0:03

Alright,

0:28

I'm with Daniel for the midweek part. We

0:30

witnessed Manchester United's three, Sheffield United,

0:32

two yesterday and a classic of

0:35

the genre from United- Four! I'm

0:37

sorry. Four two. I

0:40

do you a disservice, United. That was

0:42

a fine performance. What a team.

0:44

What a team. By the

0:47

way, I mean we talked about Bruno Fernandez

0:49

last week and asking,

0:51

why the haters hate. He

0:53

has dragged us through the last few weeks, on

0:56

his own, and he definitely dragged us through this game. No,

0:59

props to Bruno already. Is there a player in the

1:01

United team that gives a shit more than Bruno? Because

1:03

I just don't think there is. I

1:06

was actually a thought about this when we came off air

1:08

last week that someone I know from

1:10

United just doesn't love Bruno. And

1:13

we often argue about this. But

1:15

one of the things he said was whatever else he

1:17

says about him, the guy will run through Great Falls

1:19

for United. Yeah. And there just

1:22

aren't that many players we can say

1:24

that of. No, and

1:26

it feels like he's chucked his best

1:28

years away on his dreadful United team.

1:30

A hundred percent. So. But

1:33

I find, yeah, the idea that you

1:35

can't, you couldn't integrate him into a

1:37

good team where he gets more of

1:39

the ball, has to

1:41

do fewer heroics. And

1:43

he's not expected to try and do something all the

1:45

time because he doesn't have to because he gets opportunities

1:48

or he wouldn't suddenly be good. You've

1:50

got like guys with like, I

1:52

don't know, like why scout access or whatever

1:55

genuinely think they understand football better than him.

1:58

Yeah. And he is almost always. And

2:01

I totally like, I think that regular

2:03

listeners will know that we see the issue with

2:05

him and I think particularly,

2:07

like for me, the issue with him

2:10

is not the constant attempts

2:12

at heroics, because I think

2:14

that more than anything is much more reflection

2:16

of where he is and who's around him

2:18

than his temperament or ability.

2:21

The issue I have with him is,

2:24

if we're going to have Maynard in

2:26

the team as well, are we going to be physical

2:28

enough? Yeah,

2:30

I mean, I think that's a fair question. The

2:33

question of Bruno's profligacy with

2:35

passing was brought up by

2:38

scouts before United bought him,

2:40

right? They knew this. This was the

2:42

question mark they had. They knew that he gave the ball away a

2:44

lot. They knew that he tried a lot of stuff and

2:47

that's just, there's always been the trade-off. And

2:50

I think at the time Paul and I were

2:52

arguing about Bruno and I was like, yeah, in

2:54

the big games, we might regret

2:56

having him in the side. But I

2:58

think over the net net of his

3:00

career with United, he's definitely created more

3:02

than he's wasted. Also,

3:05

I don't think that he's wasting the ball

3:07

that much more than to Bruin, particularly. No,

3:09

he just gets the ball in better areas

3:12

with better players around him. The

3:15

difference again is it's not

3:17

the difference between them. Although, I get back to

3:19

the point I just made. One

3:22

of the reasons and probably the main reason I

3:24

think to bring a better player than he is

3:26

is because of physicality. To bring that has a

3:28

changed pace and he's a big lad, he's a

3:30

brute. And when you

3:32

add that to all the other stuff,

3:34

then that is very hard to deal with. But

3:39

yeah, I think I have been disappointed

3:41

in Bruno this season. But at

3:43

the same time, again, the constant

3:45

is around him, not the guy who's

3:47

created more chances than any other player

3:49

in Europe's top five league. Which itself,

3:51

you think, that's a good effort? I

3:54

guess you might say, well, he's in a crap team, so he

3:56

has to do everything. Or You might

3:58

say, well... A. He's often

4:01

at a team that has less effect. It's

4:03

ambition. That. Evacuates midfield. they've

4:05

conceded discuss eating regularly twenty shots

4:07

again, and to still be top

4:10

of that in that and farm

4:12

noise imply, well, He

4:15

has he's a club or the not. Yet.

4:17

He is an edited sleep telling to

4:19

bring that comes a simple circles on

4:21

the data and there was scout that

4:23

to cares as. That. That is

4:25

that groups of people would say. Actually,

4:27

his bowl progression this year has actually

4:30

been better. In in those games. Who's

4:32

been asked by deep and I wasn't

4:34

again. Sheffield United. He was

4:36

the orchestrator because although the Hyatt that

4:38

number ten because Ericsson was behind him.

4:41

So much of the season he sees by

4:43

difference. Got my company early for a number

4:45

games and and that such cases say that

4:47

he's he's progressive or more. And this is

4:49

Rina Central. Anyway, United did

4:51

a lot united things last flight

4:54

didn't behave. As

4:56

an slot you know I things I guess. As

4:59

an it is not that often the

5:02

you see it I'd properly pepsi mean

5:04

obviously we still get through his submitted

5:06

to some stones. But. The.

5:09

First saw three Penman they

5:11

couldn't get out and sports

5:13

metaphors mentally like. Yeah, there

5:15

are probably too many low value shots

5:17

in that first half. Which.

5:20

Is like yeah, I see I weren't getting

5:22

into the right position to make sure that

5:24

those chances were. Better. Quality by

5:26

the phone a man is eighty percent. Possession

5:28

was an it. Went. When

5:30

do we saw given the goal So I forget now. That

5:33

author that one. I'm sorry to have time

5:36

to buy that. Our daughters. Yeah.

5:38

That's right. Ah, yes, a classic

5:40

from Andrea. Now that he was,

5:42

we've been praising Fat. Doing.

5:44

Better than he's sides over one and

5:47

then that. Give them. She pulled away.

5:49

In there in subsequent games was, you know,

5:51

awesome. Giving. The Super

5:54

Bowl away. Guess. Autumn

5:56

same type. as as

5:58

usual teachers my to see supra there as

6:00

a season, he made loads, hasn't made one

6:02

for a while. And I

6:05

guess I'm assuming that it's

6:07

going to be the not saving the stuff

6:09

that he should rather than just presenting goals

6:11

like that, that is going to be the

6:14

problem with him. Yeah, I

6:17

don't expect him to do that much. I

6:19

mean, I thought and I think this is

6:21

a problem again with how he's not set

6:23

up and not an honor, I thought we'd

6:25

see more of this sort of all possession

6:27

stuff from him instead. He goes along a

6:29

lot more than I expected. And

6:32

again, this is the model that Tenhaga set

6:34

up this season. We're going back to front

6:36

very, very quickly trying to get our

6:41

largely ineffective wingers into the game. Although

6:44

I wouldn't blame Gun Acho

6:47

for his performance too much last night.

6:49

I think he kept going. Anthony was

6:51

saying... I've done Acho played okay. I

6:54

felt like his finishing

6:56

was better last season than it was this season.

6:59

Shouldn't have missed the chance he missed even though he made

7:01

it really well. One thing I guess I'd thought was

7:05

if we're not going to experiment in

7:07

these games, when are we going to

7:09

experiment? And I

7:11

guess I'm thinking, Alan, you've got Sheffield United

7:14

at home, it should

7:16

be impossible to lose. But even if you

7:18

do, it doesn't make that much difference. No,

7:20

that's right. I guess what I'm kind of

7:22

thinking, and I know that

7:24

these children are young, so I

7:27

might be talking bother. I guess I'm

7:29

thinking we might need to buy a leftback in the

7:31

summer, probably do need to buy a leftback. I think they're looking

7:35

at the Gerona

7:37

leftback. Should we therefore

7:39

find out if Harry Anderson's only could

7:41

at this level? Yeah. Well, he

7:44

didn't score it last night, wasn't he? Yeah, he was on

7:46

the bet. Just because I think with all these things, whatever

7:48

we buy today, it's one of the things I'm always thinking

7:50

is who are the young players and are they going to

7:52

block them? Because if you had to get the opportunity to

7:54

sign someone, it was just brilliant, then you just buy them.

7:57

But if you've got young players who you think might be

7:59

good, for me, but I'm always thinking you need

8:02

to make sure that there's a route to the first team for

8:04

them. So I felt like I'm

8:06

just so sick of Wanda Saka, like

8:08

his performance and we didn't talk, I

8:10

was suddenly came, we are three recorded

8:12

on Sunday. I suddenly felt

8:14

like we sort of forgot to

8:16

talk about how shit he specifically

8:19

was in once things started

8:21

going wrong in that game. Like

8:23

the lolliping running, like my

8:26

friends got this. It's a giant

8:28

St. Bernard's cruise all across maybe,

8:30

can't remember what it's called. Anyway,

8:32

it's a fucking gigantic bus. It's

8:34

an awesome dog. But the

8:37

way it runs, it just really reminds

8:39

me of Wanda Saka.

8:41

It doesn't seem to sprint

8:43

almost, it's a lollip. And

8:46

getting caught upfield and lolliping

8:49

back and not marking, losing

8:51

men as a back post,

8:54

I felt like it might be good to see something

8:57

different in the same way. Why am

8:59

I watching more Anthony when I could watch Amad?

9:02

Again, Sheffield United, what is the point? No,

9:04

I do get the point. I actually thought,

9:07

I suspected that this United side was sort of

9:09

collapsed towards the end of the season because none

9:11

of these games count. And that

9:14

wasn't true yesterday. I mean, stupid goals given

9:16

away, but that wasn't the collapse.

9:18

And it was a better performance than

9:20

that I was half expecting because like

9:23

this team is not mentally strong. And I was

9:25

like, games that don't count for anything, how are

9:27

they going to get themselves up for it? I

9:29

just don't buy it for most of these players.

9:31

But it wasn't quite that. So

9:33

it's being unfair. But yeah, Wanda Saka was

9:36

as we shared recently. And I'm

9:39

not sure Dallow has been much better either on the other

9:41

side. It's not. Dallow was dreadful

9:44

against Chelsea. And

9:46

another game in which he was also dreadful, I

9:48

forget which. City maybe, but

9:50

he played very well in both difficult games.

9:53

And it's not so much whether these people are

9:55

good enough or not. It's not whether Wanda Saka

9:57

is in dreadful form or whatever. It's the Wanda.

10:00

is not for the future of this team in this club. So

10:03

now we've got these games that mean jack

10:05

shit, why are we not including players who

10:07

actually gonna mean something and

10:09

trying to give them as much experience as

10:11

possible? And fine, if the opposite of that

10:14

is Amaz isn't ready and he's literally on

10:16

the bench because they need some names, I

10:19

guess fair enough. But

10:23

I didn't need to see Anthony in

10:25

that game, I'd much rather have seen

10:27

Amaz, who also probably isn't good enough.

10:29

No, probably not, no, probably not. Good

10:31

stat here, Harry Maguire has double the

10:33

amount of goals that Anthony has this

10:35

season. That's just in the Premier League

10:37

because he's got a few in Europe as well. But

10:39

do we also have to chatt the ones that were his fault

10:43

for a Harren's difference? Yes,

10:46

I think that would be fair.

10:49

The question about his goal, was

10:52

he going for goal or was he trying to stick that

10:54

across? I'm just giving the benefit

10:56

of the doubt. Flick header. Yeah,

11:00

I mean, there was a

11:02

debate on the Football Cliché podcast last

11:04

time out about what angle you

11:06

need to have to qualify as

11:08

a flick. And

11:12

I think that's a flick, that was a narrow angle. I

11:14

think he was going for goal. No,

11:16

a flick is not just about an angle, a flick

11:18

is about the movement of the head. So

11:21

a normal header is that and a flick is that. Yeah,

11:25

disagree with that. I

11:28

feel like they haven't stated their terms properly

11:30

there, but I do excellent and important work.

11:33

Very, very important stuff, yes. I

11:36

don't want to criticize, but that

11:38

flick to me is determined by,

11:40

feels like side to side. Actually,

11:43

that's not true because you could also have flick,

11:45

it could also be that. I guess, I'm

11:47

calling it, generally, things that are side to

11:50

side or backwards. Well, it's a glance, isn't

11:52

it? Maybe there's a difference between a flick

11:54

and a glance. There's a glancing

11:56

header with a flick. Frick

12:00

probably needs a net movement. A

12:02

glancing head and more needs to come off the

12:04

side of the, I

12:07

mean I'm looking at my own forehead here, thinking that's

12:10

quite a big surface area. The depth

12:12

of the big surface area. Not

12:14

as big as Harry's. I

12:18

make fun of him, but he's not

12:20

been bad this season. Like he was

12:22

dreadful last season and he's coming and

12:24

done. And worse the season before. Yeah,

12:26

I mean, I say that in

12:28

a team but it's considered 50 goals. So

12:32

he hasn't been that good. There's to be

12:34

clear about it. I mean, I'm sure in the summer that focus

12:37

would be on the defence first because there's just been

12:39

way too many injuries. I mean, if they're buying a

12:41

left back, one's got to go. They can't have three

12:44

left backs and Harry M.S. They've

12:47

got to think about both right full backs

12:49

because neither is quite good enough and you

12:51

can't merge them together like something out of

12:53

the play or something. And

12:55

then Johnny Evans, his ancient referee,

12:57

he's injured all the time. Victor

13:00

Lindelof is shite and Harry McGuire.

13:02

Well, they're going to say he's also the

13:04

last year of his contract. So that's

13:07

a lot of work to do if you're

13:09

thinking about the priorities. And then you need

13:11

to midfield as well. And

13:14

a striker. And probably a striker. The

13:16

100 you might have got. You've

13:19

got to back up to Rasmus. We need to back up. Which

13:22

is good for him. He celebrated it

13:24

thoroughly. And he made sure. But that's why I want

13:26

to see that he made sure he scored that goal

13:28

because I can't remember who he was, but there was

13:30

a tap in behind him and he

13:33

made sure because he needed that goal. He

13:35

knew he needed it. And

13:37

he worked hard for it as well. He

13:39

yeah, he moved quickly. And after missing that

13:42

one at the weekend, there

13:44

was a really good chance right at the end against

13:46

Coventry. Then he needed that one.

13:48

Otherwise, we'd be talking about him again. I mean,

13:50

he only touched the ball eight times in that

13:52

first half. There's something with the way

13:55

United are playing where they just do not use it

13:57

at all. And to be fair, like maybe the way

13:59

he's moving. that I agree that

14:01

it is the manager around for them to

14:03

find a way to get him into the

14:05

game but also feel like should he have

14:07

found a solution without just sitting down with

14:09

the dickheads and saying this is what needs.

14:12

Yeah, all right. What was the

14:14

second goal? I'm totally blanking on the

14:16

United Second now. It was

14:19

a Fernando Penn. Now, Harris was

14:21

the first one. I know it was the first one, not the opening.

14:24

In the Fernandez Penn. On

14:27

that penalty, if you can

14:29

take a penalty like that, I don't understand

14:31

why you don't take every penalty like that

14:33

because you could never ever get 30s. Never.

14:37

And that's the thing. I'm sure

14:40

on the training ground that the

14:43

completion rate of penalties is way higher than

14:45

the 80% is in

14:47

actual games. So obviously the pressure makes

14:49

an impact. Yeah, if you

14:52

can hit it cleanly into the corner and don't have

14:54

to do all the stuff that bollocks. At high? Yeah.

14:57

Just hitting it high. Like, Owen Hargreaves is

14:59

a penalty in Moscow. Oh, Anderson's

15:01

penalty. Yeah, penalties like that. They can't really

15:03

be saved. I guess

15:05

there's more margin for error perhaps. But

15:09

yeah, if you can smash right into the roof, I

15:13

guess that is a technique that you've practiced with

15:15

which you feel comfortable. Yeah, just maybe

15:17

do that with this one. Afro-Africa Cup of

15:19

Nations final, was it three or four years

15:22

ago where I think it was 13-12 in

15:25

the end or something like 14-12 on

15:27

penalties? And like almost every

15:29

single one was going into the top bins

15:32

as the best penalty shootout I've ever seen. Most

15:35

United penalty shootouts have not been. We

15:37

were showing so many years. I

15:40

was scrolling on Twitter just earlier today. I saw

15:42

this video of all these penalties and I was

15:45

like, oh my God, there's penalties from Gdansk. I

15:48

thought, no, definitely do not. It's these

15:50

ones again. You

15:53

do not. And United's third goal,

15:55

I guess we got the equalizer, didn't we?

15:57

Yeah. Ben Brereton, Diaz.

15:59

now. Chilean striker via

16:02

Blackburn. Oh, you're a Chilean.

16:04

I thought in America you'd be a Chilean.

16:06

Chilean? No, I can't do that. Caribbean. No,

16:11

no, no. And there's some things

16:13

I'll adapt to culturally to fit in, but

16:15

yes, talking wrong, not gonna

16:17

do that. Then we had Bruno's

16:21

fine strike with his left foot. He knew he can

16:23

hit them that hard with his left. I

16:25

think my leg would fall off if I tried to hit up

16:27

all that hard with my left. It's like,

16:30

no chance. But yeah, good one from Bruno.

16:32

That's eight in the last six games, I

16:35

think he's got now. Yeah,

16:37

and lots of assists as well. Yeah,

16:41

I think it's 28 goals and assists

16:43

this season. So it's not even nearly

16:45

his top season. And there's only one

16:47

player, Cole Palmer, is the only person

16:50

with even more goal involvement. And

16:53

I mean, I don't think taking pedal is cheating,

16:55

but he's taken a load of penalties. Right.

16:58

So yeah, all in all, like

17:00

we're still chasing fourth. In theory, we

17:02

could still make fourth if Villa lose the next four

17:04

games and we win our next four games. Sorted.

17:08

Sorted. Or if Villa

17:11

lose the next four games by a

17:13

cricket score and we score like six

17:15

in each of them, and then we can draw the other

17:17

one. Also fine, yeah. Yeah,

17:20

yeah. Seems unlikely because we don't

17:22

need to spur the scrub because I

17:24

think that fifth place for the Champions

17:26

League is probably unlikely now that... Yeah,

17:28

it's gone. I think that's... I mean,

17:30

if Villa win the conference league, that

17:33

leaves it potentially open, I think, depending

17:35

on other results. But then Levakus

17:37

and the Levakus and the...

17:39

I can't be playing Roma or being

17:41

Levakus and they have two legs. Seems

17:44

unlikely. Even if Mature would be Bayern.

17:48

Yeah. So yes, probably

17:50

gone. So although I think the Europa is

17:52

now guaranteed for six games, I think someone

17:54

pointed out because if Mature see when you

17:56

fake out the Europa, the

17:59

place goes to the... league not to the runners

18:01

up of the cup but if we win the

18:03

epic cup, it would be us. So

18:05

six players will get a Europa spot. I

18:09

mean who would have thought that feels

18:12

slightly comforting? It's marginally

18:14

better. It's

18:17

a lot better. The

18:20

humiliation of being in the comic room is a

18:22

lot better. You

18:25

don't ever want to have to play in that competition. So

18:28

at least if you win the Europa,

18:30

that feels like some level of

18:33

achievement of some sort. Well in

18:35

the conference, it's just like, no

18:37

man. It's also about the

18:39

Champions League if we are desperate enough next

18:41

season after whatever changes are made.

18:44

Oh my gosh, yeah. If we need the Europa

18:46

League to get the Champions League next season, that

18:48

would be disappointing. Talking

18:51

of which, we talked about flicks earlier

18:54

which was meant to be my segue

18:56

into Hansy Slick. Not Ayran

18:58

Slick of Alaralofane but

19:01

I guess he is also a haft of Ayrn Slick.

19:04

So it seems that Arna

19:07

Slick, that's how you

19:09

pronounce it, is going to Liverpool

19:11

like this ball Dutchman or Caffél

19:15

and Javi Stenebasser

19:17

and Uncle Wreck-it-Ral. It's

19:23

going to be amazing.

19:26

Amazing, great stuff. Yeah,

19:29

it would be good if we used the first press conferences.

19:31

We need open heart surgery here at

19:33

Bayern. We're looking forward to that. I

19:36

mean he was right. In most

19:38

of what he said, his management

19:40

was wag though. Like I

19:42

always say this but like imposing that

19:44

4-2-2-2 just because that's a formation

19:47

that you like rather

19:49

than in any way. The players, yeah.

19:51

Just the players that you have. I

19:54

guess prejudiced me against him. Mind

19:56

you, I think that's a criticism you can

19:58

level at Eric Zenhargus. well with United, there

20:01

are players not playing in their ideal role?

20:03

Yeah, I think I agree that that

20:06

is true, but that is also partly

20:08

because he doesn't have players to play

20:11

any, like we don't have a good team. In

20:14

any formation, there's no, there's

20:17

not the best team, maybe if we did like an old

20:19

school WN, like a 2-3-5 or something, we

20:22

can maybe manage that. But there

20:24

isn't a good team in there, so he's

20:26

always trying to like brush a bit of

20:28

hair over a bare bit and then realise

20:30

that actually that just leaves another bare bit

20:32

somewhere else. He's just teasing him now because

20:34

he's got no hair to brush him. I'm

20:36

teasing that, Seth. Yeah,

20:41

he... And so I

20:43

do think it's not him turning up and so I

20:46

mean, he's almost done the reverse of that in a

20:48

way, so this is how I want to play football.

20:51

Oh. When

20:53

I think we'd be keater on him actually,

20:56

I want to play football, we're going to build

20:58

towards it rather than I've got to check in

21:00

the dustbin. So would

21:03

you accept Hansie Flick? I

21:06

mean, it's a good question. He

21:09

has an amazing first part of his

21:12

career, didn't he, and then failed with

21:14

Germany. Probably not entirely

21:16

his fault that he failed with Germany, given

21:19

they were a bit chaotic during the World Cup

21:22

and perhaps don't have the players that

21:24

they need. So yeah, maybe I would.

21:26

I mean, it all feels

21:28

like a gamble. Every

21:31

manager is a gamble. So it's

21:34

not that, but I just wonder

21:36

about what there is. If he's not

21:38

going by in Germany, which he isn't,

21:40

he's available. Is he James

21:42

from Mepiteers who's saying they have a more

21:44

possession-based style is what the Ineos team are

21:47

looking at and they've kind of settled on

21:49

that with Barada and Ashworth and when

21:52

he arrives, just his laptop

21:55

full of transfer targets left at Carrington

21:57

by mistake So far and

21:59

Jason Wilcox. And the new to the

22:01

whole new team as in place as or my

22:03

lucky for a fast say. That.

22:06

Tells me turn out that little kids He

22:08

is clearly settled on something else and I

22:10

think when we got to season of what

22:13

we seem like, Chef is I game. A

22:15

little bit more controlled, but not really. As

22:18

a guy, sadly, we know this is what he wanted. This

22:21

well I guess my say that this is

22:23

the best way he thinks there is to

22:25

do with what he has. So.

22:27

If you want them to try another way that he needs

22:29

better tires. Which. We

22:31

now we know to be so we should

22:34

absolutely be true but also to be solved.

22:36

Not that true as well. I

22:38

think she's out the door for the insists I

22:40

think magnify. And because. They've

22:43

decided that this mega this

22:45

style with. That. And

22:48

see swig feels like a better bet

22:50

than a waste. Everyone else on how

22:52

the ousting this. Is

22:54

by inside played very very German.

22:57

That I'm not quite there. Dang

23:00

impressive. Mega high price by definitely

23:02

the mid block style. says.

23:04

On it's been chasing him whether he get

23:06

it, if if. He. Was substantial

23:08

target and is not be mentioned anywhere in

23:11

any of the Betty. Or

23:13

any the spread markets it, it would be

23:15

a little adaption to the premier league I

23:17

imagine. I live in Amor

23:19

and. It was thought about by

23:22

everyone. Young man's had done great things.

23:24

It at Sporting West Ham trying to

23:26

hi. David Moses birthday!

23:28

So happy birthday to absolutely everyone sees

23:30

birthdays to date set that they success

23:32

at. Home and

23:34

I. Haven't is

23:36

also kind intriguing. Goes on a

23:39

slot with Tottenham was hokies her

23:41

and they prefer Pasta Coakley. They

23:43

dance there and. I. Mean

23:45

it's just again what one they say that we

23:47

can will say this often enough. However, the vote

23:49

before the point will be significantly worse and clock.

23:53

Because. Gap that the spot the

23:55

the last two episodes Antiques can Beat

23:57

Now that. As seven.

23:59

zero less good than Edmonton, but I do think

24:01

that they'll have losing games that you think they

24:04

probably shouldn't because they are not that good and

24:06

winning all the games is hard even

24:08

when you are that good. By

24:10

the way, I think credit to United for totally fucking

24:13

it. 10 to 10 out. I

24:15

mean, he, yeah, he clops about a victory

24:17

for A's. I mean, you respect to that.

24:20

Beautiful stuff. Love it. I did

24:22

quite enjoy, remember when they won the

24:24

Carlin Cup, whatever it's called

24:26

now, and Trent Alexander-Arnold tweeted, one

24:29

out of four, still hungry. Yeah.

24:32

All right, Trent. Okay. All right. All

24:35

right. Yeah. Might

24:37

need to get that meal planned around. Intermittent fast think. Good

24:39

feel. Do you think they'll have

24:41

an open bus, open top bus parade for

24:43

their Carlin Cup victory with Clops farewell, or

24:45

is he just going to disappear and that'll

24:47

be it? He is brilliant how quickly it's

24:49

all falling apart because I guess,

24:52

like that, that's a loss for shocking. But

24:55

then you're thinking, well, maybe they're gone. I

24:58

don't really expect to lose to Everton. Like one

25:00

of the annoying things about this period is that

25:02

they never lose to Everton. Like games when you

25:04

have one team in the city that is good, often

25:07

the Derby is the one where you think,

25:09

well, they might, they might drop some points

25:11

there and they've basically victimised Everton for most

25:13

of the last 20 years. 15

25:16

years, yeah. Yeah.

25:18

No, it's true. Yeah. I

25:21

mean, it comes down to two horse race, I think, and

25:23

it feels like Liverpool are gone. I mean, there's a four

25:25

point gap now. I was talking to a mate in synagogue

25:27

just yesterday and he was saying he

25:29

wanted Liverpool to hit for Zarsin the last

25:31

season's ticket holder was talking about Liverpool, Harry

25:33

Hope, Liverpool losing tonight. And I said, honestly,

25:35

don't need to think about that because whatever

25:38

happens, you are not going to finish third

25:40

behind the city of Liverpool. It's not like,

25:42

no, sorry, sorry, you're not going to finish

25:44

top with Liverpool coming second.

25:47

That's not going to happen. If Liverpool win it, you're

25:49

going to come third. If

25:51

you win it, it will be city that a second you

25:53

don't have to like Liverpool are not a

25:55

danger in that way. City,

25:58

I mean, city's still going. play Tottenham

26:01

so do Arsenal. Yeah

26:04

they go to Brighton but I

26:06

mean it's not they're all games that you

26:08

kind of, because Tottenham are here in

26:10

Meers, Brighton, Forest, Wolves, Fulham, Spurs

26:12

and then West Ham. I don't know, I

26:14

kind of look at that and go I'm

26:16

quite, I can see City winning

26:18

all six especially since they don't have to

26:20

worry about the thing about City and the

26:22

thing about Pep Guardiola's football is whatever you

26:24

think about where you rank all these teams

26:26

blah blah blah. Pep Guardiola's football and I

26:29

don't even mean when it's just played by

26:31

Pep Guardiola, I mean when it's played by

26:33

Spain as well, is

26:35

the hardest football to beat of all

26:37

time because you

26:40

don't get the ball. But the other team

26:42

like which and with Pep Guardiola's football they'll almost

26:44

always have better players than you and

26:47

better options than you and the

26:49

ability to deny the ball means that you don't

26:51

have very much scope to beat them which is

26:54

why Spain were able to win three major trophies

26:56

in a row without Guardiola and without centre forwards

26:58

because they still had Guardiola's

27:00

mainly midfield players, million midfield

27:02

players, yeah, who were just,

27:05

they barely scored any goals either did they?

27:07

A lot of these later stages, they just

27:09

because they didn't have a striker, they managed

27:11

to find the goal at some point and

27:14

keep the opposition away. So

27:17

that's why you see these games that he have

27:19

and it feels really hard to beat them. Then

27:21

the other side like Brighton, the way they play

27:23

causes trouble for some teams but it's

27:25

just not that it's

27:27

not that similar, that's a good

27:29

version of the thing. So

27:32

City tend not to struggle with

27:34

that, like the problem, what City

27:36

struggle with is teams that are

27:39

solid at the back and can

27:41

press them at the front and have good

27:43

attackers. We play them

27:45

second to last, sorry, us have played

27:47

Spurs next although they mostly beat Spurs

27:51

but we play them second to last game of the

27:53

season. I mean that might be one where we want

27:55

to chuck it away now. I remember as a kid, my dad in... 84,

28:01

85, we play Watford the game, I think it was the

28:03

game, Bulldog Cup, by then my dad goes without telling me

28:05

because he knows I've been furious. He comes

28:08

back and we've lost 5-1 and

28:10

I'm still absolutely raging and they've gone without

28:13

me. And that was the last time he went

28:15

without me. Yeah, I think that's fair. That's

28:18

fair. All right, what else

28:20

is going on in the world of the

28:22

United? That's right here really. No movement on

28:24

the Ashworths front because they're

28:27

still haggling. There's a telegraph piece

28:29

like Decker saying Newcastle are after

28:31

15 million plus 5 million in

28:33

bonuses for Ashworths and United have

28:35

offered two. Seems to be

28:38

some gap between them. And is this

28:40

pride with Newcastle? Because they paid 4

28:42

million and it's like

28:44

one is absolutely mental that

28:46

there's now a transfer market for executives.

28:49

This is not talent. It's very executive.

28:51

And also, how could this

28:53

guy be? Are

28:56

you genuinely telling me that he is 15 million?

28:58

I guess I'm not going to pay 15 million.

29:01

Just seems so unlikely that he's worth that sort of money.

29:04

It's absolutely mad. Executives,

29:07

not talent. I mean,

29:09

there are lots of executives out there. I mean,

29:11

some better than others as we've seen with Edward

29:13

Wood. And obviously good to

29:15

have people who know what they're doing in

29:18

these important positions. But yeah, 20 million,

29:20

absolutely nuts. I think this is

29:23

more about saving face and making

29:25

sure he's not around for it. In

29:27

fact, I would bet that this will get

29:29

done the day after the transfer window closes,

29:31

something like that. Or very

29:33

shortly afterwards. And it would just be about

29:36

delaying his introduction. In the meantime, it looks

29:38

like Jason Wilcox, who was at the game

29:40

last few games, is taking

29:42

that role and going to be leading

29:45

and broader joints in June. He's

29:47

sort of late, but for planning purposes, I'm sure

29:49

he's on the phone right now. And

29:51

I guess, I mean, it feels like Willcox makes

29:54

a lot of the footballing decisions. And

29:57

it's quite interesting. I

30:00

mean, he's always a gamble, I guess, but given

30:04

his pedigree is what? Southampton.

30:07

Yeah, youth head of youth

30:09

development or youth recruitment

30:11

at city and then technical

30:13

football directorate. I mean, what

30:15

he's now being asked through is a massive step

30:17

up. And I

30:20

mean, I, I guess Barada will probably know him, but

30:23

his relevant experience is relevant, but

30:25

not at that level at all. So,

30:28

I mean, I, yeah,

30:30

I hope he's good. He's going

30:32

to have to be. On which point I've

30:34

got a question from Brian Roy, friend of the show.

30:36

He says, on the next pod, could you adjust the

30:38

various roles you know, I've been hiring for and in

30:40

simple terms, what exactly the roles are supposed to be?

30:43

Browsford, Barada, Wilcox, Ashworth, et cetera, and so on. They

30:45

all seem to be very same-y titles. So

30:47

it would be good to know which each

30:49

one does plus anyone else. Yeah. I mean,

30:51

I think it's just simple really. Browsford's just

30:53

an easy consultant. He works for Ineos Sport,

30:56

the sports division of Ineos and

30:58

his best teammates with Jim Ratcliffe.

31:01

And I'm sure he'll disappear from being

31:03

sort of hands-on. Apparently he's been sleeping

31:06

at Carrington, which, no. Because wife kicked

31:08

him out. Maybe,

31:10

maybe that's it. Barada's

31:12

CEO is going to be CEO and

31:15

there isn't going to be a CEO above him

31:17

on the commercial side. So he's a CEO. Everyone

31:20

else who has an executive role will report to

31:23

him and he will report to the owners. So

31:25

I think that one's important. I guess, I think they just

31:28

added Barada. I think the thing with Barada is it will

31:30

be he is the guy who will be making the big

31:32

sign off on all the big decisions. Obviously

31:34

with money, you'll need to go to the money man. But

31:37

the person in the end, like Jim Ratcliffe,

31:39

if I'm a Barada guy, Barada comes and

31:41

says they're going to be the manager, Ratcliffe's

31:43

Ineos aren't going to probably overrule him because

31:45

they've employed him to not do that. But

31:48

it'll be. And I get the sense that

31:50

he is not going to be kissed right now.

31:52

Every budgeting decision goes to Florida

31:55

for a sign off or I think

31:57

actually Joel is based in Washington DC.

32:00

me. So

32:02

it goes to them for a sign-off and that's

32:04

why United are really, really slow and make really

32:06

crappy decisions and I think that's not

32:08

how United are going to operate from now

32:10

on. They will have a budget which

32:12

they have to have anyway for FFP, PSR,

32:14

squad cost rules, purposes

32:17

and he will go work for that budget.

32:19

Of course, that's the football side but he'll

32:21

have an overall budget. Will Cox,

32:24

hasn't he given the title of Football

32:26

Director or is he Technical Director? It's

32:28

one of these ones where he's not

32:30

Director of Football which will be Ashworth.

32:34

It seems like Will Cox will be quite

32:36

hands-on with some of the operational decisions around

32:38

there. I think he's going to be, not

32:40

day-to-day because that's manager but he's based on

32:43

manager's boss, isn't he? He's going

32:45

to be over the way that

32:47

this is how Manchester United are going to play. Obviously,

32:50

you have to talk to Barrage about

32:52

that but it will be him that

32:54

is across which kids they

32:57

might be good, where there are

32:59

other good players knocking around. I

33:01

would imagine managing the scouting system

33:04

and working out how we're going to

33:06

play. Basically,

33:09

the job we're the one, I guess, of this

33:11

is one. Yeah,

33:16

and there's a recruitment department. It doesn't seem

33:18

like they're changing the recruitment head of

33:20

Brian at the moment. Then Ashworth is

33:23

basically like a COO. It seems like

33:25

he's going to be doing the operation.

33:28

Who has responsibility for what? What the structure

33:30

should look like and this looks very much

33:32

like he has had a say in this

33:34

already, even though he's not done

33:37

with Link. He's on gardening leave at the moment.

33:39

I think that's

33:41

it. It just feels like a

33:43

professional modern. I guess Ashworth is

33:45

more like their contract, making

33:48

sure that all the scouts know where they're meant.

33:51

Everyone's in the right place at the right time.

33:53

The relationships are right and all

33:55

the different aspects of the club are

33:58

working in harmony. to

34:00

me feels like Ashworth's job. He doesn't feel

34:02

like he's a football expert, feels like he's

34:04

an expert. Whereas...

34:07

And then the other one is Darren Fletcher who...

34:09

It looks like he's going to have a kind

34:11

of path... Mascot. Which

34:14

is... Mascot. Now, which

34:16

kids have a potential

34:18

pathway towards the first team? Talking of

34:20

which, we didn't mention him but Wheatley

34:22

came off a massively winning season with

34:24

the under 18. So they won the

34:26

under 18's Premier League and the under

34:29

18's Premier League Cup, beat Manchester City.

34:31

He scored in that game. The Osgood hat-trick

34:33

against Liverpool and that beat them 9-1 a

34:36

couple of weeks ago. So it's been an

34:38

excellent season for him. He's a big unit.

34:41

He's skinny but 6'4". And

34:43

very, very nearly got a goal. Bruno,

34:46

apparently said to him when he

34:48

came on, enjoy it. I'm going to get

34:50

you a goal. They've got 8 minutes to get you a goal. I've

34:53

got 8 minutes to get you a goal.

34:55

He very nearly did it. There's that cross

34:57

that's just cut out and Wheatley standing there

34:59

about 3 yards out already, poked it in.

35:01

It was a shame. I was cheering him on. Give

35:05

him 250 players to come from

35:07

United's academy into the first team and United put

35:10

a really excellent video out on

35:12

the socials with most of the

35:14

250 players. Yeah, because I

35:16

won't lie. I find official

35:18

club United's focus on this

35:20

a little bit grating because

35:23

we're making a virtue out of necessity. Obviously,

35:27

United is all about giving young players

35:29

a chance and particularly ones that come

35:32

from Manchester or Stockport in this case.

35:35

So that's a great thing. But it

35:38

feels like it's been

35:40

used to take the piss out of us over the last

35:42

two decades. I mean,

35:44

look, there's good commercial reasons for

35:46

doing it. You spend a

35:48

fraction of the game out if you get a

35:50

good player coming into the team. You can build

35:53

a fourth revenue stream

35:57

if you sell players well. And

36:00

United is going to defer, you did

36:02

quite well sometimes too, everything in Sunderland.

36:05

Yeah, exactly. And also for whatever

36:07

the DNA of United is, it's

36:09

part of it. But it's true,

36:11

what happened in 1958 and the

36:13

youth team, there is some marketing

36:15

around it, which can go

36:17

from being identity to a stretch.

36:20

Yeah, it's not so much the

36:22

marketing is more, we're

36:24

having to use all these young

36:26

players because the team has been

36:29

undefended and neglected. And so

36:31

look, mostly,

36:34

but yeah, yeah, so you

36:36

get these players coming in, you think,

36:38

well, okay, but yeah, it

36:40

shouldn't actually be like this. And it shouldn't even be

36:42

like this now with all those kids on the bench.

36:45

But it feels, I guess,

36:47

like, hopefully, it's moving in the right

36:50

direction now. We're

36:52

going to run like a football club. I mean, maybe

36:54

the curse is still good, but

36:57

doing the right things at least. Yeah.

37:01

And there's a lot of those under 18 players that

37:03

are very, very good. Yeah, we've had a

37:05

few quite a few of them on the bench recently. All

37:07

right. And the weekend, Saturday,

37:10

we played Burnley Saturday, three o'clock

37:12

kickoff for the traditionalists

37:14

amongst you Burnley, said

37:17

that Drosberg, Burnley down basically, how many? I

37:19

mean, it's for

37:21

all Vincent company's sort of

37:23

pet laggie ola legacy. Yeah,

37:26

they've been pretty shit. They

37:29

well, I mean, I guess in

37:31

theory, there's only three points to

37:33

Nottingham Forest, given forest points deduction.

37:35

Could they make it? They just they've only won five

37:37

games this season. And their

37:40

goal difference is minus 32. Whereas

37:43

lads, we have positive goal this

37:45

morning. But I

37:47

think you're saying that at least

37:49

half silly going. Yeah, I mean,

37:52

we like, it's not worked

37:54

for Burnley, they've tried to play good football,

37:56

they do play good football, they're

37:58

going down. And Are there

38:00

any players that we like in the Burnley squad?

38:04

Even James Trafford who moved from

38:06

Manchester to England. Three hundred million pounds.

38:09

Huge fee. I

38:11

take a look closely at someone's laptop for that one,

38:13

what was going on. He's not

38:16

been the calming presence. He's good with his feet

38:18

though. So there you go. Yeah,

38:21

fat. Yeah, I mean, we're burning crap and we'll beat them.

38:23

I mean, I don't really know what else to say. For

38:26

me at this point, and I don't

38:28

know if this was, I'm looking at the Cup Final and

38:30

I'm thinking if I'm ten house, like you

38:32

have this problem, you have to get

38:34

the team firing for that Cup Final

38:36

without risking injury and fatigue

38:39

whilst still maintaining rhythm. And

38:42

getting a doe count, which is hard to

38:44

do, but also you need to be working on the plan.

38:47

I mean, I don't know and I could be totally making this

38:49

up, but when United are going for the

38:51

treble and they've got by coming up and they've got no

38:53

keys and no money, they've got to be there. No keys

38:55

and no skulls in the Blackburn game. Fergie

38:58

plays, I think he plays Giggs,

39:01

Bill Neville in midfield maybe? Because

39:03

it feels like he's experimenting and you think it, and

39:06

I actually felt like until the

39:08

Cup Final, when Beckham comes into midfield, when King

39:10

goes off and plays well, I think Giggs was

39:12

going to play midfield in that game. And

39:16

actually probably was a bit of a better decision

39:18

because... Fergie talked about it, didn't

39:20

he? He said, we were thinking about playing, well, for

39:22

the Champions League Final, we were thinking about playing Giggs

39:24

there, but we thought he was a two-person. Yeah,

39:27

so I thought, obviously we now know that Giggs

39:29

actually was a really good surgery field player and

39:31

this is one of my big regrets to him

39:33

playing that position when he was younger. But

39:36

also just think about it, the way that team would

39:38

most likely score a goal was Beckham crossing to the

39:40

middle. By putting him in the middle, they took that

39:42

away. They then compounded it by putting

39:44

Donfist on the left. Giggs on the right, yeah. And

39:47

Giggs on the right, so you've got Giggs and

39:49

Beckham out of position, Longfist as a thinker, and

39:53

he's just not as good. So, yeah, it's a

39:55

great bet. But I'd like

39:57

to see us... Working

40:00

towards. We've. Got

40:02

this game Will be familiar with a piece

40:05

of a similiar you I'll sit suitors a

40:07

second straight cup final. To say I mean

40:09

Lisa in their life and. He.

40:12

I. Want him to be trying to find a

40:14

way of making that happen? Yeah.

40:17

We're and and and a Israel Anyway,

40:19

we're going to beat city is by

40:21

having Cameo with Special Tax co plan

40:23

because it cannot be Chaos Bolt. It's.

40:26

Just cannot be. I'd una

40:28

I can have so much possession and

40:30

will crate semi chance. He said they

40:32

scott the city archetype of city Goal

40:34

is the archetype retail for the offer.

40:38

Did. For signature. Ah man

40:40

or I alone can be said to

40:42

me. Juri Pot thank you very much

40:44

for supporting us our I've probably be

40:46

back with the day Tomorrow Friday I

40:49

have a chaotic diary as he flew

40:51

gonna so appalled. At

40:53

least I know can assault part is

40:56

our younger. I

40:58

made it a would is and seekers or

41:00

the oh the schools are back in school

41:02

apart from the to school said they they

41:04

are I'll be further the different wide berth.

41:07

While. Dudley lunch on. There are cases

41:09

where army on the I can go on

41:11

then I go to down by don't enjoy

41:13

them on my sag. I we're

41:15

in Blackpool and we were on one of

41:17

these rise that I think com remember for

41:19

despise you up in smear revised down into

41:22

the app I did a moderate. We had

41:24

a fairly hex evening. We

41:26

do it and is what they're getting fired.

41:28

You have previously coming down on like sense

41:30

Why smoke trying. This

41:33

I use your. Kind. Of

41:35

with and on the eyes a little going on. Said.

41:38

Hates about it that that later that night.

41:41

Someone is a someone call it a shot

41:43

of insanity source and secreted among other shops.

41:45

I wasn't even necessarily when I was gonna

41:47

have a policy but I took more Edu

41:50

heist with I. Am not and

41:52

that was. That. was like

41:54

nothing was ever experienced before my life like

41:56

a full body experience so i don't even

41:58

know what it's like called my wife to tell

42:01

her that joke and then I was saying I realised

42:03

I was crying again. Oh dear

42:05

Daniel. I'm off

42:07

to a tequila night, tequila and me do

42:09

not mix very well and so

42:11

I'm rather worried about that one. In fact

42:13

the last time I drank tequila I was

42:15

with a friend of the show Joey in

42:18

Los Angeles watching the Liverpool vs Tottenham

42:21

Champions League final and managed to spend a

42:23

fair amount of that evening passed out. It's

42:25

not a good plan.

42:29

It's really not. Alright everyone don't do that. I've

42:31

been watching Liverpool with you every couple of days.

42:35

Much better. Yeah I'd rather have been passed out for

42:37

the whole bloody thing thank you very much. Not

42:39

a decade. At least we won't get to see

42:42

this the year and we won't get to see

42:44

a Liverpool title when touchy. Which is a funny

42:46

thing actually because before this is the first Champions

42:48

League final in a very

42:50

violent that we haven't had to worry

42:52

about what might happen. If

42:55

you go back through them so we've

42:57

got C Inter, Liverpool Madrid,

42:59

C Chelsea and we've got apart from

43:01

the Covid Paris Bayern one

43:03

then we've got Tottenham Liverpool, Madrid Liverpool, that

43:06

UVA Madrid one 16-17 was the last

43:08

time apart from the Covid one where

43:10

it wasn't horrendous. That's

43:13

nice. Nice feeling isn't it? Although

43:15

I think we're probably going to see a City

43:17

Title win. I'm just going to write it after

43:19

cheating. Alright thanks

43:21

very much everyone. Bye now.