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Hello there, it's totally football show, back from Los Angeles, back in London, and looking forward to our new digs, let's see, around the back of the premiere in. This must be the place. Well, it is a new premiere season, there's bad again underway at least, I hope you're ready for some suddenly tiny-looking stadiums and halves that seem to go on and on with no hydration whatsoever. What's going to happen? Who are going to be the champs? We're going to start the first of our two preview shows with that very question. Who's your favourites? Is it Arsenal? The reigning champs, there's Bruno G coming in, and there's little solids for their opponents, that's their new winger, Christos, and they already blew past Man City last Sunday. What of City? Where it's the beginning of the Enzo was the community shield of preview of a post-Pet problem pile-up. Then there's Chelsea, no, seriously, with Javier Lanzo, do they have the long shot, and we'll be talking about Man United and Liverpool 2 in this totally football show. Welcome back to the totally football show, and I hope you enjoy our fresh surroundings for today's show. Another looking spot, these swimming pool just had a shot over there. You're certainly going to enjoy the thrilling line-up that we put together for the first of these preview shows, Duncan Alexander. Hello, how are you? I'm well, good to see you again, Duncan. Liam Tumys with us. Hi, James. And Tom Williams. Hello, James. All right, Tom. Here we are again. Here we are again. It's been about what a month since we made a tearful farewell to the totally LA ranch. You look different. Is it a kind of Javier Lanzo vibe going on then? Well, I'm soft-launching and moustache, but I don't have enough of a conviction in what I'm doing, so I'm still quite bearded. But you're the first person to have noticed, James, and it's been there for about a month, so thank you. So what you're saying is the comment section will be vital. Yeah, it will basically live or die on the comment section, so be gentle, please. I'm already cast in my vote on that one. Duncan, have you been since the World Cup? Good. Tour de France was fun. I had a bit of downtime in Italy. Nice, where'd you go? In Tuscany. Nice. Very nice. And then it's Blackpool for Wicom's opening game. Tuscany Blackpool. Tuscany combo. How did Wicom go in both, I guess? Yeah, very true. And how did Wicom get on? They go to one-one drawing, possibly the most one-one game in the history of football, but you know, that's good, right? If only there was time to talk more about that. Liam Tumys, I haven't seen you since before. Yes. All the shenanigans. Yes. How was your work up? It was good, yeah. Following from the UK, did plenty of podcast work, plenty of writing, kept very busy there were, as you know, astonishingly few rest days in the whole ton of wall-to-wall football. So don't, I wouldn't call refreshed. Would you not have heard ahead? Because you've been at it since, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And they kept busy with the Chelsea stuff. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. Premier League preview, plus all the transfers in the world, plus fresh ownership drama. Wow. Wow, Chelsea, yeah. So much to talk about today. Big question. Who's going to win the title? Who's everybody tipping for the very top? We've also got a little bit of rule changes and other things and the non-managerial movements that have happened, which are making everything a little bit more unpredictable. But those rule changes, Liam, would you get us some of them up for us? Don't waste time. That would be the shortest possible. And I haven't wasted any time there. So I feel like I'm abiding by them. If you're being subbed off, yeah. If you're a goalie looking to fake an injury for that reason, don't. Yeah. If you want to take a throw in, speed up. Yeah. I mean, I've seen a couple of those in the flesh already. The throw in being switched over. And players are just sort of like, okay, throw it. But we saw some in the World Cup, and some of this is legacy of. Yeah, the players have seen, they've kind of developed a sort of rather than pick the ball up when it's going to play for throw in. They'll now sort of amble around a bit like some sort of ape waiting for the, because they don't want to pick the easy pick. Oh, that's when the ref can start. It's like pulling the pin from a grenade. Exactly. So, so look out for that. Punched players. Would you make of the unprecedented levels of managerial changes, Tom? Well, it makes it very interesting. Reminiscent of 2016-17 season when you had Pat Guardiola, Antonio Conte, Josie Marino, all taking on club. But only just a few months earlier. Jürgen Klopp's first full season as Chelsea. That's right. Jürgen Klopp's first full season is Liverpool manager, of course. And you know, with all the changes, it makes this season very unpredictable. He says at the dawn of the preseason predictions podcast. Right. I do think you can divide the Premier League into little chapters. And I think your right, 16-17 was the start of a chapter that I think came to an end last season. Is this a new chapter? It is a new chapter. I've got some stats, Duncan, about the managerial changes. With the number of new gaffers, Marco Roser is actually the twelfth longest serving manager in the Premier League. And he's yet to take charge of a game for Bournemouth. Isn't that incredible? Sonnesian. Yeah. This courtesy, well, that was courtesy of producer Charlie. This one's courtesy of Colin Miller, 13 different Premier League clubs have changed their manager or had coach since Bournemouth last lost a football match. Isn't that remarkable? It's true. Bournemouth, King of the Stats. Oh, Teta, the only manager pointed before Captain Tom start doing laps of guardry. So again, makes you think. Right. Lots of people running in with questions. I've got three here. Nippon says, is there a chance that Arsenal will meet the same fate as Liverpool after being declared as overwhelming favourites to win the Premier League? That's a question that we're going to be touching on because today's show very much about our Arsenal going to sweep it. Stephen Taylor says, which team will be most impacted by the World Cup hangover and have a slow star? Want to ponder there? And returner says, who will be Man City Manager on the 1st of January, 2027? And Zlatto Markovich says, what's the UK equivalent of a skunk? Hmm. Do we not have skunks in this country? No, diseased badger. T.B. dripping off its muzzle, I don't know. All right, big questions. Some answers on the way in the course of today's show. Let's begin with the biggest question of all, who's going to win the whole bloody thing? Premier League title winners, who have you got and why? Liam, Arsenal. Oh, yeah? Yep. Okay. Duncan. Well, I said Arsenal last year, so why change a winning habit? Right. You think they're going to win again this time? Yeah, I mean, obviously the thing to point out is they haven't retained the title since 1935 since Schrodinger's cat. So they're both, they could win it and they might not win it. But I think I think they will. I mean, I think they are set up for a little little dynasty. Is that when Schrodinger's cat dates back to 1937? 35. 35, sorry. Yeah. And Arsenal, obviously, do some of their best work in the box too. So it all fits. But yeah, I mean, it really is, you know, I mean, I sort of said themselves, when the athletic have done pieces about that they kind of spotted that there was this gap where Liverpool and City and Chelsea were going to be rebuilding. Right. And this was where they kind of, they make their pitch to win and win again. And I think that's kind of where we are. I mean, if you want to make an argument for Arsenal, not winning. And Lord knows there's a big market for that argument. Right. You would look at it and maybe say that there was a lot of walking wounded at Arsenal last year, heading into the World Cup. But Kaya Sacker and Declan Rice needed help to 100% not helped by the World Cup by their exertions there. Obviously, William Celeba and his injury, he'll miss a good chunk of the start of the season. So they may be a little bit disrupted and they also missed out on some of their big transfer targets this summer. Right. But they landed one or two other biggies. And is that why you make them favourites, Tom? Yeah, I think it's a combination of the fact that Arsenal are the only one of the big clubs who will go into this season with any real continuity. I mean, as far as Manchester United, they've still got the same manager. But they did at the end of last season, but he's only been there for a few months. Arsenal got the same group of players, more or less. They've strengthened intelligently. There's the motivation of defending the title for the first time in the Premier League era. But I think in addition to that, even if Arsenal were to struggle to hit the heights that they reached last season, it's hard to make a case for any of their rivals to outstrip them. Because there were so many question marks around the other big clubs with new managers coming in, new managers coming in with different styles who are likely, you know, need a bit of time to to bed in. So I think even if Arsenal were to make a slow start, they still have so much in the bank already that rival clubs can't compete with. You mentioned them not landing in the junior. And Morgan Rogers as well. Morgan Rogers, okay. But would they not still look a stronger squad than the one they had last year? Yeah, I think so. I think certainly when you factor in Bruno Gimmarish, I think they tried to address that midfield spot next to Deccan Rice last year with Zubba Mendi and never felt like they were entirely satisfied with that. Now it feels like that's a really, really strong unit with Martin Ode to God, seemingly showing signs of getting back to his best. He seemed like a player who we talk about the World Cup hangover. He seemed actually recharged by the World Cup. Yeah, he seems quite energized by it, which is funny given how deep Norway went into it and how much he had to play. But he has looked quite jaded for Arsenal in the last couple of years. And he seems to be, he certainly enjoyed himself in the community shield. Yeah. I mean, Sakker looks quicker, I would say already. I mean, he obviously came out the end of England's World Cup coming, said that he was fitter than people were making out, including Thomas T Cool. So, I think that's probably fine. I think the point about Bruno Gimmarish, he's like the best, if not, I mean, Bruno Fernandes. If you call Bruno, he's basically good at line-breaking passes. And that's kind of what Arsenal didn't have last season. There's low blocks. I think adding solace, who's like a kind of faster trossard is a really good upgrade. But I just think Havert's and or Gokores are going to have many more opportunities playing with Gimmarish than they would have done last season. Okay. Bruno T says solace is tross-up with actual sleep. Yeah. Yeah. Are they going to be more fun? I think this time around. Yeah. Why? I mean, because I think we saw it in the community shield as well that they, Arteta is a pretty relentless developer of his philosophy each season. I mean, he adds a little bit each season. And yes, people pointed out they were so, you know, they were quite set piece dependent last year. But that was for a number of reasons. I mean, Arsenal had to face lower blocks more than any other team in the Premier League. And they've taken sets for a dress that this season. And I think, you know, you just see the Califiori, you know, for a team that kind of dismissed his defensive, they're left-blood-based, basically places that aren't forward half the time. So yeah, I think they will be more fun. I think they'll score more goals. And as Tom says, I can't see anyone being consistent enough to really challenge them. And also the tension has gone. Yeah. Like that was one of the main factors. The second half of last season, the number of matches that Arsenal fans found themselves watching through their fingers because the tension was so unbearable because they've been waiting 22 years for the title. But what about the tension? 1935. Well, I mean, a different kind of tension, Schrodinger's tension. But, you know, that is an enormous weight off their shoulders. And it's a cliche. But, you know, when they go into those key matches this season, assuming they are in the mix in the title races, I think we all expect them to be, there won't be that, you know, that vertiginous fear that everything is just going to fall apart, which, which dogged them throughout last season. You know, they are the defending champions. They're clearly the best team in the league. And now it's more about legacy building and making history rather than, you know, let's be forget, the narrative for an awful long part of last season was they need to shed the bottler's tag. And now they have, so now they can play with a bit more freedom. With every new champion, there's always the tension between the self-confidence you get and maybe the hunger that you lose. Right. But having been the nearly team for so long, I'm not sure that will be such a problem for Arsenal. I think they'll have the confidence from winning last year, but they'll still have that drive to go and do it again. Who's the pressure going to be on? If it's off Arsenal, who's the pressure going to be on now? Is it Enzo Mariska, man, City, especially with the start they've had? Yes, but I also think that City looked to me like a team that half expect to decline a little bit. I mean, they've lost yes, they've lost Gariole, they've also lost Roger, they've lost Bernardo Silva. I mean, they're three of the most important factors. I mean, we could all look really stupid in a couple of months and they could've started amazingly, but they just feel like they are at the end of a cycle. Right. Because they've still got pretty good squad. I'm that front, the line up of talent that they have up front mentioned how well the God looked in the world cup at his Norwegian team mate, Erling Hallum was pretty special as well. Yeah, but I think Harlan relies on service and I don't know, Doc, who sounds like he might have picked up an injury. Elliot Anderson is not offering quite the same as Roger did. Phil Foden's obviously in the middle. He wasn't a community shield. Again, hasn't really played well for a couple of seasons. So there are a number of questions. And last season, it took them a while to find the right formula in terms of their attacking football, despite the amount of talent in the squad. And it was only towards the end of the season that Guardiola settled on the right configuration. And what made the difference was sorting out the balance of his midfield. It was from the moment that he started associating Rodri with Bernardo Silver that cities suddenly had the platform to play the kind of football they wanted to play. Ryan Sheck, he starts starting matches as then number 10. And things come together. And those two midfield players have now got an end. And Erask has to create a brand new midfield. And as we saw in the community shield, he has different ideas about how he wants his team to build up. He has different ideas about how he wants them to defend when they don't have the ball. The wingers are going to be much more involved in terms of providing width compared to what happened last season. They press in a slightly different way. My kind of slightly outlandish prediction for the season is that City are going to have a bad season. And how bad to flop V bad outside the top for possibly even outside the top six. You're talking in Chelsea, 15, 16 levels. Wow. The marina season. Yeah. Perhaps not quite that bad. But I just, you know, we saw what happened when Ferguson left. United, we saw what happened when Van Gogh left our job now. You're now sustained by a new. Your new balled position focused head coach. And like, it's not as big a shift because stylistically, Morescar is, you know, close to Guardiola. But there have been big changes in terms of departures, big players coming in who will need to find their feet. And Morescar is changing the way they play. I think also that there's the documentary that's caught this week. A couple of past few months. And the really interesting thing was there were a few clips where he's absolutely berating the players and then saying, well, I'm going to go and now defend you to the media, which is obviously what a manager should do. Some managers don't do that. But I think that shows that the potential for drop off is a lot bigger than maybe people have thought because he's not there anymore. Having covered Enza Morescar at Chelsea as well, I would say there are some key differences between him and Guardiola beyond achievement and status in the game. His football is even more heavily choreographed, I would say, than Guardiola's. Guardiola, I think, went on a bit of a journey in the last few years of maybe giving his players a little bit more freedom in the middle of the pitch to interpret the game as they saw fit. Whereas at Chelsea, it was this three box three with the ball at all times. He would get there in different ways with fallbacks, inverting and things, but it would always be that shape. And the opposition knew exactly what was coming. So Chelsea, when they were playing low blocks, found it very, very difficult at times and they were asking an awful lot of their wingers to create everything, basically. And Chelsea's wingers weren't really capable of doing that. City have much better wingers than you said, Jeremy Docky may not be fit. Is Jack Grillish back as one of them now? He is back, isn't he? Well, yeah, he's back. He's in the squad, but I'm not sure. He came on obviously in the community too. He looked okay, but it was one of those moments you're like, is that Jack Grillish? Right, if I'm not mistaken. Yeah. And you did a fine job of painting a picture of a world where Arsenal don't win the title. Can you do the same for City winning the title? I think it's hard just because we really don't know how good Marekka actually is. I don't think we go. So you're saying there's a chance? Well, he won fewer than half of his Premier League games at Chelsea. And now he would probably say he still had more success with that group of players than the other coaches that Bluecoe have hired. And he will have a much better squad, I think, to work with at City. But there are a lot of questions about Marekka and his football, and also his capacity to deal with criticism, I think, because there were signs at Leicester and signs at Chelsea that if he gets criticised by fans or by the public, if he feels that press conferences have a certain tone, he doesn't handle it well. I always felt like Guardiola was experienced enough that he could, he would get a bit passive, aggressive at times, but he would largely brush it off. Or as Marekka seems quite thin-skinned. Things could merisculate quickly. To Andrew Turner's question, then, who will be Man City Manager on the 1st of January, 2027 Tom? I mean, probably still, Marekka. You think? Unless things go seriously wrong. But Brian Horton, yeah, there we go, get the old guard back. I did see someone post after the community shield. I wonder what Vincent Company's Manchester City will outline next season. Interesting. They start with Bournemouth. Sorry, Man City start with Bournemouth at home. Arsenal mentioned before, they've got Coventry. That's Friday night, I think. It's going to be game. Very interesting. Liverpool, who do they begin with? Ooh, they're at Newcastle. Liverpool, who have changed manager like Man City and what a man they brought in and don't it Iola, does he, automatically, him plus a very, very solid group of players? Does that automatically confer them as contender status? It's hard to say because so much of it depends on how quickly he can get his ideas across. What'd you feel Tom? I mean, he had that slow start at Bournemouth and then, boom. Yeah, I mean, which makes you think perhaps it will take a bit of time. Yeah. And it's such a, it's such a shift from the kind of football that they were playing under on a slot. And he is exactly the kind of coach that Liverpool fans have been crying out for. Someone who's going to bring back the heavy metal football and we've seen indications of that in preseason, in the way that they press, you know, so much more aggressively than they did under slot. And that was obviously a key part of Bournemouth's identity and Irohola. There are players who you suspect are suited to that style of football. But yeah, I mean, if he can get this Liverpool team playing like his Bournemouth team did, they could be contenders. But that is one of the many ifs that we, you know, we have to contend with going into the season. Most sellers moved on, but they've got those two players that they spunked all that cash on, just lost some of Verts and Isaac. Second season, they'll come good. I mean, it's quite interesting to think they will do. I think so, because in preseason, he's almost been playing a 4-4-2 with Verts as a sort of Gerard behind the Isaac Torres sort of situation, Spanish manager, etc, etc. But I think the score is really thin. Obviously, Jacque is coming, you'll know, but him does look good. Rona de Hauser has come in, you know, Jury's out on that one. Tell us about Jacque and why he's required Tom. Yes, well, and yeah, and thanks to the listener who sent in that the question. Gerard, yeah, there is what it is. The no Jacque required quip, which I have immediately pinched for the name of my fancy football team. That means you can't have him in your team. Yes, yeah, yeah, correct. He's very good. He hasn't played mountains of top level football, but yeah, he is, you know, a tall, quick, ranger, front foot centre back, you know, good on the ball, very confident, and I mean, he's basically going to be dropped in at the deep end because there's no, he'd be in the canality anymore. So he's going to be, you know, starting games alongside Van Dyke, he scored in friendly against Como over the weekend, and I think, you know, gave, gave a pretty good impression. So he looks like he has the raw materials to become a future front centre back. They obviously have a pretty deep pool of top level centre backs these days. But, yeah, I mean, a very exciting signing, but as Duncan said, there are, you know, there are clearly some holes in that squad. We should finally get an answer at Liverpool's to what they can be around VS and EZAC, what this iteration of Liverpool with Salagon, there's no longer that identity tension there of the team that they were versus the team that they could be. But the question I have about Eriola is not his coaching abilities, a very talented coach, but at clubs of the size of Liverpool, it's not always enough. He's not outwardly charismatic. He doesn't give the sense that he necessarily wants to be talking in press conferences or being in public face of the club, and a club like Liverpool, that can be quite important, particularly if you have a slow start. Can he bring people with him? Would you say that he's less charismatic than the Mick and I'll tether them, for example? It's tricky, because our tether's kind of cultivated a persona of sorts, hasn't he? Like this sort of pepper Jason intensity in press conference, I'm on fire. And so it can feel quite confected at times, but he has at least put effort into constructing it, whereas I've never really got a sense with the array early. Always important. I'm sorry, but what did you do? He bought a dog, win the dog, so maybe Eriola needs to go down the old buyer dog route. Eriola's dog, Schrodinger's cat. Yeah, yeah. I have a feeling that Liverpool will do really well, and that they might be the more realistic contender for the gunners and the title, but we shall see. Because one of them as well. Nice cat. Nice cat. No, you're not having it. I remember not liking the original, but then I saw why it became, I don't think it's, I think the shade of red is not quite right, but they've tried. One of the curiosities about the many managerial movements this summer in the Premier League is that Arsenal Chelsea and Liverpool will have managers who were in the same youth team in the bass country. Because the Chelsea man, Shavia Lonzo, somebody who you were speaking to Tom only last week. Yes, yeah, I went down to Cobham on that day when it was 37 degrees. Hold that story. We'll take the smallest of breaks and then come back with that and a bit of Chelsea chair. Possibly the most exciting development. The first part was Tom's gradually diminishing stature in the show. Tom, we're using new chairs that reflect the value of your input. So that's something you'll be seeing throughout the season. People can actually know your chair was broken. Well, I'm glad we've referenced this because anyone watching will have been perplexed by the fact that I appeared to be disappearing from screen over the first part of the part. But I'm now back with a new chair. Yeah, I did want to be even higher, but that was yeah, maybe over overruled. For now at least. All right, I said we're going to talk Chelsea and Chelsea, we will talk. The why the why not? The why first of all is the fellow who you were sharing a sweltering set in Cobham with only last week, Shavia Lonzo. Tom, do you want to start us off then? How did he seem? Yeah, he seemed pretty confident and spoke a lot about the need to kind bring a new mentality to what Chelsea do. I think a lot of the focus on Lonzo has been on how he's going to approach things tactically, because when you think back to that spectacular bio leather cousin team that he led to that incredible unbeaten season with the wing backs and the box midfield and the game that they lost, but yeah, from the one game that they lost in the Europa League Final at Atlanta, you know, is he going to be able to succeed in doing something similar at Chelsea? Yeah, and I wanted to ask him about that. And he was talking about how the most important thing above and beyond tactical considerations is just getting everyone on the same page, pulling in the same direction. And you know, one of the most striking things of the recruitment has been this move to bring in more experienced players. Max wants to acquire who I think is the first time Chelsea have spent money on a player a 26 or over since Todd Bowley took over since the first summer of their own years. Since the first summer. First time in four years. Yeah. And then Danny Wellback and Jordan Henderson. So a clear indication that this attempt to, you know, build around very talented young players has probably run its course. Right. And it's time to get some wise old heads. Wellback 35, Hendo 36, nobody ate over the age of 30 has played for Chelsea in over two years, Liam. What do you think? You're there at Cobham. You've been following the dawn of the new Javiolanzo era. How much faith do you have? I think there are definitely reasons to be optimistic. They're not just because of Javiolanzo, there's clearly a huge part of it. But the circumstances heading into this season are so much more favorable for Chelsea than they were last year. Last year they went all the way in the club World Cup, had no preseason. They were so physically undercooked compared to every other Premier League team. And I don't think they ever really overcame what that disadvantage was certainly felt in the second half of the season. I think compounded by the Maresca departure. Whereas this year a lot of their core players missed the tournament. Jal Pedro has come in with a real chip on his shoulder, which is a good thing given how great he was last year. I think he's driven to be even better. Cole Palmer. Cole Palmer as well. I think he desperately needed a rest after three years of basically nonstop football. So most of their core and leave our coals as well. So a lot of their key players are. And we have Woodrick as well. He didn't make the World Cup. He's back. He's back. We don't know if he's going to be back at Chelsea for this season. And this is another part of it that I think will be crystallised in the final two weeks of the transfer window. There aren't a lot of minutes with no European football to go around at Chelsea. And Chabielons are very keen not to have too many players just kicking their heels at Cobham frustrated at their lack of minutes. So as normal with Chelsea, there's a huge amount of players there. And you feel he's going to whittle that down and settle on the side of the way that he did previously at Leathercuse. Yeah, I mean, I think he's already got a core well in mind. And that will only change really, I think, if Enzo Fernandez or Pedro Neto leave. Because they're going to leave. It's still open. It's still open. Enzo Fernandez depends, I think, really, how hard Manchester City wants to push for him. In a Chelsea brief, this internal deadline of 5 p.m. on a Friday to get the 120 million bid in, that deadline passed without Manchester City putting the money on the table. And now there's a sense they might have to pay even more or pay less favourable terms, a more favourable terms to Chelsea. Because I think Chelsea are mindful that if Fernando, I think Chelsea are mindful that if Fernandez or Neto leave, unlike a lot of the other players, Chelsea want to get rid of, they will need to be replaced, probably at significant expense. From other clubs who do not want to have their season preparations disrupted, whether it be Adam Warton at Crystal Palace or Alex Scott Bournemouth, the names that have been touted around, it's getting late now. And Chelsea had this Enzo Fernandez cloud hanging over the mall summer. And I think they just want resolution one mile or the other. What about Morgan Rogers? Is he now the most expensive player in British football history? One million of English players. English players, I can still got there. Right. But he's expensive. English player in English football history. And that was pretty much a prerequisite of the deal, as it has to be more than earlier Anderson. So it was a token amount more, it was about a million pounds more than Manchester City. Who's prerequisite? It was that. Aston Villars. I think they would determine that if Morgan Rogers was going to leave, he would have to be the most expensive British footballer ever in Chelsea. Why would they care about that? People clubs love that stuff. A lot of it is like selling an unpopular decision to your fans, isn't it? Right. I can't claim to know what Aston Villars are thinking. I don't cover them. But if you're going to sell a player who was maybe your best player or second best player last season, in the same summer that you've already lost your retirements, you might want to have a good story to tell your fan base. And I think the price they got for him was justifiable on their end. Maybe not so justifiable on Chelsea's end, but that Morgan Rogers has been a player that they've been fixated on for at least two years. I mean, a lot of transfer fees feel a little bit like they've just been plugged out of thin air, don't they? 64.5 million and no higher. Exactly. That is the fee for this player, not 65, 65.3. So at least there's an explanation for this one. I kind of feel as well old-school to me. Yeah, I mean, there we go. It's going to be more than this guy, a totally different club, in a completely unrelated transaction. That is going to determine the value of this very expensive footballer. Was it Trevor France? Is it Brian Kluff paid 999,999 with the balance? He didn't want him to have the pressure being a million pounds there now. I'd suggest maybe he got that anyway, but yeah. Duncan, are you liking what you're hearing about? Javi's you look Chelsea. I think so. I mean, as someone who... No, you're up as well. Yeah, that is a big thing. We saw with Manchester's 90s last season. We've seen it with Chelsea before. Obviously Tottenham got that advantage as well. It does help. It really does. So yeah, I mean, as someone who's tipped Chelsea to do quite well on this podcast in previous season, I now feel scared, but I think they'll be right here. I think for me, they feel like probably the most likely challenges to us. Well, this season is the 10-year anniversary, or by the end of this season, it'll be 10 years since Chelsea last won the league. When they last won it under Conte, they went in with a manager in his first season, who eventually pivoted to 3421, which is what Javi Alonzo is certainly moving towards in preseason and will likely start the season. And we said earlier that season was the start of the last chapter, and now we're the start of the new chapter. So parallel. Parallels everywhere. You can't move for them. They're opening fixtures an interesting one, because they're up against Fulham, which is the last two managers of Real Madrid up against each other. That's so bizarre. Yeah, and I think Alonzo and Albaloa have a pretty good, or a long-standing relationship, shall we say, from Liverpool and Real Madrid. So I think there will be a few features written around that game. I think Spanish-flavored features, some of which may appear on the athletic. I wonder if, as you're listening or watching this show, your conviction is about Arsenal, and possibly here in the room, are shifting a little bit, as we list the various attributes of some of the other contenders. And let's throw manches to United into that mix. Duncan, they've got continuity. They've made some pretty important signings. Yuri Telemann's, and what that's going to mean for possibly the most under-exploited talent in the Premier League, Bruno Fernandez, felt almost like he was wasted in the setup for so many years under so many managers there. Yeah, I know what you mean. It did feel like the end of the last season was basically just United were a sort of Harlem Globe Trust is just trying to get him above 20 assists, which slightly undermined the club, I'd say. But I think they've done what they needed to do. They for years, their midfield has been barren, really. Casamero sort of holding defensive midfield together by himself. They've obviously signed Andrew Santos from Chelsea. The athletic have reported this morning by David Rone, seeing that they're back in for Carlos Belayba. Obviously he had an injury hit season last year, but very good player. You know, add that to Fernandez to Telemann's. What price are they putting on Belayba? They're trying 60 million. I think Liam was saying before probably go a little bit higher. But I mean, I've seen some managers like fans say, well, this is a bit short-term signing of the likes of Yuri Telemann's. It's like, yeah, but that's kind of what they need to do. They need to kind of reassemble themselves. They've got a Champions League campaign to deal with. They need to just, a good season, if you like, would be a deep Champions League and being on the periphery of the title race. And I think they can probably do that. So under Michael Carrick, they've actually had the best record of any team in the Premier League. He had 17 games last season. They have massed more points than any other side. In that, is it fair to kind of extrapolate that into this season and make them contenders? I think that's a bit of a jump. They were playing on Easy mode the second half of last season. Carrick came in, taking over from someone as kind of divisive as Reem and Amarim is a pretty good position to be in. They do have a really easy start to this season. I mean, up to have said they've got the easiest opening five games. So there's a scenario where they could be sort of a couple of points clear going into that long international break. And I imagine many united a back, give them the title now. Pieces might be appearing. But I think they're on the right trajectory, which is something we haven't had to say for a while. All right. And the players with question marks are going to like Marcus Rashford returning, Mason Mount looking to make good on his promise there. So there's potential in that team. Yeah. I mean, I think what they addressed heading into last season will be it took a little while to realise it until Amarim was gone was different smakers in the final third. And you see that they've got more quality than just about anyone if they need a goal to win a game. Whereas this summer, I think they've added real midfield talent to it. I think Andrei Santos is a very good player. Chelsea won't gonna sell him for just any price. I think they felt good about the price they got, but it doesn't mean he won't be very good for Manchester United. Carlos Belabor was being linked with 100 million pound transfers a couple of years ago. And Yuri Tidamans at the price they got him for. I'm sure he's on good salary, but he's been a very good Premier League player for a long time. So they've finally got some craft and technical ability. And in that area of the pitch around Kobe Manu and Bruno Fernandez. Yeah. I mean, you know, as Liam says, the remedial work that the squad required largely took place a year ago. And for the first time in recent memory, all of United's recruitment last season pretty much paid off. Benjamin Cheshire had a slow start to the season, but came into his own in the second half of the season. Santa Lamens was a revelation between the posts. Brian and Burma Mateusz Kunya found their feet pretty quickly. And so the general structure of the squad looks pretty solid. The big focus this summer was replace Casamero, find someone to take over from Manuel Agate, who is a injured and be not very good anyway. They've signed Tillamans and Andrei Santos. It looks like Carlos Belabor's gonna follow them. So they know this strength everywhere. Bruno Fernandez is going into it into this season off the back of his best ever season. So you'd expect them to kick on. I guess the fear that might haunt some United fans is the memory of what happened after Oligona Solshut was given the job on a full on a full time basis, because he had a similarly positive impact. And then that, you know, that ran aground. But that ran aground partly because they went out and bought Christiana Ronaldo thing. I mean, yeah, we can't rule it out. We can't rule it out. But I mean, you know, there's been a restructuring at all management levels at United since Ineos came in. And you know, there was perhaps a feeling when that first happened that you'd got a lot of, there's a new there's a new technical direction, there's a new director of football, not all of these people are still there. But there was at least reflected a desire to kind of professionalize the management structure. And I think the recruitment that we've seen over the last 12 months has been a reflection of the fact that those decisions are being made in a more coherent way. So that I feel like they're going into this season on a more solid footing and they have for quite a long time. All right, they begin their campaign away at Howl. Howl will be featuring in the next preview show when we talk about the promoted size. But I'm wondering, to me, all these teams now seem like absolutely nailed on certainties for for the Premier League title. Have you in any way been swayed by some of the things you've heard, Dunkiners, it's still very much the gunners? Yeah, very much the gunners, I think followed by what's your prediction? A follow-up Chelsea, I think. Oh, Chelsea do. I think the lack of European football and Chabielons have been, it's a very good manager. And, you know, their score is too big, but it is, there is talent now. Chelsea, I've such a wide range to me, because I'm still not sure how well their talent fits together. Right. No, we have telling you how high they've finished a bit like Tom and he's there. I mean, if it clicks and Chabielons is clearly capable of getting it to click, then as Dunkin says, they have all the ingredients to maybe be better than we think. I don't think they can actually be in a title race. I think they could finish maybe a distant second in a season where there isn't really a title race. Right. You want to give us a full top four, Tom. You're going to go Arsenal, Manchester United, Liverpool, Chelsea. You agree with that top four, Dunkin? No, I will go Arsenal. Yes, I agree with that. Then I'll go Chelsea. Yes, yes. Then Manchester United, then Manchester City. No, Liverpool. Liam, I think Arsenal, Manchester United, Liverpool, Manchester City. All right. It's so crucial that we list these big teams in some sort of order before the campaign gets underway. And by the way, Spurs fans, if you're wondering why we had a mention, we just rebuilt our team. We've got the highest paid manager in the world. How about a shout for us? We're going to save you for the second show. Why? Because everyone loves to talk them so much that we needed to keep you back to make sure you check out the second preview. I think he gave 17. I think he gave 17. That's perfect. Twice in a row. But that aside, Ashton Villa, because they have retained their manager, not all of their players, clearly. And producer Charlie who's not with us today did add Ashton Villa into this conversation, in his suggested outline. I'm a bit confused about that. Can you offer an explanation? It feels a bit aggressive to put them in the title race. I think you have to credit their infrastructure and their decision making how well run they've been enough to put them in the Champions League qualification race, despite losing Rodgers, Telemanns. Despite the fact that Emory will have the retrofit this team a bit, and they made well do more in the last two weeks of the transfer, when they look quite different. But we have seen before that, Emory is very capable of doing that. He's a coach that finds solutions. Even if they don't click early in the season, they can get really hot later on. He's the most adaptable manager ever. You see Villa in like, you've got well, that's their team for season. Then they sell through it and bring in some players like, well, that's not going to work and he just kind of makes it work. It's not well enough to win the league, but I think they'll definitely be in the top five again. In the top five, they were kind of written off a year ago, Villa, and still had a very good season. I remember it certainly the first third of the season, I think it was. We were talking about them even potentially being title contenders last time. Well, they had a wretched start and then they rallied and were brilliant, and barely dropped any points. We're in the title picture, Christmas, and then fell away again. But when Europa League, I think because they have such a thin squad, they are probably better suited to European competition than to a sustained title challenge. But I think given the amount of upheaval elsewhere, Villa can have a comparable season to the one they had last season. They'll at least be in the mix for a top four finish, which Villa fans will absolutely take at this moment. And they're interesting as well. I mean, obviously signed Manzambi, who we sort of look up. You saw very close, didn't you? Enjoy. You love Manzambi. Oh, yeah. Brian Maggio, obviously scored in the Super Cup. Yes. Just looks class, but obviously very young. He wouldn't imagine him to get that many minutes, but you never know. Then they're signing Suzuki as well. So they've gone quite well, a copy, haven't they? They've gone like, you know, he's had a good boy of Cup. Let's get him in, which I like that. You know, I like that. And Alejandro Garnaccio. And Alejandro Garnaccio. The West Midlands Rehabilitation Centre for problematic left side of Man United forwards welcomes another visitor. What do you think, Liam? I mean, look, Garnaccio's had a tough two years, hasn't he? And it's easy to get lost at Chelsea, and he did get lost at Chelsea, and it was quite hard to watch at times. I do think Emory is one of the coaches that you would back to get to him and put him in put him in the best positions to succeed. I don't he's really not a player that can shine in any context. I think he needs to be in a certain position in a certain system that suits him. Maybe not against so many low block teams where he's having to beat multiple defenders. If he can be a bit more direct, a bit more of an off ball runner, those felt like his better moments in Manchester United as well. And I think Emory will probably lean into those, and we may see more from him than we did at Chelsea. Okay. So despite the ongoing exodus, plenty of positive noises about Villa. Well, next time out, we're going to chat about Spurs. We're also going to talk about Newcastle. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. We're going to have a word or two and any other potential surprises that we're expecting. Oxymoronic, though, that sounds. And of course, we'll talk about the promoted team's prospects of staying in the Premier League. That, though, I believe pretty much fulfills our remit for today, unless Duncan, Liam or Tom, there's anything else you want to throw out there. Another title contender. Is there? No. Not even for us. Yes. Everyone thinks for a title about that. Type that TBC. Right. Okay, then. Well, Duncan, thank you so much for being with us today. Look forward to your company during the season. Liam, same to you. Ditto, Mr Williams. I love you, James. I think that face your hair, by the way. Thanks for much. Two thumbs up from over here. I've gone the other way. Yeah. Notice that. I'm approaching boiled egg status. You're okay. You're, you're, you're definitely has you to enough of face. Okay. So not being taken for an hour, I would say. We're right, then. That's nice, then. Check us out tomorrow, i.e. Thursday. One will be looking at the rest of the Premier League. But for now, it's many thanks to everybody. And from all of us here, goodbye.
