S4 E21 - Lads, it's Man United

Ritch Grove and @leebrown2 chat about the Man U away game, debuts and the football community taking Spurs seriously now.

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Yeah, there's no place. Iknow if I would, I wouldn't want
to be with Ryan here. Andyou know, in this minute of trying
to bring success to one of thebiggest football clubs in the world, the
basic under the line principles that yallwant my team to play football that scares

(00:22):
the life out of every opposition.Mate. That's that's kind of the end
game. Good morning, afternoon,evening or night. This is the Varside
Spurs podcast. My name is RichGrove and at the other end of the

(00:42):
internet is Lee Brown. How areyou mate? Yeah, not bad,
A bit disappointed. I thought wewe we could have had a really more
positive result yesterday. But we'll getinto that. But but yeah, yeah,
not bad at all. Chill,bit chilly. But for listeners in

(01:04):
in in different climbs, we're havinga bit of a cold snap, haven't
we. I'm sat here on theboat in two jumpers and you look like
you've just got back from an youknow, expedition. Yeah, so yeah,
cold comfort for Manchester at Old Trafford. Then oh that's good like that?

(01:29):
Well, you know, I wasa little bit worried when it came
to the team news. I mean, of course we had the sort of
boost. It was like there,I think I tweeted out a message the
Lord Gibbeth and the Lord Taketh away. You know, we had the in.
On one hand, the whole defensewas back. You know, we

(01:49):
had Romero and Van Derven back,and also you know, we had the
defense that we we've been dreaming of. Yeah, and then on the other
hand, we had the midfield thatwe were having nightmares about because Kuleo Sevsky
had been unwell and couldn't make it. So we really were scratching around to

(02:14):
trying, you know, to geta cobble together a midfield. But as
it turns out, maybe we needn'thave worried quite so much. I was
quite pessimistic about that midfield getting bossedby them, but they stood up and
did a damn fine job. Yeahthey did. I mean, you know,

(02:36):
I suppose we might as well getstraight into it and talk about the
midfield pair then, because like yousay, Hoiburg and Skip at the start
doesn't really inspire confidence, does it. You know. But you know,
although you know, you could seethe sort of limitations of the pair laid
bear at times, you know thatHoiburg is completely incapable of being quick enough,

(03:01):
you know. I mean, youknow, I guess everybody has their
upper limit, and bursts of sprintingis not his strong point. But I
think Olliver, Skip, I'd sayyou did a lot better than I thought
he was gonna. What do youthink, Yeah, no, I totally
agree. I, you know,been a bit down on both of them

(03:23):
recently. You know, good squadplayers are all, but they both not
had great games when when called upon. Especially Skip. I think he's had
a few stinkers recently, to bequite fair. So it did surprise me
actually when they when he was moreor less point in their sort of most
forward like a number eight position.I wasn't expecting that. I was probably

(03:44):
expecting Hoiberg to play that, butin actual fact Skip had some lovely passes
and I thought he really played wellthere. I don't know if that suits
him better that position or the occasioncaused them, you know, him to
step up, but it definitely Ithink was his game of the season so
far. M Yeah, absolutely absolutely. I mean, there were there were

(04:05):
a few notable sort of times thatyou know, when he played sort of
snap passes forwards to turn United around. Notably over over to Timo Werner,
who was obviously making a you know, a much more rapid debut than
anybody would probably have wanted, youknow, and he played them through a

(04:26):
couple of times, and you know, you thought that was a beautiful ball.
Where did that come from? Andit was Oliver Skip Yeah, yeah,
I mean I also thought, youyou've been touching upon. Weren't of
there? Probably if we'd have had, you know, a bit more of
our players available, maybe they wouldhave brought him on. But an actual
fact, I thought I thought healso had a really solid debut. I

(04:47):
mean, of course, you know, there's a couple of shots that you
hit wide and you could almost inthe back of your mind here the banter
merchants already queuing up their tweets andyou know, the hot takes on Werna
not being able to cut it.But actually there was a load of that
was that that wasn't true at all. I think not only one, obviously

(05:08):
he will get onto it later on, but he assisted one of our goals.
But also I think his pace openedup a lot of space, and
I think that will be his rolegoing forward. I know he can play
right across that front. Three soone of the things that we I'm sure
we got him for is his versatility. He isn't a donkey. We said

(05:30):
this last pod, right, Ithink I got my stats slightly mixed up.
But what it was was that Ithink he scored twenty three goals and
assisted number at another eleven, Sothat was forty four chances, So forty
four goals he was involved with.But but so I think that's what he's
going to bring to us, youknow, I mean I noticed that,
you know, he was opening himup quite well, and I think he's

(05:55):
pretty astute acquisition that. I mean, let's not forget you know, he
said what one two training sessions mostYeah, the absolute most, Yeah,
you know, I mean, andcame out after the game and said this,
didn't he you know, look,he's trained with twice since he arrived.
You know, this is by nomeans that the way that we would
have hoped to have done it.But you're right, you know, I

(06:15):
think he was dynamic. I thinkhe he was he was rapid. You
know, he his timing is probablygoing to be the thing that they're going
to work on more than anything else, because I think a couple of times
he got himself into really really good, strong positions to score or to test
the goalkeeper, and he was offside. And I guess that will be

(06:38):
the thing that they'll probably work on, you know, that that sort of
transition from from sort of pockets tospace into you know, into turning there
whoever's defense around and attacking on goal. You know, we like to make
these very sort of snap They seemto go up a gear really quickly,
don't We play out from the backand and all of a sudden it's it's

(07:01):
not a long ball over the topanymore, but it's a very quick ball
out to that front three or four, isn't it. So yeah, yeah,
I thought he was. I didsort of think, actually, you
know, the one the one thingthat you can say, like you said
that he can play across the front, you know, so it will take
a bit of pressure off k whoI think, you know, you know,

(07:23):
if he if he carries a loton his shoulders this season at the
moment, you know, he's beeninvolved in a lot of our goals,
and you know, for him toto pick up a long term injury would
be really, really seriously detrimental tothe rest of our season. So perhaps
you know, having another player thatcan be distributed across that front line.

(07:43):
Might he's the pressure on Kolo Sevskia bit. But also he's he's a
much more bulky, much more physicalpresence than Son, isn't he you know,
some sounds like a greyhound, youknow. But he's quite a lightweight
player. And I noticed that Wernerwas was was being quite physical when United
were in close on him. It'squick as well, you know, I

(08:05):
mean, I you know, oneof the one of his attributes, so
I suppose is fairly well known abouthim, is he is rapid by it.
But you really saw that yesterday.I thought his speed was was deceptive.
He's got a really good touch andand less also not forget that he's
I think he's bad. Even playeda single half all season with Leipzig because

(08:28):
of the new manager situation. Sohe came into that club, didn't they
with and I think he was goingto be one of the focal points of
the old manager system. He gotthe boot and then the whole thing changed,
and so he's really just sat aroundfor a lot of the season.
So to be as sharp as hewas, I thought it was pretty impressive,
you know, speaks of volumes abouthis professionalism to be you know,
to be physically ready like that.Yeah, yeah, very much. So,

(08:52):
you know, I think it's greatbit of business, I really do,
you know. And we've seen,you know, the season throughout that
the weight of responsibility for for stickingthe ball in the back of the net
doesn't fall on one player like itused to, you know, And so
he doesn't have to be a prolificfinisher, you know. And I think

(09:13):
that will probably benefit him in inrecovering some of his sharpness and some of
his confidence, and and and andallowing him a bit more leeway as he
bends into this he it by thefact that Richarlison is is maintaining his you
know. So we we we wewe sort of went through the whole cycle,

(09:35):
didn't we. We were as bigas advocates and saying, look,
he's gonna come good, and thenwe were we went through a little phase
of I think he might be abit ship and now he's actually now he's
showing. I mean, he's asyou say, he's got six gold and
six games. So yeah, yeah, maybe we were right, you know,
rich I think maybe that he couldstill yet be the player we all

(10:00):
hoped he could be as he gets, you know, over this injury and
he's had this operation and it seemsto be that he's moving much better.
I mean yesterday, I do thinkBenton Kirk would come on to him as
well, but was our best player, deservedly man of the match. But
Richie must have been touch and gowith him because I thought he was phenomenal.

(10:22):
I thought he was all over theplace. He caused them lots of
problems. I mean again, Ithink there's probably one of Richie's best performances
as well. Yeah, yeah,and he was notable. You know,
when United were having their periods ofoffering of a little bit of threat,
he was notable in his presence asa tackling back player on the edge of

(10:45):
our eighty box. He would appearfrom nowhere and steal the ball. I
mean in the yards he must havecovered yesterday. Oh yeah, and some
nice shit housery as well. AndI like, you know, we're playing
them at their own game where youknow, they get a tap and he
goes down in role around all thatkind of stuff. I know sometimes people
hate that, but they do thatto us all the time, and then
they get in front, they wastetime and they try and try and get

(11:09):
you a yellow card and all thatkind of stuff, and you could see
that they were really really trying todo that on Romero, and actually,
I thought, credit to Romero.There was one point I think Hoyland like
shoulder charged him and then was kindof got hold of him a bit and
you just saw the red mist startingto creep into his eyes. And then

(11:31):
I think you just thought, rightnow, hang on, I need to
maintain this here, because he wascaptain, you know, and I think
that that, you know, hedid a great job yesterday. And again,
I mean, Romero could have beenman of the match. I mean
some of his passes, one inparticular, was phenomenal. Yeah. Yeah,
and a fantastic game. A fantasticgame. I mean, like you

(11:54):
say, you just had to haveboth center halves back. Again. Couldn't
have come at a better time.You know. I don't know about you,
you know, I was. Iwas. I spent the entire match
on ten to hooks for for MickeyFrien's fitness, and then of course he
pulled up with cramp in the lastten minutes. Yeah, but I think

(12:18):
the pair of them, you know, both of them coming back, you
know onto although you know, ManUnited and not the force they were.
We all know this. You know, they're not the threat they once were,
and they're not the side. It'sstill a big place to go Old
Trafford. And you know they did. You know, they got in front.
You know, it's not an easyplace to to sort of come from

(12:39):
a goal down twice, you know. And and and then you know,
obviously the last ten to fifteen minutesthey start to sort of push even harder.
I think they both stood up reallywell to the to the gaming,
to the way the match progressed asa football match, you know, And
and and I think the fact thatit was so quiet in the stadium it

(13:03):
was testament to how calm they werein defense. Yeah, absolutely, mate,
I mean you know that that,whatever you say, it is still
Old Trafford. I know people callit sometimes they call it the scaffold of
dreams now because it's just falling apart. You know, it's really an ancient
wreck of a place. But butwe we kept them quiet. And I

(13:24):
think their fans knew they were watchinga team that was, you know,
not only cohesive, but had It'sa style that's clearly identifiable. That's something
they're not. You know, they'rethey're an absolute mess in that way.
And I don't know what it isthat that ten Hark has been doing with

(13:45):
them, because you've got no ideawhat it is they do, how they
play, or what what they're youknow, what what they stand for or
anything, whereas you can really clearlysee it. I mean, everyone talks
about our high line, but youcan really clear clearly see what we're trying
to do, which is why whenyou do get players who stepped in and

(14:07):
by the way, you know,this is a this could be a whole
other pod. How amazing is itthat, considering how many players that we've
had missing, that we the playersthat do come in have stepped up and
kept us in this position because basically, some of the key players that we've
had that are missing and we're stillmissing five of them, have you know,

(14:28):
have been missing from nearly half aseason. Yeah, yeah, you
know half of our season so far, I should say, so, you
know, and so we're sorry,Rich we just got like just that finishing
off that point you were saying abouthow quiet they were, we shut them
up because we were knocking it throughthem. And passed them and round them
and their goals. I think wecould have done better on you know,

(14:52):
there was a little bit of rustingdefense, as you might expect considering the
two of them coming back. Youknow, perhaps in if they were more
up to speed, he might nothave conceded those and won that game.
But equally I thought we you know, like Gary Neville said at the end,
you know, Spurs were clearly thebetter team. Yeah, And I

(15:13):
think this is the interesting thing aboutit is twelve months ago, obviously before
a came in at Spurs, buttwelve months ago, Manchester United were a
much improved side. They were youknow that they seemed to be to be
more cohesive. Rushford had a greatseason last season. You know, they

(15:37):
seemed to be galvanized under ten hagand you know, they got rid of
the Ronaldo distraction and all that,and obviously a lot of the bad feeling
in the dressing room and they seemto have just utterly regressed from that point
back to where they were when hetook over. It. It's the most
bizarre thing. But anyway, let'stalk about Spurs. I just wanted to

(15:58):
to point out, I mean,my man of the match, I've got
to say, was Destiny you doggie? I thought he absolutely it, absolutely
pocketed Guarnaccio. Yeah, yeah,absolutely mate. And then and there was
a message I can't remember which,you know which the organization put it out
there, might have been the BBCor TNT or something like that, but

(16:19):
they said, are a Doggie andPorrow the best fullbacks in the Premier League
now? And you'd have to saythey are. I mean, who would
you have over those two? Imean, I mean know Poro, you
know, yesterday I thought there weresome suspect things about he's defending, but

(16:41):
he's was causing them nightmares on cornersand whipping in crosses and things like that.
He does exactly what he is expectedto do in that position, which
is to, you know, tocreate, and he does it really,
really well. He's one of thebest in the Premier League at it.
And the two of them, well, when you might, you may as
well extend it to a whole backfive. Is there a better keeper in

(17:02):
the Premier League now? And whenthose two are up and firing, I
mean, you know you've got aWorld Cup winner in Romero and vander Venn
just looks like a bloody rolls Roycein the way he just strides around.
And you know that that I think, if it's not this season, next
season, that will be the bestdefensive unit in the Premier League. Yeah

(17:23):
yeah, I mean you can youcan see it, can't you you know,
And it'd be interesting to see howit evolves. Now you know that
we've got drugs in Yeah yeah,got some cover, some much much needed
cover, you know, And onthat very subject, maybe just to just
take a second to say, youknow, goodbye Eric and thanks some memories.

(17:45):
Yeah yeah, I mean, Iyou know, I know some people
seemingly desperate to get shot of him, and I know we've sort of touched
upon it, but since then ithas been confirmed, isn't it. But
I wish well, I think he'she's been a key figure in this team.
But he does say a lot andnot about how you know that he's

(18:07):
in inept player, because he's not. You know, he'll go on and
do elsewhere. But it does saya lot that considering the injuries we've had,
he's played people out of position inthose positions instead of him because he
just isn't able to work in thissystem. And I wonder if some you
know, some part of his becausehe had this appendicitist problem as well,

(18:30):
doesn't it And he's ever been quitethe same since then, you know.
But I think he'll be a playerlike Laurice in ten years time or whenever,
he'll be an ambassador probably for theclub. He speaks really well,
He's clearly an intelligent guy. Ithink he will come back and represent the
club really well. And I thinkhe has a lot of love for it.

(18:52):
And if you see the video thator you saw the video that came
out and that when he was talkingabout it, and clearly at the beginning
of it, he's pretty emotional.He's been there nine and a half years,
six months short of been able toget a testimony. I don't think
they do they do those anymore?They do, I don't think they do.
I was going to ask you thislast week or the week before when
we were speaking about Laris actually youknow about yeah, you know, like,

(19:17):
are they even still a thing?You know, because I think there
are some plays so much now don'tthey anyway? So well, yeah,
yeah, I mean whether or notthey should be done as at as a
fundraiser for the players, or maybeyou know, just an event for some
other charitable cause. I don't know. I mean, yeah, we've got
a couple that are there or thereaboutsleaving, you know, kind of around

(19:40):
that sort of nine or ten yearmark. Oddly enough, I saw a
picture in one of the articles Iread about Dyer's transfer of him in his
first season, and you forget,you know, twenty fourteen, you know,
when he sort of comes in andwe're in that under armor kit with
a black strip across the across thecollar bones. Yeah. Yeah, and
he looks like a child, hedoes, he does. And then you

(20:03):
know, obviously I remember the openinggoal, that first one he scored against
west Ham and and we mustn't forgetthat. You know, there was a
point, like we were saying withLarisse, where he was one of the
best in the country and for hisand for his country, you know,
he was, you know, andthat that midfield role I thought was was
you know, stroke of genius fromswear Jar, from Pochettino to put him

(20:26):
in there. And I think heplayed that really really well. You know,
it was he knitted together everything.I don't ever think when he when
he dropped back into defense that asmuch as he wanted to play that role.
It suited him as much, andthere are rumors that there that Bayern
might try to look to play himin that role that he was before under

(20:47):
Pochettino, where he was the sortof DM role. Yeah, it is
interesting because there was a lot writtenat the time about how he really didn't
enjoy playing in it. And youknow, he linked up really well with
with musterd and Belly at the time, isn't he. You know, it's
quite powerful sort of central midfield pairingand and yeah, yeah, I mean
a very a very sort of capableguy. Injuries I think have obviously sort

(21:15):
of taken their toll on him.I think he played with an injury for
a lot of Pochettino's last season,didn't he, And I wouldn't have as
much as anything else has had along term effect on him, you know,
but you know, good luck tothe guy. I mean, it
is a bit it's funny, isn'tit. It's kind of an odd move
for him. I mean you canonly assume that Harry Kane had something to
do with it. They're best mates, aren't they. So well, yeah,

(21:40):
maybe Harry's German lessons aren't going verywell and he can't talk to anybody
else yet, you know, hemight be lonely. I would probably pick
it up within about three weeks,won't. He's like multilingual anyway, isn't
he? So? Yeah? Yeah, absolutely, but yeah, I mean,
you know, I think there's beena lot of revisionist nonsense talked about
Eric Dyer. I don't think hesuited this system at all. He obviously

(22:03):
didn't. He obviously understood that andunderstood it. I think he came on
his de Newmont was was was againstwolves, wasn't it, I think?
And he just was was an island. He was lost in it and it
was sad to say. But youknow, if he can leave with his
head held high. We had youknow, fifteen quid in a miles bar
for him, which is better thanleaving on a free Yeah. I mean

(22:26):
he barely cost us anything. Ithink it was like four million or something.
So we've had, you know,incredible value out of him anyway.
But you know, Andre's shown alot of strength in terms of his sticking
to his guns, which you know, he really really has done. You
know when people have questioned him aboutit, like why don't you adapt this?

(22:48):
Why don't you adapt to that andhe has stuck to his guns and
part of that, unfortunately, youknow, one of the casualties has been
Eric Dyer. But he was right, He's right, you know, and
and you know, things come toan end. In nine and a half
years is a long time at aclub, you know. I mean,
I suppose last thing I'll say isI just wish him well. Really,
you know, he's very much so, very much so farewell, and you

(23:12):
know, whatever you do, don'tcome back in the Champions League. The
ironic thing is he'll probably wins acouple of medals over there, you know.
Oh yeah, yeah, he'll geta league with his medal this year.
And you know, you know,because I mean most of the teams
in the Bundesliga are made up oftractors, aren't they. So I mean
it's like playing in the Scottish league. But anyway, but yeah, well

(23:37):
we just have just to sort ofcap off that talk, you know,
defense and goalkeeper chat. Then didyou see the quote from Vicario in the
week, Yes, with my ownblood if I had to, Yeah,
yeah, didn't that say a lotthough about the character that you know he's

(23:57):
that An just recently said when someonesaid you know, what did you have
to say for drugs to come tous instead of buying me? You know,
how did you convince him? Hesaid, I don't have to convince
anyone. That's not my job tosell the club. I just say what
we're you know, what we're tryingto do. And but but there's something
that I think about the way hemust phrase it, the way he must

(24:18):
contextualize what we're trying to do.And what he's looking for is players that
really want to be here and wantto come and that of course, you
know what he said, you know, you know, absolutely speaks volumes about
that approach because you know, likesaying with dragons and he or draga sheen,
whatever reason, however you say it, he's you know, he could

(24:41):
have doubled his salary and gone tobuy in. You know, he's come
here. I mean, just actuallytouching on that when when he came home.
He's not really enough for us reallycomment too much, but he struck
me that he had you know,he looked really confident. You know,
this is a twenty year old,twenty one year old man who's never played
in the Premier League before. Thisis a huge step up. He stepped

(25:03):
onto the pitch and he had swagger, and I thought, yeah, that
we're getting the right sort of players. You can tell when pundits are saying
Spurs are get dropping their Spursy tag, that we seem to be recruiting the
right type of individuals with bravery andcourage about them, and young and mouldable

(25:25):
too, And you know, there'sjust so much to look forward to.
Mean, I try not to digresstoo much here, witch, but just
talking what we were talking about aboutthat defense, There's loads of quality coming
through as well. You've got Dorringtoncoming through, Phillips coming through, he
was getting rave reviews at Plymouth.You know, we've got that Vushkevich that's

(25:48):
coming through is you know, sixteenseventeen year old kid is meant to be
incredible. You know, so there'sso much to be thankful for. Maybe,
you know, this won't go downso well with with a certain sort
of faction of the support, butwe perhaps have to give Levy he's cudos

(26:08):
here because he seems to have putthe right people in place, and and
and and seems to be changing alot of that structure we've seen across the
Premier League, that spending stupid moneynot only can get you in trouble like
the two things we've heard about todaywith Everton again and and and Forest and
maybe walls next. But but buton top of that, it's no guarantee

(26:32):
of quality. I mean, lookat bloody Antony. Uh uh that man
Yui's dog shit, that's one hundredmillion, Yeah, a million. I
mean it's You're absolutely right. AndI do think we do, you know,
if we are going to beat Levyand Eni with a stick when things
are going bad, and I thinkit is right to hold them to account
when you know, then we dohave to say the thing. I mean,

(26:56):
the thing about the academy and theplayers coming through as well, is
you know, he's twenty odd years. You know, they've completely changed.
They've rebuilt the club from the groundup, haven't they. You know,
both within the stadium and at thetraining facility. You know, they've they've
established you know, far better linkswith with with clubs lower down the football

(27:18):
pyramid, either as feeder clubs oras as as as clubs and organizations.
We reciprocally send kids out on loantoo, and we share academy players to
and the system that system in itselfor that system particularly is not going to
come to fruitish overnight, is it. And actually what we what we what
we may be seeing now is thatthat's actually maturing, and that the benefit

(27:44):
of having done all of that constructionwork and all of that modernization and all
of that, you know, completelyoverhauling the football clubs as a as an
operating system is now beginning to feedmore, you know, more, more,
more, more evidential results into thein and around the first team.
And if we've got a manager whowill give them a chance, then then

(28:07):
fucking brilliant. Because for all weused to say pounding, Pochettino was great
with giving people a chance. Hewas very reticent of bringing players from the
youth. I mean, there area handful of examples obviously, but certainly
after that first couple of years ofbeing in the club, you know,
we saw increasing amounts of frustration withplayers like Marcus Edwards couldn't get minutes on

(28:30):
the pitch. You know, hein particular, signed a contract elsewhere,
went abroad. I mean, lasttime I heard he was at Sport in
Lisbon. He scored thirty something goalsthe season before, something like that.
He's played in the Bundesliga. Youknow, Champions League quality player came through
our system and just had no chanceof getting minutes on the pitch. And

(28:51):
you know, if this is thedirect result of all of that background work
now and now we've got somebody incharge who will give them a chance,
then then I think it's a reallyexciting time for isn't it. Oh,
you know, brilliantly summed up?I think, I mean you mentioned it's
not overnight, it's not you know, the gear has been grinding for a
while, and I think things havebeen been put in place. However,

(29:12):
how quickly is and transformed this club. The mood of the club, the
way we play it kind of makesa mockery of a lot of what managers
are saying, how how much theyneed and how much time they need.
And if you remember the last manager, patients, patients, patients, he
talked all the time about and justcome in and within weeks has turned it

(29:37):
all upside down. And and youknow he's had he's had his doubters.
But look at it now. Yeah, I mean I think you know,
getting Lange and Scott money and that, and they're just this, you know
that, because I mean the onething that we've never done that we're doing
now is signing players early. Ithink I read the what's time we signed

(30:00):
a player as early in January aswe've signed these guys was like twenty twenty
ten or something like that. Yeah, yeah, you know, and generally
speaking, you know, for thelast fourteen to fifteen years, all of
our January transfers and most of ourof our summer transfers have come very very
late in both windows, if they'vecome at all, you know, you

(30:22):
know, famously Nelson and Sahara andyou know, those kind of those kind
of you know, last minute.So I think that is that that's and
I mean, yeah, wonderful.And sometimes I've been thinking about this.
I think parts of me thinks Contiwas right, you know, because what
they've done is Conti said, oh, you can change the manager as often

(30:44):
as you like and nothing will everchange. And actually we have changed the
manager and everything's changed. But actuallywe've also changed all of the back room
staff as well, yeah, youknow, and lots of players and yeah,
the routing and all that. Somaybe Kante kind of had a point,
But that said, Andre's come inand he hasn't gone. This is
a club signing. This is asquad player. You know, he's just

(31:07):
gone, yeah, right, okay, sucking, you know, with the
one exception of Jaed Spence, whichI'm quite disappointed in how that's panning out,
but you know, yeah, clearlythat you know, if it you
might have said it was Conte before, but if it's Conte and then it's
Ang, and then it's Fark andthen it's you know, other people that
have said likewise, and there mustbe an issue because apparently we've insisted on

(31:33):
an option to buy, so wewe we seem to want rid. So
you know, you win something,you lose some. I think I think
they're famously Liverpool appointed a whole teamto overhaul them and their systems and do
all the research around, you know, getting the best possible transfers. And
one of the things that they foundwas that, you know, fifty percent

(31:56):
of transfers fail. Well, ourattitude seems to have done a lot better
than that. A lot most ofours have have done really well. We
may have one or two, likeperhaps god, we're just saying his name.
There was the Jed Spence that's itgot dementia creeping in. Yeah,

(32:21):
and you know one or two others. I don't know, maybe we will
end up selling Solomon or you know, maybe he won't you know, but
who knows, too early to makethat judgment. But but anyway, my
point is is that that research showsthat, you know, a lot of
transfers don't work out, and Belly, you've got to really have And I
think one of the things that you'realluding alluded to earlier about you know,

(32:45):
having that team mun Lange, andI think we've overhauled our scouting system.
I think our data recruitment stuff isis much much better. We go into
a lot of detail about you know, other things that perhaps so that people
might not pick up upon, sothat gives us an advantage. And there
was something that was said earlier inthe season that we're using a betting companies

(33:05):
kind of data. I don't knowquite how that works, but it But
I think then this seems to bea complete systematic overhaul of everything to to
to give us an advantage. Andand again this is where we can come
back to Levy and given him hisQDOS is that not only has he put
that in place, but also he'sdone that in the context of financially putting

(33:30):
us in a position where we're nowherenear being in trouble like some of the
clubs are, and and and actuallygoing forward, we're only going to be
more cash rich. I think whenyou when you look at our club,
and I'm not talking about football here, I'm talking about sport worldwide. I
think we're in the top five interms of revenue of any sport worldwide.

(33:54):
You know, and that includes teamslike the Dallas Cowboys and things like that,
you know, which were who areun in absolute fortunes. I think
going forward consideringly, you know,we've got hotels being built, and you
know, we've got NFL there now. And this is where I know people
going, oh, he just likesa pound note and all this kind of
He has been quietly putting this allinto position so that when all this FFP

(34:17):
stuff starts to buy it, we'rein a position to actually take advantage.
Yeah. Yeah, we don't needto be we don't need to be laundering
money from from you know, Emmeraat states, you know, in dubious
sort of mechanisms to get cash intothe club, you know, I mean
one of the that he's spoken aboutmuch more quietly and certainly away from you

(34:40):
know, places like Sky Sports wherewhere it's very much not the party line.
But clubs like Manchester City, youknow, they they yeah, they
win all the trophies and they doall this and they've you know, wonderful
football and manager and Yadida can't fieldthe stadium, no, no, no,
So so you know, the wholething's a white elephant, you know,

(35:02):
there is no and Newcastle can fillthe stadium, but they can't spend
no. So they've got you know, the richest club on the planet.
But the FP has got teeth andit will get tighter over the two or
three years coming here, that willbecome harder, and so they've got to
now start selling before they can buy. And and some of their key players

(35:25):
that gimarsh may well end up goingso they can strengthen the team and other
positions. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I mean, I do think that
this is the point where if thereis value in the Unich sort of oversight
of the club, this is probablywhere we will see it in reality,
isn't it. You know, Andlet's just hope that these things coincide with
with were continuing football and success.But I think, you know, before

(35:51):
we you know, we've gone toofar down the rabbit hole. And perhaps
we already have gone too far downthat rabbit hole. Let's back up a
little bit and and just cast ourminds back to old Trafford yesterday afternoon and
just pick out one or two otherthings from the game, you know,
before it gets away from us,shall we. So yeah, Pedro,

(36:15):
Poro and rich Arlison. I mean, we've spoken a bit about about both
of them already, so so maybewe don't need to dwell on this too
much, but I think we've gotto give as much credit as anything to
Richarlison's sort of recent upstick in inform to the the dead ball deliveries from

(36:38):
Porro. M hm, you know. I mean it was one of the
things that struck me yesterday. Ikept watching Chris Ericson, you know,
sort of lumbering about the pitch ina red shirt and thinking to him,
thinking to myself, ah, yousee that, See that, that's how
you deliver a fucking corner, Chris, see that, that's what we wanted

(37:00):
off you all them years ago,because I mean he was a footballer,
but he was fucking opeless with adead ball. Terrible and in the end
he got the Shepherd Hooke, didn'the he did, yeah, I mean,
and he seemed to go downhill becausewhen he first arrived, you know,
he scored a few really nice freekicks and his set piece delivery was
great, you know. But butcertainly in his later years at Spurs,

(37:22):
I mean, he couldn't hit theside of a building with a ball,
could he, let alone somebody's foreheadin the six yard box. But we've
had that for a long time,haven't we. We've always been moaned the
lack of set piece specialists. Nowwhen we get Madison back, we got
Hooro and Madison, and you know, Madison can take a brilliant free kick
and Hooro can to actually take acorner and you know last time that I

(37:45):
can't remember. What could it beas far back as you know, Anderton
and Sheringham. Well, yeah,I mean it might it might be getting
on for that really. I mean, I suppose we had a reasonable amount
of success in the years when wehad Crouch up front, you know,
largely because he was three feet tallerthan everybody else around him. Gave him

(38:06):
some much to a matt you know. But but yeah, I mean it's
a long time, isn't it.And I mean they're so that the ball
that you know, the bulls comein and they and they're flat and quick,
and Carlison seems to you know,I mean, I know we've I've
certainly said before about I think sometimeshis movement in and around the penalty area,

(38:27):
you know, in it or certainlyin and around the penalty spot to
the six yard box is sometimes abit suspect. But from from a set
piece, he just he just slicesthrough people, doesn't they. Yeah.
Absolutely, he's excellent. And likeI said a bit earlier, maybe some
of his defending was found wanting yesterday, but in more than conversated with with

(38:51):
with his set piece, taking anyany particular corners. We looked at a
danger from corners all game long.Yeah, and I mean on any other
day Romero scores the winner with hishead from yes, yeah, yeah,
I forgot all about that. Imean, I know, like you know,
again, we could we could say, you know, if you look
at the game, I think overallwe were unlucky not to win it,

(39:13):
but we could have lost it aswell in the last minute, so because
you know Tom and A could haveYeah, but then we you know,
but Bent and Courr had a shotthat was blocked on the line, and
Romero had ahead of that hit thebar, as you just mentioned, so
you know, we're and overall aredominance of the game. I felt that,

(39:34):
you know, I wouldn't say Iwas gutted with the two to two,
but I felt that we really couldhave should have won that because you
know, our dominance deserved it.And it's like, you know that their
goals were against the run a play. I mean every not only from the
eye test to watching it, butall the commentas were saying that, you
know, Spurs are totally bossing thisgame, and yet we you know,

(39:58):
we we end up concer. Eventhe couple of goals, I mean,
they were well taken goals, butI think you know, you know,
you know, if we were,as I said earlier, not as rusty,
perhaps we wouldn't concede those. No, No, I don't, I
don't think so, you know,and you know, their first goal in

(40:19):
particular, I think is yes,it was. It was a viciously struck
shot, you know, but ifyou'd have been stood three inches further back,
it'd have been a yard over thebar. You know, it was
right quite quickly, so you know, and I guess yes, you know,
were other people still co presenting thispodcast. At one point our mate
would go, yeah, but that'sbeing a professional football, aren't it.

(40:40):
You know, right place to atthe target? And I know that's the
obvious answer to that, but youknow, how many times do you see
the player being three inches too farback and it going over the bar?
So you know, I sixes andsixes and sevens and all that, you
know, I think I think actuallyto to sort of flatter them over the

(41:00):
course of the game. And actually, you know, you can see that
ten hard comes out afterwards. AndI was listening to the radio immediately after
the game, immediately after watching it. I was traveling, and so I
heard the postmatch interviews on five Liveand he came out and he was like,
yeah, you know, I'm reallywell, I'm entertaining game of football

(41:21):
and I'm really quite pleased. AndI thought, yeah, you fucking know
you've got away with that, don'tyou. And conversely, I loved what
Anne said. Did I think Imight have put a couple of sort of
clipped up bits in the WhatsApp thread, But there was a thing that Ange
was saying about just how proud hewas of all these players and how much
they had you know, they they'dstood up today considering basically, you know,

(41:45):
we were down to the bed bonesand the virus had ripped through the
camp and you know, and youcould see, you know, for him,
he was almost a little bit emotionalthat that, you know, he
really knew. I think you feelit's almost like to me, it felt
like he felt moved that his playershad gone above and beyond the way they

(42:07):
did considering you know everything, andyou know, you know, even even
the defenders. You know, I'vejust criticized them for being a little bit
rusty, but but they're ahead ofschedule, like he's saying, they're month
ahead of schedule. He said,he's saying Benkore should have been another month.
Yet he said, they've all putthemselves, you know, to do

(42:29):
a degree jeopardize their well being slightlyto put in a shift for this team,
because that's how much they they feelabout wanting to help each other out.
And you know, that's that's neverbeen you know, that the case
for a long time. You knowthat our players have done that. They've
spent as long time as they wantedin the treatment room until they feel,

(42:50):
you know, as good as theypossibly can. He's saying, you know,
really, in truth, you know, if we'd have had greater depth,
they might not have come back soquick. You know. Yeah,
yeah, yeah, very much.So. Yeah, I mean I think
you're right. You know, it'swe wouldn't be the first people to point
out that you could quite rightly havecalled us apathy arts, but for the
last few years, you know,And yeah, yeah, I think yeah.

(43:16):
His post patch comments again, Ilistened to his radio interview and and
and the BBC George whatever his nameis, the guy that does He said
to him, you know, areyou a little bit disappointed that your players

(43:37):
weren't more clinically in front of goal, you know, because you've had done
much and he and he basically said, look, if you don't, and
you you all know what's happened thisweek, you know, and this season,
and you all know how many playerswe're missing, and you all know
that, you know, I wastear through the club in the last few
days. And he said, ifif you can't want that match and appreciate

(44:00):
what the players have put in todayto overcome those things that they've faced,
this week, he said, meexplaining it to you is not going to
help you understand it now. Lovedit, brilliant and yeah, wonderful.
I the I think just you know, to finish off on that on the

(44:23):
game, because I think we've we'vepretty much covered it all. Do you
really think, I mean, let'slet's say, you know, it's Manchester
United, it's at Old Trafford.You know, they have their new part

(44:43):
owner in the stands a lot ofpressure on them. You know, we've
got six regular first teamers out atthe moment, plus all of the other
backup in you know, injuries andabsences, and you know, you know,
should we really be kicking ourselves thatwe didn't win that game? No,
No, in reality, you're you'reright, But in hindsight, when

(45:06):
you look at it and the waythat we dominated, there's a case for
that. You know, I'm notunhappy, but but but we dominated it
so much that we could have Butyou know, but we are But you
know, let's not forget our recordup there is horrendous. You know,
so so team has beaten No teamhas won more home matches against a single

(45:31):
opportunity in the Premier League that ManchesterUnited have against Tottenham like they beat us
small at home than even Chelsea havedone. The story. You know,
they're are bogie team. Yeah yeah, I mean, and I think the
other thing that I heard yesterday wasthe last time we took six points off
them in a season. Do youknow who the manager was? Gosh,

(45:59):
jeez, I know, pleat TerryVenables. Terry Venables. Wow, yeah,
geez yeah, I mean they go, you know, I mean,
and it still is like listen,you know, I know we we we
said we silenced their fans. Itstill is old Trafford. It still can
be intimidating. We do have alot of younger players, and we did

(46:19):
have a pretty much a scratch sidein you know, in in in that
sort of attacking sense. So yeah, you know, you mean, we
shouldn't be too down on that.But but you know, but I think
we were that much better. Youknow. But anyway that, you know,
let's let's not get you know,I'm not I'm not annoyed about it.

(46:40):
I just I'm just actually really proud. I just thought that that the
way that they stood up and surprisedbecause that midfield I had you know,
nightmares about. You know, maybewe did deserve more? Yeah, I
think we did. Yeah, justa nod really on the on the on
the statistics side of it. Youknow, we're at the forty point mark

(47:02):
at the end of the game yesterday. We're safe from relegation. Now,
good good, I'll go even further. Did you hear what Rednap was saying
yesterday when he said he actually thinksthat when we get all our players back,
that Spurs could be second or third. Yeah, yeah, I didn't
hear that. It's interesting because latterly, I've after avoiding them for being a

(47:27):
pair of odorous bastards for years andyears and years, I found myself listening
to six h six a bit morelately. Right, I still can't fucking
stand them, either of them.But you know, and I was listening
to it yesterday. Uh. Andyou know, Savage, You're constantly trying
to get the rise out of ChrisSutton about all this, because obviously Chris

(47:50):
Sutton's a big fan of Andrews becauseof his Celtic connection. And you know,
Chris Sutton, who has been knownas anybody but Spurs in my house
for the last yeah, yeah,years, you know, is suddenly very
effusive about Spurs, and he's makinga very similar point yesterday, you know
that you know, maybe we shouldbe thinking that that looks like you know,

(48:13):
not only does it look like success, but that's what we should be
aiming for now, you know.And of course he sort of makes his
point and then that fucking Welsh gitstarts carrying, Yeah, what have you
wan? What have you wan?Or what have you won something? You
know, because he's a fucking asshole. But you know, I think if
even people like Chris Certin are startingto say, this is the point that
I'm making the the you know,there's got to be something behind it.

(48:37):
Hasn't. No, this isn't justfans getting carried away. This is people,
you know. And I mean bothof the Red Naps have had quite
a lot of boots to put intous the last ten years or so,
haven't they. You know, atthe times, neither of them have been
particularly graceful about Spurs. I thinkthey're kind of waking up to the fact
that, you know, he hasa philosophy that that does work, that

(49:00):
and that extends to the point of, you know, even the scratch players
being able to function and execute itthe way he wants. But when we
get everyone back, we will notonly have a team that's as good as
pretty much everybody apart from maybe ManCity, but the depth is also beginning

(49:23):
to be there. I mean,we've got we will have good rotation options
to be able to play that systemeven more effectively because you know, we
can rotate them out so there won'tbe so many injuries. Well, and
also you know he will be ableto make in game changes based on energy
levels rather than an injury. Soyou know, after seventy minutes, when

(49:46):
other sides are starting to get raggedfrom us chasing them about for an hour
and ten minutes, at the momentwe have to leave the you know,
the greater part of that attacking threaton the pitch right away to the final
whistle, because aren't options to change. But now you know, going forward,
if things start to align for us, he'll be able to make that
as a tactical change rather than asa protective change, and bring on more

(50:10):
fresh attacking legs in the last twentyrather than bringing on Skip and Hoiberg and
players like that to retain possession andslow things down a bit, you know,
and I think that is when you'llsee us go up a gear because
because teams are already struggling to copewith our intensity even for only two thirds

(50:31):
of a game. Yeah, absolutely, Well, big Test is coming up
soon though, next Friday night,I think, is it? Yeah?
Yeah, what do you think?Well, you know, it depends really
and who they get back and howseriously they take it. You know,
we're talking about man City and theFA Cup. Obviously, you know,

(50:54):
if Harlan's back, and if youknow, obviously if we if we've got
where we should have Madison back aswell. We we have a we have
a better chance, we'll have abit more of our depth back, we've
got our defense back. The onlything is we won't still have Sun and

(51:16):
we won't have Sar and we won'thave Besuma. So it depends how strong
they go. But you know,touch Wood, they haven't scored a single
goal yet at our stadium, sowell, I'm sure we will be,
you know, well up for it. I don't know, I don't know.
Is it is it better to playhim now in the early rounds than

(51:38):
it is in the late latter rounds. Arguably in the early rounds that maybe
that that they you know, theythey might have fieled a weaker side or
or could you argue in the laterrounds will be more wrapped up in the
Champions League. I don't know.I don't know whether it's a it's a
it's a good thing or a badthing, but you know, for sure

(52:00):
we'll have a right good bloody goat them. Yeah, well that's the
thing. You know, We're notgoing to bore them to death this time,
are we? Which you know,I've been at a few of them,
a few of them victories at theNew Stadium, and you know,
enjoyable as it has been, tofrustrate them and to take points off of
them as it has been, youknow, are the ones I've been at

(52:20):
anyway, have been league games.They've been fucking tedious affairs. At least
we know we're not going to getthat this time exactly. Yeah. I
think the thing is as well,as we've already shown, although we're slightly
different personnel, that we can standtoe to toe with them because we've played
them once this year out there.You know, Yeah, I don't think

(52:44):
we've got anything to be particularly scaredof. I I I wonder the more
this goes on, it does getinto Guardiola's head, doesn't he because he
spoke about it at the end oflast season. What's left for you to
achieve at Manchester City? He said? Yet to score a goal at Tottenham?
Yeah, yeah, do you knowwhat? And I think one of
the things that you know, it'sreally it's gonna sound really obvious, right,

(53:07):
but one of the things we missedyesterday was Madison's ability just to put
a ball on a sixpence and withhim back and had you know, at
least a week's training, I thinkI think that's what we will have.
I think that the chances for Richie, the chances maybe for the other two

(53:27):
because one of the things that youknow, I mean, maybe we should
just very quickly touch upon the criticismwhich I thought was terrible of Johnson yesterday.
You know, he's maybe trying todo things that aren't really his natural
game. And one of one ofthe things I think he's badly missed is
is Madison, because he's a sortof instinctive player that you know, one

(53:49):
touch trying to sort of get ashot away goal, Like Richie's a bit
like that. If he overthinks ithas more than one or two touches,
he balloons it, you know,and I think Johnson's a bit like that.
And I think Madison is the sortof player that will probably end up
meaning that, you know, Johnsonwill get a few more goals because he's

(54:12):
not really one for beating a man, you know, he's good at riving
late in the box or something.You know. That's that's my impression of
the player. So I think he'sgot a bit of a hard time for
trying to do something which isn't reallyhis proper game. Mm hmm, yeah,
yeah, I think so. Imean, I think a lot of
the criticism is unfairly leveled at him. Actually, yes, his end product

(54:32):
hasn't been particularly great at times.It is a little bit like watching Aaron
Lennon, you know that you know, he's sort of speeds off down down
the right and then fires it intothe ether. But I mean he's a
kid, you know, and actuallyhaving to shoulder a lot of responsibility in
that side. Yes, they allare, but you know, he's one

(54:54):
that's not really suffered with the injuriesyou know that have sort of hampered him.
So you know, he's i meansuffered with your injuries. You know,
he's been sort of moved around andand he's and he's had some continuity
in that he's getting more game timethan some of the others. But but
that continuity is, you know,it's on the left and then it's on

(55:16):
the right and the left, andyou know, and obviously each time they
move him, they put him infront of somebody else. So sometimes he's
playing with Poro, sometimes he's playingwith Destiny, you know. I mean,
as we all know that that thewhole thing is changing sort of week
by week around him. And Ikind of feel a bit sorry for the
kid, because you see, youknow, the one thing you can say

(55:37):
for him is that his head's notdropping. You know, he's still showing
for the ball, he's still makingthe runs, he's still you know,
he runs his sucks off, youknow. Yeah, And I think I
think, you know, it's veryvery easy to criticize people when when you're
not out there playing. And I'vejust said that, and it's made me

(55:57):
think that I should stop criticizing burgpodcasting job if I can't criticize well,
you know, I mean, thething is, you know, some players
take longer to settle. Some playerstake you know, a season or so
to settle. I seem to rememberone Darren Anderton having a terrible first season
and then afterwards, you know ourplaymaker basically, wasn't he Yeah, yeah,

(56:22):
yeah, darn. I mean hewas a big pressure, big money
signing from Portsmouth, wasn't he.You know, he came in on the
back of Gascoyne going and yeah,you know, I mean, I guess
the thing that that that worked inhis favor actually after that first season was
that he played a game and thenhad three weeks in the hospital each time
to recover. At least he hada lot of rest. But I seem

(56:45):
to remember a certain Gareth Bale hada terrible first season or so and was
blamed forever all our defeats. Everytime he played. We we lost games
and losing streak. Yeah is it? Do you remember? Red Nap cured
it by putting him on for aboutten seconds at the end of the game
when we were three to get ridof the hoo doo, but then nearly

(57:09):
sold him off to a bloody atanother club for about three mill Yeah.
Imagine he would have gone to BirminghamCity under Alex McLeish. Yeah. Yeah,
So anyway, should we do predictions? On the on the results for
that game, then I think we'regoing to beat on two to one.

(57:30):
Nice, nice, nice. Yeah, I think it will be, you
know, well contested. I'm goingto go a high scoring game. I'm
going to say three to two tous. Yeah, yeah, okay,
I mean I think, you know, I think this is the game where

(57:52):
their goal who doo comes to anend, isn't it? Regardless of whether
whether Harlan's back, I mean,Kevin de Bruyn is playing again, you
know, incredible, incredible. Youknow, Alvarez is a really good player
as well, and you know Rodriyou know, I mean they might not
have Edison, but whether Edison wouldhave played or not in that Cup game,

(58:12):
I don't know anyway. But yeah, anyway, I think I think
he'll be keenly contested. I thinkit would be a really good game for
the Neutrals. Maybe not so muchfor us, but yeah, you know,
I don't know. I mean thatit will be a hard game to
call because they are so good.But but we're not half but either are

(58:37):
we We're not We're not. I'mgoing to put my neck on the line,
s a three two to us.Yeah, yeah, I mean,
you know, I think you're rightin the in the it'll be one goal
that decides it. I don't thinkeither team is going to run away with
it, you know, whereas beforeI think if we'd gone behind, the
heads had gone down. I thinkthat's that's dead and buried now, isn't

(58:58):
it. Which is a wonderful thingto behold. Know, it's al Muscht
like, you know, you scoreagainst us, you make us angry.
You know, it's it's a wonderfulthing. But yeah, I do think
they will end that sort of whodo I can see now the interview after
the game after we've beaten them,and somebody will say, pep, you've
scored a goal at Tottenham finally,you know, you know, I think

(59:27):
I think that would be wonderful.But you just about it being wonderful for
the good for the Neutrals and notso much for us. I did sort
of think the other day watching Spurshas begun has become a little bit like
watching Doctor Who when we were kids. You know that you sort of do
it from behind the sofa, don'tyou. Yeah, I mean, you
know we we do play so muchbetter, but it is high risk,

(59:50):
you know, And but this gamefor US is higher risk for another reason,
because really is our only probably realchance of winning silverware this year.
And and I think we have acracking change. We get past them,
I think we have an incredible chanceof winning it. Well, I think
so, I mean we're not.I don't think we've got any reason to
be scared of anybody that's in thatwell, you know, and get past

(01:00:14):
them as well, then we prettymuch then have our full strength side back
again to you know by the nextround, because you know the other players
will be returning from their respective youknow, Asia Cup and f con Cups.
Yeah, yeah, absolutely, Andof course you know there are still
sort of two weeks of the transferwindow to go, yes, yeah,

(01:00:35):
in which Lionel Messi will obviously wantto come and play for Bigang. Does
he still playful? I see,I don't know. I've not heard of
him any more, even easy he'sI think he's like somewhere like Los Angeles
in New York fucking what New Yorkball bags or something? Yeah, yeah,
yeah, he lines up alongside youknow, Randy Bumgarden of the third

(01:01:00):
and see, I don't know,well, yeah, it would be interesting
to see if we do do anymore. Business. I'm not really one
for as you know, I'm notreally for anybody listening to this. We
have this on going what's up,and least says have you seen that?
And I go no. When Igo no, not interested. Sometimes like

(01:01:24):
that it's that I'm not interested.But I work all day kind of outside
in the in the middle of nowhere, in the field, and most of
what I do requires me not tohave any technology around me because I have
to be demagnetized for my work.So, like you know, most of
what goes on, you know,in the world is I'm oblivious to it.

(01:01:45):
So I will That's a good thing, I'm sure. But yeah,
for a further context, anytime I'llsay to Rich she puts something on the
transfer window in the schedule for thechat tonight, no refair to me,
what I actually say is you cando, but you'll have to do the

(01:02:05):
talk. Yeah, yeah, moreabout what's happening with Spurs talking to you
on these recordings. Yeah. Imean, to be fair, I don't
think we will be massively determined toget anything more done this window. But
I think a bit like the Wornersituation, if anything kind of comes up
and it's a it's a it's agreat opportunity presents itself to us, and

(01:02:29):
we think, yeah, actually thatwould be a good one. We may
well take it. But other thanthat, I think we you know,
we've done the business that we neededto do, and you know, we've
got players coming back. If weif there's someone who could genuinely improve us
and the opportunity arises unexpectedly, Ithink we'll be in the position to take

(01:02:52):
it. But I don't suppose we. You know, we're massively you know,
on the war putting as it were, in terms, so looking for
someone Yeah, yeah, interesting,Yeah, I mean, I mean,
I guess the danger is you gofrom not having anywhere near enough players to
if we do have a reasonably kindspell with our injuries, suddenly having more

(01:03:15):
than you can you can utilize ifyou're only in the league and one cut,
and it's got to be someone thatcan improve it him, because otherwise
all you're doing is adding bodies,and that's not what we need. You
know, obviously we've talked about FFPand all that kind of stuff, But
then you've got to get shot ofplayers you don't really want or need or
massively surplus the requirements we've already stillgot probably you know, a few players

(01:03:37):
that Hill could go, Quiber couldgo. You know, there's a few
players probably yet to be shifted.I suspect that will take great emphasis.
And as we get players coming back, so they might suppose come go towards
the end of the window and thenyou don't know, you know, something

(01:03:58):
could crop up like we did memberVan de Art mm all of a sudden
that the Blue get offered him andyou go, okay, it's too good
a deal with the turn down mmhmmmm. Yeah, yeah, it's interesting.
And of course, you know,in the context of things like FFP
as well, you know, weare also around clubs that may need to

(01:04:18):
offload players in order to to eitherfree up funds for new purchases or to
or to bring themselves back under undersome threshold, you know. So,
I mean it's a dynamic situation,isn't it. It's not one that I
claim, but anyway, there yougo, mate, I think that today,

(01:04:42):
doesn't it. Yeah? Yeah,Well, I think we're on a
positive note and now we're getting theseplayers back. There's a lot to look
forward to for the rest of theseason. I really think we're going to
have a strong second half of theseason. Now, yeah, well,
I mean I I you know,I'm more than happy with the way things
are progressing. And if it justcarries on the same all the way through,
then then I'd be perfectly content,because, as we said at the

(01:05:05):
start of the season, I justwanted to be entertained and may is this
entertaining? Oh absolutely, I meanhonestly, when we get everyone back rich
just to finish off here, whodo you fear Nobody? There you go,
Yeah, yeah, nobody at all. I don't fear anybody. I

(01:05:25):
think we're a match for anybody.I think the really interesting game will be
Liverpool Anfield. I think that'll bea really interesting game because of what happened
at Why art they But I thinkwe have got you know they They have
been the side that I've been scaredof for years, you know. Yeah,
yeah, yeah, and our recordthere also is horrendous. Yeah,

(01:05:46):
so that that, yeah, thatwill be an interesting litmus. Yeah,
it'll be. It'll be an interestingtest, and of course it'll have all
of the added spice of victims FCbeing persecuted by the powers that be when
they came to London, you know, yeah, yea and yeah. I
mean they're a fucking strange bunch.We think Arsenal fans are weird. I

(01:06:06):
was listening to that that phone inlast night, you know, And and
and the bloke phoned up and said, why aren't Kier and Tripia and Kyle
Walker getting slated as much as youguys like to slate Trent, Alexander Arnold
and the and they went, haveyou not listened to any news since the
since the game? They like?All that they've been doing is criticizing Tripier

(01:06:30):
and Walker for being at fault forthe goals and things like that. And
he was just like, yeah,but you far harder on Alexander Arnold,
and I just thought, oh god, they really are there. It's teams
that play in red. There's somethingfucking weird about the fan bases massively.
So yeah, anyway, we won'tget into Kyle Walker like he's been getting

(01:06:51):
into some things. We'll leave itthere show on that one. Yeah,
I think we'll part that there.Your your the tips of your eye,
owls, and your beard, andyou know that are all beginning to turn
white down there in the in thein the the Antarctic circle or wherever you
bulleding from so I think I'll doa kindness and let you go back in

(01:07:12):
the warm to your house. Thankyou very much, Kine, sir,
don't say I never give you nothing. We've been of our side, Spurs,
and come on you Spurs. Youknow there's no place I know if

(01:07:33):
I would, I wouldn't want tobe Ryan here. And you know,
in this minute of trying to bringsuccess to one of the biggest football clubs
in the world, the basic handleateline principles. So I want my team
to to play football that scares thelife out of every opposition. That's that's
kind of the end game.