Anatomy of Collapse and Control: The 199th Manchester Derby & Premier League Shift

You're listening to the Men in Blazers media network, suboptimal radio. Arsenal rolled Bruno Gamerish, proved once again, spiked as the rocket fuel of human motivation A.K.A, the fat rat strikes back. Manchester City have texas long corn levels of tenacity, who need to live a man when he got one big baby earl on free-scoring run form. We're living in a world in which whole city players are being asked post-game if they think they can push for a title, Liverpool, Labour and Rory Smith. Wasn't Tottenham Everton just a reminder of the famous Charles Bukowski quote, find what you love and let it kill you. I spent 24 hours trying to wipe from my mind that that ever happened, Rodge. Man, it took me a minute of startling Agony, but let's start by raising a third first Michel O'Boltz with the day to the game that's just finished. Manchester United Neil, Manchester City won, but hold, the 199th Manchester Dobby ends him at risk as first. Man was doing his damnedest to show a foul like no big deal to him, he could've looked more inside his own head if he'd rolled up in a t-shirt that read, I am not Tesco Pepp, I'm just not, but this was massive for Michael Carrick, his team, battling the fatigue of Thursday's Champions League game and United. Roar, they felt so vulnerable, so self-sabotaging, so lacking in control, he needed this, suddenly, very, very badly. Yeah, for two reasons, Rodge. One, obviously United, as we said last week, they are trapped in this eternal cycle of, are they back or are they finished? Those are the two options for Manchester United. Nothing in between. There is nothing in between, it's just a great bid-yawning chasm, and the other is he kind of has to pass the test that he can manage more than one game every three months. He needs to prove that he'd been United through a full season, not a really empty one, which made this one feel particularly important, even by the standards of Manchester Derby's. And it began that we have typically frenzy Derby Fair as fast speed, slightly miscalibrated from both sides, a physical edge from the very beginning, kind of physicality you'd expect from a local game, especially with all those new boys trying to prove themselves to themselves. Shockingly, it was two veterans that really set the tone, coming together to throw a match on all that crazy, filled-folding local boy. Tangling with Bruno Fernandez, who stay with us here, fouled him, and then when Foden was prone on the floor, give him a sneaky quick kick to the lumbar, which the ref-ever didn't see or ignored, Foden on the floor, retaliated with two feet to Bruno's Ben Shelton's, and by the law of the game, constitutes violent conduct. The referee sent Foden off for retaliation. I was watching the game with my daughter, and she was like, what? You get a red if you retaliate, if you stoop to the level, but that second kick from Bruno was the one that set the tone, and he escaped utterly free. Yeah, I suppose we've actually seen a couple of these relatively recently, Raj. I think the problem is that the referees can't read motivation. We've talked before about Actus Reyes and Men's Reyer, about the legal principle of intent. And I think, ultimately, with the Bruno one, they can't be sure he meant it. It wasn't just kind of him trying to put his foot down, trying to kind of read down his balance, whereas Foden was deliberately lashing out, and as much as it does feel slightly unjust, you're not really allowed to do that. Yeah, but we've talked before also as lawyers. Famous lawyers and scholars, Raj. Terrible Lord degree, which is some of the worst years of my life. Comes in useful for the football, because in law, you have Lord, the strict application, and you have equity. What? What feels fair? Could it have been two yellows and a talking to one of these? No more. No more. It could have been, and often, you'll see referees do that in Derby's in particular, where they kind of want to allow the physical side of the game to flourish. They don't want to look like spoil sports, but they need to set the tone. Foden will no doubt feel as though he was he was harshly treated, but I think we will learn, Raj, over the course of this game, that football's lawmakers are not particularly concerned with equity at the moment. Yes, equity. We don't watch for equity. And by the way, I just want to inject this notion, which I've been working on. I don't want to workshop my new solution with the rule. Go on. It's called the Common Sense Should Prevail Theory. You're ready for this. It sounds, it sounds too radical, too hot, this sounds too hot to handle, Raj. You've not even heard it yet. Go on. I already, I'm scared. They shouldn't let Bruno and Foden have a real fight, and then have the winner face the winner of Consa versus Jacque. Is that not, is that not the ice hockey principle? I don't know what it is. I think it's her from the Coliseum in like BC, whatever the hell it was, but tell me you wouldn't love to see that. I would back the winner of Consa versus Jacque against the winner of Foden versus Bruno every day of the week. Yeah, but in the way, I've got a weird theory on that one as well. Everyone kept telling me in the men and blazes this good. I was workshopping this idea that Jacque would wipe the floor, everyone. I think Consa's proper hard. Where is from? You come through just naturally proper hard. I would imagine where Consa's on as like six, seven-year-old children. In fact, I would say 100% of the six or seven, it could beat the crap out of me. I think that's probably true, although I'm not sure what sort of bar that is to be fair, but I would put myself in the same, in the same bracket I've got to admit. Hashtag, come on, Consa. We'll get to you. First city player to be sent off in a Manchester W since 2006. You know, he did suddenly at all the initiative in a way that it's probably the one thing they didn't want, or that's what I thought. I mean, we've talked about how this is a team that win games against bigger opponents, as they did this game last season in Carrick's first return to the post shot win. They seed possession, and they like to pick their moments. I like to counter, but now they have the extra man. They had the home crowd expecting them to be what they didn't want to be. Protagonist with all the possession. Facing what's seen from the very outset, a very well drilled city line, which they had to break down. There was a moment very early on, where I was like, this is going to be interesting. Let's watch how Manchester United faces. And suddenly, we saw Harry McGuire just step up to shoot from 35 yards, and just blast one straight off Bruno Fernandez. And I was like, oh god, this is probably the exact opposite of the game. You know, he did the train full. Yeah, if you think back over the course of the last 10, 15 years, when the power balance in the Manchester Darby's really shifted, it always used to be that city were with the underdogs back in the before times, the black and white days, Raj. And United were kind of the dominant force. In the 15 years, since that's changed, the city has become as early as Anderson put it, the kings of Manchester. United's record in the city isn't terrible. It's better than maybe their respective positions would make you think. And a lot of that is because I think United are much, much better, and have always been much, much better. Counter-punching, that's what they want to do. It's why under Carrick in the last year, even under AmeriCorps at times, they look pretty good against bigger teams. The problem is always when you give them the ball and say, go on then, see what you can do. That seems to really spook Manchester United. Yeah, the best thing to manage is in Rashford, whacking the ball off a free kick right off the post. X-D at half time, Manchester United 0.18 to city 0.08. Look, this was hard to watch from a football perspective. The drama, elite, the actual quality of the football, hard to experience. Morezka, God bless, refreshed at half time, Turkey, replaced by Liam and died. Beautiful, beautiful, early. I've got to say a real guile to the quite excellent, Ellie Anderson, who played like two men in that city midfield. A man who smacked the post. But again, you know what I'm mostly offering up long-range shots, and City would have been elated with that. The pre-game argument though, Ellie Anderson, inspiring the whole debate about who are the real kings of Manchester, kind of felt about as big a deal as you watch most of this game, as like two-ball men fighting over a cameo, the opportunity to be pet-guarded older's next body double. Rule, this was footballingly not as spectacle. No, and I suppose you could blame the red card for that, does it did for City to be a little bit more within themselves? Early in Harlan said after the game that they had to drop back, they realised that with 10 players, they couldn't kind of chase the goals as they normally would. And it did kind of expose maybe the gap between where Manchester United are and where Manchester United would like to be. I think that's the thing that we saw most clearly in that game. I think that is the agony of this, and we'll get to discuss that in a second. Because we can remember, you are right, you know, it's a record in a derby. It's not what we imagine it to be. They haven't considered a single goal to sit at home since 2023. But I've gone on a limb. The second that Foden was sent off, I think I predicted, a bit wildly on Discord. I said early in Harlan was going to score here. In the moment, the trick of that was, when Foden was gobsmacked when he was shown red, and there was a really beautifully dramatic moment where as early in Harlan, they just walked up to him totally stoic face and pointed, you know, leave, go. And I was trying to work out what did that mean in the second. And it kind of, there was one option to me, which I kind of went into in the second, was all was saying like, don't worry, I got this. I got this. And got it, he did 62 minutes. Vardy all slapped and across. Ricochet off door goes out, stretch foot. God bless the little end, who tried to get his head on it with a dive. But short, he could never. But was he interfering with play by drawing the sundry Martin as towards him and leaving alone at the very back post? That giant baby gold machine early in Harlan, who met the ball first. I made a very, very difficult finish look. Like a caress, a careless whisper, very, very easy. Redirected the ball, passed or threw lommons. There was a two-minute varchech. He was on side, Harlan. When the ball hit door, go, the question of the sundry Martin has been drawn and I'll leave to you. But it wasn't a stonishing moment on one hand. But also within the flow of the game and united labing, it was so very predictable. It was, and it was what City would have been waiting for. The idea that they can sit back, they can absorb the pressure, they can almost like United Punch themselves out a little bit. And then they know that with Harlan on the pitch, they don't need to create a lot. They need to create one, maybe two chances for him and he will take one of them. That's why he is the face of the franchise. It's why he is the biggest star in the lead by a mile. Because he can do something that very, very few people can do. He can win games on his own. That I agree with. Oh, well, that gold Manchester Derby best in the Premier League air a ninth, sixth strike. Is it in his last five games for the big baby? You do have to hit and we don't watch football for the var. This game was all var. Just give us a tiny, tiny blast on that. I'm intrigued to hear what you think. Yeah, Enzo Fernandez was offside. And to me, it's typical of the mess that the referee and bodies have dropped themselves into where they're trying to litigate for every single circumstance that that is now something that they can kind of maneuver their way around. It's obvious that Martinez's eye is drawn to Enzo Fernandez that even his mere presence, he has to question what he has to do. There's no doubt about that. He said after the game, the Sandro, I had to choose the player who was in front of me, which makes perfect sense. The fact that it took two minutes really surprises me. It's really obvious to me that if you read the laws as they are written and it's forever been changed, Enzo is offside and the goal should not have stood. Yeah, I mean, it is an agony. I don't like to go all jurisprudential on your asses, dear listeners. But without no one laws, society's employed. And I think football will be okay with out, because I'm not no offside as in for a long, long time, or humble. But God bless, it could have been two minutes later. You know, it had reeling big, girl went inches wide again. You know, it just did not know what to do with a one-man advantage. There was an Enzo spin that was also mechanized in the close, hit the post. They had one shot on goal, you know, it until a 95th minute when a boomer blew a one-on-one against a mighty dollar rumor. Very hard to be that alert as he was in that moment when you just have not had too many saves to make, which tells you all you need to know. And as terrible as all that sounds worse, for all that money spent on midfielders in the window for you know, it had, there was nothing approaching control in this game. But I suppose, I mean, even allowing for the man advantage that maybe it supposes the fact that yes, you know, to spend a lot of money on midfielders, but city spent more. And I think if you looked at the performance of Anderson in particular, an Enzo's kind of energy, his dynamism, but Elie Anderson, who was playing in his first ever Darby, he's never played in any sort of Darby before, which is its extraordinary. He didn't play for a Darby while I was in Newcastle, didn't play in a Darby when he was at Nottingham Forest. That was his first taste of the Darby, the way he dominated the midfield. That is why you pay for one Elie Anderson, what United Paid for almost three midfielders. I think that is the difference. And that final whistle, you know, I could rewind several times to look at Bruno's face. It looked like, I was telling him, what's he, he looked like a funeral mourner in that moment. Ashen faced, you know, he did the thirteenth, when he said one win, one draw, two losses on the season now. The face-etched with frustration, but the face-etched also with a realization that his United are still for all the money spent, for all the sense of progress going into this miles off when you compare them like gap between them and this city, this city in transition is still enormous. Yeah, it's a really interesting perspective, Bruno's, I think, because he's seen so many transitions at Manchester United. He's been through so many kind of waves of, well, we'll try this now. And he has been the constant. He's been the, this shining dot, he's been the single shining light for Manchester United, basically ever since he arrived. And as much as after the game, Carrick tried to downplay it, you know, he kind of said to Skry when he was interviewed over here, he said, it doesn't define the season. He was clearly annoyed about the fact the goal stood, but he said, look, it won't define the season. But the problem that you have at United, I think, is that as soon as they see, actually, this won't be the season where they get any closer to our city, they might get into the Champions League, but they're not getting back to where they want to be. That does create that kind of spiral effect that we've talked about before, Roger, that sense of, we're not closing the gap. We're sort of treading water. We're going to have to wait another year, another two. It's always as far away as it seems to be. They never seem to get any closer. And a club like Manchester United, which has this incredible weight of history, that tends to pile the pressure on until slow progress starts to look like rapid crisis. Those two gears, they can only be two gears. And so we are in a week of darkness for Michael Carrick, just a second loss at home since his return. But for city, and for Morescar, how big a moment was this? The organization, the resolve, huge for Morescar and the longer Tesco PEP, I'd say this was the day we upgrade in maybe to Waitrose PEP. Could be Waitrose PEP. Could be Waitrose PEP. Maybe, maybe Sainsbury's PEP. Why? You might be Sainsbury's PEP. You tell us in the comments, where is he in your English supermarket food chain? I was saying all seriousness, to take a punch like that, the phone punch on the chin, and retain belief, those players, to retain resolve, to retain organization. What did you see at the final whistle? Because the communion between the players and the fans, Holland's tears, the way he pushed the new players. Enzo, go and take that bow, go and connect to the fans, Ili, go and have that bow, go and connect to the fans, he's feeling more than just a game. This was the moment that they realised, they're also working out their weight class rule. They're not going to be also rents, they're not just going to be kind of top four respondents, they are going to compete at that battle, at the very top of the table, where they remain perfect. Yeah, I think it's interesting to see how much of a leader of the group, Holland, has become. It's very much feels like his team, like he's the kind of central character in it. I think the other thing is, it's in moments like that, that a team identity has forged, because, you know, Holland, again, did say, this isn't kind of what, this isn't the sort of win that City, we associate with them, that they're aiming to deliver, they want to go to Old Trafford and dominate Manchester United, like they always aim to do. They had to dig deeper than normal, maybe they will have felt that the world was against them, even if, you know, in hindsight, they might think actually Phil Foden probably shouldn't have kicked Bruno Fernandez in the Gentleman's particulars. That's the sort of moment that, that becomes part of their character, that becomes one of their battle stars, and I think that's really important for a new team, for a team without its leader. But for Maurizio, his celebrations with the fans, that was the bit that really stood out to me, because he must know that the only way he can shake off the idea that he'll be yet another victim of this, you know, curse of the successor, you don't want to be the guy who follows the guy, that thing that will sit on his shoulder, that will whisper to him in the night, the only way that he gets rid of that is by winning games, and winning games essentially constantly early on. If he can build momentum, if he can build belief in him, from the players to an extent, but from the fans and from the outside, then it changes the direction of everything. And low key, quite quietly, he's been flawless. I've got to admit, I thought he would struggle, Maurizio. I thought that it was too similar to Pat, that it would look to the players. We've got a slightly worse version of the guy you had before. Maybe a little bit better looking, but other than that worse. But he has, he has delivers. That's controversial. It is controversial, but he's a handsome man, is Enzo. He's a handsome man. Why would there, there's guy encounters? What device do you even use to measure that? What's the one in hot ones? Yeah. Are you trying to employ the scoval reading? You know what, we're going to save this for the very end, because there is a listener's letter, but I think we'll allow us to address his head on keep going, land the plane, mate. But I think for Maurizio, he has come into this job, this almost impossible job, and he's done the only thing he could do, which is he's won every single game. You can't underestimate that, and I think we should allow ourselves to be impressed by how well Maurizio has done to keep city level pegging with Arsenal, to keep them at the top of the table, to make it look like in a very practical way there has been no drop off. That takes a lot of skill. So he has every reason that's to be very pleased with himself and to be right. God, we're going to start googling stunt doubles who become famous actors in their own right, but you're talking about how good is it to win every game, a beautiful pivot, to Sunderland Nile Arsenal two. The team was really set in this one. Arsenal perfect on the season. After a midweek champions league, Clash in Naples teams flight to Italy was delayed for over five hours, causing Michaela Teter to reveal that. He prepared his squad for the unexpected intentionally in three season by deliberately sabotaging their pre-match preparations occasionally. So they'd be ready in this campaign or anything. He caused travel delays. He said he turned up the temperature in the dressing room. Grrr, remove massage tables. Don't get me started. I hate you when that happens. So there's players rule will be ready for everything. Well, is this the most artetter detail that has ever artettered? Yes. It is so characteristically artetter. I mean, it's not beyond the realms of possibility that he towards the travel chaos that he throw and get wet that down, that kind of ruined hundreds of thousands of people's holidays just so he could teach his players a lesson. That I would not, I'm not saying that he did do that, but I can imagine a world in which he would. I mean, it's crazy now. I was telling the thing like, at some point it's not a breach of trust between them and the manager like, whenever anything keeps one-uping themselves from win the dog we like to the pickpockets, okay. And now just essentially just screwing his team repetitively. I mean, torturing him. There is a thin line, Roge. Yeah. Between sort of psychological abuse and good leadership. And he's really treading it finally. I love Mikkel, but I'm kind of like waiting for him to just scream. I gave you all herpes. In case you know you had to play with it, she down the lows and the lows just like, we didn't sign up for this. But there's also the fact that like the guy who gets so irate and intense on the touch line that he got bought to Dane Sunderland for coming out of his technical area. When he's the hug, deep the yellow card. Deep down. Is Mikkel our tetra-practical Joker? Is that, is he like a prank guy? Is that what we're finding out? Well, just like many, many cultures have like the idea of the mischievous trickster in their folklore. Lowkey. Yeah, exactly. There's one thing with him being bass lowkey. There's another thing, him feeling that he, it's just okay to waterboard Yoko Rez. So the players can learn to keep secrets in torturous conditions. You know, there is a line. You wonder, like, the other problem he's got for himself is he's got to keep topping it. Yes. You can't ever stop. So he must have been sat around kind of, maybe June thinking, right, we've done the pickpockets, we've done the TikTok videos, we've done the dark. Like, what else can we do? And he's come up with, I'm going to sabotage our travel plans. What does he do next yet? And that's the real question. Suddenly, while he's thinking, he looks over there and just sees like a Zoom, a Power Drill, and then he thinks, hmm, severed heads. Can they kill with severed heads? I don't know. What happens if I make them stay in the hotel from sore to this one? You're undefeated. Whatever he's doing, it's working because they are both undefeated. And also, you're defending Premier League champions. They win as of all five games they've played this season or comps and they were unchanged from the team that beat Chelsea 2-1, last Saturday headed north of the wall to quite fear some Sunderland. Yeah, just said that and meant it. Still remember, last season's fantastic 2-2 draw in that raucous octagon, which is the stadium alike. Arsenal got to say for all of that, they look composed from the off-dominated possession. Created, let's call them XG curious chances. Sacker caught in two mines and a quite brilliant ball after the back four from Declan Rice Havots, forcing a majestic save at Robin Roof's. But Sunderland took the punches as you would expect they would propel by former Arsenal 155 pounds of Swiss steel and sex appeal, granite jacket, who played as if he was on a mission from God and spearheaded accidentally by Brian Robby. Double B flung themselves throughout a concert with just sheer ferocity. Roar, Sunderland, I've got to say. I watched them and I admire them so much. They were not overroading for a second in this game. They believed in themselves, Reggie Lebris had them so prepared, their game plan, their ability to hurt. They all believed in it. They were what you would expect Sunderland to be, particularly after that game last season. They would have believed they could hurt Arsenal. They would have run into it thinking, we've kind of been through this before. We know what Arsenal will offer and we know what we have to do to counter out that as best we can. I thought, as you say, Arsenal looked composed in a bear pit. I thought Sunderland did well to maintain the bear pit. Yeah, good bear pitting life. It was just a great evening of bear pits. Yeah, it was like an Elizabethan night out. By the way, you're talking about bear pits, because second half are set to strengthen that midfield. In my note, he substituted in, but he really did, I think, uncaged is actually a better phrase, Bruno Gimoresh, who ran on the field was immediately booed by the fans and then just stuck his tongue out like you think, you're mad, I'm mad, the Bruno God bless. I think probably Persona non grotto, numero uno, if that's a phrase on time, because of his fresh, Newcastle allegiances. In the technical terms, the Sunderland fans gave him peltus. You know, the fat rat stuff rained down on him and I got to say the 13 stepped up their intensity when he took the field, but 54th minute, throw into the box. Concerned and damn ballad, pliding. What a heavyweight rumble that one is. I think our friends in the NBA call it the low post. Honestly, felt to me as a ballad, that child of the Arsenal Academy was yanking Contas arm, using it in gravity to make it look like he was the Humpey and not the Humper. I told you I did the Lord degree. Your honor, he was the Humpey, if you know what I mean. A quiet and sensed arteta, later brilliantly called it, quote, a judo throw, but a referee John Brook pointed to the spot, penalty, Sunderland, upstep the effervescent Enzo Lafay. You're a French speaker rule. I just found out what his surname means in French and I love it. The fairy. Yes, amazing. Who needs nicknames? I mean, amazing. It is, it's a wonderful surname. I like a surname with a law in front of it. Look how boozy a, all of that business. Just a classy touch. Yeah, you mean the definatical. Also, there's lots of Enzo's in football now. There didn't used to be that many Enzo's. Yeah, but there's only one Enzo with a fairy and he, you know, he plays with that, absolutely. Impish. Picks, yeah, picks it. He picked up the ball. Great penalty take a little bit ice by how long there was before he had to take it. It's penalty, low hard. I'd take corner curious to use the same phrase again, but David Raya in the Arsenal goal got down to his left. Flaps me, he's Spanish poor onto that ball, tipped it onto the post in a way. First penalty save of the season in the league. Rule, I'm old enough to remember when Michele Teta ditched Aaron Remsdale for Raya and how we ruled. We were incensed. We couldn't believe it. The loyalty utterly, utterly shattered by that decision. It was a ruthless, I mean, it really was Michele revealing the level of his reflexes, which really propelled this team. But my god, if one decision has been proven right over and over and over. Absolutely. I mean, I was, I was prime among those, Raj, who didn't really get the point of bringing in Raya. I thought Ramsey was fine. Didn't strike me as being a problem. And Raya had been good at Brentford, but not spectacular, but the way he's matured has been extraordinary. It was a genuinely brilliant save. It's maybe one of those saves that doesn't look quite as good as it actually is, if that makes sense. To get down that far, that low, that fast is. So it wasn't even a bad penalty. It was not a bad penalty. It wasn't a brilliant penalty, but it wasn't a bad penalty. I think it would have looked like it had gone in the corner, had it made it that far. So for Raya to save it was, was it extraordinary? And also, such like a hinge moment in the game, because at that point, if they score, the stadium of like kind of goes up and asks, I'll have to face a really kind of intense, half an hour to try and battle the way back. But because Raya saves it, the momentum kind of shifts and suddenly the belief is all with Arsenal. Yeah, I mean, that bear pit would have gone at all levels. And Rata made that point after the game when he was incense still about the decision to award the penalty kick. But Raya, man, I remember when Peter Chet was on peak form at Chelsea, and there was like a consensus and went to all other football fans, to the sentient marinos team used to feel like they started every game, won them up, because he was just that good. How many points of season is David Raya worth? Well, I mean, the realistic answer is probably a little bit underwhelming and deflating, Raj. It's probably three or four, which is the most that any individual player can be worth. The fact that I think if you look at the data, but in terms of kind of that reassurance, that sense of there is someone who is touched by light in goal who will not make mistakes, who will deliver you in the big moments. I think that's really, really important in the way it kind of connects with the defense and the rest of the team. It does imbue them with confidence. So it's probably more than the raw numbers would suggest. Yeah, it's got that certain, not as many as Jordan picked for them, because I'm pretty sure the data says that he's worth 39, and ever since entire season is about, the other boys trying to find that one point on their own that they need. But the conversation crackled as to whether the ball does or doesn't lie, Arsenal just steamed up the other end. The mere 121 seconds, as you say, just an incredible turning point in the game, and who was it? God bless. The Premier League football script writers, Bruno Gimma Rasha, of course it was. He went to the EAMFs on the Sunland abuse, and pretty much I think it was in the end thought, pulling out a hammer, almost no back lift on the shot. He's just lashed on 30 yards out, past Robin Ruse, off the bar with a delicious third, just an incredible way to score his first goal for the club. Ruh, Arsenal suddenly were getting a fighter, but it turned out they were also getting a lover. And what a way to give it back to a hostile crowd. His celebration, holding his fingers, Neapot, which has been interpreted, I think quite generously, to mean you were a small club, Sunderland. It must have felt ecstatic, Ruh. I'm not sure that's what I think he was getting at. I think it was a more personal insult, wasn't it? Yeah, it's what I'm saying to every single broadcast, I was like, he's saying they're a small club. I was like, I'm not sure he is. No, I also enjoyed the cropping of the years. Yeah, I liked the fact that two of his teammates joined him in the ear-cropping, the kind of, come on, let your abuse wash over me type thing. They had greeted him at the stadium of light by chanting fat rat at him, which I think is an odd logic, and I say this as someone of the great deal of respect for Sunderland. So much respect, Ruh, I think it's not fair to describe them as being north of the wall. The wall is further north. But surely they should light Brunner Dimarash, he left Newcastle, is that not good? Should he not be popular on Westside? He's back with us. He's back in humans soon. I don't think football really works like that. I'm glad he's weakened our chief rivals. But the thing about Brunner is that as much as he is a strapper and a kind of leader, and that kind of combative presence, he's also a brilliant footballer, and the goal was, it was a perfect shot. It really was, and it was the sort of game that needed that, I think, to break it effectively. It was a game for a moment of magic, a set piece. Something along those lines, and Brunner has it in his locker to provide that. You've got tiny Ben Shelton's. This was such a powerful moment, and it only just elevated the game, which was already robust into just ecstatic levels. Jenny C, an Arsenal fan in the M.I.B. Discord said, I need a cigarette, and I don't even smoke. Sunderland again. We're like that old, tiny box, so he just licks the blood off their own lips and smiles. It was like watching raging balls some of it. It keeps throwing those haymakers, and in the 84th minute, granite jack is drove one of those irritatingly chafing balls into the box. Gullma scramble, Raya forced the chloric brilliantly over the bar. Then there was concert, during with the aforementioned jack, a scene which I think, filled every single Arsenal fans' hearts with joy as much as the wind, and then that late, the late backbreaker, Sunderland stretch, and open. I think it was dyslexic R9, Ray Nildo, Uticled Sacker, and King Kai just about beat Robin Roof's 2-0 on the penalty, 2-0 to the Arsenal, 6 wins and 6 games or comps. Not going to be the first person to make this point, but it does have to be made. It wasn't the win itself. There was impressive hero, it's the manner of it. This Sunderland was good. They were very good. They should actually draw strength from the performers despite the loss, but this Arsenal team are great. They're great to watch. There's so much I admire about almost every dimension to play the solubeless, clean sheet, the truly attracional test past. Not with ease, but with an unwavering confidence. Let me ask you, Escherot, who'll be the first team to take points of our solace season? That is a good question, does it not immediately apparent that anyone can at the current rate of progress? It always feels like that when it seems on a good run, and we should look back over 100 and 50 years of football history and points out that no one's ever won all of their games. So somebody will make Arsenal drop points. I don't think it'll be for a while. I think the most obvious, most immediate one is maybe Forrest away, which is October the 18th. I think that's possible after that and say Newcastle November the 21st, which is a game that Newcastle will be up for. I'm not even sure they've assigned it at times like yet, but if that's a kind of 430 Sunday afternoon kickoff, St. James's part will be really up for it and it will be a challenge. They will drop points eventually, Raj, but what I will predict is we will still be talking about can they go invincible by January? Oh God, that Newcastle game get ready for a lot of this. That's why we watch for Gimaresh Mimes. Arsenal fans, we've got a magical documentary. Arsenal dynasty loading, question mark, debuting next Saturday on Network NBC. It's 3.30 PM East and on the big channel, be available on Peacock the following day and it is a thing of beauty. But back in London, Chelsea 2, whole 2, yes, in this fascinating clash. Two teams need to achieve any interest in possession so far this season. Wanna become the league's best attack in doing so or the other, the league's best defense. We didn't have to wait long to find out who'd saw first to the credit. All kept Chelsea out for a full six minute, 16 seconds, which I think is longer than any Premier League team has stoyful done this season. That's a late for a Chelsea opening goal. They netted in the first minute, the fourth and the second. So those who tuned in early, probably would have disappointed that it had to wait in a turn of the seven hole minutes. This time Morgan Rogers catching goalkeeper, Constantino sleeping, stonked in, via the near post for his third goal of the season for assists, also all comps. A goal involvement in each of Chelsea's first games. I don't wanna say Shabby Alonso is a tactical genius rule. But as not golfing said in the MI Discord, is it that simple that all you need for effective attack is friendship? It's a lovely message, isn't it? It's beautiful. It is. And something that's occurred to me over the course of the last couple of weeks, actually, Roger, at a club where everything is in so much churn as Chelsea, like permanently, where everything's in flut all of the time, where you're, as a manager, you're constantly having to build those bonds between players that get those connections, those relationships working. It must be a massive advantage to have two players who've played with each other since they were kids. It must just really help, that you don't have to teach Palmer and Rogers how to read each other's movements, how to get on the same wavelength as each other, they will know instinctively. I would think Chelsea are a smart enough club, they certainly employing of people, Roger, to think that in a season where there would be a load of new players in the team, which is always a load of new players in the team, it's worth maybe paying that little bit extra for modern Rogers just because he understands Col Palmer. Yeah, I mean, it reminds me of their friendship, just their love, their connection. When my kids were little, they used to read a book, George and Martha, about two hippopotamus's, you just love each other, just live together, just tight. I like to think of them, like Morgan Rogers and Col Palmer, like a Bert and Ernie sit you, just like single beds, little night table in between, they're like that tight, and it's showing on the field, it is magnificent. I expected Chelsea to press on, I've got to be candid. This was the first time they've dominated possession league game this season, and it was honestly just like you know it was if the, the expectation of initiative made them synapse. Because holding response, Doug is deep. Is there aquarium? See what I did there? Just before the half hour goalkeeper started a move, fed it through Ryan Gyles and the corner, deep cross cause, utter chaos in the Chelsea Batman. It's the chaos in the Chelsea Batman. It was a Chelsea Batman just made of chaos. Every defender blew a chance to do with a hat, a gust, they were all the oes, and they're quite mischievous. My hammer blew me, met the moment, slapped home, raw Chelsea and clean sheets are like some kind of peanut allergy, none in their last 20 Premier League games. It's a 65 year record. This was my favorite goal of the weekend, Raj, because it was the most comic. You could see from the moment the ball bounced, that your hat, I would misjudge his jump. And it's not so, and you see very often in elite football. Normally they, they figure out how to, kind of get their feet in a position where they can do something about it, even if the clearance doesn't quite go where they want it to go. They're kind of getting, they get rid of it. But I think we've all been in that situation, anyone who's ever kicked a ball at some pathetic, like pick up, stretch game level, has had a ball bounce over their heads, because they've misread the flight of it. I think it's important that the game remains connected to its roots, and I think we should all thank your old hat over that. Yeah, fine, it's nice to balloon me again. Man sounds like the Premier League player most likely to sound great on the salad. Corner came out to him. Blashed off not one, but two deflections, queued the Delirious Hall City fans chanting, we're going to win the league. Chelsea fan at R2-D2 in our discord mound. I hate getting mulled by the Tigers, booze at the break from the Chelsea fans at Stanford Bridge. Now, this Chelsea come back from 2-0 down midweek against Leeds and the Kerra Brown, started the charge at the whole backline, moves started to live out their managers prediction for how they would actually live with Chelsea pregame when asked. He said, kick them, which I loved, the honesty, and they kind of did down that stretch. Reese James had a free kick whip, hit the post, Emmy Martinez, synapses spilled the ball in front of McBurney. Chanty didn't take, and that would prove to be a road not taken by Hall. Cole Palmer and Jal Pedro have no time for your whole city fairytale. I salesman ran down the flight, took out, was it three whole defenders with quite stunning chorus ever cross straight to Jal Pedro's left foot smashing home and Raw, the relief across Stanford Bridge in that moment. It felt like a blast wave. I think, and his testament to Hall, I think, that they made Chelsea feel that way, that they tutored game that I think a lot of people assumed would be the point at which Hall's bubble burst, and really had Chelsea sweating. Yeah, that's three goals, three assists, four Premier League games for Pedro, who I spoke to for an episode we're going to release on Tuesday, I asked Jal Pedro Raw, what he thinks when he takes possession, he's got Morgan Rodgers and Cole Palmer ahead of him. He just laughed, he said, my job is just to pass it, and then run fast. That's all I do, he said, I'm the fast runner, and the word chances for him, and his fast running for Chelsea to run it down the stretch to was, it's very odd, watching all the attackers, including Danny Wellback, kind of over elaborated, a lot of deference, a lot of overpassing, overflicking in some cases, trying to score the artful goal, rather than just slapping that ball in the back of the net, as he did have the best chance at the death thing, it was Cho, far post, Martina Smothered. Let's talk about Hall City in one second, because they do deserve all of a spectre after this, as you say, Chelsea, do we follow them under remaining working progress? This unbalanced squad, almost like one of those mythological animals, the attack like a proud ball, bottom half is made out of pure blob fish. The bat line doesn't smell danger, doesn't have to deal with it, Emmy Martina, as I've got to say, he looks erratic at times. It is incredible, and this stat, and you might be able to explain it, because I couldn't Chelsea, or without a win against promoted sides in five home games, why is that? Yeah, it's a weird one, isn't it? And I think it must be a combination of, Stanford Bridge being one of those places where teams go and want to make a statement, in a way that probably isn't true of, let's choose a fan base that won't get offended, Craven Cottage. You know, it's still a big place to go and play, if you've come up from the championship, you want to be an ultra-effort in the Etihad, in the Emirates and Stanford Bridge and Anfield. Those are your big fixtures, so you lift yourself, and Chelsea fundamentally haven't been good enough for a little while to take advantage of that. That, I think, makes sense that there are other teams, closer to my heart than Chelsea, Roger, who have been in that position before, where you find that the opponents are really, really up for it, and because of a lack of quality, you can't overcome that greater resistance. I think that's probably what's going on, but also, and we saw this, especially on Saturday in the Premier League. Everyone's really good. Like the games are balanced, whole city have spent more money than Barcelona, I think, in the transfer window, strengthening that squad. They're not turning up as a championship team, they're turning up as a team that is good enough to be in the Premier League. That makes every game, almost a flip of the coin. Yeah, this was a weekend, I think, which were no home wins whatsoever, which is, there'll be many, many editors in many, many newspapers, commissioning long-think pieces into this. For whole, huge respect. This was a really, really well-cooked performance by your CuraVitch. Out shot Chelsea, out text Jeeddom. Made sure his team found moments to break beyond that Chelsea backline without being stretched. Hall efficiently have the same record as title winning Leicester at this stage in the season. What is really possible for the Molling McBurney was our post-game in the interview, whether he thinks they can rush for Europe now, and he's laughed and kind of said, they're essentially a bite your arm off the 17th place, which was our goal when we began the season. Should they be thinking about getting the European passports ready and preparing to Jule Lingo, you've been mauled by the Tigers into multiple languages? I mean, they should have their passports ready, you know, it's nice to go and sample of the cultures, Raj, but I don't think they'll need them professionally. It's been an amazing start. They've done far better than anyone gave them any credit for. You're clear of which the coach is a real star. He's a really good character to have in the Premier League. He's got that very deep, growling. I want to say Bolton voice. I don't know if I'm allowed to, but he's got a really wicked sense of humour as well. He's a genuinely funny man, and I've been to two whole games this season and I've really warmed to him. Europe's probably a push to be perfectly honest, because the lead table, I think, will even itself out, and the old hierarchies will establish themselves eventually. But a whole should not be limiting their thoughts to 17. They should be thinking, hang on, we can get into the mix for that big, kind of mid-table melee. Just the start they've made is kind of, it gives them free hits for the rest of the season. They've done far better in these first four games than anyone thought. They don't need to be thinking, can we scrape by by the skin of our teeth? They can start thinking about asserting themselves in the division. From joy to deeper funk, Liverpool nail, full of nail. We told ourselves, Liverpool's mid-week Champions League performance, again, that's a good mid-rid, made them look a little like Liverpool again, if you kind of squinted, enter full, and point this full, before this game, but really the protagonist in the early exchanges, really tactically were set up to expose Liverpool's vulnerability in front of their back four. Is it the centre-of-peedle for us? Where the defenders in midfield, there should be kind of sucking that ball backwards. Alisson, one of the team's leaders played the ball straight into the teeth of the full and press early doors. And picked off immediately, we stand the burge in the heart, the Liverpool area. It's kind of like watching the Liverpool bat-line pull a pin out of a grenade in their own bedroom, sheer panic everywhere. Jacquet, clearing off the line brilliantly. And we talked about this a little bit in big weekend preview. Watching red fans just eulogize Jacquet as the greatest French import since the Bayer tapestry. That am used to how quickly they warm to their new characters. But it is a sign of, I think, vulnerability, more than confidence, or Liverpool fans, not just quick to embrace the new faces, which they'd love to do and have every right to do. Just this new strain of reveling in knocking those of the party cannot say in this case, or Curtis Jones and his into my lamp performance midweek, it's not just not right them. So a trait that smacks a vulnerability will. Yeah, do you know what I think, ultimately, Raj, Liverpool fans have spent an awfully long time telling themselves that they are different to other fan bases, that they behave differently, that there's always that thing about Anfield being a knowledgeable crowd. There's this belief that Liverpool is in some way a kind of more loyal, more faithful, more communal experience than a lot of other clubs. Last five years really disproved that, I would say. They are, the Liverpool fans are just like every other set of fans. And I think the speed with which, the glee with which they've kind of turned on players who won championships and who delivered incredible moments, in Jones's case, were homegrown, were scale's kids in the team. I think is, I personally, and I say this, not so much as like a professional observer of football, but as a Liverpool fan, I find it really upsetting. I don't like it at all. I said, as we said on Big Weekend Preview, I think, I watched the Real Madrid Inter game last week, wanting Curtis Jones to play really well. I want Canata to play well. I want Trent to play well, because I have bonded to them. And I desperately want to bond to the players who've replaced them. And they're making it very hard, Roch, not admittedly Jacques, who has been outstanding since he came in. But most of the others are making themselves quite difficult to love at the moment, I would say. Let's talk about that. I mean, then that first off, Liverpool to me look like some kind of honest slot tribute band midfield disjointed, full and played through easily, a will forwards for isolated Alexander E's hacking, had four touches more than you did in that first half, Bradley Boccola. God bless, looks like he's in his bedding into English football phase, got bodied early, and often needs time, deserves time. But Ro, the discordance in attack, source by many back to Florian votes. I have always felt that he's a little bit of a scapegoat for this kind of Liverpool transition way, but in this game, again, hearing many of the Liverpool fans trying to lord the distance he runs, more than any other player, it kind of looks to me like that one guy at the office who looks busy, but doesn't actually produce anything. There's an internet name for him, which I love. They call it Cardio King, which is the door. This is a guy who undeniably has all the skills, the passing ability, the vision, the tactical read, but watching him mess chance after chance and in the transition, I find it humanly hard to watch, especially when he got a kid like Josh King on the opponent just driving that transition with ease. What is it? Because he can do it. Is it just mental as to why he's not enforcing his willing games like this? So I actually went to Anfield on Saturday to watch the roger. That was to set myself that brief of, I'm going to try and figure out kind of what I think of Florian versus him. I'm going to fix him. I'm going to write a briefing, and don't need a rye all to tell him what to do. No, I think he's a fascinating case study. He's become a talking point player. He is, he's the player who is the subject of the analysis. He's not the first, Paul put the same thing happen to Paul. Pod Burd, the same thing happened to Trent, Alexander Arnold at Liverpool. The same thing happened to Mezzat Ursula Arsenal, where they were always the player that everyone looked at. And watching versus he struck me that there's two things, one is structural. And yeah, there is an element of scapegoat about him, but Liverpool have changed their entire structure to accommodate him, and that means you have to deliver, ultimately. This is a team that's based all of its recent success on playing with the midfield three. They have three central midfielders who were brought to play in a three together. They are now playing in a two. None of them are good at it. None of them look like it suits them in the slightest. They're doing it so that versus the players are 10. When the team has been structured around you, you have to make that worthwhile and versus doesn't. As you say, he has this habit of underhitting passes, which is a really strange thing for a player to do. Overhitting, I can kind of deal with, underhitting seems like it lacks self-confidence. That's a problem. And the other thing is, I do wonder to what extent he's now in his own head, because he does have talent. It's not a physical problem. The reigning footballer of the year in England is Bruno Fernandez. Bruno Fernandez does not look like Arnold Schwarzenegger. That is, he's not a particularly remarkable physical specimen Bruno Fernandez. King is very slight, but is a wonderful football. A cold palm is not massive. Again, these players are all tens, and they are all thriving, versus isn't. And I wonder to what extent it's because he is, on some psychological level, aware of the pressure that he's under, the fact that he is the person who has to make it work. They've signed Bradley Bartola, because he needs pace around him. But Bradley Bartola never gets to show his pace, because Liverpool takes so long to let the ball up the field, but by the time Bartola gets involved, everyone's standing still effectively. Watching Liverpool on Saturday, and maybe at the end of a long week, Champions League game, you know, difficult Champions League game in its athletic home of Dread, maybe there was a little bit of fatigue there, but it's a real grind watching them. Fullham didn't create a huge amount, if I'm completely honest, they played through Liverpool a lot, but didn't really go anywhere. Liverpool had two or three chances, but they made everything look very, very difficult, and versus central to that. Yeah, I mean, versus if only the, with the gyms, do you ever work for, we learnt it during the World Cup, Cough Keena, the cinema in your own head that you just constantly replaying the spool of over and over. You're going to say it wasn't just him that had Cough Keena, but fully the entire stadium of Anfield was nervy, was quiet. I've been to Murakami book readings where the crowds are no easier. At T-Court rating our Discord, fullham will feel like the player in a home match, it's that quiet. This was the world's first experience with Liverpool fans leaving the game early, which has become recurrent, and they're on a slot, symbol of real malaise, full straight draw at home, for the first time since 2011. Errol has talked about the fatigue, you just hinted at for midweek, the learning curve is teamer under, but well, this is a team with $300 million players in the lineup, and somehow still not creative, still no ability to control, still seeming to contain a, you know, a not insignificant number of players, Cough Kees, Simmercass and more, who just do not seem good enough for Liverpool football club. The bigger issue to me, Rajet, I've got to admit, is how little any of them seem to add up together. Like, I'm not quite sure what the plan is. I don't, I don't see why they've decided that a midfield of, in this case, Graven Birch and Sobber's life will work. I don't see what the idea of putting barcola in the same team as Verts is meant to do. I don't, the big one is I don't really get why they've got Andonia Ryolar in, a manager who needs a press, and I'm making him play with Alex Andrezak, a striker who does not press up front. So much of it doesn't make sense. And to bring it back to Jacquet, I actually think that part of the reason Liverpool fans have bonded to him so quickly, is because that's the one bit that looks functional. Him and Van Dyke is a central defensive partnership. It works really well. Van Dyke's not what he was, but he's still a top-class footballer. That bit makes sense. The rest of it, if I'm completely honest, kind of looks like a mess. One thing Andonia Ryolar can change at Liverpool and immediate dividends are result. He can play dominant sub-as-line, not in central midfield. I'd like to see sub-as-life play on the right. I know he doesn't want to do that. He gave an interview to Stephen Gerard last week in which he said he does not like playing as a right-winner. But I did see someone I can't remember who online say that he has two futures. One is as a right-back, which I think is probably a bit of a waste. But the other is as Liverpool's version of Rodrigo DePaule, not in the sense of fighting Robert Levandowski, but in the sense of playing that right-win role, inside an inside right role, where he does a lot of the running, a lot of the dirty work. And I think that would suit sub-as-line. And it might well be that Iryola needs to have a difficult conversation with a player who would like to be Liverpool captain to ask him to kind of sacrifice himself for the team. Oh, by the way, quick button on the full-arm. I was quite impressed with them relegated early and often by many, including this guy, rumored to be a squad at Riff for their manager already. I was surprised by the level of organisation in this performance could have been three points with more composure and fun to go, and a first point for Abel Lauer back at the stadium. Mr. Fondberg, did some replayed for Liverpool for three seasons? Yeah, he was a good servant to Liverpool was Abel Lauer, and I don't think he really got a round of applause on this return, but he deserved one. And it was a really good performance. It was an encouraging performance. Garcia works really hard as a striker. Josh Kin's a lovely footballer to watch. He's really promising. He will play for a Champions League team at some point. Sandra Berger is enormous. I think that can't be understated. They looked organised, determined. They played some really nice stuff. Not, there's no real cutting edge there is what I would say. They looked a little bit blunt, but they made me worry that I shouldn't have predicted them today relegatedly. I still believe that hiring Abel Lauer as your manager is a little bit like going to see Millie Vanillian concert after you find out their lip syncing, but we will say football always makes a fool out of all of us. Asden Villa won. What? Notty and Forrest too. Forrest opened the scoring 45 seconds into the second half by the most unexpected of sources. Liam Delap. First for Forrest at Flingstrike. First goal in 29 long-aconising games, Villa equalised and in their own personal torment, 372 Premier League minutes about a goal as a team. But then the 88th minute, Igor J. Zou Strike after a quite stunning Morgan Gibbs wipe backflick in the area. If you've not seen this goal, find it was delicious meant. Forrest won at Villa for the first time since 1994, first winning as you roll for Oliver Glasner. Now I'm beating in his last eight games against Emory and Agony for Unai Raw. That man visits Tottenham next weekend. I don't know if I can watch. That game honestly just feels saddened, saddened the Green Mile. I know Asden Villa didn't win the first five games last season and it all came out great. I know they've got injuries. I know they've got real hope for good reason in Johann Manzambi, just beginning to sub in alongside Ibrahim and Bi. But when you replace Raw, Morgan Rodgers, we've gone at Cho and Nico Jackson, you kind of do get one draw and three defeats at home. That's the new normal to me that you should expect. Yeah, and you're asking a lot of Unai Emory's coaching ability as well. What has achieved at Villa has been remarkable ever since he arrived. But to give him kind of such a short turnaround time, to replace half the team that won the Europa League, got into the Champions League last season with this kind of mishmash of new players. They have signed some really good footballers, but it takes time and the Premier League doesn't really allow you time. So it all wants again kind of comes down to Emory in a way that it probably shouldn't. Villa have been established enough at the top end of the Premier League now that they could have been better organized about it, I think. When should they be worrying? Villa fans. It depends, I suppose, what you mean by worry in Raj. Because I don't even need to worry about getting relegated. That's not going to happen, they'll be fine. If you mean when should they worry about maybe not qualifying for the Champions League a lot sooner than that. But then they may well find the rest of the lead waits for them. It doesn't look like a campaign where four or five teams are going to go clear where anyone's going to start putting huge runs of points together. It's so finally balanced. I think that even if they're 12 or 13th by December, they will still be within touching distance of four for quite a long time. Read the hair and the tortoise. Villa fans, it's all going to be okay. In other games, Bournemouth too. Brent for the course too. Kevin Charder double and lives to score on the fruit. Second tied the game and poor new Cherry's manager, Marco Rosa. He saw Ben Ganon don't take a wonderous blast in stoppage time. It's looped off at the flexion and then pinged off the post. So is Bournemouth's set a Premier League record of leading in their first four games to open the season and failing to win any of them? At least they're consistent, Royal. Yeah, and we talked about this as well, haven't we, Roger? It does become a kind of self-fulfill in prophecy a little bit, conceding late goals, not being able to see out games because your opponents know that it's a problem for you and you know that they know that and they know that they know that and all that. And the more it happens with Bournemouth, the harder it's going to be for them to break that cycle. Fortunately for them, Roger, they play Liverpool next week, so they'll be fine. God, we've got to get, you know, we've got a Wormburner thing, we've got to get a Copf Keynote thing because it sounds like a whole squad of double K. This was, I need to know a clash of two secondally well-run football clubs. There's an amazing article, if you didn't see it in the times, about how deep Brentford go in their scouting background checks. I think it was Janel, Vitaly Janel, was shown the dossier they prepared on him before they agreed to sign and it included an interview, Roger, do you see this? Would the owner wait for it of his favourite restaurant to find out how he treats the waiters? Because he believes that that could reveal the truth to someone's character and the only one, the good guys in that locker room. It bogged my mind when I read that rule because whom amongst us doesn't have, you know, little traits that are a bit dark, if you plan, what's the worst thing about you rule that would kind of scupper your move to Brentford? We all have bad traits. I think it's probably the number of stout in reports, that commission on people, Roger, and just how nosy I am. Now, what's my worst trait? That's a really deep question. I don't know if I necessarily want to. What would stupper my move? Yeah, well, what one thing would you now, you've never revealed that what you're going to say is not the real one, which I love. I was going to think like what would, what would, little habit, little habit? Do I have a trait that's toxic enough to make somebody? I do. I think mine would be my rampant narcissism. No, mine. You're out of control. I was going to talk to you about that after the show. Out of control, narcissism. No, I'm very, I have a lot of top-key now going on, to be perfectly honest. I feel like I've got a lot of top-key now, yeah. You do a lot of, you play for Liverpool as a number 10 there. I've got one that I feel like Brentford, I am genuinely embarrassed, but can do nothing about how disgustantly, perpetually dirty my computer keyboard is, because I work, I have my breakfast over it, I eat my lunch over it, I'm constantly typing away. Keyboard is just, I'll be honest, I look at it sometimes, I'll ask, am I an animal? Am I, what separates me from the animals? That's what I look at. The fact that I'm only a computer. Well, I know, I'm sure there's that cat meme, where the cat's typing away, that's hard. No one shows you what the keyboard looks like. When I open it on the phone. The keyboard's all over the shop. When I open my keyboard on the plane, I'm just like so self-disgusted, if that's a German word, but anyway, my mum told me, that was home in Liverpool, she looked at my keyboard, she said, that looks like you could become pregnant just by touching it. I have seen, I've sat next to you on a plane, Roch, with you having your keyboard out, and it feels inherently toxic, and like it's bad for all of us. Maybe that would qualify you in an administrative role. As long as, I mean, a lot of clubs will do background checks on players to try and establish their personalities, and most clubs will then sign them, even if their personalities are terrible, as long as they're good enough, because most clubs don't actually care about it. But interviewing the manager of his favourite restaurant feels not just excessive, but kind of intrusive to be perfectly honest. It's a bit creepy. It didn't, it didn't move, pay. We've got these photos of you. Literally, I've just, here in the dossier, we've got these photos of you asleep, that's taken from inside your bedroom. This is, this is, look how much we're interested in you. That's not, that's not important in the UK now. Season three, a story-wise coverage we know. Brighton, five. The other team not called Tottenham yet scored a top-flight goal, or campaign commentary at all the first half chances, but for Bruegan's strong Dutch wrists of a young goal in this, came them a bay, and then Kostalist, the young striker. And of course, in January, incredible goal, pounced on the clearance, not it into space. Screamed, I'm pretty sure, smelly a later in Greek before bounce shooting the ball home brilliantly. Really smart finish, you maybe didn't see that you should. Google it. Yeah, it was just Coventry, but God, how they wilted, especially after a one you were sent off for an elbow to the head. Really an elbow of frustration, Seagulls. God bless. Now in fourth place, rolling, at ease in this one, there's ifto a plan to JV backline. Lewis Dunn's incredible foot shape. Find that on this shot from way downtown. Q, you're going down with the palest chance, which I just loved. Four losses for Coventry's start, the season for the first time. So it's a hundred and seven years. They're first year of founding. Rule AKA. Big Frank in big trouble. Yeah, it does. It feels very much like they are listing fairly badly already, rather just to be perfectly honest, which I wasn't expecting from Coventry. I thought that I thought I would come up and be pretty competitive, but Coventry I expected to deliver much more than this. They just seem to be unnerved by the the chasm between the championship and the Premier League. I think they'll stick with Lampard. I think that they will find a little bit of rhythm at some point. But it's been a really rough start for them. Talking about down there, near the upside down crystal palace too. What a Ipswich town three. The Premier League's two leagueist defense is clashed and he always bet the overdubby and it lived up to its billing from the off palace, took the lead 14th minute, held out for all the nine minutes for Ipswich level via record signing. Emerson two ends in a chasm of space, second goal of the season. I think for him then 34th minute, plot twist, palaces, axel, de sassy, sent off for a high tackle in Ipswich Jack Clarke at Dean Adders. In it might be this good. You can take the man out of Chelsea, but you can't take the Chelsea out of the guy. Ipswich took the lead, but then seemed overall by the knowledge of it precious to lose, allowed 10 men palaces to equalize. You're going to stand last and spun, fired past. I think he's Jonathan Swift's favorite Premier League player. Six foot nine of goalkeeper Keel Sheepen. But this is a little previewed. For wonder, 90th minute, Ipswich's deadline day signing from Burnley, Zian Fleming, Subden Lachon to a rebound to stay home the winner. First top flight win at Crystal Palace for the Tracks of Voice since 1980. They've already got half the number of wins too, that they have their entire last Premier League campaign. Roar, this is the season that the newly promoted teams. If you spend money semi-wisely, you can almost try and life-est yourself to safety. I've been calling him Zian Fleming, but I prefer calling him Zian Fleming. It makes him sound like an off-brand bond author. I'm pretty sure it is Zian. I would never quibble with you, Roger. I'm pronunciation, you're joking. I have my pronunciation. I make up about 97% of them. But I do have a daughter called Zian, so I'm pretty sure he's a Zian. But Zian Fleming sounds like the guy who, like the alternative, the sci-fi name of the bond author. Off-brand bond, the inventor. Yeah. Zian Fleming's James Zabond. Yeah, it's his alter ego. When he's numb to plume, when he wants to write the books, he calls himself Ian Fleming. When he wants to score the goals. No, I... Zian Fleming is kind of... It's James Bond in space. That's what it is, isn't it? James Bond for the kids. Yeah. No, it's an amazing game. It's brilliant for it, which they end whole, to in its then, have followed the Sunderland model effectively, which is you come up, throw a load of money at a load of players, and that will deliver it. And it's, I think, it's been part of the plan. They came up last time two years ago, and were a little bit more certain aspects about their spending. I think they were thinking, right, this time we take the money, we go back down, we come straight back up. A lot of their signings were made. I think with the aim of being able to get straight back out of the championship, they did that, and this time they really went for it. And it seems to be paying off. Well, say, do you know who you see on Fleming's brother is? What is his name is? Dron. It's a John LeCarrie. That's the worst. Every time I've done the worst, he's a podcasting in human history. He's a plumber down like that. It's a John. Yeah, Monday night leads. Welcome to Newcastle. Till then, night time, Ellen Rodebeer pit, two German managers climbed with their teams, and beaten tough night to be a beer in that part of England. I think a game that will be definitive for both teams' level of aspiration, but it's time for us to delve the depths of Tottenham Mill, Everton Mill, El Sadekau. I just want to say, I was so sure we were going to lose this game. We're all ever to know. Yes, we know they make a wishing corner. We lost our last five at Spurs by combined 15 goals to one. David Moise, one winning 15 there. Spurs remembered one. Yes, just one game at home in the calendar year 2026. We learned on Thursday. We reminded ourselves, of course, it was against Everton. In fact, Spurs did the double against Everton last season. Everton essentially kept you up. You're welcome, Tottenham. We gave you a life. Look, this was a game so bad. It could barely have even been an email. Playing with a game, Peter Durery would just drop bar after bar. There was a barrage in the first 10 minutes from Spurs, and he said, Spurs, look, like they mean the biz. And they just say the biz sounds so good out of the Durery lips. Everton overwhelmed just the excellent Gerard Brantway and his defending master class, keeping us afloat. But David Moise is team and nothing if not resilient. First off, ended goalless. Everton actually had the chances in the second half. Do you speak whaleness when when the send in there was a poor Brennan. Johnson with God bless Brennan. To better days, Man in Thai experience was honestly watching two NFL teams try and win a game while turning the ball over six times each. Spurs, look so nervy, so psychologically fraught by the end Durery was eulogising that search for potency. He said, the crowd are arms up in supplication, begging for a Tottenham goal. Again, it sounds better for Durery, who uses the word supplication, not enough in everyday combo. They wouldn't get a goal. Despite a woman, and it was a grown woman in the crowd, grown adults, quite beautifully handcrafted signs she took to the game in oddly cheery script. Please score a goal. Not today, Raw. Very nil nil said Durery at the end of the game. First time in history, Spurs started a season without a goal in their first four games. Remember, this is a team that they fancy being nothing if not pure entertainers. So this is dirge like a reality, which is the opposite of their DNA. Spurs are 17th, warmly familiar. We've kept saying, Raw, Spurs should not panic about the $405 million of new transfers not clicking yet. But Raw, when exactly should they be worried? They should probably be starting to get worried. I think, again, I don't think Spurs are in any danger of relegation, same as Villa, but the fact that it's been so slow, the fact that all of this change has brought about absolutely no improvement. And the fact that, you know, attacking coach with an attacking team can't find a way to break teams down is a genuinely worrying sign, particularly when that attacking coach is so compostable as Roberto Deserby. Does it do sort of suggest that things could go south pretty quickly? The bright side, I'd say, to Spurs fans, you're not in the relegation zone. Your team haven't scored a single goal or season, but you're not in the relegation zone. But you've nailed what worries me the most as someone that does care about Tottenham Hotspur. It is Roberto Deserby. He is kind of a very odd figure post game. Did this weird rant? I didn't know. In Italy, I'd be the best coach to clean sheets. He tried to get the Italian journalist from Gazetta Della Sport to agree with him, which was, which he said, that's what you'd be writing about. Yeah, it was just an odd bit that fell totally flat. And then he just went all out on Spurs. I came last season when the SHIT was up to here, hand gesture really high. Started working with this group two-thirds days again. News to all of us. We have not the physical condition yet. And then he kept it with a, he said, there's a word in Italian. I sound like James Horn Castle when I do this. Splub, Slobacassi. I don't know how you say S-P-L-A. Splubacassi. Splubacassi. Sounds like an incredible pizza with some really hot meat on it. It sounds like an incontinence cream, but go on. Yeah, by the way, I love that. I love incontinence cream, my pizza. He said it literally translates as if we unblock ourselves. It's a mental block because four games, no wins, no goals scored, mental block. Roar, I'm sorry to wonder, did we overhype? Did we overexpect our easy as like a brilliant transformation list? And his past is nine jobs, 12 years. Quite combustible spot, Pluggie doesn't stay anywhere for long. Are we just like projecting glories are definite? Yeah, and in those, in those 12 years, he's won two trophies, one of which was Ceri Chi, the Italian third division, and the other one of which was in Ukraine. In Ukraine, Ukrainian super lead, with Shaktar the next, which is impressive, but Shaktar are the team that always win, or were at that stage, the team that always wins the Ukrainian top flight. I think a lot of it depends on context, doesn't it? Deserbi is a good coach in the right context. He's shown that, and Brighton, he showed it in patches at Marseille. The question is whether Spurs is the right context for him, but the big worry, as you've kind of alluded to, Roarge, if he senses the ship is growing down, he is as likely to point at somebody else and say it's their fault as he is to try and save it. And I think that's- So a hole in the deck, right? I think that's what Spurs have to try and avert, and the problem is they've got, you know, next weekend with Villa, you're getting a team that is in a similar position, has a similar level of kind of concern mounting over it, but is maybe in a much more positive frame of mind because they really trust their manager. Spurs and Deserbi don't have that. He hasn't done enough to warrant that yet. So it does feel like a very delicate situation at Tottenham, I think. They could really do with the goal, and they could really do with the win. God, Spurs just have that awful bruised eggs, the central ranks of managers who crap on the team on the way out. He said the door is having another layer to their cop for Keene. Big point, gotta say, in context for Everton, Jordan Pickford's 100th Club Clean Sheet, which is an insane feat when you remember that Michael Keene was in front of him for 45 of those games. And by the way, on Peacock now, a really beautiful version of our first ever British live show, taped at the hill deck and some with Everton Football Club starring beautiful, beautiful Ken and Juiz Rihou and my mother. She's in it too, Everton have not lost since we taped that to reverse Curse of Rods. Let's end with a whip around the sentiment table, Raw, who have you got as your top three, not on points, but just on feeling or revimes wonder as we finish week four? I think the whole city have to be top, Rodge. There's no question about that. And I'm going to go for Ipswich second, because they will also be feeling you know, proctor of the walk at the moment to get that away when it palace. And I think third for the Manchester Darby win, Manchester City. Yeah, I had exactly the same whole first, mulling away to glory. Ipswich town, we shall not be moved. It's just the greatest vibe, but I've actually got city in Arsenal tide, both feeling utterly perfect and invincible. Who's your bottom? Just to be clear, Rodge, that's cheating. You can't have, you can't say top three and then be like, well, I've actually, I've dropped two of them to come on. Again, I'll ask, what going accounts are you using to make these rules at Raw? That is a simple code of ethics, Rodge. My bottom's very minute, I'm not being funny, but it has to be Spurs Bottom. They haven't sort of got all yet. It would be ridiculous if they weren't bottom. I'm going to have villa second bottom, because they are also feeling deflated. And I think, as much as I'd sort of tempted to put Liverpool in that, I think, Coventry, losing five in a little home to Brighton is, is a worry inside. I've got 18 place Spurs. But there's 17th, man, 19th and yeah, if they'd league ended today, we're just in the place. You need to be 19th place, Villa, I think it's a bit hard to fathom right now. And 20th, I've got Manchester United rule after that loss to 10 men. Manchester City following the Ainsley Maintenance and just a whole ticket nightmare. With long-term season, they get all those having their tickets taken away from them and really realizing who hates United, even more than city fans, they feel like you're no to doing as they do in this moment. That is dark. To the letter of the week, keep sending yours to many Blazers at gmail.com. We've got a beautiful letter from Suzanne Rose of Paul and Dorrigan. Roor, do the honest. And Suzanne writes, the race for Europe feels so intrigued in this season. Everyone can make it, but even tighter. And no one is talking about it. Handsome manager table, some serious competition this year. Who are your boys top three? And why? Thanks for all your joy, Suzanne. I think the why will be relatively obvious, Raj. I think the why will be because they're Handsome. I think that's what qualifies you. No, we've talked about this. This is amazing days, where the dinosaur legendary manager, you know, your enchilotti, your mario, those are over to become a Premier League manager. It's never been more of a meritocracy. You just see, as you've said, to have a giant tactical brain and to be able to simmer with intensity in sparkling white trainers and look great in what you said last week, a really tight t-shirt. And it's like, everywhere right now. So it's very hard to pick, who's your top three? First is difficult for me. Third, I think might be Keith Andrews, the Brentford manager, who is the man? Is it Killian Murphy, who's in PT Blinders? Yeah. There's a little bit of Killian Murphy about Keith Andrews. He's got a lovely, lovely accent. He's got amazing hair. I don't know how we crimps it, but I'd like to know his product. And then in a nod to your kind of ethical chicaneery, Raj, I'm going to go for a joint top one. That's nonsense. And they are calling the police. So technically, the most handsome Premier League manager, I think is Marta Rosa. Marta Rosa is a very good-looking man. Oh, classically handsome. But I think if you were to go for kind of handsomeness combined with like a raw sex appeal, it's Jabi Alonso. Finish that sentence because... Well, Jabi just has a, I mean, there's an aura to Jabi, I think, that makes him impossibly attractive. I think it's maybe looks and charisma. Jabi maybe steals it. But Marta Rosa is, I think, probably the most classically handsome person in the product. It's so funny. I wonder if Jabi didn't cross my mind. We didn't talk about this or compare notes you forehand. I think because that backline makes him inherently less sexy. But I've got to say... It's an image of sex here. I don't think this is, this is the one area in which Pep Guardiola, I think is possibly the biggest boy, man. I've got to say, that man was so singly, very, very, very cool. He was it for me. I remember doing the handshake, the football people do, that weird popping handshake, when we last interviewed him in Manchester. And we looked each other in the eye for a second. And just in my head, just flashed. I thought, two bald men, similar height, we could not be more different. Not even human beings, animals, almost. One man was like a Mapogo lion. And the other was just like, total will the beast in comparison. One man was a Mapo lion, and the other man had an awful lot of food in his keyboard. Yeah. By the way, the keyboard and food was the best thing I had going for me in that moment. Look, for me, winning a sexy, I do think Michel Artezza is an unfathomably good looking human being in the flesh when you hang out with him real life, when you interview him. And he's always sparkle and he's just sitting there so poising and control. I think he's just an incredible human being inside. And out of the newcomers, I agree with you, Marco Rosa. I think the technical term is a nice bit of scruff, right? And the way he gifs points, maybe think he'd be a very generous lover. My top and the one with a bullet. We've talked about this before. I love beauty on the inside and out. So I was really torn here. I think Oliver Glastner's fascinatingly complex as a human being and I adore him. And Doni are all of his gorgeous little tummy and his tracksuit. I think man is a Miracami fan. I think his brain is, he's literature deep and I really love him. But we gotta go, Daniel Farker. Man is just an all-round great human being. He's football obsessed, yeah, which is good for me in a relationship. But he loves his books, loves his music, loves his DJing. I love that. I think as a long-term relationship as opposed to just a one-night stand, which is what I'm looking for in my, in my Premier League manager relationships. I think he's, I think Daniel Farker's my Premier League Mr. Darcy. To be fair, if you think about long-term relationships, it wouldn't be our set it. Because imagine the psychological warfare that he would put you through. It would be like 50 shades of gray level stuff. That's what Michael, that's a technique. You can't be happy that in a relationship. You'd have to have a safe word. You'd need a safe word. I'm jumping, he's peeing, touching me. Gabrielle is the safe word. He emailed. Oh my God, but would he remember? As always, men in places at gmail.com. That is it. I'm joining a line there. That's it for today. Where are you off to this week? I am taking, as I'm a neutral journalist, Raj. I am taking my son, who is nearly nine, to his second ever night dam at Anfield on Tuesday night. We're going to watch Liverpool's reserves, lose to Tottenham's reserves. You're a great father. I'm off to Chicago tomorrow, my spiritual home. We're actually filming with Miles Lewis Skelly this week, send us your questions for that magnificent young human being. We'll be back Thursday for a very special version of Big Weekend Preview. We're from Recart. This is Rodge saying, let's not take a second. We're watching football together for granted. Any courage? I'm not going to take a second. I'm not going to take a second. I'm not going to take a second. I'm not going to take a second. I'm not going to take a second. I'm not going to take a second. I'm not going to take a second. I'm not going to take a second. I'm not going to take a second. I'm not going to take a second. I'm not going to take a second. I'm not going to take a second. I'm not going to take a second. I'm not going to take a second. I'm not going to take a second. I'm not going to take a second. I'm not going to take a second. I'm not going to take a second. I'm not going to take a second. I'm not going to take a second.