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Episode 14 - I'm Not Going To Say Who
26 Plays4 months ago
We break down a big Premier League weekend with proper football chat. First up, Chelsea vs West Ham — what went right, what went wrong, and whether Chelsea are actually improving or still living moment to moment. Then it’s Manchester United vs Fulham, digging into United’s performance, Fulham’s approach, and what the result really tells us about both sides. Honest takes, tactical bits made simple, and no overreaction — just the stuff that actually matters after the final whistle.
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Transcript
Chelsea vs West Ham: Pre-Match Concerns
00:00:36
Speaker
Yo, don't cry, don't beg. Welcome to another episode of the Don't Blame the Ref podcast. In the blue corner, you've got E-Man. And in the red corner, you've got Dom.
00:00:49
Speaker
so We are back again and we are going to be looking at Chelsea versus West Ham and also be looking at Manchester United versus Fulham.
00:01:01
Speaker
ah Both sides at home, both sides, you know, off the back of a couple of good wins. um So it's a really good opportunity to to see what Man United are made of, what Chelsea are made of to to try and win a game that they expected to win. um So,
00:01:21
Speaker
We're going to start off with Chelsea um and going into it, I think it was disappointing to hear that Esteval, I'm not sure what's going on with Esteval, but he had to travel back to Brazil and he wouldn't be available for this match, which meant I have to watch players such as Gittins and Garnaccio.
00:01:43
Speaker
Yeah. Gittins ain't that bad, man. no He's not that bad. The other guy, i can't I can't say too much about him. Gittins ain't that bad.
00:01:53
Speaker
you know what the problem with Gittins is? he teas notch he doesn't He doesn't have the self-belief. He doesn't have the self-confidence. So he doesn't realise how good he is.
00:02:04
Speaker
um But he also doesn't play at an intensity that will show how good he is.
Chelsea's Team Dynamics and Criticism
00:02:10
Speaker
So I don't know whether it's fitness or just a mental thing. He just doesn't play as good enough intensity, whether it's with his dribbling, whether it's with his defensive actions. And you know what? A lot the times he actually avoids contact, which is really frustrating. It's men's football. You can't avoid contact when he's doing his defensive actions. You know, I it with Gettins. I think he needs the confidence of Maduweke.
00:02:37
Speaker
that's That's the truth. That's what he needs. Because he's actually got ability. Yeah, yeah. But this current version of him, I can't stand it. I can't stand So the starting line-up would have been the lap up top, Jaub, Palmer, Kittens and Garnaccio with a midfield two of Enzo, Caicedo, back four of Gusto,
00:03:05
Speaker
Fafana, Bradia Shile and Hato. So, immediately off the bat, my concerns are... It was Chalaba that started for you guys. It was Chalaba, yeah? yeah, yeah.
00:03:18
Speaker
Alright, first. Um... The biggest issue, the issues I had, I'm not necessarily too worried about Badr Isidane left centre back. I think it's serviceable. he does He is struggling with confidence, but it's serviceable. um' really I was really worried about the left back.
00:03:35
Speaker
I just don't think he's good enough at the moment. um I've told you before, the midfield two of Caicedo and Enzo just doesn't work for me. not enough balance. It has to be a midfield free, in my opinion, where you have two defensive players and Enzo free to run around and huff and puff and miss tackles, basically.
00:03:53
Speaker
um You've then got two wingers who are turnover heavy. um So there's no, there's little to no ball retention there.
00:04:04
Speaker
And then you've got a striker who's also, um, Struggling for confidence, limited in his movement. um Yeah, link up, not great. So there's a lot of nothing. So already this lineup, I'm a bit like, yeah, this is probably one too many, probably two too many changes. um Probably enforced in a couple of them. So for example, Rhys James, he's played twice already this week. We want to manage his legs, make sure he's not he's not getting um putting too much strain on him. And then...
00:04:37
Speaker
I'm not too sure why Santos doesn't start this one. um He doesn't start the midweek game against Napoli, which is a great result.
00:04:48
Speaker
But yeah I'm not too sure why he doesn't start this one. Do you think he's being rested for Arsenal? Possibly, but... He doesn't play at all during the whole game. So it's a bit of a strange one.
00:05:01
Speaker
Even when we're in trouble, he didn't he didn't turn to him. Even when we, the last, you know, last 20 minutes game, he didn't turn to him. So I'm a bit i'm bit confused there. I think he he should if he's fit, he should be starting against Arsenal. I would be scared to go into a game against Arsenal with Enzo and Caicedo as the midfield two. I'd say you're scared. I'd be very scared, bro. And you could see it from- They might punch you up.
00:05:26
Speaker
Bro, and you can see it. Don't get me wrong. I think our main issues wasn't that, this game.
Analysis of Garnaccio's Struggles
00:05:33
Speaker
Our main issue was, as a collective, our intensity wasn't good enough in the first half.
00:05:40
Speaker
um Individually, players weren't good enough. The lap can't retain possession. Horrible passer. Movement is not good enough. It's not good enough to... to you've got a Certain strikers, yeah, they make movement that encourage others to pass to them.
00:05:57
Speaker
correct When people say, oh what can a st striker do? What can a striker do? If they're not getting the ball, it's usually because you're not making the right movement at the right time.
00:06:08
Speaker
Yeah. His movement is not dangerous enough. It's not causing issues. And then when he gets the ball, he's doing very little with it. So whether he's he's in unable to get past the defender that he's against or he's unable to hold, retain and pass the ball on.
00:06:27
Speaker
um With the wingers, constant turnovers, constant turnovers, constant turnovers. As bad as Garnaccio was this this game, Kittins was just as bad.
00:06:41
Speaker
He was just as bad. Just as bad. No confidence to take on his full-back. And then when he done it when he did, he he turned over possession. Quality of passing and crossing, nothing.
00:06:54
Speaker
And... Look, anyway, so so we we go into the game. I'll be honest, I missed the first 15 minutes. um And then I was shocked, shocked to see that we were losing 1-0. Then I continued to watch the game and I realised why we were losing 1-0.
00:07:12
Speaker
I think um based ah based on the first 15 minutes at least, it was what you were saying. It was an intense intensity issue. I feel like West Ham kind of like came out flying to be fair. And I guess it's because you guys also had so many changes. There's a lot of cold players coming in trying to...
00:07:33
Speaker
find some rhythm and West Ham are fighting for every single player at this stage as well. So they can, i can I just, can i just turn can I just talk on that? Yeah. People talking about this rotation, rotation thing, bringing in players from the cold, but these guys aren't from the cold.
00:07:50
Speaker
They play regularly. Yeah. It's not an excuse. They are warm. They literally played two games ago. It's not like, its and it's sort not like other teams where you're like, oh, your fringe players aren't playing for three, four, five weeks on the bounce. And then you're bringing them, bringing them in and then expecting them to to do something. These guys play regularly. It's not good enough. Stop making excuses for them.
00:08:16
Speaker
It's not good enough. They're not good enough. They're not performing to a level. Yeah, you could talk about, okay, um changing the back to, you know, it it doesn't give them consistency. It doesn't give them a rhythm, things like that.
00:08:30
Speaker
But and you can't come and tell me that it's coldness. Like, oh, they're rusty, stiff. No, these men play. Like, they get subbed on regularly. They start games regularly. It is not an excuse. They have to do better. Canacho has to do better.
00:08:46
Speaker
Yeah, i mean I think you're right about what you're saying. But it when I say that, it's not a case of like me saying ah Chelsea were too slow off the mark. I feel like West Ham were just more up for it than you guys were, if you know what mean. Because they've got a bit of a different, at least a different front too. They're sort of picking up a bit more rhythm now. So they kind of went into this game thinking like, there's something we can get from this game. So the way they stepped out kind of made it seem like you guys were like,
00:09:17
Speaker
not really ready for what they had. That's how would describe it. But yeah, like you said, all these guys, professionals, they have played recently. There's no real excuse. you got i think your manager is currently doing a good job of giving everyone a fair shot. Like, you don't really you can't really predict his his lineups because he's...
00:09:36
Speaker
always like making changes, willing to f throw players in take players out, give players 50 minutes, sub them off. it It doesn't seem like he's picked his favourites other than the obvious. Canceladol's going to play, be fit.
00:09:51
Speaker
Palmer's going to play, be a fit. But outside of that, Who knows? Look, I'm not being funny, mate. Like, yeah yo these guys are taking liberty. They're taking liberty.
00:10:05
Speaker
Every time you get an opportunity, you are just messing it up, messing up, messing it up, messing up. Like, Badr Yashile, he is a good player.
00:10:16
Speaker
He is. He's high... From when he was young, he's been highly rated, highly rated. We've brought him... And he started off really well, went off the boil and then start then got back into it again, then got injured again. So I know the injuries itself aren't great for him.
00:10:37
Speaker
But bro, bro, like maybe we need to do some sports psychology, some some something because... Every time it comes to perform, every time it comes ready for him to perform, he's just, the mistakes are too often, too regular. And it's it's chipping away at him as well.
00:10:59
Speaker
um And it's not to say every bad scenario is his fault. You know, there's like Neto sold him a horrible pass in the last game. And then, you know, Crystal Palace had the chance to to to score from from that mistake.
00:11:15
Speaker
i Like, Hato is 19. He's not good enough. I've got Lewis Hall at Newcastle, bro. Lewis Hall costs less money. We sold Lewis Hall for less money than we bought Hato.
00:11:27
Speaker
It's night and day between those two. Yeah, but that's like FFP stuff, man. Yeah, it's just, everyone's getting a little bit screwed at that, man. No, it's not about everybody's screwed. It's like they're spending mad piece on players they didn't need to buy, bro.
00:11:44
Speaker
this like You know, there's players that have never played for this club that they've bought. That's the opportunity cost. It's got nothing to do with the money we spent on the first 11 on the guys that we have here. The opportunity cost is buying players like this RC, 37 mil, sunk, gone.
00:12:03
Speaker
And now I have to sell my one of my best left-back prospects that the club has ever produced. to meet PSR. Are you crazy? And then a year later, once you've made some money, you buy a more, in an an inferior player.
00:12:18
Speaker
Come on, people. Like, it's madness. It's madness. Anyway, focusing on the game, um
00:12:27
Speaker
One thing about Ganesh that i usually say is he works
Chelsea's Defensive Errors and Adjustments
00:12:30
Speaker
hard, he's relentless and he, you know, he just keeps going and he tracks his runners. that's the Those are the one things, the stuff that will say, that's a good thing.
00:12:41
Speaker
But on the ball stuff, he's, you know, he's not really good. Imagine being a footballer and every time you get the ball, you're worse. But but his relentlessness is what, you know, it he'll try 50 times and one will be successful. you mean?
00:13:03
Speaker
But we didn't get either of that today. I don't know whether it was because it was Wan-Bissaka and they've trained together before. And he maybe he felt that. Wan-Bissaka had him in Alcaraz, bro. That guy. It's not so funny. Garnaccio on a normal day can't beat his man.
00:13:17
Speaker
Coming up against Wan-Bissaka is probably just what is punishment. It's punishment at his point. He had no choice. 100%. I know he can't beat him. I know. But the fact that he didn't even try, bro.
00:13:31
Speaker
He'd even try it. And then every time Wan-Bissaka got really close to him, he would rush and pop off the pass to the point where he would give his teammates a bad pass. There was like a two-minute period where he gave away the ball twice for no reason. yeah ah ah will I really did feel sorry for him. And even for his own good, he had to come off.
00:13:52
Speaker
For his own good, for his own confidence, he had to come off. I think, I've never, generally, I've never, as as as much as i criticized Gonaccio, I have never, ever seen him play like that.
00:14:03
Speaker
He was so rattled. I think he's really starting to wear the, the pressure a bit more. i've I've never really seen him like this, even when he was at Manchester United, because he was one of those delusional confidence players where he didn't care if there was another option on whatever. He's just going to cut in and he's going to shoot. He's going to always like get half a chance. He's going to do something. He's going run in behind or do anything. but But people approach Chelsea differently to...
00:14:37
Speaker
Manchester United, there's not a basketball game. like With Manchester United, you get acres of space, Bruno's going to hit you in transition, but with Chelsea, it's not like that. Now it now actually requires you to be able to show some um ingenuity and beat your man or create your own separation, half a yard here, half a yard there, to actually get your stuff off. But it's not it's not it's not easy at the top level. It's not easy. reason but slightly It's not easy at all. and For me personally, he shot himself in the foot by...
00:15:07
Speaker
Obviously, i did say he's kind of like a a rational confidence person, but um he showed himself in the foot. He said he didn't want to go anywhere else but Chelsea because he, in his head, thought that he's better than where he actually is. Maybe did need a little step down to like...
00:15:23
Speaker
where there's less pressure, he can develop his game a bit more, maybe be under like a coach, and like someone who's actually going to give him advice on what he needs to do to improve him. But no, he went, he said, listen, I'm a big time player, bro. I'm ready for Chelsea.
00:15:38
Speaker
I'm ready. my In my opinion, he should have went to Napoli. Napoli would have been a perfect move. Oh, Napoli would have been perfect. Napoli would have been perfect in a system in a system like, and for coach like Conte, who really coaches, who really develops players, um I think he would have had a great time there. um But he's here. And I do want to look, the first goal happened I'm not too... i Who scored it again? So um it was Bowen, it was a cross that... um just Oh, yes, I but i remember.
00:16:11
Speaker
I remember. You could see that passage of play. Ball goes... It's a long ball. Hato is favourite for the ball. He misses his header because he's got no... He's scared and he closes his eyes when he goes into the header it and he he completely misses the header. It drops in the middle. Garnaccio...
00:16:32
Speaker
This is what I teach my under 12s. Get goal side first before you try to challenge. Focus on getting goal side because if you, in that scenario, if you miss the the challenge, that person's gone through on goal.
00:16:44
Speaker
So he tries to win the ball, they just hold him off. the eventually gets the bow in. Gets the bow in, he whips it in. yeah it's It's poor, but at that point it's manageable. um I think the lack of intent from the team as a whole, we did not commit enough bodies forward.
00:17:05
Speaker
um We were in a situation, there was, a the way in which the manager set them up wasn't bad. I just don't think it was advantageous for the players on the field. So, for example, Garnaccio isn't great 1v1 versus Ryan Bissaka, you know, and then Gittens, again, didn't do much out wide, which is a shame because he's supposed to be that 1v1 winger. And then he also went off injured as well.
00:17:31
Speaker
So... like Yeah, you know, he probably pulled a muscle, you know, but backing out of a challenge. It is what is. So that's second goal. The second goal is what i really want to talk about because i want to give it i want to give people a view from a coach's point of view. yeah So a lot of the focus is on Garnaccio and him not tracking that run.
00:17:57
Speaker
Now, one thing I'll say to you is... If you start up the field, whether you're in possession or um you are out you are either pressing or you're in possession and attacking up the field and the other team counter-attack, you are the players that are going to be closest to the ball if it's out on the left-hand side.
00:18:22
Speaker
It's got to be the centre-backs, the centre-mid. It is their job to delay delay that that to then give the wingers the opportunity to track back.
00:18:34
Speaker
yeah yeah Someone else could then say, okay yeah, but that's a full-back, so why isn't the winger keeping up with that full-back? Completely understandable. Completely understandable. But there's no centre-mid coming across the cover.
00:18:46
Speaker
The centre-back on the left-hand side, Baedde Shile, he doesn't come a across quick enough to cover. who And so that's that's one of the solutions. That's one the solutions that could happen.
Impact of Second Half Substitutions
00:18:59
Speaker
Midfielder or centre-back can shift and cover that run.
00:19:03
Speaker
Issue number two, Hato needs to check his shoulder before he decides to come out of that shape and press. If people aren't shifting over to support you, Hato has to stay narrow to discourage the pass beyond him.
00:19:23
Speaker
If he stays narrow with the run, the person on the ball has to delay their pass. yeah That is emergency defending 101 that you learn under 12s level. I'm telling you.
00:19:37
Speaker
And I keep saying under 12s because I coach under 12s. This is what I'm teaching them. If you are overloaded, there are too many players in your zone, you must tuck in delay.
00:19:48
Speaker
Do not overcommit too early. Hato overcommit. Others aren't able to shuffle quick enough. Fullback goes cutback, goal. Yeah.
00:19:58
Speaker
So there are many different things that multiple players can do in that scenario. So yes, God actually doesn't check his one, but we can do a lot better to defend that.
00:20:09
Speaker
there Cool. go At that point, I'm i'm just like, wow. I'm generally shot at the lack. I'm just ah smiling. I'm thinking like, ooh, this is going to be a great day. Like, ooh, got to get some.
00:20:24
Speaker
Got to create a nice little gap. Even though mean, the point where, I don't know if you saw the clip of Sanchez arguing with the fans. or whatever the fan was, he was... Obviously, the fans are upset. You're 2-0 down at home. Yeah, yeah, Sanchez says to him, um calm down. there There's a whole number of 45 minutes to go. Like, we've still got time to come back. and I didn't see that till after the game. ah Yeah, yeah, same, same, same.
00:20:50
Speaker
Obviously, after the game, you're like, yeah, that's cold. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But if you went on to lose that 3-0, 4-0, then... look at this lion I thought they would have been saying so speaking on the second half the referee sorry the the manager makes what three four subs he brings on Jao Pedro Cucurella and who else Oh, centre-back Fofana. He brought on Fofana to replace Padilla Shile. Yeah.
00:21:27
Speaker
Cucurello for Hato. Cucurello for Hato, which just had to be done. Padilla Shile, again, he doesn't cover Hato well enough, so he has to go. And then Garnaccio off for Jao Pedro. Yeah.
00:21:40
Speaker
um which was interesting because i also felt they lacked it really too much, but um it's difficult because Garnaccio was just having a worse game. so Yeah, he was absolutely horrible, man. He just needed to go for himself because that can like properly kill someone's confidence. When you're having a bad game and nothing's coming off, the worst thing that you can do is stay on it and just keep failing. at that point. Yeah, you you can see whos yeah you could see he was rattled. He was proper rattled.
00:22:08
Speaker
He was like, bro, I left the club to get away from this guy and now I'm here. Clamping me. Every single time can' do one step, I can't do nothing. ah Eventually, I think the crowd, after the crowd started shouting and getting angry at him, that's when he started trying to take him off.
00:22:29
Speaker
And then he still failed. man. It's star as dark. It's dark. It's dark. It's so dark. And then you've got the fans on your back. You've probably got your teammates on your back. And he just kept giving the ball away. Oh.
00:22:45
Speaker
Anyway, and the problem is now, Gittins is injured. Esteval is on compassionate leave, so he may not be back. Palmer is... I'm not sure Palmer can play two 90s in a week. So we're going to have to start Garnetto.
00:23:02
Speaker
theyre called They're calling them Garnetto. Garnetto. Yeah, they call it a Garnetto. It's mad. Yeah, that's peak.
00:23:14
Speaker
is' so It's so mad. That's like McFred. That's the same and same level as that way. Yeah, yeah. Being combined into one with the worst fusion dance I've ever seen in my life.
00:23:30
Speaker
ah So, moving on into the second half, I think... Tactically, like I said, he had the wingers out wide, 1v1, and the fullbacks did um overlap from me and you know here and there, but ah a lot of the focus was ah having the fullbacks 1v1 and then trying to combine from there.
00:23:51
Speaker
Whereas in the second half, he had the fullbacks really high. And then because we didn't have out-and-out wingers, he had Gio Pedro, Enzo, Parma, who were more narrow.
00:24:04
Speaker
And you know what? It was really refreshing to see that we committed so many players into the box. The way we kept them in that box, it's so frustrating that why can't we take that level of risk from the beginning of the game?
00:24:21
Speaker
Especially against these smaller teams. overload them, commit players, because I haven't seen Chelsea pin a team in like that for any half of football in so long, in so long.
00:24:37
Speaker
And the only way you do that is through, obviously, quality on the ball, but it's also by committing players. If you have four players in the box, the opposition has to have five. And that should give you space outside the outside of the box.
00:24:52
Speaker
So commit players. And fair play to Rizinho. He did that, man. He did that.
00:25:00
Speaker
So ah after he made that change, it was... it was It was good. It was good. It was good that we played with tempo.
00:25:10
Speaker
you can from the From the beginning and a half, you can see, like, when when everybody's taking two to three touches, they're not they're not they're not spending more than half a second on the ball. The ball is moving, popping side to side, properly like, properly moving, shuffling West Ham across, and then creating space for us to attack. So, Giao Pedro, I do want to speak on Giao Pedro.
00:25:36
Speaker
Fair play. Just fair play. Yeah, he's on the phone, mate. I think that's his fifth goal in five games. And he came on and he just he just changed the game. um just brief Just before I speak on Chao Pedro, so that first goal where Fofana clips the ball into the back post and Chao Pedro has a great header and gets it into the back of the net.
00:26:00
Speaker
That emphasises something that we weren't doing in the first half. And it's something that see my previous teams doing a lot. So you see how Garnac and Neto receiving it, but then by the time they receive it, their fullbacks are really close to them.
00:26:15
Speaker
Yeah. Part of the problem is they're receiving the ball too deep. And the reason why they're receiving the ball too deep is because the ball is being passed to them too early.
00:26:27
Speaker
So what mean by that is... The passing of the back stuff should be with an end goal. So it should be with a goal to do what? Whether it's, I don't know whatever, play centrally, whatever.
00:26:39
Speaker
But at some point, somebody has to break the first line of press, whether that's with a pass, with a dribble, whatever. But in that scenario where the wingers aren't getting space to now receive and face face their man and and and push and, and you know you know, attack them, the centre-backs have to drive into the space.
00:27:04
Speaker
So what I mean is you overload them in the first line. So whether they're pressing with one striker, two or front three. So we might have three defenders or four defenders.
00:27:15
Speaker
Once we've got that scenario where we can now get around that press, somebody needs to drive into the space. Once you drive into the space, West Ham have to narrow up.
00:27:28
Speaker
if they don't if they don't narrow up, you could just keep driving towards them the middle of their goal.
Chelsea's Management and Transfer Critique
00:27:32
Speaker
So immediately, who's going to tuck in now? Their fullback. So now who which play which player of ours has more space to receive?
00:27:41
Speaker
Our winger. So you can see from Fofana's goal there, he drives into, sorry, Fofana's cross into Jao Pedro, he drives into the space. Once he gets that opportunity, he drives into it. And if you watch the second half again, they were both doing that. Both centre-backs were doing that a lot more.
00:27:59
Speaker
And it was giving the wingers, full-back, sorry, whoever it was that was out wide, more space to receive with their body facing forward towards the player, they up the opposite um the opposition player. So,
00:28:12
Speaker
Was that a change in... tactics or changing profile of like the centre-back so with Fofana coming on this he's a lot more comfortable at doing that in comparison to Laka Badrish Shiloh yeah you are right yeah 100% you know Fofana loves to do that it does that naturally um Chaliba would do that less so than Fofana but Chaliba would be a lot more adventurous than Badrish Shiloh so you are right it could be a profile thing but
00:28:45
Speaker
That's for me, for me, I would really push that from a coaching point of view. I would do like, yeah oh if Badish was there, I'd be telling, bro, step in, step in, step forward, drive at them so that you can create space for others. Because you're just, he's just killing us with these slow passes to his left that's going nowhere. By the time Gonaccio gets it, Wan-Bissaka's, you know, on his toes.
00:29:10
Speaker
So... he the the The manager made right choice for the subs. um It's a shame that we can't rest these players and have players can deputise for them and trust them.
00:29:24
Speaker
It's a real shame, especially after you spent £1.5 billion on the squad. Yeah, I think i think where it's... more of a disappointment for you guys. It's more along the lines of, you've already spent the money.
00:29:39
Speaker
So how's your squad this week? I think I'm closing through other people because, don't get me wrong, most teams don't have adequate replacements for injuries or like just fatigue in general. It's not like for like Holly, but you guys have actually spent the money already.
00:29:57
Speaker
So the situation that you're in now doesn't really make that much sense. Because even some of your starters now, i look at that back line. Obviously, that's not your starters starters. If everyone's fit, it's probably Fafana, Rhys James, maybe, well, Colwell, I even forgot he existed, and then Kukurela, that's your main... um probably back four, but looking at it now, it just looks kind of makeshift. And then Chalmers is okay.
00:30:26
Speaker
but this is But this is what happens when you just, I don't even know what kind of spending they're doing, bro, but they're not, they're not selecting a squad based on quality. I refuse to believe it because if it was about quality, you wouldn't have made some of the moves that you made.
00:30:41
Speaker
Number one, Lewis Hall is better than Kukurela. He is better. He is faster. He is stronger. He can cross. He can invert. He can pass. He can receive on a half turn. He is categorically better than Kukurela.
00:30:57
Speaker
Like there is not a skill set that Kukurela has that you could say is better than um um Lewis Hall, apart from you could probably say intensity. That's it.
00:31:09
Speaker
That is absolutely it. When you look at Garnaccio versus Tyreek George, who if we we have just sent on loan to Everton, Tyreek George is categorically better than Garnaccio.
00:31:21
Speaker
He's taller. He's stronger. He can shoot from outside the box. Tyreek George already has two goals from outside the box this year. Garnaccio has none. Like, Tyreek George is categorically better.
00:31:36
Speaker
Gittens might be slightly better than Tyreek George only because he's faster. But is he £50 million pounds worth more? What are we doing?
00:31:48
Speaker
What are... Mark Gouy, the backup striker to the lap and that, the academy striker we have called Mujeka, he is categorically better. And I'm not sure the lap is much better than that academy striker, bro.
00:32:02
Speaker
um be I'll be very honest. I need a bit more, I need a bit more um sample size of the player playing first team football. But I just, did what what are we watching? Because it's not,
00:32:14
Speaker
whatever decisions they're making it's not based off quality there's another motive whether it's money laundering then maybe they're filling up agents pockets bro you can't make this many transfers and it's not about money laundering because we're not in profit it overall we're not in profit because they keep preaching about, oh, we're buying young so that we can resell and make money and flip players.
00:32:38
Speaker
We're not in profit. Overall, we are and at a loss. We are operating at a loss.
Chelsea's Second Half Comeback
00:32:44
Speaker
The finances don't make sense, bro. And if if you if I was an investment, um a private equity firm, that is not a good investment.
00:32:54
Speaker
We have not made any money in three years.
00:32:59
Speaker
So what's the truth? What's the ulterior motive? what's the Ontario United that's a good point well and yeah just to finish off with Chelsea I guess we go into your second goal by Kukaria I think it was yeah it starts off it starts off with a great um you crossed it in can't remember maybe child ah um Pedro maybe no Pedro crossed in the last one for
00:33:32
Speaker
Enzo's goal, it was... it was a right-footed cross into the back cross. Yeah. And then Kukuele. Enzo, it was Enzo. Yeah, right. Yeah, yeah, it was Enzo.
00:33:44
Speaker
Yeah, at that point, mate, we were just, we were all over them. we were all over them. The speed, the we were finally showing some quality. Like that back post cross, no, it was Neto. It was Neto. I remember now it was Neto. Again, a bit of quality...
00:34:00
Speaker
that I haven't seen consistently enough from Neto, ball that actually somebody can actually challenge for. um We committed both full backs were inside the box. This is what I mean about these small teams. You have to kill them.
00:34:14
Speaker
You have to overload them. You have to take full risk and play with intensity to the point where you can then, you can then, you know, walk, you can walk the second half and relax because you've already smashed them 3-0, but you have to overload them and then overwhelm them.
00:34:31
Speaker
And that's what we did in the second half. But why can't we do that in the first half? um Good knockback, good header back from Gusto. Kukulele just does what he does and and gets there before the other defender. At this point, i'm just I'm just glad to not lose.
00:34:49
Speaker
um i thought I thought we'd score our goals sooner, but we started to make some mistakes in possession, which gave West Ham a lot of opportunity to counter on us, which they actually ended up with a chance that they should have scored.
00:35:02
Speaker
the one The one where Chalabras has a poor clearance and then the player hits it against um the post. The third goal is really nice. The first goal is really nice. And it's really nice because of Jao Pedro's movement.
00:35:17
Speaker
um Again, movement that don't see from the lap. Hence why the two players are night and day. um Yeah. Really nice movement, good comp cutback and Enzo enzy gets in there and and finishes off.
00:35:34
Speaker
um Fair play to them, fair play to them, fair play to the manager. a a he took He put caution to the wind. He you know it really took lots of risks.
00:35:46
Speaker
He had to, we were 2-0 down, it was way too embarrassing. And he got the win in the end, the players got the win in the end. but i just is it just leave as leaves a sour taste in your mouth, honestly, mate.
00:36:01
Speaker
Just... Yeah. You don't need to be in that position in the first place. our guess is like um I mean, it's... it is
00:36:13
Speaker
Managers aren't always going to get it right to start off. so no But then i don't I don't necessarily think it was his fault in the first half anyway. I just think the players he brought in were crap.
00:36:26
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah, that's what that's what I mean. is like It's not his fault. I praise managers for giving people a fair shot, right? you give me Players are going to get the opportunities to play. It's not his fault that Garnaccio pooed his pants today, that Gettens were injured, that Hato was terrible. All of these people are not able to, all you needed was like half of those guys to like at least play decently and it's a more cohesive performance. Maybe you go into the second half 1-0 down or it's 1-1 at that point, but
00:36:58
Speaker
the complete collapse in the first half was just down to too many players not competing well enough and not fulfilling their roles. Too many people sleeping, too many. I know you don't dare want to blame Garnatio for that second goal, but even the first goal, you could closed down Bowen a bit more. Like, you're in your schedule. You're kind of standing up. Like, it's about switching up and wake switching switching on and waking up to this actual danger. that's said the The biggest danger you have right now is Bowen's got the ball and about to cross it. Throw yourself at it. Mine's on his left foot. Why did you let him come back on his left foot? Yeah, and then he just back keep him his right.
00:37:37
Speaker
And then when the ball goes in, you're throwing your arms up. And it's just like, what do you mean? It's your fault, my bro. It's you. It's your fault, my bro. It's actually you. And you know what? It's not even like you need to cross it it stop the cross in that moment.
00:37:52
Speaker
But how does he end up so far away from from him that you can't even put pressure on him? Ugh, man. Anyway, um Look, it's really good that we have five wins. um It's been very rocky.
00:38:08
Speaker
um And I really hope Besterval comes back. so the I don't what's going on with him or what's happened. at a full I get the feeling someone's died.
00:38:20
Speaker
um So rest in peace to whoever it may be. And I wish the star boy the best. Hey, Because I'm so free to hear. I can't speculate. Obviously, we don't actually know what's happened, but I swear, Brazil, there's other stuff that happens over there, innit? So, there's other groups over there. I'm not going to say who, but they can't tell. know kind thing.
00:38:44
Speaker
okay if ah we don't we don't know any anything might well what who was it no that was Columbia what's his name Luis Diaz his um dad got kidnapped didn't he oh that was awesome listen man you don't know what's going on in the South American country the fun and the funniest thing about that one is his dad came to this country on a joke team fam man just came and like living his life that's what you're supposed to do your son your son's playing from the biggest clubs in the world and you're just like bro You're living the dream. You don't care. Yeah, but he was a bit too happy. Like, bro, you just came back from a kidnapping. Did he set up? Did he set up?
00:39:24
Speaker
He was so happy. Yeah. he He looked like he set up the whole thing himself to get some peas. But extorting the sun. Anyway, you know, we can't throw away. i Allegedly, alleged we kind oferedly of that there and that so that's allegedly.
00:39:42
Speaker
no ah Cool. let's Let's move on. and Let's talk about the Red Devils, Manchester United. So i think this is the match that we we were really interested to see what this United side were going to do or how they'll react, how they'll play. How will they deal with a team that will defend a lot deeper, that won't give them as much space as as some of the bigger teams were?
00:40:13
Speaker
But yeah it was ah it was a really interesting turn of events. Like, Fulham ended up with 54% possession. Do you think that was by design? Do you think Kairike decided to...
00:40:26
Speaker
different ka do you think k k decided to you know, relinquish possession to to give you guys a bit more advantage.
00:40:37
Speaker
I don't even think it's like optional, like we're relinquishing possession by choice, like just giving them the ball to do whatever the hell they want with it. I think it's more of a case of like, when we have possession, it seems like we want to move the ball fast, get forward and create chances as quick as possible. We're not, we're not we don't care about,
00:40:58
Speaker
holding, having possession for possession's sake, like we did earlier on in the season, but... Now it's like Martinez gets the ball, he's just trying to find the attackers. like He doesn't even a mind bypassing all the midfields. He's just get forward to one to one of the attackers and see what we can do. And when you play football like that and you don't really try the slow build-up play, you're going to have way more turnovers than the other teams. So it kind of looks like possession favoured Fulham. But even with us doing that, I didn't really feel that threatened by
00:41:31
Speaker
whoa um Fulham and what they were doing like there was chance there were a couple chances early on actually there was a free kick that I think it was Reid got like a little toe onto and then Le Mendes saved it and then there was another opportunity they had in the was it the first half where um yes it was the offside goal the offside goal where we could have been ah I can't even remember at what point of the game that happened whether it was 1-0 already but Yeah, yeah so is it that's that's a problem that i want discuss further on down the line. But you can still tell we're shaky in those sort of scenarios, but we also have a lot of quality on the other end. So starting off with the lineup, it seems like Carrick's approach is something came broken, don't fix it.
00:42:25
Speaker
Yeah, of course. I'm playing the same line-up. Obviously, if Dogu is fit, he probably plays, but Konya comes in, which isn't a bad... um replacement in that scenario.
00:42:36
Speaker
And then Amad's on the right. Especially yeah if one game a week. Yeah, exactly. Exactly. So this is what you're supposed to do This is how you take advantage of the one game a week thing. So yeah, basically same lineup.
00:42:50
Speaker
um There are a few individual players who I want to speak about in terms of their performance, like Casemiro.
00:43:01
Speaker
He's on his farewell tour. He's he's just balling out right now. I don't even know what's going on. he's It's like he's playing for a new contract, but i don't think he wants one. I think he just more wants to... He's kind of showing himself to Ancelotti. Like, look, I'm ready. like i i'm ah still I still got it in me. like so Don't think about not starting me. I know Ancelotti's probably going to take him, but don't try to play on me. Even the defensive midfielders for Brazil,
00:43:29
Speaker
Goumere's and someone else Douglas Louisa and them and yeah listen yeah one thing you can guarantee about an old veteran regarding an old veteran yeah whoever they are whether it's Luke Shaw Casemiro they will turn up in the World Cup year yeah tournament year international tournament year or new contract pending their men are turning it up hmm Yeah, yeah. They know, like, this is this is the last hurrah for quite a few players this season. This is a lot of their last World Cup. So, look at looking at the game and seeing our approach, obviously, we can go to the first major incident that happened, which was... The penalty, which never should have been a penalty for us, where Kunja got fouled for um in the box. But actually the foul started happening before he entered the box with, um I'm assuming it was, it was on the right hand side. So it might have been Robinson. i don't know who it was. But someone was pulling on his shirt. He falls in the box after a tackle, but the player did get the ball. So he pulled it back for a free kick.
00:44:41
Speaker
And the guy who I said, I'm not going to say anything bad about again, delivers a perfect ball. We're not straight until one of our best aerial threats in Casemiro. And he just scores ahead there anyways. It's basically like taking up any Scores straight from it. one no up.
00:45:00
Speaker
Oh, Bruno Fernandes. Oh, Bruno Fernandes. Bro, I'm going to give him praise from now on to the end of the season. I'm not going to talk about any mishaps he had. that you that's what That's what you need. You need the guys who are going to have those moments. And he had a big moment later on in the game, but which we can get onto later on. But yeah, so...
00:45:26
Speaker
that happens we're 1-0 up i feel like we're calm we're doing we're doing okay but then as the half goes on i think we do kind of drop off and are um like i intensely kind of drops off towards the end it felt like the team was kind of like coasting to the halftime whistle i think i wasn't really happy with how we approach i i would i would like for us to keep a bit more the pressure on in that scenario because, yeah, when it came against Man City and Arsenal, yeah, you can relinquish possession and all that because it's expected. But sometimes the onus has to be on you to really dominate the other team and not allow them to get comfortable. But they didn't score. So we kind of got away with one day. I don't think they really created any major chances other than the ones that
00:46:16
Speaker
I mentioned already and even speaking some of the first half performances, like I think Ahmed was brilliant in that first half. Not not even just on the attacking thing. He was cooking Robinson. What?
00:46:32
Speaker
He was spinning him. But like a lot of defensive work as well, a lot of hard defensive work. He was helping out Dallot a lot. he was't He wasn't shirking on his defensive.
00:46:44
Speaker
Do you know what that dual highlights here? Sometimes it's not about just raw speed. like If you get both of them in a straight line, you and who's going to win that race? Probably Robinson because he's just mad quick.
00:46:57
Speaker
But then the way in which Ahmed can go from... The the way Ahmed can accelerate and decelerate quickly and the way he can shift his body, ah it had that guy slipping and sliding, man.
00:47:11
Speaker
He was slipping and sliding. Yeah, loved I love the way Ahmed knows how to use his body, use his speed. Yeah, he's a lot more stronger than people give him credit for. but he Oh, facts. I thought he was really good. And the thing is as well with Manchester United fans,
00:47:27
Speaker
We have shiny new toy syndrome so badly, man. We just want to just sign players and just play them. Like, who the hell cares? The thing is, whenever I saw any predicted lineup for what Carrick's best XI would be, Ahmad's always dropped to the bench all the time. And I'm just like, he's...
00:47:46
Speaker
kind of our best winger. I don't know if people are watching the games and seeing what he's actually capable of doing. Don't get me wrong, Mbremo... Bar Bruno, he's your best attacker. Bar Bruno, he's your best attacker. Yeah, 100%, 100%, 100%. Obviously, Mbremo's clinical, Kunio's just like a new, like, it's just a shiny new toy. I don't think he's been that great this season, but he's starting to score um now so people are starting to rate performances a lot higher but he's still doing a lot the same things i'm still seeing the same baggy touches i'm still he's he's holding on to the ball less i will say that i don't want to just criticize criticize him for um criticizing and's sake i think he does release the ball a lot quicker he's he seems more interested in combining with um the players around him so i'm i'm not going to hold him too much to that but um
00:48:39
Speaker
Yeah, after that first half, cool. We're going into the second half. I'm thinking, okay, cool. We need to get the next goal. Before anything else, like, we need that second goal, man. I could like i didt i didn't want to... um
00:48:55
Speaker
I didn't want to even give Fulham a sniff. Yeah. Giving them hope. It's so annoying. like I hate when that happens, when it comes to us. I get that, but feel I feel like like there was no worry, man. feel like even for most of most of that, even me even for the second half, I don't think there was too much...
00:49:16
Speaker
um And I just think it was a but i guess I guess what you said earlier about not playing with that consistent intensity then leads it leads to lack lapses in concentration and then you can end up giving them a ah big chance, which is basically what happened with that penalty that Maguire gives away. um Yeah,
00:49:40
Speaker
so in the second half, why do you think you guys, you know, kind of didn't put more pressure on to Fulham? um i it's It's a different level of expectation. i feel like with our squad, it's easier to get them up for the big games because I feel like you can go in there basically point to them that you don't want to get embarrassed.
00:50:04
Speaker
You want to show that you're levels, right? So they're going into these games ready to compete, they're ready to run their um harder yards and put themselves out there a bit more. But when it comes down to...
00:50:16
Speaker
these sort of teams, concentration drops, silly mistakes happen. People shirk on their responsibilities and then next thing you know, it's 2-1 down and now everyone's head's dropped. And then maybe if we're lucky, we get a 2-2, we just go on to lose the game. That's literally the same pattern from Manchester United. so there was there was a period where um in that game, but just before the second goal went in where I did feel like we struggled to maintain possession. was getting too sloppy in there. Fulham was starting to get a bit too comfortable for my likings. And then after a quick passage of play, the ball drops to Casemiro. And I don't know what it is about Casemiro, but when he does stuff, yeah it it just doesn't seem...
00:51:05
Speaker
even not I don't even know how to say it. Basically, he did a no-look assist there. At first, I didn't notice he did that. I didn't even know there was no-look. Yeah, that was crazy. The first time he did that. And then Kunja, on the right-hand side, just roofs it, slaps it straight. top It wasn't even top corner, it was roof of the net. But um the difference between Kunja and Dolgu playing um as that left winger Konya's always going to go searching for the ball. Whether it's instruction or not instruction, it doesn't matter. he He doesn't want to go too long without getting touches. So the whole game, he was floating along the front three. It wasn't even a rotational thing where like, oh, and Bremont, you go left, I go centre.
00:51:46
Speaker
Ahmed, I'm going to go right, you go left. it He was just moving around. So we did it kind of it didn't even have a left-hand side because there's no way Luke Shaw was going to go up and down by himself. If that was Patrick Dogu,
00:51:59
Speaker
Maybe would have done it. He would have been up and down a bit more, but you sure ain't got that. So pops up in ah in a good position, gets a shot off 2-0. i forget, oh my God, we're going to smoke someone. We're actually going to smoke someone. Oh my God, 2-0 up, feeling kind of comfortable.
00:52:16
Speaker
Yeah, they' they're getting chances here and there. there were There were a few times also in that first half as well, actually, where i was seeing the same frailties that I've seen on the 10-hog that I saw on the Ameritans.
00:52:29
Speaker
it was when we, when we had the ball in attacking, in the attacking phase and we lost it, it's like one pass, two passes and they were kind of, they were just breaking on us. But Fulham doesn't have the quality of some of the better teams. so they were just messing up the opportunities and we were getting away with transitions, not turning into chances at that stage. Yeah.
00:52:54
Speaker
I think, yeah, I think it was, it was,
00:53:00
Speaker
The closer it got to full time, the less confidence I had that Fulham would come back. But in terms of how the second half went, I did feel like Fulham were the better side and and and should have probably got back into it a little bit earlier if they had a bit more quality. um In terms of how you pressed, it's it's it's is very much in like a 4-4-2 shape in most scenarios from what I could see.
00:53:27
Speaker
um and I think it's fine in periods of the game for moments, but I think you mayve it may have been better to try and change into a a shape that would allow you to be a little bit more front-forward.
00:53:49
Speaker
To be fair, you can be front-forward with a 4-4-2 shape, but... It was just, yeah, it I'm not too sure what happened there, whether it's the players' mentalities or whether it's by design. um So, and and and it's that it's that lapse in concentration that leads to the first penalty. Yeah.
00:54:09
Speaker
ah It's been a while. It's been a while since we've seen one of these moments, one of these big Maguire clangers. you know And just when he was getting all these England shouts, oh just when the me don no wait wait just when the media were just getting away a little bit too excited, like everybody just fire up on it, just relax, just calm down.
00:54:34
Speaker
How can we be talking about England when he's done two a appearances all season? What are we doing?
00:54:42
Speaker
But this this is this is the thing when it comes to Maguire. This is why I'm not big on the idea of like keeping these players who have these bozo stupid moments within them. Because when it comes, it's going to come at the worst possible time. We're two no-up comfortable.
00:55:05
Speaker
like just um in complete control. Even before before the penalty actually happens, Sesko comes on and he has an opportunity with his first touch to score header and he hits the post.
00:55:16
Speaker
So, oh yeah that's nice that should have been 3-0, game done, done and dusted. But he's not as clinical yet. Maybe he might get better. But yeah, the ball just gets played through.
00:55:27
Speaker
and this this is a weird one. I don't even know you... I don't even know if I should save this or not. don't blame the ref. If you get the shot off... as the player, before the challenge is made, they don't normally give that as pennies, right?
00:55:41
Speaker
no No. No, not really. Because it's not impeding you shooting. You shot already. Like, it's just a follow-through. But then saying that, and on no then outside the box, if you play a pass and I still clatter into you afterwards, you're going to give the free kick. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But then you are right. I've seen, for years, I've been watching scenarios like that and think...
00:56:05
Speaker
That's a pen. Like, the ball's not gone in a net. You can't just slide into a man in the box and then say it's not a penalty just because the guy had took took his shot before it.
00:56:17
Speaker
He still took him out. He still took him out. And then if you see, if you see after the clattering, the ball actually just ends up right next to him, the play on the floor, Jimenez. You could also argue if maybe he gets up and just maybe just slots in anyway. Exactly. So, yeah, I think there's little... You have a little little case to argue against that one. And it's I think it's different if, like, i imagine you're about to shoot and I slide in front of you, but obviously you've got your shot off too much and then your momentum and my momentum has taken us into each other.
00:56:55
Speaker
Do you get? Whereas Maguire's... he's just gone straight into the player, not in front of the player trying to block the shot. So, yeah, I freak i think that was just very... I think because he took a heavy touch, Jimenez took a heavy touch, Maguire kind of thinks he can get there.
00:57:13
Speaker
But, yeah, he just mistimes it. Yeah, yeah, so it's... um Yeah, Jimenez gets his pennies. He actually roofs it. It's a ridiculous thing, to be fair. That was crazy.
00:57:29
Speaker
um People are attributing us conceding goals to a certain somebody getting subbed on. ah o But for me personally, I'm going to cut him some flat. that in like Give him a break a little bit because...
00:57:48
Speaker
I feel like he's just in a phase where nothing he does is going to be taken well by the fans. Ugarte came on and then that's when obviously we go and concede our two goals. But it's not like he was at fault.
00:58:02
Speaker
for the two goals. It's just, he comes on and then we end up conceding. So, i don't I don't know the science behind it. I don't know if, just because he's there, maybe people are less likely to pass it to him. So, he's creating different scenarios. But yeah. They're trying to say he's rubbing off on Maguire. That's what they're trying to say. To save Maguire's face. Nah, I'm not having that, man. Like, sometimes, things that things are just very unlucky and he's just at a bad phase in his you United time. Me, personally, not.
00:58:30
Speaker
I don't like him. think he should be sold in the summer. I would have sold him in Jan if I this is the hand that Carrick's been dealt.
00:58:42
Speaker
Castamero can't play every single minute. You have to rest him. And you're tuning him up. You're thinking the game's basically done at this point. So you threw on the striker as well. So you're hoping that your striker bags as well. So is it's not like it's the worst idea in the world.
00:58:58
Speaker
But yeah, he, Ugarte is too limited as a footballer to be playing in the um in this team. And I was listening to something earlier today where um someone was explaining, i wish I remember what i was what was watching but someone was explaining we keep mis-profiling Ugarte that's the reason why he looks worse than where he actually is not that he's like 10 times better apart what's his profile we keep playing him as like a DM as like the last line of the midfield the guy who's supposed to pick up the ball off the centre centre backs that's not what he's supposed to do he's more Ugarte
00:59:36
Speaker
yeah yeah, like a Kante, Fred, like a Roman sort of destroyer sort of thing. His things just chase the ball. That's what all can be allowed to do. If you have him sitting as a six, it's, you're basically setting him up to fail. Not to say that he's, like I say, he's this amazing ball winner, all of that kind of stuff. But do you remember when he first came to the club, he was like just chasing guys down, like trying to,
01:00:05
Speaker
kind of win the ball. He wasn't very strong in Jules, but that was that was his M.O. But... Yeah, I don't think it helps. When I look at the layout of the midfield with, like, so essentially what people are saying is it's supposed to Casemiro, Ugarte and, like, a Bruno, but...
01:00:22
Speaker
how does... so what is he going to do when we have the ball? Like, well I don't understand. You can't just have guys in your team who just run around and crash crush into people. You have to be able to do something with the ball at your feet.
01:00:33
Speaker
So... Yeah. i think I think it doesn't help that you don't have another Kasemu, someone else to sit in there. So... Unfortunately, out of your midfield three, Kikarte is the one that's closest to be able to do that job, um even though it doesn't suit him perfectly.
01:00:53
Speaker
So overall, are you happy with that performance? Are you happy with what went on? um i'm I'm happy to see that we are able to take our chances when they come to us. i feel like we're able to mean keep the ball in the final third a lot better.
01:01:13
Speaker
We're able to build up a lot better. The the reintroduction of Martinez, oh my God, is so, so important. So important to whatever we're going to do for the rest of the season. And he's picked up quite a few injuries as of other recent. So he's the one that I'm worried about. If he goes down...
01:01:32
Speaker
yeah And then we have to go back to heaven. Not to say that heaven's bad. He's just not Martinez. That's all it is. I'm going to have to give Martinez some praise, man. So you're playing in the Prem, being four for one and in the Prem and battling people. Bro, man's going up against people that nearly double his size. Fair play, man. Fair play to the guy. He's so good at progressing the ball, man. he's he's He's literally like a one-man, like...
01:01:59
Speaker
it What game was it? Whether you're saying he broke, he he made the most amount line-breaking passes that everyone on the pitch, I think he had like 11 or something. So he's he's so important to whatever we need to do.
01:02:12
Speaker
And in terms of the performance, one thing I'm not happy about is I think this team is still very temperamental. As much as we're scoring a lot of goals, I feel like we are conceding too many. like We're conceding too many high-quality chances to the opposition. But... um not not to Not yesterday, so to speak. There were a few occasions where they could have scored. Like, even that Fulham second guy, I didn't even mention it. Kevin, that was just bad girl. Like, what can you do? what what and i can't remember the be a build-up to it. Do you...
01:02:46
Speaker
put anyone at fault but oh you just stopped it i yeah ideally you want someone coming over to shift like a midfielder coming over to shift and and at least applying better pressure um but yeah fair play absolutely whacked that one
01:03:05
Speaker
And then um then, yeah, so then comes the big moment. Like, at that point, it goes 2-2. um but um What? No, I'm sitting there thinking like, ah, man, I really want it. I really want the wins, man. I need the, like, Liverpool already won. Chelsea already won. Obviously, you two had your own 3-2 game. Right.
01:03:27
Speaker
a And I'm just sitting thinking, oh, let's not drop points now. like why why does everyone start winning when we start winning? And then now when we lose, everyone wants to start with... like It's just thinking we're so unlucky. at the same time, they added nine minutes onto the game. I was thinking like, why?
01:03:44
Speaker
Where did that come from? What the hell did that come from? Did anyone get... Did anything... did like any anything I couldn't i could i couldn't think. maybe Maybe I missed something. i don't don't um I don't remember. But nine minutes came out of nowhere.
01:04:03
Speaker
And then in the 94th minute, Bruno Fernandes gets played the ball on the right-hand side. And Bassey is coming coming in from ba behind. this is This is what you get for busting low with Shortsmouth.
01:04:19
Speaker
Yeah, bro, I don't know. He needs to fix that. What's going on? Someone needs to find him, bro. But this is where like the quick decision-making and the top quality players, they do this. bre If Bruno takes a touch there, that's he clashes him. He'll happily take the yellow if he has to, but you're not getting past him.
01:04:42
Speaker
That dummy completely caught him off guard and it allowed Bruno to get goal-sided. But then even then, at at that point, Bassi has to foul him. Yeah, he has to foul him. He has to foul him.
01:04:54
Speaker
It's the 94th minute, just foul him. Foul him at that point. But I think Bassi, the other thing was, Bassi is quick as well, strong. He probably thought if he just gets close enough to him, he'll be able to just win the ball back. So there's no need to foul him. Bruno plays the ball across the box.
01:05:11
Speaker
It's behind Cesco and he takes the first touch. i think i In my head, I'm thinking, bro, you haven't set out your feet far enough. How are you going to hit this? You're going have to take another touch.
01:05:23
Speaker
It's a nice throw. It's a nice throw. Wrapped it top bins. I'm standing around shouting like... Do you know why i like his finishes?
01:05:34
Speaker
A lot of them are top yeah. I like players who can strike the ball cleanly. And for me, that's a da's top quality. That's exactly what you need. I think he needed that goal as well. He's been, you could say, unfairly dropped by Carrick because under Fletcher, I think, Sesko is 3-2.
01:05:56
Speaker
And then, obviously, we had the tough games and then O'Bremont comes in and Cesc O'Gro. Yeah, but he must not be training well enough then, Because he prefer if he's preferring O'Bremont up top, he's and he's not training well enough.
01:06:13
Speaker
Sorry, I think it was just the tactic that Carrick wanted to approach the Man City and Arsenal game with. Because it worked so well, I think he just wanted to keep it the same. i don't think it's more of like Sesco, you've been bad, so you don't deserve to start. I wouldn't even be surprised if Sesco starts against um Spurs, it's our next game.
01:06:35
Speaker
with um Yeah, he's i dont i don't figure I don't think he'll go for Ombremo again. i think he's going to probably play Ombremo on the left, Ahmed on the right.
01:06:46
Speaker
and then Bruno in the middle and then use Cunha as a sub again. but But yeah, it's um it's a great goal. I can't complain about that. Great finish.
01:06:58
Speaker
Ended up helping us win the game and we're just moving on. We're moving on to the next game. And i' I'm just happy that we still have that little bit of resilience. We're not dropping our heads. I feel like every player within the squad feels like we should walk into games.
01:07:17
Speaker
Three points. Three points. That's it. That's what we're here for. I'm hearing that before the Arsenal game saying that, oh, yeah, we're going to win. Ahmed saying we're going to beat Spurs already. Like there there's already like moments like these boys are now playing with a new confidence.
01:07:32
Speaker
Yeah, you can see, you can see their proper engagement, proper engagement. That just comes from the manager, like whether it's the old one leaving or or this one is just, you know, picked up the mood and ah made everybody enjoy their football again.
01:07:47
Speaker
So, fair play. Fair play. Enough of that. F United. Come on, man. Come on, man. Let me get my props, man. Bruno, two assists. He's chasing that record. Henri, don't let Bruno take your record, bro. He needs an accolade. He's going to win PFA as well, you know. You better watch out. Man said PFA. You better If he goes and beats that record, they'll give him PFA. You better relax. I'm saying it here. I'm saying now.
01:08:16
Speaker
but yeah that's United tax yeah of course we're the biggest club bro what do you mean of course that's the tax that's the tax you get but yeah just to wrap up on that looking at the Premier League table Chelsea Man United we're battling man We're battling. It's is a race for four, top five, whatever. It's getting tight. I felt like one of a feel like Manci and Aston Villa could get dragged into it as well.
01:08:48
Speaker
Yeah, yeah. Aston Villa will definitely... They're not gone. Villa will definitely get dragged into that. Yeah, so... definite Let me even just have a quick look. Who have Villa got next? Villa have got...
01:09:04
Speaker
What? Are they not playing? They should be playing. Oh, they got Bournemouth away. They're away at Bournemouth. We got time. That's a problem. You got you guys are away at Wolves. Liverpool have Man City though. so there could be another swing in what's happening. But it' it's skin skin it's getting tight around that side. But yeah, so i just want to do something a little bit quickly. A little bit quickly. Yeah. quickly. It is actually, we're recording this on transfer deadline day.
01:09:35
Speaker
ah it hasn't really been too eventful. Obviously, we've stated in the last pod of who we wanted our clubs to even look at for this January window. a guy that we actually mentioned on the last pod has actually signed, and not for you guys. Moncler, what's his name? ah Jacket? Jacket?
01:09:57
Speaker
Shaq where? Shaq where? Yeah. say It's probably something like that. He's at Liverpool for 60 million euros, but um he's coming in the summer.
01:10:09
Speaker
Let me tell you something. of Let me tell you something. Yeah. You can always tell which transfers Chelsea are going to do and which one we're not going to do. These long drawn out ones where the breach show is giving live updates three times a day.
01:10:27
Speaker
They're not happening. Chelsea ain't getting that player, whoever it is. Yeah. Number two, any top player or player that is actually good and a Liverpool, Man U, City, all of them top ones, anyone that comes in for for that player...
01:10:47
Speaker
Chelsea aren't beating them to it. We're not. to Trust me. Players are looking at our mess. They're looking at the amount of players we have. They're looking at the way we treat players when we don't want them.
01:10:57
Speaker
Trust me. Let's not even talk about the wage package. Ekotike is on £250 to a week. Chelsea aren't paying him that piece. Trust me. Even of big wages, you guys have let Sterling go, right? Finally. Finally.
01:11:17
Speaker
Yeah, he's gone now. So there was a mutual agreement to just pay him off whatever he needs to be paid off. And now he's gone. He's just a free agent right now. Even that one. Look at the way we handled that. Look at the way we handle our assets. You've got a man worth 50 mil. Get him alone.
01:11:32
Speaker
Get him alone. Just get him out of the building. Get him playing. him fit. You have him, bro. Bro, mad behaviour. Mad.
01:11:44
Speaker
now we've Now we've had to terminate his contract. Oh, my God. stop Anyway, it's good for him. but He gets to go go wherever he wants.
01:11:55
Speaker
um where whatever Whatever transfers have we got? I'm surprised United didn't anything. list No, see, this is what i was saying. This was actually something I wanted mention. Last pod, I said that if we don't sign a midfielder or give Carrick any recruitment, if we get an injury, I'm not looking at Michael Carrick. I'm not looking at him to say, oh, you should find us. No, no, no. He's only here to fulfill a short-term obligation. It's the club's... op um
01:12:27
Speaker
responsibility to make sure he has enough to do what he needs to do. Because Casemiro can't play it all this time. If Casemiro goes down, if Kobe goes down, Mason Mount's injured again, don't know what happened. the deletes it It might even be a broken foot with the lip because he just went down and he ain't been back since.
01:12:44
Speaker
You can still pick up injuries even though if you're playing once a week. So I don't want to hear it in like two games time where our excuses are... they want to spend money I don't want to I don't want to hear any rumors there were a couple players available even just short term be at the front cheap wages like this what they'll say is oh you know they didn't want to compromise their summer targets and yeah like come on man we know you got money you've run that play already everyone knows you got money
01:13:15
Speaker
Like, come on. You you spent the whole of last summer and saying you didn't have money and spent 250 mil. Like, come on, man. Let's stop being stupid. well and the thing is as well, okay, what what happens when we go into the summer now? Are you just going to buy the player straight away are we going drag that out the entire summer and then only end up with a belay bar and maybe one other midfielder? But it's not the main targets that are being floated around. like That's just what I'm saying. Yeah.
01:13:41
Speaker
like I know transfers have to be negotiated in that. But man, some of these drawn-out sagas, like, bro, just go and get your man. Because more time, look at Mbremo. You had to pay more for him because you drew it out.
01:13:59
Speaker
You loaned it out. I think we were being quoted, like, around the same price that we paid for Kunio, which was about £62 million. But because we dragged out for so long and other players started going from the same position, Brentford just added another £10 million on top of that.
01:14:12
Speaker
And then we went and then paid that. Like, just get... And even the Belaba thing, yeah. If we're going to sign him in the summer, why can't we sign him now? what have what What's the stop? Are we in the PSR? Yeah, but Brian ain't letting him go mid-season though, bro.
01:14:28
Speaker
But they're not even playing. I think they would. you got you guys Did you guys go back? I said, though, mid-season. Yeah, true. But then that's like an extortionate fee. Because they were they were saying that they were saying that if you wait till the summer, we'll sell him for less.
01:14:43
Speaker
And we just decided to buy him then because Liverpool were trying to get him as well. to yeah So we're not paying extortionate fee. Are you still worried about the money like um that you paid for him? like Even though he's not he's not worth what you paid.
01:14:57
Speaker
am. He ain't worth it. Because that same money we could go and use elsewhere, bro. I'm worried about it. Same with Enzo. Overpaid. Overpaid. it's so It's money you're wasting for no reason. So that that stuff, I don't mind too tough.
01:15:12
Speaker
I don't mind it too tough. But maybe they should have been a little bit more strategic. Go and find a loan. Someone, just a centermid, a body. Just someone to get in short term, just to support with the numbers. So maybe that I would have done if I was them man. But...
01:15:27
Speaker
Waiting for your targets or trying to make sure you don't overpay for your targets, I'm all with it, bro. i'll be honest, I am with it. But what we don't want, like we like we had in the summer, is wasting time.
01:15:42
Speaker
That's what we don't want. Let's not waste time. in Just go get them in in the summer, get them early and move on. Like, why are we waiting until a deadline day for you to now say, oh, it's not possible?
01:15:55
Speaker
Yeah, I agree. Because for me, I just think I'm looking at a squad now and I'm saying, yeah, we got one game a week. We have no League Cup, no um FA Cup, nothing. So do we would we have needed... I don't want us to just go out and go sign the NDD. I don't want that.
01:16:11
Speaker
There's no point. You'll never leave the club. You'll know he's punching. You'll do forever. Like, it's that same typical thing. That's the kind of thing I didn't want. I just wanted a player who's got a bit of experience, who'd be happy to be a squad player, but then at the same time,
01:16:26
Speaker
Is there really any need of that? There's no need for now because no one's it important is injured, right? So cool, we're fine. But we'll we'll see we'll see how that plays out. But yeah, just quickly go on the rest of the other ones.
01:16:40
Speaker
Axel Diassi, he's finally gone. He's gone to West Ham. Lone until the end of the season. See you, bro.
Transfer Market Speculations and Discussions
01:16:47
Speaker
Benzema's moved from... Where was the he? He'll be alright for West Ham.
01:16:51
Speaker
Yeah, yeah. I don't know. West Ham's defenders are scary, man. They scare me. I don't know. I don't know. Karen Benzema, he's left out at Etihad and gone to out at Halle.
01:17:07
Speaker
I'll halal I'll halal I can't lie bro don't talk to me about any Saudi transfer bro let's just move on from the match I only said it because it was Benzema that's it apart from that not really too much Adam Ola Luchman went to Afro-Larco Madrid I'm happy for him um Stran Larsson 47 M's 47 M's. And I'm pretty sure he's only got like one goal this season.
01:17:34
Speaker
Yeah, this season he's got one. To be fair, last year he was being quoted at 60 and he had 14 league goals. Yeah, and he had 14 league goals. So he's a player. That's right.
01:17:47
Speaker
But 14 league goals at the time, like when you think about that perspective... Also for Wolves. Also for Wolves. Yeah, yeah, yeah. it's just, Wolves are worse now.
01:18:00
Speaker
and he's been injured this year. So, let's not forget. So... It's still a mad... I think for Crystal Palace to break their transfer record, I think it's a mad team. And also the fact... I don't know what they're doing with their squad. Also the fact that Mateta didn't even go. Did you see that?
01:18:18
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's why I'm so confused. Why were they so desperate to get... Strand-Larsen, when you just lost your captain in defence, so what's the... I don't know. I can't rationalise what's happening. Are they just preparing for the future because they know Mateta's leaving in the summer, so they're grabbing it now? Yeah, think so. But it definitely sounds like they're overpaying. Like, even Brendan Johnson at 35 M's. Yeah, like, what is that?
01:18:45
Speaker
For Palace. For Palace. is this They were even about to get, to um what's that guy's name? Dwight McNill for 20 mil as well. Yeah, that was insane. I'm sorry, that was insane. That was insane. I was thinking, like, what what kind of squad are you? Palace. You've worked with Techie midfielders to, like, just... Yeah.
01:19:02
Speaker
Palace should have bought Tariq George. Palace should have bought Tariq George. Really? that That would be a Palace player. Trust me. To play where? Inside forward, just whacking shots. Trust me.
01:19:13
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's a Glasner player out there. Mm-hmm.
01:19:20
Speaker
But then, yeah, good luck to them, man. but Apart from that, nothing else really happened. like that's That's pretty much it. um ah Villa did sign Tammy Abraham.
01:19:30
Speaker
he's He's back. um Leon Bailey's back. You guys are back from loan. Yeah, at the beginning of the window, i mean, after the AFCON final, I said, let's just recall Saar. I don't see... If you look at... Don't get I think Chaket is... Chaket? Chaket. He's supposedly really highly rated, but I haven't seen the guy play.
01:19:58
Speaker
But I've seen Saar play, and I think Saar's pretty decent. So let's just stick with him. My problem is, why is Tosin still at my club? Mm-hmm. And how many defenders do we need?
01:20:10
Speaker
They keep talking about defending the crisis. We've got too many. Fafano, Badishile, Chalabar, Sarnau, Achengpong, Tosin. How many? Yeah. i six Six players for for two positions.
01:20:27
Speaker
Helen Nigerians. Helen Nigerians. And Bernard. Fafano. ahll be They'll be eating too much pounded jam and you'll be wondering why you're losing.
01:20:40
Speaker
Yeah. It's mad. Anyway, man. Let's move on quickly to our don't blame the ref moments. It's getting late. It's getting cold.
01:20:51
Speaker
I'm almost ready ready for bed, bro. ah Yeah. So, D, have you got one in mind? Yeah. my My don't blame the ref moment.
01:21:03
Speaker
To Dibbo.
01:21:06
Speaker
You are a mad man. That look on it, I went like, I was a bit... so ah check you know You know, back in school, yeah? You know when beef kicks off and then there's just this one guy...
01:21:20
Speaker
that just looks like he's itching. Like, extra itching. No one can stop him. He's just ready. ready Yeah. Don't even know he's beating. He's just like, bro, just put put on Just put put on it.
01:21:35
Speaker
And you can see any the the look in his eyes. He's just ready for anybody to say anything. And he's's he's ready to fight. That was Tadebo. Yeah. That was they but the way he came over and grabbed Chão Pedro in the neck. That was insane. That was absolutely insane. So, boy, clearly you can't blame the ref, my bro.
01:21:58
Speaker
You needed to be sent off, even for your own good, so that you wouldn't hurt anybody else. yeah Yeah, nah. Yeah, I don't know what was thinking. The hands around the throat in the big Premier League, like, what? I don't know, but bro, why did Adama Chowdhury throw Kukurella like that, though?
01:22:16
Speaker
He just dashed You can't get thrown like that as a big man. The dash was so rude. The dash was rude, man. The dash... Because you know what it I think Kukurella is such a wind-up, though. Because I feel like he was already leaning into him, annoying him.
01:22:32
Speaker
So he just dashed him. Oh, fair play, man. It's good, man. Demi were losing. They were vexed. They were vexed. can't be losing Can't be winning 2-0 and then lose. what's your What's your don't blame the ref moment? I don't want to be biased on the show, innit? So, my don't blame the ref moment, Harold, Reginald Maguire, bro. Like...
01:22:58
Speaker
Listen, you've been getting a lot of praise. People talking about giving you a new contract, extending your Connie, all of that stuff. I'm not with that, bro. We have to rest to grow up. at some point At some point, the club has to grow up. i'm not I'm not trying to us to do all this hard work and qualify for the Champions League for us to get drawn against Real Madrid and then you versus Mbappe. I don't want to watch that.
01:23:19
Speaker
I don't want to watch that, bro. You know what mean? why Why don't we just be... um what's that thing when you're when you think ahead rather than waiting for things yeah proactive i don't yeah probably be proactive instead of reactive that's ah that's what i'm hoping for but yeah man you you can't blame the ref i don't i don't care whether you kick the ball first or not why the hell are you coming sliding in when you're so far behind you would never get in there you were never gonna block that bro come on man stop being stupid yeah like ah but man he's don't blame Maguire he's a good squad player but yeah god just fee you you definitely need a centre back come this summer but maybe what would you prioritise midfielder or centre back midfielder man midfielder yeah just get I need I need two midfielder like two starter quality midfielders
01:24:16
Speaker
I need that before anything else has even touched on the squad. Yeah,
Podcast Future Plans and Audience Engagement
01:24:21
Speaker
it's true. It's true. All right. Thank you for tuning in. um Another episode of Don't Blame the Ref podcast. um We are on the 14th episode, starting to get into our groove.
01:24:37
Speaker
um We'll have to start thinking about some some different ideas, different things we can do. um yeah most definite I think we've got an international break in a month, so that'll be a good opportunity to to do some specials.
01:24:52
Speaker
Yeah. Maybe we'll do that. Even just in content in general, we want to move to video content. We want to live stream a few episodes. We want to do a bit more, get you guys involved a bit more so you can send us questions and all that kind of stuff. But yeah, for now, we'll just keep trying to give you good quality pods. Yeah.
01:25:13
Speaker
But um yeah, we'll need to go back to the drawing board and try take this to the next level. Yeah, most definitely. All right. All right. Thank you. Thank you. Have a good night. Peace.
01:25:24
Speaker
Yeah. Peace.