Weekend Preview: Arsenal’s Anfield test and 2023 in review

A title clash awaits as Arsenal head to Anfield on Saturday. Both teams will be looking to cement their place at the league leader over the festive season, but will Arteta’s defensive bulwark be able to thwart Klopp’s piercing direct attack?

On this episode of the Weekend Preview, Adam Leventhal is joined by The Athletic’s Tim Spiers and Jay Harris and Jon Mackenzie from Tifo.

The guys preview the title clash on Merseyside as well as a deeper look into West Ham’s attempts to solidify their spot in the top half of the table. Plus some chat about Spurs v Everton and also our own “The Athletic Football Podcast Wrapped” to round up 2023 and a fun formations quiz.

Timecodes
00:00:00 Intro
00:03:18 Liverpool v Arsenal
00:18:01 West Ham v Man Utd
00:38:50 Spurs v Everton
00:47:13 Nuno is back in the Premier League
00:50:05 Other fixtures
00:50:32 Are Chelsea back?
00:51:45 2023 Review
01:00:54 A Gift and a Quiz

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#premierleague #arsenal #liverpool

Hi there this is the athletic football podcast weekend preview it is the last set of fixtures before Christmas and it is our last show of 2023 hello everyone and welcome to the show I’m Adam levental and seasons greetings to our wonderful panel Jay Harris is here how

Are you Jay I’m a little bit wet ah yes you are do you want to explain um I very stupidly knocked a glass of water over myself and my laptop so yeah well that’s all right it’s fine yeah soldiering through will you be able to do any more

Articles for the rest of the year I think I’ll just about manage to power through okay is that good news is that bad news who knows uh Tim Spears is here as always how are you yeah good I feel like we’ve already done the podcast with our pre-match uh chat yes which people

Might like to listen to we’ve talk various issues including Banning long throwin which I am all for um John McKenzie is here as well from TF how are you I’m good how are you John I’m very well it is great to have you all on the show just a reminder for everyone that

You can listen in all the normal podcast places as you are right now but you can also watch the show on our YouTube channel we hit 200,000 subscribers on the channel this week so thank you to uh everyone for showing some love surprised by that well no I think that’s that’s a

Healthy total isn’t it yeah yeah yeah good just before we get to our all important fixture for we will also just a flag for you later on in the podcast have a little bit of a review of the Year our panels picks and also a special quiz for you okay let’s

Run through our fixture formation for the week it is a 1161 from Thursday to Sunday um listeners will note that that only adds up to nine games uh of course Manchester City against brenford was postponed due to City’s involvement in the the club World Cup we’ve already had Crystal

Palace against Brighton on Thursday night the Friday evening game Aston Villa who could go top with a win are up against bottom of the lot Sheffield United the early kickoff on Saturday eighth against 7th West Ham against Manchester United then we have four Saturday 3:00 Tottenham Four Points

Clear in fifth and a point off Manchester City in fourth against the real form team of the Premier League uh Everton five wins out of six for them uh Nuno ESO Santos Nottingham Forest take on Bournemouth Fulham in 11th against second bottom Burnley Luton play their first game since the abandonment of the

Bournemouth game uh that’s going to be replayed in full they take on Newcastle not good form for Newcastle at the moment four defeats out of five in all competitions the Saturday evening game is the meeting of the top two we’ll have a big big focus on that in this episode

Liverpool second against Arsenal top of the lot and then Sunday which is Christmas Eve what a gift this game is wolves 13th against Chelsea in 10th we will start at the summit though so yes let’s focus on the biggest game of the weekend tabl topping Arsenal against

Second place Liverpool as we head in to this latest round of fixtures uh the winner goes top for Christmas day so Arsenal are sitting at top the Premier League playing really well but Liverpool at home they’ve hardly dropped a point um so who do we put let’s just quickly

Whz round who do we put as favorites for this game Jay um I’d probably say Liverpool because they are at home okay Tim I think the draw is the favorite but I would slightly favor Arsenal oh really yeah why I just think they’re playing the better football at the moment they

Got a really solid defense and and they’re in a very good moment and this is like a chance to lay down a marker for someone and I feel like they’re better place to do that and John yeah I’m going to go with Tim I think Arsenal are the favorites going into this

One that’s interesting I wasn’t sure that you would go for Arsenal considering Liverpool’s home form um in terms of a win for Arsenal if it is going to happen it would obviously take them top um and would give them a little bit of separation from Liverpool and man

Manchester city is that important now right now to be able to do that well I think you’ve just alluded to it but Arsenal’s record at anford over the last 10 years is abysmal um I don’t think they’ve won in 10 years um I think they’ve conceded at least two goals in

Their last 10 visits as well so not a very happy hunting ground so I think to to win against Liverpool a team that probably people didn’t expect to be competing for the title this season but have certainly looked quite impressive in recent weeks would be a massive statement they’ve already beaten Man

City this season okay you know had a little bit of a setback against Aston Villa but for Arsenal to say that by Christmas they’ve beaten their two closest challenges for the title I think that’s massive psychologically do you think Arsenal will get a little bit spooked going back to anfield after what

Happened last season being two-nil up and then leaving with a 2-2 draw and it came at around a time when I’m just spooked they they played very well in the first half well I say spooked but wasn’t that the game that artetta was playing like anfield noises

Ahead of no I think that’s a couple of season was that a couple okay F different season okay fine so that wasn’t wasn’t necessarily last last year but I mean in terms Tim of going there and having those Recollections of oh this is where our title tilt sort of

Started to come undone or do you think that they are as the phrase goes and I don’t know if you like this phrase Tim yeah ment M ality monsters um right for for anyone who does anyone want to explain what mentality monsters are before we progress well I think you just

Volunteered well I I don’t really know what it means but I hear it a lot it’s just something klopp said I think to describe strong mentality right Liverpool just the the ability to keep going and going and grinding so relentless yeah okay so that’s so it

Works quite well they want to prove that they are mentality monsters don’t they Tim do do they do they do well I think they probably do after what happened last year maybe I don’t I don’t think that’ll be on their mind as much but they have they’ve got an issue with

Their away form uh this season which needs to be resolved so the last two uh sort of big away games they’ve had away at Newcastle and Villa lost both of those one nil they drew at Chelsea they’ve won all their other away games against inferior teams like brenford and

Luton and Bournemouth recently that’s not a that’s not a dig I know it wasn’t a dig but it’s just the way sorry um but yeah I feel like they’ve moved away from the the k we saw other times last season they’re playing with more control their defense looks

Stronger my biggest concern for them is over their keeper I don’t think you can win a league with a keeper making mistakes so you look oh you look shocked and surprised at me saying well I’m just wondering whether we’ve moved on from that have we moved on from that I think

The Loon game’s still fresh in my mind it wasn’t I saw I saw a clip on social media and correct me if I’m wrong but that David ryer was being praised for his excellent distribution yeah but he’s always been praised for his excellent distribution but in the last game and

That was key there was there was no mistakes yeah but you know I was talking to um art de ro about this earlier um on the hand bre off which I’ve been hosting the last couple I just had to had to throw that in there yeah no good good I

Like that um but Rey’s still fluctuating between games where he does very little and games where every time he’s involved he seems to make a mistake he’s not so when he’s under the pump he makes mistakes feels that way at the moment um and I think he’s still waiting for that

Game where he Baals Arsenal out of trouble basically I don’t I think it’s fair to say he’s not kind of had that Cornerstone game yet where everybody says wow Arsenal escaped with a point or Arsenal got three points um because of David reyer but interestingly the game

Which kind of really I think cemented his status as a really good Premier League goalkeeper was against Liverpool a few years ago when he was at brenford makes an amazing save from Dogo jot in the first half and countless others as well so I wonder if maybe you know

History will repeat itself and he can kind of do that on Saturday cuz if if you remember ramale had a a pretty decent game at anfield last season there was one save at the end I can’t remember who it was from off the top of my head

But it was basically going in and he scrambles across the line to clear it so Ray needs to produce a similar performance like that otherwise as Tim says I think those questions do still exist and Liverpool have had the most shots of any team in the league I think

I’m right in saying and obviously they had many against Man United last week albeit a lot from outside the box that were blocked but still he’s going to come under a sustained period of pressure for sure so it’s a big test for him I was just going to say I think um

Liverpool are pretty good from set pieces as well right and with the Loon game that’s probably the first time I’ve been a bit concerned about David Ry genuinely concerned players always need a little bit of time to adapt to a new team in a new environment not everybody’s like Harland and just hits

The ground running but one of rare strengths at brenford was his cross claiming um and his aerial ability from corners and things like that whereas at Luton he just looked completely shaky so if that happens at anfield it’s going to be a disaster what’s your take on it John because

Obviously it’s being painted as as Liverpool’s you know Wonderful attack um and Arsenal’s strong defense but when you look at the very base I mean I I I I almost feel silly raising these these statistics goals for and goals against um Arsenal Bas basic basic have scored they’ve scored 35 and conceded 15

Liverpool have scored 36 and conceded 15 there’s very little to choose between the two sides is there it’s funny because the 2-2 draw at the end of last season was the first game game where Liverpool started playing Trent Alexander Arnold inside um and since that point they’ve been the best team in

The Premier League per per results which I think is is quite interesting um Liverpool obviously do have a great attack but I I still think there’s big questions about how good Liverpool are actually reliably progressing the ball down the field um they’re a very direct team they have players who thrive in

Those direct attacking moments and that bailed them out of a lot of situations but I think when you come up against a team like Arsenal who for me this season have just been one of the best teams of all time out of possession one of the

Best teams when it comes to defending of all times I think it it’s going to be tough for them to be able to break that Arsenal team down so um we mentioned that maybe draw draws could be the favorite in this game and I I do think

That the way that you’ve angled it here is like good attack versus good defense is probably is is a good way of looking at it I think Liverpool are able to do the things that they are able to do well namely attacking with dynamism and Pace using Trent Alexander Arnold inside to

Be able to play those uh those just really dangerous penetrative passes that he plays and and Arsenal aren’t able to stop those at source or or deal with them when they come in then Liverpool will will have some Joy but at the same time I think on the other hand we what

We’ve seen from Arsenal is maybe uh struggling to be as dangerous going forward as a result of the fact that they have now filled their team with profiles of player who are very very good defensively so if Liverpool are able to be kept quiet and and Arsenal

Aren’t able to click in an attacking sense then then maybe we are looking at a draw but I think that that’s a perfectly adequate way of looking at that despite the the fact that the the stats as you say do suggest that both teams are fair Fairly similar Manchester

United managed to keep Liverpool quiet in the in the last game obviously that was um a game that had a big buildup we were looking forward to a big grudge match we just have to hope that it’s not the same end result because we want a we want a big

Interesting cra cracker don’t we Before Christmas cracker before Christmas I like that he knew what he was doing he did know what he was doing um yeah it’s an an unusual time to play a big top two Clash um it’s got a later in the season

Sort of feel to it but I do think with Man City not I mean Liverpool can go 10 points clear of Man City if they win their next two games because they play two games before Man City do that won’t bother Pep Guardiola or Man City but it

Will encourage Liverpool uh in terms of belief and momentum if they can win this title uh or Arsenal again if if if they can soar ahead it’s important at this time of year and normally funny results between sort of Christmas and New Year man city bang out form they don’t look

Like they’re capable of going on a 10 game winning run at the moment so it’s potentially defin in sort of a couple of weeks really with so many games coming thick and fast this is where the table can really start to stretch out obviously Liverpool are coming off the

Back of a a drubbing of West Ham in the carabal cup and it’s difficult to to use that as a barometer ahead of this game because I don’t know it was a weird one for for West Ham because it looked as if they were heading there you know in in

Good form we’ll talk about them a little bit later um but it it was interesting that they they tinkered with things in terms of their formation and they seemed to be well quite happy doing what they used to do right yeah and there’s been lots of questions about as I mentioned

The the inversion of chent Alexander Arnold I’ve just made a video for tifo asking the question whether or not I was wrong about my reading of the situation because I’ve never really been that happy with them moving Alexander arold inside it felt to me that they were

Trying to solve a problem that existed because they had allowed their their team to sort of cycle decline down they tried to solve it with a tactical means they then brought in a lot of new players who can play the way that maybe they were playing before but they’ve

Persisted with this tactical tweak and I I think there’s people asking questions now whether or not they might be better off going back to what Yogen kout was doing so well previously now that they’ve they’ve uh upscaled their Midfield again um and yeah I think the I

I mentioned it before in my previous answer this is all about ball progression um and a lot a lot of teams I think at the highest level want to have uh consistent and reliable means of progressing the ball down the field um if you can’t do that then you’re in

Trouble right you can have the best front line in in the world and if you if you can’t get the ball to them it’s it’s going to be a problem so that’s where I’m at with with Liverpool at the moment it seems to be working which has raised

Questions to me about whether or not I misunderstood the way that fullback inversion works but when you have a player who’s as Elite you doubting yourself you what it’s I think it’s an important attitude to have as an analyst you know it is yeah so yeah the video is

All about me asking the question this is the the reason why teams usually invert their fullbacks but Liverpool don’t seem to be getting any of the benefits of that but they still seem to be winning so but I think it’s down to the fact that when you have an elite ball player

Like Trent Alexander Arnold you move him inside on the pitch you’re going to get the upside from him even if you’re not going to get the Tactical um upside from him you’re going to get the the talent upside from him because he is going to

Be able to help them move the ball down the p pitch quickly into their front line so the big question for me with Liverpool is are they going to come up against a team who’s going to be smart enough to be able to stop Alexander Arnold having that upside and if you can

Then what do they do um or are you going to be a team like West Ham who who clearly I mean he I believe he wasn’t playing they they they went back to their previous approach with with West Ham but they are they’re a team who do

Like to sit back and they don’t like to pressure the back line so it makes the it makes the ball progression side of things easier and interestingly in the two- two draw that happened at the end of last season between Liverpool and Arsenal uh arsenal were two goals up and

Were playing comfortably Liverpool get one of the goals back and then what happened was Arsenal started dropping really deep it meant that Liverpool found it much easier to progress the ball forward so again it all of this comes down to whether or not you’re getting the upside of of your Tactical

Tweaks and I think Arsenal now are in a much better position to come out at anfield and say we’re not going to allow you to get any of the benefits that you get from having Trent Alexander Arnold in a central space and if they can stop

That then it’s going to stop the ball getting into the front line and and they’re going to find it hard to score goals Jurgen klopp has been having a little bit of a go at the Liverpool fans wanting more of an atmosphere at anfield Tim what why why are you smirking no I’m

Not you are smirking I’m happy to be here don’t sit at the back of the car smirking long overdue isn’t it it’s it’s really quiet at that place like a lot of the time oh okay I don’t know this the famous anfield atmosphere is a thing but

Only for like really big games I’ve been there you must have been there when it’s been it’s been really quiet I remember when they were on the ropes against Watford um in the 201920 season and it was deathly quiet but it was an early kickoff so maybe that had something to

Do with ITP Liverpool won the game obviously it’s not one of those stadiums where there’s a constant level of like high noise week in week out yeah that that for a big game I don’t think there’s any better stadium in the country and I’ve been there on a couple

Of days when they’ve been going for the league on the last day against woles and it’s been phenomenal to be honest but yeah it can it can be very quiet but this is this is this reminds me of gu Guardiola a year ago having to go at

City and the club for we need to we need we need to be a proper Club again this this is too nice it’s too the Happy Flowers Club you called it this feels like klopp doing something similar he’s he wouldn’t have just said it off the

Cuff he said it on purpose yeah but also he did say off the back of a a game against West Ham in the carabal cup the intensity the the Jeopardy of of that game isn’t necessarily going to deliver the the atmosphere but maybe he did it pointedly because he knows that they

Will need them um against Arsenal um let’s get some score predictions Jay come on 21 Arsenal 21 arsenal we changed his mind he said Liverpool at the beginning no I said I said Liverpool uh probably edged it as favorit I think he’s been swayed by the no no I just

Said you know Liverpool may be favor doesn’t mean I’m just going to tie myself and not submit myself as stupid but hey two1 Arsenal is the answer I’m going for okay Tim yes same the same two two Arsenal 2N Arsenal okay well we Chelsea next up it is West Ham against

Manchester United so Saturday 12:30 it is a very important game for two teams on the periphery of the top six West Ham in eighth against Manchester United in seventh United a point ahead let’s talk about man united first uh John I’ll come to you they got away with a result at

Anfield nil nil um was there was there positivity for you that that came out of that just simply by not getting beaten and anything that they did in that game that they can build on I feel like I’m going to sound like a broken record here

Because try not to okay well I’ll try not to but um again this comes down to what we were talking about with Liverpool before the the consistency of their ability to progress the ball down the field make good decisions in the final third against the team Manchester

United sitting very deep um I’ve already said Liverpool are set up to to really get the upside of being a direct Dynamic attacking team Manchester United went with the intention of not allowing space for them to run into sitting deep and and saying come on then break us down

And uh Liverpool clearly didn’t have the the means to do that in that game so obviously Manchester United went with a game plan that worked so there’s positivity from that but I also feel as though there’s a lot of problems with the way that Liverpool are looking to

Break down Low Blocks as well so um I guess positives and negatives there for me obviously the big issue for Manchester United is is scoring goals um where do we where do we stand on on hland at the moment Tim are we thinking that he will come good it seems as if in

A similar way you know we were discussing David ryer earlier on we’re expecting him to be perfect instantaneously do we just need to give this guy a little bit more time yeah absolutely I never never expected much more than what we seeing from him this season to be honest I just think it’s

This the price tag has obviously has a massive impact on people’s expectations of him but personally I know I looked into his his career when he joined and didn’t expect any more than than what we’re getting and I feel it’s unfair to expect more of him and it’s poor

Recruitment on United’s part to think that he’s going to do anything else and they should have foreseen in my opinion that rashford was scoring way ahead of his average last season and that wasn’t going to continue this year I mean he’s dropped off far more than many some of

Us would have thought but I never expected him to be scoring 30 goals again so there’s a lack of goals across that team and the numbers are shocking I mean they’ve only scored one fewer than Luton this season um despite playing one more game as well um no problem in the

Champions League they got 12 and six in the Champions League but um yeah there you look across that forward line uh with uh Garo and Anthony and they were not scoring of regular goals here at the top level so it’s complet to be expected for me I was Service as well

Right you mentioned rashford not playing as much this this time around they’ve got gach you in there but Anthony has had struggles as well producing chances so for me a lot of the problems can be traced back to like where’s that service coming from um he yeah hland is

Underperforming his expected goals but I think he’s only on you know around around three expected goals he’s on zero goals in the Premier League he’s three goals less than you would expect over that samples size but it’s a small sample size anyway right you know for

For a short period you would expect some players to underperform their numbers so a mixture of both I think that he’s not being provided with particularly good service but he’s also not taking the chances that have come his way completely agree with Tim I always thought it was grossly unfair that hland

Was build as this Silver Bullet answer to man United’s troubles up front it’s a lot of pressure for a 20-year-old who I think some people maybe incorrectly thought that he already was the finished article or he was on a similar level to Harland at the time whereas actually what man

United were essentially investing in was the potential like he had a decent record at Atlanta but it wasn’t amazing and it was only a couple of years before that when he was at Copenhagen and Sturm grz that he wasn’t wasn’t exactly ripping up trees um and I felt like and

Still feel like man united probably need another Center forward um someone who can take the burden of goal scoring off hland don’t think you can just have rashford and hland as your main sources of goals I think any team um so even you look at Arsenal they’ve got Jesus and

Ena Anda may may not be on the same level as Jesus but he’s still going to get you goals against Sheffield United for them West Ham Burnley inferior teams like wolves um and and obviously the same with City they’ve got Harland and Alvarez most teams have two three four um goal

Scorers at a good level and you look at Man United they had rashford last season he’s not doing that anymore they’ve invested in hland but I still think just relying on those two throughout the course of a season to be your main source of goals was always incredibly

Naive anyways can I take you to a a parallel universe John yeah of course I love those um I was watching this this isn’t part of the parallel universe but it’s inspired my thinking so you’re watching in the real Universe I was watching in the current universe that

I’m in right now um Wolfsburg against Bayern Munich uh Harry Kane obviously play playing excellently well um and I know as part of this the the Takeover of of Manchester United has had a huge impact on their um the controls that they’ve had on their spending and and

What they would probably want to do and the delays have actually really sort of muddle things but in this parallel universe where Harry Kane is playing for Manchester United would he be able to solve their issues simply by being the goal scorer that we know he can be by

Being transplanted from Tottenham to to Bayern Munich and scoring 21 goals now in the Bundesliga would he have scored as many goals now in that man united team and would if he change their um uh what’s the word what would be the word their potency overall as a team I mean

This is definitely a different kind of profile to holand right holand is off the shoulder kind of kind of strike he can do the holdup stuff as well but with Harry Kane what you expect to see is him dropping deep and helping be a generative player as well deeper on the

Field and if you if you’re gonna have a player like that then you need to have other goal scorers who are going to get in behind into the space that’s opened up by him so I think a lot of this comes down to system problems right how many

Times this season have we seen Manchester United have to score through a moment that is generated I thinking like the Burnley game they won one nil um and it’s Bruno Fernandez having me just an incredible volley chance from I think it was a Johnny Evans Yeet into the box and then we’ve

Got the gonio gacho goal for the for the Everton win ends up being 3-0 but the first goal comes very early on just in incredible piece of skill as well I think that’s the problem with with Manchester United is that the system isn’t consistent enough to generate

Chances and goals and yes you know bringing in Harry Kane that would definitely improve their ability to generate chances um but for me right now the problem isn’t with holand the problem is with the system not generating enough chances that it doesn’t matter if hland underperforms his numbers a little bit you’re still

Generating such a high volume of chances that you’re you’re going to finish some of them so yeah Manchester United just rely on and their players having to have moments we talked about Marcus rashford last season there was a period when Manchester United looked very good last season that period was pretty much

Marcus rashford having an incredible Purple Patch where just everything he touched turned to a goal and now that’s dropped off Manchester United now look like they can’t generate anything and I think a big part of their success last season was because you know they could rely on rashford to get those goals when

They needed them they don’t have those players in now so the system needs to do a little bit more for me but like you said ear and maybe it’s too simplistic to describe it this way but I’ve seen it broken down on a few um TV shows this

Season but obviously when you’ve got players like um rashford Anthony it’s kind of like their main skill set kind of is to come inside and shoot they’re not particularly known for dropping into the by line and pulling crosses back so when you’ve got a striker like hland who kind of thrives

In the six-yard box like you said the players that are around him do not complement him which you know okay you might have put Kane there it might be slightly different but still don’t think it completely erases those mistakes that are happening not even mistakes they’re

Just things that are not being done he’s looked good in the Champions League as well and I think we’ve seen a lot of Premier League teams go to the champions league and look quite potent as attacking threats because I think you come up against teams in the Champions

League are going to maybe be a little bit more open and we’ve seen that with Arsenal as well they’ve had some massive results in in the Champions League and then that’s not really necessarily been translated in in the Premier League we’ve seen the same with hland has

Looked fine in the in the Champions League so I think again it is just the system thing if you can get the ball into areas where he’s going to be dangerous from he’ll be great that’s that’s why they brought him in they’re not doing that at the moment that’s

Where the problem lies let’s talk about um West Ham obviously they were awful against Liverpool in the caraval cup um but prior to that seven wins out of 10 in all competitions four wins out of six in the Premier League do you think that they will have no problem just blocking

Out that that defeat at downfield and it being a blip and they’ll be able to get back on track and they’ll have they’ll have belief going into a home game against Manchester United uh I mean they’ve been wildly inconsistent of late they um they lost 5- nil at Fulham uh

They got an excellent result against a very good team beating wolves 3-0 yeah um and then obviously yeah 5-1 in the week which is unlike David Moyes team um but overall they’re having as good a season as I would have expected I thought they’d have a bit of a bit of a

Wobble this year they had a horrible preseason um when rice went and there were no new signings for a while and brought in a new technical director Tim Steen and there were suggestions that him and Moyes would would would be very much odds with each other over recruitment um but recruitment has been

Good and we’ve obvious seen kudus recently um in phenomenal form so um yeah ninth in the Premier League and good results in Europe I can’t really explain the wild inconsistencies I don’t know if that’s the schedule of this season or last season just on the car

Cup he he dropped quite a few players didn’t he and also Moyes I don’t think Moyes has ever won an anfield no he hasn’t but also West Ham almost feel like he he rocked up thinking it’s not going to change which game do I I maybe care about more which

West fans will potentially disagree with especially after they won won a trophy last season but felt very much like he rocked up knowing that they were going to get turned over yeah but it’s I guess that the West Ham fans will be disappointed because they saw West Ham

Um do well maybe against the odds in in Europe and and you know go into Uncharted Territory etc etc so they would have hoped oh you know maybe we can get that first win the Uncharted Territory of a cup semi-final away against filam or whatever it was well

You know what I mean of winning a trophy a domestic trophy for the first time since what the beginning of the 80s so you know that that’s that’s what they want to do um does David Moyes get enough credit do you think I think he gets too much credit too much I don’t

Know this maybe this will be a very deeply unpopular opinion perhaps but I feel as though I was looking the other day at how much money Liverpool has spent in the last five years West Ham have spent more money gross in the transfer market than Liverpool in the

Last 5 years which seems insane to to me anyway I think they’re from London what’s got to do with it I’m joking I’m joking well well they have well just off the top of my head they’ve signed two Strikers which have turned out and haer and skaka yeah and and that

That has become a repeated problem right that they they they have the cycle under David Moyes which is they do okay get into Europe and and then I guess the the idea then is oh well we should be expecting to be more than a mid-table side we should be really trying to get

Into the top whatever the top number is these days seven eight um and so they bring in players who they think well this could raise the the the ceiling of our Squad doesn’t work out they have a bad season sell those players on start the cycle again and go back to you know

Moyes bit a little bit deeper try and hit teams on the on the counter um I think that was that was that deliberate I don’t think it’s deliberate I think the use the use of Mo ball oh right yeah not not me your honor I didn’t say it

You didn’t set that up I didn’t set that up no okay sorry car on he’s got it WR in the notes use use the suffix ball whenever we talk about any manager um yeah I I feel as though what then ends up happening is people say oh you know M

West Ham had a bit of a poor season happened last season and they avoid relegation everyone’s like you know he’s done a good job he’s kept them up again but this is a team that’s spending money that that should have them competing I think at least regularly in in the top

Off for European spots and it doesn’t and so I think there there’s been this weird scenario with David Moyes where by the the expectations of what West Ham should be doing don’t really match up with the reality of what West Ham should be doing but he still gets the credit

For it anyway because they avoid relegation when they have a bad season so yeah I I think that the big question I think there the big question for like West Ham Crystal Palace Etc teams of that ilk wolves dare I say it is is like

Where do you go they just want to stay they just want to stay in the Premier League yeah they want to stay in the Premier League and they set themselves up to do that and then they start treating that as success right where they’re like oh we stayed up again we

Stayed up again we stayed up again and that’s all right isn’t it I think it is all right but if a lot of teams would give their hind legs is that I get I get what you’re saying actually I don’t think that was an unpopular opinion I get what you’re

Saying I hadn’t quite appreciated that West Ham had spent more money than Liverpool and other teams that the last few years so I want to dig in a little bit further to this hatred for for David Moyes what what was it it’s not hatred I just think I just think that that West

Ham are in a really good situation you’ve already said they’re a London based team they’ve they’ve stayed in the league long enough now to to be safe they have the amount of uh potential expenditure to be able to raise their profile we’ve seen them trying to do

That hasn’t worked and rather than that then resulting in a question well do we need to get a different profile of manager who can then carry us into the top six it’s been well we keep that manager because he’s keeping us in the league so it’s fine and I just think

That the thinking is a little bit modeled on that have we ever asked you who you support you haven’t have you ever outed yourself in public I I’m I’m a well-known as a leads fan I think okay fine good so you you’re out as a leads

Fan I am I am so what West Ham have done what wolves have done what Crystal Palace have done other teams as well have done that’s better than being a a yo-yo team like Leeds potentially are going isn’t it no but it’s true though isn’t

It I’m just trying to sort of you know if if you have those sort of strong beliefs against a team that has actually kept up and incrementally had a you know an EP ephemeral moment where they’ve won the Europa conference league and they may well back that up this season then

You know if your question is do I judge other team success on the basis of the way leads have behaved in the last few seasons no I don’t I think leads have been very badly mismanaged in previous okay if David Moyes was able to deliver

What he has done at West Ham at leads would you take it no oh no I don’t I I don’t want us to have I mean I guess the issue is is that like all clubs should should want to have some kind of succession planning right there

Should be the the attitude that okay we when you’re a club like leads obviously the best the best approach now is going to be getting up into the next Division and staying there for a repeated number of Seasons but once we’ve got to that point then of course I want I’m going to

Want a different man if you’re saying to me would I want to keep a manager forever who keeps my team in the Premier League no I want I want to feel as though my team is is being pushed and and and the the ceiling is considered you know not enough until we’re we’re

Competing at the top so that’s all it is for me is just a timeline thing it’s not it’s not inherent dislike of what it is that David Moyes is doing it’s simply the question could West Ham be doing better now could West Ham have solidified themselves as one of the

Teams in the top six constantly competing for Champions League places I think they’ve done that John I think they’re there they’re eighth and they could go sixth with a victory Manchester United but yeah but who would you say in the Premier League is more likely to

Finish in a top six this season or when people talk about the top seven eight teams in the Premier League would you put West Ham in there you’d say the traditional big six I would say it’s very difficult to break into that yeah but then you’d say Brighton Newcastle

Villa then West Ham well we shall see what happens at the end of the season I I’m just here Playing devil’s out it’s a variance thing right so some Seasons West Ham are going to they’re going to do I mean at the moment West Ham are definitely a bottom half tide

According to the underlying numbers they they’ve had some results which have worked well and there’s reasons why they variance that way because the way they play is they sit deep and they hit on the Counterattack which means they are going to create fewer chances but they are generally going to create better

Chances sometimes that’s mean that’s going to mean that you’ll sneak into the European places other times it means you’ll be like last season in a relegation battle and I think that the is you know that amount of variability is not really what you want to be if

You’re a team when you have the financial backing that West Ham have they should be more solidly thinking right we want to cons consolidate our place like like your Brighton and your other teams that are doing are doing that you want you want it to be more consistent so you’re building a firm

Basis where you can constantly be going up and at the moment it just seems to me that the West Ham they don’t want to take risks with with the manager they want to just have a manager who keeps them where they are and we’ve seen what happens with Crystal Palace right

Crystal Palace flirt with relegation bring in a new manager flirt with relegation s them bring in Roy Hodson and I think that these these clubs yeah I understand why they want to go the low-risk approach but I think with a team like West Ham if they went for a

More risky approach with respect to their manager they might actually have a chance yeah but they they did that with p yeah for Mo and then went back to Mo I’m sure that’s the reason why they are the way that they are with this now they don’t want to take that risk but

You know pick a better manager than Pelini very briefly and I I mean very briefly are you are you team McKenzie or team um not McKenzie on this or team Moyes or team McKenzie on this I me the money’s a funny one I mean Premier League net spend for the last five years

They’re eighth that’s where they’re on the table you know and I I completely get I get John’s point about um what you’re building towards really we sort of had that with Wolves when Nuno took wolves to seventh but with a very pragmatic style certainly in that last

Year and people wanted a change of style in terms of football and wanted it to be more attacking and Progressive and that’s the only way you can break the top six but then if we’re going to do that you’ve probably got to spend the amount of money that weol spent to get

From the championship to seventh in the Premier League they would then have to spend the same amount of money again net spend to break into that top six and West Ham’s recruitment has been the biggest issue for me bigger than Moyes in terms of why they haven’t managed to

Do that we could talk a lot about someone who has done very well Muhammad kudus who you’re going to be seeing at the at afcon aren’t you Jay looking forward to seeing him play for for Ghana yeah really excited um I did actually catch one GH game at the the World Cup

In Qatar last year which was their um Revenge Mission Against Uruguay which failed um but I mean I hadn’t seen much of Kudos at that point but I knew he was a talent um because you know people were talking really favorably about what he was doing at Ajax um but I actually felt

Really sad for him that game because it very much felt like it was Kudos versus Uruguay um I still don’t know why he gave Andre auu that that penalty um he is just I think he’s still only 22 23 but I think basically all of Ghana’s

Hopes for the next 5 10 years are are pinned on him he’s such a talent I was obviously there when brenford played West Ham a couple of weeks ago and he scores like a really acrobatic volley but you were you were there you you were

On the right side of the goal I was behind the we got the same angle but the opposite way around it was um yeah he’s such a good talent and I think and knew and hoped that he’d be a success in the Premier League whether he went to

Brighton or West Ham and when the Brighton move fell through and he was going to West Ham I did wonder is it going to work because as I said earlier we’ve seen players like Haler and skaka go there and mo Moy ball maybe doesn’t always favor players who are a little

Bit more flamboyant in the way they play um but he’s just instantly hit the ground running and come up with some really good goals so yeah good fun score prediction for this one Jay I’m going to say 2-1 West Ham Tim two-nil West Ham John I’ll go

One1 because Moyes is never gonna win he basically doesn’t want to say that man united are GNA win but he doesn’t want to say that Moyes is win this this is the sort of game that West Ham could win or man united could win right so I’m

Going to go with the draw as in like both teams are going to try and hit on the break in in certain ways and uh yeah I I it’s too hard to call why’ you keep asking me for predictions I really hope that get edited down to John just saying

This is a game West Ham could win or man united could win then that’s can you just add in for more of this analysis it is it te though exactly what did I say that was wrong there was anything wrong nothing was wrong and that was great up next Everton going for

Five wins in a row so Everton are now seven points clear of the bottom three following four straight Premier League wins and without conceding a goal in the process and without their 10-point deduction they would of course now be in the top half of the table meanwhile

Tottenham they’re coming off the back of two consecutive wins for the first time since October they have got back on track um let’s start with Everton how impressed have you been with what they’ve been doing and how they’ve been doing it obviously they had their carabal cup exit to to Fulham but

Ignoring that in the Premier League they’ve looked so cohesive haven’t they in in in adversity seriously impressed um at the beginning of the season I thought I kind of predicted that they’d get rated this year just felt like they’d flown too close to the Sun on too many occasions and it was eventually

Going to catch up with them um and looking at some of their business in the last couple of Windows it wasn’t the most eye-catching but I actually think we maybe need to give Kevin Thell a little bit of respect because what he’s done is just picked up shrewd players

Like a Jack Harrison who’s not cost him too much money because he’s on loan from leads but he’s got Premier League experience and I think what D knew Everton needed was basically Wingers like McNeil Harrison that put the ball into the box for Dominick calber Le and

Betto and he’s he’s found a system which which works a little bit like Moy not to keep going on that that that phrase is ingrained in my head now but I think d know what D knows what he’s good at and knows what he’s bad at and he he kind of

Just sticks to his guns I think having McNeil be fully fit is really good I think Kat Luen being fully fit is really good it feels like they’re managing Kat lean quite well they don’t need to play him and flog him for every single minute BET’s coming and done a serviceable job

I always thought amadu Anana was a really good player anyways and then I mean dor has just seems to have been like like reinvented as this goal scoring number eight and so was I expecting them to to Rally in the way that they have following the points

Deduction no but you just have to say fair play to them because you know two weeks ago I know it was longer than two weeks ago but it felt like two weeks ago they got hit with this 10-point deduction and it was oh my God how are

They going to cope and now no one really talks about it has has sea D evolved yeah I mean it’s interesting I I I actually maybe slightly disagree with you you say everyone knows what Shawn D does I think he’s come in this time around and started doing things that no

One really expected him to do right everyone expects him to be you know a manager who I mean even that was probably unfair but sits deep and and tries to hit on the break but even if you watch his Burnley teams back they they they used to be quite aggressive

Sometimes in in in games pressing high up the field Etc but this season what’s what’s happened is that he’s developed the ability to be to have his team be super dangerous in in attacking moments and I think I mentioned last week on the podcast that if you look at his his

Expected goals numbers from you know from tail the tail end of last season where he took over a team that were very much on relegation form and you look at what’s happened this season they’ve jumped up to a European form in terms of got like chance creation um which is

Just incredible like and and not what any of us expected David uh David Moyes on the on the brain now oh it’s all right he’ll go he will drift David Mo will drift out of your head clearly that year he had yeah out of football he has

Gone away and worked on himself I think also like we we talk a lot about what happens on the field I think off the field as well Shawn D is exactly the sort of manager that a club like Everton needed at that point in time where you

Need someone who is a galvanizing Force who is is very much in that leadership role where he can he can say this is the this is the way we’re going to do things as a club everything follows down from the way that I I do things and and

Clearly that’s had a a really important aspect to to the to the way that Everton have turns things around as well Tottenham Tim looking looking better still have their issues in terms of injuries and absentees and January will be really interesting um how are they fairing at the moment have they got

Themselves fully back on track or are they teetering a little bit at times well they’re going these funny streaks where they start the season winning eight and drawing two out of 10 then they had this nightmare run of four defeats in five now they’ won the last

Two again and they do look better for it um I mean they are with two suspensions for this game they are missing almost half their first team again um the doggy and uhum who’s at four games get second R card of the season um Romero just

About avoided the same fate uh he’d have been suspended for four I think he should have been um for that horrendous tackle a couple of games ago so yeah still missing M Madison vanen and banor all until the new year but they look pretty good um they’ve got this front

Four now I’d call it with um kiski pushed back into like a roaming 10 position which we’ve not really seen him in before and that’s really working for him and rison’s form is very welcome um we’ll see how long it lasts he’s in terms of goals and assists per

Game uh he’s eighth in the the Premier League believe it or not around the likes of Salah and um and Harland but obviously it’s a very small sample size so they need him to keep this going but I he sort of looks again small sample size he looks like the player he once

Was which was a long time ago now um you know he’s had injury issues it looks like he’s had surgery looks like he’s got over that he’s obviously had mental health issues as well which were very well publicized back in sort of September so hopefully a couple of

Months away he done him a lot of good and Son can now move back to his best position in my opinion on the left of a front three rather than Central I think that gives Spurs more options in term in terms of how they create their chances um and Brandon Johnson is

Gradually improving so this front four backed up by a patched up defense um obviously that PO doesn’t really worry about defending anyway so um yeah they look pretty good I think you know they’ve got um they’ve got Everton Brighton away and Bournemouth the next three games and if they sort of get

Seven points out of that then they’ll be back in this conversation for top four and maybe a again you you mentioned the the switch between ralison and Son but what what do you what do you make of that because it’s not just that ralison wasn’t available because they were

Playing Rison wide at one point then saw in the middle do you think that PO changed his mind on that or I think that gets that gets more out of both players charlon on the left um I mean he’s quite he’s quite direct he’s not the most sort

Of not got too much sort of finesse about him um and they put in a lot of crosses to not much use yeah um with uh cuz obviously got the the roaming backs are inverted and then you’ve got Johnson and K kisi on either flank and they

Putting a lot of crosses that go wasted so I’d much rather have Rison in in the middle for those chances and obviously you can go a bit more direct and play it up to him he’s much stronger obviously son just limits you in how you build to play up because obviously play those

Cutbacks don’t you from the yeah and they don’t they don’t really play on the counter attack like they used to you know when you would have Kane come in deep and feeding son they’ve sort of lost that option so rich Arison brings that back into play I think score prediction Jay um

22 um Spurs really struggle against Low Blocks West Ham completely did them over a few weeks ago at the Tottenham hos Stadium um they took until the 97th minute to score against Chef United a few weeks ago Liverpool with nine men low block they took so long to win that

Game I think they’ll really struggle in this one I think Everton will um at least get a point one all you’re saying that this a game that both teams could win I think Spurs will win this one um but I think what we’ve seen with Spurs is they

They they play really well for the first 60 minutes and then they get a bit gassed so if they get a couple of goals I think they’ll be able to hold on um if not maybe Everton come back into it so I’ll say that Spurs will win but um it

Could go the other way what’s the score though uh 21 okay and I promise that we will go back in the first episode of 2024 and check whether any of these predictions are any used to any one unlikely probably okay let’s um look at just a

Couple of the other games before we get to our end of year um Roundup and quiz Etc we have a quiz probably didn’t know about that um but it is coming up um oh yeah quick word Tim with Nuno back in the Premier League God you obviously

Love him from his days at wolves probably think oh that was a bit awkward at Spurs and now he’s in charge of Nottingham Forest is he a better head Steve Cooper is is this is this something You’ argued and that’s not me being provocative it’s me you know what

I’m so annoyed this I’ve had such a busy week and I’ve SP the last two days I’ve gone into bat for Nuno right I’ve been asked on podcasts here and then everywhere about to write articles as to why why was Nuno good P’s forgotten so I

Feel like I’ve been doing his PR all weeks you’re backing wolves Nuno not Spurs Nuno right well that’s the thing there’s so much recency bias with with Nuno this he’s had a 12-year managerial career where he’s had success all almost everywhere that he’s been but people

Remember him for 17 games at Spurs when he was 15th choice and never had the respect to the players and Harry Kane basically went on strike um it was a horrible time to go in and yeah he was slightly out of his depth I think in

Terms of that dressing room but to to just talk about that stage of his career as defining him is wildly unfair um he’s I know he’s going been in Saudi Arabia but he won the league there um he’s had success pretty much everywhere el else he’s been and

Obviously did has done things that done loads of things that Steve Coop’s not done in his career so I’m not comparing the two but to automatically say this is a downgrade is really unjust in my opinion so we know that at naan Forest it can be quite a combustible atmosphere

Coming down from the the boardroom yeah is he going to be able to um pacify that aggression that maybe comes at a times and be able to sort of translate it into a positive environment well this is why I’m not sure it’s going to work because

Um um he likes a small Squad he likes a small tight-knit Squad of players he can control and manage he doesn’t like egos he doesn’t like he doesn’t like players um questioning him or doubting him you know they’re at the door that’s what happens so to manage 25 to 30

Players um it’s going to be really tough for him obviously he’s got George Mendes in his Corner um it’s really interesting how that Dynamic is sort of changing good old days like the Glory Days M Gibbs white and Willie Bal and the team you know it’s back to the back to 2019

Heyday um but yeah I I slightly fear for him in terms of having no patience from the fans whatsoever because they obviously adored Cooper and it’s going to be incredibly tough act to follow and yeah lacking that control of the club that he that he had at wolves and

Elsewhere because that’s that’s what he’s good at and they have a tough opening game um or he has a tough opening game against Bournemouth as well well if it’s anything like his opening games for wolves and Spurs he’ll win one nil at home because that’s what he did

For both of those and that’s his favorite score line really and he he will set up their defense to not concede and they’ve conceded 30 goals already this season so he’ll he’ll help them get results in the short term but whether it works out longer term I’d have my doubts

Uh other games obviously we mentioned at at the top um Fulham against Burnley a word for Luton you know they’ve obviously been through the mill uh since the game against Bournemouth but there is encouraging news on on Tom loia um and he is now back at home recovering

He’s had some surgery it will be a a very emotional atmosphere I would have thought at kennworth Road when they take on Newcastle who are who are struggling at the moment and then the last game before Christmas is wolves against Chelsea and Jay it was encouraging midweek wasn’t it for Chelsea feels like

Tuesday’s victory for Chelsea over Newcastle could be a turning point in the season just because they played didn’t play particularly well for large Port well it wasn’t the most exciting game anyways they kind of get this gift from Kieran trippier mudri scores and kungu makes his first appearance for the

Club they win on penalties and I was watching the game on TV and I’ve seen the Chelsea fans going crazy with the postmatch celebrations and I was thinking hang on a second why are they go not that I’m the celebration police but the Chelsea that we’re all used to I

Thought seems like the celebrations are a little bit over the top for just reaching the semi-finals of the Carbell cup but I do wonder if it feels like wow mudrick this player that we spent a lot of money on we’ve not seen the best of he’s just come up in a really important

Moment for us we’ve just won on penalties and kungu is finally come back for us we’re not playing particularly well but we’re still in the semi-finals of a cup competition so I do wonder if that game you know at the end of the season people would look back and say

That was the moment where things actually started to fall into place so today is our last show of 2023 as we’ve mentioned so we’re going to have a little bit of time for some reflection um I want to ask for your various um winners and losers of the calendar year

Um does anyone know how many games there have been in this calendar year in the Premier League across the two seasons anyone um do you want to have a guess 800 no no in total yeah no 380 games in a season right so over the two seasons yeah surely it’s

About 38 it’s got to be got to be close to that yeah 386 so far there’s going to be 412 in the calendar year there you go you can impress your friends 800 of in the in the pub he was counting he was counting twice yeah home and away right just a

Little stat that you can take away with you um the biggest winners of 2023 I haven’t got much imagination I was just say Spurs because I’m quite guess been quite close to it this year but honestly like the place was just a mess like he saw it in May like so the

Biggest is because of the conversion yeah they’re seeing we’ve got our Tottenham back I’ve never seen never seen a place final game of the season the brenon game was the final home game of the season wasn’t it about 20 people stayed for the lap of Dishonor and then

On to go from that to where they are now it’s amazing like I’m so happy for that fan base they seeing we’ve got our club back they they needed it okay and yeah it’s good to see I think calendar year is interesting isn’t it because I think

If you there’s a couple of teams who actually done really well in the calendar year one of them is Liverpool we’ve talked about they they had that 10 game run at the end of the season after they inverted Trant Alexander arold and they’re towards the top of the table

Right now then Aston Villa under unai Emory same thing um just an incredible turn turn of events for them so I think they would be my two shouts for winners I’m gonna say now that you forced me to change my answer um I’m going to say Brighton because obviously they got into

Europe for the first time in their history and and have now progressed through the group stages as well some big wins in there no one’s no one’s saying Manchester City who won the trouble no yeah boring is it boring okay that’s cool that’s fine biggest Losers of 2023

Jay what was that Chelsea stat that we had last week didn’t they’ve got that’s my answer that’s answer that’s a good point actually I was thinking of the teams that got relegated but yeah it might be Chelsea actually have you got the stat it was just the worst season of

Worst year of points for a team that hasn’t been relegated there’s 39 from 39 games something like that but as Jay has said maybe the turning point is going to be into 2024 and they’re going to be the team of 2024 who knows yeah I think I’m

Going to victims answer and say Chelsea okay you’re going Chelsea Chelsea and John David Moyes obviously and David oh dear the best moment of 2023 well you’re insisting that I make it Premier League only which I’m having difficulty doing well go on now so I’ll

Give you this one go on okay okay okay so my Heritage is from the Caribbean yeah no Caribbean team ever gets to the the World Cup or it’s very rare mhm let alone do they get to The Knockout stages so Jama get into the last 16 of the Women’s

World Cup felt like quite a big moment for Caribbean football so that’s my answer I’ll have that that’s great I like that Tim we were talking about Arsenal Liverpool earlier do you remember when uh Constantine hat sakis flicked an elbow at Andy Robertson never seen anything like that since and then

Roy Keane called him a baby three times with perfect comedy timing I that whole thing was wild I love that that was great that was great John don’t I don’t know if I have a Premier League best moment either but I my favor you can take us out the Premier League

You want yeah come on thanks I was going to say the the end of the Bundesliga season last season when when it was it looked impossible for Dortmund to not win and then they managed to do it in hilarious circumstances so I’m surprised you went for that I would have thought

You’d be more on on the side of Dortmund so you would you would have it as a bad moment no yeah it’s it’s it is a bad moment but it is a moment right or you a b Munich loyalist no no not at all but

Um it was it was quite funny how it unfolded I don’t know it was it was an incredible game a set of fixtures anyway that that day so I enjoyed that I can I can give you a premier league moment now so I just remembered go on then but it’s

More of a quote Oh Nathan Jones when he spoke about I could have stayed in Wales married a nice Welsh girl but I wanted to push myself to do more I just cannot imagine why for one second you think that’s like an appropriate thing to say

And that people are going to say you know what he’s got a fair point there that was um extraordinary there’s a Sam allise quot as well where he said that he was better better than P we’re up there with P yeah it’s not really worked out that

Well for either Sam or Nathan Jones but good luck to them both hopefully they have a good at 2024 can you pick out your best goal of 2023 yeah I was having this argument with um art de R Ro earlier because I don’t think it’s recency biased but a

Gacho’s overhead kick was unbelievable and look I do not support man united by any stretch of the imagination and I celebr everyone knows you’re an Arsenal well yeah there you go I celebrated that goal when it went in because you know when you’re just like that’s just it’s

What 30 seconds into the game a cross into the box and that comes in so I have to go for that Tim uh uh everyone else is thinking of Pablo sarabia’s goal no no no not joke actually that is a good I love the unique moment so I’ve not seen

A goal like that before a long pass he controls it with his right foot and he voles it in with his left in one movement yeah it was a it was a beautiful goal yeah it brings me no joy to say it but I’m I’m with with Jay on

This it’s G actually as head really right okay all right fair enough not because I disagree with J it’s because yeah it was Manchester United isn’t it so as a as a lead fan and it was it was also the F Everton’s first home game following the points deduction right so

Every said oh you know it’s going to be an absolute quadron in there two minutes into the game that happens ever this is the most one of the most perfect overhead kicks I’ve ever seen yeah um the best player of 2023 um I mean harland’s probably got to

Be up there just if you break the Premier League goal got record and you know I know I know he didn’t give Man City the treble a minute ago but now I’m running out of imagination so I’m just going to go for the most obvious answer

You got something a bit more Niche it’s Harry Kane it’s not very Niche but he’s a top scorer in Europe’s top leagues for the year and just look at him look at him look at him in All compositions John I’m gonna say rodri I think um yeah I

Always tempted to say Jon stones in these situations because you know oh yeah have you re have you reup the um the blue tack on your poster that’s on your CE yeah got J stones on one side and klian Murphy on the other my B Dre um yeah rogy I think

Just the best player for his position in the world scoring the winner in the Champions League which I know is not the Premier League but and a really big part of why Manchester City won won the treble I think this season we’ve seen when Manchester City haven’t had rodri

They’ve they’ve struggled as well so final category uh before we get to our quick quiz to end the show um a New Year’s resolution or a a footballing thing that you would like to see the the back of and never see again and leave in 2023 uh

Jay um I think it would be something V related I’m not saying I want to completely get rid of V but personally they should only look at clear and obvious errors I’m particularly bored of um you know analyzing offsides for something or somebody who’s like a fingernail offside or replaying red card

Potential red card offenses over and over and over again I think it needs to semi-automated off sides and then only look at clear and obvious errors because otherwise the discourse about it just goes on forever you which you are actually part of as I’m aware of that

That’s fine yeah either ditch it or ditch talking about it I’ve absolutely had enough of it it’s like it’s actually affecting my enjoyment of the game to be honest okay two vs John yeah three vs really yeah gone to another level this season of just it’s all anybody talk the

Scrutiny is in insane we now have a show that looks back on V decisions right we we really Through the Looking Glass right now and I think you know it it’s to the detriment of of of good analysis and punditry to be con I think my one of

My um best friends was at um Chelsea Spurs um whenever it was a couple of months ago and he just said I had no idea what was going on because I think when um kaedo scored he’s celebrating K cedo scoring then it’s been disallowed and then it ends up with Romero getting

Sent off and they check they checked about three penalty decisions in the same sequence yeah it’s ridiculous well some some people would say that it’s better to have uh the right decision and for it to take time rather than have the wrong decision and it for it to last for

All time no one’s ever said that don’t care but I think it’s better right um we’re going to end with two things two things I wanted you on the show this week Tim you always do don’t you look this isn’t favoritism but it is because John and Jay you have featured

On on the um on the podcast number a number of times a number of times but but I wanted to give a gift to to Tim and I thought that he may have mentioned it um in the thing that he would like to leave behind in in 2023 but but he

Hasn’t and and it does Center on that so Merry Christmas to you Tim if you could open your your can I guess what it is no let’s just let’s just see what’s the the repair shop t-shirt no nothing to do with that it’s not no oh I assumed it

Was come on let’s have a look let’s have a look what is it West or is it with ball in the title no it’s at that isn’t that isn’t that beautiful do we like that we like that there you go that is that’s unbelievable Tim Spears Spears ball t-shirt oh my

Goodness me so Merry Christmas to you I don’t know what to say that’s remarkable well you know what our quiz actually centers on Spears ball well not Spears ball because he’s not yet a premier league manager but obviously Tim for you catching up um listening or or watching

On YouTube Tim is not a fan of manager X followed by ball okay and it was interesting looking at the comments on on YouTube also on the podcast as well you can comment on the on the app and some people also take exception to the use of an ball Gary ball Etc

Moall Gary all that they don’t like it either they would like to leave it behind in in 2023 so I thought okay fair enough because it’s too easy it’s too easy it’s not giving us any any information it’s it’s childish all that sort of stuff yeah that’s fine that’s

Fine so let’s base our quiz on that and give a little bit more information so this is my challenge to you of the 20 teams in the Premier League I will give you the ball so for example uh Klo ball although we don’t use it Klo ball you

Have to tell me what is CL ball what is the formation that each Premier League team uses predominantly over the course of this season so far okay so a for based quiz formation based don’t get many of no you don’t but I just wanted to give people a little bit more

Information than just saying an ball D ball Etc so are start with a handicap because otherwi I’m hoping I’m hoping I’m hoping John will do well on this is just basically you can you can answer as quickly as you want um and just to let

You know there are 1 two 3 four five six different formations used in the Premier League and um you have to guess six different formations used in I remember I’m old enough to remember artetta saying there was 36 formations in one game these are based on opter statistics

Okay okay so let’s just start now shall we we will go through each team and you have to tell me what formation they use to give us all a little bit more information than simply saying something manager ball okay let’s start with Bournemouth I could do that go on a

Bourou play out of a 42 31 shape correct but often that’s fine out of possession they they have the 10 jumping up and one of the two pivot players following them up so they’ll end up closer to a 442 shape that’s most of the time you are the big brain on formations clearly

Right but the formation W 4231 for Bournemouth correct Arsenal 433 perfect Aston Villa 433 incorrect 4 42 442 correct well done brenford 433 very good Brighton 433 no it’s a 442 or a 4231 to 4231 is correct Burnley did you what did you just say I

Said for God’s sake did Burnley play 433 no Burnley often play the about three so I’d say it’s probably a 352 incorrect according to upta berley are quite flexible to be fair is it back three that they’ve got the BS okay well I don’t know then 442 for Burnley Chelsea

I’ll say 4231 4231 is correct Crystal Palace uh they more like a 442 yeah no 423 hang on the formation guy no 4231 correct Everton God sake 442 I say more 4411 is correct 4411 411 is 442 come on let’s be honest but hang on a minute I

Think that the nuances of what sha D should say is well actually if you look at the the second Striker he’s actually souths side of the defending player so it’s technically a 4411 there you go that was good that’s amazing that was almost like he’s in the room um

Fulham 442 no 4231 4231 correct Liverpool 433 433 Luton okay 352 it’s 3 43 3 4 three I will give you it’s 3 42 1 Manchester City 433 oh we we talking um 3 two yeah 42 4231 4231 thank you Tim um Manchester United 433 no 4231 correct

Newcastle 433 correct Forest 352 No 3 43 No 3 42 1 no four something 433 4 4 33 correct Sheffield United 352 not quite back three they’ve gone back to CH wild 3 412 3 4 21 21 correct Tottenham or 3 three no no but will they

Do that’s ridiculous 4 42 31 no don’t take it out on me take it take it out on take it out o take it out West Ham West Ham anyone uh 4231 correct and last of all wolver Hampton wanders I mean it’s more of a 343 at the moment

Correct 34 possession now you rolled your eyes at that Tim didn’t you but you know the reason we did that do you know the reason why did we did that quiz no simply because you’ve had a bee in your Bonnet about me calling it an ball this

Year I I make I make a solemn promise that in 2024 I will not say xball and I promise that but you have to wear your t-shirt on every time you come on the podcast so we’re not going to refer to formations religiously I think I think that’s adding value to to people

Listening to the podcast so you won’t say anible if he wears that shirt every single time he comes on to be honest I I and I must admit and this this isn’t a I’m not being I’m not being rude I ordered a large right and I would be

Wear I would be wearing a large myself but actually I haven’t worn a medium for many years is no it’s is a it might not look great I’m prepared to do that for the entertainment of this podcast okay fine okay perfect that’s a deal uh I’ve

Enjoyed that did you enjoy the quiz no can I just ask you didn’t enjoy the quiz either no no uh I’ll quibble some of the answers but it was it was is there a forfeit if you say handall yeah I think there should be yeah I think there

Should be we’ll put up we will in 2024 let the listeners say what the forfeit should be no worries you got to wear a loot on top there we go okay fine that’s a deal that is a deal I’m happy leave your comments on YouTube wherever you uh

Listen to your podcast uh for the forfeit if I use x ball next year so brilliant there we go Jay thank you very much for all your uh Sterling work this year in 2023 have a lovely Christmas thank you very much you too same to you

Tim thank you I hope you enjoy Gary ball for the last time this year yeah yeah get them all out exactly thanks for my present I was just about to Google repair shop merchandise so no enjoy it wear it with wear it with um yeah probably a bit of anxiety over

Christmas and John thank you very much to you as well have a lovely Christmas you too have a great time excellent right ladies and gents thank you very much we will see you back in 2024 and I have to remind you that if you want to give the gift of the

Athletic this festive period you can get a one one year subscription at the special discounted price of just $19.99 in pound or dollars simply head to theathletic.com footpod the athletic football podcast will return in 2024 have a wonderful festive period and an even better New Year Gary ball thanks very much for

Listening if you like this video click subscribe for more content like this we’ll be joined by the likes of David orstein Matt Slater Adam Crafton car Lanka and plenty more through the season to bring you the inside track to the biggest stories in football if you’d

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