitude of Gilmo Vicario, who made some fantastic saves in that game. One from an overhead kick from Beto, which was just remarkable. And so they played twice last week against Monaco and Everton, and you could argue that Vicario was the best player in both games. So a few cracks have started to open up in the defense. But I think for anybody wondering about the difference between Frank and Postecoglou, I can't remember that many times this season I've seen Mickey Van de Ven bursting at full speed back to his goal, chasing down a defender. So I think they're a little bit more sensible. The pivot of Xiao Polina and Rodrigo Bentico, which I think we might touch on in a minute, is something that's irritating the fans. They feel like Frank is too safety first at times, but I guess that's just a natural reaction. When spurs finished 17th last season, 22 league defeats. So Thomas Frank very much felt like, let me fix the defense first and then everything else will sort itself out.
- [07:50]
Karl Anker
Jay, can you tell me a little bit about how Xavi Simons is getting on?
- [07:54]
Jay Harris
Not very well at the moment. So against Newcastle, in the first five minutes of the game, he was on the right wing and he tries to hook a pass to Jed Spence on the other side of the pitch, Somehow plays it 20 yards behind him and it goes up for a throw in. And to me that sort of sums up Xavi's time with spurs so far. It's just not quite working. But having said that, in the second half of the game, there were a couple of times he drove past players, he got off a couple of shots, I think. I feel like he is quite diminutive and it's going to take him a little bit of time to adjust to the physicality of English football. Against Everton last weekend, he tried to nip the ball past Jake o'. Brien. The ball got past Jake o' Brien and Jake o' Brien's basically gone. No chance that you're getting past me. And I think the more he plays in the league, the more he'll get used to that type of raw physicality. I do think, and you might know this a little bit better than me, he is only 22. He's been around for a long time. I think people forget he's still very young. He does come across a little bit petulant at times. You can see him going in for slide tackles that he doesn't need to. So I think that's something to keep an eye on that he. He definitely becomes visibly frustrated quite quickly. The talent is there. It also doesn't help. One week he's playing left wing, then he's playing number 10. Frank doesn't quite know his best attacking lineup at the moment because half of the players are injured and Simmons is a little bit of a victim of that.
- [09:16]
Matt Davis Adams
Yeah. Came close to joining Chelsea as well, didn't he? If rumors are to be believed in a kind of reverse Willian situation. Something Thomas Frank hasn't managed to sort yet. Karl is their home record. They've only won three of the last 18 at the mundanely monikered Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. Is Thomas Frank's football generally better suited to playing away from home? And if so, he's got to adapt it, hasn't he? Because the best way to win friends and influence people at a new club is to win home games.
- [09:43]
Karl Anker
Yes and no. I think this is a statistic that is more damning on Ange Postecoglogli than it is on Thomas Frank. A lot of those defeats were from last season there. I definitely think watching Tottenham Hotspur, they've got the horseshoe problem where because their central midfielders aren't the most progressive passers, the ball just keeps going from fullback to center, back to center, back to fullback, and they just keep doing that. Loses their opposition. Their game against Monaco in the Champions League was while I was holding my nose while I was watching the final minutes. I think Ben Tencourt does not look the same player as he did a couple of seasons ago and I think that's probably injury related. He's lost just a little bit of zip. And there's a reason why Bayern Munich had polynya for such a short space of time. I went maybe not the best because while he's very good at breaking up play in terms of creating, it's not the best. So everything Jay said about this is a good defense and they're being stubborn. Yeah, that suits. When you're playing away from home and teams are encouraged to play onto you, which creates a little bit more space in behind to run into. If you've got a player like Xavi Simons or you got a player like Muhammad Kudus, any space in behind that you can run into for the counterattack is going to make you just that much stronger. How do you generate that space at home, especially in that stadium where you don't necessarily have the best progressive passing in. In your defensive midfield pivot is going to be really, really tricky. I think Thomas Frank's best solution Might be trying to invert one of the fullbacks going forward. Maybe someone like Pedro Poro or you know, trying to get more pace out of fullback for overlapping runners in behind there too. So the good thing Asterix footnote, question mark is there are in theory two or three players in that top multipurst squad that can solve the progressive passing problem that is making this spurs team so sterile at home. The reason I've put all those amendments on is the best players are solving that problem, are currently injured.
- [11:36]
Matt Davis Adams
Not ideal. Chelsea wise Jay, you and I were at Stamford Bridge last week to watch them have their pants pulled down by Sunderland. The kind of performance that we've seen too often from them really, wasn't it? The game just. Just drifted away from them just like it nearly did against Wolves on Wednesday.
- [11:50]
Jay Harris
Yeah, you're right. I was undercover at Stamford Bridge with my best friend who's a Chelsea season ticket holder and I thought I was just going along to watch Chelsea beat Sunderland and the opposite happened. Two things caught my eye and I'll start on a positive note. Firstly, I thought Joshua Champon was, was excellent. Thought he was really good coming out with was strong in jewels and I don't think it's a complete surprise that Chelsea conceded the second goal after he'd come off and been replaced by tossing. But otherwise I just didn't really know where the creativity was coming from because it looked like they were basically playing three for free. Cado would drop between the center backs, James and Kukure would push a little bit higher and with Mark Gui up front, you know, Ja Pedro and Enzo Fernandez playing behind, there was just no penetration whatsoever. I think it was a pretty easy game for, for Sunderland. I think Dan Balard's a very physical player, but I think he's lacking in. In speed and if you're getting someone running at him and dribbling at him, I think Chelsea could have got him that day. Which is why the, the lap suspension is stupid for Chelsea and excellent for spurs because it's hard to see how they're going to threaten. A Spurs defense which you've just spoken about is very compact. This is going to be. Yes, I still think it will be a little bit of a frenetic game because it's a derby. These two teams hate each other. But the last two times Chelsea played Spurs at home, they scored four goals on both occasions. The mad four one which is just the most infamous poster coggly moment and the 4:3 last season when spurs went two new up. I just don't think Chelsea are going to get that same type of space and the gaps won't be there under Thomas Frank as they were under poster Coglu. So you need someone like the lap who's going to be physical, who can still offer that pace in behind and without that I find it difficult to see how they're gonna sort of open spurs that Palinia Ben 10 Kur lock without Cole Palmer.
- [13:41]
Matt Davis Adams
If only they had a striker on their books who had scored a hat trick away to spurs in recent memory. Only Wolves Carl have made more changes to their starting lineup in the Premier League than Chelsea this season. Do you think that kind of instability is a factor in their inconsistency? And also to a certain extent, Lorenzo Maresca's hands tied in that regard because his team played through the summer and therefore they are not as fresh as everybody else.
- [14:07]
Karl Anker
Poke no los dos, eh? One thing I find really interesting with this Chelsea team and Matt, given you watch them more than Jay and I, you can maybe answer this for me. Who is Chelsea's strongest centre back?
- [14:20]
Matt Davis Adams
It's Levi Colwell and that is a big part of the problem.
- [14:23]
Karl Anker
There it is.
- [14:24]
Matt Davis Adams
Of the available ones at the moment, it's probably the aforementioned Joshua Champong. He's certainly the most informed, like Trevor Chalibur was brilliant when he came back from Crystal palace in, but he's been honking in the last couple of weeks frankly. And Tosin is a sort of capable lower mid table Premier League center back, but not somebody who you'd probably want to be starting every week. So yeah, that goes back to Enzo Maresca's calls. Once it was determined that Colwy was going to miss the season, he desperately wanted an experienced central defender to come in and help out. He hasn't got one. Here we are.
- [14:56]
Karl Anker
Yeah, I think it feels very strange to say about a football team that's now renowned for their player trading model. But. But for all of the money spent on all of the different center backs, I do look at Chelsea and go could do with another one. Could do with someone a bit stronger, a bit more rugged, a bit more equipped or with a better appetite for the aerial duels that are now becoming so commonplace in the Premier League. I feel this a little bit when I'm looking at their wingers as well, in that they've got a lot of wingers but they've got a lot of wingers who play quite often the same way, which is they ideally want to cut inside and shoot and not perhaps the goal creators in the same way that we used to see wingers 10, 15 years ago. I think that probably has a knock on effect on the very, very, very low shooting from Xiao Pedro recently as well. So I know this is meant to be our headline act, but the way we keep talking about it, it does feel like this is a 1:1 in the making, doesn't it?
- [15:48]
Jay Harris
Just a couple of things. So firstly, Chelsea have conceded from Long Thrones in their last two games and obviously spurs have the secret weapon or not so secret weapon of Kevin Danso's aerial bombardment. But the the interesting subplot is set pieces shock but many, many years ago Andreas Gorshen worked with Thomas Frank at Brentford and he left them to join Arsenal. Gorchin was replaced by Bernardo Cueva. Bernardo Cueva spends four years with Thomas Frank, helps Brentford get promoted, establishes them in the Premier League and he joins Chelsea. And now Gordson, who Quaver replaced at Brentford, is now reunited with Thomas Frank at Spurs. So this is like the Brentford set piece Coach Derby with just. Yeah, it spins my brain slightly, but it's something interesting to keep an eye on that. They all know each other very, very well, so keep an eye on the dynamic between the two benches on Saturday.
- [16:40]
Karl Anker
Ah, this is fun.
- [16:42]
Matt Davis Adams
Yeah. Also, Chelsea's goal output from corners has gone up massively this season. It took a long time for Quiver to kind of instigate that, but it looks like it's definitely had an effect this time around. Right. It is the part of the show where I try to justify the money I've spent on football shirts over the years by incorporating them into podcasts. It's called put your shirt on it potentially. Three clues for the chaps to guess why the Chelsea 201314 away shirt is hanging on my office door. So if you're not familiar with this listener, this is one of my favorites actually. Beautifully clean looking, mostly white Adidas number with a round blue collar, thin red and thicker blue horizontal stripes across the middle. Samsung is the sponsor, but which player wore it who played in spurs vs Chelsea? I've actually got his name on the back of it, which may be a clue in and of itself. But here's clue one. I played against Spurs 12 times in my career but only won four of those despite scoring three goals and registering four assists. Would anybody like to hazard a guess?
- [17:41]
Jay Harris
I don't have an answer but that kit reminds me of Ivanovich but I don't think that's the answer. But, but, but that is Ivanovich is that era of that kit. I don't Vadovic Ramirez and Kalu, but I don't know were still there that era, but that's what that white away shirt reminds me of.
- [17:56]
Karl Anker
Yeah, this is a Vanovic shirt in my head, but I'm gonna guess Willian, right?
- [18:01]
Matt Davis Adams
It's not a bad guess, but it's not right. I tell you what, we'll take a little break, we'll come back and I'll give you Clue two.
- [18:10]
Whole Foods Market Ad
It's Fall at Whole Foods Market with so many ways to save. Gather friends and family around the table or fire pit with delicious finds from 365 Brand at Great Everyday prices. Fill your pantry with organic pasta and robust sauces and your freezer with wild caught breaded fish sticks and appetizers like the Quiche Trio and breaded calamari. Want more savings? See yellow sales signs throughout the store. Shop low prices at Whole Foods Market, in store or online.
- [18:40]
Sleep Number Ad
Why choose a Sleep Number Smart bed?
- [18:42]
Karl Anker
Can I make my site softer? Can I make my site firmer? Can we sleep cooler?
- [18:47]
Sleep Number Ad
Sleep number does that cools up to eight times faster and lets you choose your ideal comfort on either side your sleep number setting. Enjoy personalized comfort for better sleep night after night. And now max out your savings. The more you buy, the more you save on beds, bases and more. Plus get free home delivery on any smart bed with base limited time. Check it out at a Sleep Number store near you or@sleepnumber.com today.
- [19:10]
Earnin Ad
You know what's faster than your paycheck? Literally everything. It's time to get your pay up to speed with Earn In. You can access your pay as you work instead of waiting days and weeks for a paycheck. Get up to $150 a day with max of $750 between no interest, no credit checks and no mandatory fees because hey, it's your money. Download the Earn in app now to get it and join millions of people making any day payday that's E A R N I N. Earnin is not a bank. Access limits are based on your earnings and risk factors available in select states. Expedited transfers available for a fee. Terms and restrictions apply. Visit Earnin.com for full details.
- [19:47]
Podcast Host/Announcer
This is the Athletic FC podcast proudly sponsored by Betfair.
- [19:52]
Matt Davis Adams
Okay, before we get to the tactical battle, put your shirt on at clue two. I scored a brace in this fixture. A 4. 2 win for Chelsea in October 2012. Jay's got a great look into the middle distance. While he's thinking, Karl prefers to scan around the room in the hope that the answer might be there Oscar again, not bad but not right.
- [20:12]
Jay Harris
My knowledge of Chelsea in the late tens or late naughty sorry is pretty decent because I had I went to school with a lot of Chelsea fans but then I don't know if they still would have been there by the time that kit had rolled around because I've got people like Maluda popping into my head. But I, I feel like Maluda might have left by that point.
- [20:32]
Karl Anker
He's fishing, he's fishing.
- [20:35]
Matt Davis Adams
It's not a bad guess but I am going to roll on to clue three later to see if anybody can get it then. But we'll go back to 2025 and you've mentioned it already Jay but but this decision from Thomas Frank to play Bentanker and and Polynya has come under scrutiny from supporters. Given what we've talked spoken about about Chelsea and their kind of fragility, might this be a game to to take the handbrake off a little?
- [20:58]
Jay Harris
I think it's probably a game where he's going to keep the handbrake firmly on if we're being honest. Chatting to Dan Kilpatrick who covered spurs for a long time and joined the Athletic in the summer and he sort of summed it up perfectly. He said Thomas Frank's always been very good at punching up and sometimes he struggles punching down and that was something across his time at Brentford. You know, they'd always had a really good record against big six teams but then I remember them losing to to Norwich and Burnley in their first season in the Premier League when both those teams hadn't won their first 10 or so games in the season. So I think this is a game where Frank will definitely keep that safety blanket on. I think going forward at home games the fans want to see Lucas better about who is just I think he's going to be an exceptional talent. He already is an exceptional talent but he could drive forward. He's very slick in possession. He's maybe a little bit ration his decision making at times, but he's still a teenager. Pape Sar it's quite strange what's happened there because he started the season so well and Thomas Frank was really positive about him. It felt like he'd become Thomas Frank's, you know, favorite student and then he's barely started in the last couple of weeks. But that's what the fan base want to see. They want Palino or Ben 10 Kur, probably Pelina with either Bergwal or SA and maybe Simmons in the 10. But I think Frank is just reluctant to have a Very aggressive attack minded 10 like Xavi Simons and have box to box midfielders around him. I think he'd rather be a bit more safety first. Benson, Koepelinha and then they just let Xavi do whatever he wants. But sometimes it means only really attacking with four or five players.
- [22:29]
Karl Anker
Sounds like the short blanket problem that Mourinho nicked off Rafa Benitez to justify a press conference when he was the spurs manager. So you want to cover your defense?
- [22:39]
Matt Davis Adams
Yeah, it is Chelsea wise, Carl. They've scored eight times on their last two visits to this part of N17. They'll be without Cole Palmer this time though. Scored three of those and and set up another. Who's going to play in the 10 then? Buena notte did it at Wolves in midweek. Didn't particularly impress. We've seen Enzo Fernandez do it quite a lot. Estebao obviously could do it too. I would lean toward Fernandez. If Lavia is able to play with Caicedo as the two, would that be what you'd be going with?
- [23:06]
Karl Anker
Yeah, yeah. I think secretly Chelsea's season could hinge on Lavia's fitness and. Or is Reece James inverting into central midfield? Or is Reece James starting in central midfield? Please correct me here, Matt Somet.
- [23:18]
Matt Davis Adams
Sometimes it's him, sometimes it's Cucure. Depends on the opposition but he doesn't generally start in midfield. He did that in the Conference League a bit last year but Maresca doesn't like doing it in the Premier League so much.
- [23:27]
Karl Anker
Thank you very much. So yeah, if Laver is fit, which knock on wood, various terms and conditions apply that should free up Enzo Fernandez to play as the 10. And the best thing about Enzo Fernandez when he's the 10 is he just box crashing. So it's not necessarily a goal creator in Here's a through ball and here's a through ball and here's a third ball. It's your striker is pinning one of the center backs and he's going to run towards back posts and try and crash it on a pullback. So again, really strange, a football team that's spent more than a billion and. And here we are still going well you got to try and fudge this.
- [24:01]
Jay Harris
And do this and do this and.
- [24:02]
Karl Anker
The puzzle pieces here and here and here one. It speaks how brilliant Cole Palmer is that so many of these issues aren't really a thing when he's in he's there.
- [24:11]
Jay Harris
But.
- [24:11]
Karl Anker
But also, yeah it's if you're going to spend this much money on new clothes Try and buy more than three colors of T shirts.
- [24:18]
Matt Davis Adams
I really hope that Romeo Lavia is fit. I mean he did start on Wednesday, but kind of his time at Chelsea writ large in this game last season looked great in the first half. Gets injured, goes off at halftime. Don't see him again for ages. Jay, where the spurs think that they will be vulnerable against Chelsea, would you say?
- [24:36]
Jay Harris
I think because Chelsea are missing Palmer and you know, like I said the other day, their attack looks a little bit disjointed. I can't think of any specific thing or person that they'll be terrified about, but what they will be terrified about. And, and every time I speak to his first fan in the build up to this game, this is what they say, Chelsea always find a way to beat us. So that sort of the mentality element of it is probably where Chelsea can win because they were 2 nil down after 11 minutes last season and they won. And I think that's when Sancho scored his first goal for Chelsea as well when he sort of goes on this 30 yard run and slams it into the bottom corner. Spurs just seem to gift Chelsea goals. Obviously it even goes back to, you know, the battle of the bridge. But even last season at the bridge when Sar scored, Postecoglou cups his ear to the fans and the goal gets disallowed.
- [25:26]
Karl Anker
So funny. That was so funny.
- [25:28]
Jay Harris
There's something about Chelsea which for some reason causes spurs to implode, which is why I think for Frank this could be a game where he really sort of connects with the fan base because Postecoglou never beat Arsenal or Chelsea. In fact, he lost every game to Chelsea and drew once with Arsenal and lost the rest. So your two biggest rivals, you've got a horrible record against them. If Frank can can beat them on Saturday, I think that sort of quietens down the the issues about their home record and I also think it's sort of liftoff moment for him. Was probably man city away, but this would sort of just add another level to what he's doing.
- [26:03]
Matt Davis Adams
Give me a prediction then. Carl, what's the score going to be.
- [26:05]
Karl Anker
Going to call this? A weighty 22 draw with plenty of yellow cards.
- [26:10]
Matt Davis Adams
Yeah, I was going to say 22 but just red cards. Don't know about goals. Jay, what do you reckon?
- [26:15]
Jay Harris
I'm going two one Spurs. At least one goal from a set piece.
- [26:18]
Matt Davis Adams
Okay, like that. Let's wrap up. Put your shirt on it for this week. Then our final clue. I reckon you'll get it on this one. My Post Premier League career reads like a really fun gap year. Taking in trips to Turkey, Japan and Australia.
- [26:32]
Karl Anker
Oh, this is Juan Mata.
- [26:33]
Matt Davis Adams
It is Juan Mata. What always blows my mind, Karl, about him is that he played more than twice as many games for Man United than he did for Chelsea. He's a two time Chelsea player of the year. Bombed out by Jose Mourinho. Did you used to like reading his blogs?
- [26:49]
Karl Anker
Very much so.
- [26:49]
Matt Davis Adams
About what he was up to in and around London. Yeah. Always end with hugs. Just a sweet man.
- [26:55]
Karl Anker
Very, very much enjoyed his blog. Very much. Got sad when he would say he wasn't going to blog because Manchester United were in bad form. I that was the. That was the real barometer of how bad things got under Mourinho was when Mata went no post today. You've upset Juan Mata.
- [27:12]
Matt Davis Adams
How dare you.
- [27:15]
Karl Anker
By all accounts, one of the loveliest men in football. One of a handful of Manchester United players that was very often in and around the city center as a United player. So there's been quite a few stories of United fans going, oh, I saw him in the northern quarter doing this or saw him doing this and he was here this summer for a exhibition at factory, the Aviva factory center as well. So honorary rank, union and just a thoroughly decent bloke.
- [27:36]
Matt Davis Adams
Decent bloke. Good Premier League player, Jay. But also I think what he might be most remembered for in years to come is the fact that he was so pivotal in helping establish common goal, getting footballers to give 1% of their salary to support charities around the world. That's kind of more significant than anything he did on the pitch, I guess.
- [27:54]
Jay Harris
Yeah, definitely. That always jumps out to me about him, that he's always been very vocal about trying to give back to the community and stuff like that. So as Carl said, great guy. I didn't know that he was someone who, or rather maybe I didn't realize how important it feels to fans to see the players of their team in the city and feel like they're not completely isolated. But I think that's just a common thread throughout his career, is that he's just a nice bloke.
- [28:18]
Matt Davis Adams
Absolutely. We could do more of them in football, that's for sure. Right, we'll come back, we'll talk about the rest of the weekend's Premier League action.
- [28:25]
Podcast Host/Announcer
This is the Athletic FC podcast, proudly sponsored by Betfair.
- [28:29]
Matt Davis Adams
Well, this is the part of the show where with the help of our partners, Betfair, we show you how you can play in a different league. Get this season, Alex, boys is back with his big win for your boys leads last week. Alex, you must be a happy faqa.
- [28:44]
Alex
Very well said, Matt. Yeah, it was a great occasion at Elland Road on a Friday night under the lights. The confidence is growing that we can stay up because I've seen a few worse teams in us so far and West Ham very much look like they're one of those.
- [28:55]
Matt Davis Adams
Absolutely they do. We're focusing on two teams that want to be at the other end of the table come the end of the season. Spurs against Chelsea. Which way are we seeing this one go?
- [29:05]
Alex
Yeah, a great game on Saturday. Tee time this one, though, that London derby. It's usually pretty feisty. This one as well. The home side's still the outsiders ahead of this game, Matt. Chelsea are priced up at 6 to 4 to win at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. They've done that five times in six visits since spurs moved there. And if you actually remember, they've had some crazy encounters. You know, I think last season there was that four, three away win and two years ago there was the mad match under Postecoglou where the defence was on the halfway line with nine men and Chelsea eventually won that game 4 1. So they've scored four times in the last two trips of Chelsea and you can actually back over three and a half away goals at nine to one this Saturday on the Betfair Sportsbook. And Chelsea, of course, did bag another four in the cup early this week too. So not short of goals. Spurs, by the way, they're 17 to 10 and having won five of their last nine games this season, that's the same number as Postecoglou won in his final 26 games at the club in the Premier League. So it just shows the difference there. And the draw is five to two.
- [29:59]
Sleep Number Ad
Right?
- [29:59]
Matt Davis Adams
You said that this game is feisty. I mean, Chelsea are feisty every week at the moment, aren't they? Liam Delap, red carded in the week minutes into his return. Six Reds in their last nine games. You're going to do a bet builder for us. I'm going to go ahead and guess that it features cards in some form or fashion.
- [30:17]
Alex
It doesn't. This is a feisty fixture on its own, away from Chelsea's own record. So I'm even more buoyed by the fact they got another red card in the week. We've had 28 yellows, Matt, and two red cards in the last five meetings between these two. So that's six cards per game on average. So I want to add over four and a half match cards at 8 to 11 to start our bet builder and then moving away from from the violence mat and to the players. Enzo Fernandez is certainly catching the eye from an attacking point of view. He's the joint top scorer. We know he's on penalties. He's actually had 10 shots across his last three games including two in each. So I want to get Enzo on side to have two plus shots on target. And the final leg is Mohammed Kudos to commit one or more fouls. He's made the most of any spurs player this season, which may surprise a few and he's actually hit the two or more line in seven of his 12 starts. So that's going to be a really interesting battle on that side against Mark Cucarea this weekend. That comes out 11:1 on the Betfair sportsbook. And remember with Betfair safe sub now live, it means if any of those players are subbed off, our bet is not over yet. This means that on selected markets our bet rolls onto the player coming on to keep our bet live right to the end. So should be a fascinating game in London this weekend.
- [31:27]
Podcast Host/Announcer
This is the Athletic FC podcast proudly sponsored by Betfair.
- [31:32]
Matt Davis Adams
So after beating Crystal palace by goal to nil last weekend, Arsenal extended their gap at the top of the league to four points ahead of everybody's pre season prediction to be second at this stage. Bournemouth, Mikel Arteta's side head to Burnley on Saturday afternoon. Andany Iraola's cherries are at the Etihad to face Manchester City. That's on Sunday. We'll start with Bournemouth because everybody loves Bournemouth, don't they? Eli Jr. Croupie certainly in with a shout of being the best named player in the Premier League this season. He's played a starring role in recent weeks. Karl, are you thinking that Bournemouth can do a Leicester? They did beat Arsenal home and away last season.
- [32:09]
Karl Anker
Kruppi is putting my fantasy football team through college. What a player. Yeah, I think Bournemouth are going to be the top Bs this season as are Brentford and Brighton. They're going to have top ranking out of those in that trio and they look to be the best of the rest. They are now on that sort of Premier League darling European treadmill where you're going to begin to see more and more and more big teams come over and try and buy their players and how quickly are they going to be able to replace them. It's going to really be a big thing. But I think what's really telling is how IROL is just A fantastic coach. And it is surprising looking at how good this Bournemouth team is playing right now. And then you look at their starting lineups from this time last season, you're going blimey, heck of a turnover. And yet the thing keeps on tracking. We know how they play, we know how they work, we know they're going to press really, really high. We know it's. I think one of the greatest signs of respect is when you play Bournemouth now. The incentive now is to kick long against them rather than play out from the back because you are more likely to get stung than you are likely to play through the lines between his Bournemouth team. And that's the sign that just great coaching, just a set up where everyone is on, everyone is rowing at the same time in the same direction. Things are good. So why not? If a team is going to do a Leicester, why not, why not let it be Bournemouth?
- [33:25]
Matt Davis Adams
And it's a kind of lightning in a bottle moment for them. Right, Jay, like Lester to a lesser extent, like Forest last season, they're probably going to qualify for European competition of some formal fashion next time around. And an Air Iola might not be there. So they need to kind of make the most of this while they've got it and maybe, maybe even add some players in January to help them over the line because they faded a bit last season.
- [33:48]
Jay Harris
Yeah, and, and of course at the moment you've got some teams apart from Arsenal who are just completely out of sync and can go on winning runs and then lose multiple games in a row. I was doing a little bit of research before. It's quite interesting that last season they went on this 11 game unbeaten run from the end of November to the beginning of February. So when loads of other teams were getting bogged down by European commitments and playing twice a week, that's when they came to the fore. But then they lost seven of their last 15 Premier League games from February 1st onwards and only won four of them. So it, it did feel like they, they massively ran out of gas last season. So maybe to prevent that from happening. Yeah, they will need to go back in, in January and get some reinforcements.
- [34:26]
Matt Davis Adams
Meanwhile, Pep's peeps six points adrift of leaders Arsenal after they lost against Villa. They did bounce back against Swansea to book their place in the quarterfinals of the League cup in midweek. 16 goals. Carl, in Bournemouth's last four games, is this one going to be as open or a Bournemouth going to struggle at the Etihad as they usually slash always do.
- [34:47]
Karl Anker
No, I think this one will be open. I think this is, this is probably going to be the game where Donnaruma's distribution is going to come under the spotlight. We know Donna Ruma is fantastic at making saves, but how good is he with his feet? He doesn't. All the talk was he wasn't necessarily a pep guard. He had a flavored goalkeeper. And I think if you're Iraola, this is a game where you're gonna maybe test that to the limit. So I see some structural weaknesses in Man City in their goal. I also see, I mean, Tijani Raiders, for all of his quality and his ball progression skills, that man is not great at tackling. And I think that is something else that Bournemouth might be interested in too. So I can't see a clean sheet in this game. I'm not going to bet against Erlen Haaland, so I think City will win this one, but they're going to get a bloodied nose on the way.
- [35:31]
Sleep Number Ad
Yeah.
- [35:31]
Matt Davis Adams
We mentioned last week, Jay, about the overreliance on hall and 64.7% of Manchester City's Premier League goals this season have come from him. You know, the only person to score two goals for Man City in the Premier League this season, other than Haaland.
- [35:47]
Jay Harris
I was actually going to ask you guys this question. It's an own goal, right?
- [35:51]
Matt Davis Adams
Maximus Stev with a brace. I mean, that's crazy, isn't it? Somebody I I is the mitigation there the fact that that Mahmouch and Cherokee have missed a fair bit of this season because they probably would have been able to help out a.
- [36:03]
Jay Harris
Or not. Of course it is. And you know, Turkey scored when they beat Swansea City the other day. That does make a difference. But they've still got fantastic attacking players like Foden and Doku and Savino. And you know, Docu, as I'm sure Car would agree, is, is someone who is probably impossibly hard to play against, but in the back of your mind, you're probably also thinking, well, he's not the best finisher in the world. So you, you can, you can nutmeg me and make me look like a Muppet as much as you want, but as long as you're not putting the ball in the back of the net, I could sort of of grit my teeth and. And be on a million compilations as much as you like. Because you're not scoring.
- [36:35]
Karl Anker
No, you can't. Not mc. I'm sorry. No, you can score, but you ain't not making me. I'm the opposite.
- [36:41]
Jay Harris
So obviously Harlan's an insanely good player and you know City will go extremely far even if he is the one only scoring their goals. But at some point they do need other people to to chip in and and the return of Mahmouche is probably going to be a big factor in that.
- [36:55]
Matt Davis Adams
That what about Liverpool then? They are all the way down in seventh ahead of the weekend's action. That's ahead of their Saturday night game against Aston Villa at Anfield. Liverpool 7 points behind Arsenal 12 point swing on where things were at the end of match week 5 lost 3 nil to palace at Anfield in the cup in midweek. Their third loss to the Eagles already this season. Six defeats in seven in all comps Kyle 1953 the last time Liverpool lost five league games in a row, Guy Mitchell was riding high in the UK charts with look at that. These days Liverpool fans could be forgiven for saying look at that. Gay Right? That might have changed things.
- [37:33]
Jay Harris
Yes.
- [37:33]
Karl Anker
Right. I think it was unwise for Arnaslot to play a rotated team in the league Cup. There really squandered a chance to build some momentum and stem the bleeding this Liverpool team is I'm pulling the face. I want to puff my cheeks out. I want to go. It should be a lot better than this. I think Virgil van Dijk was completely correct where he said that there's off field considerations to have. It can't be overstated. The impact of losing a co worker, losing a friend like Joe Gajata in such a sudden way. I think that not only changed the trajectory of whatever plan they had in transfer window, but also all these players are going through some version of grief that will affect you. Even 1 or 2% in the premier League. That's going to have an impact on how you play football. Have an impact on how you do anything there. They are incredibly top heavy as a football team to bring things back on the field and their fullback configuration is weird. I am a Manchester United fan. I'm a Manchester United reporter. I have watched Manchester United's victory over Liverpool three times now and something that something that stuck out part way through my second viewing was Kirkez just getting berated and ignored by teammates. So he makes several off the ball runs in the first half, some down, some underlapping ones down the middle that would have really punched a hole and caused problems in United's defense. Didn't get noticed because Liverpool's progressive passing from central midfield is not where it was because Trent Alexander is not there anymore and there are two or three times where he's making an overlapping run and Kobe Gakpo is just like thanks and then goes off to do his other thing. The Liverpool player who best understands what Kirkus is trying to do is Cheeza, which is suboptimal. I don't know if Virgil van Dijk likes him or if he trusts him. There seems to be something going on between that two as a connection where if you're a defensive coach are probably taking Kirkus to one side saying, look, you need to start swearing at Virgil constantly. You need to start being in his ear and being a little gobby something because your predecessor was Andrew Robertson and we know Andrew Robertson's a gobby something too. So they'll be fine. They'll be in the Champions League places. This is, this is the worst they'll play between now and the end of the season and I think next season the glut of attacking players they'll have will probably better than and it'll be fine. But for now, mate, if you're a level fan, good luck. God bless.
- [39:51]
Matt Davis Adams
Yeah, as an aside, I think Virgil van Dijk's body language on the pitch is absolutely atrocious and there was a good example of that in that United game where he kicked the ball in Kirk has his face and then had a go at him for standing there getting the ball.
- [40:03]
Karl Anker
Yes. Kicked in his face, turned around and then gestured, did a mouth gesture with his hand to. To berate Kirk as if. And as if it was Kirk as his fault for having the temerity to stand behind him and not tell him he was there. I think Kirkus does need to just be loads gobier and just a lot more. Don't yell at me. I'm going to yell at you back. And I think Virgil might end up respecting him more for that.
- [40:24]
Matt Davis Adams
All right, big brother, Little brother. One of your favorite analogies, Carl. Maybe there's a little bit of that at play there. Villa wise then, Jay. Quite the. The opposite of Liverpool. They're on a four match winning run in the Premier League. The longest currently. How does unai Emery go about emulating that impressive performance that saw them win at spurs? Or does he even need to do that?
- [40:45]
Jay Harris
I think what Emery's always good at is coming up with a very specific tactical plan. We saw that against spurs, we saw it against Man City, but I guess it's slightly hard to come up with a specific tactical plan for this Liverpool because they keep changing their sort of system and players every single week. One interesting thing, and I looked this up when I was on toasty yesterday is that Buendia scored two goals and two assists in Villa's last four games and last year he was on loan at Leverkusen coming off the back of an injury and it seems like his return to the side had sparked something a little bit different in the attacking third. But obviously he came off against Man City injured last week and Sancho came on and I thought I know a lot of people were talking about Sancho coming on coming back off but he looked like a real threat so I'd be intriguing to see what part he plays. But just following on from from Liverpool I think maybe some people have forgotten but they were not playing particularly well at the start of the season. They were just getting away with late goals. You know the opening day against Bournemouth Newcastle when new when Gordon was sent off and Oscilla scores or Sula scores are really last minute equalizer and then Liverpool still win and I think the theory was then ah give it another month or so and all these these issues will sort themselves out. But they haven't sorted themselves out, they're now actually being punished when they got away with it. And just going on from what Carl was saying about Kirk has, we shouldn't underestimate the fact that they have changed their two starting fullbacks for best part of six years, seven years it's been Alexander, Arnold and Robertson and so many new connections need to be forged. Kirkhead has had his difficulties on the left, Frimpong struggled with injury, Bradley struggled with injury. There's just no consistency among that back four. I think they will sort it out at one point but it wouldn't surprise me if it lasted a little bit longer. This strange period of form that they're in.
- [42:38]
Workday Ad
When you're a forward thinker you don't just bring your A game, you bring your AI game. Workday is the AI platform that transforms the way you manage your people, money and agents so you can transform tomorrow workday moving business business forever forward.
- [42:53]
Sleep Number Ad
Why choose a sleep number Smart bed?
- [42:54]
Earnin Ad
Can I make my site softer?
- [42:56]
Karl Anker
Can I make my site firmer? Can we sleep cooler?
- [42:59]
Sleep Number Ad
Sleep number does that cools up to eight times faster and lets you choose your ideal comfort on either side your sleep number setting Enjoy personalized comfort for better sleep night after night and now max out your savings. The more you buy, the more you save on beds, bases and more. Plus get free home delivery on any smart bed with space limited time. Check it out at a sleep number store near you or@sleepnumber.com today.
- [43:23]
Thumbtack Ad
Avoiding your unfinished home projects because you're not sure where to start. Thumbtack knows home, so you don't have to don't know the difference between matte paint finish and satin or what that clunking sound from your dryer is. With Thumbtack, you don't have to be a home pro, you just have to hire one. You can hire top rated pros, see price estimates and read reviews all on the app. Download Today.
- [43:49]
Podcast Host/Announcer
This is the Athletic FC podcast, proudly sponsored by Betfair.
- [43:53]
Matt Davis Adams
Now that it says here Reuben Amram's won three consecutive Premier League games, what's he done then, Carl, in this run to change things and how much of it has been down to senior lemons.
- [44:04]
Karl Anker
What'S he done to change things? Well, after many a press conference saying he was not going to change, what he has done is made some under the hood tweaks. Most notably is United's off the ball shape. Where previously it was a pretty rigid 5 2, 3, now it's closer to a 5 4, one where Sonata 2 tens so Cunha and Mbumo nominally are now dropping into the central midfield line gives greater protection for Bruno Fernandes and Casemiro. So those great honking gaps you saw in central midfield that have been there for quite some time aren't as big anymore. Against Brighton in particular, he also told Luke Shaw and Matthias Delick to push really, really high to track their runners really, really high. So I think Danny Welbeck dropped towards his own penalty area for a goal kick and Delick Folham all the way into the other area. You're like, oh, okay, this could be easily manipulated, but Derrick and Shaw showed good timing in their tackles. I think Casemiro's goal, which had that sort of, I call it a stadium assist where you get on the ball and everyone in the crowd goes shoot. And then you shoot and you score. That's an assist for the stadium. So when Casemiro got that one, he ended up with the ball because Luke Shaw picked up the ball very, very high and it sort of played to Casemiro's path. So underhood tweaks and also notably one of the underhood tweaks is Senna Lammons as the goalkeeper rather than Altay Bayern there. Lamons is closer to what you expect from a modern goalkeeper. He's not jittery on set pieces. His ability to close down angles means that sometimes he isn't even making saves because he's just forcing the issue. So attackers shoot off target. And when he made his debut and started against Sunderland, he caught a cross and the Old Trafford crowd applauded. We're still at the point now where he's catching high balls and the Old Trafford crowd is going, yes, amazing because it's been a while that United had that dependability in those scenarios. So team is in a good place right now. I'm gonna tuck, knock on wood, that can continue for a little bit because I can't keep doing sad editions of Talk of the Devils. I'm losing my hair watching football team play that bad.
- [46:04]
Matt Davis Adams
All right, well maybe you save it for a week or so's time. They're at the world famous City ground taking on Forest this weekend. Jay, we asked it of Bournemouth with no European football could Manchester United surprises with the title push or have we gone mad? The we in this instance being producer Jay, who posed that question.
- [46:24]
Jay Harris
Yes, you have gone mad. One thing I will say about United States is that I was doing a little bit of research. I think it was two Premier League game weeks ago and it was on spurs ahead of this really tricky run of fixtures that they've got coming up, which includes Man United next weekend. One thing which really stood out is that spurs were at the top of the Premier League table for over performing XG. So they were over performing it by 5.47. Now Carl, do you know who was at the very, very bottom of that table?
- [46:53]
Karl Anker
Manchester United.
- [46:54]
Jay Harris
Exactly. They were underperforming it by 5. So that to me said that Spurs's performances or over performance in front of goal and that included Richarlison scoring like a scissor kick against Burnley etc Bergwa scoring a header from quite an odd angle. Not that they were flukes but everything was going in their favor and for Man United everything was going against them. So I've not been massively surprised that that sort of corrected itself a little bit in the last couple of weeks and United are suddenly finding the back of the net more with a little bit more consistency.
- [47:25]
Karl Anker
One of the very big things we heard in and around the club over the summer was Manchester United felt saw their own XG underperformance and made moves in the transfer market to correct that. So they went, okay. We were missing anywhere between 15 to 30 goals last season. Let's go and get two of the biggest XG overperformance from last season in Matthias Cunha and Brian Mbumo which now please forgive me, that feels like a computer game solution to a more complicated problem.
- [47:52]
Jay Harris
Definitely your XG is low.
- [47:54]
Karl Anker
So let's go sign the Two big XG overperformers.
- [47:57]
Workday Ad
And yet.
- [48:00]
Karl Anker
Now Matthias Kunya and Brian in Bremer seem to be finding their feet. In Manchester United, things seem to be a lot better. Look, there are many, many ways to play football, many, many ways to improve the squad. And Manchester United's solution to improving their tackles? Doing things with better attackers than last season. And it seems to be reaping some rewards right now. Shall we talk about Forest?
- [48:19]
Matt Davis Adams
Yeah. It says here, do you want to ask Matt a question about Forest? All I would say, Carl, before you do, is if it involves the name Ange Postecoglou, I will contact the ath, the Human Resources Department.
- [48:30]
Jay Harris
Let me do it instead. I'm happy to ask you about poster cooking.
- [48:34]
Karl Anker
All right, all right. So one thing I am finding interesting is Sean Dyche has already talked about the fitness scenario at Long Forest. Sean Dyche is renowned for. It's not a BLEEP test, it's a pendulum test, something or other. When he. When he comes to a team, he just sort of drills them within a life. So they're all needing multiple sports drinks and learn the value of electrolytes. So. So looking at Forest and the games you've seen this season, is Shaun Dice saying these lads aren't fit enough, Just typical new manager bluster? Or is there something going on with the fitness? Are these players knackered from last season? Did they enjoy their summers too much? Have they had to change how they're running compared to what the previous manager wanted? What's going on?
- [49:17]
Matt Davis Adams
Couple of factors at play. I would suggest definitely a hangover from last season when there was nowhere near enough rotation. And really from sort of late March onwards, everything completely fell AP because Nuno was reliant on the same sort of 12, 13 players. Even when he made substitutes, they were always too late in the game. Missing Oleraina is massive as had a huge imbalancing effect on the whole of the team. I don't think that can be underestimated. But yeah, going from Nuno training and let's be frank, a disinterested Nuno in pre season. I think as soon as he signed the contract extension, he was trying to work out the way out. I saw all of Forest preseason games, they were absolutely horrible. Nothing was right about it. Then you go from that to Postecoglou, which is a totally different type of training. Then you come back to Sean Deitch. I do think there is a little bit of new manager buys himself some time. These players aren't fit, but who's Forest's most important player. It's Elliot Anderson. What did he do in the summer? He played all the way through it for England's under 21s. Now he's made up to the England senior team and he looks absolutely exhausted. And you get things like Taiwo Hourney coming in, coming off the bench against Bournemouth, starting postecoglou's last game against Chelsea, this guy nearly died last year. He came to Forest with knees made of biscuits and he's got progressively more injured and lame since then. And he is kind of the poster boy for Forest's lack of fitness at the moment to finish because this will quickly turn into a rant. What I would say is that I can understand why Sean Deitch wanted to start with pretty much the same team that beat Porto at Bournemouth. But he is going to have to quickly get to grips with the fact that you cannot do that. Thursday, Sunday we've got big squad with lots of players in it that are looking for game time. People like Amari Hutchinson, club record signing, barely seen the feta. Arno Calimo Endo, have you heard of him? He hasn't played for Forest very much. We're going to have to start doing a bit of rotation and get these players into the team because they are all exhausted.
- [51:13]
Karl Anker
Matt, I say this with love. That was a very weird summer transfer window. You bought a collection of players for more than 100 million.
- [51:20]
Matt Davis Adams
Everybody says we've got the best squad we've ever had. I'm like, have we? I don't know who most of these players are. None of them are Premier League ready. What's going on?
- [51:27]
Karl Anker
And it's also that thing of if everyone was fit, they can't all play together. I'm sorry, but I'm going to invoke Tim Sherwood here. Tim Sherwood, when he was an interim manager of. No, not even one interim manager of Tottenham Hotspur, he used the term much of a muchness to describe just the bevy of players at his disposal at that time. I've just, okay, yeah, I've got loads of players, but it's much of a muchness. Like, what am I supposed to. How am I supposed to play all of them? And I feel this when I. Every time I look at a Nottingham Forest lineup this season, I'm looking at your bench and going, that's a lot of money. Good luck.
- [52:01]
Matt Davis Adams
Yeah, I mean, quite simply, get the spine working. Get Celsi Milankovic back to last season. Get Morgan Gibbs White doing Morgan Gibbs White, I think. Get Chris Woodfit And Forest Lebenov to stay up.
- [52:11]
Karl Anker
Stay up. This is the objective now.
- [52:13]
Matt Davis Adams
Yeah, yeah. What else are you going to do? I mean they're third from bottom and they've got a European campaign to deal with. Get into the knockout stages of the Europa League, don't get relegated and then let's never speak of this season again.
- [52:23]
Jay Harris
Again.
- [52:23]
Matt Davis Adams
That is very much my mantra for two time European champions Nottingham Forest for the rest of this season. But Anyway, elsewhere. Saturday 3:00 clock Crystal palace vs Brentford Eagles vs Beast. Only in the Premier League are both on 13 points. Jay, who finishes higher at the end of the season? Palace or Brentford?
- [52:42]
Jay Harris
Palace. I might have some breaking news for you by the way.
- [52:44]
Matt Davis Adams
Okay.
- [52:45]
Jay Harris
Alexander Isak is likely to miss Liverpool v Aston Villa.
- [52:50]
Matt Davis Adams
That was well worth him sitting out a whole summer, wasn't it? Maybe he'll be good and fit next season. Brighton Leeds Karl. Have Leeds, speaking of exact, got enough goals in their ranks to stay up Blanked in three of their four away league games so far?
- [53:04]
Karl Anker
I don't think so. I think the free transfer picking up of Dominic Calvert Lewin and the minute Dominic Calvert Lewin has already played indicates you've got a team there that's a little bit underpowered. A lot is being asked for Sean Longstaff in midfield and so far he's doing well. Well but in there's going to be a lot of ah, just pull it in the net, man. When watching these this season.
- [53:26]
Matt Davis Adams
Fulham v Wolves Jay, am I mad to say that I think Wolves are going to win this? I'll give you some theory. Right. They were okay second half midweek. They went from rowing with the supporters, Vitor Pereira and some of the players to standing in front of them clapping on Wednesday night. You are going to win a game at some point. Fulham a bad vibe. Wolves beat them 41 at Craven Cottage last season. Am I convincing you?
- [53:50]
Jay Harris
No, you are. Because Fulham have had a very uninspiring start to the season as well and only scraped through to the next round of the Carabao cup on penalties against Wickham. So I don't think that's completely out of the blue. I do agree that that game at Molyneux on Wednesday night could sort of be a weird unifying moment for the fan base. And the players certainly seem like they're a little bit more together at the end. So. So that's not as wild a theory as you think it might be.
- [54:17]
Matt Davis Adams
Thank you. Sunday at 2 o' clock, Karl. West Ham v Newcastle. Simple question. Why are West Ham always On the telly.
- [54:23]
Karl Anker
Why? What are we doing here?
- [54:25]
Jay Harris
I know the answer to this question honestly.
- [54:28]
Karl Anker
What am I trying to. What are you trying to teach me by putting them on TV again? We know they're old, we know they're slow. We know they've got a very quiet defense and they're going to leak goals and set pieces. We know they haven't got the legs to play counter attacking football.
- [54:41]
Matt Davis Adams
We.
- [54:41]
Karl Anker
We know they don't really have the technicians to play passing football like we're done. Take this off the grill. No, no, no, no, no, no.
- [54:48]
Jay Harris
It's simply so they can show shots of West Ham fans leaving in the. The 60th minute or whatever minute it is. That's the way it is. It's.
- [54:56]
Karl Anker
It's so painful because it televised what, they'll televise on a Monday televised, on a Friday televised. No, no, it's too much. It's too much. And I feel for Nuno in that he jumped in the next available job rather than a job that is suited to his skills. Richane Thomas wrote an excellent piece about how West Ham are gearing up for what will probably be their biggest January transfer spend or most important January transfer. In a while they could be spending triple figure millions. But I mean, this West Ham team has had such a weird approach to recruitment. They had a gentleman who I want to say used to be at by Leverkusen as their director of football and he just kept buying slow player after slow player after slow player. And yes, full cricket is nice to watch and I enjoyed watching that Euro 2024, but you need to whip in loads of crosses for him and he needs to be in that box primarily because he's slow and there's just not enough pace anywhere near around him. The team is better when Callum Wilson is playing, but do you want to trust Callum Wilson's hamstrings in the year of our Lord 2025? You know, it's just really bad squad construction. No, no, I'm not watching this one.
- [56:12]
Matt Davis Adams
Newcastle. The Callum Wilson derby, of course. Last one, Jay. Monday Night Football, Sunderland versus Everton. The question is, is Granit Xhaka the signing of the summer? I wonder if he's even the signing of the summer for Sunderland.
- [56:24]
Jay Harris
I was going to say the person who really stood out to me last weekend was Noah Siddiqui. Hadn't heard of him before and I just thought he was absolutely everywhere, really energetic, only 20 years old, came from Union Saint Gilois. So yes, I've been impressed by Xhaka, but we always knew that he was a good player, but some of those, some of the pieces they surrounded Jacques with I think are exceptionally good as well. Very under the radar.
- [56:49]
Matt Davis Adams
Fantastic recruitment from Sunderland this summer and that is that. What a great weekend of Premier League action we've got ahead of us then that's what we're going to leave things for today. My thanks go to Carl and to Jay and to producer Jay and mainly to you for listening. Enjoy the weekend's action. We'll catch up with you soon.
- [57:07]
Podcast Host/Announcer
You've been listening to the Athletic FC Podcast. The producer was Jay Beal and the presenter was Matt Davis Adams. Executive producers are Abby Patterson and Adi Moorhead. To listen to other great athletic podcasts for free, including our dedicated club shows, Search for the Athletic on Apple, Spotify and all the usual places. The Athletic FC Podcast is an athletic media company production and proudly sponsored by Betfair.
- [57:42]
Workday Ad
When you're a forward thinker, you don't just bring your A game, you bring your AI game. Workday is the AI platform that transforms the way you manage your people, money and agents so you can transform tomorrow Workday, moving business forever forward. Group health insurance can challenge company budgets, but now a new form of employer coverage called an ichra can help. Unlike group insurance, ICHRAs offer predictable costs and stable employer contributions. Learn more@ambetterhealth.com Ichra it's fall at Whole.
- [58:14]
Whole Foods Market Ad
Foods Market with so many ways to save. Gather friends and family around the table or fire pit with delicious finds from 365 Brand at Great Everyday prices. Fill your pantry with organic pasta and robust sauces and your freezer with wild caught breaded fish sticks and appetizers like the Quiche Trio and Breaded calamari. Want more savings? See yellow sales signs throughout the store. Shop low prices at Whole Foods Market, in store or online.