New Stadium, Grealish and more signing to come?

Following the first proper game at the Dicko, we talk about our experience on the ground, what worked and what Everton can do better. Also, Jack Grealish signs for Everton, and what else does David Moyes have up his transfer sleeve before the start of the season?

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:14):
Welcome to the Blues Brothers Everton podcast.
I have no idea what episodenumber it is.
So normally I look on Spotifybefore I say that, but I didn't.
So well you guys, it doesn'tmatter.
It doesn't matter, dearlistener, which episode it is.
What it matters is that Evertonsang Jaggerish, something none
of us thought was real.
So everyone's here, ben, howyou doing?

(00:35):
How's DC?

Speaker 4 (00:37):
DC is good.
It is cooler than it's been inthe last couple of days, which
has been nice, because it's likea bazillion degrees and 95
percent humidity, so it's likethe entire city sort of turns
into a sauna.
Um yeah, and that's not a funexperience for anybody how's the
weather in south wales andy?

Speaker 2 (00:56):
it's lovely, thank you.
Yes, been uh 27 celsius andvery hot and sunny today.
So we've been out for a drivearound the Gower Peninsula
seeing some nice little townsand villages, and then finished
off with an afternoon strollalong the seafront at the
Mumbles.

Speaker 1 (01:16):
Lovely, very good, adam and Dad are here.
They're in Mansfield, sunny,glorious Mansfield.
How's everything there guys?

Speaker 5 (01:24):
Yeah, it's sunny, not Mansfield.
How's everything there, guys?
Yeah, it's sunny, notnecessarily glorious, but yeah,
obviously we're in our fourth,count them four heat waves of
the summer.
So it's been that sunny weatherand hot weather that hits
differently in Britain, and itdoes really just hit differently

(01:44):
in Britain.

Speaker 1 (01:45):
Yes, because there's no idea.
I had a good-natured argumentwith Sam, my partner, the other
day about he was basicallysaying my words, not exactly
hers, but the sentiment was whythe hell do these British people
complain about the heat all thetime?
So her punishment is to go andspend the summer in a country
where there's no airconditioning, so she can learn
what that's actually like.

Speaker 4 (02:06):
Not just no air conditioning, but where the
buildings are specificallydesigned to trap heat.
Yes, by design, designed totrap heat.
That is the thing people forget.
Not only do we not have airconditioning, it is a country
where the building materials andfunction is to trap heat.
That's what they're designed todo?

Speaker 1 (02:23):
Yeah, Pretty miserable.
All right, so let's talk aboutEverton.
So we're going to get to.
We're recording this on Tuesday, the 12th, so we confirmed the
Jaggeroo sign a couple of hoursago, which is awesome.
We're going to get to that andwe're going to talk transfers in
general.
First thing we're going to dowe had the first final test
event, first proper game.
I guess maybe it wasn't thatmuch of a proper game, but the

(02:46):
first team were playing at theHill Dickinson Stadium on
Saturday.
Dad went, I went, so the restof you are welcome to point to
me on this.
But I'm going to start byasking Dad what was your
experience, what are yourthoughts, feelings, having been
there for the first time?

Speaker 3 (03:05):
I thought it was absolutely fantastic.
You know we've talked long andhard about missing Goodison, but
you know, when we were outsideand we were looking up, you know
to the height of it and thesize of it, I mean it totally
dwarfed Goodison.
And then when we got in and wesaw our seats fantastic, and I'm

(03:27):
sure everybody I mean we, weare on the halfway line, but I'm
sure anybody, wherever they'resitting, will look, will have
looked and thought this isfantastic.
Where some teething problems,obviously catering particularly,
but talking about the, the viewand the stadium, absolutely
fantastic yeah, very much my uhshare that.

Speaker 1 (03:47):
It's interesting.
We went away.
You know, obviously everyone'sgot their bit and you know
you're sort of working out thestuff around you, but we thought
the bit we were in in the inthe stand was like was having
like really bad problems with,like you know, cues for people
to get food and drinks and stuff, and then, having listened to a
lot of people over the last fewdays, I think everywhere else
was worse.
So I think they've got.

(04:10):
You know, I mean they'll figureit out, it's, it's.
I give the club a ton of graceon this because the first time
they've had a full house andthey're doing a lot of stuff for
the first time.
So they'll figure it out time,so they'll figure it out.
But definitely, like it wasweird that you were like it took
way longer to get served thanit ever did at goodison, which
is, I mean, just absolutely bad.

(04:32):
But um, but they'll figure itout um, any of the stadium stuff
.
I know it's a bit weird becauseme and dad were there, you guys
weren't.
It's great.
I mean they really did.
You know, dad, mice serves hugecredit.
Fired who was there uh, I sawsome people sorry, outside
deserves huge credit.
They really did.
You know, dan mice deserveshuge credit.
Fired who was there uh, I sawsome people saw it outside
deserves huge credit.
They really, in terms of theactual thing itself, I think
they really, really, reallynailed it.

Speaker 4 (04:53):
I think it's spectacular I was going to say
we need to talk about the stonesdefinitely I haven't decided
whether to take credit for this.

Speaker 1 (05:07):
Let's, let's, uh, it is what we're gonna do.
Uh, it's what we're gonna do.
We'll tweet it.
I don't know if it's funny ifyou say it.
So, first of all, we got ourdad a stone.
And dad, I think it's fair tosay you, you like your stone,
right, you, you, we found it,it's great.
Uh, uh, we got that for dad, sothat'll be there forever and

(05:27):
it's not sure.

Speaker 3 (05:28):
If you say thank you to all, you're a fantastic stone
, I'm gonna get it.
Um, I'm gonna get a photograph.
Well, we did take a photograph.
I'm gonna get a frame and stickit in the study in a position.
So, thank you all.

Speaker 4 (05:41):
Excellent, thank you lovely first of all, you're
you're welcome.
Second of all, I'm not sure ifAdam has shown you this, but I
noticed that if you look at thephoto taken of you where your
foot is, there's another stonewhere it says from Goodison to
Barmley Moor.
Someone has spelt.
Barmley Moor incorrectly, andyou'd be so pissed, wouldn't you

(06:03):
?

Speaker 1 (06:04):
Oh, let's go see our stones let's go watch it you
know, when I sent this photobecause we got, we dad and I got
there early.
We got there, what about justbefore two quarter to two,
something like that, but it wasearlier than that, wasn't it?
Because it was about 1.30 so,and it wasn't too crazy the
stones bit, got mad, like youcouldn't, and a couple of mates
I'll apologize publicly, I'veapologized privately what asked

(06:26):
me to take photos of theirs andI couldn't.
We just couldn't find itbecause it it was like the, the
way the cub did it.
And again, look, I'm not goingto be.
You know, there's people workinghard on this stuff and we all
screw this stuff up, but they,you know they had.
You had this like grid systemwhere it was, like you know, 7b
or whatever, and if you had likea stone that, for whatever
reason, was like prominent, likeit was one of the bigger ones

(06:46):
or on the edge or something, itwas fine.
But the normal ones are aboutthe size of, like you know,
they're a bit bigger than thetiles you might have in your
bathroom, right, they're nothuge, and I reckon there must
have been in each one of thegrids they gave you, like you're

(07:07):
in 7B.
I reckon there were about threeto four hundred of these things
and, of course, and of course,everyone stood on them.
So when you're looking, you'restood on eight of these things
the eight other people aretrying to find.
So do the math right like it's,like it was impossible.
I'll I'll put it on our socials,but the I have a video of it
looking mad.
Anyway, we found, we found, uh,we found ads.
When you and I sent a photo,when I got that text, when you

(07:28):
get a little preview of aWhatsApp thing I just saw a
while later you'd said someonescrewed the spelling up and I
was like, oh my God, because, ohno, I've really fucked up here,
like I've really fucked up.
And then I looked and it wassomeone else's.
So I was like was okay, um,let's talk about the other one
all right because I'm gonna givethe backstory here, because I
feel a bit like petulant, but itis funny.

(07:49):
Two about two years ago under Ithink it was like, but some
time of sean dyche's reign, Ithink I could be wrong about
that.
Anyway, we lost 3-1 at home tofulham and it was one of the
worst fucking games I have everbeen to, and that that I've.
We've all sat through a lot ofshit ever since games.

(08:12):
Anyway, we got back to the carand it was like a few days after
we bought this thing for dadand there was quite a long
window where you could buy thesethings, but they didn't all
disappear.
So I was like, oh, fuck thesepeople, basically.
So I bought a stone that said,save yourself turn around now.
And I was thinking like there'sno way they're going to install

(08:33):
this outside the new stadium.
So there's a bit on the groundthat says save yourself, turn
around now.
Well, they have.
So anyway, I'll put a photo outand I'll give the grid so people
can see it, because we found it, so we know exactly where it is
.
It's actually quite easy tofind because it's right on the
by the river and if you want togo and see it, it's.

(08:53):
I mean, I don't know if it's, Ican't believe they put it out
there.
So like not that this is funny,but like a few years ago when
they had the memorandum andsomeone sent in a photo of Anne
Frank and they put it on thegiant screen.
You know, it's like thesepeople are just not thinking so
yeah, go see both our stones ifyou're ever near the stadium.

Speaker 4 (09:14):
My favourite bit about that, because it's all
brilliant, the fact that you didit, the fact that they didn't
notice, they installed itWonderful.
The thing I love most is thatthere are people above and below
our stone who are actual people.
That's their family.
This is their thing, it's nextto some absolute joker.

(09:36):
Put in save your, turn around,save yourself, save yourself and
turn around.
Now it was absolutelyincredible.

Speaker 1 (09:43):
It was.
Yeah, I couldn't believe it.
I know I was thinking about theguys who must have installed it
.

Speaker 2 (09:47):
let's think about that well, they don't care,
they've probably just gone.
Well, it's my job to put thestones down.
Exactly, putting the stonesdown that's it.

Speaker 1 (09:56):
Yeah, it's like funny thing is because you know, gary
neville, you watch the overlap,uh on youtube, which is very
good, I like it a lot.
And they bought for JamieCarragher's birthday.
They bought him a stone atBramley Moor that said Jamie
Carragher, forever a blue.
And Everton like didn't put itin.
They like emailed, like we'regoing to give you your money
back.
Like you can't, we're notputting that in.
So there was someone lookingsomewhere.

(10:18):
Anyway, yeah, stones are great,it's beautiful.
It was like there was a lotabout saturday.
That was weird because ofcourse, everyone, like the club
again don't want to be critical,but the club should have like
opened up the stones for peopleto go see them for a few days
beforehand, rather than havingbe like everyone who's at the
match, because it was a bit nuts, uh.

(10:39):
But they're brilliant and andthat whole, particularly that
size of the ground is, I mean as, as Dad said, the scale of it
is enormous.
And the other thing I'll justsay before we move on is the
sound is really good inside,like it was a quiet atmosphere
because it's friendly.
So it was weird in a waybecause it was like this big
occasion, but actually therewasn't really much of an
atmosphere.
We're, you know, about halfwayup the stand, so we're quite far

(11:00):
away from the pitch vertically,we could.
So we're quite far away fromthe pitch vertically.
We could clearly hear theplayers shouting at each other,
but when people did sing, likethe Roma fans were singing all
the way through.
The acoustics are incredible,so it sounds fantastic.
When we have those momentswhere people really get going
and where games matter, frankly,I think it's going to sound
unbelievable.

(11:21):
What about the structure?

Speaker 5 (11:23):
and stuff.
Obviously a lot was made aboutthe um.

Speaker 1 (11:26):
You know that the, the stands angle being um as as
steep as legally uh possibleyeah, it's very uh although
definitely, I mean, look, it'sdefinitely the case that, like,
if you look at, you feel closeto the pitch, right for sure,
right like if the ultimatecontrast is like the, you know,
the obviously West Ham stadium.

(11:48):
So you know, we're not.
We're kind of about halfway up,so we're sort of towards the
front of an upper tier, so we'renot like super, super high.
So we didn't have to do thatwalk all the way up.
We have a bit of a walk just inthe stairs to get to where we
went to.
So I don't know what that'slike.

(12:09):
I know a couple of friends ofmine have been up there.
Like it's a bit scary if you'vegot like, if you're not great
with heights, you know, becauseit is steep, uh, but in terms of
the kind of closeness and youlook around the side, they
really haven't got a lot ofspace between the pitch and the.
You know where the, theadvertising hoardings are, and
then the fans are right there.
So, uh, I think they've done abrilliant job of like I think
everything about the building ofit and the design of it I can't
think of anything you would saydoesn't work or isn't what you

(12:31):
would want.
The operations of it are like.
You know, there was stuff likewhere they've got.
You know, if you listen to likeother people, this week there
was some nutty stuff around.
You know, dad and I werewalking around and we realized
when you around you know, dadand I were walking around and we
realized when you, the northstand and actually the south
stand as well has very fewturnstile entrances.
The east and west have them allthe way up, as you might expect

(12:53):
, and if you're in the northstand you go in in either the
east or the west stand.
So there's people who've got tolike go in a turnstile, not in
their stand, go up across andback down again to get to their
seat.
So there's like a bunch of thatstuff where you assume they'll
kind of figure that out and Iknow that was frustrating for a
lot of folks.

(13:13):
There were some parts I thinkwe thought ours was busy.
There were some people I thinkwere a bit scared about how busy
some of the concourses were andit's a slight problem that you
can the bit where it actuallyyou can't do this, but in most
of the stadium you can walkaround the whole thing.
If you're on a level, you're onlevel two.
You can walk around.
You know three sides of itbasically, but of course

(13:34):
everyone wants to be in thesouth, stand for the view of the
city, or they did on saturday.
So I think that was kind of aproblem, that basically everyone
was kind of congreguent upthere and I know a couple of
people who had, you know, notsort of scary experience
necessarily, but certainly ifyou were not great with big
crowds it was not great.
But I'm sure they'll figure allof that stuff out.

(13:55):
But the actual architecture ofit, I think, is just spectacular
.
I think people are going to goand go.
It's like you have.
Like the Emirates is abrilliant stadium.
It has no atmosphere becauseit's Arsenal.
Like the Spurs stadium is abrilliant stadium and it's
bigger than ours and it's tryingto be bigger than ours.
I think ours is absolutely upthere.
If not, you know better.
The other thing that's nuts isgoing from like the Goodison

(14:18):
Park to this is like on Mondayyou discover fire, on Tuesday
someone shows you a microwave.
You know it's like thetransition is like absolutely
whiplashing.
It's like unbelievablydifferent the sort of level of
facility.
So you know, huge, huge creditto everyone who's been involved
in that from, like you know,making it happen, designing it,

(14:40):
building it.
I think it's absolutely amazing.

Speaker 3 (14:42):
The one thing that did surprise me, though, was the
fact that we had to climbstairs to one level, which was
halfway up.
Now, you know, I'm 78, and Iwas okay, but I do wonder
whether, or not, you know,everybody will be okay with that
particularly if you're at theback of the stand when you get
into the ground.
We were only halfway up, so itmight be a bit of a climb.

(15:04):
Well, it will be a bit of aclimb, and you do wonder whether
or not there's issues there.
My sister betty, for instance,has got one or two health issues
, so how will she find it now?
There may well be a hidden umum escalator somewhere, or or a
lift more likely.
Yeah, not aware of, but onewould hope that there would be,
because I think any people whohave mobility issues might have

(15:29):
some difficulties.
I think.

Speaker 1 (15:31):
Yeah, no, you're totally right when our seats are
.
We were like bloody hell, thisis a lot of stairs and then
you're only halfway up.
And it was interesting I waslistening to a couple of folks
the other day who were both inthe south stand in different
parts, and there was one guywho's in the middle, who's sort
of in a look not lower down thestand, who actually has an
escalator.

(15:51):
Another guy who's in thesoutheast corner who's right at
the top and doesn't have anescalator and has an absolute
shitload of stairs to walk up.
So some of that's a bit wacky,uh, and there's some parts that
they're not going to be able tofix very easily, I guess, but
there's a bunch that they can.
So I'm sure through the seasonwe'll see stuff change and, you
know, get better and they'llimprove how it operates and

(16:13):
stuff.
But overall it's very slick.
You know the texting stuff allworked, as far as I could tell.
It was very easy, kind ofgetting into the fan zone.
You know that kind of plaza infront which was great.
You know that was like boppingand lots of stuff happening
there, lots of places to getfood and stuff and you know that
was very easy, good security.
You know it was.
You know overall, you know aneight out of 10, and the

(16:34):
building itself is likeunbelievable.
I'm looking forward to you guysgetting to go to it in the next
few weeks.
I think you're going to have agreat time.
How?

Speaker 4 (16:42):
I think you're going to have a great time.
How was the transport situation?
Because I know that was one ofthe biggest sort of concerns and
I know you guys, I think, tookthe bus Like one of the biggest
concerns was the transportsituation.
So curious how you sort of gotthe sense that was going yeah.

Speaker 1 (16:59):
I think I mean my sense, we yeah, we got the bus
from from Lime Street, which wasfine it it was exactly the same
as Goodison, so you had to wait.
There was a queue to get on thebus.
It probably net would have beenquicker to walk.
We worked out.
But maybe you want to do that,maybe you don't, but that was
totally fine Right, getting thebus back was always, which we

(17:24):
didn't do.
We walked where Dad had parkedI won't say where because I
don't want to give it away, butyou know about half an hour away
.
So that was totally fine, Ithink getting.
The thing that was funny aboutSaturday was we had this Legends
game, so the people leaving wassort of spread out.
So I don't think it was a goodtest of that, because the buses

(17:46):
are good as them.
We're always great to get tothe ground and a nightmare to
get away from it, becauseeveryone kicks out at the same
time.
I think they did look.
If mercy rails objective was tolike basically signals everyone
that they shouldn't rely onthem, then they did a very good
job and I think a lot of peopledidn't.
Um, so I think maybe it waslike not as bad as people
thought but you know the, the.
If you're looking at, like, thechoices you've got to, kind of,

(18:09):
I think the buses are okay.
If you're not in a rush to gethome, that's cool.
You can park roughly 25 to 30minutes away to be outside the,
you know the parking exclusionzone or you can pay like 25 quid
for a parking space somewherenearby.
That's not you think in 2025,there should be a better answer

(18:30):
than that.
I think the city council hasroyally screwed up and the only
thing they did a good job of wasmaking clear to everyone that
they'd really screwed up andthey shouldn't try and use the
trains.
So I don't think peoplenecessarily were relying on them
the way you wish they would,because the stations are pretty
close.
If they sorted those out, ifthey had sorted those out, that
would be the answer.
But I think it's just going tobe a bit of a pain in the arse

(18:52):
and people are going to be doingthe walk for half an hour or
whatever most of the time.

Speaker 4 (18:59):
Okay, so let's talk transfers.
As Austin said earlier, we areon.
Okay, so let's talk transfersabout Everton.
As Austin said earlier, we areon the August 12th.
So we are the day that we havesigned Jack Grealish, which I
think many of us wouldn't havenecessarily expected at the
start of the window.
Maybe we would have done, Idon't know.
Well, let me just run throughthe signings, the incomings,

(19:21):
that we've had so far thissummer, and then we can sort of
kick off with Grealish and gofrom there.
So we have had Jack Grealish.
Mark Travers, who is the backupgoalkeeper that we signed for
Bournemouth.
Adam Aznou, who is a left-back,19-year-old left-back, who we
signed for Bayern Munich.
Carlos Alcaraz, obviously, whowas on loan last season We've
made that deal permanent.
Kieran Dewsbury-Hall, centralmidfielder from Chelsea, who

(19:47):
until about three or four daysago I thought his name was
Kieran Dewsbury-Hall.

Speaker 1 (19:54):
I thought it was Kieran until five seconds ago.
It's.

Speaker 4 (19:57):
Kieran.
Incredible, it's Kieran.
Dewsbury-H Hall not KieranDewsbury Hall.
So there we go.
We've all learned something.
And then Tiano Barry, who isthe striker that we signed, rob
Villareal.
So that is the sum total of ourtransfer business so far.
I think Moyes talked about whenhe was over on the US tour.

(20:18):
Talked about having nine or tenplayers in, so we're currently
at six if you include Alcaraz.
So a couple more to go and Ithink there's still some areas
that we would want to improve on.
But let's start with theobvious.
Let's start with Jack Grealish,who is Stein steel delivered
holding up the shirt.
All of that stuff I'm going tothrow to Adam and Dad.
First, tell me how stining JackGrealish makes you feel.

Speaker 3 (20:44):
It makes me feel good I mean, there's no doubt about
that, you know to think thatwhen we go to our first league
game, that Jack Grealish will beon that pitch, in that stadium.
I think it's fantastic.
Obviously, what we all do istry and pick a team.
I'm glad I don't have to pick ateam on the left now, because
it's a bit of an issue, butmaybe we would want to move away

(21:05):
from the time when we can allpick the same first 11 and
everybody else just is on thebench.
Now we're in the position,particularly on the left, where
that's not the situation, sothat can only be a positive.
As I was saying to Adam before,though, do you remember, not so
long ago, when we ended up withthree number 10s Gylfi

(21:27):
Sigurdsson, wayne Rooney andDavid Classen?
Now, hopefully, we haven't donethe same again, but that's the
only sort of thing in the backof my mind.
Clearly, we need to look to theright side of the pitch, but,
coming back to the primequestion, what do I think of
Grealish being sent?
Absolutely fantastic as anindication of, you know, the

(21:47):
ambition of the club.
I think there's a statementthere.
Time will tell whether or notyou know it's the beginning of
an even bigger statement, but asa first statement of intent,
fantastic.

Speaker 5 (21:59):
Yeah, I echo everything that Dad said.
I think I certainly didn'texpect us to be in for a player
of Jack Grealish's calibre.
Now, you know he might firstlyhave been waiting for you know a
club that is in, you know thatwas in Europe.
Maybe someone like you knowwho's slightly bigger stature

(22:22):
than us, someone like you knowTottenham, stature than us,
someone like you know Tottenham,for example, who have been
known to be one of those sort ofplayers and for whatever reason
, they've not decided to.
But the thing with Jack Grealishis he's going to be incredibly
motivated because he's obviouslyhad two years of disappointment

(22:43):
, personal disappointment atCity and he was.
You know sources close to him,you know in the Athletic, were
talking about how you know hewas really really cut up about
being left out of last summer'sEuropean Championship squad and
how he was.
You know that really reallyaffected him and obviously he
then had you know that reallyreally affected him and

(23:03):
obviously he then had, you know,this season, where he's only
started seven Premier Leaguegames, wasn't in the Club World
Cup squad and wasn't in thefinal squad of the season at
Fulham.
So he's going to be reallymotivated and hopefully someone
like Moise is he will give him,he will unleash that maverick
player that that you everyonesaw at um, everyone saw at Aston

(23:26):
Villa because, if you remember,for the it was the 20, I want
to say the 2020 EuropeanChampionships.
That was his last game, that washis last um season at Villa and
he was the player that Englandfans wanted on the team sheet or
wanted to come on.
I remember watching Englandgame and the fans were chanting

(23:47):
his name.
He was like universally loved,universally appreciated, because
he was an incredibly uniqueplayer where he could, you know,
skip round players and in closeproximity he won so many fouls.
Sorry about that.
Is Clementine not enjoying myreview?

Speaker 1 (24:07):
Is she not a Jack Grealish fan?
She has some thoughts.
Those of you not watching onvideo which is nobody, because
we don't put this on YouTube myfour-month-old daughter,
clementine, has joined us.
Thank you to Ben for steppingin to host while I went and got
her.
Hello, and Adam's analysis ofJack Grealish caused I mean what
we can say some upset.
But don't look, honestly, Ijust don't think she knows
anything about football.

(24:28):
So carry on, adam, don't bedisappointed.

Speaker 5 (24:35):
Yeah, so I'm incredibly excited about Jack
Grealish because I firmlybelieve that we will see the
Jack Grealish that we saw atAston Villa.
It's obviously going to take afew, probably a few months, to
see that, because I think he'sbeen coached in such a robotic
way in the structure ofGuardiola that that's going to
take a while to come out of him.
But, you know, in terms of likethe rest of the squad, such a

(24:59):
statement signing that is, tohave such a fantastic player,
albeit, you know, on loan, isfantastic, um, yeah, I think, um
, and I'll come back, come backto me for the rest of the, uh,
summer stuff all right and andyokay on green list.

Speaker 4 (25:12):
I'm going to ask you a specific sort of specific
question how do you jumping offwhat?
What dad said about picking theteam, how do you think you get
him and illiman and Jai into thesame team?
Because they are, I think,certainly looking at our
attacking players, they are farand away our best two attacking
options, but they do kind ofplay sort of the same position.

(25:33):
So, andy, you're Evertonmanager.
What's your tactical solution?

Speaker 2 (25:39):
Well, I think, if possible, you need to try and
get both of them in the start at11, which might sound a bit mad
, but it'd certainly be excitingto watch.

Speaker 4 (25:52):
I don't think it's mad.
I think that's like a bareminimum that absolutely will
happen.

Speaker 5 (25:57):
It's how you do it, isn't it?

Speaker 2 (25:58):
how you do it, okay, well, grealish on the left and
then having Dye sort of throughthe middle in like the number 10
role, do it, isn't it how youdo, okay?
Well, how you do it well,greelish on the left, and then
having die sort of throughthrough the middle in like the
number number 10 role.
I mean you can, I think you can, play there.
That's the answer.
That sort of leaps off the page, um, because they're both the
second players, they both getyou up the pitch.
Greelish especially, you know,will, will make things happen,

(26:19):
as as already alluded, in termsof beating players and winning
fouls and all that.
So, yeah, the answer to thatquestion for me is you have
Grealish on the left and N'Jarin a more central role.

Speaker 4 (26:38):
It's interesting.

Speaker 3 (26:39):
What about you?
Brie Hall in that?

Speaker 4 (26:48):
situation.
So I was just going to jump offthis because I actually think,
Because it's interesting, whatabout Dewsbury Hall in that
situation?
So I was just going to jump offthis because I actually think
this also plays into the factthat we don't currently have a
right wbury Hall, garner andGarner as a midfield three.
Then you have Grealish andN'Jai almost as two number tens

(27:11):
and then a central striker uptop and then you get your width
from the fullbacks, because thatsolves two issues.
It solves the issue that wedon't have a right winger.
You have McNeil can play outthere, alcaraz can play out
there, I'm sure N'Jai andGrealish could play out there,
but it also it allows you tohave um.
It allows you to sort of solvethat lack of a right winger

(27:32):
issue and then also get N'Jaiand Grealish in that, in the,
say in the areas that you kindof want them to be in, rather
than one being like out on theleft and then one being slanted
in the middle.
So I wonder if, when we line upagainst leads now, whether
greenlish will start.
Moise is like moise can be abit funny about new signings
going straight into the team nowbecause it's a signing from
another premier league team, hemight take a different view.

(27:54):
But I wonder whether actuallyyou, um, and we, you know we can
get onto this.
After we talked about othersignings, I wonder whether
actually he's looking at eitherthat formation or we might have
to play five at the back ifwe're not sure about Mikalenko,
if Mikalenko's not going to befit, so whether that plays into
it as well.
But yeah, that's what I woulddo.
Austin, are you in a positionwhere you can offer tactical

(28:15):
analysis?

Speaker 1 (28:16):
as well.
As the question you're reallyasking is can I change a nappy
and off to tactical analysis atthe same time?
And the answer is I certainlycan, and it doesn't affect the
quality of my tactical analysis,which will remain rubbish.
But the only thing I was goingto say is, um, on saturday, one
of the things about our seatsand in general, about the
stadium is you can see theformations now, so it's like

(28:39):
watching playing fifa, basically, or watching football playing
for the manager or something.
And I'd say, ben, what you justdescribed is exactly what he
did on Saturday.
The only maybe slight deviationwas Dewsbury Hall was arguably
playing slightly further forwardthan that pushing on.
But you know, and Dian Alcaraz,who were on left and right wing

(29:04):
I put that in air quotesrespectively were very fluid and
and the width was coming fromthe fullbacks and the fullbacks
really pushed up.
You know, we got possessionfrom in our half or from a goal
kick or something.
You know, o'brien andmichelenko were at the same
level with Barry at the striker.
They basically were.

(29:24):
They were actually the two ofthe three furthest forward
players, with Barry as thecenter forward and then behind.
You know, ndai Alcaraz andDewsbury Hall basically, were a
three essentially behind him.
The problem we had there wasthat you had Garner and Garner
in a double pivot, you know inthe sort of six role which

(29:47):
operated very well.
But when they got the ballparticularly if they reclaimed
the ball we had a transition.
The gap between them and where,like Dewsbury Hall and Barry
were and where Dianne Alcarazwere, was too big.
So we struggled to liketransition quickly and there
were dozens I mean I might beexaggerating, there was
certainly a dozen times, it wasa lot where we got the ball.

(30:09):
Someone turned normally Garneror Garner and was looking for a
pass forward and couldn't findone because everyone was 20, 30
yards away from them.
So they'll work that out, but Ithink he's going to do exactly
what you say and one of twothings will happen.
Either the sort of the two willbe it'll be exactly the same

(30:32):
with those three or, arguably orwe might find, you know, jules
Brehul dropping, you knowdropping, maybe further back,
but he was definitely.
I think what they were tryingto do on Saturday was exactly
what you're describing.
We just didn't do it very welland I think, if you take it
basically, you're going to takeAlcaraz out of that and put
Grealish in and then say toGrealish and I do what you want,

(30:54):
because we read a lot of stuffin the last couple of days about
him not being a Moyes-typesigning, which is something that
can only be written by peoplewho don't know anything about
David Moyes because he loves aMaverick, he loves a Manny
Fernandez, yeah, he loves GerardDe La Feuille, tommy Graveson,
you know, like no tacticaldiscipline ever at all.

(31:15):
So actually Moyes likes a playerwho is basically out there just
to do what they want and makestuff happen.
And then Grealish and N'Diayeas long as they can be
disciplined enough in defencewhich I think they both can be,
and N'Diaye we know can be Ithink that's great.
So I don't think you're goingto have so much of a sort of
who's on the left, who's on theright.
You're going to have twoplayers who are moving and

(31:36):
causing problems.

Speaker 5 (31:43):
I think that going to be really exciting to watch.
Yeah, it's a good point, assome I've not really considered.
I sort of have been alwaysthought that we would go for it.
We'll still go for a rightwinger.
I didn't really consider thefact we would change the.
Uh, we would change the systemper se yeah, so so go ahead.

Speaker 4 (31:55):
I think we will still go for a right winger, because
I think you want to haveflexibility and options and
currently that's what we'remissing and that's maybe a good
transition to talk about, likewhat, what we are should be
looking for going forward.
But my point, I guess, is that,like I don't think we actually
have to sign a starting rightwinger for for the, the squad
we've currently got to work, Ithink you need to sign a

(32:17):
starting right back to our pointis is, if your, if your system
works on the basis that yourfull backs are the attacking
outlets on the wings, then Ithink you are currently missing
that, because jacob brown's agreat football great player.
I think he's going to be aworld-class center back over the
next couple of years and agreat replacement for tarkovsky
in the long term.
I don't think he is what anyonewould imagine to be as a sort

(32:40):
of overlapping attacking rightback.
He will do a job in the sameway that we saw, like joey and
lescott do a job at left backunder boys the first time around
.
But I think if that's that'show you're looking to play, you
want someone more like a colemanbaines kind of um situation
going on just just before wemove on to like what we need.
Any of the other players thatyou know we want to want to talk

(33:02):
about in terms of transfers,just to remind you, barry
Dewsbury Hall, alcaraz, adamAsnew and Mark Travers are the
other five.
I will throw that openly.
Does anyone want to sayanything about any of them?
And then we'll talk about whatwe might need to sign in future.
Dewsbury Hall was great on.

Speaker 1 (33:19):
Saturday A really good, I think our best player he
did a really good signing I.

Speaker 2 (33:26):
Ifbury Hall was great on Saturday.

Speaker 5 (33:27):
Really good.
He's a really good signing.
I'm really looking forward toseeing him play.
Yeah, seeing what Chelsea fanshave said, I think he was a
victim of their troganetapproach to signings over the
past couple of summers becausehe's a really smart player, a
nice and versatile as well.
It's good to have some properleft back cover as well, and

(33:49):
we'll be, you know, a young,young guy, but he looks more
attacking than michelangelo, soit gives us a bit more, a bit of
a different option there.
It's good to pick for that.
He has some good quality um uhbackup as well, because in the
event of him getting injured, Idon't think Virginia or Begovic
last season were necessarilygoing to be players that he

(34:11):
could rely on long-term, andalso it's good that he just has
that a better player who isgoing to be keeping him on his
toes in training as well.

Speaker 3 (34:21):
Yeah, the only thing is, of all those players that
he's bought, there's only twonow that you would say are
definite starters Grealish andDewsby Hall.
The rest, you would say, aremore squad players.
So I think that's slightlydisappointing.
Maybe I'd like to see one more,at least one more that you

(34:42):
would say is a shoo-in for thefirst team, first pick yeah, and
I think that's a good.

Speaker 4 (34:49):
It's a good call that because I think we did lose a
lot of depth, so they're just.
I imagine that the party islike trying to backfill a lot of
that, but I agree, I thinkthere are certain positions um
that that they want to get in.
But you know, we can talk aboutlike future signings.
My only concern with withdewsbury hall before coming on
this podcast was hisdisciplinary record, because I
read somewhere that he gotbooked 17 times last year but I

(35:11):
went and checked and actually 13of those books were for
weddings.
So I think we're.
I think we're okay sorry.
I couldn't, I couldn't, I,that's fucking terrible, that's
terrible hey, hey, adam laughedand dad laughed and andrew

(35:32):
laughed.
So I mean, and if clem couldunderstand, she would have
laughed as well.
So, yeah, I'm not at the pointyet where I have to watch my
language in front of her.

Speaker 1 (35:39):
But the time will come, clem, don't swear.
Obviously you're going to, it'stotally fine.
Um sorry, ben, carry on.
Didn't want to just interruptyour flow of this comedic genius
we're witnessing.

Speaker 4 (35:50):
Don't worry about it, tip your waiter, try the veal.
Let's talk about what we'restill missing.
We talked about the rightwinger, my big one, actually big
two.
I think we still need a rightback.

(36:11):
Austin and I went and watched usplay Bournemouth and I think
the idea that Nathan Pattersonis a Premier League footballer
is sadly and I say that assomeone who really wanted him to
succeed, because I thinkthere's a lot of talent there
but he's defending his defensivecapability and his awareness is
just not there and I just don'tthink he's long for Everton

(36:36):
Football Club.
I could see him dropping downto the championship and being a
perfectly serviceable right backdown there.
And then other options areO'Brien, again centre-back,
playing out of position, orColeman, who is, you know, I
think, 37 years old now, mighteven be 38, so not a long-term
solution.
So I think, right back to bigone.
I do also think we still needanother central midfielder and I

(36:58):
don't know what precisely rolethat they would play.
Maybe it is, as Austin saidearlier, that sort of more of an
eight in the traditionalparlance to link the play a
little bit more.
But I think, if you look at,we've got Dewsbury Hall G play a
little bit more.
But I think if you look at,we've got jewsbury hall, garner,
garner.
After that you're into timmyrabunim, who is like fine, but

(37:19):
not someone I'd want to berelying on a regular basis, and
paris armstrong, who I suspectthey want to get out on loan to
get some more minutes.
So I would.
I would feel much morecomfortable if we signed another
sort of starting level centralmidfielder, but I don't have any
idea about who that would be.
I'll throw it to Adam first.

(37:39):
Talk to us about potentialsignings and positions you might
want to target.

Speaker 5 (37:46):
Yeah, I think the right side of the pitch is
definitely where we need to belooking at first team players.
Obviously it's system dependent.
So I think, if you're right, ifwe're going to play that, that
system with the wing backs, thenabsolutely we need someone.
You know who is the quality ofum.
You know someone likemikhailenko who is, you know,
defensively, um, defensivelysound, because unfortunately

(38:07):
paterson just isn't um, but alsobut also as a threat going
forward.
You know Mikalenko is certainlybetter defensively than going
forward, but he does.
You know he is good enoughgoing forward to provide that
and we saw that in the firstcouple of games.
When you know, when Moyes, whenMoyes took over, I think one,

(38:28):
one aspect of it and which iswhy Grealish has come in and
it's been really important isbecause of the three main of the
three, you know, first teamplayers, sort of squad players
who left in the summer Young,decore and Cavaluin.

(38:49):
They have 1001 premier leaguegames between them, which is an
awful lot.
You know.
Actually, young constitutesabout 490 of those um, so but
the players that we brought inum before jack greelish only had
about 110.
So the players that we'vesigned, so you, you've got one

(39:10):
tenth of premier leagueexperience that you're signing,
which is why you know, jackrelish has 190 premier league
games um under his belt, um, sothat's why that's another aspect
of something I think we need toconsider.
Obviously, you might look tothe continent uh on the constant
for, you know, for forfinancial reasons or things like

(39:31):
that, but I think that is anaspect of we've lost an awful
lot of premier league experiencewith the corey calvert-lewin
and ashley young um leaving um.
So, um, that'll be something touh that I'm sure our scouting
department, and moise especially, are considering as well.
Um, yeah, but the the rightside, definitely.

(39:52):
I think I agree with dad.
I think we've moise talked afew weeks ago, you know, as
needed many 10 players.
Now.
I think that was a bit, I thinkhe was saying that through a
bit of frustration post-match adisappointing pre-season game,
um, but you know, and I think Ithink he then he then said
between six and ten players nowwe've got, we've brought in a
few since then, but he certainlywants some.

(40:13):
And I think he then saidbetween six and ten players.
Now we've brought in a fewsince then, but he certainly
wants some more and I thinkwe'll probably be looking at
more squad players, I thinkwe'll have a really exciting
deadline day.
I think Everton will be one ofthe best teams to watch for that
.
I think I think there'll be abig signing between now and the
transfer window and hopefully onthe right-hand side, plus some
squad players to give us a bitmore depth.

(40:34):
Uh, in central.

Speaker 4 (40:35):
Yeah, I agree yeah, because if you're looking at,
you know the the chat is thatwe're now not pursuing dibbling
tyler dibbling from southampton,as much because of
southampton's price.
But if you look at the moneybeing talked about there, it's
clear we still have moneyavailable to to spend.
We're not sort of cash strappedin that sense.
And the other thing is,obviously we've now got greenish

(40:55):
in, we still have three loanspots which, um which we can
fill us all.
So there's plenty of plenty offlexibility.
Andy what?
What's your view on?

Speaker 2 (41:02):
on signings, positions, etc uh, we clearly
tried to sign a right backbecause the club thought they
got kenny Tete from Fulham andthen he decided to stay at
Fulham at the last moment.
Um, and I also think we'll goback for Tyler Dibling, because
Southampton's valuation and theclauses they're trying to attach

(41:23):
to that deal are clearlynonsense.
You can have a high fee, asell-on clause and some add-ons.
You can't have like all threeof those at their maximum level.
So, and they've all, and theway Southampton the black,
pulled him out of contract.
Um, contact training last weekindicates they're getting ready

(41:45):
to sell him.
They're they're happy for himto go.
So I personally think betweennow and when the transfer window
closes which doesn't closeuntil the 1st of September, of
course so there's still the bestpart of three weeks left before
it shuts there's plenty of timefor Everton and Southampton to
resurrect that deal and come toan agreement.

(42:08):
So I wouldn't be at allsurprised if we end up signing
Dibbling for that right-sidedmidfield role.

Speaker 3 (42:16):
Just going to parrot what everybody else is saying,
both on this podcast andelsewhere in the Everton world.
We need a right-back and we doneed a wide right-winger with
pace.
Are they there?
Does this guy have 50 million,which is ridiculous.
So I think, just watch thispace and see.

(42:36):
But they're the two playersthat, even if, looking from a
squad perspective, we do need.

Speaker 1 (42:43):
Look, I think I would say the right back is a higher
priority than the right winger,I think I think that's really
important the way Moyes wants toplay.
We talked about it on this podand previously.
I think it makes such a bigdifference.
So I would want us to do that.
I'm glad if you never tell.

(43:04):
There's always games beingplayed in the media and whenever
there's a transfer story in themedia, it's been put there by
somebody who has a point of view.
But if Everton have actuallywalked away from dibbling that
50 million plus a giant sell on,I think that's good, because
you do the maths on a 50 millionpound transfer and then a 25%

(43:25):
sell on clause.
Like Everton bear all the riskand Southampton get well paid
now and well paid later.
Now Southampton can value theirplayers however they want.
That's up to them.
I fully respect that.
But you know you'd beabsolutely mad.
You'd be lead United circa 2003to do that kind of deal.
So I think that's good.

(43:46):
I really would like us to signa right back that can attack and
I think if we do that, I'm nottoo worried about anything else,
because we don't have Europeanfootball.
We're not going to play a tonof games.
Like you know, I thinkeverything else I feel pretty
good about that.
Right back is a real problem.

Speaker 5 (44:06):
Do you know what an aspect of that is really.
You know strong something thatwe absolutely don't need, which
is central defence.
I think we genuinely have oneof the best central defender
partnerships in the league and,just statistically, I've sort of
pre-empted this.
I should have done this theother way around.
Do you know who hasstatistically been one of the

(44:27):
best centre-halves in Europeover the past?
Who?

Speaker 4 (44:32):
could it be I've got no idea, adam, I've got no idea.
You tell us.

Speaker 5 (44:36):
It's James Tarkovsky who actually.

Speaker 1 (44:39):
This is Adam.
You should try comedy.
It would be very, it would bevery funny to watch you go on
stage and go to get to the otherside and someone goes what?
And you go.
Oh yeah, sorry, I was talkingabout the chicken.

Speaker 5 (44:58):
You should do that.
Thanks, yeah, because Bramfwayobviously signed a new contract.
That was huge.
But Tarkovsky is, yeah, I thinkthe season before last as well.
You know he basically seasonbefore last as well, you know he
basically never gets injured aswell.
So that's something that's been, you know it's fantastic to

(45:23):
have, is like a really solidcentral defensive partnership
and obviously with the new, withthis new system, maybe we might
end up playing a back three aswell, and obviously you've got
O'Brien who can just slot innicely there too.

Speaker 4 (45:36):
Yeah, I mean I think he will end up actually playing
a back three against Leedsbecause, because of the injury
situation, if Mikhailenko is notfit, I think he will.
I think the natural option isto go okay, I don't have a left
back, I don't really have aright back.
So, okay, I don't have a leftback, I don't really have a
right back, but I'd have threereally good central defenders,
so I'll play them and then playMcNeil and James Garner as the
wingbacks, which, interestingly,is how we lined up.

(45:58):
It wasn't the same personnel,but that's how we lined up
against Bournemouth in thepreseason friendly that Austin
and I went to, and actually thesystem itself worked pretty good
.

Speaker 1 (46:08):
We were good.
We just got knackered whenBournemouth replaced their
entire team and we couldn'tbasically uh, but you know, I
agree, ben, it was actually.
It was wasn't.

Speaker 4 (46:17):
What's not a terrible idea at all speaking of Leeds
United, I just want to um moveon to one thing, which is um,
can we all sort of send ourthoughts and prayers to Dominic
Calvert-Lewin who, having turneddown a Newcastle 150 grand at
Newcastle United last season andthen refused to sign a contract

(46:39):
with Everton, has now sackedhis agent and is now in
apparently negotiation withthree clubs, one of which is
Leeds United.
And I, like I, have nothingpersonal against Dominic
Calvert-Lewin, but if you wantto walk away from Everton
Football Club because you thinkyou're better than Everton
Football Club and then you mightend up at Leeds United, then I
think he will really have toquestion some of the life

(47:02):
decisions that have led him tothat point.
But that was my DominicCalvert-Lewin tangent, and with
that I need to go, so I'm goingto hand the hosting race back to
Austin for the rest of thepodcast.

Speaker 1 (47:14):
Great.
Thank you, Ben.
Enjoy whatever you're doingnext.
I mean, that does segue nicelyinto our regularly scheduled
let's Laugh at Newcastle Unitedsection.
Because you know, obviously wejust love to laugh at Newcastle
United and they've had ahorrendous transfer window.
No one wants to go there.

(47:34):
They don't appear to have anykind of footballing department.
Isaac is obviously going toleave and join Liverpool, partly
funded by Newcastle's ownerswho have paid Liverpool 50
million for Darwin Nunes toenable this.
So that alone would drive meabsolutely mad.
But like I mean, if you wereNewcastle I'm stealing from

(47:56):
Barry Glendening on FootballWeekly here, completely, so I
acknowledge that.
But you know the PIF, theSaudis own Newcastle.
They own the club I can'tremember which club it is, but
the club that have bought Nunesand also they bankrolled the
Club World Cup, from whichchelsea got 100 million.
So it's a.
They're doing everything.
They're doing a great jobsupporting everyone except

(48:18):
newcastle.
Basically, um, yeah, so the andyou know they play about like
chelsea, the psr rules andthere's some complaints there.
But like part of the reason chand Liverpool have such high
turnovers is because your ownerskeep giving them money.
So it is funny and theinevitability of Dominic

(48:39):
Calvert-Lewin signing forNewcastle is, and it's actually
at this point, embarrassing forboth of them.
You know, because you knowCalvert-Lewin.
Obviously I don't know wherethe hell he thought he was going
, but you know, beingNewcastle's second choice or
third choice striker is not, Imean, I imagine what he had in
mind.

Speaker 5 (48:59):
Yeah, the Athletic did a fantastic article on this
and Barragona and Ellingobviously made some really great
points on Newcastle.
But if you look at it, likehistorically over the past, the
past few years, um you know thefour uh saudi pf, uh pif funded
um clubs um they've um givenchelsea hundreds of millions of

(49:22):
pounds.
They've bought um kula barley,um mendy they.
This summer they've bought uhxiao felix um and obviously now
they've just bought, you know,darwin newhouse from liverpool
and there's other examples ofthat um they are.
The thought the from peopletalking who know a lot more

(49:44):
about, know a hell of a lotabout this, is that they're
saying that the publicinvestment fund see Newcastle as
basically a, a, a, a reallysmall pawn in this whole process
of diversifying their economythrough their sport food,
through um sporting, um sportingachievement, sporting funding
and they're actually puttingmore money to grow the pro Saudi

(50:06):
pro league and that they'reseeing that as the priority.
And it's just hilarious that youknow a few years ago, when you
know Newcastle fans likecelebrating the fact that
they're another.
They were the richest club inthe world on paper.
Also the richest club in theworld on paper.
They can't spend any of.
They can't spend any of itbecause of the, the rules that

(50:27):
are rightly in place to stopthat sort of thing happening
again, like it did with City,and you know that they are now.
They've lost out on, I think,six I did a count the other day
six players have gone to otherPremier League clubs that
Newcastle wanted.
It's just glorious.

(50:47):
I'm here all day for it withbells on.

Speaker 1 (50:52):
Andy, Dad, do you want to say anything you mean
about Newcastle?
It's glorious.
I'm here all day for it withbells on.

Speaker 3 (50:56):
Andy, dad, do you want to say anything you mean
about Newcastle?
Well, I want to echo whatAustin says, and him even.
They did expect you knowrichest club in the world, and
it is great the fact thatthey're not able to spend the
money that obviously they canafford, but the rules are
stopping them doing it.
Just the one on Calvert-Lewin.
I don't know what's in his headeither.

(51:18):
It would be riveting to seewhere he ends up.
It's an incredible situationthere.

Speaker 2 (51:27):
Yeah, it really is.
I mean, yeah, he's clearly beenextremely badly advised, um,
which is demonstrated by thefact he's sacked his agents and,
yeah, wherever he ends up, it'sgonna be less than had he
stayed with us.
It's, it's, yeah, it's assimple as that.
Um and another club as wellthat I'd just like to briefly

(51:51):
mention about um, their transferbusiness and what they might do
next season is manchesterunited, because they've sold
some players, so he bought someplayers, but there's a heck of a
lot of players that are onmassive wages that they clearly
don't want and I don't know howquite how they're making, uh,

(52:14):
the finances work in terms ofadhering to psr rules because,
yeah, their turnover is big, but, again, they're spending huge
transfer fees on players and I'mfascinated to see how how that
works.
And, of course, it's also deadfunny that they announced
there's plans for that100,000-seater stadium without

(52:35):
actually bothering to tell thepeople who own the land they
plan to build it on, who've nowdecided it's worth far more.

Speaker 1 (52:42):
Oh yeah, I mean.
Jim Radcliffe, business genius,announces, as you say, andy
announces that he wants to builda stadium on what is a disused
rail yard.
Essentially, I mean, it's ownedby a freight company but they
don't really use it on a disusedrail yard.
And, lo and behold, the valueof that disused rail yard goes

(53:03):
up.
After you say you want to builda stadium on it and you
announce you put your plans outwith all the photos of what it's
going to look like, the peoplewho own that disused rail yard
say know what this might beworth?
More than we thought it's likeit's I cannot.
It is.
I mean, clearly they're idiots.
I mean absolute idiots, like no, like farhad mashiri, who not

(53:27):
someone known for running afootball club well right Was,
like you know, had that allboxed off before they announced
anything with Bramley Moore.
You know it was all done andit's like it's absolutely.
I love it.
It's so funny.
But they're now in a situationwhere they value the land at 40

(53:47):
million and the people who ownit value it at 400 million.
So you know, know they've got.

Speaker 5 (53:53):
They've just got to find another 350 million quid
for their stadium I think yeah,united, united's another one to
really watch out for, becausethey talk about their attack.
You know, they've obviouslybrought in three really good
attacking players, but one ofthe because they and they
struggled to create chances lastseason.
But one of the fundamentals ofum that I think, I think what

(54:15):
we'll see reunited is thatunless they strengthen their
midfield, they're really goodbecause teams will just sit deep
against them because they'vegot a really slow defense as
well.
They've got a slow midfield andthey've got a slow defense and
teams will um sit back and hitthem on the counter.
Um, it doesn't take a genius towork out that.

(54:36):
Once you, if you, if you canabsorb that attack and then you
can bypass.
You know what is it quite?
What is slow central midfield?
Uh, because, especially withthe way that they're going to
operate as well, bruno fernandezis almost certainly going to be
operating a lot deeper thanwhat he was.
Then you've got a player who isattacking.
Output is absolutely phenomenaland there are a few players

(55:00):
better that have done that sincehe's joined United but he
doesn't move, he's not going tobe making tackles, covering
ground.
You're going to need someonewho is going to do going to do
that because kobe, kobe meno andmanuel agate.
I'm not gonna do that.
Um.
So it's gonna be fascinatingand that's putting it nicely to

(55:20):
see what united are going to belike this season because, like
the, there seems to be almostthis aura in the press that this
is going to be the magic, that,like this is the season it's
finally going to click.
And you know, ruben Amorim islike right, he did well at
putting, he did well at sporting, okay, but United are an

(55:43):
absolute basket case and havebeen since.
You know Sir Alex left, youknow, so there's absolutely no
guarantees that just becauseyou're bringing three very good
attacking players, it's going tomagically sort itself out.

Speaker 4 (55:53):
I'm going to throw it out there now.

Speaker 2 (55:56):
I think they'll finish 13th, 14th, 15th in the
league again next season.
I just do not see where thenecessary improvement is coming
from.
I mean, if your goalkeepers areNarnia, one of your
centre-halves is Ugarte, andthen you've got Casemiro and
Bruno Fernandes in midfield, youknow three-quarters of the

(56:18):
Spaniard.
If that's three-quarters of theSpaniard team, you're not
finishing anywhere near the tophalf.

Speaker 1 (56:24):
The Everton legends who played on Saturday.
You know James McFadden, garethBarry, who God love him.
He's enjoyed life since heretired.
Let me tell you that much.
They give that team a game.
I mean, I totally agree.
I don't know about both of you.
There's a narrative in the media.
The media work on narrativesand they have not moved on from

(56:46):
a time when man United were oneof the teams at the top.
They just haven't realized yet.
I say the same thing aboutLiverpool.
Until then, you look stupidbecause they were the best team
last year, but I forget thenumber.
But obviously the number ofpoints Liverpool won the league
on last year was likehistorically, an average was low
for a Premier League title win,as a lot of other teams were

(57:07):
bad.
Liverpool were good, but manUnited are nowhere near.
And you're right.
You look at it.
It's like logic, like they'regoing to score more goals.
Okay, great, yes, they willscore more goals, but they're
going to concede a shed load ofgoals.
I mean, man United's first gameis against Arsenal and I think
that is going to be a veryhellish moment because I can see

(57:28):
Arsenal really taking them topieces, because Arsenal are good
.
I don't think man United arevery good and they are.
Artest is a tactical manager, atactical institute manager.
I mean that final preseasongame we played in Atlanta
against them.
We know like we're Particularlyat that point where we didn't
really have the players thatwe're going to have hopefully.

(57:51):
We know we're not very good andthat was a pretty even game and
everyone was fawning over manUnited because they weren't a
complete shower of shit.
But you know, I think it'sgoing to be a very, very bad
season for them.

Speaker 2 (58:05):
Yeah, and their first .
I can't remember the exactdetails, but I'm pretty sure
they've got a very difficultstart to the season as well.
They're playing a lot of theteams who finished near the top
of the Premier League lastseason.
So, again, if they don't getoff to a good start, the
pressure that was on Amarim lastseason is going to be even

(58:29):
greater.
Yeah, very interesting to seewhat happens.

Speaker 5 (58:34):
Yeah, it will be.

Speaker 1 (58:37):
Anything else for anything else no.

Speaker 5 (58:41):
No, I anticipate a good start to the season.
I think we'll do well at Leeds.
I think we'll win.

Speaker 1 (58:48):
Sounds like your first mistake.
Alright, let's round off.
We're probably not going to doanother pod.
Leeds I think we'll win.
Sounds like your first mistake.
All right, let's round off.
We're probably not going to doanother pod.
I mean ironically saying thatwe haven't done one for two
months, but we're probably notgoing to do another pod before
next Monday, so we'll do Leedspredictions.
Adam, you think we're going towin?
What's your score?
Prediction?

Speaker 5 (59:04):
Yeah, I think we'll turn up.
I think Leeds they've got a lotof new players back in the
Premier League.
Obviously it's away at EllenRoad incredible atmosphere there
.
But I think we'll win 2-1.

Speaker 1 (59:19):
Alright, Dad.

Speaker 3 (59:21):
I'm going to go for draw 1-0.

Speaker 1 (59:25):
Interesting Andy.

Speaker 2 (59:28):
I think we'll win 2-1 as well, because, yeah, it's
going to potentially be a goodgame under the lights.
Leeds are going to be well upfor it, crowd's going to be well
up for it.
But, yeah, I think we'll edgeit 2-1.

Speaker 1 (59:42):
All right, I think we'll win as well, but I think
we'll win 1-1.
Now the dog's barking, it's allkicking off.
All right, we're going to wrapit up there.
Good to see you all.
Thank you for listening.
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(01:00:05):
Cheers, stay well, you.