The 2026/27 Structural Disconnect: Inside Premier League Tactical & Analytical Faultlines

So I watched the United Everton game yesterday and it's the first game I've watched on Sky Sports this season because I've either been watching from another country or watching the highlights on YouTube. Have you watched a game on Sky Sports yet this season and have you seen the main sponsor for the Sky Premier League coverage? The main sponsor right is just the, or sorry Uber eats, Uber eats, not just the Uber eats. And the advert is Sam Aladai, slid on a sun lounger, eating a fucking whole cucumber. I'll be there, they're getting Chris, they should get Chris Wilde with the sandwich next through. I've seen the standalone advert, but I didn't, not, not bolted onto the Sky Sports stuff, I've seen it on its, on its own, but they're all right because there's, there's Aladai's part you. Er, and Tony Pewley, so I think as well. So there's a few different rotating ones, it's, they're actually not too bad. Just need like, it just need curb, it's lean jewel there and you've got like the dynamic, you've got fantastic five there, aren't you? The Avengers. Do you mean the Adverts are all right or cucumbers are all right? The Adverts are all right. The Cucuff, the Hiccucumbers are here, disgusting, disgusting things, someone famous who doesn't like cucumbers, someone pretty famous, the Undertaker. Is there some sort of reference I miss it in? No, the Undertaker genuinely, yeah, she doesn't like you, somebody's that like is kryptonite or something. That's how people should have been eating. You see, I read it in a magazine not long ago. Is that how you kick out of a two-star pile drive, but you just have a run, you know, cucumber stuck there, stuck in your vest, doesn't it? This is Football Social Daily, Premier League podcast. This is Football Social Daily, an award winning Premier League podcast and already we are a few games in to the top flight campaign 26, 27 and already full of them looking real trouble. Bottom of the Premier League, Manchester City top, along with Arsenal and whole City in third, the only team, not just in the Premier League, but in the entire 92, not to have conceded a goal yet. Incredible start for whole City, we'll also talk about Manchester United having two points snatched from them at the death by an excellent goal from Everton and spurs their first point of the season, but still no goals. Welcome to the show, my name is Nile, joined today by Joel Tudor and Marley Anderson, good morning boys. Good morning. Good morning. Now, since we last spoke, ages ago, ages ago, yet, so long ago that I've actually had a birthday. And Joel's got a haircut. There you go. That's always good. A lot of changes in a week and a half. Cheers for the messages, boys. Hey, I wish you were happy birthday. I don't think Joel did. No, you didn't. You probably wasn't by the phone, but you got it in spirit anyway. You're too busy getting his haircut. And to punish Joel for not wishing me a happy birthday, my birthday wish was for Ainsley, Madeleine Niles to pop up and score the goal of his career. I don't know why I thought you're going to say Ainsley harry it then. Ainsley harry it. What do you want him to do? Give you me a good aura. Give you me a good aura. Spicey. Spicey. It was a spicey goal from Ainsley, Madeleine Niles. Let's start there because that seems to be the big talking point. I've seen an article on one of the premier sports news outlets in this country on their website today, which says, as a headline, are Manchester United stuck in an endless doom loop, which I thought was an interesting way to frame things. United 11th, they've gone Nelson so far this season, one win, one draw, one defeat. When you look at the start to the season that they had, Hull City Ipswich and Everton, really, should United have been looking at nine points and being up there with Manchester City and Arsenal, Joe? This is what I mean. It's all about perspective isn't it? We were literally 10 seconds away from being on six points and everything looks rosy. The article probably doesn't get released. We're not even talking about those doomsday kind of headlines, but at the same time, it did happen. We're on four points and we have one new sign in starter, The Weekend, which is Tilly Amand. I remember when you messaged Niles in our group during the game and I was in total agreement. I'm just so resounded to some of these performances at the moment. This is why I don't come on here and I'm not dissatisfied. I'm just almost resounded by what I'm seeing. I think a lot of United fans are quite resounded at the moment. It's a bizarre situation to be in and I get the angle of what you just said with that headline just because looking back from 2013 onwards, it just felt like one big car crash hasn't it? You feel like you're going two steps forward and then you're all of a sudden you're at the back of the pile again and then you go forward two steps and then you're wasting when you're at the back again and it just feels like when are we going to say when? Because I was going to say we're at the new AC Milan, but at least they've actually won a bloody title since 2013 we haven't. So it's a really weird situation this club's in since 2013. This is the thing, right? It's so easy to sit here and over react when we're only three games into the new Premier season and I'm constantly trying to remind myself it's only three games in and it matters what happens at the end of the season and where you are at the end rather than where you are at the start. We've seen Manchester United historically, sorry Marley, come from quite a distance behind and go on to win a title, but there were some people, not you Joel, but there were some people of Manchester United persuasion who at the start of the season after the signings that have been made this summer said United could challenge with the title this year. When you think about how tight the Premier League title races have been between the top clubs, you can only afford to lose three, four, five games tops. The difference after just three games already between Manchester United and Arsenal and City is five points. Our Manchester United going to make up five points on Arsenal and Manchester City, they're not going to do that. So even after three games, you're talking about people that said United could be in for a title challenge, Marley, are probably already on the ropes with their prediction, because there's a five point gap after just three games. When you look at the teams that United have played, it's which hull and now everton to make up five points in a Premier League season against teams I asked Manchester City, it's very difficult to do. Yeah, I mean, it's difficult to do, but sitting everyone in the league will drop five points. It's just a case of Will Man United, not drop more than five points. Like, you'd probably say for every five points that Man City dropped, Man United probably dropped 15 in that sort of same period, it takes them to drop five and that's a problem that Carrick's got. It's another, it's another Man United sort of false dawn. It's all going to be great this season, because finally, we've got a bit of stability in all this and Joel, Joel raised his issues at the start of the season where they haven't signed enough for him and it looks like on the pitch. They're not signing enough, even though if you look at the squad, they've got the talent to goal wing games. They've got goals. They've got good wingers. They get goals from the wings. They've got creativity and the guy who's riding the, riding the title of most assists in a Premier League season, even though he shouldn't have got it, because one came off the bar and wasn't on goal. So he should have got 20 assists rather than 21 last season, but we'll let that slide. Oh my God. Well, the simple fact of the matter is, in the other two games, he's been fairly anonymous. He was, he was diabolical on that first game of the season against Hall. He tried against Everton to be fair, but he couldn't make the breakthrough. You know, and Boomer did his bit of the weekend, but they couldn't get the back door shut. You know, there's, it now looks like it's one of them where you don't sort of back them to not concede goals. Harry McGuire is marking his own man at a corner two weeks ago, you know, I mean, stopping Mazrawe going ahead in the ball. So yeah, it's, yeah, it's another, another thing. I'm enjoying it. I like it. You know, I mean, I, every any time I need to lose in points, I'm happy. But did you, did you see the game yesterday between, did you see the game yesterday between Arsenal and Chelsea, though, when I was watching it, I was thinking, first of all, we are miles behind these guys. Secondly, but Arsenal's defense won the title last season. You can't build the house on faulty foundations like, like Marley just said, with the United's champions, how are you going to go into a season with the same back force as 2022? And that back force has not won you anything. It's just, it's bizarre to me. I mean, look at, look at the last four, those four seasons on average, the team considered around 55 goals. What Premier League win inside has ever conceded that amount of goals and got on to win the league? I, I don't think there's ever been one or maybe there's one anomaly, but every single team, you, you can't concede more than 35 and if you do, you're going to have to score about 100, this thing can't score 100, nor can it concede less than 35. So you've got a big problem there in the first instance, kind of on the flip side, Everton, I thought looked alright. You know, Marley, I didn't think they looked bad at all when David Moises had his say about the transfer window. The fans have certainly been vocal about the business that Everton have done, but I thought they looked pretty confident. They look composed on the ball. They're still unbeaten. They've got five points from their three games so far. And Tiano Barry is obviously a player who is massively aware in progress, but had a couple of good chances. I thought should have done better with. I thought Ghana looked decent. I thought some of the players that they've had, but maybe haven't had the opportunity to shine as much like role, for example, was good yesterday against Manchester United. So I thought, Everton looked alright, you know, yeah, they did. I think listening to Moises has been one of the most interesting things of preseason for makers. He's clearly not happy. He's not painting it as, yeah, we'll be alright, and I'm happy with the players I've got. He's actively saying, I am not happy with what we've done in the summer. I've been trying to sign a ride back for five years, or Everton, I've been trying to sign a ride back for five years. They eventually get Midland Niles, and ironically he comes on and scores a banger at the weekend. But he's not happy. James Ghana went down with an injury at the weekend and that things the squad again. Everton Niles might have to move into defensive midfield before he gets a proper run at right back before sort of Everton can settle down, but they're alright on the pitch, like the look of them, but there are a few injuries away from, honestly, I think Moise could even walk away this summer, because he's cut in the figure of a man who just, he knows that the club aren't prepared to really back him, and an easy guy who stands there and goes, look, we nearly got Europe last season, now's the time to roll the dice and back me. And he's ended up selling, selling better to Fiorentina, and then leaving him with one striker, and they really should have had three. They've got 21 players registered in their squad, 21 first team players, obviously they could call upon players from the academy, that's what they've done with Harrison Armstrong, who's had a couple of really good loan spells. And they tried to sell him? Yeah, they tried to cash in on him, didn't they? But that never materialized, and then when you think about the injuries that you've just mentioned, the only time in the last few years we've seen such a thin squad and thin in the sense numbers wise is at places like Manchester City and Arsenal, where Pep and Artette are preferred to have a tie to squad with more depth, Everton have got a thin squad in terms of numbers and a thin squad in terms of depth. It's not like they've got two good players for every position, that's just not the case. If you think of players like Alkarath, who's been, I think, awful for Everton, since he signed there, think of someone like Tyler Dibbling, who's still a young talent and trying to find his feet in the Premier League, Jusbury Hall has been a success, but generally it feels like when you had a few injuries in there and maybe a lack of quality, it could be difficult for Everton if they've made a good start, but if things do start to turn with injuries and stuff like that, does it feel like they're almost limping through to a January where they can make a signing and we're only in early September? It feels like Moise wouldn't back them to get him a signing in January, because he's not happy, but after waiting to retire, there's positive. Tyric George was really good at the weekend, Jared Brantway, it was massive, he was really good at against Vanillated, Ritalyn Niles obviously scores, Merlin Roll played quite well, arrived back, the cross he put in for Tiano Barry's free header that he should have scored was an unbelievable cross, unfortunately it landed on the head of Tiano Barry's, thinks he's better than he is, and I know he's got four goals to say, but he should have had seven, let's be honest, but yeah, we'll see, we'll see how they go, but I think they're an entry crisis away from a proper crisis, because Moise will be banging on that boardroom door saying I fucking told you so, I told you go and sign me players and he didn't. This is Football Social Daily, the Premier League podcast where at the start of every season myself, Joel and Marley make predictions, we predict who we think's going to win the Premier League, who's going to finish in Europe, we also predict who we think will be relegated back to the championship, and all of us had whole city in our bottom three, now that might still materialise and become the case at the end of the season, there are still of course nine months left at the campaign to go, because we've only had three games, but what a first three games it's been for whole city, Joel, beating Manchester United on the opening day, beating Coventry City away from home last weekend and this weekend back on home soil again, holding Aston Villa to a goal as draw, it means that with now seven points from three games, they're third in the standings and they are the only team in the entire 92 top football clubs in the country not to have conceded a goal. When we spoke about teams that have been successful coming up from the championship and staying in the Premier League, one of the things I pinpointed, because this happened with Sheffield United, made a good start and that's the key, make a good start and you can build from there, Hulk and of us were a much better start than this, could they? Yeah, well, first of all, it makes me a little bit at ease knowing we got battered by them on the opening day and then they wouldn't want the next two games. I thought it would have been no winning ten after that one, which is how it usually goes. But yeah, never would have saw this one coming, but I still want to kind of temper expectation because I remember so many promoted teams coming up in the past, I remember that black pool team with Marlon Hairwood and Charlie Adam where I'm sure they got like 79 in one of their first opening seasons and then they ended up going down. But if you look at it from perspective, there are 5 of the way there to survive, you know, if they can get, you know, that kind of points, they're almost in, they're within reach, it feels like again, I know it sounds so early to say that, but seven points for a newly promoted club is such a big achievement in such a short space of time, but at the same time, four points off Darby's, Darby's 11th thing, 11 point record of the whole season. He just puts into perspective just how dismal that campaign was, doesn't it? But I think for a team that's game promoted to start very strongly like that. I also, I also can understand that in the first two months as well, they can unravel very quickly as well, where you can get three wins and all of a sudden you can get back to back losses and all of a sudden you're looking back. They're still going down. Yeah, I mean, I'm not going to change my viewpoint after three games because they've been unbeaten and not conceded at a goal. I still think they'll be relegated. It's great for the fans though in the confidence, but like I say, you get the next, I think the next game's Chelsea away. If they take an absolute beating by Chelsea, all of a sudden, things can start looking very, very dreary, very, very quickly, but let's, you know, it's seven points in three. True. And that shows how much confidence plays a part in Premier League football because when you're listening to the other managers, Frank Lampard saying these players are going to need to get used to the Premier League and the differences between the championship and the Premier League and that's something it's going to take some time to get used to. And then Gary O'Neill trying to win games on the front foot and ended up conceding five goals. You know, this is what happens sometimes to promote its teams. So for whole city to have kept three clean sheets, one, two of their games and draw on the other at the weekend against Villa, confidence wise, it means that even after just a few games Marley, they'll be feeling like they can compete at this level. There won't be those nagging doubts about, are we good enough as a group of players to survive? And also it works in an offensive way in the sense that teams will now be looking at a trip to whole city and thinking course, not going to be an easy win like you might have expected from other promoted teams in the past. They'll be looking at hole through a different lens now, don't you think? Yeah. I mean, the difference between holding Coventry is the whole squad know they can win games at this level and not a single one in that Coventry squad does. Even though they won the championship and they had it relatively comfortable, they won it fairly easily other than a small sort of hiccup around January, February, when they blew, I think it was in 11 point lead, they blew it and then got it back from Middlesbrough. Whole whenever in that title's charge, they were stuck into the playoffs. I think they had underlines that of the worst XG of any team, bar one in the championship last season, but took their chances against the runner playing things like that on one games. But now, you know, this is what whole will have to sort of remember, like when it gets tough and when they lose three or four in a row, remember what it's like to win a game because they've got that over Coventry and it's which at the minute it was struggling, even though they've got more sort of higher profile players. If you want to, if you want to call it that, like it's what you've got NC so he's been around a bit and looks dangerous, but the can keep goals out and Coventry are the same and also hold of even beaten Coventry so it's almost like forget what happened last season, like we're here now and the third in the league after three games and yeah, start to think about Europe maybe, you know, who knows, well geographically, geographically, I think hold of the closest to Europe that there is in the Premier League, I don't think anyone's more eastern than all of them so you could get a boat over to the Netherlands, couldn't you for any of your way? Yeah, I've been on that, on that ferry from Hull to Amsterdam, it's a good one overnight ferry. You're there in the morning? Ironically, Ipswich, a further east than Hull. I forgot about Ipswich, speaking of squad to knowing that they can win games. The Fulham squad have got plenty of players who have won many Premier League games over the years. You know, they've got some real talent in there, I think Josh King is a really promising young player. I just think it's a matter of time before he plays for England. But when you look at Alvaro Arbaloa Joe and the conversations that we were having about him in preseason and whether he's up to the task, having just managed Real Madrid, goes into Fulham, looks like he's isolating a few players as well when you think about Emile Smith-Roe and Alex of Woby, he was always fighting an uphill battle it felt like because a lot of people pinpointed Fulham to go down and as much as we've spoken about Hull making a really good start, Fulham, have made a dreadful start, which is interesting considering there are enough players in that squad who do have Premier League experience. Yeah, I do like Josh King. Every time I've watched him in the couple of the games that they've played, he looks like the bright spark, but Alvaro Arbaloa is putting a lot of blind faith in young Real Madrid kids, which I think is one of the biggest gambles and probably one of the reasons why a lot of us said that they would go down. I think they could have done worse than giving Harry Wilson a new contract and just saying for the next season, considering your output, we were just making our highest earner because now he's at Leeds and I know it's very different prospect, but Fulham, you need those guys to have a bit of continuity and now you've got Oscar Bob, who is a city pride to the ACL injury, looked electric and then there's a reason he let him go after that. He's not really performed at the standard and then you've just got a whole new look back forward line, especially when you let go of Ralph Himminess as well, which I think was such poor foresight considering the World Cup he had as well and now he's at Wolves in the championship. I just don't really understand the thought process of the recruitment going on there. So look, it's three losses out of three, but I just don't see it getting much better than that. We all, we all for saw this. The recruitment for me was the biggest alarm bell. They've put in so much faith in young Real Madrid kids going to Fulham. There's a lot of pressure on them when they've not done that before in a team that will be struggling during the season. The worst thing, the best thing are below probably could have done was just get a bit of experience. You can't put on your faith in young Spanish kids that have barely even had much senior experience in football in general. So I think what it is as well, I do think a lot of it centers around that center forward position. Like you said, they've let Ralph Himminess go and they've brought in youngsters, particularly Gonzalo Garcia, who seems to be the one who is going to feel one of those striker roles. But Rodrigo Manizas stopped scoring goals, Marley, a couple of years ago, when you think about the numbers that he was posting in the Premier League for a club like Fulham. Not too bad. Eight goals in 31 Premier League games, 24, 25 season, nine goals in 26 in the 23, 24 season. Last year, one goal in 21 games. I mean, you lose seven, eight goals a season from your center forward for a team like Fulham. Doesn't sound like a lot, but it makes a difference over the course of a 38 game campaign. It does, yeah, and I think if you're not happy with him, then okay, fine. You could turn around and say he's not going enough. He's not our number one striker, but it's a kiss of yeah, who do you bring in? And he's brought a couple of kids who he knows from the youth themes at Real Madrid. And I just think of all their signings. I think there's only shared Charles who's played Premier League football before in this summer. So and even that, I think it was in a relegation season for West for Southampton. So you're looking at that and thinking, all right, well, you've not helped yourself here. There's stuff going on with the WoB and Smith Row. Smith Row was great. Fantastic for Fulham when he first signed, because he was once genuinely one of Arsenal's best players a few years ago. Obviously, it's going to be Southampton's, but he reached that height. I remember on Sky Sports once, the interviewer him after an Arsenal game. And Jamie Carrega said to him, you are the best dribbler in the Premier League when you're going at somebody, like you just can't get the ball off you. And I remember thinking like that could either, that could age really badly, because he's still young, going to career is going to go one way or the other. You think of some players that have hit the height and then fell off, like, remember Evan Ferguson at Brighton, where he was the next big thing. And now he's, I don't even know where he is now. I think he's on loan at Rome last year, but I don't know where he is this season. People like that, you know what I mean? It's like, okay, where, can you not help yourself with a bit of Premier League experience just to help you out? Look at Callum Wilson on a free in the summer. Callum Wilson will score you 10 goals a season if he stays fit easily. And he will cause problems and he's gone to Brentford on a free. And I just think that's a great move. Cause when he got Jaguars tired, I can't play every game. Income's Callum Wilson. And I just think Callum Wilson at full and would have been great. But, you know, we're going to cost you anything. But if you're Rodrigo Maniz and you've got a youngster coming in to basically replace you, and it feels to me like Maniz is the sort of player that needs stringer games to get going, bringing him on for nine minutes at the end of a game. I don't think he's going to make that much of an impact. And if he's more of a hold-up player, maybe you do need two different types of strikers. I think Arbelow has mentioned this in the press that he needs Garcia, for perhaps a bit more of the mobility and Maniz for the hold-up play. But he's basically been displaced. I don't know, and he scored one in 21 last season, but did score nine the previous season and eight the season before that. So he's proven that he can score goals in the Premier League. Yeah, but just look at the the game against Palace. We all thought Palace might struggle this season, especially after Glasgow left in the amount of outgoing they had. But he had Eddie and Ketiah who started, and then he had Strand Larsen, and you've got the great Sir JPM. Like what great optionality you've got there. Arbelow has literally brought in Garcia and said, I'm putting all my faith in you just because I worked with the Arrayal Madrid, and I saw something. Okay, that's great. But what happens if what's your plan B if that doesn't work? You're putting all your faith in Moon is, which, like you say, he's not really kicked on since what was it like a year and a half ago, he looked like the other purple patch of 10 games, and he's got like eight goals or whatever. And then you've got Ralph Jimenez that's in the championship. I just don't get it. In my opinion, Garcia should have been almost the understudy to Jimenez, where you bring him on in the 50th, 60th minute when he's tiring, and then you're a young guy, get at the defences. I've heard him probably should have sold many for 35, 40 million, two years ago when his stock was high. Yeah, I'm re-invested. I mean, I think Forrest were interested in this summer for like 20 million or something. They could have done worse than just reinvest that and go for someone else. But I'm just looking at the defensive line, Castanja Anderson, Basi Robinson. It's not a bad backline that. But then the forward line is the one where you think, where are there for the goals coming from? Harry Wilson was the one who got double figures in output last season. Jimenez, very similar. And now you're putting all your eggs in the basket of a young Oscar Bob, who's still very, very not justified in terms of his performances in City. Josh King probably going to be the main star of that team. And then Palacios, God knows why he's starting. He's nowhere near ready. And then like we say, a Garcia who's, I think he's probably signing him just because he looks a bit like Raoul or something. I don't know. It's just, it's just, there's not enough, there's too much faith in people that don't deserve the faith right now. And maybe he'll come good. We don't know, but for a team that's probably going to be battling relegation, I think it's a big, big gamble from our below that. Time to talk about Tottenham Hotspur on football social daily today. I was actually at the city ground at the weekend for the gold as draw. As far as Neil and Neil draws go, it was quite entertaining. There were a couple of massive chances. There was a disallowed goal for Nottingham Forest through a Nico Williams hamble, which at the time I thought was hamble. And despite what the Welsh defender says in his post match interview, I definitely didn't touch it with my arm. I saw on the replays in the ground. It strikes him on the underside of the elbow and goes over the line. Yes, it's harsh. Nottingham Forest in all of a glasner fuming. They feel like they've been hard done by. But naturally, because they still haven't scored a goal this season. And they still haven't picked up a win. The story, Marley, is spurs. But having watched the game in its entirety in the flesh, I actually thought spurs were okay. There was a massive chance for Omar Mahmouche, which if he scores in the first half, gives spurs the one they'll lead. And I think they actually build from there. And it gives them a bit of an injection. And they can go on and maybe pick up all three points. Nottingham Forest more than played their part in the game. Morgan Gibbs, white proper player. I heard Roberto Deserby before the game talking about how spurs aren't a team yet. And it's going to take a bit of time for them to gel together. They looked more like a team. Even though they didn't really create a great deal, they looked better to me. They looked like more of a unit. So how long do we leave it? How long do the spurs fans leave it before they start thinking? Okay, well we've seen five games. We've seen eight games. Now we need to start looking like a team. I thought there were signs of it the weekend. I disagree. Zero shots on target against not going forrest. I don't know what you've seen there. I know that between the boxes might have been better, but there's no goal threat. There's no goal threat. They don't look like scoring a goal, really. Well, Marmouche has to score. Dominic Selan came as a header. Mickey van de Ven heads the ball wide from three yards when he should head it on target. So yes, there's no shots on target, but so the missing citizen. Marmouche was a sitter, yeah. What's better not creating chances on missing sitters? Like he's been 70 million on Marmouche. Score the fucking goal. Yeah, it's terrible for Marmouche has to score. Now I can't disagree with that. Marmouche has to score that one-on-one opportunity. It's such a good ball for Impeduro Poro. And Marmouche takes it in his stride, chests it down, gets away from the defender, finds a bit of space, drags his effort wide at the post, has to test the goalkeeper at the very least. And it's a poor miss from Omar Marmouche, and you would expect better quality. I actually think I'd rather see my side create chances and miss sitters than create absolutely nothing at all. And when you look at the stats on a piece of paper and you see zero shots on target, yes, okay, it's not great, but I do think that it's better than maybe the stats suggest, having watched it in person with the old fashioned eye test. I mean, I am playing a bit of devil's advocate because I just think it's funny if I'm much of a spent and they're still shite. And I will always think that until they pick up a few wins or until it's an hourly leave. Yeah, he said in summary, he wanted to go back to Italy when no one could afford him. So there you go. Now he's playing. I told you he wanted to go back to Milan, I told you just didn't got the cash to pay off anymore. Yeah, you were wrong at the time. That's because of the equity in the San Siro. I'll never not remind you of you being wrong at the time because you were wrong at the time. But yeah, it is what it is. Look, I just think it will come good. I honestly think it will come good for spurs. I thought Matthias Tell was okay in possession. Savio tried to do too much, tried to take on players when he shouldn't have done. Tell probably did a bit of that as well. Deserby spoke about it after the game, the decision making from his forward players. He's brought on Dominic Selanke, who hasn't started a game yet, under Deserby this season. Midfield, I thought they looked really good, actually. Tanali Bentanker, Conor Gallagher, they were keeping attacks going. There was one spell in the first half, where Spurs had four or five consecutive corners. They were just stringing corners together on the bounce. Couldn't make anything happen. And then when you consider how they conceded last week against Newcastle, where it's the second ball and Whistler just hooks it in. You know, we talk about them being good between both boxes, as you said. But I'm looking at some of the stats here. 9th for touches in the opposition box. 16th for shots on target per match. And 14th for big chances created. Yes, there is a creative issue there for Tottenham, but a clean sheet and a point and a couple of sitters missed. It does constitute progress. Despite the 300 million quid they've spent, I think you've been very nice to, very nice to Spurs to be honest. It's not beyond the realm. 2017 twice in a row. In the 17th again, where's the fucking progress? The 17th right now. No, no, there's no progress. They're going nowhere. That's fair point. Fair point. I was just, you know what though? I was just thinking what you're saying now. Are we putting too much expectation on plays that've got zero track records? Yes. Because my move scored, my move scored 10 goals in two seasons. Savino scored two goals last season. You've got Matay's tell who I'm still yet to understand what we're looking at here, because he's just the prospect that's been to Bayern. They got rid of you. It's got a free kick. You've got Madison. You're the one that went out this standard. Newcastle, that's what I call that dude. I love it. And you've got, you know, Madison, he doesn't look quite the same since he's come back from his knee injury. Dom Salanki's not performed like he did at Bournemouth. Are we expecting too much from these signings here? Because I'm struggling to understand why we think Spurs is suddenly like Revitalized. I get they made some good names, but we can't just keep bargaining on the name. We looked at Spurs last season, thinking Spurs can't go down. It's Spurs. It doesn't matter now. This competition's so high that if you get left behind, you're not going to be team sorted. You've gone. And that's why I'm just wondering, oh, like I think a good season for Spurs this season is mid-table, genuinely. Is Marmouchi's best position in the Premier League as a centre-forward? What do you think? Because at Frankfurt in the Bundesliga, he played centre-forward loads of times and scored. I think it's got 20 goals in 35 games from a centre-forward position a couple of years ago. With a partner. With a partner. And the reason he gets played upfront is because of his pace. And that's exactly what he did against Forest. He got in behind the back line, he managed to break through, missed the one-on-one. Now, for me, I've always seen Marmouchi, and that's probably because he's played there the majority of the time for Manchester City as a wide player. But Tottenham have gotten abundance of wide players. They've got Matthias Tell, they've got Muhammad Kudos, they've got Savio now. Mikhailo Mudric made his debut first competitive game since November 2024 for him. So it feels like they've got options out wide, and Marmouchi's almost this not crowbarred into centre-forward, but it feels like he's the one they're hanging their hat on to be the main goalscoring threat this season through the middle. I just find it bizarre. Honestly, I still think there's so many gaps to spy how much they spent. And don't get me wrong, this is not a one-window fix for Spurs, because I think Dezerby has to fix something even more difficult than just like for like personnel and this mentality. I still think they are so deeply traumatised from the last two seasons, the players that are there. You would think that the players coming in would be a bit of a breath of fresh air, but let's not forget, when Savio and Mamusha are at City, even though the stats weren't great still, they were still getting supplied by some of the world's best players under the world's best manager. And it was probably a little bit easier for them to create space for and create chances for, which is probably why the stats were even more inflated potentially than they would be at Spurs. That's why I still think, and I still think Spurs will be fine. They'll get me wrong. I think mid-table would be a respect to all finish considering what they've dealt with in the last two years. But I still think Dezerby needs to figure out what exactly he wants his team to look like and where his personnel should fit right now. So almost like you've got a bunch of new six plays and you're trying to mold them into a system. Well, where do you think those gaps are, Joel? Because shout out to a friend of mine, Matt, who listens to the parties or Spurs fan. And he messaged me after the game saying, we desperately need a number 10. Desperately. Now, James Madison's been out injured. Maybe he comes back in when he's fully fit. Who knows what sort of an impact he could have. They can't go on buying a number 10 though, because they've got his heavy Siemens to come back and they've got Madison. So how can they, they can't go on buying one? Obviously, the windows show how long-term knee injuries. I don't know, that's the problem. They've both had serious injury. Okay, so how many do you buy? Do you just stockpile them? Because that's what they're doing with wingers as well. They've got so many wingers, and none of them can really produce. I honestly think maybe a back three would work for them with wing backs and pack the middle of the pitch. Give my motion number 10 role behind Solanki, or if he leads the line, at least have that fluidity behind him with a pair of number 10s behind him. Maybe one's could us. Maybe the other one's Matisse tell. And have Whit come in and pack the middle of the box and get players in the box when you can. And also use an essay you've just signed for free. I know nobody, we're not fans of the back three on the podcast and stuff. Yeah, well, one of the biggest issues for Spurs and we discussed this over the last what four years is the fact that Harry Kane propped that team up with abnormal goal scoring ability. And then Youngmin Son took the baton and did the same thing. Now they've got not an hour of those two players. They've yet to fill that void of who can put the ball in the net. Dom Solanki was nowhere near up to grade. And then you've got my moosh is not not up to grade. They're trying to fill a void that is so difficult to fill, isn't it? I mean, it's that it's the biggest and hardest question. In football, isn't it? Get a guy you can put ball in the back of the net. But they have put, does some questionable recruitment as well at the same time. This is the thing with modern football is everything's data driven and they try to find profile matches. And what they've tried to do Spurs is fill the son gap with Savio who they try to sign 12 months ago. And in the end, that never materialized goes to Manchester City eventually a year later. They get their man. The reason that they've tried to sign Savio and now that they've got him is because of progressive tribbles. And you know, there are so much data you can go into now. The closest fit to son is Savio. They need to get a new database. But no, have genuinely though, haven't watched him at the weekend. When he does pick up the ball, he does travel with it. And he does take players on. The problem is we could have an Adama Trial A.2 and it's all about the end product. Everyone said Adama Trial A when he was at Wolves. Superb, but a lot of the time you'll get past a man and the cross a grab of play. A player who potentially could be excellent, but at the moment doesn't have the final product. And he's still young. There's still time for that to come good. But that's what clubs do now. They look at data matches and they see right what was son good at. Well, he was good at this. Okay, let's buy a player who's also good at this. Yes, but he's only scored one goal in 25 Premier League games. You know, the difference is a player that can do it to a player that has done it and does do it. It sounds so stupidly simple, but that is what I think the plan is for Spurs. I think Savio is intended to be that son replacement. And I think they wanted to get him last year, didn't, but have managed to get him this time. And you know, whether he comes good or not, is you could say that for any player. You know, you never signed a play with a guarantee that they're going to be good. But with Spurs' track record, surely they need to be doing something differently. I mean, I get what you mean, they're trying to... But I don't even know where to call him Savio or Savino at the moment, but... Well, he's the artist formerly known as Savino. There was a lean kid. I mean, you're an artist to see how explosive son is versus Savino. They're just two completely different players. He's just been weedied at the minute. He's a bit wary. Son was an explosive direct machine going towards goal. And to be fair, when they signed him years ago from the Bundesliga, I don't think a lot of people thought he would become the player he did. But honestly, the worst thing Spurs could do is probably just go for players where they're at clubs where they're renowned for either picking up young talent or like a Brighton and going for someone like Minter who is probably likely to kick on at some point or just... I feel like Spurs just need a few guarantees at the minute. And I think the signing players that have got a few question marks around them, again, remains that we've seen is very premature to be writing these guys off. And it might just be a time of timing and a bit of jelling together, but I don't know. I just feel like they are trying to fill a void that is really difficult to fill. And they might need some guys, you know, from the youth academy to come in and be the new Harry Kane or something. I don't know. I don't know what. I mean, it's going to say, though, why have you spent 300 million quid and you still rely on players from the academy to come through and do the job point? Ironically, they've got a kid in the academy called Luca Williams-Barnett and the kid looks fucking unbelievable. Google his name, go on Twitter and find his name, the guy looks sensational. And because he's in center midfielder or attacking midfielder or whatever, some sort of middle player, it was he got in front of him, Matthias Fernandez, who then, who they spent 85 million on and deserving set of the weekend he needs to get used to the Premier League. Well, how does 85 million correspond? And he's been in the Premier League for two seasons. How does that correspond to you need to learn the league? If you need to learn the league, because he's paying 85 million, he's not worth it. He's not worth it, right? That's it. You need guarantees, like you just said. If you've got doubt over a guy you're paying that much money for, don't pay the money, go and get a finished article. Like Tanali, for 92 million, he knows the league. He is worth 92 million on his day. That's a smart sign in. And he even said about Tanali, he's not fit enough. You could have watched him at Newcastle last season, he wasn't fit enough. He was coming off, he was cramping up, he was slowing down, he was running out of energy. Maybe because he wasn't asked, and he wanted to get out, because Roberto Deserbio seems to have some sort of pullover, and even though despite he's never fucking met the guy, wanted to sign him, maybe he knew that from an early age. I think the club, Newcastle said, we knew he was going to go from sort of March onwards. So yeah, it's a weird thing, but you know, you've got this youth talent in Luca Williams-Barnett, and he's never going to get in the team. He's never going to, Deserb, he's never going to turn to him and go, you're the guy. He's still sat in Ben Tancor at the weekend, and he's dog shit. How was he, how was he starting for you? You know what, he thought Tanali made Ben Tancor look better, and I thought Gallagher was decent. I mean, it just seems weird to have all three of those. Yeah, like if you put me in front with the area on right, he'd make me look better. But in reality, I'm dog shit, and I shouldn't be playing. I don't know about that. You know, if it made me so laugh so much, and I can actually see this happening where they've spent so much money on all these forward talents, and then muddrix the answer, but the slap to 75 million release, like buy our clothes. Imagine that, because I know you're words in the Meshaktar, and I remember Deserb is saying that he's a future bond or... Amazing, I mentioned that. I imagine if he's got the answer right under his nose, I mean, it's very, very unlikely when you're spending that much time out of football, but sometimes, sometimes the answer is literally tucked away. Like, like Malice just said, maybe there is a kid in the youth academy. So don't forget Harry Kane came through. That only had to do a few loan spells. What was it? Lainton Aureon at Leicester? Like, he had to go and play his trade before he came in. Speaking of strike, do you remember the last sort of relatively highly hyped spurs, Youngster? It was a fellow called Troy Parrot, who scored the winner for Real Betis against Real Madrid at the weekend. But Jose Mourinho put him in the team, and then when he wasn't quite good enough, he went, ah, that guy's crapping. You all think he's the answer? So he ended up going to FC 20. Rebuilding his career. Now he's at Betis going to win against Real Madrid. They will turn down. They will just make the wrong decision at all point spurs. It seems like and something needs to change, but will it? I don't know. I don't know if you've had a look at the Spanish league yet, but what are Star Alavis have made to the league? They're like the Spanish whole city. They're second in the league. Well, have you seen who's top scorer? What for Alavis? 37 year old Pierre Emmerick or Bamiang for Deportivo. He's got four goals in his first four games. Acaronia has gone up. Yeah. Deportivo, like Acaronia. And Malaga went up last season, proper old school Spanish league now. Proper team that as well. That's a legacy team. I'm happy that they're doing well. We just need Zaragotha back as well, but they're destined to division three or something like that, so. We have first to feet of the season four. Jose Mourinho's Real Madrid, and here had plenty to say about Tottenham during his time there. Still no win for Roberto Deserbie as Tottenham boss this season, but it is a point and a clean sheet in that Nile Nile draw. With Nottingham Forest, that is it for today's football social daily. You'll notice, if you're a regular listener, that we didn't do get in the sea on today's episode. That's because we've changed the format for the season. Get in the sea will now have its own dedicated episode every Tuesday. It's gone from a segment to its own podcast. So make sure you hit subscribe or follow, and that way you won't miss an episode of the podcast again. So join us tomorrow for a Tuesday moan, rather than a Monday moan. But that is it from Marley Joel and I on today's episode of FSD. We'll catch you next time. See you there.