Manchester City go long and Bournemouth are brilliant – Football Weekly
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January 27, 2025
TLDR: Manchester City move back into top four with a convincing route one display against Chelsea, discussed by Robyn Cowen, Barry Glendenning, Will Unwin, and John Brewin.

In the latest episode of The Guardian Football Weekly, host Robyn Cowen is joined by Barry Glendenning, Will Unwin, and John Brewin to dissect weekend Premier League action, notably Manchester City's decisive win over Chelsea and Bournemouth's stunning performance against Nottingham Forest. This blog summary highlights the crucial insights and expert opinions presented during the podcast.
Manchester City vs. Chelsea: Tactical Resurgence
The podcast kicks off with a review of Manchester City's impressive 3-1 victory against Chelsea at the Etihad. The discussion emphasizes key moments and individual performances:
- Pep Guardiola's Tactical Shift: Cowen comments on Guardiola's decision to adopt a route one strategy, which proved effective against Chelsea. This was a departure from City's usual possession-based play, allowing them to capitalize on Chelsea's defensive lapses.
- Key Performers: Erling Haaland showed physical dominance over opposing defenders, while Phil Foden delivered a standout performance, contributing significantly to City's attacking play.
- Chelsea's Struggles: The panel discusses Chelsea's ongoing difficulties, underscored by the performance of Robert Sanchez, who was criticized for his goalkeeping mistakes.
Takeaways from City’s Performance
- City’s ability to adapt tactics highlighted their resilience.
- Individual performances can significantly influence match outcomes.
- Chelsea exhibits vulnerabilities that could complicate their season.
Bournemouth’s Five-Star Show
Moving to the AFC Bournemouth match, the panel expresses astonishment at their 5-0 victory over Nottingham Forest:
- Style of Play: John Brewin praises Bournemouth's attacking prowess, mentioning the quick transition from defense to attack and the effective use of speed on the wings.
- Nuno Espírito Santo’s Philosophy: The impact of Nuno’s management style is discussed, highlighting his calm demeanor and tactical efficiency.
Bournemouth Insights
- Bournemouth's rise under Nuno reflects a commitment to an attacking style of play.
- Consistency is key; maintaining focus will be crucial in upcoming matches.
- Player performances show potential for greater achievements this season.
Arsenal’s Narrow Win and Controversial Calls
Arsenal’s one-goal victory against Wolves also garners attention, particularly regarding officiating:
- PGMOL Controversies: The panel discusses the impact of poor officiating decisions, calling into question the consistency and accuracy of refereeing standards throughout the league.
- Fans' Reactions: Cowen points out the increasing frustration among Arsenal supporters regarding perceived injustices.
Key Points about Arsenal
- Close wins can sometimes mask deeper issues, such as inconsistency in performance.
- The club stands at a critical juncture where they must address officiating and game management to maintain momentum.
Other Premier League Highlights
The episode also touches on several notable matches:
- Tottenham's Setbacks: Ongoing troubles for Spurs received attention as they failed to secure points against Leicester, raising questions about manager Ange Postecoglou’s strategy amid injury crises.
- Fulham vs. Manchester United: The panel comments on United's somewhat fortunate win at Craven Cottage, suggesting that the outcome did not reflect a strong performance.
General Observations
- Teams that adapt quickly to changing scenarios tend to succeed.
- Managerial decisions are increasingly crucial in navigating player injuries and squad dynamics.
Conclusion and Future Prospects
This podcast episode encapsulates the ups and downs of Premier League football through the lens of the latest matches. The insights shared by Cowen and the panel provide fans with a deeper understanding of team strategies and player performances:
- Tactical Fluidity is Key: Teams must be willing to change tactics based on the match context.
- Injuries Affect Performance: Managerial success is often contingent upon effectively managing squad depth and injuries.
- Fan Engagement: Understanding fan sentiments regarding officiating and performance is essential for club management.
With ongoing fixtures promising excitement and drama, football fans can look forward to another thrilling week of matches as team dynamics continue to evolve. Stay tuned for more insights in upcoming episodes.
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This is The Guardian. Hello and welcome to The Guardian Football Weekly, another weekend, completely free of incidents, as far as Arsenal football club are concerned. A routine one-nil win away at Wolves with absolutely zero controversy and talking points. Before that, we start at the Etihad, where Pep gets it launched to The Big Man,
and Robert Sanchez tries to hit his step count with a poorly timed stroll to the edge of his area. Then on to the vitality, John Broome was there in the flesh to witness the world's greatest team, hit Forrest for five. Elsewhere, the voice note of Damocles hangs over Angeposter Cogley, who was docked to tot the moves on from routine procedures to performing medical miracles.
by reviving the corpse of Leicester City, plus some good fortune for Manchester United in West London, David Moyes' 700th game in charge, penalty shenanigans from Brentford, your questions, and that's today's Guardian Football Weekly.
Hello, everyone. Robin Cowan here, filling in for Max, who has been handed a six match ban following his and article, soaring towards the top of the ice cold take charts. Still going on the panel today. Good morning, Barry Lindenning. Hey, Robin, you're on top forum already. Little sleep, it seems. It helps in a way. Just tipped over the edge. John Brewton. Good morning. Hi, Robin. Good intro. Good intro.
I can't take too much credit for that. I need to say Joel, the hugestest producer, Joel. We've got to credit him. We've got to credit him. He is the bastard. He is indeed. Very good. And Will Unwin. Good morning. Good morning, Robin. And welcome to Joel as well. Yeah, absolutely. He needs his flowers. How was nursery drop-off, Will?
She's far too heavy to be taken on my shoulders and I resent my daughter a lot at the moment. Those backpacks are an absolute killer, aren't they? Yeah. Let's move on from that and start with the Premier League. Manchester City 3, Chelsea 1, will you were there at the Etihad? Yeah, because of the context of what happened in midweek, this was very much a result that was needed. What happened in terms of the first three minutes and that
mistake from one of the new signings. Did you see the final result coming? I was mainly focused on hoping that Koussaintov didn't cry in the first three minutes. The next 87 minutes were pretty irrelevant at that stage. Did you just want to go and give him a hug? Yeah. I mean, something like that. I mean, I've got blocked here. It looks like I can't cry. That's a different story. Prince Andrew over here. Yeah, I know. I can swear. Don't you worry about that. But
It was, yeah, obviously turn up in midweek, you know, a few training sessions, very much sort of mid 90s sign and go, don't know much about him, you know, having come from the Bella Russian League and then Lawrence and two in the first three minutes, miss a pretty simple defensive header. And then not really knowing what to do afterwards and sort of flinging his head at it in a pitiful way, knowing
that his goalkeeper is never going to get it and then watching the ball go in after Japson knocked it to Madawakki. He looked cressful and I think I described it in my piece as a child trying to come up with a reason why he's broken the family heirlooms and wondering is his lip quivered waiting for his parents to come and shout at him.
And he didn't get much better than that, actually, for the next few minutes. He got booked for taking down Cole Palmer. He gave away the ball quite a bit. It was really, really sad to see. I remember Mangala's debut for City also against Chelsea 11 years ago. And he was absolutely incredible.
A superb debut, on the best you'll ever see. He's absolutely rubbish, which was unfortunate, so I'm hoping that Coosle is the anti-Mangala here. He starts off as bad as it gets, and he builds from it, and it gets a lot better. I think it puts City off their step early on. Benardo Silva had to sort of trot back between the centre box to get on the ball, because every time I went to Coosle and off it ended up with a Chelsea shirt.
But City rallied. Chelsea missed another couple of good opportunities to make it two and three, which helps City a lot. And they managed to really get on the ball. Maybe saying they controlled it would be generous, but they were the best I've seen for a while, going to another best game since he's been back from Barcelona since maybe in the summer. Guardiola was super but left back. Harlan physically dominated the centre backs. He's done well, but I've not seen him do that.
do it to that level this season. You know, you see from his goal, you know, holding off child very easily. And he had similar with Colville. It was a really good performance from him. And Phil Foden was fantastic too. I think it was just the performance that City needed, but they've not had fight, a lot more energy. And even in the final 10 minutes, didn't actually look like conceding, which we've seen him collapse in so many games this season in Paris and in fine order for too many to count, to be honest.
Yeah, hopefully Kuzanov recovers, and if he wants a hug, I'm available. I met to the day two last night, they ended with great Premier League nightmare debuts, and Kuzanov can take heart from the fact that several of the players who featured in that went on to have very, very illustrious Premier League careers. So I think he was just first day nerves.
Mmm. It was such sadness in his eyes, Barry. It was awful, wasn't it? Like that dog came early. Exactly. Highlight. You should put them together. Have you ever seen those two in the same room? I feel like it could have been a bit different, though, couldn't it, Barry? I mean, we mentioned in the intro, Robert Sanchez had a hand in maybe one or two of the city goals.
Yeah, but he's been a liability all season, and he's probably not being helped by the fact that he's been sarcastically jeered or applauded by his own fans, that his manager has said he expects an awful lot more for him. So he's playing under, you know, even if you're playing well, you're under pressure, but when you're playing badly and you've been
very publicly criticized by fans and manager. It's not going to make your job any easier. You know, we've been highlighting his mistakes since the start of the season, I think. So that was no big surprise. I thought City won fairly comfortably in it.
You know, players, city players who have not been playing well, played well, and that makes a huge difference. Goondigan, folding, Nunes played well. That was probably his best game in a city short, although it's a low bar. Edison has, some of his performances have been a bit if he recently played well. His distribution was excellent.
And pep you know he's been trying to figure out how to solve this problem for weeks now and he's he's upon the plan of getting it launched route one who knew the idea would be so that simple.
And I think Chelsea made it a bit easy for a city by leaving them vast medals of grass to run into behind their defence. You know, city really exploited that, folding in particular with the third goal. And Maramouche had a good debut, I thought. And him and Hal and look like they have the makings of a decent partnership.
John, were you sagely nodding your head at the nature of the get-it-launched goals? You must have really enjoyed that. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, yeah. I mean, it's not the first time Pep's done that. I mean, you go back to his time by a Munich where I played against a Jürgen Klopp managed Dortmund and decided to beat the press by just smashing it over the top. Pep is someone looking various tactics. That's one of the things about him. And he's changed his tactics quite a lot.
since it's been in English football. Now, the taxi has at the moment by just chucking in new signings. So it's a bit sort of Harry Redknap. Where's Crenshaw? Yeah, exactly. Well, yeah. Kevin Bond's, you know, it could be in Kevin Bond's window. The deals are doing at the moment. Conspiracy theory suggests that is it that city fear a transfer ban?
for any possible legal difficulties that may come their way but I mean like Will here is a better these things more than I am I've got to say this Will a lot of these players I mean about the side I don't really know who these people are and Cusinov did look like someone just drafted in from the very fringes of European football to play in this game
And it didn't really happen for him. There's other players coming in, I believe, as it can be as though he's won. There's a Norwegian kid that everybody wants. City with a club of careful planning of building a team slowly of this old adage where
and Liverpool did this in the 80s United right away you just add a couple of players every summer and then you just rebuild the team suddenly it's into the panics things not every player is going to be is going to be good from the start and if we go back for terrible debuts will again we'll remember this one Patrice Evera was given his Manchester United day I mean Manchester Derby
and Ferguson said to him, right, you're marking Sean Wright Phillips, and this is Sean Wright Phillips, he's sort of very best. And we play, you know, man-to-man marking here, and I've had a nightmare and went on to be one of the best fullbacks we've ever seen in the Premier League. And so it can happen. Let's wish the young man the best, but I think he's managed it rather overexposed him. But
City are desperate at the moment, aren't they? They're desperate so if something's a change and maybe it did change in that game, but I do think Chelsea are one of those teams that can be relied upon to flop when it's their moment. They're a bit flaky and they're getting flakier. Obviously no one really wants to do business in January, so you never want to do business in January, but I mean they have been absolutely awful for a lot of the season by their standards.
So I can see what, you know, why they've done it. And then see the pool of players that you can sign is pretty limited. So they've gotten young, you know, Vita Haish, who's turned it from Palmera's 18. He was on the bench as well. Never sent her back. You can play right back. So they go young because they couldn't, they think there's more value in it long term because they're probably paying over the odds to get them in January.
I wouldn't have played coos enough, but there was no over centre backs really available. I know stones came on, but it was clearly not fit and was held off for as long as possible. I was expecting John Stones to wander down the touchline after three minutes and one seconds on Saturday to start walking up. But that wasn't done. And my moosh paid over the auto here my main. I think he was available for about half the price in the summer. Really, really good.
And that's it. I think if I had to do it out of the sake of it, because things couldn't get any worse, you know, my move was key to victory at the weekend. It was really good. Looked lively, you know, if you could learn how to stay on side, that'd be great. But yeah, it's, I think it's just the case of needs must and that, you know, that's the three plays that were available. Good sign without being too silly about it.
I don't think they're worried about transferring bargos at the moment. They're pretty positive on the case against the Harlan sign. It's nine and a half year deal. They're feeling pretty positive. Yeah. And, yeah, Patrick's over was absolutely bloody awful that day. That was a good day.
That was in the montage, actually, on match today. Things couldn't get any worse, but they're now up to back up to fourth Manchester City. So yeah, very odd, very odd season it's been. Born with five Nottingham Forest, nil. John, you were at this game. I don't think, surely you weren't expecting this result. An unknown knows birthday as well.
He's quite a likable chap, isn't he, no, no. He has real charisma, I think, in a very quiet way, that sort of Zen, almost, you know, Buddha style that he holds himself and his team were bloody awful against Bournemouth, it's fair to say, though that actually the most of the credit for that.
goes to Bournemouth aside perhaps for that opening goal where you see Justin Cliver pick up the ball in his own half. Now clearly Nuno has sold a team. The speed of Bournemouth's attacking means it's best if we get back in numbers. So you have Ola Aina as that is how he perhaps his name is running back.
he's running back and he's rubber-necking, watching Clive at run and they're all running back and Clive is thinking is anybody going to say and it's a certain point you actually see Clive at sort of say nobody and just shoot and of course the ball goes through a forest of legs and beyond a hapless goalkeeper and you know you have the first goal and Forrest did what they often do in the game is that they put a bit of muscle into it got a bit of
you've got got back into the game and Langer vs Lewis Cook was a key battle that Lewis Cook, one of those players playing out of position because he only have 12 foot players. Actually one even though he got an early yellow card and then the second half Bummer just put them to the sword and the thing is the third goal they scored that was ruled out by VAR that followed a sequence of attacking of this sort of wave and wave of Bummer the attacking where the
Forrest just could not get the ball out and then it slotted home by Cliver and you know the gods of AR denied what could have been one of those goals of the season it was just brilliant to watch because you can just feel it build it up and then they score.
I mean, you think, oh, well, yeah, for us have been lucky there. But then boomers just go anyway, because they can, and it's Hara, who is, is, er, er, er, er, er, er, er, er, er, er, er, er, er, er, er, er, er, er, er, er, er, er, er, er, er, er, er, er, er, er, er, er, er, er, er, er, er, er, er, er, er, er, er, er, er, er, er, er, er, er, er, er, er, er, er, er, er, er, er, er, er, er, er, er, er, er, er, er, er, er, er, er, er, er, er, er, er, er, er, er, er, er, er, er, er, er, er, er, er, er, er,
They're doing this thing where they have 12 players and they're showing how teams used to do it which was they had 12 players and then one of them gets injured, another one moves around. You've got one sub that can come on and run around and he has to play various different positions. They were absolutely fantastic but it's no surprise to see them
do that to a good team because they've beaten Manchester City, they beat them deservedly, they'll be Arsenal, they'll be Liverpool next week. That's just a delight to watch at the moment and Iraola Star rises and rises and he's such a
You know, him and Nuno show a few qualities, isn't it? They're quite shy, quite friendly. Don't really pull any punches. I mean, Nuno, after the game, would just say, you know, why did you lose the game? Oh, they were much better than us. You know, there was no, or I thought we were a bit unlucky, what about this decision, the 10th minute or whatever? It was just we got done there and everything went wrong for us. We didn't do what we were supposed to. But it really has that quiet charm.
He is an idyllog, he follows in the BL so the line of thinking. But I also think there's a humanity to him as well. He's not completely, you know, he's not a mad professor. He sees it for what it is. He sees there is a levity there, there is a life beyond. But you know, I don't think he's set up all night reading Jonathan Wilson books. He's just
You've been up all night if you wrote a red Winston's column, yes. Yeah, we'll catch you up shortly.
What the hell was that? What's he done now? Okay, not to go and steal a book. The thing is, I know if you've been with fans over the years and the Eddie Howe years were seen as that club's apex, weren't they? They'd gone all that way.
But the thing is the fans got a bit annoyed by the fact that they were fighting relegation and the best it could hope for was mid-table and some of them would say it was better in the championship when we were beating everybody.
They cannot have expected their club to be the most talked about clubbing the anglophone world because of the football that they're playing. And that choice of, I mean, Gary O'Neill did a fine job for them. The decision to go for Irela and remove Gary O'Neill was a master stroke, whoever made it. And you've got that group of players that
Manchester City wants to buy everybody, and they must look at Bournemouth and say, can we just have them please? Because they would do the job, wouldn't they, for February or look? This is the problem, isn't it? They're probably going to be picked apart, depending on where they finish, I suppose. Well, you've covered Forrest quite closely. It's going to be interesting to see if this is a sort of
I wouldn't say spiral, but if they kind of revert to maybe the mean and where people expected them to be or whether this was just a really, really bad to hit the office where, as John said, they kind of forego defending. Yeah, I'm at the Brighton game next week. So it'll be fascinating to see how they recover from this, you know, a proper trouncing and a terrible performance and defensively being so good, which makes it even more surprising, especially against a team that I've got no center forward. Well, that seems to have improved them.
So yeah, I mean, the bigger question is, when things go badly at forest in the past, they panic. And with a week left of the transfer window, I sort of wonder what they might do or what's up. We're going around from Mr. Marinakis suggesting they sign Rashford and the ghost of Pele or something. So that's the question. They've got so much right this season. They've been very steady. I'm sure they've wanted to add a strike of this window, which obviously wouldn't have helped them much on Saturday, I appreciate.
but I think they just need to recover, get back, play Brighton, good chance of beating Brighton, obviously lost over in this week, and not worry too much about it, get out, you system. These things happen, look then, they shouldn't be in the top four, let's be honest, they should be battling for 7.89, so they're doing crazy roles, so don't panic, stay calm, you know, get a teacup with some message on with a similar note, and yeah, don't worry about it,
Football is what it is. Bad results come along. They're never going to define your sees of one defeat against a really good form of team. And yeah, don't do anything stupid is my advice.
I think cutaway of the weekend was the box of formless, formless injured players, wasn't it? Fraser says that box all of the injured formless players fit inside looked like tremendous fun, didn't it, Barry? And yeah, but Bruce, a job pointing out it was like a David Blaine exhibit, which is a very good observation.
Yeah, I certainly can't top that. And I mean, Anne's past Chicago must be looking at Boromacona a lad. You're not doing me any favors here. But... Absolutely. I wonder, is that, do they just keep all their injured players in a big aquarium onto the ready to come out again? But yeah, I mean... Nothing but every new stream, isn't it? You know, you can pay to...
It was a brilliant performance. There is an aquarium in Bournemouth, isn't there? We've been singing the praises of Melinkovich and Marillo all season. I think it's time to go lads. That was a shocker. They really had a shocker. They were awful, they really were. I mean, there are big lads as well, and they've just were made to look lumbering by... Actually, I'd say it's a blown-made, and we're going to use the cent half of...
Is it Heisen? Wow. I mean, again, there is a player. I mean, Ben Fisher did a very good interview with him last week and, you know, a lot that I didn't know about him, but this kind of was the eventous. He was at Roma and they let him go.
And you thinking, what are you doing? I mean, he, like, if Liverpool want a replacement for Virgil Van Dyke, there's your guy. There's your guy that is bringing the ball out of the fence, that strolling player, that Alan Hanson player that Liverpool always have. There's your guy. And I'm sorry, Bob, with fans. I don't want to sell you stuff, but that's how these things work, but what a player. And you just think,
You know, and actually, you know, Liverpool did poach. Bournemouth's director of football, Richard Hughes, of course. So, you know, they're obviously thinking along those lines. But, yeah, I mean, it bournemouth show that it can be done. They have had money. Let's not, it's not, it's not done on a shoestring. You can't do things on a shoestring, but it's been done well. And it shows other teams who will get to, I'm sure, that he can build a team.
Well, then part one there in part two is what we've all been waiting for. It's more and chat.
Welcome to part two of the Guardian Football Weekly. Spurs one, Leicester two. Isaac says, currently trying to pass a kidney stone while watching Tottenham, Leicester, it's a full body pain experience. All the best thanks for a great podcast. Isaac, and thank you for that. Ian, are there going to be two St. Totterings days this season, one for Arsenal in February and one for West Ham in April? Barry, one of your brilliant predictions as ever. You can see Leicester winning this one.
I think everyone could see this. I'm not sure. I'm not sure. I'll try and get through this without using the medical reference or the adjective, but that are commonly associated with Tottenham Hotspur. I didn't think...
They were terrible in this game. I've seen them play a lot worse. I'll start by saying that. I don't think it was a huge surprise. We have to factor in all the injuries, but then add the Bournemouth caveat.
They're missing Madison, Spain, scenario, Romero, Salenki, Doggy, Johnson, Werner, van de Ven, Pappissar, Bissuma, Audibur. That's a lot of players out injured. Although there seems to be some suggestion that James Madison wasn't injured, but just sore. So I don't know what the difference is, particularly. Could he have come on for 20 minutes or so? I don't know. But it's another bad, bad result for Ange.
Tottenham have now taken one point from 21. They've lost 30 games this season. The fans are unhappy. They seem to be more unhappy with Daniel Levy than they are with Angie Pasta Koglu, which seems fair enough because he isn't supporting Angie Pasta Koglu, and he hasn't really supported quite a number of the... Is it 16 managers that have... He's seen off or... Well, 15 and Angie, who might be seen off fairly soon.
Yeah, but a really, really good result for Lester, who come from behind. Jamie Vardy trolling the Spurs fans was quite fun. 38 years old. Never changed, Jamie. Yeah, great. Well, you said, I mean, just forever, we spoke about it being new nose birthday on Saturday.
I was shocked to learn he's younger than me because he seems much more of a grown up than I am. So maybe I'm more in the verity school of immacurity and it's to be applauded I think. I agree. I'm really struggling.
On the Anne's question, I would quite like to see him left there, but if he is left there, he will have got a lot more rope than many of his predecessors. I think a lot of people want to see him succeed, but the fact of the matter is he isn't succeeding, he's failing dismally as things stand.
But if he's let go now, he can say, look, look at all the players I'd injured. It's kind of a justifiable excuse or a valid excuse. So I would like to see him left there until he gets some of his good players back. You're also worried about if he isn't Max's mental state. Well, I'm not worried about Max's mental state. I just want Max to be here when it happens.
Don't worry, we'll make sure we get comments from Max Rushton if the voice note does have to happen. Yet 15th in the table, one point ahead of Everton having played a game more. He was, of course, asked about his future and he said, who knows? I think he did say, who knows, mate, when you're the manager of a football club, you'd be very vulnerable, isolated. I don't feel that. I feel like this group of players are giving everything for the club.
I have a group of staff that is really committed. I focus on that. My role within that is support and try with these players. Well, it's an interesting one, isn't it? Do we think that if they had perhaps lost and lost maybe more handsomely to Liverpool in that first leg of the Carabao Cup, semi-final, maybe he might be?
the trigger might be pulled more readily, and then the Ryan Mason glass would be pulled again, maybe if they reach the final? Yeah, I think he'll survive sort of the second leg. I think that's pretty safe at this point. It would be tricky one to do at this stage. He's got a good chance of making a final. I suspect he'll probably get beat about four and a little in that second leg, and that might have everyone over the edge. I think he's got a lot of excuses about injuries and whatnot,
So the squad has changed basically, what is available to him has changed, but he's decided to stick to his guns or his own style. Yeah, that's his philosophy, et cetera. And it's not working. And he's not adjusting to the fact that he's not got his first 11 available. That midfield was, you know, poor yesterday, very poor, you know, sour, wasn't fit, et cetera and so forth. And it's, you know, philosophy managers at the moment, real sort of bug bear of mind that
John mentioned before that Guardiola keeps changing the evolves. These people have to evolve. Russell Martin got sacked because he couldn't change. He's not going to walk into a job in the championship, having a squad available to play the football he wants. You have to adapt as a manager. I've come up with a Guardian metaphor for this. It's like people who are sort of bastions of natural wine and think it's good. It's not. It's awful.
You can make better wine. You don't have to have this. You can adapt and make good stuff. Stop telling us that this is the only way of doing it. It's nonsense. Natural wine. Yeah, it's horrible. New one on me.
Yeah, we'll be buried over there to do these nipples. It's like orange squash, it's been fermented next to radio, so they're used as an ashtray, but you'll get really fancy sommeliers going, oh, this has got a lovely bouquet, et cetera, or you can really taste the tobacco. I don't want to taste the tobacco, mate. I want to taste wine. You've really come up in the wilderness, I've just met you. You've got, like, knocking around with sommeliers. Yeah, you know, this is what you get from Gordon. And basically, the other brother from Shameless. Yeah, this is a social climber.
Yeah. Before we move on, Wilson's column. Ah, go, everyone. Well, I wish I could explain it, but Jonathan took an offbeat look, let's put it that way, and delved into the theories of Timothy Leary, a man best known, of course, for his
championing of LSD, though this wasn't a lysergic theory that Jonathan was following, but it appeared to some sort of psychological profiling of angioposto-coglu involving T-rexes, monkeys, mice, I think the point is that
was probably not that dissimilar from Will's, which is that Anne's probably needs to adapt mate because it's not really going to happen for him. The thing is about Anne's football philosophy is when he was the other side of the world, clearly watched a lot of Pep Guardiola football, decided that was for him.
But football has moved on now, as we've seen. Pep Guardiola has had to adapt. Pep Guardiola is struggling with modern football. The other day, he was talking about how quick players are the way forward now, talking about the teams that he thought were good. They were Liverpool, they were Bournemouth, and the rest of it. And a Newcastle, the strong teams. And it appears to me that Ange is struggling to adapt
But I'm not sure that's what Jonathan was saying, because all I know is that I spent a lot of the weekend with being sent excerpts from Jonathan's column, which was absolutely fantastic. I would just like to stress a point. I am a huge Wilson fan. He's a great man. I love him to bits. But that was just peak Wilson.
Me too, me too, is a good friend. Yes. And I, I, my heart goes out to whoever it is, is curating Sue's corner and private eye for the next issue because...
That one isn't going to fit. It's not going to fit in. So they're going to have to do a double page. Or I can actually can say to predict it starts with that, continues, racket, continues. And then, yeah, I mean, he must have smashed the all-time entries for one entry for Suse Corner. It was absolutely unbelievable. Well done, Jonathan.
We salute you, Jonathan Wilson. Wharves, Neil, Arsenal, one, a kind of fury with a lovely finish. And I think that's really the headline here, isn't it? Oh, but now are you gaslighting Arsenal fans here? This is it. Oh, yeah. You see already, already turned off. No, no, no. No conspiracy theories begin. You gaslight bad laughing at them, but they've had this great injustice done against them and
You're trying to skip it, you're trying to skip away from it. You're what you're doing to me, John Brink. You're allowing the PGOML, this body that are acting unilaterally. Sorry, Robert, I'm just going to cross your book, but there's a great thing about our art store fans. And a lot of other people think the PGOML... M-O-L. M-O-L, is that on the... Yeah. They are...
You know, you watch these American procedurals and like one government department's gone rogue, like the Justice Department or a grand jury or, you know, some sort of attorney or a more sort of more parietal English thing where you've got
a local council, a parish council and one of the one of the committees is going a bit rogue and the other ones can't control them. That appears to be the way that referees body has led by hard web are depicted by those feel they get justice but they're mavericks yeah yeah they're taking the law into their own hands they're into deep jansky you know it's it's it's it's just refereeing it's just refereeing it's just decisions
Well, let's have a debate because I mean, who do we do we think that? Because obviously you don't, I didn't see it. And then you get all the kind of going, this is the worst decision ever seen in the history of the, and I just wonder, Barry, am I being contrary when I kind of, when someone tells you this is the best film or the best TV program they've ever seen and you watch and you think it's okay, you know, but I don't get the hype. Do you, can you see why the red card was given or is it the most outrageous decision you've ever seen?
I think three things can be true. I think you can think it was a terrible decision and I do think it was a terrible decision. I've seen worse but that was a terrible decision. I can totally understand the anger of Arsenal fans and I also have no sympathy for them whatsoever because quite a few of them, an increasing number
are behaving like big babies and so yeah i think it was a bad decision and then the p g m l l doubling down on it yesterday was worse because they're behaving in a trumping almost or wellie in manner
You know, the PGMOL told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was that it was our final most essential command. And that seems to me what's happened. They've told us to ignore what we all saw and telling us that we saw something else. You know, it's like the Elon Musk fallout after he did that double fascist salute. With regard to ours, the fans being outraged about it, this has led apparently to Michael Oliver getting threats, which is not
not acceptable, and then ours and fans have been posting these numbers, oh he's given us more red cards than anyone else. Well that's fine, but they're just numbers. Unless I see every single red card he's given, you judge each one on its merits, so maybe quite a few of them were deserved. Maybe he's given other teams red cards they didn't deserve. I haven't seen all those red cards, or I can't remember them,
So I'm not in a position to comment. And then, you know, there were other egregious decisions over the weekend. Quite a few of them. Is that that evidence of a conspiracy? Ilman enjoy was booked for impersonating a bird. That's ridiculous.
outrageous. That should have been a red. Alvarez for West Ham avoided a third. He should have got three yellow cards. He only got one. NC so should have been red carded for a challenge on Endo Waturo. He only got a yellow.
And you could argue that Martinez should have been sent off against Fulham. So, you know, are these all different conspiracies or is it just Arsenal who are the victims of conspiracy? So there's an awful lot to win pick here. But at the end of the day, it didn't really matter because they won. It was a very good defensive performance for them. So, you know, fair play, I suppose. But yeah, it was a terrible decision, in my opinion, but I have no sympathy for the
Yeah, Wolves also had a player sent off, Shao Gomez. I do like the way Vito Pereira, the Wolves manager, really keeps his cars close to his chest. Jao Gomez got his first Jello card for kicking the ball away. I was under the impression that only happens to Arsenal players. Did any of them complain about that? No. Listen, it's not every Arsenal fan. Yes, correct. The lunatic fringe. But quite a few of them are Arsenal fans with a big influence.
Yeah, that's true, that's true. And Decoraries won against Brighton back in what feels like several years ago is still regarded as like this changing moment in football. Listen, my view of the Lewis Skelly thing is, listen, we all know the tactical foul. Yeah, it's certain teams have built empires around it.
But it was a pretty poor attempt at it and it was just a trip. And I think it would be union if you did that, you'd be sent off. It was obviously a different sport. I'm not saying we have the same rules as that. Their view is that it was high, it was deeply cynical, no attempt to play the ball. You could see why it was given as a red. I don't think it was one of the worstes in of all time. And
They won. You won the game. Lewis Kelly might learn a lesson, which is if you're going to be cynical mate, whoever's telling you to do this, try to tell him if you're going to be cynical, you know, get your body across him, just nudges him or whatever. Don't just trip him up like that. Like it was like a school boys, you know, like say you're running across the, the school yard and you mate just trips you over. It was like that type of thing.
It wasn't a football move. That's probably why he got sent off for it. Yeah, not playing the ball. So Arsenal do win, but it seems to be just a real slog for them. Yeah. Unlike Liverpool, who'd be able to switch for one. I mean, well, it just seems quite effortless at the moment for Liverpool, doesn't it?
They've got the most balanced squad in the league by a distance. They've got six forwards that they can rotate as they like. And they all seem informed, maybe apart from noon as cases sort of getting up to speed. But yeah, lots of options. And at the heart of it, they've got Van Dyke and Kannato looking like the best defensive partnership now that Malenka, Rich and Maria, you know, need to retire. With Graven Birch, you know, sinking with M superbly, it's a complete team. Everyone hides a kite.
Happy as Larry with the form, playing teams off the park. I know it's which aren't the most difficult at the moment, so you showed what you can do to them. But yeah, it's a very cohesive unit. Everything's working, you know, morale's really high and not fearful of anyone, even when it was difficult at Foresty. But when I was there, you know, kept going, kept, you know, battering down the door and eventually got a goal. So yeah,
They're going to win the league. I think we can all accept that. We can probably gloss over them most weeks from now on, just talk about it when they've lifted the trophy. Because it's going to take a bit of a slump from now to take a bit up, I'd say. Yeah, we're in January and they still haven't played anyone any good, I think. Yeah. Former's next week. The question I had was, did RNA slots dad think they played well against Ipswich? Because, of course, he is now the major critic, saying they were boring against Leel.
It does show you how easy it would be for Liverpool. I love that, however old you are, your parents are still going to slap you down. It's great, isn't it? Absolutely love that. Full of milk, Manchester United won, Lao Tara Martinez with a deflected strike. Talking of deflecting tactics, I was loved at Ruben Ammering's comment about Marcus Rashford. Do we think that they're
68 year old goalkeeping coach is a better train of the Marcus Rashford. I think this is the big question, isn't it? I mean, again, do we think this, because Rashford makes good copy, doesn't he? And is this a kind of big deflection as to another pretty unconvincing Manchester United display, Barry? I don't know enough about Amarems.
previous musings in his old job, or previous jobs, to know how he operates. But he strikes me as someone who just speaks his mind, has decided Marcus Rashford is not for him, and wants to get rid of him. I can't see Rashford coming back from this. It's a strange of things have happened, I suppose, but I don't think Rashford wants to be at the club. I don't think Hammerman wants him at the club.
Uh, I'm clearly obviously not in a position to judge Rashford's training performances. Is he turning a play? Is he not putting in the effort? I don't know, but I don't really know the answer to your question. It might be a deflection tactic. Because, I mean, this was a dog of a game. It was played at a horrible time.
so slow hand clap whoever was responsible for that. It was played in horrible weather and I think Manchester United just do out got away with it but it's a very very valuable win for them. Fulham's record at home against United is absolutely atrocious.
But again, you feel like Fulham could possibly have won every single game this season. They seem to be very unfortunate, and you get that hand-dog expression from Marco Silva so often, it just looks so sad. Janine Fantino was at this game. He was also at Manchester City versus Chelsea, having been at the inauguration with Donald Trump. The holy triumph of events, you might say. That'll do for part two. In part three, we'll round up the rest of the Premier League action.
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on the part three of the Guardian Football Weekly, Brighton, Nill, Everton won an Everton penalty from Iliman and Dai. Interestingly, there was a bit of debate about this one as well, whether this was a penalty or not in the match the day studio on Saturday. I mean, it looked like he kind of punched the ball out of play to me. So fairly clear cuts. I mean, I mean, Camp Lineker on this. I don't think it was a penalty. I think
I mean, no one in their right mind is punching the ball like that facing their own goal when really probably wasn't as much danger as you might think. So I can't see that his full process was that he should punch the ball away to stop Everton from having a shot because Everton don't score anyway, so I don't really matter that much if what's happening in the area. And so I think he got pressure in behind and his arm moved and he was sort of pretty helpless. But yeah, Shearer and Murphy were
sort of in disgusted to think that it was it might have been an accident. It was like it's nailed on. It's a stone waller. So, you know, and I thought it was a footballer now. I've told you if Harry got one. So I, you know, I know what I'm talking about. But yeah, I did think it was apparently I was going to go. But weren't you in goal? You were actively current. No, who can and can't use the ball away or pam it away. Exactly. I know how hands should be used. Look at the Barry. Look at them.
I admittedly, I didn't really punch much that. Yeah, I don't think it was apparent that I thought it was really harsh. Maybe I'm too nice. I'm just known for being such a nice guy. Generous. John, 700th game for David Moyes. A one-nil win. I mean, could it be any better for him? Well, he did say, didn't he, he thought his heart might give out in the second half.
writing put the pressure on. David Moyes, it appears, Everton aren't going to go down and there is another way to just settling for the Sean Deish experience of just hanging on grimly.
Listen, David Moyes is not going to play and donate area all the football, but he's going to at least try and win games and not just settle for a draw and not just stop games happening at all, which appears to be the dash plan by the end of it. And, you know, the guy that will popularise the
phrase, the people's club for Everton looks like the guy that's going to lead them into the new stadium, which I think is nice. It's nice and I think Everton have suffered enough. And I think it's nice that we've got Moisey back and it's going to be a safe route to Bramley, more doc. Yeah, and die. I mean, actually, we talk about the show nicely. There's a really good player. Really, really good player.
use them a bit more and you might get something out of them. The thing is with that Everton squad, sure it's got holes in it but it's always had talent in it and there is something to be released from that.
As for guys, Brighton, very hit and miss this season, aren't they? Yeah. Sometimes you just think, wow, this, this guy, this kid, this kid is used to some of us here. It's really nailed it. Okay. You see this kid's really nailed it. And then other times not. But again, that's
to do with the fact that he will learn and also there's a lot of players coming in out and he's got quite a big squad to balance and a lot to move around yet it doesn't quite work like the strikers aren't quite there and
They don't score enough goals. I think that's probably going to be their role in life over the next few years of just good season, bad season, never really in trouble. They're too well run, aren't they?
Oh yes, the well-won klaxon. And also, yeah, it seems like, I think Jamie Vardy did a seagull celebration as well when he scored against them. So they got up to put up with that. It seems like every time. But yeah, booking for that seems a little bit much, isn't it? Is that exciting? I don't know. They must take... I mean, they're probably very proud of their seagulls, and maybe it was just a bit much from him die.
Well, I was told yesterday by Charlie Baker that there's no such thing as a seagull. It's just a goal. But, yeah, if he'd swooped into the crowd and stolen someone's chips, then, yeah, maybe give him a yellow card for that. You know, that, because that's typical goal behavior down bright and way. But otherwise, I thought it was quite harsh. You know, it's a bum, just an aside. I thought, well, there must be some goals around here using the correct term. I didn't see any. What's that?
What happened to goals in Bournemouth? There you go. Maybe Bournemouth's just where elderly goals go. There's her next sort of soonness in Harry Redknap in sandbags. They were holding their wings on a bench down by the big thing. Southampton won Newcastle United three. Newcastle actually battered last weekend. Can't read too much into this.
Well, what do you think it's like being a Southampton player at the moment? I mean, because it's just like you go out there every week, you get beat, you know, you're going to be in the championship next season. It must be absolutely miserable. That's despite taking the lead, by the way, as well. Yeah, I mean, they took the lead at United as well. I mean, they took the lead at United as well. No one inside the ground with five, 10 minutes to go was expecting anything other than United to come back and get something even with the United being so dreadful.
Yeah, they make a lot of mistakes, which doesn't help. I mean, you big sign in the summer Ramsdale's out injured, so you end up with Alex McCarthy, no offense support lad, but probably not a Premier League goalkeeper now. Yeah, if your staff actually is probably waiting for the end and expecting you wages to be cut or you get sold on to someone slightly better, or you end up in league and because that's, you know, that's probably what these players should settle for. Yeah, they had a bad summer, I think, in terms of recruitment. It's been a lot of money on players that weren't up to it. And then Barrowton D has already
wondered off but to show who's united. Camera archers are not particularly great. It's a pretty underwhelming squat, to be honest. And they've made 70 mistakes. It must ruin morale. Changing managers have sort of made them a little bit more stable. But even then, it's just staring down the barrel continuously.
New Castle, and you know when you go against New Castle though, an incredible midfield, and Ali's been excellent recently since he's dropped a bit deeper, and you're playing against arguably the best striker in the Premier League at the moment, and Isaac. So yeah, you must just live in fear and just, you know, wait to go home, have a nice cup of tea, and not worry about it until, you know, see he's heard up next week, or something like that.
I was going to say about Southampton, I was joking with a colleague, actually one of your colleagues, Robin. We may never have to get to know every curiosity's name.
It does seem like a... It's going to be a very deep cut pop quiz, isn't it? Yeah, you should get yourself up to what? Oh, right, yeah. I mean, there's a couple of managers like that, aren't they? You sort of come in, you think. I mean, Ruben, I saw I was one, you know, you know, managed Leicester for 15 games in the 2020, but now showing that around. But yeah, it's taking on that job. Wow. You know, they were down...
way before they sat in Russell Martin. So it's sad because there is a club there and there are ambitions there but they have made some bad choices of recruitment across all departments. It is a worry for me that their former head of football
It's now a Manchester United, but there you go. Yeah. Well, Dan Ashworth didn't last long, so we'll have to see if he goes the same way. Villa One, West Ham United, won six games without a win post-Champions League for Villa. I suppose that was fairly predictable, given they've not been the Champions League for quite a while.
Barry, it seems like they're generally signs of life a little bit for West Ham. I mean, they're not going to go down. They weren't really going, I don't think they're going to go down under Lopate a bit. Seems like slowly seeing a little bit more from them.
I didn't think they were going to go down under Loptegi only because there was almost certainly going to be three teams way worse than them. Whereas now, as you say, they're showing signs of life that there's potentially a good team there. And I'm not surprised because Graham Potter is a good manager, despite what happened to him at Chelsea.
I thought they were maybe a little bit lucky in this game because they've already mentioned Alvarez should have been sent off. He provided the assist for the goal with a nice cross for Emerson.
decent result for them. Unai Emery was not in his technical area because he was banished to the stands for previous offences. Villa fans, I'd say, were quite concerned to see Taran Ming's go down with what looked like a worrying injury, but he was all smiles by the end of the game on the bench and posted it on social media that it's not a serious injury, so it's good for him.
There was a lot of very childish play acting in this game as well. Lucas Piketto at the heart of quite a lot of it. He's had quite an up and down season, and I presume the consequences of this investigation into
His pals betting activities is hanging over him because that could have very, very serious repercussions for him. He protests his absolute innocence and says he'd do everything he can to prove his innocence, so hopefully he can.
Because if he can't, that could be the end of him. It seemed a fair result. It was very much a game of two halves. Aston Villa boss the first half, West Ham boss the second. And maybe if Unai Emery had been on the touchline, he might have been in a position to do something about that.
Crystal Planless 1, Brentford 2, a couple of things to really enjoy in this one. In particular, Joanne Wisser's marvellous flex, especially after Brian and Buremo had missed the first penalty, he was ordered to be retaken, and he celebrated even before I think he started the run-up, absolutely magnificent stuff.
from yoannwiser and then also essay barney as a millowall fan was saying is going to be going to be excellent scored i think with his first touch did a knee slide no one was joining it because it was still two one five minutes to go on the clock i'm a good away with this john for brentford you've seen them quite a lot because they've not been great away from home have they
No, do you know what? I don't think I've actually seen Brentford away from them. I always see them at Brentford. So I see the good Brentford most of the time. And yeah, it feels strange to see them have to grind out results in the way that they did there. I mean, I mean, Thomas Frank continues to do such a great job there. And again, I don't want to, you know, take anyone away from the club. Well, they've done such a great job. But why he isn't considered for
Actually, I think I actually credit Thomas Frank with enough sense not to take the Tottenham job. But you know, he would, he would be a great manager for them, I believe, because he is so adaptable, sensible, rational. Hey, listen, that could all go out the window when you're at Tottenham. But I just think, yeah, Brent, Brent, Brent again, we're back to the well-run cliche, aren't we? And it serves them so well. And but
You know, and wemo with Dan's guards, you know, passing is fantastic, isn't it? You know, what I find he is. I mean, I think there's a play. I think he's got his rheumatoid arthritis, doesn't he? And he's playing through, which is a very painful condition. I know from family issues with it. And yeah, you know, he is an excellent, excellent player. And they continue to honor the jewels.
And yeah, good stuff. But yeah, the celebration when no one else is celebrating is one. If you ever watched the big match from the 80s or whatever, you see it a bit more after all the 70s. When players were probably a bit more self-regarding, you know, they'll celebrate a goal when it's three one down or something. But now it is very much frowned upon, isn't it?
I think it's okay for him as in his first Premier League goal of his debut, but yeah, it'll probably be accused by people who are not being a team player, won't it? People. We've established that we like people. I'm thinking of this. And I include myself among this large group of people. Leo says a word for Tony Mobry getting his first win back after beating cancer and it was a 5-1 demolition
back at the Hawthorns, yes, wonderful to see him and a great result. There was a brilliant interview with Tony Mulberry in the athletic couple of weeks ago, which I think was conducted by Michael Walker, formerly this parish, who, yeah, I couldn't be happier for him. He just seems like an absolute top man.
It's a great guy. It's a great guy. And I was a West Brom Birmingham game last year before, not long before probably he got the news and there was a racist incident in the crowd. And Tony Mo Bray, you know, who's an old school guy, spoke with the most sentence I've ever seen about that something incident, you know, just totally on the level. A really inspiring man, you know, speaks to fans of Middlesbrough. You were an absolute hero and it is great to see him back in the game.
all the best Tony over. Absolutely. And Luke says, can we have a ride loft a minute from Max? You can't, I'm afraid, because Max isn't here. I've got a brilliant 3-2 win over Mansfield for Cambridge United. An EFL pod is coming tomorrow for you. And that is about it for today. Thank you so much, Barry. Thank you, Robin. And your little assistant there, who you've been jigging on your lap for parts two and three. Thank you, apologies if, yeah. It's all right. It'll soli his
has interrupted the podcast. Will, thank you very much. Thank you. I always thought Barry would be the first guest to vomit live in a life. Fair place at all.
He's had the other end, isn't he? But not live on the podcast. Maybe it's live show anyway. That's a meeting for another time. John, maybe thanks to you. Well, I can't follow that, can I? So thanks very much, Robert. Thank you all, all things EFL tomorrow. You can send us questions over on Instagram, just search football weekly or via email, footballweeklyattheguardian.com. Football weekly is produced by Joel Grove and our executive producer is Daniel Stevens.
This is The Guardian.
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