The case for Arsenal’s title challenge and an EFL roundup: Football Weekly Extra

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Hello and welcome to The Guardian Football Weekly. Do we have League Arsenal winner Brentford to cut Liverpool's lead at the top to six points. Another solid performance, they were fine without Saka and came from behind at the becoming less of a fortress GTEC. We'll do a Premier League preview and some transfer window all at the same time. Liverpool Manchester United looks compelling, not because anyone thinks the result is in doubt, but just how much Canano slot fan the flames of the United bin fire. Don't worry like every media outlet, we're compelled to discuss the features of Marcus Rashford and Trent Alexander-Arnold.

Back to bin fires, Spurs still have no defenders and take on Newcastle who are absolutely flying, while after Leicester away, Man City have somehow managed to get an easier fixture this weekend, at home to West Ham. Also today's some EFL, Josh Windhouse from the halfway line, or more accurately, the middle of his own half. The end of Rooney, House Frank getting on at Coventry, Ooh Gary Rowett's good start at Oxford, and a massive win for Sunderland over Sheffield United. Also today, the Danny Almo pickle that Barcelona find themselves in, some choral music and an invitation for the pod to improve diplomatic ties with China, obviously.

All that plus your questions, and that's today's Guardian Football Weekly. On the panel today, Barry Glenn Denny, welcome. Hi, Max. From not the top 20 podcast, Ali Maxwell, hello. Good morning. And from the racing post, Mark Langdon. Hi, Mark. Hi, Max. Obviously quite a lot of Mark Langdon, Christmas dinner questions. We'll get to them later. Let's start at the GTEC, Brentford 1 Arsenal 3.

I mean, I think it's fair to say, Mark, that saying Liverpool have won the league is a little premature because Arsenal are good. This was a good win against the side with a very good home record. They did it without Pacio Saka and they look pretty comfortable doing it.

Yeah, yeah, I don't think it's all over at all. If Liverpool can build up in the first half of the season, this lead on Arsenal, I don't think that we just assume that Liverpool carry on winning virtually every game from now until the end of the campaign. And if they do slip up and maybe if there is an injury to Van Dyke or Salah, then things could change.

pretty quickly, I think, on that front. And Arsenal just needs to be in a position where they get to a points tally that kind of puts them in the right kind of area. And to do that, you have to win these type of away games. And it was a really sticky first, sort of 25, 30 minutes for them. But once they equalised, they really went through the gears and I thought they were quite comfortable really by the end of it.

It was a very good away performance given that Brentford can be awkward opponents. I would just say that I think their home record is slightly inflated by their schedule. It's been a really weird schedule for Brentford. They played most of the best teams away, most of the worst teams at home.

Kind of plays out that they've got this strong home record, but it's still really important and good win for us. You like fine margins, of course, and there were some fine margins to appreciate. Just before Arsenal equalised with Dara Ray almost spilling that into his own net. Perhaps a key minute in the match. A weird moment in the game when I think it was keen loose potter.

shot and david raya spilled the shot it looked like it was going to go over the line so that's that's a boo-boo in his part but his recovery was astonishing i thought the manner in which he stretched to prevent the ball going over the line i think one more rotation would have done it

Arsal would have been too nilled down and Riah would have made a bit of a trump of himself in front of the fans of the club he left to go to Arsal so they didn't love that I suppose. A rare mistake from him but a brilliant recovery so hats off to him for that.

Much was made before this game of the bug that was sweeping through the Arsenal camp, so Haverts couldn't play as a result of that. I'm not sure if that's why Rice was on the bench where he was just rested. And then there's a suggestion that some of the players who were on the pitch might have been affected as well. I suppose Arsenal deserve credit for

I would say a fairly routine win, but the manner in which they closed up shop after they went 3-1 ahead, and just the game pretty much just fizzled out into nothing. There was four goals in this game, but I thought it was quite a boring watch, if I'm honest. But Arsenal fans, they'd be happy, three points in the bag, on to Brighton away, which could be another tricky one.

Yeah, the window is open, Ali. And so, you know, Jesus scored what his sixth goal in the last four. That's as many in his previous 48 last and being linked to Bumo and Mathias Kunja, neither of whom are sort of classic, you know, out and out number nine, which is obviously the clamour is for them. What do you think they do?

Well, just on Gabrielle Jesus, I was interested to know what happened in the mind of those people who still want to make Jesus' saves, gags, particularly around Christmas time when Gabrielle Jesus does anything. What do you do on the 1st of January when he's already had a couple of big moments over the festive period? Do you sort of reach for your phone to tweet and then go like, ah, that's probably been done that, hasn't it? With Arsenal, I think we just know now based on every,

Premier League club that buying ready to go, goal scoring number nine, who also do all the other stuff that top managers want them to do, much of which has nothing to do with goal scoring, but it's more about physicality, running channels, linking play, pressing, et cetera, is really difficult. As Arsenal know, because they sometimes seem to get priced out of these types, quite expensive.

I'm always a bit sympathetic with the we just need a better striker thing because I think it's difficult to get one that's guaranteed to be someone that comes in straightaway and makes them an excellent team. That is the obvious position on the pitch that you look at because defensively they are almost impeccable. Set piecewise, they are incredible. There's probably an extra midfielder to be found if you were really picking holes in the team. We talk about

We will probably come on to talk about the Danny almost situation. I think he's a fascinating player for any of the big six teams to be looking at if he is indeed available. Because for me, he's the sort of player that does a bit of everything in terms of the modern game in midfield and in attack. And if he's available for a cut price and he's clearly been in such good form for an extended period of time, I think he's a sort of January signing that actually could make a big impact to any of the teams towards the top of the league.

Yeah, we'll get on to Daniel Moen a bit. Worth mentioning one area as well, Mark, who made his first Premier League start at the same ground. He became the Premier's youngest ever player when he was 15 in 181 days in September 2022. He could be sack-up for a bit.

You just glossed over the fact that a 15-year-old was playing in a Premier League game. That is absolutely immense. Imagine what you were doing at 15. I'd have been so spotty and insecure. I just want to hide. I'm also shit. The fact that he was trusted to play.

You know, it was only a cameo, I think, if I remember rightly sort of back then. But the fact that he's been so highly rated by Arsenal, you know, or it feels like for years and it's been a lot of hype around him as he's been coming through the academy. I think it is only right that you have these sort of spaces and opportunities. Otherwise, you know, where does he end up? Where does he

How does he develop? In keeping with Arsenal's first 30 minutes, he kind of got better as the game went on and eventually won that duel with Louis Potter, wasn't it, that was playing as a sort of left-back. He's very talented player. I thought Thomas Partie in midfield was really strong for Arsenal as well. I thought he was

Maybe the most important player in the game as Arsenal grew an influence on it, but yeah, clearly a big talent and trusted. I know Sterling's been injured, but seems to be trusted more than Raheem Sterling anywhere at the moment.

Mark mentioned the way that the fixtures have fallen for Brentford as being a benefit to their early points tally at home. I think that Liverpool are fairly significantly better than Arsenal based on what we've seen so far this season and clearly the likely winners of the league. But if you were Arsenal or an Arsenal fan, you'd cling to the fact that similarly, when it comes to how the fixtures have fallen, they have played almost all of the top 10 teams away from home.

Liverpool have played almost all of the top 10 teams at home. So again, just in terms of that fixture list, that schedule, which does have quite a big impact, that's one of the few things that I'd be clinging to if I was an Arsenal fan when it comes to making up a six-point gap with Liverpool having a game in hand.

Right, Arsenal got a bright on Saturday, Brent would go to Southampton in the Premier League this weekend. Really Liverpool Manchester United Barrie is so interesting, but not because anyone thinks that there'll be any other result than a Liverpool win, but it's more, someone tweeted us for the last part going, are there enough numbers to register the number of goals that Liverpool might score in this game? Or could we expect the unexpected?

I don't expect the unexpected, but I will not be surprised if should the unexpected unfold. Right, Liverpool have 23 points more of the Manchester United at the halfway point of the season. There are 13 places above them in the league table. There is a quite obvious chasm, Grand Canyon in class between the clubs on the pitch and off the pitch.

United were Bobbin's last season as well.

but they knocked Liverpool out of the FA Cup. They threw a stake in the spokes of their title run that I think began a run of seven games without a win. And they pulled a huge performance out in nowhere, like nowhere, to beat Manchester City in the FA Cup final. In the FA Cup final, they were incredibly lucky to be in because they probably shouldn't have got past Coventry in the semi-final.

So if they can do that last season, who's to say they can't do it again this season? I don't expect it to happen, but it might. If you were Ruben Ammer in Ali, how would you approach this game? I'd be pretty worried. I'd be pretty worried because it's a complete mess. And particularly in the centre of the park where Liverpool excel,

and particularly at the back from Manchester United, where they look slow and unsure of themselves, they're coming up against currently the best team in the world, the best attack in the world, slick, quick, incredible, and if you ask, should we expect the unexpected?

You know, for me, this is like asking might Fulham win at Anfield or Everton win at Anfield. That's about where I see Manchester United at the moment. I think you're doing Fulham a grave disservice there. Am I comparing them to Manchester United? Well, although to be fair, Fulham had 10 men and just about held on for a point. I mean, Liverpool had 10 men against Fulham, didn't they? And Liverpool looks the better side in that one.

But I take your point, Barry. Yes, that's rude to pull them. So, basically, none of the individuals are playing particularly well, and the team as a unit is playing really poorly, and they're playing, yeah, currently the best team in the world. So I'd be, yeah, quaking, frankly. But that's why I'm not a football manager. I'm sure Mr. Amarim has something up his sleeve, and he's probably feeling much more confident than the stats would suggest, because managers tend to feel quite confident before games.

I guess so. I mean, he can't play that. Ericsson, Casa Mira midfield again, can he? I think it's Fernandez back, isn't he? No, I don't think we'll see that midfield again, as well. Maybe Europa League game, but I don't

I think we'll see that again in the Premier League. And he's not going to come out and say he made the complete mistake. But maybe in the Masters, maybe in the Masters 6 aside, we'll see Eric coming up to know again. That would be a welcome return. I know people say there's too much football, but if we bring back the evening standard of time aside, then there's definitely room in the calendar for that. But the fact he made the substitution after half an hour, I don't think it really matters which player it was that got substituted. He was admitting that he made a mistake.

the one sort of, I think, maybe just piece of hope for United. Do you know they've got the second best defensive record away from home in the Premier League this season? They've only conceded 10 goals. Top them have got the best defensive away record with nine goals conceded and then Manchester United is second with 10 goals conceded. So they don't actually, they don't score many goals Manchester United, but they have managed to

be tight at the back at least defensively so a humiliation would feel unlikely despite the huge golfing quality currently between the two teams.

The stats that Manu and Spurs have the two best of way records defensively feels like a glitch in the matrix, doesn't it, given what is happening? Just quickly, Mark, apparently United want Victor Jockeres, who doesn't, apparently they want Milos Kirkes from Bournemouth, who would cost about 60 million. Rashford's got a new agent apparently, or he says he might do. Yeah, I think he's denied that. He has denied that. Okay.

And Xerxes might be wanted by you van a couple of others like what movement do you expect at old traffic?

They do need to bring in some players, but PSR, in the summer, and there were suggestions that United were fairly close to, well, basically weren't able to do more business because of PSR. So, Yokores, for what, 100 million, 80 million, 90 million, whatever you would cost, feels like that would be a step too far in this window, at least.

I think they do need to bring in some players, but any player that they've brought in over the last few years hasn't lived up to it anyway. Central midfield would be the area that I think that they've been lacking for some time now. You mentioned Casamiro and Ericsson as two that would be on big wages and just really passengers in that team. I think sorry for Amorim and as much as

They're playing every three days at the moment. So he's had no real opportunity to bed in what he wants to do because it's just, you know, play, recover, play again. And that that's not ideal for a new manager coming in. And I do think he's a good manager and

In January, if they were to go out of the FA Cup, they got Arsenal in their way, the calendar might ease up for them that actually he can just then start coaching the team the way that he wants. And the solution isn't always to just go and buy a load of new players. I think you have to trust the coach to be able to coach these players in the first place.

I'm looking forward to seeing the moistification of Ruben Emmeram as Manchester United manager, because it came in handsome, black hair, full all smiles, very, very charming. And I fully expect that in six months' time he'll be completely gray gaunt.

constantly frowning and read chippy at press conferences instead of welcoming all comers and answering their questions with a bit of joy to weave.

Yesterday, Ali, I was on the radio and just before I came on a Liverpool fan rang in to Natalie Sawyer and Dean Saunders on talk sport utterly furious with Trent Alexander Arnold and called him a rat and a traitor for even considering moving to Real Madrid.

I just wondered if you were on the same page with that call. Obviously, people don't ring phoneings to say, I don't really mind. Like a mild-mannered phone would be the dream for me. But it was quite funny to hear that at the time, but it feels like it's about to happen. It feels like a really good idea for Trent Alexanderland.

Yes, what a situation we've we find ourselves in with transfer reporting that someone so much as being reported to be considering a transfer to the team that's one of the most champions leagues in the history of football.

is both known somehow but also such a disgraceful suggestion. I'd really like Trent Alexander-Arnold to stay at Liverpool because I think he could have one of those lovely one club careers that seems to happen more when we were all younger but then lots of things seems to happen more when we were all younger that probably didn't.

And we love a one club man, don't we? And he's such an incredible player. He's, you know, he has been through and I think come out the other side of quite a lot of criticism and scrutiny. I think sometimes fairly and sometimes unfairly, he was held up as the reasons for poor runs of Liverpool form. And it's great to be able to see an excellent Liverpool side with Trent playing brilliantly again. So, I mean, I'm not a huge fan of

Real Madrid as a concept, as a club. And so I personally don't see some of the appeal that I think most footballers see in playing for Real Madrid and being quote unquote a Galactico. I guess the only other thing that springs to mind here is I've spoken on previous podcast tactics type pods that I've done that Trent is probably the closest player to David Beckham, albeit he plays right back and Beckham played in a right mid field role.

we've discussed previously where the Beckham in the modern game might have been a right back because he was hard working and he delivered amazing crosses from deep and it'd be quite nice to see Trent doing the sorts of things that Bex was doing in white over in Real Madrid. But overall, it is a disgrace and he shouldn't even consider leaving Liverpool. Imagine if Beckham had been a right back. What happened to Gary Neville?

Super Sunday would be so different, wouldn't it? Anyway, Newcastle on a great run. Spurs that have no defenders. Eddie Howe's outthought ands before. Mike says, I'd like to hear Mark's take on Tottenham, and will ands last January after losing to Newcastle Liverpool and Arsenal? So look, he's confident that Spurs will beat Tamworth at least. What's your current read on Tottenham?

Well, yeah, if they lose the Tamworth, I mean you might struggle to find the sort of and believers left but Mac Max and I'll be there like that. I'll be there. That Japanese sort of last. I might be looking at one, but I'm inside the stadium. There's not been that many people calling for Ang to go. I think there's a kind of

I believe actually that he's just a good guy and that we're not going to call him out even if things have got really bad. I think the issues lie way above Posse-Coglu and have done for the best part of 25 years. Daniel Levy's been in charge coming up 25 years, a quarter of a century later on.

This year, I don't have any problem with the NFL, the concerts, the go-karting. There was a squid games thing going around the stadium last week or certainly recently that I didn't quite understand because I've never watched it. But there were plenty of people excited. Sorry, did they have snipers, I understand, shooting people in sort of boiler suits who were trying to run from one end of the pitch to the other?

Is that why you doggy went down, Barry? I'm not sure. Yeah, it might well have been that. But there's a direct link between wage bill expenditure and success in football, and Tottenham have tried to do it on the cheap for just too long now. And according to Deloitte's sort of last figures for the 2022-23 season, Spurs have got the lowest wages to revenue ratio in the Premier League, which is quite good in summary respects. And I'm sure Dan Levy's patting himself

on the back, but there's no fan wants to be top or bottom depending on how you can't look at that of that table. You know that in itself I think shows the lack of ambition. They wanted Trossard, they wanted Neto, they wanted Louis Diaz, they got Danjuma, Solomon and Timo Werner instead to play on those left-me-field positions. Newcastle is a category A game this weekend.

which means if you want to stand behind the goal it's £88.50.

If you want to sit behind the goal, it's £98.50. And if you want a half-decent seat on the side, it's over £100. So in terms of ticket prices, if they're not the highest in Europe, they're certainly going to be right at the very towards the top of that. And there's no sign that they're showing this ambition in terms of wage expenditure. I was there on Sunday.

and you've got Fraser Forster and Region and players that shoot the team over and players that I don't think should be playing for Tottenham. If you've got this kind of wage bill,

They've got this option in the wages to really go for it, Max. And I'm not saying it has to be stupid levels, but when you look at Arsenal, having Kai Havertz and Jezoo signing them from Man City and from Chelsea, Tottenham are buying players from Udenese and Empoli and Everton and Bournemouth and Nottingham Forest. You remember, even a few years ago, they could have had greenish

and tried to just hardball Aston Villa into the situation where in the end, Aston Villa were able to say no, even though they were in the championship at the time to top them. And then he goes to Man City for 100 million. So this has been going on for way too long. There was a top-up white heart lane, maybe Tottenham didn't have that option to really go for it. But the promise was that once the new stadium was there,

they'd be able to compete. They're not competing with the very best teams and you can go back.

even when Harry Kane was up front, you know, you have this generational sort of privileged position of getting an elite world-class centre forward for free. And they thought the best option was to not have a backup for him. He played 60 games a season and Tottenham thought that they could get by with just Harry Kane. They then reached semifinals and finals and Kane was absolutely knackered going into them games because

he played every week so there's a real lack of ambition right at the top so even if Ang goes I don't expect kind of any miracle to suddenly happen in terms of replacement and they go into this game against Newcastle with Amanda Stavley who was previously part of

That the Newcastle takeover being strongly linked with getting involved at Tottenham, so I don't know if it's sort of be careful what you wish for, but something needs to change, I think, at the top. Would that be some kind of nation-state? I mean, who's Amanda Stavley working for now, do we know? We don't know.

We're not entirely sure, and she'd been quite coy on the links to Tottenham, but says that she would like to get back involved in the Premier League. There's been quite a lot of US NFL owners that have been linked with Spurs as well.

I mean who knows but most of the fans can't speak for all fans because everybody feels differently about it but most I just want to see a change at the top because they just see it now as a lack of ambition you know first in the queue for the furlough money

season ticket prices, just ridiculously high, taking away the seniors, concessions. There's a lot of things at the club that people are not happy with and just a long way down that list even though things are not going well on the pitch.

In the corresponding fixture in September, it was sort of textbook Spurs performance in so far as they completely dominated the Newcastle to side that weren't playing anywhere near as well as they are at the moment and still contrived to lose 2-1 with Newcastle winning through goals on the counter by taking advantage of Tottenham's high line. So I think

Tottenham could get hiding on this weekend. Oh, I do too. Yeah. Give a Newcastle's excellent forum. I couldn't agree more. All right, that'll do for part one, part two. We'll round out the Premier League preview and do some EF-L as well.

Welcome to part two of the Guardian Football Weekly. So Ali, Man City, following up Lester away with West Ham at home. I mean, that is the dream, isn't it, for a team completely out of form? It should be. I thought that.

many times during their extended poor run, and I guess the hope for them is that the win last time out kind of washes away some of the just awkwardness in their play, the lack of certainty, the almost unprecedented lack of certainty and

and lack of execution in both boxes. They come up against the West Ham team that just lost five nil at home with a manager that seemingly is kind of on his last legs at West Ham, and they should win. I didn't see much in their win against who was a DeBesh Leicester to suggest that there in any way, you know, distance themselves from this funk they were in. Leicester played quite well and

were you know with better finishing probably should have got something so I wouldn't be a bit surprised if West Ham did a number on them. Boeing being out is a big one though isn't it for West Ham I mean he carries that counter attack and threat that ability to run in behind that city have really struggled to contain and so yeah I do wonder

where West Ham's goals are going to come from now, Boeing's out as well. He's saying full crew can't run in behind, Mark. I'd say it's not his main strength. I'd love him. And now Michael Antonio says he's grateful to be alive after breaking his leg in a car accident. He was discharged from hospital on Tuesday, more than three weeks after undergoing surgery. Following the crash, he said every year around this time, I'm asked what I'm grateful for every year. I've struggled to find the right words. But this year, I know exactly what I'm grateful for being alive. I spent so many years taking my for granted.

I made plans for the next day, the next year, always assuming tomorrow was guaranteed. I've seen close friends pass away, witnessed others face near-death experiences, and even then I didn't fully grasp just how precious life is, says a healthy dose of perspective. From the other fixtures Barry, anything that takes your eye? I also go to Brighton, who on their day could easily

Not easily, but could be Arsenal. But Brighton could really do with a win here to jumpstart what had looked like a promising season, but has gone very flat. They have won in seven. They've drawn five last two. They're not playing as well as they can. So Arsenal will be hoping to meet that Brighton one presumes. But if Brighton can get their act together, they could be a very, very stern test for Arsenal.

Well, on Monday, a long time to wait, but it's the Nuno Derby, Wolves against Nottingham Forest. The forest flying at the moment is a remarkable turnaround from just being part of that relegation discussion. Even the start this season, I think there would have been some that have fancied Forest to be around the bottom three, instead they're top three and pushing for Champions League.

He's done a remarkable job. They've got a team that is very familiar with each other, doesn't make that many changes, but it's almost not the same formation, but it's very similar, isn't it, to the way the walls had their success really strong defensively quick and slick on the counter-attack.

where they remain as up front leading the line. You've got similar enough striker really in Chris Wood doing it for Forrest. So hopefully, I'm sure Nuno will get a decent enough reception from the Wall fans. He did a brilliant job and took them into Europe. Obviously, Wall's need the points for their own reasons. No kunya for that week will be a blow.

still seems like a weird fever dream that Nuno was Wolves Manager in the championship with Diogo Jota and Ruben Nevers in that day. You're right. Matash Kune, by the way, two-game ban for ripping off someone's glasses. Is that enough? I don't know. Dan says, since you stopped mentioning Sheffield Wednesday on EFL pods, they've been doing all right. So just wondering if you could deal us a favor and skip over Josh Windass's won the goal. Yes, Ali, against Derby. It was absolutely brilliant, wasn't it?

So good. So good. Windass with with one of the great from his own half goals that I can remember and lots comparing it to your Beckhams, your Rooney's, et cetera, just sort of latching onto it to a clearance. And one of those where the first touch

It's not great. It's a difficult bit of control, but he just sort of knocks it in front of him. And in speeding towards the ball to latch onto it, he realizes he's going to have a go. And there's still obviously so much to do from there, but the weight of it, the trajectory of it,

Just dropping in perfectly over a goalkeeper who, up until the very last second, still thinks you might be able to get there, which makes it visually even better. The only thing I kind of felt like, unless the crowd effects were being dampened on the clip, I saw it kind of felt like Hillsborough should have gone more nuts.

for what was presumably one of the best goals they've seen, certainly since Adam Reach stopped playing for them and scoring worldies every couple of months. He ran to Barry Bannon in the stands, so I like the idea that maybe Bannon had pointed out that the goalkeeper was regularly off his line on the break, I don't know, absolutely incredible strike execution and for it to be a windass as well, because people remember

His dad Dean so fondly as a player and score it of another iconic EFL goal in a player final at Wembley for Hallegates Bristol City back in the day. Yeah, and afterwards Windess said, you know, the guy was saying, I can't remember what I think was a radio station, some sort of said, you know,

Some striking went, yeah, you've just got to be good. Haven't you really to do that? It's got a good technique. I've been practicing for quite a long time and kicking balls since I was three. So yeah, it's got to be good at it. But as huge win for Sunderland over the Sheffield United last night, some game, wasn't it?

Yeah, it was a really good game and a massive win for Sunderland, who on a day that leads and Burnley were both held. So for them to be chef of the United, a little bit below them, West Brom, battered Preston and burrow beat Hull. So it makes things even more interesting at the top of the championship.

Sutherland just a very good team full of exciting young players. Ellie Meender scored last night. First goal in quite some time. I think he'd been shipping a bit of criticism from Sunderland fans, which is a bit harsh considering he's only 19, but there you go.

It might things might be different if key for more had scored the penalty. He won when a luke on the end who would go on to score a bit of a comedy on goal. But more just look so nervous when he was waiting to take the penalty kind of new yeah he's not going to score he really did you get it was made to wait quite a long time and you just see the confidence drain actually the body is not a good penalty was no no no.

So yeah, massive win for Sunderland. It's a shame they lost against Stoke in the previous game because Stoke aren't very good for an hour at least. But yeah, huge win. Yeah, I mean, you mentioned Leeds. No, they scored really on. They got a penalty.

against Blackburner. Willie Nontos off hugged the ref while appealing for the penalty. He was like, that's got to be a penalty ref was right next to me. He was like, I'll give you him in the ref and I'll go on then. But Blackburn equalised later. Ali, look, you've watched, you know, every game in the championship this season. I presume you've got leads on 52 points, Bernie on 49, Chevy Knight 49 and Sunderland 47. So you feel it's two from those from everything you've seen. Who's your money on?

I think leads are the best team every time I watch them to me anyway. And sometimes it feels like their fans don't agree and hold them to even higher standards. But to me, every time I watch them, they look first and foremost so incredibly strong defensively. And that's not the sexiest thing in the world. But for a team that attacks in the numbers that they do with really attacking fullbacks, three attacking midfielder slash wingers behind a striker and normally one of the sentiment fielders breaking forward as well.

that team should be quite vulnerable on the break and they're just not at all and the defenders that they have from Rodon and Stroud at the centre backs but also Ampedou now that he's fit, Tanaka who's been probably the best signing in the championship this season, the Japanese midfielder, they are so unbelievably strong in all senses on the pitch and they have the quality at the top of the pitch, the speed and the combination play.

So I'd be really surprised if they didn't finish in the top two. I think that they should, you know, barring disaster, finish first. And then it's really difficult with the other sides. You know, Burnley have this absolutely unbelievable defensive record, just nine goals conceded in 25 games. In terms of goals conceded per game, that is a better record than Chelsea's Premier League record defense under Mourinho. So that's where they're at at the moment. James Trafford in goal is

I was going to say, paper over some cracks. They're an excellent defense and he's making them look even better with some excellent performances. Chef United probably just leaking a little bit because they had to kind of patch together a squad over the summer, which was heavy on quality in the starting 11, but not heavy on depth.

you know it winless over the christmas period may be starting to see that if you take out their starting central midfielders suzer and our blaster you lose harry suit who's been a rock at the back to injury and all of a sudden you probably find it hard to maintain the same levels and then the sunland who i thought might might drop away from the pack but with that win last night have

have shown that they're absolutely not doing that. And as Barry says, that they are also a really, really good side. So it's definitely in my eyes too from those four. I had high hopes for Borough even after a slow start to the season, but there's just something that just holds them back, whether it's something tactical or psychological. I'm still not 100% sure, but I'm pretty confident they'll finish in the top six. So there's in my eyes two from four and then probably one playoff spot available for any number of teams, including Sheffield Wednesday.

Plymouth, I got a bottom 19 points. Wain Rooney, part of the company, about a minute after we stopped recording the last pod. I just wondered what you make of his tenure there, Ali. If this is the end of his opportunities as a manager, or if there was something else there.

Because he's so desperate to be good at this, isn't he? That sounds so patronising, but you know what I mean. That kind of reflects how I see it as well. He really seems genuinely desperate to be a good manager. Unfortunately, he's in his results so far, particularly in the last calendar year with Birmingham and with Plymouth Argyle.

He seems to be lacking some pretty important qualities of a football manager, specifically setting up a defence. If you're our guile, and we should say, they almost certainly have a bottom three budget. They almost certainly have a bottom three, five squad in terms of quality and depth. So staying up would be an achievement.

up until recently they were not in the relegation zone and close to safety now four points off it but defensively they're one of the worst teams I've ever seen at this level and that was the same with his Birmingham side who conceded two goals a game over his 15 games away from home they are certainly the

the joint worst team I've ever seen at this level with a rather a united side who also failed to win a game basically away from home for a couple of years. 13 away games, two points, 11 defeats, only three goals scored in 13 away from home. And it was the same at Birmingham as well. So here's a manager that unfortunately twice in a row now has come in, has

given some decent quotes around changing the style of play and playing attractive attacking football, which has only been visible in flashes, but certainly not consistently. And when it comes to actually setting a foundation to allow his team to play a nice attacking football was completely failed both defensively and on the road. And it just makes it too difficult to stay up.

I did watch Rotherham's first away win in two years because it was obviously at Cambridge with a 90th minute deflected shot that rolled into the back of the net. How's Franklin Pud settling in at call?

Mixed start, I'd say. He got a couple of wins early on. The Christmas period hasn't been too kind to them. He's missing a couple of attacking players. He instantly got a huge return out of Ephraim Mason Clark, who was one of their summer signings from Peterborough, and then Mason Clark picked up an injury as missed the last two games. So, I mean, jury's still out, I think it's fair to say.

And Robert Woods at Loon and they lost again, didn't they? It seems extraordinary. I don't know how close they were in the end, but it felt like they were close to Steg in the Premier League. Maybe they went down by 50 points, but this drop is surprising to me.

Yes, I'm surprised that he's still the looter manager as we record this Thursday morning because it was another defeat this time at home, which is even more alarm bells ringing because it's at home where they've picked up almost all of their points this season with 10 defeats out of 12 on the road.

This is not what should happen when you're a relegated Premier League team with parachute payments, even with the understanding that Luton aren't a typical team that's come down from the Premier League with parachute payments in terms of splashing the cash and signing players on big wages.

They are a shambles, I'm afraid, and particularly defensively and in possession, it's pretty agricultural, just swinging as many crosses as we can, get the ball forward to strikers, to sometimes three, who are pretty dangerous in how to buy them at Morris. It's really unimpressive, they've lost three games in a row,

One of the stranger things that i've seen in the last week or so during three game weeks in the efl was, and was doing his post match interview in in the tunnel near the away dressing room yesterday where the knowledge team were playing believe by share in celebrating the win and the lyrics to that song.

aren't great for a manager who seemingly on the cusp of being sacked and i can't quite believe that the club put that out because it is really really quite embarrassing at a time where things are great do you believe in life after love yeah yeah okay i can feel something inside me saying i really don't think you're strong enough no.

Right, I see. By that time, I'm just going, do, do, do. I'm just in the moment. I'm lost. I'm just dancing like crazy at the disco alley. Anyway, League One, I know that the one advantage of losing it home to Reading is that if you try and find the highlights, there are so many Cambridge Reading courses that it's actually very hard to get to them and you can avoid them. But I did see them, but more importantly, give us, if you can, Ali, just a quick minute on League One and League Two, how it's all standing. But for those listeners who don't pay any attention,

That makes me chat with us as someone who is regularly googling things like leads results or chef united results in my research. There are a couple of clubs like Cambridge results where you just get university stuff, Wimbledon results where you just get tennis stuff, Cheltenham results where you get horse racing. So there's a few clubs already.

wine me up because of what their name is also associated with. What was it, League 1 and League 2 in a minute? Yes, please. Brilliant. Yeah, fantastic. I mean, League 1. Not the top 20, of course. League 1, we've got Wickham, Birmingham, and Rexham.

within two points of each other at the top and then Huddersfield five back from that. Certainly again, because Huddersfield are in good form to be fair, I'd say two from four in that front. Definitely two playoff spots still up for grabs and quite a few teams going for them later in the round and flown up the table from what 20th, 21st to 8th in the space of about a month. Four wins in a row playing absolutely brilliant, Richie Wellens and manager that I rate very, very highly. Relegation scrap is pretty ugly. As you well know, Max,

With Burton, Cambridge, Trusbury and Crawley, they've been in the bottom four as a quad for most of the season and have quite a lot of work to do to get out of it. But a few clubs, Bristol Rovers, Northampton and surprisingly, Peter kind of looking over their shoulder. League two is all about Walsall, who are a great reminder of, they're just the

The best thing about covering the low leagues, a team like Warsaw, who are not bankrolled by American superstar celebrities, they've just got it right in terms of appointing a young manager in Matt Sadler, giving him time and patience, building him a squad in his image with a great energy, bit of Nelson experience as well. They've got a loney from Stoke called Nathan Lowe, who has been the player of League two so far this season.

And they are twelve points clear at the top of league two with a game in hand and seemingly winning every which way a brilliant defensively. Able to score goals from open play and set pieces and just yeah probably for me the story of the holy fl so far this season and just I love everything about it.

in wall saws come from behind win against not county and their defender even we're pulled off quite astonishing line clearance with a top totally intentional back you which is well worth seeking out if you can be bothered and i'd also like to say i think your sidekick george would be very upset you didn't mention oxford united's um third consecutive win under gary row at middle wall his former club

Well, maybe there's value in holding some of that good stuff back for people who want to come and listen to not the top 20 because, yeah, there's plenty of stories on there. I mean, Mark Robbins is in at Stoke and that is absolutely fascinating. Someone who's done probably the best job of any EFL manager over the last decade with Coventry joining a club that has

basically now known for being a graveyard for good managers. But Rowitz got in at Oxford, three wins in a row, has got them five points clear relegation, a lot of question marks. Asked when they sacked Des Buckingham, it seemed very harsh based on what he had done for the club and the fact he was a boyhood fan with a real connection to the fan base. And then Rowitz comes in, safe pair of fans for the level, and rattles off three wins in a row. So I think that everyone's pretty happy now.

All right, that'll do for part two. Part three, we'll wake Mark up and we'll do the Dani Elmo conundrum.

Welcome to part three of the Guardian Football Weekly. Stephen says, Dimax and Barry, can you please ring up Dr. Sid Lowe and ask him what's going on with Danny Olmo. It seems that Barca failed to register him and that he's now a free agent. I'm curious to know whether Olmo will walk, whether Sid thinks that this will further damage Barca's prestige in the sense that players will become more and more reluctant to sign for them. Happy new year to everyone at Guardian Towers. Thank you, Stephen. Mark, you've offered to step into the mighty shoes of Sid Lowe to give us the SP on this.

I mean, yeah, I mean, this is classic Daniel Levy this, isn't it? Not able to get Sid to bring me in. I was actually meant to be going out with Sid with Graham Hunter after the Real Madrid AC Milan game and we promised

was promised of some ham and all sorts but they got held up because the match reports that longer and me and a friend just had to disappear so you've when you ghosted by said low now you know what it's like to what's happened yeah exactly but yes but back to Danny almost so spoke earlier on about talking in the way that they.

treat their wage bill and are very careful with their expenditure. At the other end of that, you've got Barcelona a couple of years ago, Paul, every lever they had imaginable to fit in all the players that they'd signed. They haven't managed to rectify that situation fully, but it hasn't stopped them continuing to sign players, including Danny Olmo, who

was one of the stars of Spain's Euro 2024 success, came through initially at Barcelona, ended up playing in Croatia and he's come back to his boyhood club via Leipzig, but Barcelona couldn't afford him under financial fair play. They used an emergency

appeal to sign him in the summer, which gave them leeway until the end of December and January to register him properly with La Liga. They haven't done enough in those months to get themselves into a financial position where they're able to afford Danny Olmo, which in theory has left them in a shocking position where

in almost contract Barcelona on the hook to pay all of the transfer fee to RB Leipzig.

all of Danny Olmo's contract and he's able to leave for free if they don't register him. Danny Olmo, as a Barcelona fan, doesn't want that to happen. But as it stands, Barcelona cannot register Olmo. It's got to the stage where Laporta, the president, is coming under increasing attack and there are people sort of, you know, votes are no confident and potentially looking

um uh sort of bringing in a new president or at least having a vote on who should be um the new president but yeah as it stands they can't sign danielmo who will be left with two options to sit on the sidelines until the summer

or to go on loan, Barcelona have tried a number of things including selling VIP boxes at Camp Nou for the next 20 years as another way of kicking their financial pain further down, kicking that camp further down at the road they've already sold sort of media rights and various other bits of the club, just anything that they can. At some stage they might have to look at

sort of a really hard decision in terms of they've got a lot of talented players and that maybe one or two of them need to go. And yet I was looking at Spanish newspapers yesterday and Barcelona have still been linked with any number of players, including Nico Williams. And yeah, there's just this obsession with signing players. You know, frankly, the young is one of those earns a lot of money that maybe isn't needed when you've got

Henry and Gavi and a lot of talented midfielders. They can't get him off the wage bill. Nobody will come in for him. He doesn't really want to leave. He quite likes living in Barcelona and sort of playing occasionally for them. So they are

in a real pickle, nobody really knows where it's kind of going to end up. I mean, at some stage you'd like Barcelona heading for just financial destruction. And that might be not for a decade. Sure. That's what I wanted to ask. Well, a couple of things. One is, does it make a difference what ALMO does as to whether they have Barcelona have to pay that money? I mean, like they're going to have to pay that money anyway, regardless whether he goes on loan somewhere, he sits on the reserves, whatever, right?

Those two things are set. There's no link between what he does and the money they need to pay. No, no. So, I mean, Barcelona, I mean, I think you fear Barcelona can afford the transfer fee, but they can't afford it kind of on paper in terms of sort of financial fair play. So it's not a case of them sort of being unable to pay Leipzig. It's that they're going to have to sort of pay this money. And he's an important player. But this

goes back to the point of like did Barcelona lead him in the first place he is a very good player but i've already mentioned all the midfielders they've got you've got your male on one wing and refina on the other and leven dovsky up front so at a time when you maybe need to cut back it wasn't

The wisest of signings, but he is a boss of boy. He had done so well in euros. They didn't get Nico Williams. They just can't help themselves at times from just buying good players, which is not a bad thing.

No, but my other questions, you know, you say they are facing financial ruin. Do you think that because there is just part of me that thinks it's Barcelona, you know, they'll find a way or is this, you know, this is sort of, they will go out of business type.

It's hard to say because I agree that Barcelona Barcelona and so they'll always find these new levers to pull new bits of the club to sell off, do more tours, do more of everything.

and just sort of raise the funds that way. But when you've already spent money that's sort of supposed to be coming into the club in the next 10 years, I mean, that's not a good sign. I mean, maybe sort of, you know, the bottom falls out of football and actually it's a sort of shrewd thing in that the media rights won't be worth as much in a decade's time. I find that hard to believe and

also from like the VIP boxes. I mean that is you know that kind of hospitality area is a good source of income and if you're

prepared to sell them for the next 20 years now, presumably that's going to be a huge discount to anybody that buys them. And so the problem will just come. I suppose the reporter will say, well, that would be the next president's issue. And I just want to win now. But he's coming under increasing fire at the moment and would do well, I think, to sort of ride it out.

producer John Lewis could still be playing by the end of that 20-year VIP experience. But I would just say, just to reiterate what Ali was saying earlier on, but although if he is available alone becomes the most interesting player in the market,

he would suit just about anybody and because of his versatility and I'm looking at Manchester City thinking like they need a boost to sort of, you know, keep them sort of going and honest for the next five, six months, then I couldn't think of anybody better really to sort of just liven up that attack, which is one of the issues that City have faced in recent months.

A few emails to finish with, Michael says, hello, Max and friends. What a delight to hear two of my favorite things in this life, choral music and gentle football banter. Combined on your recent episode, I've put together some suggestions below to help Barry on his new music journey. I can't remember the context of what we were discussing choral music. Do you? I had turned on the radio and heard some choral music and was quite enchanted by it.

Ah, that's right. He's given you some recommendations. Let's start with the OG Mozart. His Requiem is a towering groundbreaking achievement, setting the standard for composers to follow as he barriers starting to take notes. Think the Hungarian national team of the 50s. If you want something more transcendental, try Allegri's Miserérie.

A single piece for Chamber Choir, the Sopranos High Sea, is pure individual genius, think Bergkamp's goal for Argentina in 98 against the Netherlands, and for full immersion, Tribram's complete choral works are four-hour marathon, covers everything from church music to German drinking songs.

much like following your team during a title-winning season full of highs and lows, twists and turns. But nevertheless, in thralling, if you fancy hearing some choral work in the flesh in London, I'll recommend the Covent Garden chorus, which I sing in. Find us on Instagram. Hope this helps the big man find some Zen moments in 2025. Thanks all. Michael. So thank you, Michael. Greatly appreciated.

Thank you, Michael.

and the Guardian's website. You can imagine my disappointment as an Australian to miss out on what was sure to be Football Weekly's eulogy for our boy, Ange, after a five-nil drumming of the Saints. The experience made me think that in this time of firewalls, tariffs and geopolitical tensions, a Guardian proxy into China would be an incredibly valuable resource and opportunity for a diplomatic antidote. Could be something that would not only help Chinese football fans immensely, but also contribute to international relations in only the way football weekly can.

You never know, and even open up opportunities for Guardian Football Weekly, see no tour. To which end, I can thoroughly recommend that Barry try the spicy dumpling soup hotpot at Chengdu Tian Fu International Airport, the benefits of which I only truly discovered 12 hours into the flight back to Sydney. Anyway, once again, a great thank you from Down Under. Kind regards, Mr Shulto Maud.

So there we go, Barry. Do you think we could ease relations across the great East-West divide in the world? I can't imagine anyone who would do it better, really. We are a study of diplomacy.

Well, we'll consider it. We just need to be careful who we can sort with in China after what happened to Prince Andrew in recent weeks. He doesn't really set the standard for what we're trying to achieve, I would suggest. Yes, that is true.

Chris says, having New Year, Max Barry and the gang, I was very excited to see Mark Langdon on today's podcast since I've been thinking about his trip to Korea. While I'm interested in the purpose of his trip, I'm significantly more interested in hearing about his culinary experience. Did he try Kim Chi? I did try it, Max. It's absolutely rank. It was the first thing I ate when I got to Korea. I was sort of forced into it when I went to dinner about an hour and a half off the landing.

But the Koreans eat it for breakfast, lunch and dinner, which I find very offensive. I mean, if you're going to eat it, at least, you know, leave it for dinner. There was some interesting sort of items that appeared on my dinner plate, the fish eggs. I know I ordered steamed egg, which is a bit like scrambled egg and perfectly acceptable.

food to eat. But there was just these fish eggs that appeared in the middle of it that looked, I mean, I'd say it looked a bit like a penis, I would say, and something that you might want to find a celebrity.

Well, walking past one street vendor, there was probably the worst smell I've ever come across. Asked my friend who'd lived in Korea for 10 years. He laughed and said, oh, that's the silkworms, which he said is the worst thing he's ever eaten as well. I avoided.

I avoided those. I'm just, I'm glad you've asked me some food questions because I'm sort of Chinese politics and classical music, definitely not in my wheelhouse. I mean, I know more about Max Allegri than Gregoria Allegri, that's the show. Oh, well, at least you got back. You got back for a wholesome Christmas dinner. You know, a full plate of as many meat. Yeah, triple meat. Triple meat. Triple meat. Good stuff. Okay, come on then. Hit us. What were they? Turkey beef and ham. Amazing.

Is that not normal? That feels pretty standard. No, I don't think you need all three. I would say, you know, I'd definitely go for one. But anyway, you know, I presume no vegetables, just turkey. Turkey beef, pigs in blanket, sausage meat, Yorkshire pudding, roast potatoes.

I did though, I did, I went to the trendy Devonship pub on New Year's Eve and their buttered carrots are probably the most acceptable piece of veg I've ever eaten. I'm not sure how unhealthy they are, but very, very good carrots. You don't hear me say that too often. Great pint of Guinness in the trendy Devonship pub. Although I was just very expensive as well. Guinness and carrots.

Stick to the toucan. Stick to the toucan. Love the toucan. Mark's perfectly acceptable foods to eat would be a great live show feature, so we'll work on that. And that'll do for today's pod. Thanks, everybody. Thank you, Barry. Thanks, Max. Thanks, Ali. Thank you, Max. Cheers, Mark. Thank you, Max. Football week clears produced by Joel Grove. Our executive producer is Phil Maynard. This is The Guardian.