The Tactical Paradox of Stamford Bridge and the EFL's Ideological Abyss

This is The Guardian. Hello and welcome to The Guardian Football Weekly. Chelsea start the season with a 3-2 win at Fulham. They were great fun going forward. Jal Pedro, after a minute Morgan Rodgers opening his account and a lot of should Cole Palmer have been on that plane vibes. And then quite a lot of Robert Sanchez is still there. Fulham looked bright and had two brilliant chances to equalize. There's some enormous transfer news for the pod to digest. And then to the EFL, favourites for the championship West Ham have started terribly. The London Stadium booze sound good in the Football League too. Favorites for League 1, Leicester have started terribly beating at home by Burton at the weekend. And favourites for League 2, Soulfoot have started terribly two defeats in a road. No one knows anything. There's also goal of the season wrapped up and Adam Ayor celebration, retrospective VAR and a Dion Dublin slash Robby Keen Hyde and diddle to keep her goal. One of you's done the work on the Premier League players with all the vows in their name. There's your questions and that's the day's Guardian football week clip. On the panel today, Barry Glen Denning, welcome. Hello. Hello, Jacob Steinberg. Hello. And from not the top 20 George L.A.K. George. Hello. Let's start a Craven Cottage. Fulham 2, Chelsea 3 on Monday night football. Jacob, you were there. Did you have a nice time? I did have a nice time. You always had a nice time at Fulham. Lovely walk through the park. And it was a very good game, very entertaining game. Start the Javier Lanzawira. And you know, the first thing that you probably come away with from it is that it was significantly better than most of the rubbish we watched with Chelsea last season. One of the big positives was that they were the team, the stats show who ran the most in the Premier League this weekend. And that might seem like it's nothing, but actually they were outrun last season in pretty much every game. So you can see an early sign there of what Alonzo's been doing in the summer to get this team fitter and more committed. Because that was a real issue last season. And another big thing is that they did this without Moises Kassado who's obviously such a big part of them in field. And also Marco Polestro who was out last night and this new Italian wing back from Atlanta who has really, really good in preseason very fast. And then the big thing is that the front three was a lot of fun. And you imagine it's going to cause a lot of damage this season. You know, Charles Pedro being in brilliant form in preseason. Again, that finish and then the assist for Parma for the third goal makes you look at him and just think how was he not in that squad for the World Cup with Brazil. Morgan Rogers probably, although he scored on his debut, probably the less eye catching performance if the three of them. But I think you saw a lot of the kind of off-the-work ball and connectivity that he brings to the performance as well in that kind of left side number 10. And then Col Parma was back and that's just a huge thing for Chelsea. I mean, when he's flowing, they really are a very good side. And obviously last season was so difficult for him with the injuries. It was just never there for him. That was his first assist last night beyond the goal. That was his first assist in the league since February, which is crazy when you think of the type of players. But you just look free, fluid, so silky, so clever on the ball. And when he's playing like that, he's just one of the best attackers in the league. And you know, the goal was brilliant. He kind of gives Leno the eyes, makes it look like he's going to pass it back into the middle and then just rolls it through his legs. It's so cheeky, it's so Col Parma. And that's all brilliant. And they look like they can score at will when they're going forward. And then there's the other side of it, which is the a just silly decisions at times, lack of game management. They still sort of invite the pressure by getting, you know, these stupid bookings early on, Lavier and Col will through poor decisions. And they let in some silly goals. And ultimately, you know, when you're coming down to whether or not this team can challenge for the title, whether this could be the team who push Arsenal with the lack of European football, you just come back to the goalkeeper, Robert Sanchez. And it's not just the first goal with Josh King. It's also things like just the panic that he transmits through letting that back pass from Josh Aachenpong run and run and run until it's out for a corner. It just makes the defence nervous, I think. And the second goal, I think as well, is it's something that comes back to him. So this is Sanchez's fourth season as Chelsea's number one. And it just feels like he's been an issue for all of that period. And it's something that they're going to need to fix. Whether that's Mike Penders, who's this Belgian goalkeeper, young keeper, who they've got a lot of high hopes for, whether it's someone else coming in for the end of the season, before the end of the window, I'm not sure, but it feels like he is the big block between whether or not they could just be a top four contender or maybe challenged for this title. Yeah, producer Joel saying Mike Penders does sound like the congressman for Delaware, doesn't he? You know, Joe Biden was sworn in as president. Come on, Mike, answer the question. We'll get to Robert Sanchez in a sec. I just wonder, George, because obviously he did loads of stuff during the World Cup for England. And you were careful, as I think we were not to just be like, well, who isn't? Let's not talk about the players who aren't there. But when Col Parmel was waltzing through the full and events, you know, on that, on that little runway, he drove around everyone. We're thinking, oh, I reckon he could have unpicked our gentiner a bit. Yeah, it took me about five minutes to put on the England pod WhatsApp group. I want to say about everything that I said. I ran a squad announcement and he probably should have been there. The irony about it is, is that we were told by to come on many occasions that he really wanted his wide players to hold the width. And he looked at the team and it came out yesterday and it looked on paper. Like it would be Palmer and Roger's basically playing as two tens behind throughout Pedro. But in reality, Palmer played pretty wide. Like he went on the outside loads, obviously took up space and inside too. But he, it almost felt like he wanted to prove that he can also be that kind of wide player. Like he can take on fullbacks consistently. He can use his pace to get past players. He can be the kind of wide player that took it seemingly wants to play alongside Kane. The other thing to note is that after, as he said in his post match into the last, last season for him was very tough with injuries. And there's probably a degree where a guy who's played a lot of football in the last three or four years of his career. After an injury hit campaign, having a summer off, you know, it's probably no coincidence that he looked incredibly sharp. And especially after a weekend where quite a lot of England players, I quite a lot of players who played in the World Cup haven't particularly sharp and have been cramping up and have been looking a bit off the pace. The fact that he comes into it having had a bit of a break might have played into that, that good performance. But yes, I'd be surprised if, you know, it's only what a month, until England play Spain at Wembley in a four game international break. I think it's going to catch a few people out by surprise. It would be a surprise if Palmer's playing like this and he's not in that squad. Yeah. I mean, actually that front three, Barry. You know, Chelsea, I'm trying to think, is it Drog Bull was the last wheel number nine that was like really prolific? You think with Rodgers and Palmer behind Pedro, like that he could, Pedro could have an amazing. It's like a really, it's a really fun front three. Yeah. He could and it's difficult to think of a more exciting front three in the Premier League. Just on the Palmer thing, I think whether it was injuries, maybe a bit of complacency or fatigue after not having a summer off for two, two years, I don't think Cole Palmer deserved his place in the England squad on the strength of his performance as last season. So it's, I would put his brilliant performance last night and maybe being left out was the wake up call he needed and it seems to work, but I do agree that the rest this summer has probably done him good. While I think Joe Pedro is every right to feel creved and up in in the Brazil squad, I think I don't think Cole Palmer deserved a spot. Yeah, you might be right. But just on Sanchez, because we talked about it a lot, it does seem insane that you can spend so much money. And still as Jacob says, have a keeper that just engenders panic through the whole team. It's just not what you want from a goalkeeper. Yeah, it's not. I can't understand why Chelsea didn't go in for James Trafford. I believe they were tried to sign him last summer, but he was available this summer. They didn't sign him. He's gone to Leeds. He seems like the obvious candidate to bring in. I don't think Chelsea will be able to challenge for the title with Robert Sanchez in goal. He was at fault for both goals and generally engendered panic. And then he could have been at fault for a potential equalizer when that ball was played through to Anthony Robinson and he tried to lift it over him and put it well wide. You think maybe a striker might have scored from there. It was a really good chance to equalize. And Sanchez had wandered out into the middle of his area to make it easier for Robinson who wasn't able to convert the chance. So I don't know much about Penders. I know he was on loan of Strasbourg last season and he played for them all the way. He was their cop goalkeeper basically played to the semi-finals of the conference league and the French cop. It does seem baffling that they haven't got an upgrade on Sanchez. Yeah, Jacob, have you asked anyone? Why? Or has anyone asked or what's the thinking? Yeah, I mean, they got this head of goalkeeping, Ben Roberts, who came from Brighton and obviously has a long-standing relationship with Robert Sanchez, who, like many players, for the Chelsea signed, comes from Brighton. And from what I've heard, speaking to someone about it about a year ago or so, maybe for the club World Cup was that they felt that Sanchez could do a lot of the things that at the time, when Moresco was in charge, that he could do a lot of the things technically that Moresco wanted him to do. He was as good as anybody, maybe technically, but perhaps there's just that mental element at times with goalkeepers that prevents them, some of them at the highest level of being able to perform as maybe they're being seen to do on the training ground. I mean, there's a lot of Chelsea players, I think, who thought that, for example, Philip Jorgensen was actually a really really good goalkeeper, potentially elite. But, you know, when it came to that moment when we're seeing you put him in against PSG last season in the Champions League, he just couldn't handle it and he froze and it was a disaster and they end up losing the game 5-2. You know, I think if you go back through most title-winning sides of the Premier League, I think it's hard to pick any of them who don't have a great goalkeeper. Chelsea, the best example of that, they've gone from Czech to Courtois and then through to Kepa and ever since that moment, they've basically not challenged for the title. Take, maybe, Manchester United in the post-Schmeichel era. They had good goalkeepers, but goalkeepers who were not quite at that elite level who would just make those little mistakes that would just cause them not to be able to carry out the challenges to the full. Ultimately, you look at Arsenal, the ruthless decision that they made with Aaron Ramstell a couple of years ago where most people thought this is perfectly fine as Arsenal's number one and Artetta, who's just absolutely ruthless, sees something that's not quite right and goes with David Breyer and do they win the league without him as the goalkeeper last season? David Breyer, I'd say, given the massive saves that he makes in key moments, probably not. And that's probably just this prunch point now that Chelsea are coming to with this position. George, what did you make of Arvaro Alba, Arbaloa's full-arm? I was pretty impressed. I think the way to go 1-0 down as early as they did and to still come back twice, albeit thanks to certainly the positioning of Sanchez for the first goal was ridiculous. For a Premier League game, for a player to be able to not even put it that far in the near post and still be able to score. But the way they dominated the ball for the most part of the game, so I think we got an insight there, obviously, game to state plays a big part when you're 1-0 down within a minute. But even so, it suggests we're going to see a possession-heavy style of play. And even though there were times in the game, my Chelsea looked like they were a cut above for the last 25 minutes, it kind of felt like a goal was probably coming for full-arm. It was only the best chance the game came again with Sanchez just extraordinary decision-making and positioning when there was a clip all over the top which had to see Robinson ran on to off the left hand side. And Sanchez committed to coming and then just stopped, basically, before he got anywhere near it and then just stood his ground. And Robinson had the whole goal to lob into it, on his weaker foot and he put it wide. So, yeah, I mean, I think you'd probably come away from that game thinking Chelsea showed in flashes what they capable of, but also for them certainly. You know, a lot of people I think have seen when you see a manager like Marco Silverleave. He's been a club for a long time and has done very well and an antecedent manager come in. You kind of taught him down for maybe your aggression, but no, I thought yesterday they gave a good account themselves. Yeah, I don't know what you think, but as I really liked Garcia or like Palacios, Josh King, we know is brilliant. I think they'll be fine and it may be better than that. Yeah, they were impressive. Josh King was the standout player. We know all how good he is. He was in that England warm-up squad ahead of the World Cup. And it seems like Loneby a matter of time before he gets handed a debut. Tom Stucco, I wasn't sure what to expect from our below as full of manager. You know, he had his time at Real Madrid, which I think everyone gets the pass. We're not doing particularly well at Real Madrid these days. They certainly won't get relegated on the strength of that performance, but we'll see how they get on. Before we move on, could I ask Jacob, do you know what's going on? Is Liam Vat going to Notting Forest? And is Michaela Mudrick going to Leeds? Who I believe expressed an interest in taking him on Lone? Yeah, the lap probably going to Forest being well away from the Chelsea first team training now. And Mudrick, I don't think he'll go to Leeds on Lone. He could end up at Strasbourg on Lone, Chelsea's partner club, and there are some other interests. And obviously, there's quite a lot to get done before the window shuts. There's about 15 players maybe who could go. And the big one beyond Enzo Fernandez would be Jackson's Twasting Villa. All right. And is the Enzo, what's the latest on that? Just rumbling on and on and on. I think you know, you're getting some, I think you're seeing some quite strong pushes from the Manchester City side, or maybe the Enzo Maresque side. And obviously, that sort of slightly odd deadline passed a couple of weeks ago now. But I think he'll be a Manchester City player. If Chelsea can get the player as well, they need to keep saying they need a replacement. You know, there's a massive interest in Alex Scott, but Bournemouth is totally adamant that he's not going this this window. And they also like Adam Morton, but you know, I think it's a similar story with Crystal Palace there. So it's not going to be easy for them to replace Fernandez. If he does, if he does go, but I don't know, looking at looking at him at the end last night, it felt a little bit like a farewell. And should also say as well that he got such a bad reception from the, from the Fulham fans, obviously given the everything around England at the World Cup. He was very much the villain there. And when we didn't see, we didn't see Barker's. We'll have to wait to see what kind of reception he gets. Yeah. And we'll be good if someone bought parrots just to, you know, why not? Just chuck them all in. Before we move on from the Premier League, Barry, you sent a WhatsApp message with six clacks and emojis. And there aren't, there isn't a number of clacks on emojis that would do this piece of transfer news justice. Yes, this is not a drill. David Oranstein reported last night that Ethan Pinock looks to be on his way to Coventry, city subject to a medical from Brentford. I have to set the table out of the Ethan Pinock's agent, he's 33, but he looks like he's going to get a three year deal with Coventry City with an option for another year, five million pound fee with a million pound add-ons. And yeah, I think if he leaves Brentford, which looks almost certain to happen, he, I would imagine he leaves with the very best wishes of Brentford fans as a bona fide club legend. And he's one of those players who started non-league played for $1,000, then forest green in the national league, then went to Barnes league and then Brentford and was instrumental. And almost ever present in helping Brentford get to the Premier League and establish them as a Premier League site. So he hasn't really got much of a look in under Keith Andrews. So I don't know if he'll start for Coventry or not, but his experience will be invaluable, you'd imagine, in the dressing room. Yeah, and you didn't even mention his goals. So I mean, I would. Oh, I would, yes. Oh, the only good. Okay. That goal, that tap in, Faripore's tap in, that was cruelly overlooked for goal of the season against, was it Liverpool? Absolutely, no idea. Some years ago. Yeah. Anyway, good luck, Ethan. And that'll do for part one. Part two, we'll look back at the opening couple of weekends in the championship. Well, as a part two of the Guardian football weekly live shows are very close then. First of September, we're at Vicar Street in Dublin. Me, Barry, John Bruin and Jonathan Wilson. A few tickets still available. And then on the 9th of September, we're live at the Soho Theatre in Wolfenstow. Line up to be announced soon, even though I Instagram to the line up and then producer Joel said, we haven't confirmed those people are coming. So maybe I'll have to let some people down. But anyway, we will announce that soon. And that London shows what is live streamed. So you can watch it wherever you are on earth. Guardian.co.uk. That's football weekly live. Come along, please. Okay, then let's do the championship. Should we start with West Ham, Jacob? You said in the WhatsApp group, you're not interested in West Ham. We're thinking of someone else, but you were lucky to get a 2-2 against Bernie in the opening day, even though you were 2-0 up. And then losing 2-1 at home to Charlton on Saturday in front of a sold out London stadium. It's an inauspicious beginning in the championship. Yeah, they've very quickly managed to suck the positivity out because it was very briefly. It looked like it might be, you know, there was some good will around it. You know, they sold 50,000 season tickets, which is quite remarkable, get given. You know, they've got relegated. And the sense that the show was no longer going to be run by David Sullivan as well after everything that happened during the summer. And last season, on the football side, I think, had people feeling mildly optimistic. And then it's just kind of that feeling has just slowly edged away. You know, the ownership situation remains a bit of a mess with the uncertainty over whether it will be Daniel Kratinsky taking over and getting those shares from the Gold family or this curveball coming from Amanda Saved. Who's got this deal lined up to buy all of them from Vanessa Gold, which has just delayed the whole process. And I think has made the window for them harder. I don't think many people are particularly delighted that David Sullivan was again in the director's box at the Charlton game. Most people would rather, most fans, I think, judging by the reaction on social media would rather that's not happening. And so there's just that sense of negativity that's been around the club for the last two or three years. It felt like it might have gone away, instead it's come back. And then on the pitch, the team, there's so much was put into Jarrah Bowen staying. And would he just run a mock in the championship? Well, he's had the first two games so far. He's not so far scored in either of them. And the rest of the team haven't really done much as well. Solomon's looked quite positive since joining from Tottenham. But they've still got these old failings. The defense is not good enough. The goalkeeper was pretty poor on that first Charlton goal. The other headkick, Maverapanos, makes a mistake for the second one. Kilman's still Kilman. They have managed to get rid of some players who needed to go. But there are players who sort of still hanging around there. And while they might be useful in a championship, it seems like they don't want to necessarily turn out when there's still a chance for them to get out of there before the window for the window shots. And since of that as well, I think there's quite a few fans who are starting to lose a bit of patience with Nuno. I think the Burnley game where it was a recurring theme where they were ahead. And then they sit back and invite the pressure and the late goal, which is something that happened quite a lot last season. And it is quite a reactive, pragmatic manager. That's always been his style of football. And then there's this kind of question mark of what will Nuno do when he's got all the possession in the championship. And on Saturday, the answer was not very much. I didn't see the game. I was just listening to it and the commentators on talk sport were pretty scathing and just about how it looked like. There were no patterns of play to West Ham and how easy it sounded for Charlton. Obviously, they almost got away with it with that penalty. But, you know, Tati takes it over Bowen, which was quite surprising. This is it, which isn't surprising for Tati because he gets into loads of positions, but misses loads of chances. So it's a pretty worrying start for them. I think this sudden, this idea of them picking up 100 points and just waltzing back in suddenly looks to be on quite shaky ground already. It looks like it might be a pretty, pretty difficult season. I mean, play Southampton tonight in the Carapal couple way. And that's not going to be easy. And, you know, they could do with getting a positive result there. And if not, just the pressure on Nuno is going to heighten. And, you know, we were already sort of starting to hear a few people sort of rumbling away about, well, Scott Parker is available for the West Ham player. You know, he's had to get out of the championship. He doesn't necessarily know then what to do after that. But he might be a more popular choice than Nuno, if this continues. Sure. I mean, I had producer Joel, who's a champ fan, said, you know, that last minute was absolutely brilliant because they'd been giving it to the West Ham fans and then West Ham get a penalty. And then West Ham missed it. It's like the perfect way to win. Actually, what have you made of the start of them, George, and the other relegated sides? Yeah, I mean, they've been, you know, they've been poor. As you alluded to it, felt like they were tuna up against Burnley, but without really necessarily serving to be. And Zian Fleming had a lot of chances before he scored the two goals to get them back into it. I think we spoke when I was on a month or so ago before the start of the season about what Jacob was saying there. Like, Nuno is not a manager. He was at any success in his whole career by dominating possession. So why does it make sense to retain a manager who is going to have a lot of games like Saturday where they're going to face up to teams in a low block, not even when they go ahead, but at Nell Nill, teams are going to set up to try and frustrate them and set off them because they know that the quality of the likes of Bowen and Peru and Solomon means that if you give them space to run into, they're going to exploit that space. So I'd be really surprised if Nuno was still there. As we've seen quite consistently, like it's a long season, if West Ham continues to have a poor start and their games coming up in, you know, they play Wolves next Tuesday, they play Rex and they play Millwall, they play Watford all, you know, and Derby all by the end of by the middle of September. It's not an easy start to life and championship for them. So yeah, definitely concerns about them, but I'd be amazed if we're not talking in December or January about them improving under a manager who is better suited to this. And you know, you mentioned Scott Parker there. It's never been more obvious that the job of getting out of the championship and the job of staying in the Premier League are two completely different things. And we're not far away, I think, from clubs basically getting promoted and then sacking their manager immediately because it's just a different job with different skill sets. Look at Daniel Farker, who's, and Regis Lebrie, who they've done it well recently, but Lebrie went against the grain of the manager that normally gets brought out of the championship because he is someone whose teams don't need the ball and he was happy in the championship to sit off teams. And then Farker, who's had, you know, it's his third time in his managed to do it. He nearly got sat the third time and then he's had to change his approach completely in order to stay there too. So, yeah, with West Ham, it's a poor start for Burnley. I thought they were impressive against West Ham, but then, you know, they were beaten pretty comfortably on Sunday against a West Bromside who started really well. It does, you know, they were assumed by many, including us to be kind of the poorest of the three relegated teams. But they still got a lot of very good players in their side. And, you know, they looked like they might be better than they were written off to be. Wolves are the ones who are probably the best of the relegated teams. They had to rely on a very late penalty against Blackburn on opening day for a tool draw, but they were really good in beating Preston 3-1 on Saturday. They just got, like, there's a perception of West Ham at the team with the best players. But in Mattis Mane, in Fair Lopez, Andre, like Wolves have a group of players that may be a better suited to playing for a team that will dominate more. You know, at a younger time in their career as well, where maybe dropping down when you're 18 like Mane, or I think Lopez is 22, where you can be part of a dominant side for their progression, could be beneficial to them. So they look like they could be the best in three that have come down. But as was the case, last season, you know, after a period of football in the championship, where the teams that came down were just way better than most teams. And it was so hard for non-paraship payment teams to break in. Early signs again suggest that this is a season where the likes of Middlesbrough or Millwall, you know, absolutely could forso into that top two. And we're with eight, you know, the top eight, going either getting promoted or getting the playoffs with third to eight, and getting the playoffs. There's a lot to play for. So it looks open early on. The observant viewers on YouTube will notice that George, the answer that George just gave began in one location and then finished in a separate location. I didn't notice, but there were some internet issues which we've saved you from. Yes. In the edit. But Barry, we need to talk about the Don Ballard back heel volley for Bristol City against Birmingham, wasn't it? An unbelievable goal. I mean, it was a absolute brilliant back heel volley, as you say, just from distance. And I was doing clock watch for the Guardian and saw the name D Ballard flash up as having scored this goal. When did Dan Ballard go to Bristol City? I missed that one, but Dominic Ballard, so not Dan. And yeah, just a wonderful goal, which I suspect may be on the short list for the buskers award. Yeah. There's an amazing reverse angle, which suggests that rather than it being a back heel, I think he's almost kind of caressed it in with the outside of his right foot, but backwards, which I think makes it even more impressive, because it's kind of more controlled than just timing it. I mean, it's an absolute ridiculous goal. He won league one pair of the season and league one young pair of the season last season playing from the late and orientated. No, he just stayed up, bought for, I think, up to five million pounds by Bristol City. And that's the first goal he scores for them. It's just such a shame watching it back. And, you know, this isn't because before I get accused of being anti-Burming him. And when you see a goal like that, scored late in front of the away fans. And you see the limbs. It's just a shame that then it wasn't actually the winner. It was about 10 minutes later in the 95th minute. Diabt, DiMari Gray, scored a penalty to make it one. To make it two or so. Someone was saying to me that the day that they think he'll end up, who watched the late and orient quite a lot, that they think he'll end up in the Premier League. I mean, how good is he? I mean, he's really good. He's a very interesting mix where he's kind of a diminutive poacher, who also has the ability to do the exceptional. Like, he's also someone that scores goals from range. He's not just, I think it's quite hard these days to be a five-for-eight striker who doesn't do anything outside the box. And he definitely has the ability and the quality to do more than that. So, yeah, at a time where there aren't that many strikers. You know, you're probably anyone's probably one good championship season away from being, you know, courted by Premier League teams. And he's certainly got the ability. So yeah, it wouldn't surprise me at all. And they sign Laurent Toulier as well, who comes in from Plymouth Aguil, who's also a really talented striker, a very different kind of profile. But also, it's called a lot of goals and not a good goals. So, they're signing good young players. And, you know, they spent, I think, £9 million on the two of them. So I'll be hoping for a turn on that. But it wouldn't surprise me if both of them end up being Premier League strikers in time. He played quite a lot for us a couple of years ago for Cambridge. And he did look quite good, but it's safe to say, I think, in a relegation season, all like one where we just stayed up. We dragged him down to our level. And if Demari Gray had any honour, he'd have tried a back heel with the penalty. That's the only way it could have been fair in that game. Before we move on from the championship, you wanted George to mention the Hegebo Handball that we saw in the opening day when West Front Wanted Norwich and he hit his hand and he ran off celebrating. But he got a band for two games afterwards, which does resort. When it happened, I was like, I'll fair enough. And then you think about it. I think it's a, it's a crazy decision. Yeah, I mean, it's just, it's kind of unprecedented. It really questions, again, where you draw the line for this stuff. It had the referee or the lines been seen it. It would have been a free kick. He probably would have got a yellow card. Because I don't think it was necessarily deliberate enough or clearly deliberate enough to warrant a red card. But then because it wasn't reckless. It wasn't reckless. It was reckless foul played. You didn't punch the ball so far. But I also wondered, you know, and a lot of people say, well, he's celebrated. And it's like, what's your banning him because he didn't turn around to the referee and say, sorry, I hit my hand. You know, in the same way, like, yes, say in the Chelsea Fulham game when Calvin Bassy dived and immediately tried to turn around and tell the referee that he hadn't been touched, do therefore expunge the dive. Like, it's not how things work. So it opens up, you know, we saw the Norwich Manager Philippe Clemore list 81 leagues where VAR is in use at the moment. I think I can speak for pretty much all fans of the EFL saying, Philippe, please be quiet. We do not want to VAR in our leagues. Thank you very much. Even if you as a manager, I understand that you would because it can be frustrating if your job was on the line, which is isn't, but, you know, I can understand why if you're a manager and you want things to be as far as possible because to protect your livelihood and what you're doing. But yeah, it seemed like a strange decision. It didn't impact Westbrook or anything. It seems to have kind of created a decision mentality for them to to go win the game on Sunday. He'll be back relatively soon, too much ban. But it just, apart from Norwich fans, it doesn't seem like there are many people who think that he wants to do a retrospective ban for instances like that. Yeah, although, slightly ASMR, Philippe, I'm already really at 81 countries. It's a quite impressive thing to just, you know, hold a rub. You know, halfway through. I remember once during COVID, I think it was me and Barry on the radio because there was no sport. We did the British Open by drawing out all the golfers and the last one out of the hat would win the Open, right? It's about 85 golfers. And we had the golf theme, but about halfway through, I think both of us thought, I'm not sure we should have done it. This feels like dead air to me. We've been guilty of it. I think Graham McDowell won. If memory serves me correctly. Yes. The COVID, right? The COVID is British Open. On the back of that, Philippe came on press conference listing all the leagues with Var, on talks for Adrian Durham said he should immediately be sacked because he tasked an analyst with researching all the leagues with Var and then Adrian Durham said, well, he would have been better off tasking his analyst with trying to figure out how Millwall would play against them because they went to the den and lost three nil. But it's sad to have a VR debate when we're talking about the UFO when they're spoken about enough when it comes to the Premier League. But I do always think it's the most damning indictment of the VR that you have three leagues where the quality of officiating is one of the biggest gripes amongst fans consistently. If you talk to any fans of League 1 and League 2 clubs in particular, they mow in about the quality of the rest based every weekend. And it's so common, you know, when I go to Oxford Games, every time we go, we seem to come away and the home fans think the ref was terrible and the away fans think the ref was terrible. And yet, even with the VR existing in the Premier League, there is next and no support for it to be introduced within the UFO. Even though there is a problem that has been identified, the only solution that is out there and is being used elsewhere, you know, it doesn't even get a mention. I have said before, you know, you could just bring it in in the UFO but just for clear and obvious decisions and then it would be absolutely fine. There'd be absolutely no problems. And that won't really whatsoever. Yeah, anyway, I've probably said it to you a month ago. You know, the first time I've ever repeated a joke, my apologies. Anyway, that'll do for part two. We'll browse through League 1 and League 2 in just a second. Welcome to part three of the Guardian Football Weekly. I saw in League 1 only Bradford City of one of their first two games. I mean, the big story, George is less the city under Russell Martin. Yeah, it's been a really, really poor start. Which, I guess, surprises some because of the, you know, the size of the club and the perception they shouldn't have been down there in the first place. But the squad looks pretty thin. Yes, there are players within their team that shouldn't be paying League 1 football, one of them is sent off. On Saturday, all of a skip. There was a story earlier in the summer that Millens were asked less to how much it would cost to buy all of a skip. And they replied, say, 15 million. And you wondered if they'd, they regret now, putting that one in front of the five, because that seems an extortionate price for player. But, you know, they've got only two centrebacks in Harry Suter and in Caleb Ecoly, because, fast, basically, he has no interest in playing. And, you know, I'm not sure if that's true. But Ecoly, because, fast, basically, has no interest in playing League 1 football, which is not a huge surprise. If you look through their starting team, in the 200 feet against Burton on Saturday, they've got loads of young players. So, Will Alves, Sammy Braebrook, who's a brilliant centreman field, who's 22, who's had some great loans. You know, right back, Aluko, like, it's not a team that has, it's like a standout League 1 side in terms of pure quality. And then, in Russell Martin, you've got a manager who's stock is plummeting off the back of that pool. I'm Premier League season of Santana, and then the time of Rangers. And it feels like this Leicester job is starting in a similar way to the Rangers 1, where, quickly, any good will that was built over the summer is going, the booze, unsurprisingly, but an Albion were obvious. They've been caught out playing out from the back quite a lot. Like, Russell Martin said in his post-match interview after the Burton defeat, where they, you know, they were down to 10 men. And he said, you know, it's rare to see a team dominate in the second half with 10 men like we did. And he looked, you watched the second half, and they dominated the ball, sure, and that is quite unlikely when you got 10 men. But you're also a Leicester playing as Burton at home, and you're two-one down. So again, the way the game is set up means you're probably going to dominate the ball, but they barely created anything. And if I was a Leicester fan, I'd find it pretty concerning to get my manager talking about dominance, when you're not actually creating any chances to score goals. So, yeah, I've got real concerns about them. You know, they were pre-season favourites with the bookmakers to win the league, but they were one of those last season in the championship, despite the points that actually got relegated. And then, unless they can find a way to kind of switch on, and, you know, they've signed players like Connor Chaplin and Wes Burns, who, once upon a time, brilliantly won players, but we've seen certainly in the past with Ipswich and with Sunderland, that using your clout in league one to go out and sign championship players, you know, who, a championship players, but probably aren't really wanted by the championship club as that time, and whose career are on the slide for quite a lot of money, that's a terrible way to recruit. You need to go out and sign players who, you know, are performing at that level. So, yeah, I've got real concerns about them right now. Like, it wouldn't surprise me at all if they, you know, this isn't just a bad start, like, they could be a team that could feasibly find themselves in trouble this season. I find it interesting that Vout Fast considers the league one football beneath them, because I think a large part of the reason that's the city or in league one is very much on the shoulders of Vout Fast. I know that their owners have put the whole kit and caboodle up for sale, stadium, training, ground, men's team, women's team. 200 million. 224 million pounds. Absolutely. But, apparently, it's dead free, and they've made this glossy brochure to give to prospective buyers. Did they pop it in your letterbox? No, no, no. I keep getting a glossy brochure from a retirement home in Clapwood, which has happened through my letterbox. And it's not junkly, it's direct, addressed to me personally. So every couple of months, there's this green acres, whatever, I could do what it's called. Are you tempted? Are you tempted? You know, today is too big. The next meal is lunch. You know, what a life didn't go up for. It could be an absolute dream. Couldn't it? You could still do this. It would be more within my budget than the 224 million for Leicester. But I mean, Leicester do have this one of the best training grounds in Europe, if not the world. The King Power is a good stadium. You know, obviously the team is shite. And oh, you get their sister club, the Belgian outfit Louvre and Throne in as well. So... Right. Maybe it's not that bad. And if that's not enough, we'll throw into this too. In Leicester, George Salford have lost two from two. You had them top, they're never going to go up. We know this. We know this. Yeah, I'm annoyed that we had them top of our 124s. I mean, it's basically just because they're just signing players that are way too good for Leicester, proven it. And it was funny. They signed a winger in Mollen, you and a striker in Langstaff. And then they conceived three goals. And Brandon Weirder, from Plymouth Argyle, who is a player that can play holding the field or center back. And, you know, Argyle, are one of the better teams in league. Why do you think the season? And they don't want to lose him. And their fans are upset to lose him. But he's dropping to league too. Peter Klamofsky, who, you know, was Anged Postercoglu's very close friend. And his assistant previously, who's spoken of summer saying that, you know, his... His football would be... Was it in tribute to a Postercoglu? Or, you know, would be in his image. And maybe that doesn't work at league too level, in August when the pictures are okay. So let's see what it looks like in... February and March when that changes. But they've been really poor. Like they went one little down at home to Chesterfield on Saturday after two minutes. And they hit the woodwork a couple of times from set pieces. But their open chance creation was like horrendous. And this is a, you know, an ownership group now. You know, it's... It's moved on a little bit from the initial class of 92 ownership with Neville, going Neville and David Beckham were involved, but with the new group of investors. And since that new group of investors came in last summer, it feels like the... the spend and the ambition has gone up, which is why Carl Robinson lost his job. And because promotion was the aim last season and even though they came as close as they possibly could do by losing the playoff final, that still wasn't enough. I wonder how long Climowski's got to show that he's the man to do this because there's no way, given the money they're spending, that that accept, that they kind of start that they've made. So real highlights in league too. Josh Marsh, growing for crew using a hiding behind the post from the keeper. I mean, you can only do it at your end. When your fans are behind the goal, because otherwise everyone's like, no, nipping into score, Bobby Cam were doing an adabuy or running the full length of the pitch, growing for Bristol Rovers against Newport, which is always, because once again, a bit like doing the COVID, British Open, like half way down the pitch, you think, I've got to keep doing this, but he really does. But I didn't see this, George. The Tram Airova's centre-back, Bobby Falkner playing 40 minutes in goal against Port Outfield player in goal is absolute peak football. Yeah, I made and made some saves as well. It wasn't, I mean, the saves weren't... They looked like they had the back saves. They looked like a centre-backed goal, but they were still effective. Cam had a nice punch at one point as well, and they also equalised whilst he was in goal, which is great. So, yeah, he's a young player who's come in this summer who's an unbelievable day of you playing centre-back, and then he's gone in goal for the second game, and kept his own clean sheet in a one-all draw away from home against a recent relegated side. Yeah, it's been a good weekend for strange stuff happening in League 2. I love the camera celebration. I think if he said before the game that if he would react to how the Newport fans reacted, where if they showed him a bit of love, he'd show them a bit of love, and if they'd boot him, he'd give it back, and they'd boot him, so he'd give it back for their play. But he scored the goal to kept them up last season. Yeah. On the last day. Having also missed a penalty that nearly sent them down as well. So, I'm not sure why he was getting abuse, but yeah, it was good, and he got taken off straight away. Yeah. By Steve Evans, or he didn't have to worry about the fatigue. No, all getting too footed. But hopefully he walked right around the pitch just applauding everyone. Now, Barry, you did ask at some point in the last week or so, whether Tarek Muraharamovic would be the first Premier League player with every vow in his surname, and Steven has been in touch with the following list, Maynard Figueroa, Talal El Kakori, Andranik Teymorian, Mathieu Luijon, Omar Elab Dallawi, Luciano Figueroa, and Christian Nagawi. I mean, I've heard of some of them. Christian Nagawi. I've heard of one of them. Yeah, one of the Figueroa. Yeah. Well, one of the Figueroa's I've heard of. Christian Nagawi, one Premier League appearance for Man City, in which he became the first, and as of January 2019, the only player to be sent off on their one and only Premier League appearance, well done, Christian. Thank you, Steven. If we need a researcher, we will hire you. And less importantly, we obviously grew hugely in the States, our audience during the World Cup. But now we get messages like this, from Willem. Brother, is that really how you pronounce your Rhinol? That's ridiculous, almost as bad as aluminium. Listen, you say, I once had a half-hour argument about the word tomato, with a producer of soccer AM, saying tomato, tomato, tomato, tomato, tomato, anyway, it was, I thought it was good. I don't have the time to, to tell you the joke, but now I've set out loud. People will side with the producer. But trust me, I had a good gag, and it wasn't allowed in. Anyway, that'll do for today. Thanks, everybody. Thank you, George. Thank you. Thanks, Jacob. Thank you. Cheers, Baz. Thank you. Good luck in your retirement home. Football Weekly is produced. I might do, like, find some like-minded individuals and do a sort of retridasm, and we solve murderous times. That's a good idea. Or you could commit, I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry.