Transcript
Speaker: Yo, don't cry, don't beg. Welcome to another episode of the Don't Blame the Ref podcast. The first Don't Blame the Ref derby. but the The big day.
Speaker: Big day. this time This time it was at Stamford Bridge. We missed the one at Old Trafford earlier on because we actually didn't start. So this is the first one where we can properly give you an in-depth analysis on both of our teams.
Speaker: Because there's nothing else to talk about. There's just one game that we have to focus on. I mean, there's another game that just finished that we could talk about. I'm going to touch on it. I'm going to touch on it. Some people are in trouble, but anyway, in the red corner, you've got me, Dom.
Speaker: In the blue corner, you've got me, E-Man. Yeah, so did the intro already. So how are you feeling, bro?
Speaker: You know, I should have changed my background to Stanford Bridge as well, because that'd be my new home stadium. You might as well call it Three Point Bridge now, boy. Hey, boy, you lot, bro.
Speaker: Hey, bro, there's so much that we could talk about. Wait, wait, wait. Can I just, be black like, what, do you know what really, like, the whole, the thing that really annoys me at the end of this is that United play so dead, yeah.
Speaker: But then everybody's saying, oh, what performance. All the pundits are saying what performance. Players are on the Instagram page are saying what a... Guys, United had two shots all game.
Speaker: As much as... so don't get me wrong. We are in funk. Like, we are not good. However, to get absolutely dominated by this version of Chelsea and have two shots, two shots. Are we deep in it? What do you mean, two shots? What was that about...
Speaker: my but Was it two shots? i I'm pretty sure saw stats after it was saying two shots. It was probably like two shots on target, if I'm being honest. Because I remember Bruno had a shot that went wide. And... Hold on, hold on. So, Manse... Casemiro had a chance as well at some point.
Speaker: Okay, four shots. Four shots, one on target. Oh my God, we had 20 shots, one on target. LAUGHTER
Speaker: Oh my gosh! We are so bad! We are bad! You lot are actually terrible, man. And the fact that... I think even if we approach this game as a normal game, like to say, oh let's just go at them. think we still would beat you anyway.
Speaker: I wasn't worried. though I don't think so. I think i think i think the the your game plan was, look, we don't have our starting centre-backs. Let's keep it tight and let's counter, which which worked to a T, obviously, because you he he basically bet on the fact that Chelsea don't have the quality to to break you down and and have and um score goal. And literally, he was right. so And I do think...
Speaker: If you did play more expansively, yeah, you would have probably given us a bit more joy because because people like Neto and Gnacho, they five on for space. So you guys denied them of space, so they weren't really effective.
Speaker: um It's a shame we didn't have Papjao Pedro, man. It's a shame because... Yeah, you know what, yeah, that was my thing. When I saw the lap was lining up, I was like, that's what gave me that um feeling of we could have gone...
Speaker: more against it because I'm not worried i'm not not worried about the lap. Like that front line-up, who was it? What? The lap, Esteval... No, the lap, Esteval and... um Was it Neto? was Did Gennacher come off the bench? and Yeah, Neto. but I'm looking at that and I'm saying like, right, cool, Esteval is good, ah potentially, but at the same time, but we got stuff to worry about on our end as well. You you you see your defence. You think our defence is the only bad one? Our one's makeshift. Yours is just crap.
Speaker: So... i You know what mean? There's nothing to be worried about. And um speaking of defences, so um obviously Harry Maguire is serving a red card from the Bournemouth game.
Speaker: Lee Char had a free match ban because of the hair pulling thing, which is, listen, PGO, ML... oh I don't wo who help them hold on hold on I need to remember we're not in the group chat yeah cool down cool down was going to say it's like crazy bro alright cool but yeah done man yeah it's just however they feel whatever they feel like doing on the day is whatever the rules are interpreted bro literally the next day who was it was it the Fulham versus Brentford Calvin Bassie's hair got pulled no record no review nothing my centre-back said it's serving the three March
Speaker: Three-match band, that's what i'm saying. is that It's just inconsistencies. But anyway, Lenny Ural is out with an injury. De Ligt, still don't know where he is. He's missing poster. Don't know what's happened to him. Have you seen so this mad rumour? random rumour someone's posted online. They said he'll never play ball again.
Speaker: someone Someone said someone said he he can't play football again. They said the injury so bad, whatever has happened to him, that you might have to retire early. I don't know. It's just random ITK. But don't know. That's not even the scenario I was talking about, bro. What? Which one? Which one you're talking about? I'll tell you off there. Got to get us finished, yeah? I'll tell you off there because this one's finished. This one's a crazy... Bro, I've been seeing bare rumours about my man. Just, yeah.
Speaker: Yeah. to be Well, the back injury stuff I've heard about before, like him having a chronic back issue. So I don't know if if it's genuinely affected him so much he's he's he can't play at all, but I've definitely heard that he's had a back issue before. anyway, look, so so a starting centre-back partnership of Masuari and Hayden Heaven. Yeah, Hayden Heaven, yeah,
Speaker: and Yeah, you know, the lap really couldn't get any joy out of them. um And for me, it's it's his timing of movement. And i I just, he's got to be more aggressive in the key areas. Because for example, we've got we got into crossing positions in a couple of occasions. There was one where I really think he should have got in in front of Aiden.
Speaker: Then another one where he should have drove into the back post and he would have had a tap-in. And I just think his timing on crosses is so off. It's so off.
Speaker: And he's he's always two, three yards off it and and and never connecting. Now, whether um um that whether that's an issue with building relationships and getting chemistry with the team...
Speaker: Yeah, but I don't think so. I think it's more of he needs a lot of work and he needs a team that can that's got the time to work with him on that and be patient with him.
Speaker: He'll go to a team like Newcastle and he'll look half decent because he'll thrive on the space and and he'll probably have a better, he'll have more stability of the people around him and, you know, they'll probably have coaches that will probably take more time and make sure he's all right. But yesterday,
Speaker: He did all right. He did okay. he Yeah, it just it wasn't enough to give you to give us the the force and power that we needed to to drive us forward.
Speaker: It is, yeah. Jao Pedro was a massive miss. speaking Speaking on the lap, he did the typical thing of centre-back, I mean a striker, especially if you're a physical one, you... tend to um lean more towards the more vulnerable centre-back out of the two And surprisingly, ah well, not surprisingly, because even though Aidan Heaven's a young boy, he's pretty physically dominant in both aspects, like strength and in speed as well. So he went more towards Masurari. And even when I saw the line-up initially, um you know you know um clubs release the line-up and they don't show the positions, they just show the names. I thought it was going to be um Luke Shaw centre-back.
Speaker: Left side of centre-back. Yeah, same. But wasn't that wasn't the case, which made sense, I guess, for a balance sake. Have a left foot as the left back and then Masurair has played centre-back a few times. But um I do think for the most part, both of them combined dealt with it pretty calm. Like... um He didn't really give them too many problems. It's just, he to to be honest, he's just not that good. He's just not that good like at this stage. But I do remember us playing Ipswich and he was putting the late Martinez in a blender. So I don't know if it's just a um case of, where at Chelsea, the situation is sink or swim.
Speaker: so No one's going to hold your hand. So I'll speak on that, yeah. it's It's probably a part of that. Look, he's played at a higher level and he's playing against more low blocks and he's got to be a little bit more intricate. His touch has to be better. He's got to be better at dribbling. His movement has to be better, yeah, because he's at a top club. But it's also a case of, OK, Ipswich play a different way. Ipswich sit in deep and then they go on the counter and thrives in space.
Speaker: more because he he wants to isolate to the back and really drive into the space. But it's actually another issue where we brought kid, a young man at 20, 21, you know, men don't stop growing until 22, 23 and some people even later.
Speaker: So for me, if you look at- They're both at 25. Exactly. So if you look at his size, He was a lot narrower. I'm not saying he's fat. I'm just saying he was narrow. His shoulders weren't as broad. He wasn't as tall as he was when he faced you guys versus Ipswich. If you go watch back, look how small he looks lot smaller. a lot leaner, a lot more agile. The acceleration's a lot better and that's why he caused you guys so much issues that day. And he was able to get about the pitch. He was way more electric than he is now. Right now, he looks taller, he looks wider, he looks slower, he looks less agile and he's finding it more difficult to get separation between centre-backs. And
Speaker: And that's just a part and parcel of buying young, youngish players. The person you get at 20 may not be the same person you get at 25. And that person might have to change their whole game to now fit their new body style that they're not used to. So, yeah and, and that's the problem with, with, um with getting young players and you have to be so detailed, so focused and so organized in the way you develop and coach these, these young boys.
Speaker: to make sure that they they you know they develop well and and they still perform even as their body change. Havertz grew, if you look at Havertz, Havertz grew between, i don't know what time frame it was, but when while was at Chelsea and then his time into Arsenal, he grew about three inches, mate.
Speaker: yeah he He grew about three inches. People don't notice these things. yeah and They just think, oh, this guy looks uncoordinated. He looks like Bambi on ice. But he's actually going through a growth spurt and he's finding it it very difficult to get his coordination back.
Speaker: Over time, habits adjusted and now he looks he looks he looks like his normal self again. So my point is that it's a mess. It's a mess. It's a mess. And they buy all these players without a plan.
Speaker: yeah what is your What is your development system like? How are you going to train these boys? How are you going to adjust it? There's no plan. There's no plan. How are you going to teach this guy how to be a striker?
Speaker: To me, it's very clear that your ownership is just stockpiling young players and hoping one of them just explodes. Same thing, what basically the Cole Palmer thing. Cole Palmer didn't really need the coaching initially and he just became whoever he is. Now you're looking at like a £100 million pound player. So they think, oh, that's just how it works, like in football. But in football, it has to be a lot more intentional.
Speaker: And that's why Chelsea will be doomed because yeah they do not value... They were in big trouble. And that's why we're doomed because if you do not value the the the contribution that a coach can make, that's how you go out on and employ coaches that are not good enough.
Speaker: Because it's so crucial that you have a coaching staff, fitness team, medical team, that are all aligned and understand what the needs of the players are. If you do not get that bit right,
Speaker: and And they don't realise how crucial is. They've got all these young gems, or some of them are good, some of them are not, but you've got all these young guys and and you're just throwing all these random coaches at them.
Speaker: They should be coached by elite coaches that know what they do and know how to develop them and know how to make them the best players. I'm sorry, yeah? Look... A coach is not solely responsible for someone's talent, yeah? Esteval is Esteval. Messi is Messi. Ronaldo is Ronaldo.
Speaker: But are you telling me Ronaldo and Messi have never been coached? I've never been given a tip. I've never been developed. When he first came to us, Ronaldo was the tricky winger who didn't have any end product, but he was electric and he could beat a man. But that was as far as his game went. There was nothing else to Ronaldo apart from that. And as time went on, and obviously the way Manchester United used to function back in the day, it's not that ah if you were young, you just played like week in, week out. No, we already had top quality players in almost every position. So you you have time to bed in. There's no pressure on you.
Speaker: bro take your time and and and and the coaches the coaches there would have worked with him, would have worked with him, would have trained the way they put on sessions to develop his skillset. I'm not saying they're solely responsible, but it's it's the two that works together. It's Ronaldo's work create and the people that that he's worked with, the coaches along the way that have built sessions to try and get the best out of him and make him learn all these things as he goes.
Speaker: ah we Are we doing that? I don't think so. Because the way at which some of these players are developing, it's not working. And the thing is... um There's no issue with Chelsea buying young talents in order to make profit off them.
Speaker: The issue is you're buying young talents who aren't ready to be first-teamers. That's what the issue is. they're not They're not ready for that. If you guys were stockpiling, like if we had Chelsea sign 20 new players to the under-18s team,
Speaker: and they're all just foreign from all over the gaff, and then that some of them are on loan, some of them are... the do That would make more sense. And then the best ones go to the first. would that everyone That would make more sense. you sal on But yeah, you guys are doing it completely differently.
Speaker: Because then at least you develop them, your coaches are working with them, they go on loan, they get their experience and then you start to push them into the first team. Like, whatever. Anyway, let's let's let's focus on the game.
Speaker: um Our line-up was a line-up. um Our line-up was a line-up. Well, it's the options we have, bro. That's it. There's no... Veece James is injured. Chalabar's injured or coming back from injury. So, Hato's starting at left centre-back. Kukuele left-back. Fafana centre-back. Two CDMs in Caicedo and Enzo.
Speaker: Till this day, Caicedo and Enzo... Whenever Caicedo and Enzo have started in the CDM role, we have won about three or four games. I keep telling people it don't work. Those two in that midfield two...
Speaker: It does not work. And it doesn't work because one of them is not good at defending. Okay? now And Caicedo is average at the defending.
Speaker: Yeah? Caicedo is average at defending and screening. Enzo is horrible. And that creates a a total imbalance. Yeah? Cool. Whatever. Yeah.
Speaker: Then Palmer, Neto, Esteval. Esteval clips the post in and then his hamstring's gone. um I'm going to go on another one. Sorry, we're going to talk about the game in a second. But, cool. want to talk on Esteval, yeah?
Speaker: So he was at Palmeiras. He then, from Palmeiras, Palmeiras season starts in January. Yeah. yeah Now, then from January, he goes to the Club World Cup.
Speaker: He plays every game for Palmeiras in the group. They get to the knockout stages, they get knocked out. Yeah. He then joins Chelsea. He has a very short break in three weeks, then joins Chelsea. is By the way, the FIFA recommended time for pre-season is six weeks.
Speaker: So for a break in between the season, it's at least four weeks or something like that. These guys only get about three weeks off. Cool. Yeah.
Speaker: They then come back and the recommended time for pre-season is six weeks. They then come back to have two-week pre-season. Cool. That's an 18-year-old body going through league, summer tournament, little break, no pre-season.
Speaker: Enzo Merska starts to manage his minutes very well. Sub appearances, a start here and there in the cup games. He doesn't get injured. Maybe he has one niggle. I think he had one niggle early on, but doesn't get injured.
Speaker: Rosinha comes in and every opportunity Rosinha gets, he starts in.
Speaker: And he's had two hamstring injuries underneath, under Rosinha. Yeah. And his season is is now a year, it's been a year long where he's played football nonstop.
Speaker: Guys, like, this is why the young boy was coming off the bench. Football fans get too excited. You get too excited. I'm not even going to allow you to do that. You were saying that my man should be starting from time. No, no, no, no, no. We're going to have to roll up. We're going to roll up the tapes. We're going to roll up the tapes because I said it from the way Moeska is managing him.
Speaker: was fine completely fine I had no issues with it because he needed to be managed you can't just play these guys young guys non-stop yeah you've got Dembele at 20 years old his tendons ripped off his bones mate and he wasn't the same for about 5 years only now is he now coming back you know coming back and and now he wins the Ballon d'Or that he should have won like 4 or 5 years ago thought they killed my boy bro do you know what mean they were saying all he does this play Fortnite and eat fast food bro They were destroying him in Barcelona. They were destroying his character, but they ah but he's been playing football non-stop since he was 17, 18.
Speaker: So, yeah, you could talk about his character, but the real issue was he was overplayed. And same with Esteval. We've got to be careful. Let's let these young, super young talents and and players, let's let them take their time. let's Let's bring them on. The fans have got to stop pressuring managers and gun clubs to be playing these guys.
Speaker: It's okay. Relax. Down them. 16 years old. All Arsenal fans saying, ah, he's got to play, he's got to play. Relax. The guy's 16. Yeah. Because in the same breath, you're complaining about Saka. No.
Speaker: Saka looks finished. Exactly. Exactly. But when Saka... Now you want Dalman who's 15, 16 to already be playing first two minutes. And okay, what about if Dalman actually shows that he's really good, what you're going to want him to start next season?
Speaker: Bro, gro they're crazy. They're crazy. And and when Saka was 18, they were saying, oh, Saka's got to play every game. Saka's got to play every game. By the time he turned 19, that's what they did. Now look at him. ripped, shredded his hamstrings. He hasn't been the same things since last year. Yeah.
Speaker: And he's going to take some time for him to get his feedback. Anyway, I went off on a tangent. How do you think 20 minutes into the pod, we start talking about the first half. Yeah, yeah. How do you think, how do you think, are you happy with the way you set up?
Speaker: Are you happy with the game plan? um i don't I don't want to do the in hindsight thing because we we won and be a lot are like, oh, yeah, it was a great plan because it worked. No, like for me, I don't like when we play like that.
Speaker: I don't think we have a good enough defensive team. I don't think we our players are as disciplined. At any day, Dalo's a ticking time bomb.
Speaker: He can make an error that can lead to a goal. Luke Shaw can fall asleep. Casemiro, depending on where he ate for breakfast, is how he's going to perform. I think he was absolutely shocking yesterday. Big unk. Bro, the unk was showing. So it's like, you don't really want to play like that. If you want to manage and limit the chances by opposition, you...
Speaker: You don't want to give them, you you don't want to dangle character in front of them and say, keep coming us, keep coming us. if you're doing that for the last 10 minutes of the game, fair enough. But play the game as it should be played.
Speaker: Heaven, you know what? When I'm looking at Aiden Heaven, yeah, I think it's time for me to be completely honest. I think he's better than Euro. I think the only reason why Euro is getting minutes, I think the only reason why Euro, well, actually, I'll say from what he's shown, what both of them showing at Manchester United, I think Aidan Heaven has performed the better than Lenny Euro.
Speaker: But I think Lenny Euro will be pushed more because he's the big money signing. So who my my only hope is that Aidan Heaven doesn't regress too much because i do think we're going to go in for another centre-back.
Speaker: Even though we did sign Maguire to an extension, i do think we will go in for another centre-back. But yeah, in terms of in terms of the way we performed in that first half, it's a hard watch, man. It's not enjoyable for me. at At this stage where we are in the season...
Speaker: we I didn't even look at our last our next three fixtures after and i'll put like when we were doing our last spot. We're playing everyone around us. We're playing Chelsea, Brentford, Liverpool. We get two wins out of these three games Champions League secured.
Speaker: So take a bit of a risk. Show it like Carrick, you're still positioning for the job. like Don't tell me every single time it's a pressure game, we're going to see this. Because I don't want to see that. i don't want to see that. But again, we do have a makeshift defence, so I'll cut him some slack on that. But yeah.
Speaker: Yeah. So I think your performances have been regressing since Newcastle. could that Newcastle result, and then, or maybe bit earlier. I think the Newcastle one was really stark, where you're like, hmm, that was the performance, not just the result, the actual performance itself. And then even as you had a couple wins after that, even the two the two performances after that still weren't, they weren't convincing and they weren't the same. You're not playing the same football as you was when as you were when Carrick first came in. um And I think a part of it is,
Speaker: that you're not as, I don't know, I don't know what, I can't remember, I don't think you're zipping the ball as quick as you could be. Yeah, I think it's a combination of things. I think Carrick came into the job fearless. I think he wanted the job, but he was kind of a thing like, let me just show what i can do.
Speaker: So he encouraged the players to play with um less fear. The players also have been being criticised for the last 13 months because of our previous manager. Everyone's turning on the players. So the players also had a bit of a pep in their step to show like, no, we're levels. that This is what we can actually do. And then now, I did mention last word, there's a certain level of comfortability that I feel like the team is walking into games thinking that I will just win it anyway. But Carrick is also identical. For me personally, there's little things that I'm watching with Carrick that's making me go, okay, let me see how you handle this new situation now. Our performances are declining. You still need to pick up points.
Speaker: What is your adjustment going to be to help us get over the line? And this Chelsea game, he could have tried to approach it like how we approached the Manchester City game and the Arsenal game. But the team has been so far away from that recently that him doing this strategy...
Speaker: makes more sense when I think about it. So I'm not going to be that harsh on him. But yeah, it I do think Chelsea basically just had us pinned back to me. Couldn't really build out from anywhere. The team, Cesco, struggled to hold up the ball initially.
Speaker: especially in that first half. I think he wasn't really in the game, but that that tends to happen, especially when you're feeding off scraps for the most part and in the first half. But um how do you think Chelsea did on your end?
Speaker: if The set-up was very Mureska-like. um I've got a feeling he's... He's given up on the... I'll tell Paul is decent, but I think I've got i've got a feeling he's he's given up on the cover long distance, press really high, really fast, attack really quickly sort of tactics.
Speaker: um Because now this was a much more controlled, keep the ball, slow it down when you get it, try not to be as direct or or eager to to lose it straight away.
Speaker: And a lot of it was, okay, pack the middle with the full backs inverting, free up the winger on the winger in the wide areas and try and get it cracking that way. So I do think it was very Mureska-like. So I'm not necessarily enamoured with it.
Speaker: And at the end of the day,
Speaker: the players on the pitch aren't good enough. And I didn't like Morescu when he was employing these sort of tactics because I thought it brought out the worst in the wingers that we have. um So I'm not going to now turn around and say, oh, I'm fine with Rosinha doing it.
Speaker: But he's tried this gung-ho, press-high, overlap sort of thing, and it got Rhys James, his hamstring ripped to shreds again. So... um Yeah, i'm I'm frustrated. I'm more frustrated with our lack of quality than the tactics deployed. um I'm frustrated that we can't shoot on target.
Speaker: I'm frustrated that Esteval gets injured and, you know, we've got no other options. No, you've got options, man. You've got one of guys, of our guys.
Speaker: Wait, hold on. Let me just let me just clarify. You lot bought him, right? It's not a loan without... wish he was a loan, man. You didn't do the Sancho thing again, right? I wish. Thank God. Oh, my goods So, so speaking speaking on speaking on that, yeah.
Speaker: So, if you look at the goal we conceded for Fahna... Anyway, actually going to speak on this. Fofana clashes with Sanchez and then um it ends up that Fofana gets hurt and he's got to come off the pitch.
Speaker: I saw Joe Cole and the other commentators, they really need to watch back that clip and really just, really be critical of themselves because I'm very disappointed in in their criticism of Sanchez in that scenario.
Speaker: So, if all gets whipped in, c Sanchez does what a goalkeeper should do. Clear it out, ask questions later. Yeah. Bro, that's old school goalkeeping. That's Old school goalkeeping. Everything get wrapped. That's... Everyone's getting moved to you.
Speaker: If Sanchez didn't do that, they would criticise him for not doing it. Yeah. So cool. Facts. He he does he does that now. Joe Cole goes to to now criticise that, oh, um you know, if you had a leader in the defence, those sort of clashes wouldn't have happened. You know? That's the wrong thing to say. Then he said, JT and Cech would have never clapped. Lies.
Speaker: JT and Cech always clashed. Always. Because both of them never gave up on the ball and both of them would go full-headed for it. And whoever got there first, that's it. They always ran into each other. I remember Cech punching Jogba in head and knocking him out cold.
Speaker: It's a normal goal. He's a good goal for him, man. He might have CTE, bro. He did a combined 11. I don't you've seen that clip. Get that guy out here.
Speaker: Okay, you're a baller, but it doesn't mean you know anything. The worst thing is ex-players gone pundits. I swear to you. It's the worst thing.
Speaker: I hate the notion of like, oh, because they've played, they know more than the average person. Yeah, to some degree. To some degree. But at the same time as well, we all grew up watching Match of the Day.
Speaker: And now that we're all adults, um ah we're actually watching games ourselves, realizing like, oh my gosh, a lot of these guys actually don't know what they're talking about. They don't actually know. And this is why you need quality coaches. Because I'm sorry, the 25 players you have on the pitch, not all of them are smart.
Speaker: Not all of them are smart. Not all of them know the game. Not all of them not understand tactics. Not all of them, like, bro, trust me, in 25-man squad, There's a reason why there's only about three, four captain material players there.
Speaker: The ones that are actually smart and i actually understand everything. but Everyone else is just talking into work and clocking out. Bro, honestly, this is going to be one of the worst analogies ever, yeah? But imagine like working in a supermarket, yeah? You're a cashier. You don't know what's going on in the deli section, bro.
Speaker: You're the cashier. So I can walk into Tesco and what, you're going to tell me exactly how the deli guys preparing the meat in the back was? I'm going to listen to you.
Speaker: Bro, what's the difference? Man's playing left wing, watching Cech clear the ball and John Terry fight for the ball. He doesn't know what's going He what's going He doesn't know what's going on. He doesn't know what's going on. doesn't know what's going on.
Speaker: He doesn't what's going on. Bro, as a great man once says, you've only been there five minutes, mate. You've only been there five minutes.
Speaker: Can someone take John Opie McHale's mic away? Bro, he did the episode with Yaya Toria. I need to watch that. Bro, that might be the greatest. That's going to be the funniest thing ever. I need to see that. I need to see that. But yeah, back to the game. The goal is... Oh, wait. No, you was on something about after the collision. So cool. After that collision, Fofana comes off, yeah?
Speaker: And then that's where United strike. Now, on the um analysis of the of the video, and this is why, house I'm sorry, but I keep emphasising, this is why coaches and analysts are important.
Speaker: Because these guys, like, they actually know what they're talking about. On the analysis by the pundits and Joe Cole, they seem to focus a lot on... um Number one on Garnacho's inability to to stop Fernandes from crossing it, which is completely right.
Speaker: Yeah. Garnacho has to learn to stay goal side. Stay goal side. He has done it 20 times this season. the shoulders by Fernandes and he took it extra touch, which completely sold them the wrong way.
Speaker: Just stay goal side. If he stays goal side, Fernandes has to turn back. He doesn't stake outside, he whips it. However, if you rewind it back literally five seconds, who does Fernandes, what position does Fernandes play?
Speaker: He plays centre midfield. Where does he make his run from? Centre midfield. Who should be tracking that run? Hmm. Hmm. Who do you think he would... who Who played left centre mid for Chelsea?
Speaker: Enzo Fernandes. You can literally see him run off Enzo Fernandes and Enzo Fernandes start pointing... Garnacho gets there and Garnacho should do better.
Speaker: but if Enzo actually follows the run, i know it could I know it leaves a gap in the middle. I know. But at the end of the day, that's a run from midfield in behind our defensive line.
Speaker: Follow it. Everybody else has to adjust around you. Follow it. and And I'm sorry, you have to play the game by the temperature. That's Bruno. That's the one Manchester United player you don't want to have the ball. Exactly. Just stop here stop him and most things don't work. It's not like, oh, Ronaldinho's got the ball over there, but let me just keep my position because I want to keep the shape up. Bro, that's the danger, man.
Speaker: If anything's going to happen today, it's him over there. So... close them off. Block the corner. If it's a corner, whatever. like Even if you vacate your area, who's going to pick up the ball? Casemiro or Kobe from that space? Like, bro, neither them are really going to cause you that much damage.
Speaker: Another prime example of what why I say Enzo in that CTM role just doesn't make sense. I'm sorry. It just doesn't. In that double pivot role, it doesn't make sense. If you haven't got a two defensive midfielders behind him, i don't even want to entertain Enzo being on the pitch.
Speaker: So as far as I'm concerned, he can just go to go. Madrid don't even want you, big man. Just go wherever you want to go, bro. Like, just just just go. He's going to have a flat-climbal one.
Speaker: Yeah, he's at Flatico Madrid all over. he is That's where all of Messi's dogs go to play, bro. All of them Argentine fugs. They go over there, man. They go to learn from Simeone, bro. That's their godfather.
Speaker: They write a passage, man. Let's be honest.
Speaker: i But yeah, it it was a great ball from Fernando, to be fair. Sesko and, who was it, Kasedo in the middle? They're like sort of tussling. I see people trying to say, oh, Sesko's fouling him. Bro, they both got each other, man. Yeah, they both got each other. right there's not There's nothing you can do that. But Konya, smartly,
Speaker: he's alive He's awake. He's awake. He knows that ball's coming in and around somewhere in the penny area. Yeah, of course. I'm just going to be there. And that's that's a top quality finish. First time. He's he's in a great striker of the ball. So that i don't really expect anything less, but you have to give him a goal. That's the key thing with um these type of games. if you're going to play on fine margins, you need your best players to take the opportunities when they drop. That's basically it.
Speaker: Yeah, it is a mess. um There's multiple mistakes and we can see the goal. It's great finish from Cunha to get over the ball and keep it down. um The way it's bouncing and the pace it's come into the box, it's great finish to be fair. um And from there, i just, yeah.
Speaker: a Yeah, we just never really created any clear, proper clear gasping chances where you're like, oh, we should have scored there. don't think we've ever really done it. Maybe one, one a half a couple half chances, the lap hits the crossbar. Neto put in when once he went out on the right, he put in two to three decent balls, crosses to to be fair to him.
Speaker: um And yeah, it's it's it's it's it just wasn't really good. One shot on target just highlights that. It just wasn't really good.
Speaker: And then we have Garnaccio. ho That was... Disaster class. That was a Hall of Fame performance. That was... Hall Fame. Let me not speak as a fan. Let me speak as a coach.
Speaker: That is someone who clearly knows the manager doesn't rate as much as he rates himself. That's a person that played the occasion, not the match.
Speaker: What I mean by that is... you know United fans being in playing United rather than playing the match and focusing on his job and what he has to do. Now, what I've been impressed by Garnaccio in recent weeks or recent months, sorry, was his... It was a stark difference between him and Neto in the fact that he was very unselfish and he was making the right decisions at the right moments.
Speaker: um Even if he doubt he's not hasn't got great pace or great shooting, great crossing, yeah? It's a decision-making that approved. However, in this match, I think he felt the pressure.
Speaker: i think yeah after a few mistakes, he struggled with getting his head back in the game and you could see the mistakes really affected him. um And there were a couple of moments where you see he actually got his head up and then actually tried to link with people.
Speaker: But almost every single time he lost the ball, it's because he held on to the ball too long. Yeah. Trying to dribble. Running down blind alleys. Bro, there was a point where you guys won the transition and he was running on the ball on the left-hand side and he decided to come inwards where we had all of our players. Bro, that don't make any any sense.
Speaker: I was so confused, bro. Honestly. He was actually just playing like, literally like a bonehead, bro. He was rattled. I don't care for him that much in the sense of like not because i hate him and all that. I don't i don't care, bro. It's not that deep. But he he is someone who needs a lot of work on this game.
Speaker: He's not the finished article. Not even he's not the finished article. I don't think he's good at a lot of things. I think there's a lot to his game that he needs to improve on. The only thing I think he's actually good on good that is running behind.
Speaker: That's it. like Without the ball, just making that run from outside to in. That's his best attribute. When he first came into our team, that's what he was doing. was coming on for the last 10 minutes, running behind, getting a one v one Sometimes he'll score, sometimes he wouldn't. So it's not... There's nothing that's been ever been standout about Garnaccio except for what people like to say is mentality and the speed.
Speaker: That's it. Speed without the ball, not with the Because with the ball, he's fast. he's a big line contradiction to himself. yeah he even even with Even with the ball, even without the ball, so he's not he's not that fast. um And he's got to be a little bit more intelligent.
Speaker: And when you're not composed, you can't tap into that intelligence. You can't think clearly. You can't try and make the right decisions in the right moment. And yeah, it just led to him absolutely.
Speaker: It's going to be really tough for him to come back from that performance. I do think it will be. And the funny thing is as well, if I remember correctly, he didn't even play last time we played each other at Old Trafford.
Speaker: he did He didn't get a single minute. And it's probably because Moresco at the time knew. like he he's I'm pretty sure Moresco was aware of his temperament and looking at and saying, yeah, there's no way I'm bringing this boy in to come and play. He gets too rattled too quickly. Bro, there was a good he had the incident at ah Manchester United where one of the fans, he's a content creator, Planet fans, he turned up to the game early to like, you go wait where the players come and sign things. And he said to Garnaccio, pass the ball more or something like that. I don't even remember that whole thing. And i remember Garnaccio scored like,
Speaker: the game after that or something, there was a lot of like talk, discourse about Giorgio and he didn't celebrate because he was getting... like that That's just showing me, bro, you get too easily, right? You're not ready for the big stage yet.
Speaker: You need it to work your way up. But, yeah. and And that talks into another side of football that's really tough for... I felt like before, you'll get it on the newspaper, but all you have to do is not pick up the newspaper.
Speaker: Yeah, you'll get on the TV, but we have to do a switch off for TV. But that was so hooked on our social media. So and social media social media is tough for these young guys, man. And I just think you can tell when someone lives on social media, like, cause you can tell when they react to this to the stuff that's been said online and think i i say to I say to the young players now, the best thing you can, if you ever make it to an academy, whatever, the best thing you could do stay off social media. Honestly, guys, they'll never listen.
Speaker: But the best thing for these guys, even when you win, win or lose, just don't spend a lot of time on social media. don't People always going to say, like, even even us talking about Garnaccio and saying negative things about Garnaccio, that could have, that will have a negative impact on him if he was to watch this. That's just a fact.
Speaker: Because we're talking about another human being. If I watched a video on someone criticizing my every action for 90 minutes, That would either annoy me or affect my confidence moving forward. So the best thing they can do is not watch it.
Speaker: And the other thing as well, I know a lot of these players, they actually search their names on social social media because i know Rashford does because there'll be times where Someone someone someone would randomly tweet about... no No, because I've seen it a couple times. Someone would randomly tweet about Rashford, but like it would be like a positive thing. And they won't they won't say anything. It would just say Rashford, and you'll like it.
Speaker: Or you'll quote it, and retweet it or something. So it's like, how did you how did you get how did you get this? so Yeah, this this guy's got followers, bro. And... What, Marcus Rashford happens to know him? Nah, come on, man. You know all these men got burner accounts. They're all watching this. Honestly, what what should happen is after a game, especially a bad game, don't even turn your phone on.
Speaker: Don't turn your phone on. Just go straight back to your house, sit down, do whatever you need to do to decompress. I'm not saying like do yoga and do all of that, but i just come off come off social media and then just...
Speaker: give it Give it like a 24-hour break and then and then go do what you need to do. Or even have a immediate ah PR team. Someone else who manages your socials and just go like... Yeah. Anyway, it's um where where we are with the um game. and So we we go into the first half 1-0 up.
Speaker: um At this point, I'm just thinking that's Carrick's game plan. just it worked It worked perfectly at that point. um I'm not happy watching that as a viewer, but at the same time, it's a necessary evil. At this point, like this is a big game. These next three games are big games, especially Chelsea, because Chelsea are actually the ones who... The bigger the gap is between us and Chelsea, the more certified Champions League it's. Yeah. Yeah, exactly.
Speaker: it's It's pretty much over now, especially Liverpool in their game today. It's pretty much over. so Chelsea won't be in the Champions League next year. and That serves them back.
Speaker: um There's a lot of PR and messages going out saying oh they could you know slightly change, tweak there um you know the work the way they operate and then and try and recruit better. But By that time, i I do think they're goingnna have to sack this manager because I'm not sure we win a lot of the games that we have left, honestly.
Speaker: I'm not sure we do. um Now, the second half, move going into the second half, I just knew we wouldn't score. I just thought to myself, where where would we score from?
Speaker: like who Who's going to step up from how many plays How many of our players can be on the edge of the box and whack the ball in the top corner? Like, you guys have got Cunha. Cunha can do it. If you leave Cesc go loads space on the edge of box, I know he can smash it in the goal. If you if you leave Mbremont loads space on the edge of the box, he can do it.
Speaker: Fernandes can do it. Casemiro can even smash one into the goal. How many Chelsea players can shoot from the edge of the box and you go, yeah, that's a danger?
Speaker: Palma? But this version of Palma is not fully fully confident. So outside of Palma... Nobody. To be fair, Caicedo had a good shot in the second half.
Speaker: Caicedo, yeah, he had a good shot, but he scored one banger. He scored one banger for Chelsea. That is in his back. He just had a good shot once. Whereas we know throughout Casper's whole career, he's done it semi-regularly. Yeah?
Speaker: And that's the that's where I'm like, yeah, this job, we're not scoring. We're not scoring at all because there's nobody that we can lean on that I know can just do a bit of skill and slam it into the top corner.
Speaker: Like these tag games are always going happen, but who has the skill, the talent? Who has the ball striking? Who has the composure to bang, bang it into the goal? we couldn' even get We couldn't get we could even get more than one shot on target.
Speaker: Yeah, bro. One shot on target from 21. Bro, that's dark. That's actually dark, you know. Dark. And this is this is what we talk about. like This is why I keep emphasising the players aren't good enough.
Speaker: They're not good enough. Stop talking to me about experience. if you If you go and put Maguire and the put in our centre-back pairing, I promise you it makes zero difference to this result.
Speaker: if you If you go and put Casemiro in our midfield, i promise you it makes this is zero difference to the result of this game. promise you. But that's the thing. My issue with not football fans, because you're not expected to be an expert. You're just supposed to watch a game for entertainment, right? And have your little commentary here and there. What I was hearing the whole of the last 12 months, even... before that Eric Ten Hag's reign as well.
Speaker: Oh, we don't have the players that they need. That's why our midfield keeps getting ran through. That's why this keeps happening. That's why blah, blah, blah, blah. blah All Carrick did today is drop a line like 10 yards back, made Cobby, basically made Cobby, Mania and Casemiro play and holding hands together. And you close off a lot of the spaces, bro. You force them to shoot from far. You force them, like, You use teams' weaknesses against them, force them to lean into it.
Speaker: But yeah, that's... But that's exactly... You're right to say that. You're right to say that because yes, it's not just... Don't come to us ah don't come to me about experience.
Speaker: It's about the game plan. It's about the coach. It's about the quality of the players on the pitch. It's about who who can do something amazing. How many players help me players can in the Chelsea squad right now can do something amazing?
Speaker: How many? That's bad squad building. It's a bad squad. Players that don't are not good enough. Sorry, not for this level.
Speaker: Like, United's game plan shouldn't have worked. You should not be able to come to Chelsea sitting in like that and just four shots and then say, yeah we walk away with a W. Nah, you shouldn't be able to do that.
Speaker: You shouldn't. Because back in the day, at least we had the Hazard. We had the Mata. We had the Lampard. you give You give these guys half half a space, bang, they're slapping in. Yeah, this this is dire, mate. This is really, really dire. So, you know, I'm not going to sit here and start talking about tactics because whatever tactics were deployed, I don't think we were winning because the players on the pitch didn't have the quality to make the difference.
Speaker: That's it. Yeah. But yeah, um you guys did hit the post a couple of times. The first one was, I think it came off Maswari.
Speaker: But it was that is like a cross into the box, hit the crossbar. Then someone else missed the header that hit the crossbar as well. So Esteval hit the post first in the first 11 minutes. The lap just clipped it, wasn't close. But um then the lap knocked one-on-one and then it went, hit the crossbar.
Speaker: Then after that, I think that's when the Masoaya one happened. um I do think, they might have been more. can't remember. I can't remember. Yeah. there was a few half chances, but again, just not really enough. Just not enough.
Speaker: um you United, i think I think on the count of United were toothless as well. I genuinely think the only reason why you scored is because we had 10 players on pitch.
Speaker: Because in open play, apart from that, There wasn't really much trouble that United gave us. I think Cescou, again, his inability to hold up the ball, his inability to go side... like Why doesn't he go side on when receiving the ball?
Speaker: Why can't he extend his arm and pin... Bro, he did did something that got me so mad in the game. you know You know when we were on the break and he beat Caicedo? He literally just walked past Caicedo and he had on his left foot. But instead of having the left foot shot, He passed it to Bruno, who was in the congested area. I think now these men are playing for Bruno's record.
Speaker: I think that's it. I'm not even going you. Some of the stuff I was seeing yesterday, i was like, yeah, you guys are having a laugh, bro. Every single time we go into the final third, they just kept trying to find Bruno. And whoever Bruno laid off to, you they would just shooting or they were just They were trying to force it so much. I couldn't i couldn't believe what I was seeing. But even speaking of Bruno, that's his 18th assist now.
Speaker: he's two He's got, what, five more games to get two more assists to tie it. So he's basically on the verge of doing it. Obviously, people are now bringing out the, oh, how many of them were non-set pieces and blah, but we ain't got care about that big man when the when the ah record gets brought in a couple years' time. No one cares. Yeah.
Speaker: But um yeah, I think I just want to focus on a few individual players from the game now that we've spoken about it. Basically, the good, the bad, the ugly, bro. So I, bro, um the few of the good players for me, Aiden Heaven, that was his first full game.
Speaker: in the Premier League without being subbed on, subbed off or whatever. I think it was good. what What more can you expect? I didn't... He started off a little bit shaky, but I think... Yeah, that was... Out of him and Juro, he's way better on the ball. Well, he's more confident on the ball.
Speaker: And he's... He's just a lot more dominant. I don't i don't feel like he gets bullied like that. Sometimes I watch Juro and I'm like, bro, like, come on, man. Man up. Like... man not blackfe be a bit stronger, be a bit tougher. like There's too many times I've seen him, he looks a bit fragile. But yeah, i thought he was good.
Speaker: I thought Le Mendes was fine. There was nothing really. I don't think he really made any big saves in the game. shot on target. Yeah, it was just one shot on target. I don't even remember the shot. It one shot on target. He had nothing to do, literally.
Speaker: Yeah, but it's nice to have a goalkeeper you don't really talk about much, man. If that was non, he's giving you a goal, bro. But he only started getting one note down. So i'm I'm fine with that. I thought Kobe Manu, especially in the second half, i thought he was great.
Speaker: I think he good does ah he does a lot of the simple things very well and sometimes you just need that. Especially in a game like this, there was times where there was a 30-second period in the game where he starts on the right-hand side, linking up play, dribbling out of pressure. Then he ends up back in the central area, takes the ball off the centre-back, plays a line-breaking pass straight into Bruno. I'm just like, bro, you now he's running the game. Now he's running the game at this point. But...
Speaker: that's ah that's when whenever we've had conversations about Kobe Main that's the type of things that I mean with him like put your stamp on the game a bit more don't just let the game go by and you're passing it sideways but but you can do basically everything at this point like just be a bit more confident in yourself one thing I will say is like um
Speaker: That's a good advert for Kobe mainly showing his defensive qualities, I think. Yeah, yeah, yeah. He was good. He was really good defensively. Defensively, he was good. He was tracking runners. He was staying alive.
Speaker: I'm sure Kasimir was supportive of that. And they were a good unit. You guys didn't let us through. I think maybe we got through the middle maybe once or twice. We promised this decent play. But um apart from that, you though you guys really protected your two teams.
Speaker: Credit to me. Yeah, and then in terms of, bro, he he might he might be bad and ugly, bro, but flipping hell, Brian and Bremont, what has happened? to him What's happened to him?
Speaker: Bro, my guy. since It's not even... I know a lot of people saying since AFCON he's been bad. He was bad just before AFCON. I remember me looking at him. I was just like, go AFCON. Go AFCON, bro. like yeah yo You're making me sick.
Speaker: There's too much fufu and peanut stew. Trust me. don't even know what they eat. Actually, no, in Cameroon they do actually eat similar foods to... yeah yeah yeah similar stuff like that it's similar stuff trust me the carbs the stew yeah yeah yeah well most of most of us eat similar food that i'm less affricant bro it's some sort of variation of the same thing but yeah he just looks heavy bro he's touching man he's touching baggy he's playing like salon now he's playing that how salad's playing now bro you like You're like 10 years younger than him, allegedly. Bro, what the He's that he's going he's going to his family's house. He's having the five smoked turkey, five beef, five chicken. He's too heavy, fam. He's not looking sharp.
Speaker: hes know This is how you're looking at when he came um the first couple of games of the season. And he just, just, he just, his touch is bad. His decision making is bad. And then his bums, his bums looking Ghanaian fam, honestly. Hey, chill. Chill. Chill.
Speaker: Let's not talk about wingers with BBLs, yeah. Because your guy Hazard, yeah, was moving back. Hey, that guy was eating burgers outside the stadium. Bro, did you see that thing on Twitter recently? Bro, they said he got kicked out of an all-you-can-eat buffet. I don't know if was Cap, but it must have been Cap. There's no way that would be. Must have been Cap. But I can't lie. It's funny. The lie's more entertaining than the truth. I'm running with it. don't care.
Speaker: But yeah, that's it for me in terms players singling out. But even Ahmad, Ahmad's been just as bad. That's the problem. Both of right wingers are just bad right now. I'm not sure what's happening. Do we just need to throw Shea Lacey and then say, bro, just give her a go, bro? At least he's going to be fearless. you know what I mean? I feel like those two are playing within themselves.
Speaker: um And you would think the more... I think now that the team's more stable and more consistent, you'd think Mbremo and Ahmad would flourish a bit more. Mbremo started off alright with Carrick, but then he just kind of started to go down now. But Ahmad, I think on the Carrick, Ahmad hasn't got going at all really. Nah, he hasn't man. Wasted how many months playing as a wing back, stunning his development. He doesn't know how to play as a wing anyone.
Speaker: school He went to Afcon and was bowling and then now he's just come back and he's just like bro, he's just playing within himself now. But yeah, there any players who you wanted to highlight from Chelsea? Obviously we spoke about Garnaccio, De Lapp, is there anyone else you... oh I would question why Hato is starting over at Changpong. Bro, i even so bro um someone dropped a video on TikTok saying the most um highest played player is under 20. Bro, Hato is the highest by a big margin, bro.
Speaker: Archie Gray on like and Nah, no way. Oh my God. Bro, carry on talking about... Yeah, I'll look into that because that's mad.
Speaker: So I had to so our question why Hato is playing centre-back instead of Achenpo. And remember our conversation around you've got home.
Speaker: You have rice at home. Stop going out to go and spend £35 million on rice. Stop going out to spend £35 million on the shiny new toy when you've got adequate players in your own academy that could do a job.
Speaker: Menuh, saving you £50 million there. let Heaven. You took Heaven from your ah um from Arsenal, where if Arsenal played Heaven um and played them in cup games, they could have saved themselves a £40 million power back-up.
Speaker: It's true. actually true. Like, bro, so the point is that you're now alienating our academy product centre-back who has the skills that could develop and get him to be a really, really good centre-back in the long term, yeah? Yeah.
Speaker: And now you're playing the 35 million pound man that you've you've got. Bro, actually is on 120. He's on 120. That's insane. That's insane. That's insane. And you can see you can see why he plays because you're valuing the person that you brought in because you spent money on him.
Speaker: But he's the second choice left back. What if Kukula and him just get injured? Now you've got no left back options. Because you you wanted to force them in. ay That aside, when Hato first came in, he was absolutely horrible. I'm just going to say that as a fact. He was just bad, diabolical, horrible. Every long ball, every first touch, everything was horrible.
Speaker: However... That was a good game for him. That was a decent game defensively and on the ball. The bar's low, don't get me wrong, but it's a pleasant surprise and we'll see we'll see how it goes. We'll see how he develops.
Speaker: um But I can happily say, look, as I was right, though. He was generally terrible when he first came in. if if he if he's He now looks a lot more composed than and um we'll see how he develops long-term.
Speaker: I still don't like the fact that he's starting center back. He should be a left back because he's just, for me, I don't like center back start at 5'11". I think that's absolutely insane.
Speaker: I agree, bro. even Even saying that we got Martinez, but yeah, it makes me uneasy. It makes me uneasy, bro. yeah that guys have to be a little You have to be at least 6'2". At least 6'2", and then I'll hear it.
Speaker: Because if I'm Haaland, I'm just going to sit on Martinez. I just want you to chip the ball into the air and I'll outjump Martinez all day long. You're sounding like Skulls, man. a Nicky Butt, bro.
Speaker: But apart from that, nah, I'm done talking about this Chelsea team. na They are doomed. So, yeah, I guess ah you you've already said Champions League out the window for you.
Speaker: It's already done. Nah, it's gone. Europa League, potentially. Actually, you guys look like you might even be... You could drop as low as 12th if your bad form continues. But yeah you ain't scored a goal in your last, night what, three games? Four games?
Speaker: i Look, I know... There's a big financial impact if we finish 12th. There's a lot of money that we left on the table. Europa League still gives you good money. Finishing 6th or 7th still gives you good money. here But I'd rather we weren't even in Europe at all, to be honest with i just i Remember i said? I needed to be diabolical to the point that they go, whoa, we've just lost loads of money because we the whole sporting part of the project has just gone to crap. And...
Speaker: we've got everything we're doing and rethink our plans. like Yeah, that's probably it. I think they just need their head wobbled. They need a reality check. Football doesn't operate the same thing as American sports. You can't just come and get all the number one picks and pick all the the kids and it's just going to work out. that it don't It don't work like that.
Speaker: you guys have got it These guys even the number one picks. At least they would have been the number one pick. This is our second round. Bro, Barcola would have been a number one pick. We're even getting number one picks, bro.
Speaker: This is the mad thing. It's true. You've left a lot of young talents on the table, to be fair as well. but the ones that would have actually made the difference. I think the best ones are probably looking at the Chelsea ring and saying, no, I'm all right.
Speaker: this Oh, yeah, yeah. Even though he's a rotation player at PSG, I'm pretty sure he's looking at it like, you know I'll get my chance eventually. Or someone who's actually going to play me will come for me. So, a lot of teams are probably looking for left-wingers right now as well.
Speaker: I mean, right now, yeah, as a young player, you'd stay far away from Chelsea. You would stay far away from Chelsea. exactly even and one um and and and the ones that are looking for a payday are the ones are not taking their careers seriously and they're the type of players that you don't want to hit your club and even even um i don't I don't really want to harp on them too much we already spoke about Hato but just ah an example of what we're talking about at Ajax he was on 16k and now he's on 120k of course you're going to make that of course you're going to go where are you looking for that
Speaker: you looking at for that ah a website called Capology. Okay, yeah. You can see everyone. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But, yeah, looking at your... Capology tends to be little bit wrong, though, but I don't know. think these days it's very difficult to find how much someone's on.
Speaker: it's probably It's probably rough the end of the round, that kind of stuff. But um yeah, your next couple of games, I'm looking at now, you've got Brighton midweek. You've got... Just give me a rundown, what do you think? win Win, draw or loss?
Speaker: let's just Let's just do that. We'll do that with both of our teams, yeah. So Chelsea versus Brighton at the Amex Stadium. Amex, Brighton win. Yeah. Okay. Leeds in the FA Cup at Stamford Bridge.
Speaker: No, it'll be at Wembley. Actually, Wembley. Is that Wembley? Yeah. Leeds win. Leeds win. You've got Forrest at Stamford Bridge. Yeah.
Speaker: They just won 4-1 as well against Burnley to be fair. Gibbs Whitehead trick. True. You got Liverpool Anfield. True.
Speaker: ah You got Tottenham at Stamford Bridge. Lose. You're going to lose to Tottenham? I think so. Jesus. That's when I know it's dark. That's when I know it's dark. Do you know why? At home as well, you've got to lose Tottenham.
Speaker: Why? Do you know why? At that point, top four, 110% be over. Knocked out the FA Cup, they'll be checked out, bro. Trust me. more Probably. Next. um Oh, shoot. Sorry, hold on. Yeah. And then you've got Sunderland as your last game at the stadium of like oof oof draw so zero wins so from your last yeah from your last the last what six yeah six games you're saying L L draw draw L draw damn dark that is dark at some point they'll sack him probably after the season they're gonna sack him you think they're gonna sack him this side of the year
Speaker: If we have that set of results for the end of they'll do 100% second. Fair. I'm really, bro, like, the one thing's very clear, yeah?
Speaker: Even when Potts was in charge, even when Muresko was in charge, I'm really seeing links to managers, bro. Like, when the other man were in charge, I wasn't seeing these many licks, bro. Trust me.
Speaker: if This guy, I thought he's i think he's already close to being sacked because the I think the patience from the owners is wearing thin. And I think now, eventually, these sporting directs will have to answer to to those in charge because they keep getting things wrong.
Speaker: Like, generally, just keep getting things, everything wrong, in my opinion. Yeah. um And then if we do the same thing for Manchester United, so we ain't got no FA Cup because we've been not tired of everything. So forget that.
Speaker: ah We've got Brentford at home as our next game. I think we win that. I think it'll be a close game, but think we win. We've got Liverpool at Old Trafford. I think we win that as well.
Speaker: think Liverpool rubbish, man. i'm like They are. Like, And I just, oh obviously, all of this is with the caveat that some of our centre-backs will be back by then.
Speaker: Martinez won't be back. Maguire should be back. Because i don't think his, his one wasn't violent conduct. It was just the red card. So he'll be back. um Then we got Sunderland. ah He got an extra ban for his comments.
Speaker: for his comments about the ref. Is it? Yeah, he served the one. Martinez or Maguire? Maguire. He served the one-match ban, and now he got an extra one from the FA because his comments. See, these guys, they're gang. They're a gang, bro. They're a gang. We might need to change the name of the pod. Don't blame the ref. Listen, we might have to cringe that, bro, because these aren't me. But yeah, Sunderland away. I think we lose that game.
Speaker: We got Forest at Old Trafford. I think we lose that game as well. And then we got Brighton. Yeah, I think that's too close to the line at that point. Either Forest will be completely safe or they're going to be... You'll be checked out. Yeah, we would have already secured... By the Sunderland game, we would have already secured Champions League football. So that's why I'm like...
Speaker: the putting in all these losses, but Forest, they are actually... It's not that they're good enough to cause us problems, they just... they got They got good enough players to do something. Elliot Anderson, Gibbs of White, even that Eagle, J-Z striker, they got enough players to hurt us. So I think they'll beat us. And then Brighton away at the Amex. I think we beat them.
Speaker: I think we beat them just because Brighton O'Brien will be checked out as well. Unless they're actually close to getting the European spot, then maybe they have signed for us. But yeah, I think our next five games, I think we get three wins, two losses.
Speaker: That's what I think. Okay. that We shall soon. We shall soon. Shall we spend the last last few minutes talking about the game today? Blockbuster, prime time,
Speaker: match. Yeah, so I guess this is part two of our segment from last week. So we already spoke about the title race and what we thought the outcome would be from this game. I think we were both hoping for Man City drumming over Arsenal. But s slightly, I don't know what the quote the final margins are just as sweet as well. Because it it's like, it's like, you you're almost there. You're almost there. It's good, but it's not enough. Shout out to Jadakiss. Like, it's just like...
Speaker: it' just more Like, bro, everyone's saying that this is their best performance of... um This is their best... 2026. Yeah, 2026. Of the year, bro. And still, it's an L. That's, it's like, that's not soul crushing. Like, me, I only caught the game in bits. I was actually out with the family. So I'm going to have to defer to you a bit more on the ah game itself. So what do you make of it?
Speaker: Well, considering what we we talked about last week about oh how should Arteta and Arsenal face the game, how how should they what sort of tactics should they deploy? And to be fair to them, they did exactly what we said we thought they should do.
Speaker: um And they seemed confident, they pressed high, they they really pressed high because I saw in the first 22 minutes... um Arsenal had done 40 pressures in the final third compared to City's five. 40 times. 40 times Arsenal pressed them in the final third. So they were going for it. They were really going for it. And they reaped the reward for it. um City struggled to play out in the first half.
Speaker: Did you see the Cherokee goal? Yeah, yeah, I thought that. Obviously, I had to catch that. And generally, that was the one few moments that Chucky got space on the edge of the box and he made them pay for it, man. That was ridiculous. That almost reminded me of Esteval's goal versus Barcelona. So... Allow it. Tell them to play 90 minutes. Don't worry about to play 90 minutes, bro. He's a young boy. It needs time. It needs time.
Speaker: But it was really good to... Well, if if I'm speaking very from a neutral point of view, it's good to see that he did make sure that Arsenal were not playing like they were previously and they were really going home. And you know what? you know where it stems from, in my opinion?
Speaker: It's the starting line-up. it's the starting line-up as they left odegaard in the tent obviously they're fortunate for the guard being back from injury um habits up front instead of geogra's because now habits can actually compete for the long balls as he has way more ball retention on left-hand side than either trossard or martinelli and caused a lot more threat than um either of those did to be honest and then um Odegaard really helped them in their build-up and helped them retain possession. So I think it was just, um it was a decent performance and I think in general, like even from the reaction from the Arsenal fans, they're frustrated and they're frustrated because of the previous results. But in terms of the performance itself, they're happy, they're fine with it because, and that's what I said last week is that
Speaker: Even if you lose, but if you play in a certain way, it builds confidence within, whether it's within that Arsenal team or within fan base. so I think we both said that because even i was hoping to tune into AFTV to get some like couple people raging and all of that kind of stuff. But the few that I've watched, a lot of people are kind of actually slightly a bit more, like you said, disappointed than...
Speaker: frustrated or angry because they're like, bro, we could have done this that two days two um game weeks ago. Play it as they are together. Why don't we do this before? And then now some of them are probably looking at it and it's all right, cool.
Speaker: If City go on to win the rest of their games and also win the rest of their games, they'll finish on level points. But if you're looking at how you're playing...
Speaker: and you're saying, okay, there's more room for us to get a few more goals and we could actually, maybe City might slip up. Maybe. it's not It's not impossible for them to draw, but you have to be poised in the right position. If the next game they play, Arsenal, so their next game is, why do I feel like it's West Ham or have made up up that up? No, it's Newcastle, actually. Newcastle is a tough game. But if you go there and step to them like how you just stepped to City,
Speaker: Facts. And you get a good result. That's the that's boost. That's the catch-up. So, I think, I think Miklo Akututu has done well there. um He's definitely improved the mood. He's definitely, I think he, I think the team, Arsenal in general, should come off the back of that feeling okay.
Speaker: And their confidence should not be here. If I speak from a City point of view, woof I'll just be ecstatic because I think Arsenal's performance was great in comparison to what they've produced in 2026. However, from City's POV...
Speaker: however from cities's pv They were just good. They were just good, man. They were good. They were good. The tempo was good. And you could see from the first half, City done the same thing to us.
Speaker: They weren't pressing. They weren't pressing. Just had the bank of four, chilling. They weren't wasting their energy. They were taking their time. And you could see they were really trying to manage the game.
Speaker: Comes second half now. Ooh, City just put the screw on. And you could see them the first 12 minutes. I don't think Arsenal got out their half. ah City were just winning it back, winning it back, winning it back, winning it back, bang, bang, bang. And you could see they were just pinning them in and they created two good opportunities. One of them, Haaland should have scored, think. Yeah, think was in the second half Haaland had that chance and he should have scored.
Speaker: um So, like, Pep, he's done a similar tactic there and it seems intentional. He's trying to keep the energy um for the second half so that they can really go hard. and And he's probably gambling on the fact that Arsenal are...
Speaker: probably tired and probably could not keep up the high pressure throughout the game and that's that's exactly what happened so it was good it was a good game A lot of the comments coming out of the game is Havertz missed a couple big chances. So the narrative from the Arsenal fan base seems to be Havertz's fault if we don't win the league is because of Havertz, Havertz, Havertz, Havertz. But at the same time as well, sorry, I just came across that. I just put in our chat, in our main group chat. yeah Bro, Jokic came on for 12 minutes and he did nothing. Like, no, not no, like, honestly, like, his stat line is zero on everything.
Speaker: No passes, no dribbles, no, like, tackles won, no jewels won. Like, literally, zero. So, I'm sorry, you can't be blaming Havertz if the guy who's coming on, even though, yeah, it's 12 minutes, blah, blah, blah, but you actually did nothing.
Speaker: That's the first time i've ever seen that ever in my life. yeah So, boy. I want to emphasize your point there, you know? The striker that gets the chances and misses is better than the striker that doesn't get any chance.
Speaker: But on social media, it's the striker that gets the chance and misses that's going to get all the corn. Yeah, because people say, oh, see, it should have been thing in that position. if it was my man in that position, then blah, blah, blah. Bro, how many times have we seen Saka someone get half a yard and flash a ball across the box and my man's still checking his food that he's got in his oven, bro? v He's not... He's nowhere near where he should be most of the time. oh And even that performance against... um Who was it?
Speaker: Bro, one of the most recent games that they played, bro. He was terrible, man. Bournemouth. Yeah, he can't do anything, man. He can't do anything. He's rubbish. And it's the Jackson versus De Lape thing all over again. De Lape is a decent finish.
Speaker: He can hit the ball hard. I'm not sure he's a good finisher. And I don't know if he has a variety of finishes, but he can hit the ball hard and accurately. But Jackson will get way more chances.
Speaker: Way more. Because he he has the skill set, good movement, very intense, can press high, and he's actually good at dribbling controlling the ball.
Speaker: Whereas hope the lap isn't as good. So he's not going to get as many chances. But look at the reputation both. Look at the reputation. but have aation yeah it's it's It's really, but because Jackson gets so many chances and misses it, people don't rate it. So, and people are being disingenuous about their habits second chance. That is a very difficult chance. I wouldn't call that a, it's a,
Speaker: and it's close and it's a header and yeah, you should probably get on target, but it's, a it's actually very difficult score from that distance. The speed at which the ball was whipped in, it's, it's going to be difficult. Even if it was ah on target, I think, I think Donovan saves it. It's the first chance he had. i don't know if you saw that one.
Speaker: where they're on the counter. It's a mistake from Gehi. They counter, they go through and then Odegaard slips Habits through and Habits goes That one he should have scored. That's where you're like... But then people are acting like Haaland didn't miss chances as well. Haaland missed chances too.
Speaker: So yeah it's it's part and parcel, but obviously when it mattered, he... But that's the thing. It's very easy to run with Nairus because the last, like, what? How long has it been Four months? Haaland's been rubbish.
Speaker: Like... Haaland's been rubbish. He's missed bare chances. But now the narrative, if Man City end up going to win the league, the narrative is going to be, oh, Haaland stepped up when it mattered. That's what a striker is supposed to do, blah, blah, blah blah blah which is true.
Speaker: But at the same time, come on. i I'll be honest. If Havertz didn't get injured for as long as he's been injured, if they had Havertz all this season with as an option,
Speaker: I think Arsenal would have finished the league by now. je Yeah, think it would have been done. though Because he's he's he isn't he is night and day compared to Giochrez. Night and day. It's not Havericks, it's more...
Speaker: Yeah, it's not that Habits is more clinical and all that, but you see a lot of the pieces move a bit better when he's there. Me personally, rate Habits that much. I think they overpaid they're overpaid at the time and they're still overpaid. Probably.
Speaker: But for what they have, all the options between him, Gabriel Jesus, Jokarez, he's the lesser of the evils. You get mean? so But by he he is he does...
Speaker: he does the skills on, he does the stuff on the pitch that is, that is helpful towards getting a win. He does. He wins headers, he holds up the ball, he, he controls the ball and passes it to his teammates. which theyt for the make To make it sound less complicated, bro. It's just, it's very simple. Like, he can control the ball and pass it to people.
Speaker: Like, no, generally, and like, I saw a stat that said, it looked at the players that, um ah I think it was percentage of how much they lose lose possession.
Speaker: So it was looking at all the strikers. And I think Haaland was on like 28, 26%, something like that. Gökkers was on 40%. So if you pass the ball to him,
Speaker: so if you pass the board to him There's a two and three, is that correct? Is that the correct way to show? No, no, 40% is... It's two and five. It's two and five, sorry, two and five. There's a 40% chance that if you pass the ball to this guy, you're going to lose the ball.
Speaker: Wow. It's dark. I've mentioned it before, bro. A lot of the play, like, bro, we we don't... ah quantified the value of being in training with someone one every day and watching them do that as well in training.
Speaker: I don't trust you, bro. I'm not giving you the ball, bro. Right? everyone in the crowd is saying, pass it to pass it to is no one passing it to him? Because they've done it to him 400 times in training and he loses the ball every time. I'm not doing that. Bro, they sacrificed their star boy for this guy. They started criticising Saka and saying, oh, Saka is annoying me. Saka annoying me. Yeah, because he's not playing to Jokic. Bro, I was hearing the same thing four years. I was hearing the same thing.
Speaker: Bro, the better strikers can generate chances on themselves. And if you're not generating chances on yourself, you're feeding off scraps like a lot of the time. But you can still nick a goal here and there. Bro, I ain't seen him get the ball on the edge of the butt, shift it and just have a shot because he can't get any separation, bro. He's both he's built like a Bosch freezer, bro.
Speaker: love bay is though The one good thing is, look, he's got he's got a decent record. And we're turning it into the Gio Kulis segment. He's got a decent record and he's he's got a few tappings, but he's a proper stat pattern, man.
Speaker: Only scores against Minos like Tottenham. But look, I'm really, really... I celebrated that Holland goal, like, like Chelsea, FA Cup final. I'm so annoyed I didn't get to watch it. But at the same time as well, the last couple of, um what's it called, big six games, they've been rubbish. i was just like, bro, if I'm out, I'm out. I'm not even rushing to get home to watch it. Because it's probably got to be dead. That's what that's what I was thinking in my head.
Speaker: i was I was watching it as if, like... it meant the world to me. I can't lie to you. I can't lie to you. I saw Chris said, I don't know why I'm getting nervous. Chris was like, I'm getting nervous. I'm like, bro, that's how much you hate someone, bro. That's what I was like, oh, when Harlan, Harlan, like, missed the, he played a footballer to Semenyo, but Harlan hit it way too hard, and Semenyo would have been through.
Speaker: I was screaming, I was like, ah, was like, damn. And then Semenyo was annoying me, man. The baggy touches are killing me, Semenyo. Like, bro. He's a bit of a funny baller, man. He's a bit of an unconventional one. I don't know. He's a baller, though, but why are the touches so... the pass is too heavy the cross is wayward like the decision like he ain't got that intricacy to his game he's a crash bang wallet player bro but he can do it he's been there he's been there what four months hopefully a year from now would have tightened that tightened it up a little bit yeah
Speaker: but I guess the other main thing from the game is Gabriel, bro. Bro, that should have been a red. That's Wow. That have been a red. Wow. That's violent conduct, bro.
Speaker: And if he had got a red, he would have been bad for three games and Arsenal would have been... Exactly. That's Tyler is done. That's Tyler is done. And that's why I don't like it because... you can't do this thing when it um when it suits you. you can't You can't bend in whatever the rules whenever it's in their favour because, yes, that should have been a red card. you should have you should That's violent conduct. You're saying um Martinez gets a violent conduct for touching someone's hair.
Speaker: grabbing someone's hair a little bit, man, he did the motion. And the only reason why he didn't get sent off is because Haaland didn't want to back down to him. If Haaland would have done the typical thing of fake and roll around and act like he's injured, blah, blah, blah, would have gone to Val and he have got sent off. That's what we're doing. And that's the... In the last two episodes, you've complained about the ref four times, bro. I don't care, bro. I don't care, man. I don't care. Forget this referee stuff, man. Don't blame the ref. I'm changing the pod title, bro. I'm changing the intro, man.
Speaker: Don't blame me. The refs are dumb. Welcome back to another episode. Don't blame me. The refs are dumb. ah Or let's change it to let's blame the ref. into let blame Let's blame the ref. All jokes aside, that is horrible. Like, players have been getting sent off for that thing for donkey's years now. Like, 10, 15 years minimum, they've been getting sent off for that. it's it's And to the point where players actually stopped doing it.
Speaker: And for Kabyo to now do it, yeah, he had to get sent off. is That is crazy. especially the last couple of years, now the notion is if you make a head movement, even if you don't headbutt them, your heads could be like touching each other at this point. If you do that, that's a red.
Speaker: That's a red. They're not playing with that. And he did that. he touched it And I'm hearing Gary Neville say, yeah, he's happy that man didn't get sent off. No, don't be happy. You want consistency in football, bro. You can't do that anymore. Sorry. You want to be a knucklehead. I've been saying over the last couple of weeks, he's been looking shaky and that's one of your leaders.
Speaker: Come on, man. whatever man that I think Arsenal have lost it anyway but yeah considering we only had one game this weekend to talk about this is like one of the longer pods that we've done no just because because I'm running running about this same stuff man Alright, well, um I'd like to cut it there because my eyes are hurting. um Yeah, yeah. I think we've got enough um info that I can use against you later, so don't worry. We'll come, we'll come.
Speaker: Did you even go to the protest, bro? Did you go to the legal protest? If you find me at any protest, just just know I'm finished. Like, I'm a finished person. Because what the heck am I doing in there? theres I can't lie. I love football. I love Man United. but Oh, i don't I don't love it that much. I've got family. I've got family.
Speaker: Honestly, if this caused me enough... pit like We've been bad for the last like couple of years, whatever, yeah but we've picked up trophies here and there. if we if we If we were in Tottenham situations and we got relegated, I'm not crying for nobody, bro. At that point, forget people, bruh. Forget people. I don't care. don't care, bro. It's not ride or die.
Speaker: These protests are so funny because it's always like 20 people. It's like 20, 30 people. Now this time there was a lot, bro. There was a lot, yeah? It looked like a couple of hundred. Yeah, it might even be a couple thousand, you know?
Speaker: Nah, it's not a thousand. nine Well, there was a lot. There was a lot of people. But at the same time, bro, you think these men care? Because you lot are going into the stadium anyway. So who cares? Bro, we don't have the heart. British british people don't have the heart for a proper protests. Yeah. Half them were drunk and already drunk before even attending the thing. And I was just like, there was this video and they were all just drunk.
Speaker: was like, you might don't care that much. Look at you, you're just young. You just don't have something to complain about. Let's lie with you. It's like. When the riots happened in London not too long ago, yeah, that they're still calling it thuggery and all of this kind of stuff, yeah? That's what you have to do at your stadiums. If you want see change, or smash up the Stamford Bridge.
Speaker: Go and mash it up. Imagine... I'm not sight violence, but that's what should happen. Imagine protesting something very serious, political, whatever, yeah, and then you turn up drunk.
Speaker: You're serious.
Speaker: You're not serious. Bro. Imagine protesting protesting the train fares and um taking train to go to your protest. okay That's what's happening. That's what's happening, in bro.
Speaker: It's not a serious thing. out to the runner that actually went, bro. It was a nice day i you so yeah rico out pick out please out. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker: Blue coat in. God forbid. All right, man. Let's cut there. It's been me, E-Man. It's been Dom. Thank you for listening to another episode of the Don't Blame the Rev podcast.
Speaker: Don't cry. Don't blame... I messed that one up. Don't cry. Don't beg. And don't blame the Rev. Peace. Peace.
