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Weekend Review: Man City & Arsenal take the Premier League title race down to the wire!

Weekend Review: Man City & Arsenal take the Premier League title race down to the wire!

Released Monday, 13th May 2024
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Weekend Review: Man City & Arsenal take the Premier League title race down to the wire!

Weekend Review: Man City & Arsenal take the Premier League title race down to the wire!

Weekend Review: Man City & Arsenal take the Premier League title race down to the wire!

Weekend Review: Man City & Arsenal take the Premier League title race down to the wire!

Monday, 13th May 2024
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0:00

And now to pigeons bemoaning the

0:02

fact you can stream Directv Satellite

0:04

freak. A Frank a little birdie told

0:06

me you don't need a satellite dish to

0:08

get Directv. Was little Birdie was a Jimmy

0:11

the sparrow. It's a figure of speech.

0:13

Point is you can stream Directv

0:15

over the internet. Now, oh sure, Nash,

0:17

You going to tell those big birds

0:20

are made of metal and filled with

0:22

people? Right Further, you mean airplanes stream

0:24

Directv without a satellite dish? Call one

0:26

Eight Hundred Directv. Terms are restrictions apply.

0:50

Welcome to the Total Soccer

0:52

Show Weekend Review. Man City and

0:54

Arsenal are storming through May, so the

0:57

title race will go down to the

0:59

final day. For Arsenal this week, Leandro

1:01

Trossard was the hero after a helping

1:04

hand from a dozy chasm hero. Eric

1:06

Tenhargseib was put together on the hoof,

1:08

and it's got more holes in it

1:10

than Old Trafford's roof. Sunthorpe City would

1:13

have drama at Fulham, but there was

1:15

none except when Noel Gallagher refused to

1:17

do the pos none. Vince and

1:19

company style of play has had

1:21

some causation in the form of

1:23

Burnley's reallocation, and at Kenilworth Road

1:25

there can't be much disputing that

1:27

the top flight dream is over

1:29

for poor old Luton. Elsewhere, Levicus

1:31

and Shono signs a fatigue. Bologna

1:33

are heading for the Champions League,

1:35

a puller sick brace made for

1:37

a joyful Milanese night, and when

1:39

NYCFC went to Toronto, there was

1:41

a big ol' fight. My name's Ryan

1:43

Bailey, joining me today to review the

1:45

weekend your friend and my Taylor Rocco.

1:48

Hello Taylor. Hello, as always I

1:50

appreciated and hated your introduction and equal measure.

1:52

Thank you Ryan Bailey, nicely done. Was

1:54

it the meme Kazimiro thing I said Taylor, was it

1:56

that? It- none of it was mean, it's just how

1:58

accurate it all is. And then the old

2:01

traffic roof falling in which is apparently a thing

2:03

that started over a decade ago And has not

2:05

been repaired if ever there were a good

2:07

metaphor for the state of Manchester United

2:09

It is probably the leaking roof. Yes

2:11

looks at when Alex Ferguson left looks

2:14

at when leaking roofs started Oh correlation

2:16

interesting It's almost like he was responsible

2:18

for everything and made all of the

2:20

decisions and when he left No

2:22

one had prepared for that and now maybe things

2:24

have not gone. Well. He was a good seller.

2:26

Yeah Playlessly on that last game

2:29

was it West Brom and that final game He

2:31

played we had the belt on with the hammer in

2:33

it and the tape and everything walking off with it.

2:35

Yeah, yeah, I'm down in tools You

2:38

all would not hire that like the tireless. I wanted

2:40

I was there to do the work. This is it

2:42

for me I'm done and yes He he has

2:44

honored that that promise to not do any more roofing

2:46

work at Old Trafford and we've seen the consequences Also

2:50

joining us Taylor a man who surely enjoyed me

2:52

rhyming none with Poznan Joe Lowry. Hello Joe. I

2:54

loved it Ryan I always appreciate your rhymes own

2:56

calm access every Monday morning. It really brightens the

2:58

start of my week. Oh Joe

3:03

with the sausage production showing how it's

3:05

made. Thank you very much indeed Joe

3:07

Lowry You just heard his voice. Also

3:09

Graham big Thunder Mountain. Rodman is here

3:11

Graham. I'm sorry my friend You had

3:13

to suffer a relegation this weekend a

3:15

sterling album. Your boys are dropping. I'm

3:17

sorry. Yeah. Hello Ryan Yes,

3:19

not ideal, but this is my fourth

3:21

relegation as a stolen Albion fan. I'm only

3:24

32 So that gives you an idea of

3:26

how common it is for stolen Albion to go up and

3:28

come straight back down again I am used

3:30

to at this point, but nonetheless still painful Painful

3:33

indeed if you'd like to see

3:35

that pain manifested in video form

3:37

listener patreon.com Total soccer show

3:39

is where you'll get our bonus content bonus videos

3:41

including one with Graham from the weekend go ahead

3:43

Graham I was just going to

3:45

trail your video from the Charlotte FC

3:47

game Which is the best patreon content

3:50

right now on CSS plus I very

3:52

much enjoyed your video from the Charlotte

3:54

game And predict that your youngest daughter

3:56

will have a big future in there

3:58

and comedy. She's hilarious. Thank you very

4:00

much, Graham, that's kind of you to say yes,

4:02

listen if you want to see me exploiting my

4:04

kids for the Patreon you can see a video

4:06

of me at the weekend where they were very

4:08

much front and centre and it is very good

4:10

if I don't say so myself. Bonus content there

4:12

and also access to our Discord you'll find on

4:14

patreon.com/Total Soccer Show if you'd like to support

4:17

the show that is the best way to

4:19

do so please and thank you! By

4:22

the way also we can review extras going on the

4:24

feed this week, we're going to be talking about the

4:26

old firm Darby, we're going to be talking about Killian

4:28

Mbappe and his new moves, promotions and title races

4:30

across the universe, so much coming on the

4:33

feed, thank you very much. Taylor?

4:35

We do need to hurry up and get to that week

4:38

and review extra because I believe there is another old firm

4:40

Darby scheduled for like four hours from now, I think that's

4:42

how it works so we've got to get this one out

4:44

before that one kicks off. Two weeks, come on! They're

4:46

not that close together. My apologies. We'll get it before the next

4:49

one but not the next one after that which

4:51

is a few hours later. We'll try and squeeze it in.

4:53

Yeah. The

4:55

Psychology 101 B-minus

4:57

student in me really wants to spend some time

4:59

breaking down the fact that Graham has gone with

5:01

an Orlando jersey on the day that, or

5:04

like after the weekend in which his club was

5:06

relegated, I feel like that is a statement about

5:08

how he is no longer in favor of Pro-Rel,

5:10

he wants single entity, he wants something I'll be

5:12

in around forever with no relegation for it whatsoever.

5:15

You've really delved deep into my subconscious there, wasn't

5:17

even aware of that but yeah there might be

5:19

something in that Taylor. Wow

5:21

Graham just pines for the cuisine that gave

5:23

his wife food poisoning at the Orlando Stadium,

5:25

was that it Graham? That's

5:27

indeed no hot dogs to get at football matches from

5:29

your heart. Wonderful

5:32

stuff. Alright why don't we get to the

5:34

Premier League? We were looking at the title race which

5:36

is guaranteed to go down to the final day of

5:38

the season. We've got relegation permutations

5:40

from the weekend as well. Burnley went down,

5:43

Luton looked like they're all but down but

5:45

not quite mathematically all three promoted clubs are

5:47

dropping again. Graham

5:49

to top line talk about the title

5:52

race it will technically go down to

5:54

the final day. Why doesn't

5:56

it feel more exciting? Because

5:59

Manse are involved in it. Man City have

6:01

the advantage, of course, they play

6:03

Tottenham Hotspur on Tuesday night. I

6:06

do think that people are maybe

6:08

jumping the gun a little bit on calling

6:10

this title race because Spurs have given Man

6:12

City trouble this season. They drew 3-3 at

6:14

the end he had, but of course you look at the form of

6:16

the two teams. I understand why people

6:18

think Manchester City are going to scroll that

6:21

one on Tuesday night. Kai Havert said after

6:23

the win away to Manchester City

6:25

for Arsenal on Sunday that he's going to be

6:27

the biggest Spurs fan in the world on Tuesday

6:29

and I suspect he won't be the only

6:31

Arsenal-associated person rooting for Tottenham which I presume

6:33

will make everyone feel very uncomfortable. I'm

6:36

not sure if I go that far. There's

6:38

not going to be many Kai Havert's out

6:40

there is there, Graham? Surely. Well, the thing

6:42

is, I tweeted about this, right? I don't

6:44

really understand this sense that, oh, Arsenal fans

6:46

maybe won't want Tottenham to win on Tuesday

6:48

night. If you're balancing the two things, it

6:50

would be a win over Man City for

6:52

Spurs that secures fifth place for them versus

6:54

Arsenal winning their first title since Arsene Wenger

6:56

was in charge. So when you balance those

6:58

two things, I think they can maybe just

7:00

swallow their pride and root for Tottenham on

7:02

Tuesday night. Not that it will matter, of

7:04

course. City will probably just win

7:06

that one anyway. We shall see. For

7:09

the meantime, let's talk about the weekend action. Joe,

7:11

let's go to Old Trafford, the stadium with the

7:13

leaky roof aforementioned. A 1-0 win for Arsenal that

7:15

put Arsenal back at the top of the table.

7:19

What are we making this one? Kazimiro playing

7:21

habits onside for the opener by having

7:24

a nice, relaxing walk. Just getting his steps in.

7:27

Just a scroll. Yeah, he was close to the Apple Watch

7:29

ring being closed. I was like, guys, I've got to hit

7:31

it. I'm not going to hit it the rest of the

7:33

game. I've got to do it right now. Yeah, a brutal

7:36

performance for Manchester United in the opening stages. I thought actually

7:38

they sort of rebounded and put together a

7:40

somewhat coherent defensive outing after that. Arsenal didn't

7:42

really feel the need to get out of

7:44

first gear after Landryfis-Fassard scored that goal in

7:46

the 20th minute. So it's not exactly like

7:48

Manchester United were being tested in any major

7:50

ways. I'm going to start with Arsenal though,

7:52

because this was a really, really big win

7:54

for them. There is no real

7:56

margin for error given what we know Man City

7:59

are capable of. while still taking your point, Graham,

8:01

about Tottenham being a club that has given them

8:03

some problems in the past. Arsenal needed three points

8:05

in this game. They needed to continue to push.

8:07

They cannot afford to drop points. They don't control

8:09

their own destiny at this point, Man City do.

8:11

Arsenal have to do everything they can to put

8:14

themselves in as good of a spot while hoping

8:16

that things go well around them. So this was

8:18

a must-win game for Arsenal. And credit to them,

8:20

they got the job done. The opener from Tristar,

8:22

the only goal of this game, was

8:24

such a nice strike from him and a nice

8:26

bit of off-ball movement. If you toss out some of

8:29

the Manchester United defensive issues here, like

8:31

Tristar's movement is so incredibly sharp,

8:33

lurking on the weak side. Kai Haberz

8:35

is played onside, as already discussed, and

8:38

he drives down and ends up playing this

8:40

right-footed cut back to Tristar. But it's the

8:42

timing of the movement from the left-winger for

8:44

Arsenal, working his way towards the middle, just

8:46

staying patient, staying patient, and then bursting into

8:48

that space between Juan Basaca and

8:50

Casamiro in Manchester United's back line, and

8:52

the timing is absolutely perfect. It was

8:54

a fine margin kind of game for

8:56

Arsenal, and they played a few of

8:58

those this season, but a one-no-win

9:01

is really all they needed, especially because,

9:03

assuming City don't blow out Tottenham, and

9:05

that's not necessarily something we can assume,

9:07

they do have Arsenal the goal-differential advantage. Right now,

9:10

they're up three goals, I believe, in goal-differential, which

9:12

could play a really big part on the final

9:14

day. Still a lot to be done between now

9:16

and then, though. Yeah, and in one

9:18

sense, I think this match showed how far

9:21

Arsenal have come, in that they played well

9:23

within themselves in this match. They didn't play

9:25

anywhere close to their best. And

9:27

yet, they still won one-nil away at Old

9:30

Trafford, a venue Arsenal have had historical problems

9:32

with. And I understand this Manchester United team

9:35

is not the same side that it

9:37

has been in the past, and this is where I

9:39

kind of come to the other side of the argument.

9:41

In another sense, I was surprised at how much respect

9:43

they gave a Manchester United team that right now isn't

9:45

anything to fear. They're in dreadful form. Crystal Palace put

9:47

four goals past United last week on Monday

9:49

night, and also Manchester United

9:51

are missing, arguably, their two best players, at

9:53

least in an attacking sense, Bruno Fernandez and

9:55

Marcus Rashford, who are out injured at the

9:58

moment. But Arsenal, they gave... United

10:00

a lot of the ball, certainly in the

10:02

second half, they allowed them to build pressure

10:04

in that second period to a point.

10:06

I never really felt like United were on the brink

10:08

of scoring, but nonetheless, there was a lot of time

10:11

they spent in the Arsenal half. And

10:13

maybe that was Arsenal leaning into their strength this season,

10:15

which has been their defence. Of course,

10:17

they have the best defence in the Premier League. But still,

10:20

I felt like Arsenal could have been more

10:22

aggressive and pushed more forcefully for that second

10:25

goal without risking too much. All it takes

10:27

is Garnaccio to stick one in the top

10:29

corner from outside the box or a deflected strike to wrong

10:31

foot to have a dry and all of a sudden this title

10:33

is over for Arsenal. So in terms of the risk reward, I

10:35

don't know if they got that balance right, but they got the

10:37

three points at the end, so what did I know? Now

10:40

I'm obviously coming at this from a Man United

10:42

fan perspective, but I saw it a different way

10:44

Graham. I think it's more so

10:46

the word is out on Manchester United

10:48

and they will only beat you on

10:50

the counter when you get overextended. They

10:53

are great at improvisational attacking at counter-attacking

10:55

plays. They are not good when it

10:57

comes to sustained possession and build up

10:59

and finding pockets of space and creating

11:01

one-twos and combinations. And so I think

11:03

for Arsenal, the approach was be steady,

11:05

don't give the ball away in advantageous

11:07

positions for the opposition, get

11:09

that goal and then see the game out. And

11:11

I think they executed that game plan pretty successfully.

11:13

To me, this was a team

11:16

that really didn't have to get out of like second

11:18

year and so they didn't, coasting

11:20

to a win of sorts. Yes, there are

11:22

opportunities here and there for Manchester United, but

11:24

I think overall it was more so, we

11:26

know you're not going to beat us with

11:29

possession, so have some ball and see what

11:31

happens. I think it was really interesting that

11:33

over here at least the covers in like

11:35

the 77th minute turned to surely

11:37

Manchester City would have put them to the sword

11:39

by now. And that was the talking point, is

11:41

how Arsenal hadn't scored a second goal or a

11:43

third goal, to your point Graham. And

11:45

I think that is sort of how far the

11:47

bar has been raised by Manchester City, that it

11:50

used to be champions find a way to win

11:52

and that's what it takes to win is you

11:55

play ugly, you don't have a particularly inspiring game but

11:57

you get the 1-0 win, eventually that gets you to

11:59

the title. And this season Manchester

12:01

City, who have really started

12:03

turning on the goals of late, it

12:06

feels like they have sort of raised

12:08

that bar a bit now that not only can you grind

12:10

them out, but you have to grind out to like a

12:12

2 or 3-0 win. That's the expectation. Taylor,

12:14

I know we don't spend too much time on Man United

12:17

because we do spend too much time on them being a

12:19

not very good team at the moment. But then you are

12:21

making a mistake coming to me. Let's go. Here

12:23

we go anyway. Let's ride the roller coaster here.

12:26

Is this the worst Man United team you've

12:28

seen in your lifetime as a supporter? Roy

12:30

Keane after the game, you look at that

12:32

last half an hour he said, the decision

12:34

making, nobody digging anybody out, people making mistakes

12:36

and falling over, everyone just walking away, nobody

12:38

putting demands on each other. You look at

12:40

that starting line up with Evans and Kazimiro

12:43

in the back. Can you recall a worse

12:46

Man United team? I would say

12:48

the one that beat Arsenal 8-2 under

12:50

Célax Ferguson was probably a worse team.

12:53

I don't think it is the worst team.

12:55

I think it is the most depressing Man United

12:57

team because there's just, I don't have any sort

12:59

of hope or belief that they

13:01

are going to find some combination that works. It

13:03

doesn't seem like the players do either. And

13:06

really the stadium just flooding and

13:08

waterfalls from the roof, running

13:11

down the steps, leaks everywhere, leaks in the

13:13

away dressing room. It was just

13:15

a, it had to be a very embarrassing

13:17

weekend for anyone connected

13:19

to Man United. And that

13:22

includes the players who I think you could just see

13:24

that lack of belief, that

13:26

lack of motivation, whatever it was. I know

13:29

we don't always love to get to the

13:31

intangibles, but drilling down for a moment on

13:33

the Kazimiro, whatever

13:35

it was, casual jog, it's a casual jog

13:37

back to begin with. So he's

13:40

opening up, he's trying to get in a position where

13:42

he can be an outlet pass for Andre Onana and

13:45

just doesn't, he sort of jogs back and he,

13:47

by the time Onana makes the decision, it's

13:49

sort of already made, Kazimiro isn't even in a

13:51

position yet to actually help. And

13:53

then he goes jogging forward. And the thing that

13:55

was so revealing to me is

13:58

how little he reacts to it. everything and

14:00

I don't mean that in the sense of

14:02

like oh he's stunned or or whatever goes flying

14:04

into a challenge it's just he jogs back he

14:06

jogs forward oh haver says the ball and he's

14:08

wide open and I kept him on I guess

14:11

I'll kind of casually jog to the middle oh

14:13

he played the ball in and they scored like

14:15

shrug and walked back and it was there was

14:17

just no moment of putting the hand in the

14:19

air there was no moment of I've

14:21

got to do something I've got to put out some fires I've

14:23

got to help organize it just felt like a player kind of

14:25

going through the motions I tend to

14:27

believe that he just really didn't want to be in

14:29

that position and maybe hasn't loved having to

14:31

deputize its center back I do buy into the idea that

14:34

there are other players who maybe could have done that better

14:36

but it's worth noting that even if he

14:38

had stepped up Aaron one bessaka is still two

14:41

yards behind the line as well that wouldn't have

14:43

been enough to keep Kai Havertz on but

14:46

it was indicative of a larger sort

14:48

of disconnect in that defensive

14:50

line that routinely one one bessaka was

14:52

five yards deeper or Casimir was five

14:54

yards deeper and there's just no organizing

14:56

there's no player in

14:58

there that really is sort of trying to

15:00

get everybody on board get everybody on the

15:02

same page and it feels like instead

15:05

the players who would do that have sort of just

15:07

if not given up then it feels a bit more

15:10

like why try why continue to exert myself when the

15:12

season is almost over that nothing good is going to

15:14

come of it and the

15:16

stadium is flooding so maybe we'll see what

15:18

happens next season I did want

15:20

to spotlight if I'm gonna be positive for a

15:22

moment Kai Havertz because he checks

15:25

his shoulder and you can see him almost do a

15:27

double take of like oh wow I am very onside

15:29

and the hand goes up immediately but there's just it's

15:31

it's how quick he processes like

15:34

this semi double take and then immediately hand in the

15:36

air calling for the ball and it's really good awareness

15:38

from I can't remember it's Ben White or Saka who

15:40

plays him in but either will either way it's just

15:42

very it's such a quick

15:44

efficient switch to attack and

15:46

then the balls in the back of the net as

15:48

Joe outlined again one bessaka not doing much to put

15:51

Trussard off there either so

15:53

it's again it's a sign of how kind of fluid

15:55

and consistent arsenal can be and the

15:58

opposite being the case for Manchester you know Yeah,

16:00

I think it's fair to say at this point

16:02

that Cas Miro isn't a central defender. I'm not

16:05

sure. He is at this point. Give it a

16:07

couple more games. A couple more games. No, I

16:09

don't think. I think that's a bad idea. And

16:11

he wasn't playing particularly well as the anchor in

16:13

my next midfield earlier in the season either. So

16:16

I have rarely seen a player who's just

16:18

dropped off so dramatically, whether that's down to motivation or

16:20

physicality, I don't know. But he has done it, Manchester

16:23

United, they need to ship him off to Saudi Arabia

16:25

as soon as they

16:27

can. Saudi Arabian and Saudi Arabian clubs actually want

16:29

to bid for him. To flip

16:31

it to the Arsenal defense. What? Sorry.

16:34

Manchester United should stay away at

16:36

this point. Charlotte. To flip it

16:39

to the... Charlotte. No?

16:42

OK, just me? I mean, he's paying £350,000 a week at

16:44

the moment and he's getting that for another two years. I'm

16:47

not sure many unless Angel can compete. He's got to be

16:49

on similar, surely? No. Yeah, yeah, good £300,000. I'd

16:51

say, yeah, short run. Good forward. I

16:54

love that. Nice. I

16:57

might win them a Premier League title. And

16:59

William Saliba in particular, I thought he

17:02

was... I mean, there weren't a huge

17:04

number of standout performers for Arsenal. Trussard

17:06

obviously gets the winning goal. Havarts

17:08

was effective with a lot of his movement as

17:10

the mobile centre forward and obviously sets up the

17:13

winning goal as well. I thought William Saliba

17:15

was the best player on the pitch. And I still don't

17:17

think he gets enough credit. He should

17:19

be in the Player of the Year discussion in

17:21

the Premier League. He hasn't been nominated for that

17:24

award, which I just think highlights how we... And

17:27

I'm talking about myself here as well. We naturally

17:29

favour attacking players for those awards. But William Saliba

17:31

has been excellent. He was excellent in this game.

17:33

He made a brilliant tackle in Gurnachio in the

17:35

second half where he backtracked and backtracked and then

17:37

timed the tackle perfectly to win the ball cleanly

17:40

and stop a United attack, which was... That

17:42

was one of the few moments where United had a

17:44

quick transition moment, which we know that's basically the only

17:46

way they can score a goal. I think at this

17:49

point Saliba probably is the closest we've had in the

17:51

Premier League to... Do you remember that

17:53

season Van Dyke was just incredible and there was that unbelievable statistic

17:55

about he hadn't been dribbled past in

17:57

an entire season. I think we've seen similar from

17:59

William Saliba. Saliba, he has that same quality where

18:01

it's just impossible to get past him. He

18:04

is very good on the ball. But I think

18:06

his most valuable asset is just

18:08

the natural composure that steadies that entire Arsenal

18:10

back lane. You have him alongside Gabriel, who's

18:12

very good in his own right, but he's

18:14

more like the outward aggression

18:16

in that partnership, like the Nemanja

18:18

Vidic next to Rio Ferdinand. And

18:21

I contrast Saliba to Casamiro's performance.

18:24

And that is the starkest comparison I can

18:26

make between these two teams at the moment. I

18:28

thank East tremendous, William Saliba, and this was

18:30

one of his best performances this season. Well, and

18:32

one of the most impressive parts about Saliba

18:34

Gremen, I love that you spotlighted him because we

18:36

haven't talked about him enough this year, even

18:38

within the context of Arsenal's defense being their best

18:41

attribute or their defensive structure that leads into

18:43

their defense. Saliba is also the

18:45

youngest member of that back line on

18:47

a regular basis. 23 years old, Gabriel

18:49

is 26, Ben White also 26.

18:52

Saliba is the young center back. Tomi Asu

18:54

was making up that back four and picking

18:56

up varied positions, obviously. But also 25. So

18:59

Saliba is the youngest member of this

19:01

back line and is consistently, very,

19:04

very consistently, the most dangerous and effective of

19:06

those center backs. He does so many things

19:09

while he's so effective defending as sort of

19:11

the back point oftentimes of that back

19:14

three. He's just unbelievable in every phase.

19:16

You mentioned the composure Gremen, that's spot

19:18

on. His ability on the ball is

19:20

excellent. His mobility off the ball is

19:22

so incredibly huge. Like I

19:24

think it goes underrated and under discussed

19:27

how important having like perfect

19:29

center backs are for these teams that want to

19:31

control games. If you have a center back who

19:33

is error prone, if you have a center back

19:35

who is incapable of covering ground, if you have

19:37

a center back who is not really a line

19:39

breaker or at least a ball progressor in some

19:41

way in possession, that's

19:43

a crack. That's a crack in the foundation

19:45

of your team that sends so many other

19:47

things into full chaos mode around it. Arsenal

19:50

don't have very many of those cracks and

19:52

Saliba is so, so good at just

19:54

23 in their back line. Is indeed

19:56

one positive Taylor from the weekend for Manchester United,

19:58

the women's team won the. FA Cup,

20:00

a big win over Tottenham, on the

20:03

same day that the thunder and roof

20:05

leaking and Casamiro crawling around

20:07

happened at Old Trafford. So

20:09

there you go. Jim Radcliffe chose to be at

20:11

Old Trafford rather than at Wembley celebrating his women's

20:13

team. Bad choice. Yeah. But

20:16

he did put out a tweet saying congratulations.

20:18

So that's the same thing, I'm pretty sure.

20:20

Yeah. There was not to

20:23

defend the billionaire tax exile or anything, but

20:25

there was a reason why he was at

20:27

Old Trafford. Ironically, given that the roof collapsed

20:29

on this day, the task force for the

20:31

redevelopment of Old Trafford was meeting on Sunday.

20:34

So that's why Keir Starmer, who's going to be the new prime

20:36

minister in the UK later this year, was there as

20:38

well. So there was a reason. But

20:40

yeah, maybe more than a tweet to congratulate the FA

20:43

Cup winning, women's team would have

20:45

been a good idea. All those task

20:47

force plans are all wet, all the inks run on them now.

20:49

We'll never know what they said. What a shame. Much

20:52

now. We had a plan. Now it's gone. OK,

20:55

real quick, before we go to a break, let's

20:57

talk about Man City's 4-0 win at Fulham. Just

21:00

go gradient with two goals in that. No sign

21:02

of nerves, Graham, from Man City at this point.

21:04

Obviously, we all know the highlight of the game

21:06

was Noel Gallagher sitting or standing, I should say,

21:08

with the away fans. And when they all turn

21:10

around to do the positive where you turn around

21:12

and put your arms around each other and jump

21:14

up and down, he's the only person just standing

21:17

for and going, nope, I'm a very grumpy old

21:19

man. I will stand and look forward. Kind

21:21

of loved it. Don't look back in anger. Hey.

21:26

Yes, this was a nervous performance by Manchester

21:29

City, just two games to go for them

21:31

until they can celebrate a fourth successive title,

21:33

which no team has ever done before

21:35

in the Premier League era at that point, I

21:38

think. I mean, they might already be at this

21:40

point of being the best ever

21:42

Premier League team. I'm not sure I've seen a level

21:44

of dominance from another side in Premier

21:46

League history. As mentioned earlier, they've got Spurs

21:48

on Tuesday night. I think Spurs will try

21:50

and go toe to toe with City, and

21:52

that is risky. If it all comes

21:55

together, as it has at times this season, that

21:57

game could be a real hurdle for City. So

21:59

I'm not ready to say. this this thing is

22:01

done yet but after performances like the one City

22:03

produced against Fulham winning 4-0 I

22:05

am almost there very very impressive one player

22:07

I want to highlight I always find it

22:09

a little bit weird highlighting the performance of

22:11

a defender when they score as if that's

22:14

the indicator of them playing well but I'm

22:16

gonna do it anyway with Josh Go Guevario

22:18

because he has been excellent recently scores two

22:20

goals in this game we spoke about Guevario

22:22

earlier in the season when City were having

22:24

some troubles they were conceding a

22:26

lot of fast-break goals and I specifically

22:28

remember highlighting Guevario and saying he was struggling

22:30

with the workload of playing on the left side of

22:32

that City back three but over the last two months

22:35

he's really got to grips with the role and in

22:37

this match Guevario was the one keeping the width on

22:39

the left side and there was a lot of space

22:41

in behind I think it was De Córdova Reeds on

22:43

that side to exploit and that's

22:45

what he did particularly for the first goal which is

22:48

such a calm finish for a defender the little given

22:50

goal with Foden I think it is and then the

22:52

drive into the middle it's a great goal in general

22:54

not just the finish and I'm still getting my head

22:56

around this kind of center back his

22:59

full backs trend I'm not totally sure if I'm

23:01

on if I'm on board with it let's just

23:03

say I never do that in football manager it

23:05

might just be I'm not intelligent enough for that

23:07

that's entirely possible but the way

23:10

Guevario is now performing that role he's doing

23:12

it as well as anyone else so I

23:14

think him becoming more comfortable with Pep Sisto

23:16

and with Manchester City has proved to be

23:18

a bit of a turning point in their

23:21

season and just in Man City looking unbeatable

23:23

and much more secure Graham I love

23:25

that you highlighted Guardiola it's not just like

23:27

the left side at center back but like

23:29

the left back slash left winger he was

23:31

holding the width in this game and we've

23:33

seen it before we've seen it before in

23:35

bits and pieces this was the most effective

23:37

expand for Guardiola because he scores two goals

23:39

and the first one is like I swear

23:41

a goal that Raheem Sterling probably scored a

23:43

dozen times in the first iteration of Pep's

23:45

Manchester City teams it's wild and I'm sort

23:47

of wondering is this the final form tactically

23:49

for Pep Guardiola like okay you did the

23:51

midfielders all over the field thing now we're

23:53

doing the center backs level maybe maybe he's

23:55

got to do like number nines and needs to

23:57

find ten more early Hollins and sort of take

24:00

He tacked his way through to a title with those

24:02

players. It is absurd and absurd

24:04

how effective Guevardial was doing

24:06

that job in this game. It

24:08

says so much. There was a clip going around on

24:10

social media the other day of someone

24:13

recording from basically field level a

24:15

Cole Palmer cross field switch. And

24:18

the caption was just like, it's crazy how

24:20

easy these players make soccer look. Like it

24:22

just looks so effortless. And it's really almost

24:24

like a no look 60 yard diagonal that

24:26

we all know is incredibly difficult. Like

24:28

Guevardial doing this stuff in this game in

24:31

city in general, but especially Guevardial on the

24:33

left, like dribbling forward and

24:35

slaloming like a winger and then also defending and

24:38

also having the body of a center back and

24:40

the passing ability to unlock teams from deep. It

24:43

was a reminder for me of how incredibly

24:45

good these players are at the sport. Like

24:47

it's the most basic take ever, but sometimes

24:49

it's just so easy to like nitpick and

24:51

pinpoint all the flaws and whatever. When in

24:54

reality, like these dudes are just insane at

24:56

this stupid game. And Guevardial is very, very

24:58

good in this new role. It's

25:00

almost like being really well coached in a

25:02

coach's influence is important. Joe, here's

25:04

my question then for the group. And I

25:07

say this not, I say this out of

25:09

like kind of genuine curiosity, Joe has me

25:11

wondering about like tactical innovation and moving players

25:13

around. Like at this point,

25:15

if you had to have a deputy center back, would

25:17

you rather have Casamiro or Erling Holland start as your

25:20

center back? Because I think my answer would be Holland.

25:22

I think it's like physicality and speed, like

25:24

he could do some Kyle Walker business. My

25:27

perfect answer is I would have me as a

25:30

partner to whoever that center back is gonna be,

25:32

Teddy, because when I played at college and when

25:34

I played before that, I

25:36

played center back. My job was to go up, up

25:38

and shout up, everybody get up. As

25:40

you push forward, Casamiro just needed someone to say up

25:42

to him. Ryan and Casamiro. It would have been fine.

25:44

I love it, yeah. I don't think Erling Holland needs

25:46

anyone to yell up. So I think we've got to

25:48

pair Ryan with Casamiro. My answer is

25:51

Casamiro, Taylor, but it is depressing for you that

25:53

we're having this conversation. And I did it

25:55

to myself. Thank you, Joel. All right, why

25:57

don't we take a quick break? When we come back, we'll go around the rest

25:59

of the. Premier League when it goes around the continent and

26:01

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26:56

Soccer Show, welcome back to The Weeknd Review.

26:58

We go to Tottenham's 2-1 win over Burnley

27:00

which ensured Burnley will return to the Championship

27:03

for next season. They did take the lead

27:05

in this one but as we say, one

27:07

season in the Premier League just for Burnley.

27:10

I mean, Joe, you mentioned Pep in

27:12

his final form in the last segment.

27:15

It feels like Vincent Kompany's final form

27:17

was his original form. The issue being

27:19

that he's stuck to his guns hasn't

27:21

really changed the system at all whereas

27:23

you think someone like Pep, despite having

27:25

a philosophy, does change things up a

27:27

little bit. Even like you

27:29

look at Burnley taking the opening goal, it started with

27:32

a lateral pass from a defender to a goalkeeper in

27:34

their own box. They almost lost possession like three times

27:36

during the play. They got the ball in the back

27:38

of net. It

27:40

feels like they should have maybe

27:42

made some concessions to being a weaker

27:44

team in the Premier League, Joe. Yeah,

27:46

it's possible. I mean, they averaged 37%

27:49

possession in this game. On the whole, they have

27:51

not exactly dominated the ball in a lot of

27:53

these games. I think it's a little unfair to

27:56

say that they haven't changed the tactical approach at

27:58

all. But along with the general... point

28:00

that maybe you're making there, Ryan, they're not like bottom of

28:02

the table in terms of possession in the Premier League this

28:04

year. They're sitting at 46.7%. They've been okay to keep the

28:06

ball, even

28:08

if they haven't been as nearly as dominant as they were

28:10

in the championship. And I'm not even talking in terms of

28:13

results. I'm talking in terms of style of play. So

28:15

I think there is some something fair

28:17

there, Ryan. I'm just thinking that's

28:19

pretty far down the list of Burnley's problems this year

28:22

in that they don't really have a lot of players

28:24

that scare you in any way.

28:26

And that was a concern for all of us,

28:28

right? We've sort of all appreciated how

28:30

fun and controlled and creative this Burnley

28:32

team was in the championship last year.

28:34

We talked about in the Premier League

28:36

previews, like, you know, is

28:38

this good enough? That's always the question with all. We

28:41

did that same thing with Ipswich and Lester last week

28:43

on the Big Thing episode. It's

28:45

a huge question, and I don't think you can look at this

28:47

Burnley team and say, yeah, man, they've

28:49

got the talent to like feel really, really good about

28:51

staying up, especially when they've had some of the injury

28:53

issues that they've had this year. I

28:55

am very conflicted in my understanding of

28:57

Burnley because like reading a lot

29:00

of kind of obituaries about this

29:02

season, the consensus

29:04

seems to be that they started this Premier

29:06

League season with a weaker team than they

29:08

finished their championship campaign because of the number

29:10

of players they had on loan and the

29:12

number of minutes those loony players

29:14

played for Burnley. And then a few of

29:16

those players were given the option to sign

29:18

for Burnley permanently or make another loan move.

29:21

And somebody like Mattson instead decides to

29:23

go to Dortmund. That has worked out well for

29:25

him. I forget who the one

29:28

is who chose Nathan Tawa, who chooses to go

29:30

to Leverkusen. That was probably a good choice for

29:32

him as well. So they don't have sort of

29:34

key performers from last season coming in. They have

29:36

to replace them. They don't have the budget to

29:39

replace them with proven Premier League players. So

29:41

they have a really young team that are

29:44

entering a Premier League season that don't quite know what

29:46

to expect with a manager who hasn't managed in the

29:48

Premier League yet. And things go the way they do.

29:51

And that's where I then kind of flip to.

29:53

But if this were anyone other than Vincent Kompany,

29:55

I am definitely criticizing them and

29:57

saying it's a manager who is sticking to

29:59

their guns. and sort of not adapting and

30:01

there's been plenty written about how hard he has

30:03

worked and how much work has been put into

30:05

this Burnley team. And I think a

30:07

lot of that is with Vincent Company being the kind

30:09

of marquee name for that club. I understand

30:11

why they didn't want to part ways. But it's a

30:13

really confusing situation in which I

30:16

think it's commendable that they went up the

30:18

way they did. It's commendable that Vincent Company

30:20

stayed there and stuck with them when there were lots of people

30:22

that wanted to bring him in. That

30:24

they then stuck with Vincent Company is commendable

30:27

as well. But it's still a situation in

30:29

which I'm ultimately praising them for getting relegated.

30:31

And that seems really odd. So

30:33

I think my feeling on Burnley is basically

30:36

if they prove that they are a very

30:38

patient organization that has a sort

30:40

of long view of things. And if they learn

30:42

to be a little bit more pragmatic on occasion,

30:44

if they learn where they needed to reinforce in

30:46

a more, I don't know,

30:49

impactful way for the duration of a season, if

30:51

they come right back up, then I think we

30:53

can see this as, oh, they're very smart in

30:55

their approach. They're very diligent. They're

30:57

very patient. If Vincent

30:59

Company jumpship and then they're sort of

31:01

languishing mid-table to start next season, I

31:04

have more questions about some of the decisions

31:06

they've made. I think where

31:08

the point of it, pragmatism comes in is

31:10

not necessarily with how much possession Burnley are

31:12

having in games. It's more about how that

31:15

what that possession looks like looks like and how

31:17

they're playing out from the back. The number of

31:20

mistakes they made this season playing out from the

31:22

back was absolutely incredible. The

31:25

second most, ironically, the team that's ahead

31:28

of them in this category is Tottenham,

31:30

but the second most turnovers in their

31:32

own half this season in the Premier

31:34

League. And it felt like a

31:36

good number of those turnovers were punished in

31:39

a way that just doesn't happen in the championship.

31:41

I think that's maybe one thing that has Vincent

31:43

Company spoke about that a number of times in

31:45

the championship. You give the ball away inside your

31:48

own half, you likely get away with it. In

31:50

the Premier League, you're more likely to get punished

31:52

because you're playing better players.

31:54

There was two or three times in this game

31:56

where Muret's just the goalkeeper just kind of flipped

31:59

it out to Spurs. 25 yards out

32:01

from goal. And that is where the point of pragmatism

32:03

comes in. There needs to

32:05

be a recognition of when just to

32:07

play a more, I'm not

32:09

saying play Route 1 football, but maybe just try and

32:12

bypass the defense into midfield a couple times in the

32:14

game. Have a little bit of variety, even just to

32:16

throw Tottenham off with their press so that they're not

32:18

so predictable and never saw that from Burnley. The problems

32:20

that we spoke about, I remember talking about them back

32:23

in October, they

32:25

still have the same issues. That's where there

32:27

was no evolution in their team or their

32:29

approach. That's why I find them probably

32:32

the most disappointing team in the Premier League this season.

32:34

And some of that is down to naivety on my

32:36

part. I take Joe's point, they never really had the

32:38

talent to make a real go of staying up. But

32:40

then I would contrast that to Luton, who

32:43

I understand got relegated on the same day. So

32:45

ultimately, it didn't really matter for them either. But

32:47

it did feel like for a large portion of

32:49

the season, they had a greater chance of staying

32:51

up. They did make those evolutions. They did change

32:54

their approach. They leaned into a counter-attacking style. And

32:56

we never really saw that from Burnley. One thing

32:58

that I think I totally

33:00

missed until I was reading a

33:03

good piece in The Athletic about Burnley was the point

33:05

that this is only even

33:07

a sort of relegation battle because Nottingham

33:09

Forest and Everton are docked points. If

33:11

they're not docked points, this is already

33:13

decided. And it's even more of a

33:15

closed book on their season and Luton's

33:17

to some extent. So in that way,

33:19

I do have some disappointment with

33:21

the way the season went for how they came

33:23

up, for how exciting we thought they might be,

33:26

for all the promise of a young manager and

33:28

an experienced manager and a high-profile manager and Vincent

33:30

Company, or experienced player turn

33:32

manager, rather. It felt like

33:34

maybe this could be a surprise. And I think we

33:36

always like to believe that that can still happen. I

33:38

mean, again, to Joe's point, the way we talked about

33:40

Ipswich Town last week, I'm pretty sure they're going to

33:42

finish in the top four. No pressure at all. So

33:45

I still think if they're building

33:48

long-term, then it can be smart. But I

33:50

also think there just wasn't

33:52

that pragmatism needed. And even when there

33:54

was, like, Graham took us to October.

33:56

In November, Vincent Company does try to

33:58

change the formation. more of a

34:00

kind of 4-2-3-1 with a double pivot and that double

34:02

pivot, I think both players make mistakes in their game

34:05

when he makes that switch to give up goals. And

34:07

so it feels like even when there were coaching

34:09

changes or tactical changes, there were

34:12

still individual errors due to inexperience

34:14

in naivety. So it's

34:16

just a very difficult season and a

34:18

very good reminder of how strong the Premier League

34:21

is, even if we sometimes forget

34:23

that, or at least I do. Tottenham,

34:25

of course, with the win in this game. Graham, my favorite moment

34:27

of the weekend. I think this is in the pre-match press set.

34:29

There was a journalist who asked Big Ang post to Cogloo if

34:32

the words to the effect of have Tottenham given up.

34:35

And the response that Big Ang gives you

34:37

goes, oh mate, oh mate, you think I'm

34:39

sitting there with a latte and just sending

34:41

out the training? Like it was

34:43

the most Big Ang response ever that was very

34:46

enjoyable in the day. What

34:48

can he possibly say to that

34:50

question? Exactly. It was like, it's not the

34:52

kind of question you want to ask. Shots fired at Harry

34:54

Kane, the latte thing. Did anyone read that last

34:57

week, Thomas Tooklesay, and he's never seen a player

34:59

drink so much latte as Harry Kane. So

35:01

I don't know if that was delivered. Thomas Tooklesay needs to be in speaking time out

35:03

for a little bit, I think. That's sort of

35:05

where I've landed on TTV. Joe,

35:08

can we make that an official responsibility

35:11

for you? You will control speaking time

35:13

out for managers and players? That

35:15

power sounds incredible and it's going to

35:17

go to my head. Alright, excellent. Looking

35:19

forward to it. Here's from Re-neo when

35:21

he comes back. West Ham with a 3-1

35:23

win over Luton. David Moyse's last home game

35:25

in charge, which all but relegated Luton. They're

35:27

3 points and 12 goals behind Nottingham Forest

35:29

at this point. Graham, it was sad seeing

35:31

someone as handsome as Rob Edwards shedding a

35:33

tear at this game. But as

35:36

you've sort of outlined previously, Luton gave a good

35:38

go of it. I don't think anybody expected it

35:40

to go, which technically it's going to go to

35:42

the final game for them to be relegated. Yeah,

35:45

that display of emotion from Rob Edwards is

35:47

going to play very well on social media.

35:49

It's going to earn him more admirers, I

35:51

suspect. Not only is he handsome, he's got

35:53

a heart. But yes, this was

35:55

a match of goodbyes for both teams. Goodbye to Luton, because

35:57

as you say Ryan, they're all but relegated after a game.

36:00

season in which they have given a real

36:02

go. I think everyone had them finishing rock

36:04

bottom of the Premier League. I feared the

36:06

Derby County season from them and yes they've

36:08

been relegated ultimately but it was not a

36:10

Derby County season. It was also

36:12

nice to see David Moyes get innovation in

36:14

what was his final home match as West

36:16

Ham manager. I've never fully been able to

36:19

decipher my own feelings on David Moyes because

36:21

his football has never been that enjoyable to

36:23

me but I do think he has developed

36:25

as a manager at West Ham and they

36:27

are much more expansive and attack-minded now than

36:30

they were when he came in four years ago.

36:32

I think that's one of the

36:34

things that has almost cost him in the

36:36

end is there's this sense that West Ham

36:38

are ready for the next step to become

36:40

a more modern and potentially successful team and

36:42

if that happens I think Moyes will deserve

36:44

credit for the groundwork he put in. That

36:46

squad is a talented squad and you look

36:48

through what he achieved at West Ham. A

36:51

European trophy challenging for the top four that

36:53

one season playing in the Europa League you

36:55

would have to say over four seasons for

36:57

West Ham that is a successful stint but

36:59

it does feel like the right time that

37:01

is the right time for something new for that

37:03

club. I would like to have seen him on

37:05

his last game go up into the stands and eat

37:07

potato chips with the fans like he did at Real

37:09

Socio. At that time my favorite David Moyes moment of

37:11

all time. Newcastle with a 1-1

37:13

draw at Brighton, Newcastle dropping points in their

37:16

pursuit of European football. They are in six

37:18

points behind the aforementioned Tottenham in fifth. We

37:20

had a pretty entertaining game at Nottingham Forest

37:23

after 3-2 defeat at the hands of Chelsea.

37:25

They went ahead in this one. This was

37:27

a very entertaining game was it

37:29

not Graham? Yeah a very

37:32

Vibes-y match because Nottingham Forest knew before kickoff

37:34

that they are essentially safe after

37:36

looking to defeat West Ham that we've just spoken

37:38

about and Chelsea have been Vibes-y all season. I

37:41

feel like we saw the strengths and weaknesses of

37:43

both teams over the course of this game. For

37:45

a team that has spent all season fighting relegation

37:47

that Forest duo of Gibbs White and Hudson Adoy,

37:50

now that he's cooking, finally Hudson Adoy, is electric

37:52

when they're on it. They're so quick to jump

37:54

on moments in the match and Gibbs White in

37:56

particular is so arrogant and in a good

37:59

way and can really see. take a grip of a

38:01

game. And then with Chelsea, we saw some

38:03

of their weaknesses, including Petrovic's vulnerability at coming

38:05

for crosses, which Forrest looked to exploit and

38:07

did pretty well. But then the runs of

38:09

Nicholas Jackson, the creativity of Cole Palmer. And

38:11

then one of the biggest positives for Chelsea

38:13

was the return of Rhys James, and maybe

38:15

a positive for England as well, with the

38:17

Euros just around the corner. He put the

38:19

winning goal on a plate for Jackson. He

38:21

has missed so much of the season. And

38:23

Matt Logusto has done a good job at

38:25

right back in his absence. But this was,

38:27

he wasn't on the pitch for very long.

38:29

But nonetheless, it was a reminder that James

38:32

is a level above with his deliveries. And

38:34

I bet Pochettino really regrets him being sidelined

38:36

for so long. Pochettino also regrets the fact

38:38

that the season is ending this weekend. He

38:40

said that he wished the season had 20

38:42

games left to go. And I can kind

38:44

of understand why this Chelsea team is still

38:46

flawed. But they definitely do have some momentum

38:48

and are growing a little bit. So maybe

38:50

next season will be more positive for them.

38:52

They're going to be in prime form for

38:54

those USA friendlies over the summer gram. That's

38:56

all we can look forward to from Chelsea.

38:58

Good stat for you from Forrest. Whichever Nottingham

39:00

Forest or Luton stays up, most likely Forrest at

39:02

this point, they're going to have the lowest points

39:04

total of a surviving Premier League team, Evs. The

39:06

previous record was West Brom in 2005 with 34.

39:10

Nottingham Forest could stay up with 29, which

39:13

I think perhaps speaks to Taylor's earlier

39:15

point about the discrepancy between the relegated

39:17

sides being brought a little forward

39:19

by the points and junctions that we have seen. We

39:22

have the championship playoffs this weekend as well.

39:25

Get ready to talk about some golf. Wait, no,

39:27

let's not do that. West Brom and Southampton playing

39:29

out a goal is draw, as did

39:31

Norwich and Leeds. Perhaps we'll save a bit of this

39:34

for Weekend Review Extra-gram because there's probably not a lot

39:36

to dig into. But did we catch any of this?

39:38

Any interest? I watched 30 minutes

39:40

of Norwich Leeds and then was

39:42

like, nah, I've got better things to do with

39:45

my time. So let's see what the second legs

39:47

bring. Maybe I'll be more engaged on the second

39:49

legs. Yeah, these weren't classics. Well, we'll need to

39:51

be more engaged because we'll get a resolution from

39:53

those second legs happening at the weekend. Final happening

39:55

on May 26. While we're talking

39:57

playoffs, I just want to talk about some very sad

39:59

news. that came from the League 2

40:01

semi-final playoffs. Crawley were playing a

40:04

team called MKDons.

40:07

MKDons were three nil down in the first leg. In

40:09

the second leg they lost 5-1. A

40:12

team in a playoff semi lost 8-1

40:14

on Aggrega. I think that is good

40:16

cause to cancel that team and to

40:18

rescind their licenses and to have them

40:21

buried into the ground. Right, yeah, anybody with me?

40:23

Yeah, sounds good. Yeah, I'm with you. Yeah, let's

40:25

do it. All right, let's quickly

40:27

hit the Bundesliga, shall we, where Bayern Leverkusen

40:30

had a 5-0 win at Bocom. They keep

40:32

on doing it, Joe. 50 matches unbeaten now.

40:34

Their last defeat was May 2023. They

40:38

are now within one game of completing the

40:40

first part of Invincible Treble. Can you imagine

40:42

it, Joe? Imagine it. It's getting

40:44

easier and easier to imagine. Let's play a

40:46

little game called NFL score or Leverkusen versus

40:48

Volkham shot tally. 29-3, 29-3 was what Leverkusen

40:51

outshot Bocom by. In

40:55

this game, a 5-0 win, a

40:58

red card in the first half for Bocom

41:00

made this game into what it was

41:02

always going to be, just quicker. Leverkusen completely

41:04

dominated this match. They are so unbelievably

41:07

good to the point where it

41:09

kind of just didn't even feel like the goals

41:11

were registering for either team as this game wore

41:14

on. Like the last goal that Leverkusen scored in

41:16

this match is from Grimaldo. It's just your classic

41:18

FIFA sweaty goal, just like, you know, basically a

41:20

two-on-one versus the goalkeeper, and you draw the goalkeeper

41:22

out and then tap it eight yards to the

41:25

left and Grimaldo finishes. It's a

41:27

stupid, stupid game. Leverkusen are stupid, stupid good. It is

41:29

so much fun to watch. One

41:31

thing that we need to talk about because I don't

41:33

think we actually did last week and this is Thursday

41:35

Night Loud rate reporting, is Leverkusen's undefeated

41:38

season staying alive after

41:40

being down 2-0 in the 82nd minute against

41:42

Roma in the second leg of

41:45

the Europa League semifinals, to be clear, this is not

41:47

a game they needed to win to continue their progression

41:49

in the Europa League. 2-0 would have been fine. They

41:51

could have pushed it to extra time, whatever, they could

41:53

have still lost this game in advance. But

41:56

that's not in the cards for Leverkusen this season as it

41:58

turns out in own goal. from Roma in

42:00

the 82nd minute. And then Ayosep Stanisic,

42:03

97th minute equalizer, rescued

42:06

this undefeated record for Leverkusen. We were all sort

42:08

of in the slack like typing back and forth.

42:10

And I was too cowardly. I'm not afraid to

42:12

admit I was too cowardly. When Roma went up

42:14

to nil in the 66 minute, both

42:17

penalty goals from Lando Paredes, I was too much of

42:19

a coward to say all Leverkusen's got this in the

42:21

bag because part of me thought part of me doubted

42:23

that this team would do it. And then they get

42:25

down within one goal in the 82nd minute. And I'm

42:27

starting to think, man, I really should have sent that

42:29

message. So you're just doing it now. No, no, no,

42:32

I'm not even ready for this. Stanisic scores that 97th

42:34

minute in my minute winner,

42:36

minter as it turns out, in my Twitter

42:38

timeline and our slack just melted. This Leverkusen

42:40

team is inevitable and they're so much fun.

42:42

Counterpoint. Durati has him right where he wants

42:45

him. Going to

42:47

get him in the 2026 Europoli? Because

42:50

it's not going to be next year. No. The

42:52

most incredible thing about or one of the most incredible

42:55

things about that match was kind of

42:57

the dawning on me on of just

42:59

how much this unbeaten season matters to

43:01

Leverkusen. Almost as much as getting to the

43:03

Europa League final because at one nil down,

43:05

they're obviously on aggregate going through to the to the

43:08

to the to the final. And yet they're still pressing

43:10

for that for that equalizing goal. You know, obviously there's

43:12

a bit of risk there because Roma pretty decent on

43:14

the counter attack. Could it could have scored a third

43:16

and they're through. But yeah, this

43:18

Leverkusen team are just unbelievable. They do what they

43:21

want and they have scored so many late goals

43:23

this season. Can I just say a

43:25

lot of the Bokom, I only watch the highlights, but a

43:27

lot of the Bokom defending was very chasmiro from

43:29

a lot of it, what I thought to

43:31

be fair to be a very good performance

43:33

from Leverkusen. They got Augsburg at home next

43:35

Saturday to complete the undefeated league season. Then

43:38

of course, they got the Europa League final

43:40

in Dublin. And they've got the German Cup

43:42

final a few days after that against Kaiserslautern.

43:44

So they can do the invincible treble. Incredible

43:46

stuff from Javi Alonso's side. Mine's

43:48

with a three nil win over Dortmund this weekend. Dortmund

43:50

having a bit of a drop off after getting the

43:53

Champions League. Oh, I don't

43:55

know. Is it a flip flop flip flops on situation Graham? I'm

43:57

not sure what to make of that one. They're fifth in the

43:59

league and they've got Champions League either way. It

44:01

seems now. I didn't really catch much of

44:03

this match, but I did see Ed and Terzic's comments

44:06

after the game which was essentially, we do

44:08

this too often to ourselves and I think

44:10

Dortmund fans would agree with that just as

44:12

long as there isn't a performance or result

44:14

like this in the Champions League

44:16

final. We got a very difficult decision for Dortmund coming

44:18

up. Dortmund could make

44:20

19.3 million if they lose to Real

44:22

Madrid in the Champions League final due

44:25

to a bonus payment for Duke Bellingham.

44:27

They'd make 17.2 in price money if

44:29

they win. So effectively, Taylor,

44:31

winning will cost them 2 million. What would

44:33

you do? I would win. I

44:35

think they'd probably win. How could League win

44:37

for 2 million? Bargain? I

44:40

mean, that's a nice cushion, I

44:42

suppose. And I

44:44

think they will enjoy being the underdogs in

44:46

that one and having me very nervous given

44:48

results like this one from the past

44:50

weekend. I do think that was very much a, no

44:53

one is going to catch us, we are in fifth,

44:55

but fifth is good enough for the Champions League. We

44:57

are fine there. We already saw them rest players last

44:59

weekend and kind of rotate a bit. So

45:01

I can't really begrudge them for doing that as long as

45:04

they stay sharp and give us a good final. There

45:06

we go, very good stuff. Bayern with a 2-0

45:09

win over Worsburgers, or Harry Kane sitting that one

45:11

out. Apparently he's got back problems from the person

45:13

who we're stopping. Too many laughing. Lots of problems,

45:15

yeah. Too many laughing headache. Indeed, that

45:17

must be it. Yeah, the milk's

45:19

upsetting somehow. The mammal noir was given a standing

45:22

ovation after being substituted in the 74th minute of

45:24

his 500th Bundesliga appearance. I was so pleased to see him

45:26

go off and he couldn't make another mistake. It cost him

45:29

a place in the Champions League final. That's right, yeah,

45:31

it was just a, it was left over. Congratulations from the

45:33

Champions League second leg for the semi-final. Indeed, Graham. Also,

45:36

elsewhere in Germany, St. Pauli have been

45:38

promoted to the Bundesliga back after 13

45:41

years to this top flight. Very much a punk ethic going on

45:43

at St. Pauli if you're not aware of them. Taylor's

45:45

nodding along, yeah, they're very Taylor on

45:47

the team, aren't they? They fly, yeah, they fly

45:49

a pirate flag at the stadium, which my understanding

45:52

is it was like an independent supporters club made

45:54

this pirate flag and the club liked it and

45:56

said we're going to co-opt that as well with

45:58

permission from the independent supporters. supporters club as

46:00

well. They're very heavily left wing, they support a lot

46:02

of activist causes

46:04

as well. What I

46:07

didn't realise Taylor is their coach, Fabian

46:09

Huzila was born in the USA

46:11

as Bruce Springsteen would say, he was born in

46:13

Dallas. There you go. American coaching Bundesliga team on

46:15

Tuesday. Get him on that plane to the top

46:17

of America. Let's do it. The newsletter that I

46:19

definitely haven't already got written, ready to go on

46:21

Thursday says that he was born in Houston. So

46:23

I'm going to have to fact check that one.

46:25

Okay. Yeah, none

46:28

of us is wrong. We'll find out who

46:30

probably may. It's Ryan. Yeah, usually is. Congratulations

46:32

to say, Paulie Taylor, they, they, they feel

46:34

like an archetype team for you. Is that

46:36

right? I like to apply. Yes. I like

46:39

the sausage train more than anything else. The

46:43

what they have a train that

46:45

goes round the stadium, but that's definitely going

46:47

and out of context, TSS channel. Yeah.

46:49

Yeah. They have a train that runs around

46:52

that I think you can pick up sausages

46:54

off of if you are, if you are

46:56

hungry, I believe that's like only in social

46:58

boxes, like certain boxes but still

47:00

kind of an amazing thing. And yes, I like Essex

47:03

and Bali for the, the stance they take, the way

47:05

they build their teams, the way they sort of integrate

47:07

into the city as well. But then also

47:09

this season of play some good football. So congratulations to them.

47:12

Indeed. We take a quick break. Now, when we come

47:14

back, we go to the league. There we are. And

47:16

unless much more coming shortly. Hey

47:19

folks, this is Taylor from the total soccer

47:21

show reminding you that we are inching ever

47:23

closer to the start of the summer transfer

47:25

window, which means there are teams that will

47:27

buy and sell their players early. There are

47:29

teams that will leave that business very late.

47:32

And there are teams that will operate in

47:34

between, but no matter what, it's going

47:36

to be a chaotic situation. There's going to be

47:39

offers coming through willy-nilly. There's going to be

47:41

transactions to be tracked and processed and make

47:43

sure that enough money is there. There's going

47:45

to be probably angry clubs calling to complain.

47:47

There are many things to deal with. And

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unfortunately for those clubs, there is

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51:48

Soccer Show, we come back to the

51:50

weekend review with a dispatch from La

51:52

Liga. Graham is there anything we're talking

51:54

about apart from Real Madrid's emphatic 4-0

51:56

win over already relegated Granada? Is that

51:58

even worth talking about? talking about. They're unbeaten

52:00

in 28 games though. I mean,

52:02

it was interesting in that we got to

52:05

see a number of players we don't usually get to see

52:07

for Real Madrid. Like a Mil Joviak. Oh wait, no, sorry,

52:09

that's fine. That was on the other side. How did he

52:11

do, Jov? Did you watch this game? Yeah,

52:15

and he didn't do a lot. Yeah,

52:17

that sounds pretty typical. Standard for him. But

52:19

Brian Diaz, very dribbly performance from a lot

52:21

of Real Madrid players including Ardagoula and Brian

52:23

Diaz, whose goal to make it 3-0 is

52:25

a fantastic goal where he turns on like

52:27

a six pins very quickly and then dribbles

52:29

past the entire Granada defense to finish. When

52:31

you see Barim in that moment, the way

52:33

that he moves and drops the shoulder and

52:35

it's low centre of gravity, I think it

52:38

is probably the closest we've got. I'm not

52:40

saying he does it as regularly or that

52:42

he's as good, but it is like watching

52:44

Messi in that moment. Honestly, they're so similar

52:46

in terms of their mechanics as players and

52:48

Barim has been a real success story for

52:50

Real Madrid this season with his contribution as

52:52

a depth option. I bet Spain

52:54

wished they had him in their squad for the

52:56

Euros, but he has chosen to play for Morocco.

52:59

One player I'm excited, I mentioned them just there,

53:01

Ardagoula. I'm excited to see more of him

53:03

next season. Ancelot has been careful not to rush

53:05

him into the team, but there's this huge expectation

53:08

on him. He's another dribbly boy and you've

53:10

got Endrick coming in the summer as well

53:12

and oh, some guy called him Bape most

53:14

likely. So, Real Madrid next season is going

53:16

to be something. They're going

53:18

to be so much fun, Graham. I love that you went through

53:20

some of those players. Like tactically, they're

53:22

already very vibesy and sort of free flowing, which

53:25

I think makes them quite fun to watch. And

53:27

then you add in some of the both young

53:29

talent and Mbappe that you just mentioned. And

53:32

I think this Real Madrid team might be turning

53:34

the notch up to 11. I'm not sure that they're

53:36

going to necessarily be better than they are this year.

53:38

I think they're going to be very, very good, but

53:41

Guler is quite the player. This was the first

53:43

time that I watched him in any real level

53:45

of detail. That left foot is absolutely

53:47

unreal. It was more of a 4-3-3 in this

53:49

game from Real Madrid and he was playing as

53:52

an inverted right winger, so constantly cutting inside on

53:54

that left foot. His first touch on

53:56

the goal is so good. It allows him to

53:58

settle and take aim at and really pound

54:01

that with his left leg. Such an incredible

54:03

bit of skill from him in the attacking third.

54:06

He is lightning quick. It's really easy to

54:08

see why Rommedrid wanted him from Fenerbache. I

54:11

am a big fan in the limited minutes I've

54:13

seen and very much look forward to seeing more

54:15

of him next year. Excellent stuff. Graham,

54:17

he scored a banger earlier this season, I seem

54:19

to remember Gullis. He's had some minutes earlier in

54:21

the season, hasn't he? I seem to remember him

54:23

getting a nice long ranger. He has, maybe in

54:26

the Coppodale raid. Yeah, he's certainly scored before this

54:28

one, but I can't quite remember exactly which goal

54:30

you're talking about, but I don't doubt it.

54:32

He's a top talent. More Ryan fact-checking required.

54:34

We go to Serie A where Bologna are

54:36

in the Champions League for the first time

54:38

ever after a 2-0 win over a rather

54:41

lacklustre Napoli. 59

54:43

years since they were last in the

54:45

European Cup competition. Congratulations,

54:48

Graham, to Bologna. A big success

54:50

story. They qualified as

54:52

well as Juventus, by the way,

54:54

because of Atalanta's 2-1 win over

54:56

Roma, who despite having the greatest

54:58

manager of all time, now sit in sixth

55:01

and could miss out on the Champions League next

55:03

season. That's awkward. Can I just

55:05

do a quick beat on Bologna? Because I

55:07

think it's worth just recognising what they've achieved

55:09

this season. You mentioned 59 years since they

55:11

played in the European Cup, Ryan. I think

55:14

Sir Stanley Matthews was playing the last time

55:16

Bologna were in the European Cup. So

55:18

that kind of puts into perspective what they

55:20

have achieved. And I think if it hadn't

55:22

been for Leverkusen, which has kind of been

55:24

the quintessential underdog story in European football this

55:26

season, maybe there would have been more chat

55:28

about Bologna, because as I say, what they've

55:30

done is incredible. They've got one of the

55:33

best forwards in the league. They've got

55:35

the best midfielder in the league, which I'm going to

55:37

keep repeating because it's factually true. He's got the award

55:39

to prove it, Lewis Ferguson. Thiago

55:41

Motta is one of the sharpest coaches in Italy. And that

55:44

is going to be the big question before

55:46

the start of next season. Will he stay? He's been

55:48

linked with AC Milan job, been linked with the Juventus

55:50

job, been linked with the PSG job in the past.

55:52

I think there is an acceptance at Bologna that he

55:54

is going to make the step up at some point.

55:56

But maybe they can convince him to stay for another

55:58

season with them being in the... the Champions

56:00

League. But another person I want

56:02

to highlight is Giovanni Sartore, who

56:04

is the sporting director at

56:07

Bologna. And this is just another feather in his

56:09

cap. He did something similar with Atalanta, so he

56:11

put Atalanta on the current trajectory that they've been

56:13

on for the last few years. Of course, it's

56:15

got your European final to look forward to. They've

56:18

been in the Champions League. He also took Kyavo

56:21

like 10 years ago to a Champions League qualifier with

56:23

his business in the background and now Bologna are in

56:25

the Champions League. So just a

56:27

sensational success story all round from the people

56:29

running that club to the manager to the

56:31

players in the pitch. And it is cool

56:33

that out of Serie A we get Bologna

56:35

in the Champions League next year, we'll get

56:37

Girona in Spain, Brest in France, most

56:40

likely. Aston Villa from the Premier League

56:42

and then Stuttgart from the Bundesliga. So you get some

56:45

less common Champions League teams in the Champions

56:47

League next season. It's going to be interesting,

56:49

I think. It's going to be great. Yeah,

56:52

atal, speak to the dilution of the competition at Alltail.

56:54

I'm excited very much. I mean, compared to where we

56:56

were when it's like, OK, which of the five teams

56:58

that are going to win it is going to win

57:00

it. It's nice that they still get the variety. No,

57:02

they're still gonna, Taylor. You don't know what's going to

57:04

happen with Leverkusen and Rama. Very

57:08

true. Milan with a 5-1 win over Caliari

57:10

this weekend as well. Christian Pulisic scoring a

57:13

brace in this one but didn't wear Pulisic

57:15

on his shirt. He had Harlow on his

57:17

shirt. Milan were one of several clubs this

57:19

weekend to wear their mother's maiden names, the

57:21

players wear their mother's maiden names instead of

57:24

their actual surnames. To bring attention

57:26

to, I'm going to try and get this right. I believe in 2022

57:29

while I was there, there was a law

57:31

change where children can choose to have either

57:33

their mother or their father's surname,

57:37

as their surname, I should say. Whereas previously it

57:39

was the only the patriarchal surname that was allowed

57:42

for children. So that's changed and that's recognizing

57:44

that. On the eve of Mother's Day in

57:46

Italy as well. Nice to see Kelly and

57:48

Mark's kid. Close

57:50

personal friend of the show Kelly. Close personal friend

57:53

of the show Mark. Yeah,

57:56

you're quite right. One more bit of Serie

57:58

A news. Kobo will be in Serie A. next

58:00

season they've returned after a 21 year

58:02

wait they were helped by Spezia who

58:04

beat Venezia to escape from relegation. Como

58:07

will relegate from Serie R in 2003 were Como. They

58:14

were playing in the non-professional fourth tier

58:16

as recently as 2019 following bankruptcy

58:19

and lots of trouble there. Ses Fabregas and

58:21

Thierry Henri are on board there as his

58:24

chief executive Dennis Wise who's credited with doing

58:26

a lot of good work there and Graham

58:28

Fabregas there's a video of him promising to

58:30

send away his players to Ibiza in celebration

58:32

with some very good Italian I'll say as

58:34

well I know Spanish and Italian relatively related

58:36

languages but he's a he's given it the

58:39

the attitude as well very good from him.

58:41

Yeah what a fairytale they're only backed

58:43

by a group of like millionaire former footballers

58:45

and two billionaire brothers yeah. It's the dream.

58:47

What a fairytale as for Como. They're backed

58:50

by the DR room group

58:52

they will have the wealthiest ownership group in

58:54

Serie R next year Graham. Incredible

58:56

incredible the new Girona or the new Monza

58:58

actually they were the original tiny team backed

59:01

by millionaire billionaires indeed beautiful stadium as well

59:03

obviously on the lake up there yeah we're

59:05

gonna see so many pictures of that stadium

59:07

next season my timeline was already flooded with

59:09

pictures of that stadium but it's gonna go

59:11

into overdrive next season when they're in Serie

59:13

R. Graham do you get the Monterey one

59:15

like every other day in your timeline just

59:18

going through yeah it's gonna be it's gonna

59:20

be Como I just want to see Como

59:22

like with Nico Joakini photoshopped in different ways

59:24

on every picture of that stadium and the

59:26

surrounding views shout out Nico Joakini for getting promoted

59:28

but yeah we're all we're all about to see that

59:30

stadium way too much. We are indeed

59:32

it's also Joe Fun fact for you the stadium

59:35

is so decrepit they were quite to shut down

59:37

the whole side of it for safety reasons this

59:39

season. It's not to say we are standard. All

59:41

that tells us is that Manchester United has more

59:43

room to go. That's all I'm saying. I don't

59:45

even have a roof to leak Joe. The

59:48

solution just get rid of the roof. The

59:50

Richmond Kickers also play in a stadium where

59:52

half of it is condemned and you cannot

59:55

access so it's really I'm just realizing how

59:57

it's just common that's what we're going with

59:59

right it's just comment to do that. That's totally

1:00:01

normal that two of the teams that

1:00:03

I love and adore have

1:00:05

that situation. Yay, football. It's great, but Como's

1:00:07

pretty. That's fun. Yeah.

1:00:09

Congratulations to Como for coming back

1:00:12

up. One final stop on our weekend

1:00:14

review. We go to Joe Lowry's MLS

1:00:16

corner. Joe, what's been happening in Major

1:00:18

League Soccer? We saw some fisticust, did

1:00:20

we not, in New York City's 3-2

1:00:22

win over Toronto? Yes, we did. NYCOC

1:00:24

getting the result on the road. They've

1:00:27

won four of their last five. That's

1:00:29

not the part that anybody cares about

1:00:32

here. There was a post-game brawl. Maybe

1:00:34

brawl's a bit strong, but definitely a

1:00:36

scuffle. A aggressive hug in. It

1:00:39

was a really, really aggressive hug. I think I've talked

1:00:41

about before how those things never really turn into

1:00:43

anything. This one kind of did turn into some

1:00:45

stuff. Toronto and NYCFC

1:00:47

going at it in this game, and apparently, according

1:00:50

to Jonathan Asorio, this stems

1:00:52

from the last time these two teams met

1:00:54

where there were some afters in that game

1:00:56

as well. John Herdman, Toronto

1:00:58

FC manager, alleged after the game, and I

1:01:00

want to emphasize alleged, that

1:01:03

NYCFC manager Nick Cushing had punched

1:01:05

a 19-year-old Toronto FC player after

1:01:07

the last time these two teams

1:01:09

met back in March. Nick Cushing

1:01:11

has vehemently denied those allegations from

1:01:14

what John Herdman said. There were no cameras

1:01:17

in and around that section of the stadium

1:01:19

where that alleged incident may or may not

1:01:21

have occurred. There's way more that we don't

1:01:23

know than what we do know. Why are we only

1:01:25

hearing about this two months after it supposedly

1:01:28

happened the first time? I have no inside info

1:01:30

into this situation. I imagine we're going

1:01:32

to hear quite a bit more about it as time

1:01:34

goes on, and certainly MLS will investigate, but

1:01:36

it is one of the most bizarre

1:01:39

stories we've had in the 2024 MLS season.

1:01:41

We just had Aaron Bupenza's jaw getting broken by

1:01:43

a professional boxer. So things are going on. I

1:01:45

think I said turned up to 11 for Real

1:01:47

Madrid earlier, and maybe what they could do next

1:01:49

season, things are turned up to 11 in the

1:01:51

Chaos Meter and Major League Soccer right now. I

1:01:53

do not know what to make of this story.

1:01:56

If this happened, it is very, very serious,

1:01:58

and there should be very real consequences. And

1:02:00

if it didn't happen then there

1:02:02

should also be very real consequences. So I

1:02:05

I don't know what's happening here guys. It's wild Excellent

1:02:08

stuff. What's happening with Miami Joe still top of

1:02:10

the east with a 3-2 win over Montreal this

1:02:12

weekend Yeah, they just they just won't die. I

1:02:14

think at this point. They're just happy to let

1:02:16

the first goal in It's like ah We need

1:02:18

a little bit more motivation and they

1:02:20

come back and win this one 3-2 They went down to

1:02:23

nil in this game after a really nice goal from Bryce

1:02:25

Duke and then a nice bit of possession play for Montreal

1:02:27

On the second goal and then Mathias Rojas

1:02:29

scores a bang over a goal It is so

1:02:31

good Messi's off to the side very very displeased

1:02:33

that he's not allowed to re-enter the field after

1:02:35

the new substitution role for Major League soccer Was

1:02:38

was caught on the Apple broadcast saying some

1:02:40

bad things about Major League soccer on this new rule

1:02:43

That's no good and then you have

1:02:45

Rojas scoring a messy ask free kick and then

1:02:47

on the third goal the winner for into Miami

1:02:49

from Benjamin Kramaski a Lovely assist

1:02:51

from Rojas over the top with a left-footed

1:02:54

ball He has been a dream addition

1:02:56

for this team It's sounding more and more like Anthony

1:02:58

Maria is about to join in the summer and he

1:03:00

up some of his minutes at this

1:03:02

point I'm not so sure that's the best

1:03:05

idea because Rojas is playing that left-wing role

1:03:07

quite well right now Miami

1:03:09

are very scary Montreal. So probably

1:03:11

not that good. Yeah, I

1:03:13

wrote about Rojas for for fault mob last week I've been so

1:03:15

impressed. He hasn't started a game yet. He's come off the bench

1:03:17

in All three games you

1:03:19

started he started the weekend, right? Yeah, so he

1:03:22

hadn't started until until the weekend But he looks

1:03:24

incredible scored two goals and his last game before

1:03:26

the Montreal game as well the free kick Joe

1:03:28

I think that's the best free kick I've seen

1:03:30

in a while. I think it's the best time

1:03:33

free kick of the MLS season It is so

1:03:35

far out like I understand, you know

1:03:37

calling it a messy free kick I think that undersells it

1:03:39

a little bit. I think that's a better free kick than

1:03:41

I've seen from Messia in a while It's the dip

1:03:43

that he gets on it and it just comes down

1:03:45

at such a speed. The goalkeeper has absolutely no chance

1:03:47

Yeah, it was incredible Incredible

1:03:50

stuff indeed messy as Joe referenced on

1:03:52

camera when he's taking

1:03:54

part in MLS's new rules of having

1:03:56

two minutes of timeout after a medical attention

1:03:58

set with rules like these were going

1:04:00

nowhere. It's just, it doesn't like the anti-poop house nature

1:04:03

of it. I'm excited. That rule will

1:04:05

be gone by Friday. Oh, sorry, sorry, sorry, yes, we'll

1:04:07

get rid of that at once. Yeah, they're midweek

1:04:09

games, it's actually gonna be Tuesday. We'll hear that

1:04:11

in a second. Joe, any

1:04:13

other MLS games to touch on? I assume

1:04:15

you're gonna be looking at Charlotte's 1-0 win

1:04:17

over Nashville. Where's your soccer Jesus now, Nashville?

1:04:20

Huh? Huh? High flying, amazing Charlotte FC. No,

1:04:22

we're not talking about that game. But we

1:04:24

will talk very briefly about LAFC's 3-0 win

1:04:27

over Vancouver. This was for me the best

1:04:29

performance of the weekend across either conference. LAFC

1:04:32

took Vancouver behind the woodshed. In

1:04:34

this game, they were absolutely fantastic.

1:04:36

3-0 win for LAFC.

1:04:39

Both wingers were electric in this one

1:04:41

for LAFC, completely exposing the space that

1:04:43

Vani Sartini and Vancouver leave open outside

1:04:45

their center backs and behind the wing

1:04:47

backs. Vancouver don't flatten out into a

1:04:49

back five in their defensive

1:04:51

shape. Instead, they keep that 3-4-3 look in

1:04:53

basically every phase. And Dennis Bewonga

1:04:56

said thank you very much. And Kiki Olivera said thank you

1:04:58

very much on the weak side. And sort

1:05:00

of in the blink of an eye, it was 2-0 in this game

1:05:02

and then Bogus finished it off with a goal in

1:05:04

transition in the second half. LAFC every once

1:05:06

in a while, and I wrote this for back yield,

1:05:08

like sort of wake up at this stage of the

1:05:10

season with only one DP and remind everyone how good

1:05:12

they're going to be and how good they can be

1:05:14

at times right now. And then just put their head

1:05:17

back down and go back into maintenance mode until Olivier

1:05:19

Giroud and whoever else is gonna arrive in the summer.

1:05:21

Yeah, LAFC, scary good when they're at

1:05:23

their best right now. There we go.

1:05:25

Plenty more major league soccer coming on the

1:05:27

feed on Tuesday's show. But for now, Taylor,

1:05:29

we have weekend reviewed. Thank you so much

1:05:31

for your part in that weekend review. Thank

1:05:34

you, my friend, same to you. Graham Ruffin,

1:05:36

pleasure is always my good man. Thank you,

1:05:38

Ryan Beoy. Joe Lowry, keep on rocking. And

1:05:40

to you, sir. Listen, thank you

1:05:43

very much for joining us on the feed.

1:05:45

We'll be back very shortly. But for now,

1:05:47

Bye. As

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