Are Man United In A Relegation Battle? Carrick on the brink After Bournemouth Defeat

[Music] Hello and welcome to the RESTYS Football with Mike Richards, Anne Sheerah and me, Garland and her another fascinating weekend of Premier League football to discuss. But there's only one place to start, Manchester United. It's a bit of a shit show, isn't it? Yeah, it's the answer. It's been like that for a long time, how many times have we said it, been through manager after manager after manager, they've been through directors of football, they've been through so many players, they've spent an absolute fortune and they're in a relegation ball. Yeah, but can we have a proper conversation about, because you know when everyone talks about money now, everyone just goes on a massive run and what, what is the problem, always it just everything, because I looked at some numbers of the day and since the one to lead in 2013, they've spent £1.6 billion, normally you'd say, okay, the players, then you would go to, okay, the managers or whatever it may be, but surely the person behind the scenes who's making these decisions needs to take a little bit of accountability now. And it's not as if money knighted a compete in every single year where they're getting the Champions League every single year and someone picked them, but every year you're thinking, what's going to go wrong, every single year, it's a correct last season to come in to stabilise this year after Amarin and then they're going to get the Champions League. However, they were only playing once a week, but what are the deeper issues now? I think it needs more of a, I think it needs to be put into context, guys, I know you've got some stats, because you're the, you're on a stats month. Well, I'm not necessarily a financial expert, but I think it's quite easy for anyone to understand that they've spent, as you said, 2.273 billion pounds and received from sales, incoming 0.674 billion pounds. So the net spend is over one and a half billion pounds. So, which is miles more, miles higher than any other club in the Premier League. Some of them have spent lots of money, of course, but they have brought in a lot of money the other way. So, you probably can't accuse them of not spending to try and get players, but you can accuse them of really Patrick Cruz. Yeah, but who's, who's spending that money? That's, that's, that's a question. They've got, I don't know, chief executives, you've got the director of football. You've had a director of football who would, who had gone in there and left the paid compensation for him. Clearly, he wasn't happy with how things were being run, or who they wanted to bring in his manager, who, who players, or what players they wanted to bring in. You said it before, Mike, we're about accountability. Isn't it time that you heard from someone other than the coach at Manchester United because we all know the coach gets the rap, he gets the sack, he gets paid up, and he has to front the media three or four times a week, whereas it's not all the coaches fault what's going on at Manchester United. And clearly, someone else has to come out and do some talk and rather than the manager. Well, again, I'll go back to the point of, maybe the coach really seems to be a scapegoat, just as it goes really bad, and they have another inevitable ban run of form. The board or the owners, they get rid of the coach because obviously that's the point of blame. So they can always push that away from themselves, although I think at United, the fans know really who's responsible. Obviously, the glazers and the way they've come in and put the club in massive amount of debt, even though in the first few years, or of course, under Sir Alex, it was still going reasonably well, but since then, then they brought in Jim Radcliffe, who has actually occasionally done interviews, Alan, and has spoken about it as a sort of new incumbent, but things have almost gone from bad to worse since he took charge of the football side of things. So it just seems like a never ending cycle of doom and gloom for the United and their fans. I mean, they've won just seven points from eight Premier League games this season, and that's their lowest at this stage of a league season since 1986, '87. I was playing them, Michael. Since the 23-24 season, no Premier League signers lost more home games by margin of three or more goals in all competitions than United. Seven, an interesting, Brian and Boomo was the only player in the Manchester United starting 11 that had scored a Premier League goal in 2026, were a week away from November. Wow. Wow. Yes, it's easy just to be scathing of the players. Yes, it's easy to be scathing of the coach, but ultimately, the club has not been run very well recently, certainly in terms of the recruitment side of things for sure. I would say that the noise for Michael Carrick when he was walking around the stadium yesterday was pre-telling. Yeah. The fans are not deaf. They understand what's going on and they understand and they can see in the interviews how much it's hurting them and how much it means to him. And also what he can't see. I mean, that's the big thing for me is I can see a guy there who cares deeply for the football club and is hurting like hell, what's going on there. You can see that clearly, but I can also see a guy that is desperately holding stuff in that. You can't see what's going on behind the scenes. They also, after they've gone, no, they're not all of them, I should say. But remember, Maria, when he said finishing second with Manchester United, it was probably the best thing I've done in my career. You can now see what he was talking about possibly. Yeah, but why don't they go a little bit deeper so people can actually understand? You know these throwaway comments. It's not good for anyone. We know our finishing second was my greatest achievement. That's amazing. And we know how difficult it is. We know that money knighted have got scrutiny, but what is the actual problem? And somebody needs to actually listen for once because otherwise it's going to keep happening and happening happening. It is probably more difficult. I would say as a player playing for money knighted, especially when things are not going well than any other club because the scrutiny is far more than most clubs. Michael, I would say that they have said it. We've heard what Ralph Ragnac said. We've heard Eric Tenharg has done an exclusive in the last week or so about what he feels the problems were and who he feels is to blame and how it went for him when he was inside and some of the decisions that were made. Managers that have been in there have actually said the problem, but the people that are in there keep on making mistake after mistake after mistake. I mean, I mean, just go back two or three years with the Tenharg when they stuck with him and then then Amarim and then they brought in Dan Ashworth, paid the compensation, then he left. I mean, it's just honestly, it's just it is mistake after mistake after mistake and there are managers that have been in there have tried to tell her. Yeah, but what is the plan? If you look at the managers who have had over say the last decade, every single manager is different. Yeah. If you go from Eric, okay, you would say, well, it was at middle's rate, I would say played for it football, but yes, the way he got success at Monday night finishing third was in a low block and then on transition. And then if you go to Amarim, Amarim played a completely new different system who wanted to control the ball and then be going all over running all over the place. We've hired an energy go even further back to similar like a soul shot. He was a nice person to play some decent football, but what was his actually identity? I don't know. I mean, have you got marina? You've got moid? Like it's all different. Yeah. So when we talk about Brighton, and we talk about Bournemouth, I mean, got talk about Brentford is a clear structure. What are you Monday night trying to do? It's almost like every time to go through a bad spell. It's almost like the panic and then think, okay, he can fix it for now. And then without having a proper planning pace to say, you know what, it's going to be bumpy for two years. But we'll get through that and then we'll move forward. It's almost like they'll do bad. They'll do well. They'll do well. I mean, we'll we'll get sacked. I totally agree, Mark. I think they at some point they need to find a coach who they genuinely believe in and stick with them through thick and thin. Or they can take the alternate route and just do intrams. So maybe Michael County fire in this week and then bring him in back in next week as an interim. And you keep doing that. And that might work. I mean, I guess then it's a serious situation. But you're right. Every kind of coach that brought in has got a totally different style. So how can you possibly buy players? And when for a certain style and then he gets a sack and then they bring someone in with a different style and they have to he has to bring his players in. Recruitment becomes really very difficult indeed. So there doesn't seem to be that long term player. They can't get their number one and two targets in recruitment because they're not the football team like they were years ago. They're not that team anymore. They can't get number one or number two targets. They're into number three and number four targets now, man. You know, yeah, but okay, you're bringing tealamans. You guys, no football. What a team. The element's best qualities. - He's a very intelligent footballer. He's control football, but he's a creative footballer. He doesn't get all over the pitch. He's not, you know, he's not particularly quick. - Correct. So why is he in the midfield now? With someone like a Santos, yeah, the believer was injured. What, why would he start with someone like Santos who is a good young player, but he's new? He didn't do that well at Chelsea. Like he's trying to play well for himself. There's no chemistry, there's no cohesion. But then you're playing behind Fernandez who Fernandez will run all over the place. Then you're exposing Telemans and then you're putting Telemans on the right and then you're trying to accommodate Fernandez because actually we'll put him on the right. Actually, then we'll put Telemans in the number 10. It's quite, come on. What are you expecting from the play? So when it comes to recruitment, what are the recruitment for? I'll make a good point in terms of maybe the our second and third and fourth. But we've seen that Telemans can do it when he's got people in there who have got legs and they can sort of play to his strengths and don't isolate him in areas where he can be exposed. He's a very good player, but he goes somebody nighted. There you go, well, we don't really know what we're doing. Last season, playing a low-blocking counter attack work for us, but this season to move on have got to be a little bit more expensive. Let's buy Telemans, but actually we've not got a plan for how he's going to make the team move forward. It's just put him in there and see how it goes. I just honestly, it's embarrassing. - I mean, you mentioned they're like in the pecking order of second, third, fourths in terms of transfers and that's totally correct, but you also raised the point of how Brighton are running, Bournemouth are running. I think it's difficult, probably for a club like Manchester United to use a philosophy that those clubs use, because they're a higher level and Bournemouth and Brighton will find young players and like clever little signings and United fans want big-name players. That's the sign of the club for me that they really need to get right now. It's that whole recruitment sector, how they go about it. They can't get the big players to come to Manchester United now, not at present, but you can get really good younger ones. - This was the opportunity because the played one game a week and they got into Champions League. Now, totally agree with you. You might not get that play now. We talked about how much money night have spent so they can still play ridiculous wages. You see what players are doing now. Only walking is still a top-premly player. He's gone to Saudi, so you can get a caliber of player if you're willing to pay, which money-nighted still can pay and plus there wasn't, well, still in Champions League now, but because of what it did last season, there in Champions League this season, if it finished 12th, let's say they finished 12th. Of course, I'm not going to track top players. This was the opportunity that they had to do it properly and then they still at the moment, I've got it wrong. - I guess in finances, because they haven't qualified for Champions League in previous years, then they may not have the finance that they once had years and years ago, and that's why I go back to. I'm using Ellie Andersen as an example. I'm pretty sure a man United wondered him in the summer, whether they could pay the fee or whether they could pay the wages. I don't know, I doubt it. And in the end, it was a no-brainer for him to go to Manchester City. I guess he was one of his targets, but that's what I'm saying. If he's number one, they're not getting number one targets. They're not getting this, are they? - I've got themselves in a very difficult position. There's an element of groundhog day around them. You said, Alan, in your own in-statement, do you think Manchester United are in a relegation battle? Do you really think that? - What you're laughing at, I mean. - They're not in a relegation battle. - Come on, we've cleared it. What we've cleared, it came. - Don't be so silly, Alan. Oh, honestly, he's going to turn it all. It always does. They'll pick up a bit of a form. The place that they've got in there, if whatever happens with the manager, there'll be a new manager comes in. There'll be a little bit of a bounce, but come on, relegation scrap, are you? - So we always say after about nine or 10 games, we can always have a look at the table and we know where we are. So we're not far away from that. So the two points off the bottom. - Yeah, two points off the bottom. We're not running how long and being awful. And it looks as if the club is in chaos in terms of the dressing room. I know that the likelihood is Michael will probably lose his job. Someone else will come in and they'll try and get the dressing room going again and they'll pick up for a little while. But from what I've seen up to now this season, I would say, man, you know, you don't own a relegation battle, yeah? - The other reason why I say they're not ours because all they have to do is go back to how they played last season, boring, pragmatic. - Yeah, but look at the state of the dressing room maker. Look what's happening in the dressing room with Martin as and then he leaves Bruno Fernandez yesterday. And I think that was the right decision. He doesn't even contemplate putting him on when they're struggling like hell. They can't create anything yet. They've got their best player. The player of the year from last year sat in the bench because of disciplinary reasons. He's no doubt he's making a point and see an FU. You're not coming on. I'm gonna try and embarrass you by sitting you on the bench. - I hear all your points, but a relegation battle. I think I don't think they'll be great, but I don't think they'll be in a relegation battle. - Where does Bruno Stone know, do you think? - Well, you clearly, he'll want the manager to leave and a new manager come in and you'll see your bounce and it'll get better, whether he's doing what he did because of the contract situation. But I think Michael did the right thing and leaving him out yesterday. Even if it's partly, it might cost him his job for what he did yesterday. He knows that, but at least he did it his way because the sack will be coming anyway, I guess. But at least he's made a point and tried to embarrass Bruno Fernandez in front of that old traffic crowd. And when he walked off and Michael Carrot got the cheers and the started singing his name because of what he's done in the respect to have for him. And then Bruno Fernandez and Martin Eson, the rest of the squad walked off behind Michael and got booed. That is a pretty big statement 'cause the fans are not deaf, they know what's going on. - I was disappointed in Fernandez as well because how many times have we said on this pod previously about his waving up his hands? Some people have said it's passion, it cares. And he talked about tactically, sort of, not going man to man. Like every time he presses, he presses for himself and I've said that and I've been ridiculed for that in the past, he is a fantastic player and he wants to give everything for the team. But he's selfish in the way he wants to press the ball. So when there were time, I've said it a couple weeks ago, when he pressed, he was going as one of the strikers but going when he wanted. All it was taking, he's one pass, another pass, round him and then there was onto Telemann's and Santos or it was playing a man who was ever playing in that game. I think Carrick made right decision whether they're people like it or not. He had to make a stand. It was similar to Liam Rossini. I actually fought Liam Rossini because of he was new to management at Chelsea and he needed Enzo on side, he needed Kukarello on side. I actually think he made a mistake but I think we Carrick, what did he have to lose? Man, he's not even playing well anyway. So yeah, he's made a stand, suddenly. - You know what, your neck is on the line, there's a manager. You've got the whole world looking at you and you've been battered by Cormor and the managers come out and apologise. Your job's on the line and you're looking towards your players, you've got 11 players, are you thinking, come on guys, come and give me something, show me something that you're prepared to run around and hurt for me and bleed for me because I'm going to lose my job here and they put in that performance. That's the best that they can do. I mean, come on, that's embarrassing yesterday from a man you're not your point of view. It's brilliant, it's born with your book, from a man you're not your point of view, it was embarrassing. - Yeah, let's move on to the other club in that probably being a relegation battle from Manchester City. - I did the ball, I did the ball. - Who lost obviously the first time under Morescar, in the league this season. - Been of a bogie team, fella. - Yeah, they've got a good record recently, yeah. - Three of Manchester City's last five Premier League defeats have come against Villa. While they've lost four successive away league games to a side for the first time since February 2023, which was spurs. - Good game for Villa, Villa was a very good one. - Outstanding, weren't they? They were unbelievable. The work rate and all of that. Let's just compare that work rate to other teams over the weekend. Asked Villa's, incredible. - I thought I was going to lead with the Oracle Jackson to his coming, I'm even against my own side. Manchester City, I was worried because talk to me guys, I'll come on, talk to me through Nicholas Jackson. He's on fire right now. - Yeah, brilliant. He's obviously full of confidence, full of belief. The manager knows him, he knows what makes him take. He knows how to get the best out of him and he's doing that now. He looks, he looks a brilliant center forward at the minute, doesn't he, Nicholas Jackson? - No, but he's looked a brilliant center forward for a while, it's just like you were right. I knew you were right from time to time. You gotta put the ball in the back of the net. I thought I told me, agree with that. But if you actually watched the game and look at the things that he does, he's won't touch layoff, the way he turns or what. And I understand. and for fans, historically, he would be frustrated because he's always in the right position and then wasn't scoring. So I get that. But I was just like, this guy has got something and he's not getting the rewards. - Pretty sure, Megan Gass, both said, there's actually a player in there somewhere. - Ah! - Bloody, bloody! - There's a player in there. Oh, that's easy to say. - Oh, yeah, there's a player in there still now. Back up, I'm playing Premier League football. - He's not Micah. - Don't be, don't be delusional. There's not a player in you anymore. You need a shot, you need a shot. You've got no chance. But I, there's always been a quality there. The one thing that has been lacking, as you said, is the right number of goals to be considered an elite said to forward. - Yeah. - Interestingly, I saw Uno Emery's interview after the game, talking about Jackson. And he said, well, that's the wide improvement, et cetera. And he said, well, you know, at the start of the season, he was hitting, everything was going in the stand. How do you say, like in rugby? He said, like in rugby. - Yeah. - And I thought, yeah. And that's the issue, it's finishing, which is obviously the most important aspect for being a number nine is how you finish. He's going through a spell where he's finishing well. He's got to continue that to show that he has a top center forward, and if he could get 20 goals a season plus, then you could, then I will be saying, oracle, you are right. - Don't know 50s. - And he's 18, 50s. - No. - No, I won 50. - And he went in midfielders, get 15 to 18 nowadays. What's up with you? - Which midfielders get that, though? - Well, Frank Lampard used to do that. - Yeah, a decade ago. - That all the great goal scores in the world at the moment are scoring a goal again, right? If you said to me, you get 15 this season, that'd be so disappointed in 15. Come on, what's up with you, Micah? You put your key here to be the Oracle, that you see the top center forward if he gets 15 goals. - No, no, no, if you actually use it, he is. Actually use them every now and then. - Oh, good pair. - I said he's not the elite elite. So you've got all the heart. Just. (laughing) - He's not the elite elite, we're not talking about, he's one of the, 'cause there's not that many nines, I believe this is one of the best nines in Europe. He's not the elite elite level, we know that. But he's just the one below that. - He called him to the list. - He called him to the list below that. If you've not seen at least a goal every other game. - Okay, so he's just one below that. This is the elite, there's Harland. There's Harland, who's probably-- - He's reversing, he's reversing. (laughing) - There's Harland, who's ridiculous. He's in Bappe, who's ridiculous. Does Alvarez is ridiculous? Obviously, he's not that level. He's a level below them. - Yeah, but he can be like them. If he finishes, if suddenly some, he's worked out that he got to be calm in front of goal and he can finish it off. And he looks calm this evening. - How many goals did Alvarez get in the league? In the league, when he was at Manchester City? - He didn't play everywhere, didn't he? - Exactly what? - And he played wide and he played different games. - Jackson goes to Chelsea, he's not the number one. At all ways. - I wouldn't put Alvarez along in the same bracket as Cain or Harland or Bappe, knowing that. - Who Alvarez? - No. - What? - The same level as Harland and-- - No, no, no, no, no, no, no. He's in that elite strike. - Alvarez? - No, Alvarez is in the bunch just below. He's not Harland Cain or like Levin Dowski was, or-- - No, no, but that's the, okay, okay. - They're in their own bracket. - Yes, that's the point, Alvarez said and you ain't mad at me. - Okay, okay, okay, there's-- - Let's have a discussion on right backs and then you'll be all right, Mocha. - There's Alvarez, there's Alvarez level. And then there's just below Jackson. - All right, so if we're going three levels then, we've got the absolutely, and then the ones, the up and coming, the possible is just below, like Alvarez, and then I would say below that Jackson, he might, he could join the like, and Alvarez, if he continues and-- - Correct, correct, that's all I'm saying. That's all I'm saying. - That's all I'm saying. - That's all you were saying. But you scoffed at me when I put Alvarez, or you put Alvarez in the same tier as I'm back paying. - No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. We're talking about number nine. - Speaking of number nine, Jackson leaves Chelsea and then ends up at Ashton Villa, and then you look at Chelsea at the weekend. - Yeah. - Xiao Pedro is injured, but they look bloomed at the weekend, eh? - Before you switch, Al, I wanna give a big up to Suzuki. - The goalkeeper. - Wow, good to see you, Ben. - Brilliant. - Wow, how good is he on the ball? And he's saved, he's ridiculous. - Yeah, very good. - We talk about style of play and what they wanna do, he's just outstanding. He's made one of the best starts to the Premier League, I think I've ever seen for a goalkeeper, because normally the goalkeepers, make some good saves, not really noticed that much, unless you're maybe a peter check or someone like that, but on the ball, he's ridiculous. He's like Edison level. - I mean, what a start he's had. I think the first really noticed him in the World Cup, playing for Japan, he was, I thought he was exceptionally in that World Cup, but I mean, his performance is, and he's got a calmness as you say, Mike, he's so cool on the ball. I mean, the big six signings that they've brought in, Jackson, Manzambi, unbi, youngster, gomer, youngster, Suzuki, and Allison. I mean, they've all, I would say, impacted the team, all starting, well, that's not easy. I mean, Unai Emery, he must be one hell of a coach, and interestingly, of course, he had Jackson, didn't he, at VRL, and now suddenly, he's performing better than he's performed in his career, and he gives a lot of credit to Unai Emery. And he said he pretty much taught him everything he knew about. I had a conversation with Harry on the exclusive Netflix little show that we do on Sunday evenings, and we were wondering whether at the moment, you could say pound for pound, he'd be the best coach in the Premier League. I mean, Pep's gone. Clops no longer there. Any house out of action at the moment, if you would have included any. - I just think because of the where the rules are, because of what they've had to do, and how he's managed to maintain where Aston Villa are in around top four, top five. I know they've had poor starts to the season, the last couple of seasons, but they're recruitment, they're football, who have played against, who they've won against, where they are. I wouldn't argue with that, because he's been out, absolutely outstanding as Unai Emery. - Top much, totally agree. I mean, our set has been good though as well. - Oh, clear. - No, but just because I think it's easy now to say Emery, I would always say Emery's magnificent. I've always said he's one of the best in it, but you think what I'll tell you how to do where he was essentially a system, go to a big club in Arsenal, get the time. He was playing it a certain way. Well, a bit more adventurous, let's say. He sort of changes tactics a little bit to me, a little bit more pragmatic, and then won the Premier League, getting to a Champions League final. So yeah, the both, I mean, it's neck and neck, isn't it? It's just done in different ways. I said the same thing. I thought, I mean, our set, and interestingly as well, two clubs that have stuck with the manager, with the coach, and a little less in there, maybe at some point, because you can say, well, yeah, but Arsenal were doing really well. Well, no, there were a lot of times where the fans turned a little, some fans, to add some fans turned a bit against our setter. Villa has stuck with Unai Emery, although even when they had that really bad start, for etc, where other clubs might have gone, oh, that's panic a little bit. So lessons to be learned for owners and CEOs of football clubs, let's take a little breather and discuss some of the other weekend action when we come back. This episode is brought to you by Hotels.com. You know what's better than getting a good win, getting another one straight after it. With the all new 10 for 100 pounds benefit from Hotels.com, members that stay 10 eligible nights, can get 100 pounds back in Hotels.com cash, to use on a future booking. 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We're going to be live on YouTube covering the midterms as we get the results. Will Donald Trump be a lame duck for the next two years? Or walk away with a mandate to do whatever he wants? We're about to find out. So join us for a midnight to 3am Eastern time on November 4th, we'll be live reacting to all of the results as they come in. So make sure you're subscribed to the rest is politics US on YouTube. And turn on notifications please. You won't want to miss this. More encouraging signs for the top and faithful. Yeah, but you said though, guys, to be fair though, they haven't been playing well in patches yet. Yeah, yeah, yeah, so it was only matter of time before they got a big win. You can't keep playing that like that and being in games and then I still think they're making it hard for themselves in terms of how the score in the goals, they can't dominate like they can go to start the bridge and play like that. You've got to put the game to bed and then sort of allow them to still be in the game. But if you look at the whole game, it's better for the better team by far. Yeah. I think deserve to win. Created more chances. I was like you, Mike, I was thinking, well, no, not again, well, when they missed chances out they had, I think they're going to get punished here. Because as you know, you've seen it so many times, but to be fairly stuck at it and they deserve to take the three points in. I thought it was strongly midfield to Nali and Fernandes, and also that ahead of them, that creativity that Madison gives if he can, if he can just stay fit because he's the much better team when he is. He's hugely talented to play quite like that midfield. Yeah, it's really nice balance to it, although like you said, Madison, it didn't look great. You know, I've been in that situation when you're on the floor and you're like, oh, I don't want to let everyone down here. And I know I can't continue, but I've just come back from injury after injury after injury. He was just disbelief on his face, and I was just, I was good for him because even the game before where he was getting in little pockets and getting on the ball, where he was coming deep with that number 10, someone who's not afraid of the ball, it certainly helped them since he's come back into this team. Yeah, hope he's all right, actually, yeah. I really do because he's had some rotten luck over the last few years, no doubt about that. But overall, I think obviously, I was never really worried about Spurs being in a relegation battle this season, I thought, but my concern would have been again, if they'd have like panicked, got rid of Deserby, brought in another coach with a different style. They've been doing similar things, obviously, to Manchester United over the last decade or so different types of manager, attacking managers like Poster Cogler, defensive managers like Marinho and Conte, and that makes absolutely zero sense. But I think with Deserby now, he's an aggressive forward thinking, likes to play high, likes to play high press, and I think, you know, if you want to style a football, I think in the modern game, that's not a bad one to have, and stick with it. Yeah, you know, overall, the squad looks pretty good. You agree with Albert? Yeah. Sparkling on that ground, maybe he doesn't agree. I think that'll give them great hope. I think that'll, without doubt, the best performance of the season. I know they won on, was at Monday night, but I think to go there and perform like they have done will give them great belief gone forward. One about Chelsea, Michael, is tinkering a little bit with the way he plays. I mean, we know, obviously, Javit Alonzo from particularly in his days, Leverkusen, where he played three in high wing backs, and he's done that quite a bit at Chelsea, didn't do it in Madrid, but Madrid's different kind of club. But he's done that. When he's done that this season, they seem to have done pretty well, and when he switched to work round, not so much. I think sometimes it's not even down to system with him because I really watch his tactics and what he's trying to do. I think this game was more personal. I think we've Jav Pedro being out, they just had no, they had no one to get onto the ball. Morgan Rodgers didn't quite know what he's role was supposed to do, and is he supposed to be facing back? Is he supposed to be getting on the pockets, but then Copa Amel was dropping a little bit deeper. It was crying out for Danny Welbeck. I don't understand. I was just thinking about saying that, but obviously, there must be a reason why, because he's a coach and he couldn't understand the decision he needs to make. But I was thinking, there's no balance to the team here, and when Welbeck's played, he's done really well, but yeah, there was no real chemistry in midfield, it was too easy to play against, Spurs got down the sides a little bit too easy as well. The team just looked unbalanced, which I've not said about Chelsea all season. Well maybe it was just a blip, but I definitely think it was a personal without Jarpedra or the don't tick the same. No, well, the stats bear that out this season with Jarpedra six games for wins and 17 goals without Jarpedra two games, two losses and no goals. Wow. Says quite a bit. Needs to get back fit. What do you think about the red card for Palmer, it deserved, he could have got sent off with the first challenge, couldn't he? When he got the yellow card, he could have been sent off with that. I don't want to be a hypocrite, because I remember backing the days when I was playing for Villa, and I was playing against Costa, and I did a similar thing, but I didn't hit his face. I mean, it was similar. He saw a lot of body was pushed up against his head a little bit with the Palmer, with a little bit lower, I would say, but I think a yellow card is totally fine there. That's a couple of weeks now, I don't know, he's a bit frustrated, but I think I saw him last week, he was kicking the ball away, and he nearly got two yellow cards, then he could conceivably have done that as well. So maybe the frustrations have not been England's squad, and maybe who knows what goes on in the minds of young footballers. Liverpool first league win at Amfield for six months, should say, but it's Crystal Palace. Two no against Brighton, you say, well, that's a really good result. I thought it was, obviously, and I saw improvements. But at the same time, Brighton probably thought they had decent chances. I mean, before anyone scored, they missed an absolute sit, and they had their chances in that game. Well, I think because of how well Brighton have been going on the results, again, some of the big hitters, particularly Arsenal, that was always going to be a tough game with Liverpool. So I guess brilliant result for Liverpool, signs of the big hitters starting to click a little bit up front, maybe. Yeah. Barclough, Verts and Ysac. Yeah. I think so. But he's starting to get the breaks that perhaps he didn't have before. You need a bit of luck sometimes, he's got the deflected goal. But overall, his performance is, I think, I've been better. I think Barclough, we know, is obviously huge signing, and he's got banks of ability. We all know, he's sacks terrific, if you can keep him fit, that's the issue there. So a bit more encouraging, Michael for them. I actually thought this was a game that Liverpool was going to win. I don't know why. Yeah. I just thought, the way Brighton play, they leave so much space down there, and if Barclough can get up to speed, and Rio and Gamal can get up to speed, and Ysac can get up to speed, I just thought there's an opportunity them to break fast and punish them, but I also thought Brighton would score a few goals. I think the chance we were talking about was Ayari, wasn't it? I don't know, I even, grow had a chance as well, who's got a no go, and now we're on that, just quickly, I've got to talk about my fantasy football, honestly. Oh no, Michael. He's a disaster. He's honest, but he's a disaster. A bringing grow is closer. Who's grown? I mean, gross. Well, well, if you say it correctly, it's gross. Oh, you're so good. I was. I was. I was going to say, "Pascale gross for 10 years." Pascale gross. I was saying, "Pascale gross." No, he's gross. No, he's gross. No, he's gross. He's passed, he's passed a great day. He's passed, got a grow. Pascale gross. He's all right. Okay. Oh, grrr. Anyway, so bring him in. He only scores a own goal. I was clever. I thought you know what, all the talk around Fernandez, I'll take Fernandez out, I'll bring him cold parmer. It gets a red card. On, on this, I was like, why am I even doing this to myself? I had Jackson in my team. Look, there you go. I'm not even lying to you, you know, when you press save, but you didn't save properly. I was like, okay, we're going, wasn't in my team. And I didn't want to put him against City as well, but I thought, you know what, if he scores, it's win, win, it's man city, win, yeah, it was one of those reverse psychology ones that I did. And it was just, they said Cavert Lewin wasn't fit, sort of 50% chance of been playing. And he started, what was, what is nonsense going on? Well, 50/50 means you might start, you might not. Yeah, but in fantasy, the only really, the only really do that when, if you do that, it means they're not playing really. And then who else? Call of Fury didn't start, but then he comes on, who else? Guadial, Guadial, should have scored two or three against Villa. Get something. Can I say something? I don't miss to be rude, right? But for someone who's a supposed oracle, you know, fuck all about what's going to happen in the games. You know what, he needs to grow up there. Hey, I don't even look in my leagues. How does it die joke? Anyway, run over. Where were we? Where were we? Sorry. Brian had the most of the ball of a post possession was only 35.6%. Is there a second lowest on record since 2003, four in a Premier League home win and lowest in an unfilled league victory since 2010? But they scored two goals and considered them. Correct. That's all that matters. You know who's doing all right, though? Just before we wrap up, I'll say his name again. You can call anybody. You'll be telling me it's time, right? Actually, the way we say his name is Aral. He's playing well, guys. He's playing well. He's doing all right. He's a solid lump, you know. He's got most mobile. I've watched him a lot at Barcelona and he's dangerous in both, he's good in both box. He's dangerous in the opposition's box. Correct, correct. Correct. I just thought I'd give him a shout out because he's not right back. He's he's putting something I'll play right back, but he has been aggressive. Oh, man, I stoned, I stoned, I stoned the correct today. He's just muttoned. What's going on? What's going on? He's been clocked just the fastest player in the Premier League this season. I saw a stack. Really? Who's that? Who's that AI stack? Oh, wow. Maybe it's on the turn, then. Maybe it's that easy. What does he get to go? So, my apologies. Just before we go, that's what about the team saying that it's in the Premier League? Who are they? Oh, I'm wondering that is. Come on, Micah. You're black and white stripes. You can see how good Newcastle were in the second half yesterday, first off. Well, unfortunately, that was a game at two o'clock, wasn't it? Yeah, there's never going to be a little watch. Oh, I'm going to watch. My night ball, my Liverpool Bryan, whole Brentford, oh, palace, Newcastle. The Oracle has to stay across everything. So, if you just watch one it too, then watch another one, then when the whole football is finished in the evening. Okay. Here's what he is. Here's what I think. I think you are way too emotional about Newcastle. When they're up, they're up. I went the down. You're too down. That's what we do as fans, isn't it? I've it yet. That's why it's such a great game. I think yes, there's doing a fantastic job, New Club. At times, yes, they lack a little bit of creativity. I don't know if it's creativity. I don't know if it's a little bit of calmness on the pitch. Everything at times looks a little bit erratic. But from when I first saw Newcastle, early on in the season, I liked the way they looked just because even what they lack sometimes in quality, they make up with running and working for each other. And Newcastle will be fine. I think in January, you could do with a couple in all honesty. But for now, Newcastle are doing just fine. I'll let you have that and I won't say anything on Newcastle because it's been a lovely weekend. No, go ahead and say, because I loved that emotional side too. First half, I thought it was pretty poor. Second half, I thought the one much better. There's analysis for you. That's a proper analysis right there. So reserved the win. I thought just the Palace were really poor. But big win for Newcastle, you needed that one. No, Palace in trouble. Yes. We're about there, a little bit. It's tight down the bottom. Nobody's doing absolutely terribly, aren't there? The bottom is five points. Because most season, there's a couple of sides, usually the least one of the promoted teams is on one zero, one point, two points. But yeah, some of the, I mean, at the bottom of the two are there. It's hard though, because Palace in Europe are league. Sunderland are in Europe are league. It's difficult. It is difficult to navigate. You have to bear that in mind when you evaluate the situation. I mean, there's, there's what is the, I mean, even if you go to halfway in the table, which is whole Everton and Ipswich on 10 points, that's only five points from the bottom spot. Wow. So which is, it's an unusual start because normally there's one or two sides that would be down on one or two points at this point. So you think to yourself, there'll probably be, you know, the other clubs would be okay. But I think they'll all be looking over their shoulders at the moment. So I mean, there will be, you know, obviously two teams to go down this season along with. Along with my city. Oh, my god. I thought you were talking about money now in there. That would be, I would say, musing, mildly musing, maybe. Obviously with cities to feet, an Arsenal's victory, then a joint top under Premier League. Very Arsenal, wasn't it? Set pieces. I haven't, they haven't scored a set piece. So they got the first one, didn't they? Or a couple. So it was pretty standard for Arsenal, wasn't it? In the weekend? Surely, Marky, you've got Conzer or Gabrielle in your team. You've got at least one on it. This is what I mean. It's ridiculous. I'd older guard David Raya, who obviously got a clean sheet and I had Call of Fury. Oh dear, Oracle. Is that a tough weekend? The Oracle, isn't it? There's Oracle's go. Yeah, the best one around. The manager's pissed me off. You know why they pissed me off though. If someone is not starting, don't bring them on, don't bring them on just for one point. It just kills absolutely everything. So yeah. Well, I could, don't be too downhearted. You still second in the, the rest is football, you mean. Let me, like so, Dave, he's at the bottom. Max is, I mean, that's good. Our producers are not above us anyway. That's really good. Alan, we now call the ringer, the name of his team, 498 points. Marky, you've got five hundred and ten points. I imagine how good you could have been on if you'd made the right decisions this weekend. And well, Harry, my team, obviously, five hundred and seventy six points. We're only 66 points, how do you say the last two weeks? I did not read something about fantasy league about, I managed to find something out. Was it Alonzo? No, the guy at the press conference asked him, he said, certain players and families have taken out Zhao Pedro from their team because they got wind of the fact that he wasn't available to the game. And you could see Javians are going, why the fuck are they asking me about fantasy football? Because it's a real thing. My weekend was absolutely ruined seriously. I knew it was going to be a bad one. I thought you were quiet. Yeah. When, when, when, when, there's a football door, you won't hear from me. I'm sick to death of it. I still think, looking at Arsenal, it's still not getting that many goals from four positions. Is that, that's something to be slightly concerned about for them or, I mean, we've been there before. Just think they've got that many good players that they'll eventually find a way to score. Like, who could buy a crook? I think that's what Arsenal do if they're not playing that well. It did not help when you keep a clean sheet most games. David Ryers, unbelievable. Oh, how good is he? No, no, seriously. He's not even number one Spanish keeper. He's ridiculous. He's ridiculous. He's agility. He's not normal. Yeah. And even, even the Oracle, I didn't see this when he was at Brentfield. I didn't, I didn't, I didn't see it. I was like, oh, he's coming in to compete with Ramsdale. But, very good goalkeeper. He's took his game to a max level. He's, yeah, he's the best goalkeeper in the Premier League. Good way to finish. Nice positive note. That's it for this episode of the rest of his football. Goodbye for me. Goodbye for me. Goodbye for me. Have a great week, everyone.