The Post-Guardiola Vacuum, Rodri's Iberian Siren, and United's Quiet Revolution

Hello and welcome to the TFO Football Podcast. I'm Joe Devine and today I'm delighted to be joined by J.J. Boll. Hello Colin Miller. Hello and John McKenzie. There he is. Also we've got Steve Hanky. Hello. There he is in the box over there. Now what do we talk about on today's show? Well, we start with an overview of the so-called Big Six which we definitely did not finish in this show. Here's the headline. We were going to do a show about all the big six teams out of our so-called big six teams apart from Arsenal and we were going to who are the big five who just have to be called the champions of course. That's what Steve says. What happened was a Rotary Barcelona news occurred. So we talked about that a little bit instead and we ran out of time after doing two of the teams. So the headline is it's a Manchester sort of show. Didn't we do any other teams? It was just a Manchester show. That's right. We began with Manchester United. Will they be a lot of fun this season as John seems to think they will and will their midfield be like a box of top shelf chocolates? We asked that question in today's show. Then we play the rondo. A very competitive rondo. Let me tell you one of the more competitive rondo's we've ever had, I think. After the rondo, Spanish midfield or Rotary may be moving to Spain but where? To which club? Possibly not to where you think based on some exciting news that Colin helped with the reporting on the day and we talk about that today. We also discuss what type of person you are based on how you cross the road. There's two types and you're that listen, there's only one good type. There's two types though. And then we also discuss what kind of fridge is Enzo Morescar? A fridge you love or a functional white good? We do. We discuss. We also talk in more depth about Manchester City and what we think might happen in their season. I think that was it. Isn't it? Indeed. Yeah. A little bit of parish notices here as Steve. I quite like that. No parish notices. That's nice, isn't it? For the theological bent to our podcast, the parish notices. Right. Next one does that mean is that in the church, the little notices that you'd pin up to say, there's the art club, the pottery classes on Thursday morning, you know, except it's not because they've locked the doors. The Pope is dead, you know, most sorts of things. Next week, there's no Monday show because of a staffing issues. So don't expect that. In next week, instead, we're recording on Wednesday, we'll release a proper podcast with two of these three on Thursday morning. This is what I'm saying. What I'm saying is parish notices. Thursday morning, next week, there's a show. There'll also be a ring for analysis at some point, possibly two. Don't count your lucky stars or chickens, though. There you go. Beyond that, we have a live event, John. Don't we? It's not strictly speaking of T-fo live event, but it's a it's a T-fo adjacent live event and it's about your book. Yes, but it features you heavily. That's true because you're going to because I'm heavy while I'm there. Well, you see what happened was they were like, who would you like to interview you? And I was like, who's the guy who gives me the most space and time to express my, my sometimes flowing thoughts? I thought you just the guy to do that. That's true, isn't it? Yeah. Yeah. And so yeah, it's a conversation, I believe, is what it's it's it's put down now. It's not going to be a conversation. Let me tell you. It's going to be a hard hitting interview. That's right. If you want to find out, you know, how I'm trying to take really. Yeah. Yeah. It's going to be something I cut. It's going to be frost Nixon. It's going to be frost Nixon. Not the other one, I said. But if people are interested, it's Tuesday, 15th of September, 2026. Sometimes there's some time away. Yeah. And it's, oh, you know, that's not that far. It's not really. It's about a month away. Where is it? It's in the doors are 18, not the doors. Where is it? It's in the blue monk, which is a pub in Bermansy in London. In London? Just say, no one knows where Bermansy is. I live in London for 20 years. Yeah, but the people who know idea where Bermansy is. But the people who are going to come to it know that Bermansy is. Do you know where Bermansy is? Yeah, I do. It's for all the, it's for the beer myel is. He's been to the blue monk. Yeah, I've played it. But that's what, but that's why you know, because you've got a specific, especially interest, drinking. Yeah, I love drinking. Also, it's the sister venue of the volley. So I know where that is because that's in old street, which is a real place that people know where that is. Yeah. Bermansy is a fair old street. It's a pretend place. Okay, we go to the blue monk in Bermansy. Yeah. On the, on the 15th of September, 15th of September, I should add this to my, now if you want to come, you have to get a ticket, but it's free. It's free. But you do have to register. Yeah, they decided that I wasn't, I wasn't going to get anyone to spend any money to come and see me. Right. And you too, by extension. I don't think they knew about me. I feel that's bad about that. I think if they'd known about me when they put the event on, they would have charged at least a hundred pounds. Yeah, you do need to sign up. There's an event right link for that. I'll put this, I'll retweet the tweet on my timeline. I'll put it in the discord. So if people will need it, maybe you could even put it in the show notes or whatever. Right, right. How do you do this? Sure, I don't know. Yeah. Anyway, please come. It'd be lovely to see you. We also, I mean, we do have our T-throw event in September as well. The week before. Is it the week before? Hey, for September. Okay, so we'll be coming down from a real big crowd and we'll be, you know, very casual in front of a small bunch of free loads. It's also worth saying that people are unhappy that I'm only presenting in London. There is going to be a Manchester event at the Waterstones in Deem's Gate, but it's not completely finalised yet. But no leads, no Barcelona, no Tokyo, no, no. Okay, do you know what? I've heard the names of the people who might be me in Manchester, though, pretty good, pretty exciting names. Pretty good, pretty, pretty good names. Yeah, yeah. We're in Rune. No, sadly not really. Anyway, there we go. Come to that. It doesn't have a name, but come to it anyway. Is that the end of the parish notices, Steve? Please say. Oh, no, it says that Steve is hosting a, at the pottery event in the patio of the, this bit's lost its steam. Let's just get out of the machine. Well, where else to begin, of course, than with the biggest club in world football, Aberdeen? No, it's Manchester United. We're going to talk about Manchester United first on our sort of trails through the Premier League top six. Plus, we're going to make a pit stop at Barcelona. Manchester United, the new Premier League season is just over two weeks away when reigning champions Arsenal, right, Steve, host, newly promoted Coventry City on Friday, the 21st of August, what a gimmie game that is. Is there, is there like a deal that Premier League champions get with the Premier League where they get to play one of the relegated teams at the beginning of the next season? I don't know. I mean, it was, what was the last season, it was boring. Liverpool get most Liverpool's first Guinness season, isn't it? It's actually a toughy. That's a toughy. The Andaniyriola Derby, they call that now, I guess, don't they? Anyway, we're not talking about Arsenal. In fact, we've actually banned them from the episode, because we did too much talking about them earlier this week. Instead, we're going to look at some of the other so-called, right, Steve, top six sites. I don't even know what that means. They literally are top six. No, no, because two are the so-called. No, no, but Manu United Derby were in the top six. Yeah, yeah. But like Chelsea Tottenham. Right, you're saying they're in the so-called big six. Yeah, okay. And what we should expect from them this season, anyway, we're going to start with Manchester United. The Red Devils are back in the Champions League big time after finishing third last season, which was actually somewhat of a surprise, I would say. You wouldn't have thought that halfway through. But how will they adopt to having to play more than the bare minimum number of games? Now, that was always, that was the main criticism the story last year. Well, sure they're good. Sure, they're good. They've got a lot of players, but they've only played 12 games of football. So obviously, plenty of time to rest. John, you've watched them a little bit in pre-season already. You've said to me, and now this is pretty rare word for you to use. You said you think they will be, quote, fun this year, Manchester United. I said that to some of my Manchester United supporting friends, and they didn't take it as a compliment. Oh, I think they assumed that I'm in fun for you. Derogatory, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. But I didn't mean that. I think Manchester United did a really interesting, right? They, as you've said, the bigger picture, rise and fall that they had, finishing quite low the season before last season. And then, I mean, quite a very low, I think it was, yeah, 14th, 14th, 15th, it was around there. And then managing to get up to third by by bringing in that front line, bringing in a new goalkeeper and having that sort of transformation. I think a lot of people assumed that that would happen again this summer, but hasn't seemed to have happened for whatever reason, because yeah, they're rebuilding the midfield. It seems as though they're trying to be quite responsible in the market in terms of not not spending too much money, or not spending money on maybe profiles that won't help them in the future or won't benefit them in the long run. Or profiles that every club is after right now. Yeah, I think so. And I made a short about this. And I think it's really interesting because the assumption was they are going to bring in a sort of modern methamid field at which is this idea of some guy who's like a large space player can cover a lot of ground. Like a Declan rise. Like a Declan rise, yeah, which is obviously, and this happens a lot, right, when a team wins the league playing in a certain way, it then becomes a bit of a blueprint for other teams to be like, oh, well, if we're building on midfield, we need to build on midfield like the team that have just won the league. So I think the assumption with with Man United with them having that improvement was, oh, well, we now expect them to bring in that kind of player. Yeah. And they have they've brought in Yuri Telemans from Villa. They brought in Andres Santos from from Chelsea. Yeah. Who else did they sound? Anyone else called Arlo from Legion. I don't know which he could forget. He won't be playing in midfield though. No, no, unless things go quite wrong. Yeah. And yeah, that nation mount has has made me see and played in preseason. And he's looked excellent. But you know, that's it's risky to, I think, rely on sort of not really enough to say out loud. Are you for fear that you might work him? Yeah. The other thing is that they've been linked with, what's his first name? Well, Luke, the left back just couldn't remember his first name. But yeah, he's the left back, but he has played in midfield as well. So he potentially could get minutes out of him as well. Right. So if they've done that, yeah. And that's not to say that Man United won't sign one of these large space midfielders with with with a bit more mobility out of possession. Is it worth saying that like we're at that stage where the season hasn't started yet. Everyone's a bit more calm and being a bit more sensible. If you lose the first couple of games, then the window is still open. It's a bit like I always feel like that period of the transfer window is like the chocolate shelf that they leave near the till. You know, you've made it through the supermarket without making too many impulse purchases. And then you're standing in the queue and a boost is just catching it. Do you know what I mean? That's that two week period where the prepping of the Premier League has started and the transfer window is still open. And that's what I think so interesting about Man United this this season is because it almost feels as though, yeah, maybe they'll go for one of those players if a good deal arises. But if it doesn't, they're not going to just buy because I think what in the past what they might have done is just bought like the most available version that is probably not the top to use the metaphor top shelf chocolate brand. It's like the super market zone brand or something. I think when you say top shelf chocolate brand, I think you were sort of sexy chocolate. You don't mean that. You mean, you mean the more premium chocolate. I don't know what I mean. Yeah, the more premium chocolate. The sort of the sort of green and blacks, you know, 70% dark. Yeah, yeah, exactly. Rather than going for, I don't know, like a test go kit cat or something, you eat it and then you wonder why you did that. The thing is about this analogy is where it falls down is that I actually think that cheaper chocolate, Christmas chocolate, you know, chocolate. Easter egg chocolate. Yeah, which always isn't chocolate. Yeah, it's in some ways. Maybe it's not better. It's just different. It's like a completely different thing, isn't it? You're an addict, though. So that does. I am addicted to food. You're right. Absolutely. Every day. But yeah, I think what's going to be interesting is I think that they'll go into this this season, maybe playing a midfield that doesn't have that kind of player. And I think they're potentially sort of toying with what's going on in the tactical landscape and being like, actually, do we need that kind of player if we bring in a sort of highly technical midfield? Could we maybe make it work? And if they can make it work and there's ways of making it work and they can get champions league out of it, then they could go into the market next summer and maybe buy that midfielder if they wanted to. If it doesn't work, I guess they could then I don't know what will happen. But I think that what they're doing here is yes, they're trying to be a bit more responsible, not spending money that will be wasted later down the line. Even if they bring in a, you know, you're Declan, Rice Light later on. Sure. You can still use your Etylamans. You can still use Andrei Santos. They're not going to become useless players. Yeah. But if it does work out, then maybe there's there's a way of playing the game, which is a bit more efficient in terms of the market. Yeah. I think it's a really interesting point to dwell around transfers because the wisdom is like the the best strong clubs give their business done early, whereas clubs who signed in the last week or two, you're kind of it's almost like an impulse signing or it's a reactionary sign-in to start the season or to panicking and so on and so forth. I'm not sure how true that actually is anymore because I think every club at this level will have a short list of maybe 10, 15 players. Yeah. And it's also a World Cup summer. Exactly. Exactly. So those deals can be quite difficult to get done. I think in the key to Telemans and Andrei Santos, those are relatively straightforward. Telemans had a release clause, right? So that was easy enough to do. It was like in your last summer from Manchester United. And Andrei Santos was a player who Chelsea were quite keen to sell, not because of his football abilities, but because of their own needs to sign. The fact that he had a market, he had a high price and that was sort of okay for them. So I wouldn't be surprised. In fact, I would think it's quite likely if United go in for a third midfield signing. Plus, I would say at least one or two others, obviously we talked about the left back situation. I think they lack depth in the forward areas too, but it probably will just keep circling back to that increase in games, right? But I kind of think they only played 40 games last season. And yeah, I think that's more of a positive than playing like 65, 70, which exhausts you and Brent Gioid, but that's kind of sort of wisdom, right? But I think 40 is almost too few as well, because those fringe players last season, the players who went in that starting moment just weren't playing enough. They didn't have any rhythm at all. So whenever you do get one or two injuries, that does cause problems. So I don't think it's necessarily a bad thing that increase overall. And another thing is, Manchester United didn't have too many players who played a lot in the World Cup either, right? So I think for this season, they should, they should theoretically be quite fresh. Little fresh. Yeah. So they could, in that sense, if we're theorizing, make me a quite a strong start on that basis that they're coming in and they've got a bit of rhythm anyway, right? Yeah. I was just thinking immediately of Sobs Live for Liverpool who didn't play in the World Cup. And in preseason, he's just been absolutely like on fire in terms of his physical ability. I mean, you know, obviously playing for an hero or a team, you're seeing a lot of that. So maybe I'm, maybe I'm just like biased towards the play style. And we are going to talk about Liverpool. Yeah. Yeah. But that's a great example. I think of actually, if you've got a player who has had to summer off, you're in a good position to be able to actually probably carry fitness. Why are they going to be fun though? Yeah. I mean, well, I guess for me, the fun is going to come from seeing whether or not this experiment works. If they don't go for a large space midfielder, does that mean that we are going to start moving away from that kind? And I think that's the interesting interesting thing about that. Is it worth saying just before you before you get to that, that the way that they've been playing in preseason in terms of the lineup, they've been playing Mason Mount in the pivot in a couple of games with Andrés Santos. And so, you know, obviously, the thing with Mason Mount is that he gets gets very injured. So you can't really rely on him for a whole season, but he is currently playing there and has played well. You could make the argument from from the personnel used in preseason that you don't need that. Yeah, they've got two for those lots, but you're talking about profiles rather than actual plans. Yeah. And again, maybe this is why I think they're fun because I think this solution that's being that's potentially being found. Again, I'm caveatting hard here because maybe they will go for someone like Carlos Belabel or something who I think will fix a lot of those problems. But if they don't go for that kind of profile, there are tactical ways of solving the problems of large spaces, right, which is making sure that those spaces don't open out or making sure you've got fixes for those problems. And I think that that's really interesting in the context of someone like Eureola because Eureola didn't really have any of those sort of like modern meta midfielders. Hey, they sort of worked as a team to overcome some of those Bournemouths. Yeah. And so there's things that you can do, right? One of them is that you reduce the amount of space that you allow to open out there. Now that can be a problem because spaces, you know, you know, it's the zero sum game. If you're reducing space in some areas, you're opening space somewhere else. And again, the modern elite ideas about how you play football as you press high up the pitch and refuse to allow the opponent to settle. But I think that, yeah, and the other thing you can do that we're saying quickly is just using your centrebacks to step up into that space if you feel as though that you're not getting enough coverage, having a really aggressive centre back to help cover in the middle, which leaves you exposed on the backline, obviously, because you're supposed trade-offs. And does that's another way of playing Harry McWire? Yeah, right. And so that's another question, is it, do you go with like a mid, a backline of of Aiden Heaven and Lenny Yorrow, for example, who I think probably could do that quite well? Or did you go with Martinez and McGuire? And maybe that's less, you're less likely to do that. So these are the tactical questions that Carrick will have to face next season. But I think what's fascinating for me about this is that if a team like Manchester United does play that that way, and I think, you know, there's an argument to be made, they will look quite and on ERA Allery next season. And it can work it out and can get in the top four or so. Then how does that change the way that teams approach? Because it used to be the case that we said, you know, the good teams are the ones that play like Pep Guardiola, and everyone else is going to be there and there about. So if we are now going to see, and you know, we've got Liverpool with ERA Allery, who we'll talk about in a bit, if we start seeing a bit more diversity at the top level of the of the Premier League, is that going to make teams a little bit more experimental from a tactical point of view? And rather than just solving these problems in the market, which I think has happened over the last few seasons, where it's like, this is a tactical problem. Let's just sign up a player who's like an outlier in that area. And then we don't really need to think of the the tactical problem. We're actually just sort of fixing it with an individual, whereas now I think that there may be teams you think, actually, if we if we are going to have to be smart around spending, why not find tactical fixes for some of these issues? So for me, Manchester United is almost like a microcosm of that question next season, depending on whether or not they buy one of these players, and I'm kind of interested to see how it plays out. Yeah, okay. I mean, they've got some interesting selection questions as well, haven't they? I mean, we've seen a Burma under Carrick kind of play both on the wing and up front. They've got a couple of quite exciting young players who were just on the edges of breaking into the team. Are you excited about them this season? Do you think they'll be fun as well? Yes, I think they'll be fun because I don't think they're going to have a set way of playing. I think they'll be very flexible and adaptable from game to game. And I think what you see, well, since Carrick came in, they've played 17 games in the league and they've they were top of the table. So like, so I think if you're looking at what you're doing with the squad, you think, well, that's obviously already working. So that's good. I need to replace Casimir was a big loss, especially the goalsie scored from set pieces. They scored the second most set pieces I think it is last season. So they do that really well. Casimir's a big part of winning goals as well, isn't he? Yeah, and that was, that's really important. And Andrew Santos, I think we're playing for Strasbourg one season scored something like 10 or 11 in a season? No, mostly from set pieces as well. So they got that. So basically the address they issued they had there, mount counts as a new player, playing in midfield rule. I think it looks much better suit playing in that role now rather than being higher at the pitch, but you can play them where you want to, but they can like what you want them to feel to do, I think, is he wants them to be able to play through lines with forward passes like Telemann and Santos show that's kind of what he's looking at with line breaking passes are really high on that. He wants them to be able to play short passes in a little rondo, see bunches of players players together. He uses it tactically to drag players towards him to create space for others, but also it's because that's how you retain the ball. So they want to be able to keep the ball, but when that's not on, they want to go forwards quickly as they can. It's just like really basic sensible coaching. So I think that you want to get every, every manager you ever read about says we should be looking for the furthest forward pass early, we should keep in the ball, we should be the protagonist, we should be pressing high, they're doing like bits and pieces, but they'll change the game to game, and I think they're really decent. Bruno Fernandez is like it's all built around him, and I think that's makes perfect sense because you can get light, you've been probably not for 60 games, and he'll continue to get older, he'll start getting injured. Once he gets injured, that'll be him broken forever, like one injury, oh my god. But yeah, I think they'll be great, and some of the, it's easy to get a bit overexcited with it, and I think like, oh, it's the old man United Way, because if they lose a few games like SoulShard, they'd ever start backing up on Karek and getting on his back, but like Shay Lacey is coming through, people don't want to be him for years, he's a right-winger, normally, I can invert a winger, but you can play him in the middle, that's what he's been doing in pre-season, he's been great, doing little bits and pieces, and they've got like the really young lad who's too young to even talk about JD Gabriel, but he was named after you, wasn't he? There's a lot of people called JD and he seemed to be appearing, but your middle name is Gabriel as well, isn't it? That's correct, I'm actually, I am JD Gabriel, Gabriel, I'm JD Gabriel, dreams can come true, and yeah, I think they're going to be decent, they've got some depth, I think the squad's actually all right, I think they've done really well with building it out, and also if I was doing this with Man United, I'd be looking at the only players we should be buying are ones that make us better, and the only ones that should make them better are the top tier, really hard to get, so they need to, if they can back up the season with one that keeps them in champions league, that they're really developing, and if they're panicking them, I'm sure they'll buy someone in January that I'll get them there, but if they can do that, it establishes them back where they should be, and players always want to go to Man United, and then they're not wasting their money, like analogy, but the top bar chocolate stuff that you buy is so right, because if you have, you know, you have a tenor, and you buy some stuff that you need to get, and you can keep that seven pounds for a later, and you can add it to more to buy an even better thing you want later on. That's expensive chocolate, yeah, but then if you buy some like bits that you don't actually intend to do in the first place, then you just have some bits you don't need, and it's also took up space, that really works, is it? It's the Maggie McKenzie apples analogy, isn't it, where she buys all of them, because they're cheap, but then you can't use them quickly enough for them to be useful. This is your mother who wastes fruit, and we'll get mad at me for mentioning this, but maybe she'll never hear. She probably won't have got through all of that deeper united chat that we've done, she's a Man United fan though, is she? Did I know that? Maybe I didn't know that. One of the things that's interesting, it's back subject, JJ's point, is when Michael Carrick came in, like the first thing he did was he had an individual meeting with each of the players, and he's like, can you tell me what you think is your strongest position, and can you tell me where else you feel comfortable playing, because obviously that was such a big thing on the Rammer Rim, right, where he was so rigid with what he did, with playing players in positions where they clearly weren't naturally comfortable, that that was essentially the thing he wanted to address first and foremost, was, you know, if we can get you into a role where you're comfortable, and I have my own thoughts, of course, but like, what do you think, and like, first of all, that gets the players by and straight away, but it also gives him more of a scope for understanding them pretty quickly, and I think that's showed in terms of the results, right, and obviously each coach is sort of a reaction to who came before him and whatever else, but I think Carrick's done that really well. And the other thing I wanted to bring up a point, Manchester United, is that with those signings of Morgan Rogers to Chelsea, and Elliot Anderson, the Manchester City this summer, the top 10 most expensive Premier League transfers of all time, the encommings, none of them are Manchester United signings anymore, and it used to be Pogba, it was number one, and that's still United Record, and that was 10 years ago, no? So they're almost like, no, and it's partly through circumstance, of course, of the financial realities and the performance on the pitch, but Manchester United are no longer this sort of stereotype of bad spending, you know, glamorous signings, no matter what the cost, because that's what they always used to do, right? They always went for players with Manchester City, and whether it was Alexis Sanchez or Harry Maguire, and they always just, I've been done, it was always happy to pay a bit more, but when you do that, it just gives the agents incentives to be like, well, we will go to you, but we'll just keep upping our price, and it becomes completely unsustainable, whereas no, they're drawing a line, right? They were like, with Mattias Fernandez, like, we're not going to pay that much money, like we rear you and we want you, but that's just, we've got our red lines and we're not going to go over them. And that's happened with quite a few players, not just this summer, but last year too. So I think it's quite interesting. I'm not necessarily saying that will lead to success, but I think it lays a foundation, which is much, which has much greater stability. And I think fans can buy into that a lot more too. I think Manchester United fans look at that team, and they think that there's not really individuals who they don't want at the club anymore, and I don't think that's true for several years, but that squad looks like a good environment now. Yeah, I think that's true. I guess the only downside of what you're saying, which is totally true, is it's, people's reaction to it, it's just very results placed. You know, if they, if they aren't placed well after 15 games, I can imagine the conversation being about how they weren't proactive enough in the transfer market. If Spurs have a good season, everyone just simply points to them and says, hey, that desperate club that pay, that overpaid for all those places, actually doing quite well, who cares about overpaying, underpaying, whatever, that's what Man United should have done. So I feel as though, well, what you're saying is true, and it will remain to be true, it may not feel true, November time. You know what I mean? As well with Manchester United, they've always been quite reactive against things like that as well. So I think it'll be interesting to see if they can sort of stick to their guns and say, not everything has to be linear. We finished in third. That doesn't mean we have to finish second of first next season. What we actually want to do is become a solid Champions League side, so we're finishing in those, because that's the thing, right? If you finish Champions League, then you're giving yourself such a lot of leeway in the market. Well, this is why I was going to ask as a final thing before we move on to the other clubs, and we'll do this for the other teams as well. Today, we think they're going to be fun, fine. I think it's also clear from their transfer business so far that Man United aren't trying to win the league this season. Do we think there'll be top, I guess, we can say five now? I guess we can say five now. It's been five for Champions League, hasn't it? Do you think it'll finish top five? Yes or no? As things stand, yes. Okay, Colin. Yes, but I would also say that I think they'll be better in the Champions League than the Premier League. I think they'll be better so the team for that. Oh, that's interesting, JJ. I think there'll be challenging for the title genuinely. Really? It doesn't mean we top three. I don't think they're trying to do it. I just think they could be and because of the back of the World Cup year and things tend to be a bit different. There's an opportunity here. I think so. I mean, I really enjoy watching them now. So like every other team is just like forward, forward, press, press, press. And then Man United is a bit different and I like that. So I wouldn't mind if they did all right. So I think it's probably more like I'd like to enjoy that rather than maybe I think it, I don't know what I think. He's a servant of chaos. Is it worth saying that like the Arabals on every team are just massive? The Arab are. Yeah. As in like, you could put Manchester United like, yeah, top three, you could also put them like mid-tape. Oh, sure. And I think that's true for every team this season. Well, this is why we're asking the question now. This is why they, what do we think now? Because it's all about perspective. Like, like, Man City, um, under Mineska, we're not, it doesn't matter about preseason, you're not going to know what that is until we start playing in the league. And if that was wrong, very quickly, if they have a couple of like, we've got a little Man City section. When you put all the teams together, there's a world in which like, it's a little bit, well, they're, they're going to be in trouble, I think, but then like, you know, it's like a lesser group in it. It's that sort of thing. It could be one of those, it's wide open. It will probably just be Arsenal. It is, it is why, it is wide open. It's had been since less to won it. I think and Chelsea won it the following year, but that was that part of Accum, right? And then there wasn't really an established Pep Guardiola figure. There wasn't an established champion. And I know we're not going to talk about Arsenal, but the fact is, the physical and emotional dream of last season could kick in. And again, I think that emotional parts are really important. Yeah. Yeah. Possibly more possibly again, better for the Champions League than the Premier League, because that's the nitty-gritty of week to week. And yeah, those are the margins. So I think it's wide open as well. Very exciting. It's very exciting, isn't it? Okay, well listen, we're going to have a break. We're going to play a rondo. When we come back, we are going to talk about Liverpool. We've got talk about Man City, a little bit of Tottenham as well. And some Chelsea ready to come. And we're almost certainly not going to have time to do all of that as I say it out loud. So we'll have a quick break and a rondo. Okay, welcome back from the break. We're going to do a rondo now. Also, by the way, I forgot to mention we're actually going to talk about Rotary to Barcelona. We'll do that after the rondo. Right now, here's the rondo. Here's how the rondo works. I ask a question that has multiple correct answers. We go around in a circle. We give correct answers. If we give incorrect answers, we are rejected from the rondo. If we give an answer that's been given before, we are rejected from the rondo. The final person standing is named rondo del Rey. And today's category question is, I'm looking for teams that will play in the 2026, 27 English championship championship teams of this season. There are of course 24 correct answers. And JJ, you look horrified. So I'm going to start with you. Rexam. Rexam. Is it correct answer? Of course it is. Of course it is. John Middlesbrough. Middlesbrough, you can have Colin Westham United. Yes. Now, sadly, that is true. JJ Wolves. Wolves. Yes. Also, did you know that that Ralehymones has gone back to Wolves? Yeah. I think I guess he just really likes it there. Yeah. You know, John Southampton. Southampton are a championship team, Colin. Bernley football club. Bernley, of course they're there. JJ, back to you. Would you like a clue? No, I don't want clues. I want to be able to do this. It's mental. I can't remember anything. Would you like a clue though? No, I want to try to give you a clue. If you say yes, Sheffield United. Sheffield United. Are there. Well done. Good job. John. I want to keep wanting to say teams that have been promoted. Don't say that. Just think because they're not here. Sitting in Bristol City. Bristol City? Well done for not saying Bristol Rovers too. I don't know where they are. Colin. Queen's Park Rangers. Queen's Park Rangers. Of course, QPR JJ. Would you like a clue? Whatford? Whatford? Yeah, whatford are there? John. A little bit of Paul was here. John, would you like a clue? No. John, there are 14 teams remaining. I know them all. And the clue is that you know all of the teams. Yeah, I know them all. And in fact, you know, you've got a lot of the hard ones already. So this really should be straight forward. This should be straight. Okay. And five. What is going on here? One, say team. Say any team. Say a team. Say a team. Say a team. Say a team. Say a team. Say a team. Say one. Say a team. Say a team. Say one team. Say any team. Say any team. Yes. Any team. I'll give you another 10 seconds. Panicked. You've been panicked. Stop pressuring me, man. Let me just do an advert for your book. This is football expert John McKenzie. He's published a book called Pepp, the specter of Pepp, the haunt's modern football. I know nothing about the championship. Well done. There you go. Okay. Colin. Millwall. Millwall, of course. You can have, I think, Colin is going to win this one, JJ. Blackburn Rovers. Blackburn Rovers. You can have. We're back at you, John. Come on. Now, it's a 360 pay Facebook. The thing is the thing is all that time that I had before was time for them to. I know. And now that is the double edged sort of the rondo, the longer you take, the more time they get to take a think of their, they have no pressure right now, whereas all the pressure is on you. And this time, I'm going to be less. Portsmouth. Portsmouth. Portsmouth are there. Well, these ones very competitive. Colin, Norwich City. Norwich City, of course, are there. JJ. This will be what I say. Goodbye. Bradford. Bradford. Goodbye. Just thinking of ex-premially ones, you know. Okay. Could this be Colin's opportunity, John? You have one more. I thought you did very well, JJ, by the way. John. Birmingham City. Birmingham City. Oh, there. Well done, Colin. Do I be kind to you? Do I be kind to you there? Okay. In fact, you. West Brom. West Brom. Oh, there. We're down to six remaining correct answers. Colin. Colin, pausing for thought for the first time. A glimmer of hope opens. I was young again. So I have one in my head, but I don't want to use it to your liaison thing. Good idea. I have to have another see if we're off. Yeah, I'm doing the same. Definitely. That's the hard way. It could be time to pull the trigger. Yeah, I want to pull that trigger. Lincoln City. Lincoln City is correct. Yes, well done. Really good. I feel like there must be a South Coast team. Oh, actually, what about Welsh team? What about Cardiff City? Oh, then I don't think they're in there anymore. Swansea though. Oh, Swansea though. Oh, so you do it. That's you pull it out of the mud. That's generous. Would you like to say Cardiff? Oh, I don't want to say Cardiff. Say Cardiff. I Cardiff in the Champions. Yes, they are. Yeah. That's mine. He can't have that. No, you lost faith in it halfway through. You didn't submit it. How many left are there? There's three left. I don't think we've ever got this close to the end of a rondo before. Yeah, it's tight in there. Can't wait for the, for the, what do you call it? The something breaker? The tie breaker of League 1 team. That's going to be fun. It's another London team. John, I'm going to start counting you down. Can you tell me if there's a London team? No, I can't. Of course, I can't. Oh, there are liars. Five, four, three, two, one. Layton Orient. Layton Orient are not there. Colin, you have to get this correct in order to be named Rondo Del Rey. Stoke City. Stoke City is a correct answer. Well done, Colin. That was very competitive. There was another London team. It was of course chart enough. I think you could have had. And then I thought they were League 1 team. Yeah, I thought they were League 1 team. Yeah. Big Bolton Wanderers. Big Bolton Wanderers. There you go. You could have had them. How about that? Now, that was very good, very competitive, guys. Good job. I pulled out the bag a few times there. I feel good. You pulled out your bag a few times. That's right. That's what happened. All right. Well, well done to Colin there named Rondo Del Rey. Let's have a quick cajon here, shall we? Barcelona, I'm talking about. Now, Barcelona, this is a new story from the athletic. Barcelona, exploring deal for Manchester City midfielder Rodri, which is very interesting because I thought he was going to Real Madrid. This story by Paul Bios and Mario Cortajana. Barcelona are exploring a deal to sign Manchester City midfielder Rodri sources closer to the negotiations, speaking on the condition of anonymity to protect relationships. Say, Barcelona have held talks with the players camp over the conditions of a potential deal. The Barcelona project is understood to appeal to Rodri based on the fit with their footballing style and an expected smooth adaptation to addressing room where he would be reunited with eight members of the Spain squad. JJ, I mean, I mean, I'm reading that, the smooth adaptation. It certainly makes more sense to me in going to Barcelona than what I thought when he was going well, I thought he was going to Real Madrid. It makes more sense, doesn't it? Well, interesting from a football point of view, it does make sense because he seems like a Barcelona player. Yeah, but he's a Madrid boy. Really? Yeah, he's from Madrid. I didn't know that. Yeah, well, he played for Atlético. Oh, did he? Well, that makes even more sense that he would not, that he would not go to Real Madrid. Um, I don't know if he played for Atlético. Well, I don't know, I don't know who he supports, but like there's a good chance. Right. Growing up in Madrid, there's a fear to it. It might as family would be there as well, right? Yeah. But you have this, do you not have this theory that everything is, everything is either Barcelona or all? Every footballer is I, everything is either Barcelona or Real Madrid. I also have another theory. All people, I was thinking about this yesterday, all people either are the kinds of people that when they walk across a zebra crossing and now to be clear to international listeners in the UK, a zebra crossing is where zebras cross the road is where zebras cross the road is white white and black lines across the road where it's always pedestrian right of way. So if even if there's cars coming, if you want to walk over a bit like a road in Canada where you just cross on the cars, I have to stop for you. Incredible. Is there no cars as well? Is that the joke? That's a zebra crossing. So there are, there are two types of people in the world. There are people when faced with a UK zebra crossing that when they walk over it, they continue to walk at the same pace. They were walking on the pavement. Despite the fact that a car has stopped and is waiting for them, or there are people who, even if somewhat performatively, do a little hop just to show, oh, I'm just, yeah, and they get a little hustle on out of politeness to the car. You know, there are also two types of drivers. There's the kind that stop, which is the vast majority of people that stop at a zebra crossing. There's the kind that sneak through when they shouldn't, you know, when someone's coming. London, very bad for that, I think. Very bad for that, I would say. Yeah, I mean, a lot of zebra crossings and a lot of annoyed drivers, but break in the highway code. I have another theory. I know that there's also two types of people that are everyone is either a diva or a diva. No, obviously some people are literally a diva or a diva, but I think everyone has that personality where you're either you're formally you're an EM or you're a bit more than informal laid back character. Some people are probably the divs, but those people are crazy. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah, you don't want to converse with them. You're a David. Oh, I think you're a David. To me, you're a David. To you, are you a David? I don't know. I think I might be one of those people you don't, it doesn't decide. He's one of the guys in between. He's crazy. Yeah, he's a David. You're a Dave for sure. I don't think Dave suits me as a name. No, he doesn't. Dave doesn't suit you as a name. No, David doesn't either. I think it's Dave. Well, Dave, no, it doesn't work for me. It does. It does. But Dave, I think you're definitely a Dave. He's definitely a Dave. Yeah. Don't worry. He doesn't matter. You're a David, but you spend your whole life pretending to be a Dave. And I am Joe Devine. That's my name. Anyway, I can hear that people are absolutely livid with us for not immediately talking about the thing that we were said we were going to. What were you saying, JJ? He feels like much more of a Barcelona player because, of course, you know, everything I'm just going to go. Yes, exactly about what I know everything about everything is either Real Madrid or Barcelona. Oh, I see. Yeah. Well, I think he's kind of, well, he's both really. He's both. Yeah. So because the Barcelona Real Madrid thing in Spain is really super interesting because it is like two different ways of being. Yeah. And everyone's, I mean, the idea that he goes to play the Numerino is very easy to go like, oh, he's a dinosaur and he'll be doing all sorts of bits, but Roddo is amazing. And he is a galactical. So as one of the best players in the world, he would be great within that team. Perhaps that'll work very well from Renio. Don't know how that'll go there. Yeah. Barcelona, he'd be able to do all the lovely stuff. They just for Spain. He was fantastic in the World Cup. Yeah. Surrending by his teammates from Spain team that have been nice too. That would be nice. I don't know which is which I don't it's funny how they said it was someone telling me they had an injury in central midfield as well. Frankie Dion. Frankie's got a medial ligament, not an ACL, but the the medial ligament. So I think it's three to four months, potentially. He could miss at the side of the season. So they are light in that position. But by the way, on Rodri, he has been openly flirting with a return to Spanish football and particularly Madrid. Now, it's been on for actually years. Anytime it's an international break, Rodri goes back to Spain, obviously Spanish media interview him. He's obviously a bit more comfortable talking to them. He's like, oh, yeah, I'd love to return here, of course. And he's been very sort of open about that that Manchester City has never really been his long-term future. But it's always just assumed that it would be Real Madrid, right? And he's actually specifically said, when I said, oh, yeah, you played for Athletico, would that be an issue? No, of course not. Yeah, I don't care. Right. So we did report that Real Madrid were working on the assumption going into next season that Rodri would be a Real Madrid player. Yeah. But apparently, according to the deal sheet, personal terms with the midfielder were not expected to be an issue for Madrid, but negotiations with Manchester City over a fee were yet to be sorted. So it was at that stage. Exactly. Exactly. But I mean, he's one of those players. It does actually pretty easily, I think, fall and either camp. I actually think Madrid missed a trick by not signing Martin Zubimendi when he was available in the terms of the profile of what they needed for that midfield. And you can see that in Europe that they just, whenever they can't decide part teams with quality, individual quality, they don't have that sort of systematic issue to fall back on. But it was really interesting. There was a report in El Turingito, the Spanish media outlet in May, and they were like, Barcelona have four key targets this summer, and they listed them right. More Cucarera, Denzel Dumfries, Fernando Silva, and Yandee O'Mandee. We're all, all noise signings for Real Madrid. And the interesting thing about this is, we all assume that, you know, Madrid and Barcelona are these two distinct clubs with two distinct sets of values in terms of the players, they look designed. But this summer, for the first time in a very long time, there's been a huge crossover in the players that they are interested in. So I find that really interesting. And also Barcelona, surely they need to be prioritising strike and arrivals, because Robert Lewinowski is left and hasn't been replaced. And for Alan Torres, who was sort of like the backup striker, very much feels like they don't trust him to be the number one striker, but he wants to be the number one striker. And there's indications that he could potentially be moving on to. So obviously they've got the wide forwards, sorry, because they've got in Antiguaad, and they've got in kind of an idea. But they potentially need two central strikers, which is very special. I just mean he could, he could in theory, deputise at 9 as well, couldn't he? He could. I mean, I am quite surprised that they just didn't take up the option that they had. I think he had a good season there, but I don't think he showed enough in terms of he could be the number one striker, which is what they want for what his outlay would be in terms of the overall financial package, which would be the cops position. But I'm still surprised that they just, that after doing quite well and being a good option in that position, they didn't carry through with that. But that's sort of by the by, the fact is they think Rodri is an achievable target financially. To what extent do you think the World Cup impact to this decision by Barcelona, because they've got obviously a ton of Spanish national team players, but also Rodri surprised a lot of people in the World Cup anyway, right? Yeah, and I think, I think that's actually true that I mean, obviously everyone knows Rodri is a great player, but it does feel like Real Madrid and Barcelona's interest has been peaked by his World Cup performances, which is what we're always told you should not do. You should never sign players based on World Cup. I know it's beyond that with Rodri, I know it's not like they didn't know what he was like, but there wasn't this level of interest that there currently is. And what I found interesting as well, and this is an issue that probably could quite smoothly are, and I think, but there has been a stylistic issue with Rodri and Pedri being in the CM team in terms of being. My Pedri was dropped from the Spanish team because Fabian Rius came in and Dani Almo were a bit of a better dynamic midfield three. So at club level, surely that could present in this issue too. I don't really think Pedri's sort of, I can't really imagine him anywhere else, but Barcelona. So if you're bringing in Rodri, who's already what 30 has had a long term injury, Newcastle needs some players, you know. There's also an outside chance that Barcelona are doing, are bidding for Rodri with no intention of actually buying him. Right. Just purely to wind up Real Madrid and make sure they pay more of it would be funny. That is the sort of thing that might happen in real life. Right. Well, that's what Real Madrid did for Julian Alvarez. They were like, there were 150 million Euro points there was 150 million Euro pair with Julian Alvarez, and we've not, we're going to approach Habladigan with the offer. Oh, they've rejected it. Oh, well, sorry about that. We'll all move on. Because Barcelona wanted to sign in. They wanted to drive the price up. You know, when you can pay us what, 400 million, at least for whatever, obviously nobody's got to pay. So those games are real. Yeah. Well, it will also have a big impact on Manchester City, of course, who have not only, will not only potentially lose Rodri have also lost Bernardo Silva, and perhaps the most importantly lost Pat Guardiola over the summer, a huge summer of change at John. The Premier League title, right Steve, has not resided in the blue half of Manchester for two seasons now, and with lots of other stalwarts, including John Stone's also leaving. How likely is it we think that the title will return? I mean, it's hard at this stage to really reach too much into Manchester City, because we just simply haven't seen enough of them under Morescar. But it's certainly going to be, I think it'll be a difficult season. Yeah. Airibars. Airibars everywhere. Huge airibars. Yeah, this is an interesting one. I've never been like a massive Morescar head. I don't know if anyone has been there. You've never been a massive Morescar head. Yeah, you know, like a, as a new love, Morescar. No, I've never been. You've never been a huge fan. You're a fan of, but you're not a huge fan of. I'm not a fan. I don't know. But either way, you're not a fan of Morescar. No one cares about my opinions. Let me just ask you a series of questions. Yes or no answers. Okay. Are you a massive fan of Morescar? No. Are you a fan of Morescar? No, no. Only yes or no. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no Whenever I've watched Mereska, I've always had that suspicion deep down that that he's just he's just not responded to the the modern landscape as much as he should have I think he has responded a bit there is like more fluidity in his game I'm the second season at Chelsea. I think there was that improvement and they got into the top four and then dropped out when he left. So I think there's the potential that that we'll see that same kind of thing happening at city. But right now I'm sort of I'm sort of unclear as to whether or not he will evolve more towards that direct style of play that we started seeing Guadilla doing at the end of city, which I think is important because they brought in a lot of players who suit that style of play. And it seems as though Mereska is kind of going back a little bit and you know there's there's been those links with with Pedro Netto, for example, which again just he's I don't know what Manchester City fans would feel about them. He's just signing Pedro Netto, but it just seems as though he's kind of going back to that that that Chelsea style of play. So yeah, this stage is just Elliott Anderson and then Jeremy Monker that they've signed right. Yeah, I think so. I mean, you've presumably checked. There's also a guy called Pierce Charles from Sheffield Wednesday, but I think he's going to be fundamental for this season. Northern Ireland's number one. Yeah, Pierce Charles brother of Shay Charles really. Yeah, how about that? That's nice, isn't it? So yeah, for me, for me, whether or not the difference here is that you take a team like Manchester City who all the players are just absolutely steeped in playing positionally. And that means that he doesn't have to impose like a lot of the rigidity stuff and like the formalized stuff and the rotations and the automations, etc. And it becomes quite fluid quite early on that could happen. And that's for me, sort of the sticking point on rescue. Are we going to see him sort of fall back into what we saw at Chelsea, which is, you know, at the beginning, he tried to be a bit more direct because he just replaced Pochettino, but then it became a bit more controlled. You wanted to stop giving up so much in transition. And as a result, it felt as though the imposition side suffered as well. So yeah, I think he's, I think he'll be okay. I think it'd be fine, but I'm sort of interested to see where the Aero bars sort of actually end up working out. It does actually get them comfortably in the top four, maybe even a title challenge or, or is it going to be a season where it's like, well, you know, it's a tough act to follow Pep Guardiola. One of the interesting things about meresca is like his record looks fine, doesn't it? I mean, he's sort of one trophy. I know not like a meager trophy, but he has been relatively successful. But whenever he left Leicester and then again, when he left Chelsea, there wasn't any sense of, we're really sad that this guy's gone. I mean, the Leicester fans hate, hate it. I said, like, we, we, we kind of respect you, but we don't particularly, there's no love, right? It's like a fridge, you know, like it's, you actually can't live without a fridge. But like, you don't love your fridge. I mean, maybe some people do love their fridge. I like my fridge. Did you buy your fridge? No, I've to rent it for that. So it's white goods that came with the rented flat. Did you buy your fridge? Well, I came with a flat that I bought some of. So you didn't choose your fridge? No. So it's like an arranged marriage. But I would choose it every time with you. What is it about your fridge that you'd like? I have it. Yeah. And it keeps things inside. Yeah. And I think that's what I needed to do. But if it were to, if it were to one day go and another fridge came and replaced it. Well, I want a horror fridge that has ice cubes on the front. Yeah. That's what I mean. Yeah, exactly. Well, yeah, there's got ice cubes on the front. Ends are risking their lives. But I think this about managing all the time, like, exactly what Colin's saying. So the, the, not just the charisma, but the character of certain people, like, fans can easily, for one of a better phrase, like fall in love with it. Like, you're going to clap everyone loves him because he's the, like, lovable, outward thing. Guardiola really easy to, like, love the idiosyncrasies and it's just his character. Fantastic loads of, like, Eddie, how can you cancel these sort of people? You know, our tetas are slowly ignoring exactly why people are so, like, taken with these people. But Eska seems like one who's just sort of visiting. They're never really going to be there forever. He feels like a step down. Not like that. No, I don't think it's like I'm to step down. He's like, it's not a situation. Not a mercenary either. Not a substitute. It's just sort of, he's obviously very good at what he does. Yeah. But you want more, it's just like a teacher that no one's going to, like, love us. Like, they're a really good teacher. Yeah. It's just like, yeah, I don't get it. I don't. Do you do the big part of it that the play style is quite boring, though, right? And again, it's maybe that's maybe the worst end of that, of that positional play spectrum, where it's about just like making sure you control the ball. And then you, you make the conditions that you're attacking so difficult and don't have the players to break it down. So it just ends up being isn't, isn't this a huge worry because, I mean, obviously, as is written in your book about Pep Guardiola, he changes his tactics over time because of the changing tactical landscape. But also one of the things he does is he buys Erling Holland, who massively thrives on this more direct style of play. And the most fun moments watching city lassies are when Erling Holland scored amazing goals. Is it a bit like are we not worried that ends in rescue is going to like, you know, shave off the exciting edge there with those more direct players? I am, but also maybe having super control and then having the magic moments from players like Semenu and docu, maybe that'll work. I think the hall and things really interesting is like he, obviously, he cordial had to make things in place so he gets in behind. But you don't, I don't know if you'll see that from rescue, maybe heal adapt. I feel like he's, I feel like Maresca what this made me I'm totally wrong and I'm doing it. I'm being unjust to Maresca. That's what preseason podcasts are for you. Well, that's good. But like did the man as a person, right? So I don't know what his ideas I never talked to him personally. But I, I feel like he's almost borrowing and copying from other people to do his version of it rather than making his own innate thing. Is he an imitator more than a creator? I feel like he is. I feel like Guardiola is making like, you know, radiohead albums. But this guy's making something that sounds like radiohead, but isn't like, you know, the difference between Arctic Monkeys and other bands are just like them. I don't know. They're a bit different though. Like I'm trying to, I'm trying to think of like bands like in Disrespect. Who's just copying radio? I don't know. Well, it's like, it's like AI versions of songs. Right. That bad. So it's not as bad as that, but it's maybe a modern island. People may understand that me being super harsh on it, but it feels like Guardiola can make songs. And you can tell when a song's AI, even though it sounds like in like, you know, it's, it's obviously, it sounds very similar to that band. They could definitely make that song, but there's something about it. You can just tell or there's something like that with Merescar with it. So it doesn't quite align with what people in the stadium want to actually. I actually heard this AI song the other day. It was about Chris Wood. None of the lyrics made any sense. No, we're really simple rock. And I was like, I can tell straight away that that was written by it. Should you hear the production, they should kill that robot. So do we, do we think Merescar's like a, like a pep light sort of figure? Like, is he like a, I don't know, like a D calf. I have that impression. I think John might be able to like, say otherwise, but I have that impression. I feel really like that seems really harsh, what I said about him. But that's what it kind of comes across to me. And the fact that no one loves him really when he places his goals. And then also he seems to have this thing where he needs to sort of justify that he is good. You know, he wanted to be more of a big thing at Chelsea. He wanted to write a book to try and hire increases profile with something I read. I'm not sure if that's even true as well. But yeah, that's kind of what I got from him. It's funny because like, I could very much be wrong about this. I have been wrong about this before because I used to think of loose and re K as being a pep light sort of figure. I used to think of him as being like quite rigid, positional guy. And now I think of him as one of the best managers in the world. So you can definitely evolve and you can definitely change. And maybe that will happen next season. But the reason why I've maybe been a little bit more cautious is just the players coming off the pitch and saying things like, oh, you know, it's just about getting the ball to the wingers and and sort of having them sort out your problems. And you know, maybe that will work. And they've got he's got much better players to work with at city than he had at Chelsea. I think for that style of play. And so maybe it will work out fine. I was thinking this way, because like, sitting just before you carry on, can you interpret it and try to say this was published by the BBC on the first of January. This is in the article about how he left Chelsea. And Mereska had hoped to raise his profile following the blue successes through his opportunities outside the club. He was planning to publish a book before being blocked. So he didn't actually publish it. Not everyone can write a book, you know. There you go. He was going to do it with that book. But that's it. So he wants, you know, he wants to be appreciated for what he wants you to know he wrote a book. So I can't wait to read it. So Mereska wants to be recognized amongst the other ones. Like he clearly has these ideas and thinks of himself as being maybe an innovator. I'm totally wrong about it. And there's something that he gives off that he doesn't get that. And he can't get the appreciation that he wants. Yeah. But like, you can see there's quite a lot of gold lassies and a lot more than he would normally would underguarriola. Because Guarriola, you know, favourites being more in behind, maybe trying to get, like, Harlan, especially in positions where he can score, as opposed to the ultimate control that he had. Because that kind of needed to move on. Because it just doesn't, it doesn't always work. You've got to keep adapting and moving and changing. And Mereska is like, this will work. And then, like, if it doesn't, he'll obviously start changing it and stuff like that. But that's kind of, well, yet the control might benefit them. Yeah. The control might totally benefit them. And then it will pull Harlan score 30 goals off the back of being a penalty box poacher rather than like a, it's so hard. Because I think you should just build your tactics around the players individually that you have. Like, that's how you should do it. And you build this and it suits them. But when you start like going, like, the system is God. This is what we do. And then you must be within that. It can definitely work. But I just feel like because everyone now is so good at playing out of session and pressing and taking away all your options. When you do anything rigid, it's what he's done. He's what they're doing. You can stop it. You seem to find ways to get around that. And then, if you do something new, it lasts about 15 minutes. And then one of the, like, 18 elements on the bench goes, well, they're doing this now. And so they fix that in game. So that you can't ever, like, really gain an advantage. Unless you just keep doing it. Unless you keep doing things all the time. Yeah. Yeah. I just think that beyond all this is the fact that whenever somebody like Pep Guardiola leaves a club. No, he was there for 10 years. But City had pretty much built that club for him. Right. There's the storyano, the Berger Stain Appointments. It's the Pep Guardiola football club. Yeah. But like, it was him. Right. Like everything always reverted back to Pep Guardiola. And even in the past year or two, when things didn't go quite as well, they were sort of like, well, you know, Pep Guardiola was, was had such a authority that it didn't really matter. That's the ability there. And he was the guy that could sort of soak up everything and all the focus would be on him. But no, the players are kind of not don't have that shield. So things go wrong. There's not like they, you know, maybe before they couldn't get away with not playing well because they had Pep there. But no, sort of like if Manchester City don't do or don't make a strong start. The questions aren't necessarily going to be about the players. They're going to be about the coach instead. And that is an added thing. That exact thing happened with Moise United when he was focusing and the players essentially were like, well, you know, if we're not, if we're not performing quite well, we're not going to get much of the slack. It'll always be the coach first. And that's just the way football is. So I kind of think that Man City, I kind of worry that maybe they're a little bit directionless at the minute in terms of like they're just another big spending club. Right. They don't have anything special about them anymore. There's nothing that really sets them apart. Like even this season, Elliot Anderson, Mark Gahey and Antoine Semenu and January, you know, those are three players. Any Premier League club would want and City just outbid rivals, right? They just offered one money. That's why they got them. That's why they signed those three players. And that's kind of like just what clubs have all we've done. But there's nothing particularly interesting or exciting about that. You're just the richest club who spends that money. It's not. There used to be interesting things about City and the players they signed. But I don't really think that exists anymore. I think even more. Like this is a bit football money, but I'm convinced it's real. Like the way that Real Madrid managed to dominate for so long is they built this team of winners. Like it's really good team, you know. But they kept like the experience and the knowledge of how to win those games and they sort of transferred them on. So they didn't all go at once. But the brain drain from Man City. Like Guadalajuan, obviously, enormous. That's continued everything. But also in the last two years, like Gunduan, Debraina, a kanji, Walker, Anderson, Bernardo Silva and Aki who are all there for all the winning of stuff. So they move on, right? And so you need to bring new ones through. But I think you need to retain some of that knowledge within the club. That you see that the players that will talk to them now, they send Robertson specifically to try and do that. Chelsea signing, Henderson and Wellbeck, specifically trying to bring the sort of the right kind of culture in and the right kind of thing. Because City were built for this Guadalajuan thing. And now it's a whole new thing. It feels like it's a whole new, you know, it's like that. That was a moment in time. And that was a whole brand new thing. And by not retaining a lot of that, I think it's a precarious, precarious indeed, precarious there we go. I think that's the end of the show, Steve, isn't it? I agree. How about that? Well, we turns out we didn't have time for all of those other for 60% of the show. We didn't have time for. But thank you, J. J. Bull. Thank you. Thank you, Colin Miller. Thank you. And I do know I'm really really hoping that the more I say that, the more people start. Maybe even in the office to say, is it Colin Miller? Colin Miller. Is it? I never knew. Thank you. John McKenzie. All right. I don't know if you know, but John McKenzie is the famous author of the book. Pep Guadiela haunting my, he's haunted by, what's it called? Dream. Your life. Pep has haunted my house. The specter, a specter of Pep. Our modern Guadiela, Hans modern football. And if people are interested in that book, where can they find it? Well, they can find it somewhere online. Yeah, they can find it online. There is a, a live event. Oh, yes. No. With you and me. We said this at the intro. I did. We haven't said it yet, but we will say it in the intro. Okay. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay. Great stuff. So come to the live event. Yeah. And I will probably have already also said this in the intro, but no, I don't think there's a show next Monday. But there might be a couple of ring for analysis next week. We'll talk about, we'll talk about this. We don't know what's happening, but we'll definitely be here with a show on Thursday. Okay. There you go. Thanks. Bye.