Spurs Preview and Striker Questions

Do Everton actually need another striker? Are Spurs any good? How funny are Liverpool right now? We answer all the biggest questions on the latest episode of The Blues Brothers Everton Podcast.

Episode Transcript

SPEAKER_00 (00:14):
All right, welcome to episode something of the
Bullies Brothers Evertonpodcast.
Uh well it's since I I basicallyI I I caused this problem
because I stopped putting the uhepisode numbers on the show
title.
So it's now an extra step tofigure out what episode it is.
So we'll we'll figure it outmaybe at some point in the
future.
Uh I'm Austin, uh good to bewith you.
Adam's here.
How are you doing, Adam?

(00:35):
I'm good, thank you.

SPEAKER_02 (00:36):
Yeah, I just got back from uh four days in
Berlin, um history geeking,which I really enjoyed.
Yeah, how are you?

SPEAKER_00 (00:43):
I'm very well.
Adam knows more about the WorldWar II, about World War II than
most of us have forgotten.
Um so uh I think I said that thewrong way around.
Yeah, I'm very good.
I'm very good.
Look forward to uh getting backto uh football.
I kind of um uh uh I hate uhinternational breaks and then I
hate losing, and that's whatwe've had.
So uh I'd sort of written theMan City game off in my head.

(01:06):
So I look forward to gettingback to proper football.
I can get excited about thisweekend.
Um we're gonna talk aboutEverton a bunch, we're gonna
talk about Spurs, we're gonnatalk about strikers.
Um I want to start though alittle bit differently.
We've talked about Sean Dysh,who's now in uh Nottingham
Forest, he won his first gameyesterday um in the Europa
League.
I think it was the first timehe'd managed in Europe, I think.

(01:26):
Could be am I wrong about did heget Burnley into Europe at some
point?

SPEAKER_01 (01:30):
He did, yeah.
And it's uh they came seventh uhin one of the Cup, which won,
but yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 (01:35):
So um first time in a while at least.
Uh and they went together.
They actually played prettywell.
Um, I mean, they've got goodplayers.
What do you think about?
I mean, uh we all have sort of Ithink somewhat complicated views
on Sean Dyes, I guess.
But the um what do you thinkabout him uh Forrest, Adam?

SPEAKER_02 (01:54):
I mean, the it's a safe appointment, which I think
is uh sort of what they wereprobably going for at this
point.
I think with the the good startthat the three promoter clubs
have had, the likes of Wolves,um, you know, West Ham, who, as
far as I'm aware, are stillcurrently losing to Leeds um as
we speak, um, and Forrest, umit's fair to say that at least

(02:15):
one of those is going to getrelegated this season.
And it strikes me as like thesort of Aladice appointment that
we made in 2017, where you knowyou make a poor start uh and you
know you just you just hit thepanic button a little bit and
get in someone who's got a safepair of hands because especially
because Forest, you know, theywant to expand their stadium and
um you know they've got a highwage bill, so um relegation for

(02:39):
them will be catastrophic.
So I think they just want a safepair of hands, and Sean Dyesh
will keep them up.
Um but you know what you'regonna get with him, which is you
know, he's already he's alreadydropped his many uh taglines of
work, work, work.
Um, you know, we need to workhard to score goals and under
underlining the player's actualtalent in his in his comments.

(03:01):
Um and obviously they had a goodstart last night, but you know
what you're gonna get with him,which is things will start well,
he'll be pragmatic, he'll makethem solid, but you know, uh a
few months into the future thethe football will be pretty
stale, and uh the forest fanswill reminisce for the you know
the the days of the greatcounter-attacking football that

(03:22):
they saw under Nuno.
And just on that point, I meanit's absolutely it's it's just
it's incredible how they'vemanaged to get into this
situation in the first placebecause obviously uh they
brought in Edu as their globalhead of football because uh
Forest are one of four clubs, Ibelieve, in the Maranakis
Empire.

(03:43):
Umpiarcos being the the othermain the other main one, and
he's got Rio Avi, I think, inPortugal, and one other one, I
think.
Um and uh so he brought him inas like and and uh him and Nuno
quite clearly didn't see eye toeye in terms of like the
transfer business, and thesporting director pretty much
always wins that wins that fightunless you're Marcel Brands.

(04:06):
Um so the the writer was on thewall for Nuno, and his his
comments made it clear that hewasn't happy and he you know he
ended up leaving.
But the then the stupidest thingwas you then don't give
Postacoglu the time that heactually needs to implement his
style.
You've got you've got playerswho are cemented in a particular

(04:26):
system of counter-attackingfootball, and then he goes and
basically takes someone who'sthe complete polar opposite and
gives him 39 days, eight PremierLeague games.
It's absolutely absolutemadness, and it's show it's it
shows you the um the mindset ofMarinakis, which is the probably
the most worrying aspect of thewhole thing, really.
And then they realise they're inthat situation, they probably

(04:50):
have conversations around right,we need someone pragmatic, uh so
they you know get Sean Dyesh.
And you know, the thing is atthis stage of the season, you're
not gonna get an awful lot of ofuh of candidates that are gonna
be high of of quality andprobably someone that you really
want and need.
So I imagine it's more of ashort-term thing than someone

(05:10):
they actually want long term,but you'll he'll keep them up,
you know, safely.
Uh, but yeah, I'd be verydisappointed, you know, over the
since since uh you know they're3-1 win at home uh in the first
game of the season under Nuno,and you think things are going
to continue to find themselvesin the situation they are.
I mean, I'd I'd be you knowpretty um pretty upset if I was

(05:32):
a Forrest fan right now.

SPEAKER_00 (05:34):
Yeah, it's interesting with because you
know, with Daiish, you you know,we we talked about it a lot over
the years.
1.6-ish points a game, 1.4 to1.6 points a game.
You know, he's he's missed aconsistent.
And one of the things peoplehave been saying, which I think
is like half true, but the thehalf that isn't true is going to

(05:54):
be the problem, is you have thissort of a bit of a narrative
around, well, he's finally gotthe players of the talent, he
can prove that actually he'smore than this very limited kind
of guy.
And you know, if he can buildthat solid defense, that then
you know the the forestattacking talent can kind of you
know win games, which is youlook at it, you go, yeah, that

(06:17):
makes sense.
But as we know, the reality isDyesh does not allow attacking
players the freedom to play thatway.
He's you know, if you look atsomeone like Illumin and Dai,
who was you know, he'sundoubtedly the was you know our
best player under Daich, youknow, he's not obviously not

(06:37):
there for long, but the the theuh the step forward under Moyes
is like unite and day in termsof his his his play.
So it's not just having theplayers, it's it's Daich
actually not being so rigid andin his requirements around
defensive responsibility.
And that's the thing around likeif you take someone who's you

(07:01):
know, and you know, you played a4-3-3 last night, so it makes
sense for that squad.
If you take the two sorts ofwide attacking players, the
difference that they experienceis profound between uh, you
know, a sort of Nunocounter-attacking football where
it's like, right, when we getthe ball, you go.

(07:22):
Deich versus Deich, whobasically says to his fullbacks,
don't cross the halfway line,more or less.
I mean, essentially.
So you know, and and that is aprofound difference to how those
attacking players can perform.
So I think actually it's gonnabe a bit of a slog, and that
they'll they'll keep him throughto the end of the year.
I think so.
He won't get relegated becausehe'll win a bunch of winnable

(07:43):
games and be hard to beat, andthat's great.
Uh, but there'll be a decisionto prefer them to make at the
end of the year when I thinkMarco Silva's compensation at
Fulham expires, and uh I expectthat to change because he may
think he's taken Fulham as faras he can.
Um, but I like that all said, II actually like Deich as a human
more than I like him as afootball manager.

(08:05):
I think he's fundamentally likea likable guy, and I think we
owe him a great debt because wewere an absolute basket case.
I mean, uh you know, I think hewas sort of holding the things
together through sheer force ofsort of personality for a long
time, and and I think I'll I'llbe very, very grateful to him
for that.
And I don't you know, wish himwell.
I have affinity for Forest aswell.

(08:26):
You know, we you know, you'reyou're how far are you away from
the city ground right now, about12 miles or something?
Like you know, where you know,we we sort of grew up like close
to there and uh know a lot ofForest fans, and they're a good
club.
And and I I think you know thatI was pleased that they made
that appointment, but it isgonna come down.
He's not gonna Marinakis waspissed at Nuno for not getting

(08:48):
him in the Champions League.
He's gonna be fucking furious atSean Dyes come the end of the
season.

SPEAKER_02 (08:54):
He did a he did overall he did a really good
job, you know, with us, and uh,you know, the the the points per
game that you you alluded to wasum you know is well worth
mentioning because obviouslythat in that season where we
came um well how many points didwe actually in the deduction
season?
How many points did we actuallyget minus the deductions?

(09:15):
It was 40.

SPEAKER_00 (09:15):
Yeah, it was like 4080 or something.
Yeah, something like that.
And we'd have finished on theyou know level with Brighton or
whatever, you know, it was likea completely reasonable, and
given the quality of our squad,a completely reasonable result.

SPEAKER_02 (09:28):
Yeah, and um I remember the first game, it the
first game when Dyes was sacked,and it was Baines and Coleman
took charge of that that firstuh game, and I think it was in
like the FA Cup or something, umagainst some like Cheltenham, I
think it was, or something likethat.
And um and the first thing Inoticed was Mikhailenko and I

(09:49):
can't remember who was playingright back at the time, it might
have been Garner, um were much,much further up, and that was
the first thing that I noticedbecause, like you said, Dice
just plays this very pragmatic,like no, you are going to stay
in basically this this uh youknow agreed uh square footage of
the pitch.

SPEAKER_00 (10:07):
He keeps five players back.
I've watched a lot of Sean Dyesfootball, and he keeps five
because what there's certainthings that are said about him
is not true.
It's like it's just all onballs.
Not actually true.
It's not no, it's not pressingreally well.
It's pressing very good.
His main MO for scoring goals ishigh turn high, and it's
different to counterattacking.

(10:28):
It's it's not really sit backand absorb pressure and
counter-attack, it's it's presshigh, win the ball back in
situations where you've got anoverload because the opposition
have got the ball and they'vecommit, they're expecting to
attack, so they're they're intheir attacking positions.
You're you you can move quickly.
It's very different to Nuno, whodidn't want to do that.

(10:49):
He wanted to low block.
So, you know, and then hit on acatjack.
But yeah, Dyesh wants fiveplayers behind the ball,
basically, you know, and and youknow, back four plus one.
And and then, of course, yougenerally play in a goalkeeper.
So that means you've got five uhplayers who can attack.
Then you're probably up againstyou know, in most situations, a

(11:12):
defensive unit of at least eightoutfielders, you know, or or
seven outfielders.
So the the you just it's very,very hard to generate overloads
that way.
And and you know, it's whyEverton didn't score goals.
No, we didn't really have theplayers to counterattack, but he
didn't really had, he's notgonna do it.

(11:34):
You know, what he's gonna do.
It's interesting with last nightwith Porto.
Um, I keep saying last night, Ithink it was it last night,
yeah.
It was last night.
Um last night with Porto, theythey scored two penalties, now
they were they were bothpenalties, and you've got to get
the ball in the box to get apenalty, but you know, it was
two penalty.
So that's the it's it's not theit really it is actually, you

(11:56):
know, it's interesting.
I mean, I most football punditsdon't know it's it's amazing to
me.
People can play football for 20years and know nothing about it.
And you know, people you sayNuno and Daiche are similar.
It's like, no, no, not at all.
Like Nuno has a very specificway of playing low block
counterattack.

(12:16):
Daish is pragmatic high press totry and win turnarounds.
And I remember our first game, Ithink was it who do we play in
our first game where he'smanaged Chelsea, and we beat
them, I think.
And uh and it was like it wasthat that was the thing.
It was like, wow, we're likepressing really high and winning

(12:37):
the ball back, and that's whathe's gonna try and get used to
do.
So I I think it's gonna be, youknow, so you know what you're
gonna get, but it's not it's notgonna be what the media are
saying, which is oh, he's thathe's sort of a version of Nuno.
He's absolutely not, and Nuno'sfinding that problem because
they say West Ham will loseuntil it leads 2-0.
Nuno is finding a problem oftrying to get a squad that

(12:58):
doesn't have any pace to playcounter-attacking football now.
I mean, you think these peoplelike why does Anj Postakoglu
take the forest job?
Why does Nuno take the West Hamjob?
Like, do these people know likeanything about the game?
Could you like obviously thatWest Ham squad is not going to
be able to play the way you wantit to?

(13:19):
Obviously.
So why the hell do you take thejob?
You know, I know, I know well.

SPEAKER_02 (13:24):
I mean, maybe maybe maybe you will do the thing that
you know uh people say thatAmarim should do, which is to
you know adapt your temporarilyadapt your tactics to the squad,
which is maybe what what we'llfind that he does.
I mean, obviously the evidenceis that he is not capable of
doing that so far, because Imean they weren't their best
their best result was uh youknow the way the way he game it

(13:45):
was where they weren't you knowthey weren't anything to shout
about.
And obviously they I just what Iwas watching the uh first half
hour of Leeds before jumping onthis, and you know, they were
they were pretty poor.
Um didn't didn't have anythingabout them at all.
I'd be worried if I were a restWest Ham fan.

SPEAKER_00 (14:03):
Yeah, I I agree.
I think they're uh they havethis them and wolves have a sort
of smell of death around them tome.
Yeah, you know.
Um and I fancy Sean, they'll sayabout Dyes is I fancy more him
more.
I'd go to war with Sean Dyes.
I wouldn't go to war with Nuno.
You know, like the the I I justthink in it in you know that

(14:23):
he's he's probably actuallygonna break them free like
relatively easily, I think, butbecause he'll build some good
momentum.
But the the you know, I I I Ithink under pressure, I'm not
convinced about Nuno in thatsituation.
You know, sorry that may uhspiral a little bit, I suspect.

SPEAKER_03 (14:42):
Yeah, I agree.
Um should we talk about Everton?
Yeah, let's do it.

SPEAKER_00 (14:48):
All right, so you know uh how what's your feeling?
We lost the last game againstMan City.
Um, you know, I mean Man Cityare now good again.
Uh so and they've got Harlandwho's very good.
So you know, it's one I kind ofhonestly kind of wrote off in my
mind a little bit.

(15:09):
Um before that, obviously, youknow, generally I think feeling
pretty good about uh you knowoverall the results we've had.
How are you feeling as we gointo I think you know, an
interesting game against Spursbecause good start but not
flawless, and you know, they'veproven a little bit vulnerable.

(15:31):
So it's gonna be it's a it's aninteresting one.
I could I could make an argumentfor going either way, and I
think we're gonna come to that.
But what's your feeling abouthow you know how we're doing as
we sort of rapidly approach thequarter point of the season or
whatever it is now?

SPEAKER_03 (15:48):
Overall, I've been happy with how we've done.

SPEAKER_02 (15:50):
Uh I would I would hope I would hope at the start
of the season and uh to bearound where we are, you know,
knocking about anything between13th and 7th, which is you know,
we are currently 11th.
Um we've played uh the footballwe've played has been has been
good, it's been much better thanum what we saw in the final you

(16:11):
know for the first half of lastseason under under Dyesh.
Um individual performances ofcertain players have been
fantastic, like Grealish and youknow you mentioned Njai earlier,
who has just been absolutelysensational, particularly in the
last uh you know, couple ofgames, City especially.
Um so overall I'm happy with howwe're doing, and and the thing
is we are we can't hope to bebetter any better than a

(16:33):
mid-table side, um, to behonest, with the squad of
players that we've got, and youknow, given where we've been in
the last few seasons.
Um and um, you know, just talkabout the the city game briefly.
You know, I think uh Ben put inthe group, it might think it was
I think it was Ben put in thegroup, like it might have been

(16:56):
Andrew, actually, whoever itwas, one of the four brothers
said that the main difference,and it sounds bloody obvious,
but the main difference reallywas the fact that Man City had a
striker who would take taketheir chances and we didn't, and
we'll obviously go on to talkabout that a little bit later
on.
Um but uh Michael Richards madea really good point on the the
matchup match the day where hetalked about how uh Tarkovsky

(17:18):
and Keene did absolutely theright thing, like in what you're
meant to do as a defender, whichis cover the space and get into
positions where the most likelywhere it's most likely gonna
land.
But Haaland and obviously theyworked on training where Haaland
just stopped his run and thenjust like and then it was hung
into space for him.
So there's certain things thatyou can't really do about

(17:39):
against tip players like thatbecause he is just unstoppable.
So yeah, I I largely agree thatI I wrote the city game off in
my mind, to be honest.
I wanted to see a goodperformance, and that's what we
got.
You know, we had chances.
Beto had two good opportunities,and Jai performed really well.
Um, you know, we could have onanother on another day, we might
have taken the lead and then itmight managed to cling on for a

(18:02):
point, but you know, you can'tbe going to City and be
disappointed by losing 2-0, tobe honest, but where we are.
So really happy with where howwe started.
And the the the Tottenham gameis much more the sort of game
where it's a good uh metric ofof where we where we are and um
uh and you know don't reallyknow what you're gonna get with

(18:23):
Tottenham.
So it'll be interesting onSunday to see how we perform.

SPEAKER_00 (18:27):
Yeah, it's it's you know the striker thing is
interesting.
I know you wanted to talk aboutit, so let's do that now.
Yeah, it's obvious.
Let me let me give you asupposition first, and then I
want obviously want to hear whatyou you think.
I want to challenge a bit uhsomething that is said a lot

(18:49):
online or the tone of somethingthat's said online around this,
which implies that like the clubhave only just realized which
strikers they've got.
And as if like us fixing thisproblem, same with the
fullbacks, us sort of fixingthis in the summer is like we
didn't do it because we didn'tthink to do it, like they didn't

(19:11):
realize, and it's like it it'sit's it's such a weird uh sort
of perspective problem to meversus the obvious reality,
which is we have limited moneyuh and limited availability of
targets as a team that's not uhin Europe, and you can't do what
you would used to do, which isthe old Tottenham hotspur

(19:33):
approach, which is just paypeople so much money that they
don't give a shit that you'renot in Europe basically.
Like you can't we can't do thatanymore, even if we have you
know we have new billionaireowners, they still can't do it.
So the club made decisions, andwe can argue uh very legitimate
to argue the prioritization wasright or wrong.

(19:54):
But this idea that they werejust like didn't think of it or
didn't think it was gonnaproblem is like absolutely mad
because of course they know thatwe've got one young striker
unproven, and I'm more I want tobe generous to the kid, but I'm
more on the skeptical side ofBarry generally, because I just
don't see anything there, butyou know, obviously I'm very

(20:17):
much hoping he proves me wrong.
And then Bettos, you know, weknow what he is, he's a
technically limited player whotries very, very hard and is
generally pretty good atfinishing chances.
Um, and I don't think anyone inthe club, including Jake
O'Brien, wants Jake O'Brien tobe the long-term solution at
right back.
So anyway, I just wanted to getthat off my chest uh because I

(20:37):
see this every day and it drivesme somewhat nuts.
But Adam, talk to talk aboutstrikers.

SPEAKER_02 (20:43):
I I largely agree.
I mean, I'm I'm more in the uhmore optimistic side of Tierno
Barry.
I think he's I think he's he's alot more technical than than
Beto, um, which will greatrespect to Beto is not
particularly difficult.
Um I'll come back to Beto in asecond.
Uh yeah, Barry's uh we've onlyplayed eight games and he's not

(21:05):
had a good run.
Uh you know, it's a very fitit's a very physical league and
he is gonna need time to adaptand he's probably and I would
it'd be fair to say that he'sprobably needed a bit he's he's
requiring more time to adaptthan probably what we would
want.

SPEAKER_00 (21:19):
And I think the fact that I think he's been brought
in as being our primary strikerand uh better was gonna be the
backup, but I don't think he'sprobably and do you think that's
you you think that's the thatwas the intention, was that he
was gonna be the primarystriker?

SPEAKER_02 (21:36):
I think so, yeah.
I I think so.
I I think I don't think andAndrew makes this point, and
he's and he's absolutely right,that the idea of like that teams
can have 20 goal, every teamneeds a 20-goal striker, or it's
it's a it's it's an absolutemyth.
Doesn't exist.
Yeah, exactly.
Like the last you know, lastseason, uh, you know, five

(21:56):
players got 20 or more, which ismore than most.
Um last the season before that,only three players got 20 or
more.
The season before that, three.
Uh season before that, only twoplayers got 20 or more, and the
season before that, two.
So and and these are the samenames.
These are like players likeHarry Kay, Mohammed Salah,
Salah, um, Song Hyun Min, ErlingHaaland, Kane.

(22:18):
Yeah, you know, these playersare playing for the top teams.
So the Chris Wood and Brian andBoomo were but sort of the the
uh the anomalies in that,really, where they got they
scored much many more goals forteams that you would not
necessarily say would wouldscore that many goals.
So the idea that Everton couldbring in a 20-goal season

(22:39):
striker is a myth.
So that's why we then brought inplayers like Jack Grealish, who
A will create more, but theyalso be expected to chip in with
goals, which is why Moise hassaid that he needs to shoot
more.
Um, and then you've got playerslike you know NGI who will get
in more goal scoringopportunities, um, you know, and
you've got um uh Jewsbury Hallas well, who will play attack

(23:01):
and midfield.
So you got your goals are gonnacome from different places.
So the idea of like Barry comingin as being like a this goal
scorer was never never gonna bethe the the uh the the sort of
the I can't think of the word itwas no he was never gonna be
like the the focal point of likea a goal that the goal scoring

(23:22):
prowess we were gonna have andhe only scored 11 La Liga goals
last season, but Villarrealqualified for the Champions
League, so he showed that theythey could get in goals from
enough spake places and he was afocal point of a very good
Villarreal attack, and that'sthe idea that we were, and that
Beto would be a you know acapable deputy, and obviously

(23:43):
it's not really worked out thatway where Moys obviously can't
quite decide who is going to bethe main striker because I think
they both lack things in thegame.
You know, Beto has probably uhsome of the best movement of any
striker in the league.
His movement's absolutelyfantastic.
It's just as we saw in the citygame, his movement's great.

(24:04):
When he gets in that position,it's his it's his um chance
taking that is the issue.
Uh and then Barry is a moretechnical player, uh, you know,
he's much better at laying itoff, and he does he's not the
he's not a sort of bumblingplayer that Beto is, but he's
clearly struggling with the morephysical side of the s of of the
of the of the of the game.

(24:25):
Um and he will come good uhbecause uh I just have uh I just
have pretty much utmost face inin in players that Moise signs
because he just very rarely getsit wrong.
Um and he would have and hewould have come in under the um
under the expectation that hewill work alongside any director
of football, sporting director,whatever, uh in making these

(24:47):
decisions about the players.
Um so and just on Beto, I thinkwhat one thing to sort of point
out is with Beto is that hedidn't he didn't come through
academies like the vast majorityof footballers.
He was working at a KFC in um inPortugal about uh seven years

(25:08):
ago or so.
So he was playing very, verylowly football in Portugal and
has had this a rapid rise.
So what's been talked about isthat um I think Moyes made this
point.
He said he's not really learntwhen he's younger, while when
you're in your late teens,you're pretty much established
in your position.
If you're a striker, you'regonna be learning that sort of

(25:29):
stuff.
You know, you saw Lukaku and howpowerful he was at Andalect when
he was bought at 60, uh 18 forum at Chelsea.
Uh and then when we got him andWest Ham had him on loan, he'd
already developed that becausehe'd obviously he'd worked on
that part of his game comingthrough the Academy at Analect.
But you see, with Beto, he'snever had that because he's been
playing in lower league footballin his teens and his early 20s,

(25:53):
so he's literally never had thatidea of where you have to hold a
player off and hold the ball upat the same time, which is a
difficult thing to do, and it'sobvious, and that's what he's
apparently working on intraining an awful lot now, and
is finishing as well, of course.
So it's a different it's adifficult situation.

(26:16):
Like, do we need anotherstriker?
No, I don't think we do.
I think we just need to trainthe ones that we have better and
and and chip in with othergoals.
You know, our top scorer thisseason is in Jai, uh, which is
you know no bad thing.
You know, he's a guy who gets onin a lot of attacking positions.
Um so I'm not worried about thestriker situation, and to be

(26:36):
honest, like if that's whatwe're really gonna be worrying
about, you know, quarter of theway through the season when
we're 11th, then you know, I'llI'll take that.

SPEAKER_00 (26:45):
Oh, yeah, it's it's dramatically better than the the
living nightmare we've beenthrough the last sort of three
or four years.
I'm gonna pick a couple ofthings there because it's
interesting how you're thinkingabout it.
Start with Beto first.
It's interesting you have adifferent view than I have about
his limitations, becauseactually I don't I think he has
missed some chances this year.

(27:07):
I don't really think the onesagainst Man City I would count
as that.
I think there's a lot of luck inthat.
It's like something goes threeor four inches one way or
another.
I would have said, actually, ingeneral, his finishing actually
when he doesn't have time tothink about it, is actually a
strength.
I think he's instinctivelybecause what watched him
alongside Calvert Lewin, who Ithink really is a poor finisher,
like really is bad at scoringgoals.

(27:29):
I think he instinctively hasactually a very good ability to
hit a ball head in.
You know, the the Grealish'swinner against you know the
other week, you know.
Um I thought it was harsh.
People said, Oh, better bettershould have buried it.
I think he executed a theperfect header.
It was just the goalkeeper wasin the way, which I know sounds

(27:49):
sort of silly, but like thechance of that happening is very
small.
Like it's a big goal, you know,like he it was powerful, it was
down, it was exactly what you'remeant to do.
Uh you know, so it the I thinkI'm not so worried.
His finishing, I think, is is isyou know, I'm not so worried
about I think I he has obviouslimitations as a technical

(28:09):
player, and he can't play thatway.
Maybe he gets better at it.
It's interesting with Barry,because one thing I'd pull out
about Barry, and I don't want tojudge the kid too early, he says
before going on to judge him fartoo early.
Is the thing that concerns meabout him, no doubt physical
physicality adaptability needsto adapt to that.
That's hard, uh you know.

(28:30):
Yes, yes, yes.
It is it is the fact that he isnot even getting in the
positions to miss chances.
I can think of one chance in agame he's had where he should
have scored.
And that's actually the thingthat bugs me the most is uh I
don't know if he has, and maybethis is something you are

(28:51):
taught, and it's not realisticto expect it from someone who's
at that stage in his career.
But obviously he's technicallycapable of playing good football
and can hold the ball up andsome of his distributions good.
But I just don't see him makingmovement in a way that troubles
oppositions.
And I think that's such a suchan important job for a striker,

(29:14):
uh particularly in the PremierLeague, is to be someone who the
the the the opposition have toworry about.
But you know, so that thatsomeone like someone has to go
with you or you pull people outof position.
And you one of the great joys ofhaving Jack Grealish in your
team is that he takes up twodefenders every single time he
gets the ball, right?

(29:34):
And Jai does the same thing.
And and that's where you startto see, you know, that the maths
of that obviously is then toyour advantage because they
can't do that to everybody.
So I I that's the thing I'm sortof I it's really interesting.
I hadn't considered that theysigned Baric thinking he was
going to be the the sort ofnumber one.
I'm gonna say if you judge him,and I don't want this is not his

(29:56):
fault because he didn't hedoesn't make these judgments.
That seems like a wildmisjudgment to me.
Versus it would make much moresense if it was like, look, this
guy's going to take a year, thisis an adaption year, and he's
going to be the guy next year.
That makes sense to me.
I think if you look, if that ifthat were their intention was as

(30:18):
you as you speculate, I thinkthey've really fucked up because
I don't think that that kid isanywhere near being a Premier
League striker.
Not to say he won't get there.
I'm you know, I'm sure he'sthat's possible, but he's
nowhere near there yet.
I mean, he's just not having anykind of impact on games.

SPEAKER_02 (30:38):
I think I'll make that judgment because, like I
said, he played a lot forVillarreal last season and being
a very good time.
Um, and he he's given up PremierLeague, he's given up a
Champions League football uh youknow to come to the Premier
League, and would he necessarilyaccept an adaption year where
he's gonna play second string toanother striker?
I'm not really sure.
I mean uh I suppose one way tolook at it is on the one hand,

(31:04):
you could say the fact that Betostarts sometimes and Barry
starts sometimes, could that beevidence of the fact that, like
I said, uh that one player, youknow, he he wants he's not
really sure which one he wants,or uh does he is he just trying
to give you know Barry some gametime to see what he's like, you

(31:24):
know, to see what he's like?
I don't know.
Um with bet with Beto being theprimary uh the primary striker.
But yeah, uh go back onto yourpoint about um because Barry
Barry had uh Barry, uh Beto hadthat glut of goals um from uh
under Moyes, didn't he?
Where he went about I thinkabout seven games for he scored

(31:45):
about five or six goals.
Yeah, you know, some some ofwhich you know uh in uh you know
that that really goodconsecutive run, he obviously
got the goal against um againstuh Liverpool.
Um, you know, and he's and thething is he's a strike, he's a
confidence striker.
Like he was he was he was inreally good form then, and like

(32:06):
you said, he didn't really haveto think, he doesn't have to
think about it.
He's got the movement when hedoesn't have to think, he's that
that's when he's bet that's whenhe's at his best.
It's when when he's low onconfidence and he just needs you
know it to go off.
He needs to do what Jocharez didagainst Atletico Madrid when you
know he sort of tackles someoneand it goes in.
Yeah, that that's the sort ofthing that he needs, and like

(32:28):
you said about his header, youknow, he did that, he did
everything right.
You know, nine nine he does thatanother 99 times, it it probably
get you know it go it goes in.

SPEAKER_03 (32:37):
Yeah, it's his goal.

SPEAKER_02 (32:39):
Yeah, and uh um so yeah, I'm uh I think with I
think with um with with playerslike I think we'll we'll
probably see uh the likes oflike in Jai and Jewsbury Hall

(32:59):
and Grealish, I think.
I think we might start seeinglike the adaptation of how we
play with them getting thoseplayers getting in the box an
awful lot more than perhaps wemaybe wanted to at the start of
the season because we haven'tgot the strikers to get on the
end of stuff um uh reliably.

SPEAKER_00 (33:17):
How do you feel about the idea?
Some some fans have knockedaround the idea of uh unjai
playing up front.
And essentially it's a sort offalse nine, basically, you know,
with the idea of like basicallyyou have Dibbling on the right,
Grealish on the left, andJewsbury Hall and then Njai.

SPEAKER_03 (33:35):
How do you feel about that?
I I mean I I'd love to see it.

SPEAKER_02 (33:42):
I mean, just because you never really know.
I mean, Njai can you know he cantake someone off, take someone
uh on in a telephone box.
Um he uh would I think I thinkhe's good enough to play any
sort of role across the front,to be honest.
Like whatever you give him, he'sgonna cause problems to

(34:02):
defenders.
My only issue is that I don'tthink we're necessarily a good
enough team to consistently playthrough other Premier League
teams because you do need to mixthings, you do need to mix it up
and go long sometimes.
And you know Beto and Barry haveuh uh haven't shown a fantastic

(34:25):
ability to hold the ball up, butthey're certainly more capable
of doing that than than Njai.
Although, having said that, wedid see a clip the other day of
Njai doing this, doing thisthing.

SPEAKER_00 (34:35):
I I disagree with you.
I think you can I think you cangive the ball to him with three
guys up his backside and he'llkeep it.

SPEAKER_02 (34:42):
Yeah, it's a fair point.
I mean, I did say I was justabout to say little, right?

SPEAKER_00 (34:46):
So you you don't think about it, but actually,
yeah, I think his his ability tokeep hold of the ball is
fantastic.

SPEAKER_02 (34:52):
Yeah, it's a fair point.
I did I'm gonna sort ofcontradict myself and go back on
what I've just said actually,because I did I just remembered
a little clip that I saw wherehe was doing this thing where he
was he had like you know, one ofthose giant like gym balls that
people use stretch on and stuff.

SPEAKER_00 (35:09):
Uh a bozy ball, I believe is yeah.

SPEAKER_02 (35:13):
He had one of those, it was just against a wall, I
think it was just in his backgarden or something, but it was
against the wall, and he wassort of rolling it and like
someone was throwing him a balland he was kicking it back to
them.
So that's obvious that'sobviously a method that he's
using to you know, saying what Idid before with like what what I
was talking about before withBeto, where you need to hold
someone off at the same time andkeep your keep the technique.

(35:37):
And uh yeah, no, I I I will Iwill go back on what I've said
and I would agree that I thinkhe would be capable of doing
that.
But you've obviously then got tosort of you've then got to see
if there's gonna be a netbenefit with him being up front
as opposed to being the creatorto couple.

SPEAKER_00 (35:58):
Well if he did it, if you did it, you see him
dropping in, right?
And then what you need, and thisis actually where I think this
wouldn't, I mean who knowswhether it'll work or not, but
the the thing that I'm skepticalabout is what you actually want
if you have a player playingthat role, they drop in.
So them him and Jewsbury Hall inthis world are like in between

(36:19):
the lines of defense andmidfield, difficult to uh
difficult to defend.
What you then need is peoplerunning past in, right?
And Jack Grealish is not goingto do that, and Keenan Jewsbury
Hall is not gonna do that.
They both want to have the balland play other people in.
So then you've only really gotit in this world dibbling, and

(36:41):
we just don't I just don't knowhim well enough to know.
So that's actually the floor iswhat I want is Ilium and Dai
running in behind, actually.
You know, so and of course yougo, oh, actually, the player I
really want doing that is Beto.
So, you know, that that you sortof actually, this is where you
sort of go, actually, I'd putand die in the 10 if you want to

(37:02):
get that out of him.
But a lot of this is what comesdown to the you know the
situation at right back, becauseif if we if you have a proper
attacking right back, you know,Seamus Coleman in his prime, it
would be a great at this.
You actually can have Njai, yes,he's playing on the right wing,
but really he could plays as asecond striker and he pushes in.

(37:22):
And and that, but we just can'tdo that because there's no, I
mean, you see Ghana go out therequite a lot.
There's no width on the right ifNjai is not on the touchline,
basically.
So I think the you know in away, I think to solve our
striking problem, we need aright back because that's where
I think actually everything getsbalanced properly.

SPEAKER_02 (37:42):
Yeah, I agree.
So I'll have to pause for asecond.
My thought, my one one of mychildren has just decided to
join the podcast.

SPEAKER_00 (37:50):
Well, we'll uh we'll pick it up after this parenting
interlude.

SPEAKER_04 (37:54):
Can you hear me?

SPEAKER_00 (37:54):
Right.
So let's talk a little bit aboutum Spurs game.
First question.
Um how do you feel about what doyou feel about this with Spurs?
I mean, I I've watched a fewSpurs games, I'm sure you've
you've seen some of the two.
I think Thomas Franks arecovered a rate very highly.

(38:15):
Um, but they had a bit of awobbling European week.
You know, their league resultshave been a little bit hit or
miss.
What's your kind of impressionon them so far this season?

SPEAKER_02 (38:27):
I think they're a team that has gonna try a
transition.
Um, you know, they had a verydisappointing uh season in one
in one sense last seasondomestically.
Um and Thomas Frank's a muchmore I think anyone to be fair
is more pragmatic than um thanPoster Codum.
Uh, but he's much more aboutorganization uh first, and then

(38:50):
you know, he lets his team youknow play you know nice flowing
football.
Um so I I mean the Spurs are agood team.
I think that you don't reallyknow what you're gonna get.
Uh you know, you could get ateam that's you know in their
first game of the season, Ithink, if I remember correctly,
you know, they they did verywell.

(39:11):
Um, but then they you know havedisappointing results as well.
So um if I were to say like howI think we'll do, I think we're
gonna draw um because I can'treally pin down whether the
Spurs that are capable ofbeating us are gonna turn up or
whether it's gonna be the teamthat Everton are capable of

(39:35):
turning up and and beatingSpurs.
Um so I'm happy with the drawthat keeps us keep keeps us
ticking over, and um, you know,Spurs are a good team.
And like I said, I I too rateThomas Frank very, very highly.
And uh, you know, he's had he'shad a good few he's he's uh I

(39:56):
suppose one aspect of it is thatthey don't have the biggest
squad in the world, and they'vegot a number of injuries to key
players, which means that a lotof their players uh you know
have to play in Europe at thesame time, uh you know, in
Europe at the same time, um, aswell.
So there's that aspect to it asas well, where you know you

(40:17):
might be playing some tiedplayers too.

SPEAKER_00 (40:20):
So just going through their results so far
this season.
So they started off, they beatBurnley 3-0, they then beat Man
City, but that's when me and youwould have beaten Man City that
week at the start of the season.
Um, they then lost toBournemouth, beat West Ham.
Again, we would beat West Ham,drew with Brighton, drew with
Wolves, beat Leeds, lost toVilla, uh, and then you know, uh

(40:45):
Monaco, they drew 2-0-0 withMonaco in the week, um in the
Europa League.
So it that really is a mixedback.
I mean, if you look at like, youknow, I mean, Villa are actually
on a bit of a run, so theydidn't uh you know play them,
but they maybe played them atthe wrong time.
But the only impressive winthere I would call out really is

(41:05):
Man City, which is in the secondgame of the season.
Since then, you know, yes,they've beaten Leeds, yes,
they've beaten um West Ham, butthey failed to beat Wolves, who
I mean everyone's beating, andthey they they failed to beat
Brighton, who are a good team,but you know, um you would maybe
have expected more from that.
So it is an interesting mixedbag.

(41:27):
I wonder to what extent you knowthe the conversation around
football is funny.
What always there's always oneor two teams are in the
spotlight.
Forest have have been West Hamdefinitely are um Man United
suck up a lot of oxygen in that,you know, Man United are only
uh, what is it, three pointsbehind Liverpool?
But if you look at the story ofthe two points, yeah, if you

(41:48):
look at the story of theirseasons, it's like told
completely differently.
I I'm not sure Spurs are thatgood.
And uh I I wonder if they hadn'tbeaten Man City in the second
week, whether people would behaving a different kind of
conversation about them.
So I think we might do a bitbetter than a draw in this one.
I think we might um I think wemight surprise some people.

SPEAKER_02 (42:11):
I think, yeah, I think you're uh I think the
manager and has an awful quitean awful lot to do with like how
the media perceive someone andhow the how much he gets talked
about.

SPEAKER_00 (42:23):
Yeah, you know, like I think Poster Koglu he he
doesn't do himself he doesn't dohimself any favours because he's
quite short and brash and yeah,I mean he'd start a fight in an
empty room, or definitely starta fight in a room with a
journalist in it and nothingelse.

SPEAKER_02 (42:36):
Exactly.
Whereas Thomas Frank is a veryobjectively a very amenable
person.
Um and the the the and sothere's probably that aspect of
it as well.
And you know, like you said,there are clubs that are in more
that are in worse situationsthan uh than Tottenham.
And also Tottenham are gonna bejudged not necessarily really on
the Europa League because that'sa you know a continental thing,

(43:00):
um, but they're gonna be judgedon their domestic form, which
you know, if they had if they ifthey were to be any worse, they
would literally get relegated.
Um so uh as posed to that aspectto it too.

SPEAKER_00 (43:13):
Oh yeah, I mean, really, I mean, there's there's
many versions of last seasonwhere both Tottenham and Man
United get relegated.
I mean, they benefited fromhaving to state the belief
nobody's three worst teams, butyou know, teams that were very,
very poor last year, whichobviously we haven't got this
year.
Um we're gonna uh it's alright.
I what your score predictionsare your predictions are draw.

(43:35):
Do you have a specific scoreprediction?
I think it'll be a nil-nil orwill there be some action?

SPEAKER_03 (43:40):
Uh I'll go with one one.

SPEAKER_00 (43:42):
Yeah.
All right.
I think we're gonna win.
I think we're gonna win 2-0.
Um should we before we wrap thisup, should we talk about
Liverpool a little bit?
Because that's funny.
Um so what what's going onthere?
I mean, I have a lot of views onthis, but like what what what's
broken and how long can we enjoyourselves before they fix it?

SPEAKER_02 (44:06):
I I said this, and and I and I will blow my own
trumpet with this because whenthe media were a lot of the
media rather were saying aboutyou know, even like the Guardian
Football Weekly, for example, onlike game week five, when they'd
won their fifth game of theseason, they said like they were
it were in all serious saying uhyou know, just hand Liverpool

(44:29):
the title now.
And I was like this and I wasgoing, they haven't all been
that, they haven't been thatgood.
Have you actually paid attentionto their actual results?
You know, it's well known likehow many times they've given up
two goal leads.
Now, our our our game in whichthey've scored at that point of
the season when we uh playedthem in the derby, we were the
only team, I think, we were theonly team when they went two

(44:51):
goals up not to equal, not tolevel it.
Um trust us.
Exactly.
And we had chances, we know wehad chances too in that in you
know, I guess.
Um, you know, I think what we'reseeing with Liverpool is a uh re
it is almost like a recreationof what we saw with Martinez
under Moyes because in the 13-14season when we got 72 points,

(45:13):
the still the lot the highestnumber not to get Champions
League football, by the way.
Um we saw that Martinez built onthe the the pragmatic, the more
solid foundations that Moyeshad, and that's in comparison to
Martinez.
That's not a reflection on Moyesbeing like a pragmatic, you

(45:34):
know, defensive dinosaur ormanager, absolutely not.
We know he plays good football,but in comparison to Martinez,
he definitely plays morepragmatic football than
Martinez.
So Martinez had this lovelyhybrid where he could be he
could be more like you knowattack-minded and play a bit
more flowing football, but buthe had this basis of of um of a

(45:58):
previous manager who builtsomething over a long period of
time uh more defensively, and Ithink we're seeing that with
with with um with with ArnoldSlot because the second half of
Liverpool season wasn't all thatgreat.
I know they won the league, butit wasn't all that fantastic.

SPEAKER_00 (46:14):
It was in in eight of the previous 10 years with
that points total, they wouldn'thave won the league.

SPEAKER_01 (46:19):
Really?
There you go.

SPEAKER_00 (46:21):
Yeah, so yeah, so it was it was a low now.
Look, they were the best team inthe Premier League, and you've
only got to beat the you'veyou've got to be the that's how
you win the league, right?
So I don't want to soundcompletely bitter about it.
But yeah, in eight of theprevious 10 years, that one year
they wouldn't have finished inthe Champions League spots with
that points total, but almostevery year you'd have finished
second or third.
Yeah, so you know, they theywere fortunate, and they were

(46:45):
fortunate because you know, ManUnited obviously have just
disappeared as a force.
Chelsea were in the post-potterthing, Arsenal chipped the bed,
uh, and Man City have just, Imean, I don't know what you know
what what's happened to Man Citymaybe back on the rails now, but
they really were skiing down theback of the footballing mountain
for a while there, you know, andreally were not the the team

(47:06):
that they should have been.
So yeah, the the put theirpoints total was was not you
would not normally win theleague with that points total.
Normally we would be comfortablyin the Champions League and
someone else would win theleague.

SPEAKER_02 (47:17):
Yeah.
I think um, but I think that'swhat we've that that's what
we're seeing with Liverpool.
I think that uh they they'vestrengthened and they've spent
like 400 million, and that'sobviously caveated by the fact
that they you know theybasically spent practic they
spent basically just nothing umin the previous summer transfer
window.

(47:38):
Um so they've they've splurgedon you know attacking talent,
but the thing, even theirdefensive um aspects of their
improvement, you know, likeFrimpong and Kirkes, they've not
been very good at all.
And um, you know, their centreback partnership, even Van Dyke
looks pretty, uh, you know,looks pretty shaky.

(47:59):
And it looks like teams havesort of worked them out of how
to of how to um attack them uhbecause they just look they look
really vulnerable from uh youknow longer passes and longer
balls over the top.
Um so I they had a really goodresult away away in Germany, but
that should never be a measurebecause you know I mean Spurs

(48:21):
being the most obvious exampleof that, where you know a team
can do really well in Europe andterribly domestically.
Um, you know, so it should benever an indication of how they
should be doing domestically tolook at their European form.
Um, but yeah, I'd be I'd bepretty I'd be pretty worried.
I mean, especially because theamount of the amount of money
that they've spent and the keepand the players that just aren't
you know aren't performing, youknow, Florian Wirts, for

(48:44):
example, you know, 150 millionor whatever he costs has not
settled in very well.
He's I mean he's he's he'screated a lot of chances, um,
you know, so he's doing his bit,but those chances are obviously
not being taken.
And they have this reallyinteresting problem now where
they've sort of got two likeabsolutely world-class forwards

(49:05):
competing for the same position.
And you don't have that, likeCity don't like no no other
lead, no other team has twoworld-class players competing
for the same striking position.
You have one, and then you havea very good deputy.
That's generally how it works.
But they've got Ekatique andIsak who are both absolutely

(49:27):
outstanding players, and I mean,judging by what Ekatike's taking
like the Premier League likeduck to water, scored what was
it, four goals in this beforeIsak arrived, and then um yeah,
Isak come uh comes along andlooks absolute, absolutely
terrible.
I mean, he's been really he'sbeen really he's been really
poor.
Apparently he's like the game,but you know, completely

(49:50):
anonymous.

SPEAKER_00 (49:52):
You do wonder what they were thinking.
I mean, for all the pain and themoney and the effort to get
Alexander Isaac in to solve aproblem they absolutely didn't
have.

SPEAKER_03 (50:07):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 (50:08):
When the problem they absolutely do have, which
is they only have two goodcentre backs.
And so they leave the gay thingto the last day.
Yeah.
Because they needed they neededto give Crystal Palace an offer
that was so good and so earlythat they could say yes and and
backfill, which they would havebeen inclined to do, you know,

(50:29):
gay had a year left in hiscontract.
So it it's a strange decision.
I I I've been kind of bearish onum what's his name, Van Dyke for
some time.
And I've been like N of one, butlike the there were times last
year where he was well off, youknow, well off.
And because they won the league,it's it sounds like a silly

(50:52):
thing to say, but because theywon the league, all is forgiven,
you know.
But there were times last yearwhere he got murdered, and you
know, against uh Man United, hewas all over the place and
started to do something.
I I the thing I enjoyed the mostwas him yelling at everybody.
I mean, there's one point wherehe cleared it into a mate's face

(51:14):
who was stood two weeks, twofeet away, and he was yelling at
him.
Yeah, he's like, What'd you youkicked it in his head?
Like, you know, and that's greatbecause that's like ah, that
there's tension there, you know,that's fantastic.
Like that, that that's what wewe love to see.
So I uh, you know, I I Iobviously Liverpool are gonna
win games, they're not gonnacarry on losing them.

(51:36):
We've got very, very goodplayers, but the etique et
etiquette eyes, you know, thingis like gonna be very it's gonna
be very interesting how thatresolves because you're just not
gonna have either one of thoseplayers being on mostly on the
bench is not acceptable to ourto them.

(51:56):
So what are you gonna do?
You know, um, so yeah, it'sgonna be, I think it's gonna be
fun.
And I suspect they'll stillfinish the Champions League, but
I I would be stunned if they wonthe league.
I just I just think they don'treally have a way of playing
that is gonna be good enough.
And I think Arsenal and Chelseaare both considerably better
than them now this year.

SPEAKER_02 (52:16):
Well, yeah, I think City as well.
You know, City have been overthe past few weeks much better.

SPEAKER_00 (52:21):
Um yeah, and Haaland is like back to it.
And you get you get you get awaywith a lot if you've got uh uh
you know, if you've got ErlingHarland.
I know he said Alfinger Harlandup front, he was never any good
up front.
Uh if you've got Erling Haalandup front, you can get away with
an awful lot.

SPEAKER_02 (52:37):
Yeah, totally.
Yeah, uh the the issue Liverpoolhave got, of course, is that you
know they won the league withthat you know that points total,
which was you know much muchlower uh than than than than
usual.
Um so that automatically becomesthe minimum expectation that
they win either that or theChampions League, especially

(52:57):
after the amount of money thatthey've spent in the last um you
know, however, however many uhin the last summer rather, you
know, 400 million on theirstrikers.
I think people expect them to doa lot better.
And you know, I was very verysort of gleefully sitting there
going, you know, the the wheelsare gonna come off here soon

(53:19):
with the number of games thatthey number of times that
they're going to these earlyleads and then just
capitulating.
You know, they're not theythey're gonna do that against
some better teams and it's notgonna work.
And you know, look at Palace,you know, who are one of the
better teams in the league atthe minute, uh, and you know,
they they were better than themall over the park, which started
off that um you know, startedoff this this poor run that

(53:42):
they've had.

SPEAKER_00 (53:43):
Yeah, they really were.
So the you know that the this isI was actually um I was actually
slightly wrong about the theLiverpool thing.
I've just uh thanks Chat GPT,I've actually got the the um the
the the stats here.
So Liverpool won the league lastyear with 84 points.
Previous numbers of pointprevious points totals to win

(54:04):
the league going back 10 years.
Uh 91 Man City, 89 Man City, 93Man City, 86 Man City, 99
Liverpool, which is in 2019,2020, the COVID season when they
won it.
So they got 15 more points thelast time they won it.
Uh 98, 100 man city, Chelsea 93.

(54:26):
And then you've got to go back25, 2015, 2016, when it was won
with 81 points, uh, and uh PopQuiz, who won it that year with
81 points?
What was the season?
Sorry.
2015-2016.

SPEAKER_03 (54:40):
Oh it's Leicester.

SPEAKER_00 (54:42):
Yeah, Leicester.
So I mean that was anomalous inlots of ways that Leicester got,
you know, normally uh, you know,81 wouldn't get you anywhere
near.
So um it there's only a coupleof times it's dropped below 90
points, which is obviously twomore wins.
So basically, like if Liverpoolwere exactly as good this year
as they were last year, they'llprobably finish second or third,

(55:04):
and I think they're worse.

SPEAKER_02 (55:06):
I agree.
Yeah.
And it'll be what a time to bealive.
Yeah, I called it.
I said uh on our I said on ouron our group, I I I don't think
that slot will last the season,or at the very least, he will be
under a lot of pressure.
Because I I I think theLiverpool hierarchy they've

(55:28):
never they would never be inthat position, they've not been
in that position where they haveto make a decision like that.
And I I think they will backhim, but I don't I think they
want to be seen as like you knowbacking the manager but whether
that'll be the right thing toactually do or not.
I think it will be.
I think he'll be I think they'regonna really struggle and there

(55:49):
will be calls for him to go.
Um and it's a genuinepossibility that he will he will
get sacked before the end of theseason.

SPEAKER_00 (55:57):
Football.
It's never boring, is it?
No.
Um, all right, we'll wrap it up.
So uh come on, you blues forSunday, tomorrow, probably by
the time you're listening tothis.
Um, we'll be back after theSpurs game uh to chat about
that, hopefully talking aboutanother win.
Um follow us on Spotify, ApplePodcasts, wherever you get your
podcasts, that's where we are.

(56:19):
Uh, and tell a blue supportivemate.
Oh, and uh a shout out to mymate Nick Streeter, who I know
always listens.
And Nick works for an amazingcharity called Special Effect.
So Google them.
Uh they do amazing work withhelping uh disabled kids and
adults uh live uh fantastic,more fulfilling lives.
So check them out.
And Nick, thanks as ever foryour support and for being a

(56:40):
brilliant Evertonian.
Um, all right, stay well.
Come on, you blues.
We'll see you soon.