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NBA Opening Week + FBI Gambling Scandal | Are the Chiefs Super Bowl Bound? | United Take Down Liverpool
12 Plays10 days ago
NBA Scandal | Chiefs AGAIN? | United Rising
🔥 NBA CHAOS?!
😱 Alleged betting scandal rocks the league!
👀 What does it mean for the NBA’s future?
🏀 First two nights of the season — who’s hot & who’s not?
🏈 NFL TALK
💪 Stafford BALLS OUT for the Rams vs the Jags
🏆 Are the Chiefs really about to do it AGAIN?!
⚽ PREMIER LEAGUE DRAMA
😳 United STUN Liverpool!
🔥 Preview: Arsenal v Crystal Palace
👔 Dyche replaces Ange at Forest?!
📊 Power Rankings Update!
💸 Gan Seans — your weekly underdog betting fix!
🎧 Tune in now — it’s a wild one!
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🌍 Based in Ireland | Talking global sports weekly
(00:00) James’ Trip to Limerick
(03:33) NBA Opening Night Takeaways
(13:01) Billups & Rozier in FBI Gambling Bust
(19:36) NFL Clutch Player of the Week
(24:54) Are the Chiefs Going to do it Again?
(30:56) Gan Seans: Our Underdog Picks
(36:18) United Take Liverpool Down
(51:25) Ange Out, Dyche In at Forest
(56:21) Arsenal vs Palace Preview & Predictions
(01:00:34) NFL X Premier League Power Rankings
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Transcript
Podcast Introduction and Previous Episode Recap
00:00:09
Speaker
right, lads, welcome back to another episode of Who's Got the Ball. Myself and Shane here once again. We had our extra episode, NBA Full Preview, earlier in the week, back on the usual Friday morning
Weekend in Limerick and Its Aftermath
00:00:19
Speaker
episode for you. How are Shane?
00:00:21
Speaker
Fine, not too bad. Myself? Good, good. Are you recovered? Oh, I actually think you poisoned me, or I poisoned myself. So earlier again, before the last episode, James was down in Nimerick for the weekend and we had we had quite a night and morning. It was five o'clock by the time we went to bed, which is just absolutely ridiculous at my age, really.
00:00:44
Speaker
Good to have you down. We went out and watched Munster and Insta which was a great day out for all involved except James and poor Aisling. And aside from that then we just, lovely dinner and it's just a really good weekend. It was really good to have him down.
00:00:58
Speaker
Yeah, no, it was great crack to be back in Limerick where I did live for quite long time. So nice to be back down there. And as you said, Munster were very good. So despite being a Leinster fan, can't hold any and he
NBA Games and Liverpool Loss
00:01:10
Speaker
grudges there. And I also got one back over on you on you on Sunday when our two teams faced off. So yeah, you knowday um um once we get into the episode.
00:01:19
Speaker
It was radio silence from Shane on Sunday. it was a mixture of a horrible hangover and ah and um and a Liverpool loss to United. I think it was definitely more the hangover, but that loss did not help. I hit my first thing on Sunday at half nine.
00:01:34
Speaker
I couldn't even keep water down for most of the day. so The last thing you need now is to hear hear from this fella. i was like If I ignore him, it's one of those things where... If a bear is coming after you, apparently if you stand still, they won't see you. It's like, we just say nothing. He'll just forget I exist for the day and we won't have to talk about it. To be fair, I never really rub it in when one of my teams wins. So I just don't text about because I knew you were dying. The only time we texted them is see if you were recovered.
00:02:00
Speaker
So was like, yeah, it doesn't need to
Episode Topics Overview
00:02:02
Speaker
be done now. this point and but we talked about a lot of things that was one of them on this week's episode we started off with the nba and we wanted to give kind of a quick chat about some of the couple of opening night games and what stood out to us in the first few nights of and nba action but then there was a huge gambling scandal that the fbi is looking into and and NBA coach and player of Bopin arrested Chauncey Billups and Terry Rozier so we did talk about that for for quite a few minutes because that was crazy story that came out we just had to cover it so you'll hear all about that we went from that into the NFL we we have a new segment for you every week clutch player of the week so go and give that a listen to hear who won it the first time around
00:02:42
Speaker
And then we talked about the Chiefs. Are they just going to do it again? Certainly looks that way over the last couple of weeks. Then we moved on. Performance of the weekend for the Premier League as usual this week. As I mentioned, it was United beating Liverpool. We went into some of Liverpool's issues as well, and that they've been been underperforming, what the reason behind that is.
00:03:00
Speaker
We went to another forest sacking and another forest hiring of a manager. the second time this season we've had to do that. And then we previewed Arsenal and Palace on Sunday. We also had gone chance along the way and the power rankings as usual.
00:03:13
Speaker
We've got a little teaser for you. There was the first on-air sneeze that we've ever had on the podcast. It was from Shane, so we'll give you that much. But if someone can listen in and give us the exact minute, exact time that happened with Revolutia Fiverr. So best of luck to you. Go and find that sneeze and let's get into the episode.
NBA Opening Night Highlights
00:03:32
Speaker
All right, so we had originally planned just then going over the first couple of nights of and NBA action. Obviously, it's just back. We did a full preview episode that came out on Tuesday. So if you missed that one, go back and give it a listen. But we said we'll lead with it at the top of the show. We will talk about the a couple of opening nights, but there's another massive and NBA story that just dropped, which is...
00:03:51
Speaker
Pretty nuts, but we'll get on to that in a minute. Let's start with night one and two. Plenty of games, plenty of big moments already, plenty of shocks. What stood out to you so far out of the opening two nights of games?
00:04:05
Speaker
Two players in particular have stood out to me from what I've seen. I thought what Sengun did at night one was unbelievable. I thought he was absolutely brilliant against OKC. But then along came that freaking nature last night, Wemby. And just what he was doing last night is It's of this world. That one play I sent you earlier where he makes the block, goes up, gets the ball back, does a step back three and gets the four point play. And just looking at some of his highlights, he was doing like a windmill like He's 7 foot 5. He shouldn't be able to do windmill dunks. and
00:04:40
Speaker
just ah he's just He's an absolute freak. and he's and don't get what anyone says. ah i honestly think he's he's probably the best player in the NBA at the moment. He's definitely up there with Joker. I know it's mad after one game and I've had some wild takes recently, but if he keeps going the way he is, who's going to stop him? How do you stop him? His arms that are the length of me. like It's absolutely mental what he can do.
Team Performance Analysis: Lakers, Spurs, Mavericks
00:05:01
Speaker
i can his agility for someone his size is mental. He can block that block.
00:05:06
Speaker
It's looked so easy for him. It was actually like it going over head just reached down and basically blasted to develop beside him. Like it was just, ah was but other than that, a couple of the games I've watched have been like, geez, the Lakers were very poor at us. um Defensively it was. No centre.
00:05:21
Speaker
Yeah, Aiton is not the anti-podermic centre and defensively they were all over the place. Luka had a good game but it's a bit like Senghoun again, you can put up 45-40 points but when your team comes out on the opposite end and in Senghoun's case you missed a key free throw.
00:05:36
Speaker
They're the kind of things you can't be doing if you are going to yeah an elite level. and Yeah, I thought the Spurs looked really good last night, but when you have that freak, you are going to look good. Like, he's just, he's so good going both ways.
00:05:49
Speaker
and And the Mavericks are just nothing special, to be fair. They're really disappointed. I know that they weren't really expected to light the world on fire, but they were really, really disappointed.
00:06:00
Speaker
And that issue of not having a proper point guard is actually glaringly obvious. Yeah. Yeah. And BJ Edgecombe clearly talk took a personally he that he went undrafted in our fantasy league and said, going to show these lads now that I can play basketball.
00:06:14
Speaker
i He was absolutely excellent. I only watched highlights of that one now. There's just, there's so much to watch both himself and Maxie. Unbelievable. Like, Embiid only needed score four points because the other two were just like, oh, i just leave it to us. You don't need to extend yourself too much here. Now, Embiid played 20 minutes. They were clearly trying to ease him in as well. So there is that. But Edgecombe, 42 minutes, 34 points, 7 rebounds, 3 assists. And Aiton, 40 points, 2 rebounds, 6 assists. 74 points out of 117 between the two of them.
00:06:48
Speaker
Maxi, yeah, sorry. The two of them were just... Yeah, there's very little you can say about them. I just thought they looked really, really good. Considering all the stick I've given them over the course of summer. Again, it's only one game and it's very easy to jump on a hype train here now and there's probably no need. But there's a couple of things that look really good and a couple of things that are as bad as you'd expect, really. like The box, yeah and the Magic opening day is probably as good as you can ask for an opening round match to eat yourself in.
00:07:17
Speaker
Yeah, I think for me, like I know you talked about Shingun and then said the way that we saw Luka then, like kind of two players that went off with their teams didn't win. I think the Rockets were much more well-rounded than the Lakers. I'd be way more worried about the Lakers.
00:07:36
Speaker
Defense was tragic. It's the same issues as last year once again. They were bullied by Jimmy Butler, especially on Gabe Vincent. He had 31 points, 16 free throws. He made every single one of them.
00:07:47
Speaker
Like, Luka can go off all he wants, but when you can't defend, it's different story. And the Rockets pushed that OKC team, like, right to the very edge. So...
00:07:59
Speaker
Yeah, I think that that
Player Praise and Critique: BJ Edgecombe, Sixers
00:08:00
Speaker
it's very promising. What an opening game, like double overtime. Oh, unreal. Looking at, I know you mentioned Wemby, so we won't go too much on that, um but unbelievable.
00:08:10
Speaker
And the Sixers, for me, they continued where they left off last year in terms of defending teams that shoot threes. They were really bad at it last year, and they're really bad it again.
00:08:22
Speaker
Yeah, Embiid didn't look like he was ready to play yet. I feel like they're going to put him on a minutes. Nick Nurse said he was on a minutes restriction for that game, but I don't know how long now that lasts.
00:08:33
Speaker
It could be a while because he looks like he's really, really rusty. But again, every season, even when he's fit, he used to start like this as well. So maybe it's the same, but it's just you're weary if if that is. But when you have guard depth like they do, like Edgecombe is probably people projected the fourth guard in that rotation. Like Michael mentioned, he might not you might not have the solid place in it last week because Quentin Grimes is only fully locked in now, so he didn't start. And then Jared McCain is coming back soon.
00:09:01
Speaker
So Edgecombe has literally shown that he wants to start every single week. He looked like a seven-year vet in the NBA. He's the first player this century to score 30-plus points in his debut.
00:09:12
Speaker
The third most all-time points scored in a debut at 34. Only two people are ahead of him, and one of them is Will Chamberlain. So pretty sure he's doing good for himself.
00:09:23
Speaker
If he cuts his career right now, he'll be the... leading points per game and leading threes per game player of all time. So let's just cut it short there and let's leave the record books where they are. Yeah. Just before we go any further, was going to say i'm I'm not worried about the Rockets. and I know came across having a song with them. I really thought they were very, very good.
00:09:43
Speaker
they were They were obviously a bit rusty as well, which you're going to be expected. But... They had leads over that OKC team at times. You're just like, they are bullying the OKC. And then, obviously, the Thunder turned around and did what they did last year. They just win games at home. They're really, really, they're just so good.
00:09:58
Speaker
Ketan was excellent in the first half, not so good in the second half, but he's still... He's still Chet. And then Shea did two clutch free throws to win it. at that I just thought the Rockets were <unk> excellent. I absolutely no worries about him, especially not after one game.
00:10:11
Speaker
Reid Shepard, everyone said Reid Shepard was poor. I didn't see it. And still came out with one of his trees in particular where he was he was running from deep, just came onto it and just sunk it like it was absolutely nothing to him.
00:10:25
Speaker
Now, if he had nine points in 28 minutes, nothing special. But it was three trees. And there were three big trees as well. They were when they had just gone back a point up or two points up. He'd come along and say, give us back that lead there. Thank you very much. And to go its to double overtime in their place is a really, really good start and really promising.
00:10:43
Speaker
No, I agree with you, definitely. And I'd give Shepard time as well, especially people are projecting him to start. I know he played last year, but like it's going to still take time. I was more disappointed with Eason. He looked like he was a little bit lost. was just going to say it. not one yeah And I don't know what the plan is for him. So hopefully they figured that because he's a very good player. But two more results I just wanted to mention before we move on is the Jazz beating the Clippers by 20, which is great to see. And then the Raptors beating the Hawks by 20 as well. Yeah.
00:11:14
Speaker
Especially when, Michael, were talking about the Hawks in general, but like to see them lose by 20 to the Raptors who are kind of a mishmash at the very first game of the season is pretty nuts for me.
00:11:26
Speaker
Yeah, it's it's just not much you expect. and You expect them to come in absolutely firing after the way their last season ended and they weren't anything but it. They look more like the mismatch then meet their than the Raptors did. Yeah, my tech tankers have come together, I guess. Yeah.
00:11:42
Speaker
The Raptors were talking to the cleaners. and It was mental to watch, to be honest. But again, game one, it's so hard to judge anything off game one. like did The Knicks were pushed quite close by the Hornets as well. And not that's not how either season is going to go. nixon because that was Sorry, yeah. Sorry, I was looking at the last preseason game. Did yeah did the Knicks beat the Cavs by eight?
00:12:02
Speaker
Yeah. Just have to wait and see. I think the Knicks and Cavs game was kind kind of A mix because you looked at the starting lineups and you're like, oh, well, if this is like fully packed, like it's going to look way different. Both of the teams had injuries.
00:12:20
Speaker
But then the Knicks and Anobi especially looked really, really good. So i I think the Knicks looked good in their first Mike Brown game. But again, it was against the weekend Cavs team and they kind of went hero ball with Donovan Mitchell in the second half. Now he was on fire, but, you know, brings out that's not what the way they want to play. Yeah.
00:12:39
Speaker
Yeah, couple of massive nights to start the season. Always exciting, as always. We still have... Only the Nuggets and Pacers haven't played yet. They'll play tonight. So you guys will know what's to crack with them by the time this episode comes out.
00:12:51
Speaker
Let's move on to this. Just 81 games to go. Just 81. 81 games to go. Yeah. What a long road ahead we have.
FBI Gambling Scandal Unveiled
00:12:59
Speaker
And it's already started. We're literally in day one.
00:13:02
Speaker
And we have this huge story already. So what we're going talk about is Chauncey Billups and Terry Rozier have both been arrested by the FBI to do with illegal gambling cases. So I'm going to just give like a synopsis from a report. This is pulled from BBC.
00:13:24
Speaker
They called them and NBA stars and they called Chauncey Billups a star. He's the head coach of the Blazers. But anyway... The first case alleges six defendants used insider information, and in some cases, players altered their performances to manipulate bets.
00:13:38
Speaker
The second involves 31 defendants accused of participating in rigged illegal poker games. so both Billups and Rozier are placed on immediate leave by obviously two, like one by the... I think both, it was enforced by the NBA, but you have the Blazers head coach now on immediate leave and also one of the...
00:13:57
Speaker
heats players who yeah it looked like the last few years he didn't remember how to play basketball and obviously now we know why because surely some of the things he was doing was just in order to fix games and things like that because if you're looking here this this is where it gets a bit mad now to be honest it's that um so fake injuries seven nba games between february 23 and 20 and march 2024 and have i been identified as part of the case.
00:14:24
Speaker
Terry Rozier and also Damon Jones is involved and have been named as having been involved. One game from March 2023 has come under particular scrutiny as Rozier only played nine minutes because of a sore right foot.
00:14:37
Speaker
And obviously people bet on his over or he told people, I'm going to go out in this game. i don't know exactly what happened, but that's what's going to come out. And then we have to say allegedly. all would misably Yeah. But then they talk about this as crazy rigged poker games. So in a separate but related case, which is also and taught to involve billups for a number of years, 31 defendants allegedly participate in the scheme of rigged poker games.
00:15:06
Speaker
Targeted victims were to play in rigged games with former athletes. Unaware that everybody else, including Dealer and other players, were in on the scam. Altered contact lenses and x-ray tables were used and to read cards face down. At this point, the Mafia became involved and took a cut in the proceedings.
00:15:22
Speaker
The defendants have all been charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud and money laundering. Illegal winnings were made through a scheme on by betting on inside non-public information about and NBA athletes and There's even some stuff about gunpoint robbery here.
00:15:35
Speaker
And so it's hard to know how much Billups and Roger were involved in that side of things. But the whole story is absolutely nuts. I want to start by saying if they have X-ray contact lenses, then I want to know what these are. I need to have a look at these things because it's it's outrageous. X-ray tables, contact lenses.
00:15:55
Speaker
This random lad dropped almost saying, oh, you're playing a game with... Shane and James, two X-ending A players tonight and so you have a good chance of winning money. have loads of money, so throw down what you have. Your man's throwing down the keys to his house and getting taken off him because everything else is rigged. It's allegedly absolutely outright. The FBI don't get involved in something like this unless they're absolutely certain.
00:16:17
Speaker
They're certain that they're the case to be won here. they're The lads are finished. They're absolutely finished. As you said about Rogier, there was a video going around on Twitter slash X earlier.
00:16:28
Speaker
And people were just like, I knew he couldn't have just forgotten how to play basketball overnight. And he's there. The loosest passes that you wouldn't see in a high school game between Aaron Stulling and his comp. Oh yeah. Oh, just...
00:16:42
Speaker
When you look back and you're thinking, like how did how did this go on for so long when he was doing stuff like this? And you're like, oh yeah, he's just getting older. It's like, no, you you don't go from being quality to falling over your own feet. It's like he was tying his laces together at times. Like, yeah, just mental.
00:16:59
Speaker
Absolutely mental. You never actually know, but like things like that could be what wrote
Public Reactions to Gambling Scandal
00:17:03
Speaker
drew the attention. Because I saw people on Twitter last year who had, like, bets on him or, like, were, like, watching the Heat Heat fans being, like, this guy must be, like, rigging games. Like, you know the way you would say that sometimes? and Yeah. And, like, how bad someone's been. But it actually turned out to be true. And, like, if they're making those assumptions, the FBI, like, if they get a sniff of something, then... and and Oh, they're jumping on Cash Patel, the FBI director, was, like, said that it doesn't... The whole thing didn't make any sense. Obviously...
00:17:33
Speaker
He kind of said that. He's had some questionable quotes recently, but he said that like the whole thing was nuts. And obviously behind it all, they have the evidence, as you said, because otherwise they wouldn't just step in here.
00:17:47
Speaker
Yeah, and instead do you amount the amount of people that have been arrested on it as well, like is not, it's not rookie numbers. It's not one or two of them arrested in the whole group. Yeah, that's that's the crazy part. I haven't even mentioned that really, but it's it's like, oh, we haven't arrested one or two and we'll see we can make a case. It's like we've gone out and arrested every single person we think is involved in this in one go, in one fell swoop.
00:18:07
Speaker
yeah That doesn't happen very often. Not that you see in the news anyway, where it's like, we've rounded it up 32 people. We know the Mafia are involved. We know this is what's happened. i like it In a bad way, i kind of like it's like rubberneck in a car crash. like I can't wait to see where this goes next. This is going to be this don me the story and and on everyone's list for the next month.
00:18:29
Speaker
No matter what happens on the court, it's all going to come back to, oh, did you see the Rockets won 118 to 12 last night? Oh, yeah, but did you see the new break in the NBA betting scandal? Everything is going to come back to this. It's going to be...
00:18:43
Speaker
mental over the next or if we just did our preview episode and my hundred dollar pick for coach of the year was Chauncey Billups so I was going to ask you if you feel like this is your fault because everything we do is just just turns to muck so yeah I think this is your fault that was funny and then like Oh, the poor fella. like that Not the poor fella. Poor me for for giving out that tip.
00:19:05
Speaker
I don't know what he was at. and yeah And last night, there a great thing with him. After the Timberwolves game, someone asked him a question. And the words he used in the answer were so funny because he said, oh, like, whatever happens when all the chips are down, you know me by now.
00:19:22
Speaker
And it's just like, that's like, not in context of this, but it was just so funny that the very next day then this whole story comes out. put Yeah. Yeah. We're going to be keeping an eye on this one.
NFL Clutch Player of the Week Segment Introduction
00:19:32
Speaker
And it was something we had to lead the show with because it's absolutely massive. Okay, let's move into some NFL action then.
00:19:38
Speaker
A new segment we've got for you coming every week. It's quite similar to the Premier League performance of the weekend that we've been doing since the start of the season. We're doing like a clutch player of the week. Someone that we both think has had just an amazing...
00:19:52
Speaker
previous week and the first game we've gone with Matt Stafford this season he's been unbelievable and if you look at the stats of the game up until the touchdowns you might think all right this is an amazing like 21 of 33 182 yards but then he had five touchdowns on an average of five and a half yards per per completion I don't think anyone has ever done that before.
00:20:17
Speaker
And it was the first time anyone has ever had five touchdowns in a London game too. So they fly into London on the Saturday. The next day he gets out onto that pitch. No nonsense.
00:20:28
Speaker
Just gets the job done. Five touchdowns. Completely dispatches of a Jags team that a lot of people still think could be pretty good. And gets 117.7 passer rating in the process. He is just unbelievable. And this game just showed the kind of quarterback he is. He gets the job done no matter what.
00:20:46
Speaker
Yeah, just we were kind of tossed and turning after what Jamar Chase did as well. And we just had to land on this fella then because... as you said, like everything, like 183 yards is is nothing special.
00:20:59
Speaker
But then you see he didn't have to run. and And this, again, this has been coming. His last four games, he's shown 12 touchdowns now and no interceptions. So with seven touchdowns in three games and no interceptions, you're like, oh, there's the big breakout game coming here. And After all, like some of the London games have been so disappointing. He's like, OK, I'm going to make sure that the London games don't finish on nothingness. He literally took it upon himself to just go out there and win the game.
00:21:25
Speaker
i um It's just like he he really made Jacksonville look silly. He never looked under pressure at any point in the whole game. and and know his receivers are class and he had a really good running back he can hand it off to there as well if anybody needs to. bo their role line is just... yeah shock him on Yeah, exactly. Like, you didn't need him.
00:21:48
Speaker
ah He's absolutely elite. He's been elite all year and you you pick you named the Rams as one of the teams to watch it start year and with the way he's playing, it's very easy to see why you because...
00:21:59
Speaker
but When he's playing like this and he's just under no pressure, he doesn't need to run out of the way. he has so much time to find every pass. As you said, five and a half yards per pass. like You're going to two downs every single time in that case.
00:22:13
Speaker
You're just getting up the field so quickly. it's good it's like he was just doing short completion after short completion and issues like you would expect a man like matthew stafford to have a much higher yards per completion but he just kept it short kept it sweet went to his tight ends and then looked for davante when he needed him in in the end zone and yeah just like such a perfect performance the rams are third in their division but that's because three teams are five and two they're in probably the best division in football and
00:22:46
Speaker
Next, they have the Saints. This should dispatch of them. And then after that, it's a really tough run of three games. So they're at the Niners, divisional game, versus the Seahawks, divisional game, and versus the Bucs.
00:22:57
Speaker
Not a divisional game, but it's a conference game. ah So those three games are absolutely huge. If they can come out with those two and one in a strong position, get a couple of games against division opponents, then I think...
00:23:11
Speaker
My prediction of them getting to the Super Bowl, I'll be really confident in it at that point if that if that is what happens. Especially with Stafford. like people meant I know I said it before, but before the season started, everyone was thinking, and you know, he's not going to be fit. This team isn't going to be good enough because he's not ready to go.
00:23:26
Speaker
and then he's 1,866 total yards this season. Only yards behind back and behind Justin Herbert. Most touchdowns at 17 and only two interceptions.
00:23:38
Speaker
For me, that's that's an MVP case. Never mind somebody who's and looking like they're injured and i'm over the hill. 100%. Especially like you yourself and Conor were talking about Baker Mayfield being the frontrunner for the MVP.
00:23:52
Speaker
And again, Matt Stafford then is like, I'm going to make them look silly now, the same way Vijay has come to it. I threw him out there too, so have to give me my fairer than Matt and Yeah, I just think he's absolutely brilliant. He's so kind of versatile as well. Like, if Puca was playing that game, you would have had a lot more downfield throws.
00:24:10
Speaker
But he knew he didn't talk to you. He's don't have Puca. I'm not going to just throw it up there and hope someone brings it down and at the risk interceptions. He's like, i'll just go short, go short, go short, end zone. And that's what he did. And...
00:24:21
Speaker
it's It's just his ability to read plays when they're in the middle of it. it's just i I just think he's exceptional. As you said, he's it's definitely in in the front running candidates now for MVP, as well as another fellow we're about to talk to in a couple of minutes, which is quite unfortunate. but so um i i think he's absolutely brilliant. and To start the season injured and do what he's doing.
00:24:42
Speaker
like yeah He was in the Star Trek bus to bring him back to life on the facility before the season started, and now if look at him. So he's a deserving winner, I think, of our first clutch player of the week.
00:24:54
Speaker
But as you just alluded to, we're going to probably talk about the team in general, but we're going to talk about a man very specifically on that
Kansas City Chiefs' Performance and Mahomes' MVP Potential
00:25:02
Speaker
team too. And that's Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs.
00:25:05
Speaker
The main question is, are they just going to go and do it again? Because honest to God, it just looks like it at the moment. And he's front runner for MVP now in the bookies. Yeah, ah four straight games of 250 plus passing yards is just, that's talk about being outrageous, that's absolutely ridiculous.
00:25:24
Speaker
he has all of his receivers back again, Rishi Rice is back for him, and even if he's not passing to Rishi Rice, there's two men guarding him because he can do absolutely anything when he gets the ball in his hands. And but that Lions game was a real turning point for him, and even if they did get a small bit of help from referees again, allegedly.
00:25:41
Speaker
When he's fit and firing the way he is now, there's very few people that can touch the level of production he puts out. And as I said at the top, four hundred to say four straight 250-yard games. Two of them are over 300 yards as well. like So it's not... He's just ridiculous. He didn't even play the fourth quarter last weekend and he still got over 250 Yeah, I think that game against the Raiders to dispatch of a divisional opponent like that and just that's what like really, really good teams do. They just absolutely hammer like teams that are in their division and sometimes might be a bogey for other teams.
00:26:15
Speaker
They just go out and hammer them. If they're a bad team, they hammer them. And I think that Lions game was a big turnaround. I know there was some stuff with the refs that people were complaining about, but overall, the Chiefs did have 60 more yards, eight more first downs than the Lions, and the Lions are an amazing team too.
00:26:33
Speaker
So they really showed what they're made of there. Mahomes has 1,800 passing yards, so that's the fourth most in the league. And again, looking here now, he's also added the most rushing yards per game um of his career so far. So he's on 35.7 per game so far. He's barely ever gotten near that before.
00:26:54
Speaker
307 yards in all of last season on the ground. He already has 250 through seven games this season. So this is not something that he's just scrambling to get away from pressure. This is something that they're bringing in as part of the game.
00:27:05
Speaker
Yeah. He's tied the most Russian TDs of his career already with four. So I really think that this is game plant and something that's clearly working for them quite well because... Yeah, look, they are four and three, but they look very, very good.
00:27:19
Speaker
And they're playing kind of a weakened commanders team next. And their division is pretty banged up in general because the Broncos don't look any great shakes. The Raiders are woeful and the Chargers are very badly injured. So they should probably come and take this division Kelsey looks a little bit freed up already by Rice. I know it was only one game, but he was able to go for 54 yards on only three catches last week. So it shows that when Rice is in the game, he can get bigger gains.
00:27:44
Speaker
And the only thing is they have a pretty poor run game. So imagine if they did something and traded maybe for Alvin Kamara. This thing would be, they'd be unstoppable. Yeah, I was going to say that about Kelsey as well, that he's He's been used more sparingly now that Rice is back, but it it's it will help both him and Mahomes where it's like emergency break glass versus Kelsey.
00:28:06
Speaker
Whereas anything else you'd be like, oh, Rice is available. Hollywood Brown looks in great form. Juju looks in great form. All the receivers are, they're not dropping out and stupid. Like holly brown has been known Hollywood Brown has been known across his career for just dropping pass after pass. And it's it's actually like he's gluing his gloves now. Everything that goes him is sticking really. And he's just...
00:28:26
Speaker
Yeah, he's flying, TJ was flying and then it's like, oh, I need something short. I'll just go to Kelsey and he'll just give me yards after carry after yards after carry. And but they're they're just, they're it's it's really unfortunate that they're so unlikable because they are actually a really, they're a good team to watch when they're going like this. but It's just like they've won so much.
00:28:46
Speaker
like Nobody exactly i wants to see the same thing team continue. when But they are very, very good. And we we haven't even mentioned defense, but like overall across across their defense, they're, like for me, one of the best in the league because they're the fifth defense overall in yards allowed per game with only 280 yards.
00:29:07
Speaker
And third overall in points allowed per game with 17.7. But then if you look, some teams you'd say they're performing really well defensively because they have a lot of turnovers or they have a high turnover differential.
00:29:19
Speaker
They're only plus five in turnover differential. So they're not over overly reliant on big plays. They're just consistently tough. They play exactly the way Spags wants them to play. And so like you look at it as like a bend, don't break kind of defense, but it's, it's even less than that. It's literally stand firm and give up nothing at but some of their best times. So I think this whole team is so complete.
00:29:43
Speaker
It's hard to look at any other team in the AFC right now, because Like, apart from them, who else are we looking at? The Colts, maybe? Like, the rest are... The Colts, I think the Colts have been exceptional so far this season. They've been really, really good.
00:29:58
Speaker
Daniel Jones is just doing doing stuff he's never done before. Like, he's just, he's been really good. But you put them up against this Chiefs team, and it it is, it's only going one way. Like... Yeah, unless Jonathan Taylor can run for 300 yards and another hat-trick of touchdowns, which he seems to be a fan of at the moment, then I just don't see how Colts, if they're the second best team in this division, then it's really hard to look past the Chiefs getting to Super Bowl, really.
00:30:26
Speaker
Yeah, we're we'll find out a bit of an answer there. Maybe it's mad to say that that could be an AFC Championship game preview, but on the 23rd of November, they're playing each other. and So that's that's a big one. But the Chiefs have to play the Bills before then too. So the Bills will be hoping to turn things around, but they've looked shaky lately.
00:30:43
Speaker
So for me, those three teams are probably the best in the AFC right now, which is surprising to to hear the Colts being in there. And I didn't think the Chiefs would be back here so soon, but here we are. If you have nothing else on them, let's move on to the football. Or actually, sorry, we have gone chance to get to it. How could I forget?
00:31:00
Speaker
after a strong week for me last week. um So last week I had the Colts to beat the Chargers. That came off and the Colts really kept them at arm's length all night.
00:31:12
Speaker
Then the Cowboys to beat the Commanders, they dispatched of them very nicely. And it would have been a five-pointer because the New York Giants... Just figure out how to lose against the Broncos. They were winning 19-0 going into the fourth.
00:31:27
Speaker
They were up 18 points with six minutes left. First team ever to lose when they're in that position. The whole thing was a farce. Don't want to talk about it, but got me two points anyway. So at least there's that. And to add to that,
00:31:38
Speaker
you had a yeah move on move on move on so I think we should recap every week because sometimes we do skip over it but you had Fulham to be Arsenal Vikings to be Eagles and Jets to be Panthers so um I'm 4-3 up at the moment so let's move on to another week let's throw you first get your what do you have out there So I've left the Jets off it this week. and I think it might actually be my first time this season not backing the Jets and watch them go and win now because i haven't backed them.
00:32:07
Speaker
I've gone to and the two nba sorry two NFL and one Premier League this year. So I've gone this year, this week. I've gone with West Ham to beat Leeds. West Ham are Leeds are 4-5.
00:32:20
Speaker
I think that's like, I'm really surprised that there was a favourite and underdog for this game. I thought they'd both be kind of on the money line, to be honest. So I was really happy to see that because couple of tough games this week.
00:32:32
Speaker
I've then gone for the Cowboys and to beat Denver. So the Cowboys are 11 to 10 and Denver are 4 to 7. I think the Cowboys have been excellent. Pickens just looks like he's and a man reborn and Dak has been excellent as well.
00:32:44
Speaker
but Denver, I know they beat the Giants last week, but... They look poor. i did that but Yeah, the the less said about that, the better. That was more the Giants beat themselves than Denver. actually went out and beat the Giants.
00:32:55
Speaker
And then I have the Niners to beat the Texans. versus How Houston are favourites against this Niners team, even if it is Mac Jones in the centre, is a bit strange.
00:33:07
Speaker
ah McCaffrey just looks like McCaffrey again. So, yeah, I think there are three walk-ins. And this is the first week I'm confident of a five-pointer. I'm going to say this. Okay, let's see how we go. and I'm also going with the Niners the same as you because I think, yeah, that i don't I was surprised the Texans were favourites. Maybe it's because they're at home and the injuries to the Niners, but the Niners have just defied those injuries all season. So I don't see how they don't go and beat this Texans team who literally just were dying for that game to end on Monday night against the Seahawks. They just did not want to keep playing.
00:33:41
Speaker
and But yet the Seahawks kept giving them the ball back. It was such a long time, but... I think the Niners are going to win that one. i I was actually considering both of the others that you called out, but I didn't go for them in the end.
00:33:53
Speaker
The Cowboys one, I really like. I just went for the Cowboys, I think, three weeks in a row, so I wanted to change it. But ah I've gone with Aston Villa to beat Man City. I think it's a bit of a risky one, but I i think Aston Villa, like they're they're absolutely flying. They've won their last five in a row in all competitions.
00:34:10
Speaker
And they'll be playing again tonight in the Europa League. And they're unbeaten, i think, in another maybe three or four games before that. So they started off very badly, but they've been excellent defensively. Only eight goals conceded in the Prem all season. And City, still not fully convinced on them yet. So I'm going Villa.
00:34:29
Speaker
And then lastly, I'm going with Brentford to beat Liverpool. Brentford at home have been... Very, very good this season. They've beaten some good teams at home. They've beaten some good teams in general. They've beaten United, Bournemouth in the Cup.
00:34:43
Speaker
They've beaten... who else have they beaten? Remind me. I'm blanking on that for a sec. They got draw against Chelsea last minute. And they also beat someone else that was very good. at can't remember who it was. Just pulling it up here.
00:34:59
Speaker
What's the beating at home? So there were they were actually they were good in the second half against Man City as well. Beat United. Drew... Oh, did it be Philly? fair Yes, yes. So that that was what kind of started off people looking at them this season. So I like it because I think...
00:35:16
Speaker
they'll be able to frustrate Liverpool a lot in this game. they know They know they have the blueprint basically to win, I think. So that's why I'm going with them. But I really like the West Ham to beat Leeds one. And I was considering it.
00:35:27
Speaker
And then i i just scrolled down to the Saturday games and I completely forgot to go back to that since it was on Friday. So anyway. What are the odds on that? I don't think you said. What are the odds on Brentford? Oh, sorry. Yeah, Brentford are 10 to 3. I didn't say anything. Brentford are 10 to 3 and Villa are 3 to 1. You already said the Niners. So if you add the three together, it's 35 to 1. So it's a pretty hefty one.
00:35:46
Speaker
and this week so if only if that you yeah if only that United fan had been the Villa strand instead of the United strand he'd have his hair cut I know I'm sure Villa won five in a row I was thinking the exact same thing when I read it I was like five games in a row he they must be happy with that one because you can't buy it over in Manchester but anyway my but but but my travel is 21 to 1 sorry i meant to say when I was finishing up my one there Nice, yeah, more realistic odds there. I think yours are probably more realistic. I've gone with a couple of touchy ones this week, but let's see how it goes. But anyway, we just spoke about it.
00:36:20
Speaker
you United and Liverpool last weekend. Our performance of the weekend has gone to United for beating Liverpool. They won 2-1 away from home as the first time winning in Anfield for nine years.
00:36:32
Speaker
I think it was just a really gritty performance. And for me, it was like a lot of pushback on like some narratives because the first one, I think we had talked about the stats behind United this season.
00:36:45
Speaker
And we both were under the kind of idea that... yeah, you can you can have your stats, but you need to win games and you need to show it in results. And then we also spoke about Liverpool overperforming their XG in a lot of games. And now this one was kind of a balancing of that.
00:37:04
Speaker
I think the the numbers do usually come back around and this was probably a good evidence of that where Liverpool had a higher XG, they had more chances, but... United just finally overperformed their XG for once in God knows how long to win a game.
00:37:18
Speaker
And then the second one that I kind of thought was pushed back on a little bit is the ability for Amarin to change his system. I think, as we mentioned before, a formation is not a system. A system is how you tactically set up And from Sunderland last weekend to Liverpool, Sunderland two weeks and weekends ago at home to Liverpool last weekend, he showed how he can be adaptable in the lineup he picked and also in the tactics that United deployed.
00:37:43
Speaker
So I think those two things were quite interesting as their main talking points for the start of the season. And they were a little bit something to push back on at least for one week. Yeah, so de i I'll start by saying that I think a draw was probably the fair result.
00:37:58
Speaker
But if there was going to be a winner and the balance of play in general, it probably was United. So both teams had five big chances each. Liverpool did have double the amount passes to United, but that literally does not matter one single iota.
00:38:12
Speaker
and I thought United's game plan was excellent. you did add They didn't go short to try and put Maguire and and you do any di directory under pressure by giving them the ball with three Liverpool players in their face. Just went long over the top, completely bypassing the field, especially in the first half.
00:38:30
Speaker
um but you know they went over game plan and it worked and this has to be this has got to be the one for united now where they can kick on because they've had big wins previously and they go out the next week and lose the next game this has to be the one they're like we can do this let's go back to the way we were playing against them and just kick on and they really this has to be the one now because if if this isn't the one then i'm sorry i don't know what it is but going to anfield for the first time in 10 years and winning They literally went toe-to-toe with Liverpool and for the whole game. Liverpool didn't have it their own way at any point in that match. Liverpool were under the pressure from the start to the very, very finish. I know Liverpool missed some of the chances when you look back on them. The Isak 1-1, the Salah 1-1. There are chances you have to take.
00:39:14
Speaker
thought Labricks was exceptional for both of those. Yeah, the Salah 1. The Isak 1. Yeah, but he's out on him so quickly that... and and small but into yeah he's he he's he's out on him so quickly he does Ballard trying to do something that's nearly the impossible. He's trying to find the top corner of the near post.
00:39:33
Speaker
Yeah. That's just... With the angle, it has to be... you literally have to be pinpoint accuracy. There's literally no room for error. And just hits it really badly as well. The Ezek one... Lamont, he was in good position for it in the first place. The finish is poor from Ezek. But we saw the goal that Mamadashvili conceded last night for Liverpool. And it's the same kind of angle that Ezek was at. And if you're...
00:39:55
Speaker
six or 12 inches the wrong side, it gives us so much more the goal to aim at to get past you. And he didn't give Azak that any sort of space at all. I thought Luke Shaw played Azak really, really well.
00:40:06
Speaker
Better than expected him to. There was only that one time we got him behind him. And on the other side, then Harry Maguire, the winning goal, he was just, he was the boss at the back. Yeah, very. I think just... In general, like, and we spoke about kind of tactics there, and I think you said it, you the way United set up was just so clever that they didn't put Sesko in and they allowed the team to be set up to win breaking balls. So there's a very good piece TIFO where John McKenzie breaks it down of how that
00:40:44
Speaker
that has gone about a lot better than I would be able to. So give that a watch. But it's it's basically just unit United set up that they were going to go long, but in the way they went long was passing it back bit by bit to the keeper to debate Liverpool's press.
00:40:57
Speaker
Then they went long and then they positioned all their midfielders in a way to win the second ball every time. And they won a way bigger amount of second balls than Liverpool did. And I personally think what I saw, that that whole... so that whole day of the game and the way Liverpool are building up I'm concerned at the moment but about slot because the the way Liverpool build up in that game was 10 Hag-esque ah what was the what was the idea at times there where the full backs had bombed on the midfielders weren't even looking for the ball short and you have your two centre backs spread miles apart with so much space if there's a misplaced pass
00:41:37
Speaker
That is tactical negligence. And to be honest, after the game as well, he completely embarrassed himself in the media, I thought. Like, some of the things he said were laughable about United's low block and long balls. Now, the low block, yeah of course, you're going to expect to that to be in play.
00:41:55
Speaker
You signed Wurz for over 100 million. He's a master at breaking down low blocks. You had him on the bench. And then... The long balls, United only had like, they that was their tactic, of course, but they only still played like six more than Liverpool did in the whole game.
00:42:08
Speaker
So but what's the complaint there on that? And to follow up on that, then... he said, what's the other point he said about, oh, Sesco not getting played and then how other teams have done that too, changed the lineup.
00:42:23
Speaker
Like, you're a manager, you can't have a head loss after a loss like that. It's such a big loss. And all these things just came off as massive, massive sour grapes. And it's not just me picking that up as a United fan. whole media in general was on it.
00:42:37
Speaker
And yeah, that's not a good look at all because I saw a lot of things that I've seen for United down the years there as well. Like, The time when Van Dijk sliced the clearance and it smashed off Kerkas in the face and then Van Dijk starts lacing into Kerkas.
00:42:50
Speaker
No, sorry, you misplaced that clearance. He's always forced to jump on someone else. He was at fault for that Mbuma goal. Like, these little things are... They're small, but you need to nip them in the bud and Slot needs to step in there and say, everyone, you know, we lost that game.
Liverpool's Tactical Criticism Post-Loss
00:43:06
Speaker
They tactically outclassed us. I didn't get it right, but let's move on to the next one. Let's fix this. Let's not make the small errors. Van Dijk, you need to do things differently. You need to communicate differently. I need to set the team up differently.
00:43:18
Speaker
So all those things were quite worrying for me because it's just, it just was a bad vibe all in general. I know he came out and won 5-1 against Frankfurt, but and that was probably something that you needed to do after that.
00:43:30
Speaker
Well, I think but you like everything you said there is absolutely right. And I'll get on to Slott in a second. ball But what you're saying there about that they needed the big performance. Van Dijk was made of match last night, so he clearly had to worry himself. Slott completely ripped up the playbook and played a completely new system last night. It took about half an hour to get going. But after that, it was 100% the most complete performance we've had all season. And I know it's easier when you win in to...
00:43:53
Speaker
that's kind of sit in and hold your shape and like you don't see when they're stupid but they were really really good last night but in the lead up to that game last was in Dubai we're after losing four three games in I've losing four games in a row and going into the national break and Slott is like, oh, I'm just going to hop off to Dubai here and for the two weeks. we smell that and input And then puts out the same team he put out against Chelsea. That's going to be wild. it's It's actually like he was, oh, glad you're international, Judy. I'm going to go international myself.
00:44:24
Speaker
and He should have been nights at home trying to work out the system to to play this United team. I think I said it last week or the week four. We have been... crap against back threes for a long, long time. Every time we play back three, we struggle.
00:44:39
Speaker
ah First half an hour against Frankfurt last night, we struggled against the back three as well. it's We just can't play against back threes. It makes no sense to me. Palace destroyed us. Burnley, we need a last minute penalty.
00:44:50
Speaker
Brentford this weekend is to be a back three again. What will happen? when Yeah, there's just as's a couple of things that don't seem right this year. Salah looks a mile a million miles away from the Salah that was there last year. And I do think the Jotty thing has affected him the most.
00:45:06
Speaker
But that can't be the reason he forgot how to play football. it's It's absolutely, there's it's obviously there's something, so it's going to affect you. But you still ah need to be able to go out and do your job at the end of none of them met none of them up until last night had been able to do their job for five weeks.
00:45:23
Speaker
um yeah They all went off on international duty and had a great time. Cody Ackbo scored absolute rocket of a goal for Netherlands. I know he was he was quite good last night now. Yeah, he was their best player against United, I thought, as well.
00:45:35
Speaker
Yeah. Sabaslai scored the equaliser for... Hungary against Portugal, he scored last night, but he didn't look anywhere near himself against United. There's a lot of... Frankfurt are nothing special.
00:45:48
Speaker
They're a good Bundesliga team qualified for the Champions League for the third time their history. You can't go out and put four or five past them. Like, Atletico Madrid, who are the second most defensive team in the world after Arsenal, put five goals past that Frankfurt team as well. So you just need to be able to dispatch these teams.
00:46:05
Speaker
We'll see this weekend what they're made of, because if they don't dispatch Frankfurt, then I think there will be... I'm not calling him for his head, but there needs to be serious questions asked of the players, because is this, we won the league last year, we can just take this year to settle back in, or is it just complete and utter...
00:46:19
Speaker
like that, what was the game last year, but they went out and they were like, oh, we had this one and then got absolutely destroyed. It was that, but went out in the pitch. It was like, geez, they're like Limerick Hurling against Dublin.
00:46:31
Speaker
Last year it was like, oh, this game is won, obviously it was show up. Been too much at Aftonuble this year where they're like, oh, we have to show up and then you get punched in the mouth. You go 1-0 down. one down now in every single game.
00:46:42
Speaker
I think less this the the lot the first few games didn't help because you were playing badly and winning and then I think there was a bit of a, like, oh, sure, we can win any game now at this point. And...
00:46:55
Speaker
whatever it is, whether it's, oh, we won the league, this is blah, blah, you the team spent £450 million, pounds so if they don't win the league, anything short of a league win this season is a complete and utter failure.
00:47:06
Speaker
So I think that there needs to be questions asked. I would agree with you. And even last night, I thought Slott, after the game, they won. And then the first thing he's saying in his press conference is, oh, they played... They changed their system.
00:47:19
Speaker
Yeah. different The first team that played that matched up against our system, like... No, like you have to match up against every system. You are the manager. That's your job. And would ask you this question. Yeah, listening to the Anfield.
00:47:32
Speaker
Yeah, listening to the Anfield Raps here, just a point on that back five. And they were saying how Liverpool just need to go out and say, oh they've changed their system. Good. its they've never played this before.
00:47:43
Speaker
yeah We know our system. They're a completely new system. You should be going out saying, oh, brilliant, they've changed their system to play us. we We play our system every single week. They're doing this for the first time. yeah you can't go be the team that's changed their system for one game, then...
00:47:57
Speaker
you're the problem. Like if we go to Leeds in a couple of weeks, as they were saying, and Leeds changed their system to a back three and it's the first time all you to play the back three, you need to fail able to beat Leeds that have changed their system to play you. They don't know what to do. you ah Another centre back in there who's covering what ground? He doesn't have clue.
00:48:13
Speaker
The right back could be playing right centre back. He goes bombing on, you space. Like you need to be able to beat. Now you should be beating everyone anyway because you're the champions, I know you're not going to win a game, but youre theoretically you go into most games as favourites.
00:48:25
Speaker
You need to be able to be teams that change their system to match up against you. And if you can't do that, then that's not on them. That's on them. Yeah, they've changed their system. They've done an excellent job playing the system for the first time. It's on you for not being able to go out and put your system to place.
00:48:39
Speaker
Like we saw what Beards did last night. He was absolutely exceptional. If you from the start against United, you never know. Like he might have been able to break it down the way he was doing the last night. But Yeah. But the question I have, the system is, if you say you need to play your system, but like the system didn't look any good to me against United, whatever they had planned to play.
00:49:01
Speaker
Now, I know you said they played different last night. No, he feels... Whatever your usual system is. Yeah. And one more point on this before we move on. There's another question I heard on the TIFO podcast, and I thought it was really, really interesting that they had analysed and said that...
00:49:18
Speaker
Last season, there was a lot of tendencies from Klopp still left in the team. And they could see that it was most of the time when times got tough, they fell back on the way that Klopp had kind of set the team up, as a lot of the players had played under Klopp and they knew that system.
00:49:32
Speaker
And now this season, it seems to be a lot more focused on the way Slott wants to play. That seems to be one of the main issues. Do you think that that's a possibility that last year they were still reliant on the way Klopp had them set up previously?
00:49:48
Speaker
but he He has changed the formation this year. So last year he just came in and did the clock 4-3-3. And it worked. This year he's got more before 2-3-1. And it's probably just taking him time to get used to. Like they were playing that system for the previous...
00:50:02
Speaker
however long they're there, three, four years. and So they they knew that like to back their hands. They probably went out into the pitch and didn't really need to be told where they were. Whereas now they're playing with like just two lads sitting instead of one and one lad way further up the pitch which a massive gap. So they probably just need to get used to that.
00:50:18
Speaker
Then you last night he went to a 4-4-2 really without a right winger and Vierce was just doing what he wanted and the two strikers then both I kind of hope he sticks with that now because that's the one that gave the most flu performance of the season. It looked a lot better than any of the 4-2-3-1
Liverpool's Tactical System Issues
00:50:35
Speaker
games.
00:50:35
Speaker
If he comes back now at the weekend and he's gone back to the 4-2-3-1 and Brentford running all over the game, then... I'll have to come on here next Thursday and then and say the system is a problem. The system isn't working. But so if he sticks to the one he did last night and goes out against Brentford and we we beat them 3-4-0, we need a clean sheet more than that. I take a 1-0 rather than a 5-1 tomorrow or on Saturday because we really, really need a clean sheet because we're just conceding first in every single game and you just can't keep doing this.
00:51:05
Speaker
Yeah, I think the that's 4-2-3-1. The way it can be played in different ways, but when you have the fullbacks playing the way they do, that's why alluded to that 10-high kind of thing, because that was the exact same. I'd watched enough of it, so I knew what I was looking at when I saw it there.
00:51:21
Speaker
So ah yeah, you don't want to have that as something that occurs regularly. But let's move on then. Once again, we're back here at Forrest sacking a manager. And I'm happy to take my flowers on this one because I said it from the start.
00:51:35
Speaker
Getting Anjan was the complete wrong thing to do. there's I'm not one bit surprised it's gone the way it has. He's way out of his depth at this level. And I said it before. and I know they won the Europa League with Spurs.
00:51:47
Speaker
But that was playing against a d different set of teams in a different style. The way he plays does not work at this level, especially with the way that he seems to coach it. They needed to be farming well disciplined and during the time of transition. And he knew that.
00:52:01
Speaker
He knew the owner he was stepping into. He knew it was a volatile situation. Yet he still had the team set up in a way that was allowed to not win for eight in a row. Losing to Burnley, Swansea, Sunderland, Midtjylland in the Europa League.
00:52:17
Speaker
You know, it just was not good enough. And... Now we've got Sean Dyche, so he is going to do the exact opposite and make sure this team does not concede goals. He'll even put himself out there if he has to.
00:52:27
Speaker
like It's a very different approach once again, so I don't know what far us are at. I think the whole world and their mother knew that Andrew was going to last somewhere in 10 games.
00:52:39
Speaker
um Ange probably took it. He was like, oh, I i want to get us a couple of million here in the bank. So I'm go to take you like it's going to go sign a two-year deal at Forest and get sacked one's time. um It was never going to work. As you said, du all the players signed in the summer for the system Nuno played.
00:52:55
Speaker
And then in comes Ange with the complete complete opposite. You couldn't find a more polar opposite manager to ta Nuno than with Ange. It just never worked. They never got going. um I know it's it's very quick to sack someone after 39 days, but sometimes you literally you can't wait any longer.
00:53:12
Speaker
Mr. Maranakis is just, he is what he is. Sending Ryan Yates out to do the press conference afterwards was just a sign of what they are as a club at the moment. And him referring to him in the interview with TNT as Mr. Maranakis, actually, it's it's it's it's as bad as Morgan Gibbs-White standing beside him on the pitch. Honestly, the way Ryan Yates was media trained to talk about Mr. Maranakis when he was talking to BT, sorry, TNT.
00:53:40
Speaker
18 minutes after the game finished, they're like, right, off you go. And Maranakis was gone from the stadium and all by that stage. It was left to someone else. And did you see that statement they put out for announcing the Sean Dysa? I know we're going to talk about Andrew. Let's talk about four. Yeah, it's ALA generated it.
00:53:56
Speaker
There was no mention of Issa Marnakis in it, which surprised me for a start. If someone wrote that as a thesis for a college course, they they people would be what on earth is this load of nonsense? It was thousand words of nothingness.
00:54:13
Speaker
It's just AI, I think, definitely. 100%. I think Sean Dyche is probably Yeah, and like I still think they're in relegation trouble, to be perfectly honest, even with him. But I think he can do worse than Ange, but they should have just put me in you and you in dual control for a couple of games, and I think it would have went better than it did under Ange.
00:54:36
Speaker
Yeah, I think, and well, the players clearly weren't buying any of his tactical self or tactical nonsense. They were probably thinking this does not work for us and it's not going to either. I was actually hoping that he would still be there when they played United the week after this one.
00:54:50
Speaker
Like, United, that would have been a game where you're like, oh yeah, we have to win this now. playing Sean Dyche is going to set them up impossible to break down that's just a recipe for a disaster and they might do what they did to United last year and hit them on the break but yeah I saw a tweet as well saying that Arsenal are the only one of the teams fighting for the league title that got to play Potters, West Ham and Anges first time Liverpool would have played neither and I think City only played West Ham as well so Arsenal got two walkovers there and rest are going have fight for the points so that's why Arsenal topped the league not because they're good yeah sure of course but I also remember you making a similar statement to the one I just made and saying that you hoped Amarim was still there when they came around so that you could play against him yeah I did I'm glad he was still there to tactically outwork your glorious bald-hilled man but
00:55:44
Speaker
Yeah, i think it it must be really nice having the the memory of us of an early 20 year old because I can't remember half of the nonsense you said over the last 44 weeks. But anytime I say something, to anywhere even close to stupid, would you come back and say, oh, do you remember this on the 26th of this month and this year? Oh yeah, I remember. so Fake stats. Yeah, those times too. Yeah, they just don't exist. I remember those.
00:56:08
Speaker
But yeah, in general, I think Forrest are a bit a joke right now. Obviously, all led by Mr. Maranakis, as you've said. it's just It's just a farce in general. But we do have one more topic of football to talk about. So let's just move on to that. And it's our usual weekend preview.
Crystal Palace vs. Arsenal Match Preview and Predictions
00:56:23
Speaker
And we're going to preview Palace versus Arsenal. I think it's the most interesting game. We both agreed on that for the weekend. So what do you think? What way do you think this is going to go? And we'll get a score prediction then at the end.
00:56:35
Speaker
When I started writing about this, I thought Palace were at home and I was really, really calm. was like, oh, this is the one now, Arsenal come unstuck. And then when I was looking up my gun chances, I saw Arsenal were at home and it was two o'clock on the Saturday.
00:56:47
Speaker
i thought it was half twelve on, I thought it was, sorry, two o'clock on the Sunday. I thought i was half twelve on Saturday and was that seller spark. was like, oh, this is the one they come unstuck? It's like, no, it's at the Emirates on a Sunday. It's like... yeah i Palace last week, for the first time this season, i told I think they looked really, really defensively frail um against Bournemouth, which is not the time you want to start looking defensively frail when you're coming up against this Arsenal team who um corners that are basically penalties for him at this stage with the way things are going. And it's the kind of game where Giaccares might actually score a goal in the league. He's still rubbish, but this is the kind of game where he does go out and just...
00:57:25
Speaker
Kicks the ball past him and runs onto it like he did against Leeds. Hopefully, Mateta's hatchery can give him a bit of confidence, but all all the air went out of my balloon on this when I saw that Arsenal were at home unless it was on Sunday at 2 o'clock. Arsenal 2-0 is my my result for this.
00:57:40
Speaker
Yeah, i I think Palace were definitely undone by Bournemouth's idea of just making the game as chaotic as possible. But then they also benefited from that in the long run.
00:57:51
Speaker
And they should have won that game with they amount the amount of chances they had. But again, Bournemouth were good and in patches too. I think it's the type of game that Arsenal come out strong. As you mentioned, it's in the Emirates. They come out, fans behind them take a good start and they get a 1-0 up.
00:58:07
Speaker
And then they kind of allow Palace to come on to them. Palace will probably create some chances, but I see it as the kind of way that Palace have created a lot. They've created 17.4 xG, which is the most in the league, but they're massively underperforming that.
00:58:20
Speaker
And then Arsenal have only conceded three in the league and they've only conceded 4.8 xG, which is the least in the league. yeah So you have the most creative versus the most defensively resound team.
00:58:31
Speaker
I think Arsenal are probably in a better situation here that... They'll be 1-0 up. It'll go for a long time and they'll just grab a second. But I do think Palace will make another push and grab a goal. So I'm going with 2-1 to Arsenal because I just think Palace have created a lot and Arsenal can't keep a clean sheet every single week.
00:58:47
Speaker
um So I just feel like there might be a goal but I still think they're going to win and two one and They absolutely battered Atletico Madrid 4-0. um As you mentioned, one of the best defensive sides. So they can clearly do it against good defensive sides too.
00:58:59
Speaker
And Giacca has got a couple of goals there. So he'll be wanting to take it into the weekend. so yeah I thought Saka, back in that first half, he was board-line on play-out as well against Atletico.
00:59:12
Speaker
and if If he brings 50% of what he did against Letico into this game, then Palace will have an awful, awful time against him. He's gone down on... Bless you. He's gone down on the fantasy points or price because of like the fact he was injured. He was gone down to like 9.9.
00:59:36
Speaker
I could not believe it. So i went and got him anyway for this week because I had... I i brought him in as well. yeah Yeah. I brought him in as well to take out Salah. Took out Salah finally. I'd given up the goals for a couple of weeks. So...
00:59:48
Speaker
I was looking, was like, there's only one, like when he's 9.9 million, there's only one option because you can get in someone unbelievable. This isn't a fancy football podcast. There's loads of them out there. Yeah, so I think in general, Saka is going to be important, as it will be interesting to see going playing back against Palace, how that will affect him. But and I think Saka is definitely going to be the recipe here for Arsenal to attack early on. And I do think we we both think they're going to win.
01:00:13
Speaker
And I just want to do a callback because I know we mentioned earlier on when we were talking about Ganshans. I said that Villa won five in a row. They're after losing the go-ahead Eagles in the Europa League. So there you go.
01:00:26
Speaker
Derek absolutely throws a spanner into that prediction. So if they can't beat go-ahead Eagles, we might have a bit of an issue with City at the weekend. But anyway, that's when we go to our second game as we as we have gone chance and we also have the power rankings.
01:00:43
Speaker
So I'll go first this time because you had the gone chance. honor my my rankings last week were the tampa bay books first then arsenal bournemouth the chiefs lions and palace so this week i've had a bit of a shake up because some mixed results over the last week or so and in both leagues there can only be one team in red that needs to come into this here and they're gonna sit right on top And it's Arsenal.
01:01:13
Speaker
No, it's not United. Okay. It's Arsenal. They've only lost once all season. 4-0 versus Atleti, as i already mentioned, and they're top of the Premier League. They they look really, really good. So they're top for me, moving up one spot with the Bucs losing on the weekend.
01:01:29
Speaker
The Chiefs are second, as we already talked about them earlier. I know they're only 4-3, but my God, they look good the last couple of weeks. And they they beat the team in third, who's the Lions. and And the Lions are the ones who knock the books off the top. So those two are kind of really, really strong teams.
01:01:44
Speaker
So they're two and three. The fourth place, I have the Colts. Only six and one team. They're only lower of than the other two NFL teams for me just because they played easier teams and they don't look as powerful. It's not just down to wins.
01:01:58
Speaker
and And then fifth is Bournemouth. They're unbeaten in seven in all competitions. I had them in third. They're down to fifth. And then City take the last spot. They're unbeaten in nine in all competitions. So... despite i think Despite the fact that I think they may come unstuck at the weekend, night I still think in recent form they deserve to be at least in the top six here. So that's my six. Arsenal, Chiefs, Lions, Colts, Bournemouth and City.
01:02:21
Speaker
Yeah, I have actually also dropped Liverpool out for the moment, and as much pains me. i have There's actually quite a shake-up. I've gone back serious this week after last week, being the fun rankings. This one is a proper power rankings. The Lions go back top for me.
01:02:36
Speaker
they' They're still my favourite to watch in football. They're just absolutely unbelievable. They were fourth, sorry. Last week, I had the Bucs, Ormert, Giants, Lions, Arsenal, Liverpool. So the Lions have moved up from fourth to first for me.
01:02:47
Speaker
I have the Chiefs in second, the new entry. When I started looking at what Mahomes have to do for this episode, it was like, how can i You had him in last week. I had left him out, but it's really hard to leave him out now.
01:02:59
Speaker
Arsenal have come up to third for me, as much as that kills me to do. Don't want to talk about him. Moving on. Fourth, I have City as well. As you said, nine on Beden. Haaland just doesn't stop scoring goals.
01:03:12
Speaker
yeah it's just it's impossible to leave him out. I have the Colts in as well for the same reason as you. Six and one. they They do look like one of the best teams in football. and Daniel Jones is the Daniel Jones that everyone knew he would be once he left the Giants, especially you.
01:03:26
Speaker
And then propping up the table Bournemouth. um Oh, we have the exact same six. Do we? so we Yeah, that's good. much and That might be the first time. So we've weve we've had our first first podcast sneeze and the first time we've had the same six in the the power ranking. So, what a week. So, yeah, so that's Lions, Chiefs, Arsenal City, Colts and Bournemouth.
01:03:48
Speaker
Yeah, and then as we usually had last year, and same for Gone Chance, next week we'll have the and NBA incorporated. and So we'll see have to say goodbye to one Premier League and one NFL team. We'll have two from each sport. Arsenal. Looking at the Gone Chance, we're going to have one pick from each sport then every week for our underdogs there. And we'll go back through the rules of how we do it for the NBA. and Since we do, last year we we had a bit of We were recording way in advance, it was a bit more difficult. But this this year we should have weekend odds of games on a Thursday evening when we're recording. and So we'll probably pick leave the same rules as we we do for the other sports. Always have to go against an odds-on favourite.
01:04:30
Speaker
um And to remind you, you know, we often say this, but we are picking underdogs. So don't come at us too hard if we get them wrong. we're We're trying to give you some good prices here. That's another week wrapped up.
01:04:41
Speaker
Two episodes this week. Hopefully you enjoyed both of them. And we'll be back again next week with the usual Thursday episode. Throw it to you, Shane, to wrap us up. Yeah, like, subscribe, comment, just do the usual. Please and thank you.
01:04:56
Speaker
We're coming up on our 50th episode now, which is mental, to be perfectly honest. It really is. It's mental how quick it's gone. So we just we we really do enjoy the support, good and bad. We can take the slagging in the group shots for the stupid things we say as long as you just give us that like because it it really does help out a lot. And we'll see you next Thursday, next Friday morning again.
01:05:15
Speaker
Nice one, lads. Talk to you then.