Did Trent’s Celebration Really Scream of a Man Destined for Madrid?
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with free virtual consultations, free samples sent to your door, and professional measure and installation services. Plus, you always get Blinds.com's 100% satisfaction guarantee. Shop Blinds.com's Spring Black Friday early access now. Save up to 40% with minimum purchase, plus a free measure. Rules and restrictions may apply. Hello, this is your Monday edition of It's All Kicking Off. Ian here. I'm still in Northern Ireland. Chris Sutton is in Norfolk.

And Trent Alexander-Arnold is still at Liverpool, for now at least. What a day for Trent on Sunday at Leicester. His 23rd Liverpool goal, his first with his left foot. Incredible statistic, that one. As Liverpool beat Ruud van Nistelrooy's relegated team 1-0. It was a goal that took Liverpool to within one win, or indeed one Arsenal defeat overall.

from a 20th English league title. Chris Sutton, it was all about Trent. This is the headline for male sport this morning. Was this the celebration of a man having second thoughts about his future?

I think it was just a celebration, wasn't it? Because he was happy he scored more than anything. And I actually, it did cross my mind, you know, what did the celebration have any hidden meaning? You know, was it his...

sort of farewell gift to Liverpool fans? Or was it one where, you know, he's actually feeling or having second thoughts? I wonder whether he saw Madrid play against Arsenal over the two legs. And we talk about what Trent's skill set is, and his skill set is that he's a wonderful passer, a brilliant passer.

his wonderful vision and is able to execute passes. He's, you know, in a league of his own in that respect and,

But defensively is where people think that he has a weakness and he does. And you look at the prima donnas at Madrid and players who aren't going to track back and help out. Will he be exposed there? You know, with the Liverpool team that to a man, you know, the work rate and the effort that they put in, you know, he may be better off staying, I suspect, for his career.

well, he'll either be exposed or he'll just fit in perfectly, whichever way you want to look at it. Nobody wants to do any running. I tell you what, it's funny what you say about celebrations. I was, like I said, I'm still in Northern Ireland. I'm heading home today, actually, after my little break. No satellite TV at Vicky's mum's house. So I followed the game, firstly on the main online feed,

the runner that we have on our website every time there's a big game taking place. And then I listened to the final 20 minutes on Five Live. And it was funny because I was listening to Five Live and John Murray and Clinton Morrison were talking about how they thought

that the celebration might have indicated that Trent really wanted to stay because he had such a deep love for Liverpool and he could see it in the way he reacted to his goal. But then later when I went flicked from the Mail Online feed to the BBC Online feed, there was a quote from Clinton Morrison saying that he thought the celebration indicated that he was off.

So it's like, you can just read what you want. You can read what you want into it. You can read what you want into the way a man takes his shirt off by a corner flag, basically. Whatever spin you want to put on it, it's there for you. I think what matters is that he scored the goal, Chris, because it was turning into another slightly nervy Liverpool performance. Tell you what is interesting. I just picked up on this this morning, actually, before we started this.

Jamie Carragher has said on Sky, I think, that he thinks that if Trent hasn't committed...

to the football club in terms of his future, then he shouldn't be starting games. This is the quote. If Trent hasn't committed to the manager for next season, he shouldn't be starting games. Liverpool are not here as a football club to give someone a send-off. That's a bold take. My view on that, Chris, is that you pick your best team. And if Arneslott thinks that Trent Alexander-Arnold is one of his best players for the game at home to Tottenham when they could clinch the title next Sunday, he should be playing, surely.

I totally agree 100% agree with what you say you know what would Jamie Carragher do if he was in that position as manager of Liverpool and the demands are to win games you play your best 11 simple as that he was

It was good to see Trent get the acclaim of the travelling Liverpool supporters. We spoke on the podcast a couple of weeks ago when some stories emerged in Spain suggesting that the deal for Trent to move to Madrid was pretty much done. There was a backlash on social media, surprise, surprise. Trent has been called some pretty nasty names recently.

There were a couple of banners put up outside Anfield before one of the games. I think one of his, I think a Trent shirt may have been burnt at one point. And someone of our listeners came on to us on Spotify with a comment and said, disregard all that. The match-going Liverpool supporters know what Trent is, know what he means, and he'll get the right reception the next time he plays. Well, yesterday, that was the next time that he played and he did get the reception that I think he deserves.

Yeah, there'll always be an element of fans, a hardcore element, the diehards who will never accept one of their players wanting to leave their particular club. And they just won't. But as you said, I think that most of the Liverpool support will...

Have a deep respect and love for Trent for the commitment, which he's had over 20 years at the club. He's given it his all, you know, right until the very end. And they'll wish him well going off to Madrid, but he's been a brilliant servant. Liverpool, one win from the title, as I said at the top of the show. Equally, if Arsenal were to lose at home to Crystal Palace on Wednesday night, that would be just as good for Arne Slott and his team.

players something I saw last night which hadn't crossed my mind Arne Slott will become the first Dutch coach to win the Premier League obviously we've had managers such as Louis van Gaal and Ronald Koeman come through our top division in previous years quick question how many nationalities Chris of coaches do you think have won the Premier League in its modern form that's a good question

I have dropped this one on your toes. I apologise for that. One, two, three, four, four. Who's the fifth one? Five. I'm close now, aren't I? I'm close. You're close. I think five. Five, six. Very good. Very, very good. I presume you've got them all. Go on. I haven't got them all, but I just... You've got the nationality...

Yeah, I just locked one on. I just added one on. All right. Well, the one you're probably missing, the one you're probably missing, I'm sure you've got Scotland, Alex Ferguson and Kenny Dalglish.

Portugal. You know all about it. France. You know all about it. Ken Dalglish won, of course, at Blackburn. Portugal. Alex as well, of course. He won a few. Indeed, yes. Portugal, Mourinho, France, Wenger, four from Italy, Mancini, Ancelotti. Agnieri.

Conte and Ranieri. And the one you probably guessed is Chile, Manuel Pellegrini at Manchester City. Six nationalities of coaches have won the Premier League. That is about to become seven. A bit disrespectful that towards me. A little bit disrespectful. Well, I'm very familiar with Chile. Yeah, but that was the one you were guessing though, wasn't it?

That was the one that you were guessing. What's the capital of Chile? That's the one that you were guessing. What's the capital of Chile? Santiago. Well done. Is that right? Good. Yeah, good. What was one of our listeners called last week? Thick as mints. Thick as mints. Well, there you go. There's a shot. There's a shot in the opposite direction. Santiago is the capital of Chile. Right, Leicester are down, as we said.

I'm pausing because whenever I think about this statistic, it just baffles me. Leicester haven't scored a goal at home since December. That result yesterday, losing 1-0 at home to Liverpool, was actually the best result of that run because they only lost 1-0. They haven't scored a goal since December at home. They've lost every single game. They are down before we've even eaten our Easter eggs yet.

it's, I was going to say shameful. I don't know if you'd ever really use shameful in a sporting context, but it's embarrassing, humbling, pathetic. That is certainly, certainly what it is, Chris. When you think that they weren't even in the bottom three when Steve Cooper was sacked back in November, December. Yeah, and that's,

And that's the sort of the burning question, isn't it, really? Were Leicester right to sack Steve Cooper? A couple of points out of the relegation zone. And because of the Nottingham Forest thing, you know, it's always sort of their underlying. But somebody made a good point to me the other day. Martin O'Neill was a Nottingham Forest legend yesterday.

when he became Leicester manager. He had that Forrest Lincoln. They adored Martin at Leicester. And so that I never quite got. That was held against him. And I think he had a reasonable track record. We all know the decision-making system

to seemingly to employ Ruud van Nistelrooy. And this isn't on Ruud van Nistelrooy, but that was absolutely bonkers, wasn't it, really? After a couple of victories for Manchester United over Leicester, it seemed that that was sort of very knee-jerk in terms of bringing Ruud in. But this isn't...

I think there are greater underlying problems. I don't think this is on Rude Van Nistelrooy. I think there's been sort of mismanagement at the top of the club, really poor decision-making, and a set of self-entitled players who thought that they were much better than what they actually are. And the whole Maresca thing and the signs and...

all that nonsense. Well, I wonder whether they'll still be doing the signs now. So I think that's the point. I'm going to explain what you mean by the signs in a minute. When I think about Leicester, I think about an interview that I did

back in the start of winter with Harry Winks at Leicester's training ground. Followed Harry's career since he was an up-and-coming player and he's an England international at Tottenham. Gareth Southgate loved him for a while as England manager. Fell off the radar a little bit and came back to the Premier League through getting promoted with Leicester. Went to see him, like I say, for an interview. And a couple of things struck me that day. The first was that the...

He could not hide his admiration for Enzo Murescu, who of course the Chelsea coach now, the manager who got Leicester promoted last season. Harry Winks could not hide it and he also could not hide his disappointment that Murescu had gone. Now that's just one player, but the way he spoke, it made me feel as though his feelings were...

were not isolated within that dressing room. The fact that Maresca had got them up, they'd all fallen in love with him, the way he coached, and then he'd gone and they hadn't moved on as a group and they maybe hadn't embraced Steve Cooper. Harry didn't say they hadn't embraced Steve Cooper, but sometimes it's not about what a player says, it's about what a player doesn't say in an interview setting like that. And I did wonder. Subsequent to that, I think it was actually that weekend that,

Leicester lost at home and a few Leicester, a few of the players, Harry Winks was one of them then appeared, um, in, uh, well, I'll say in newspapers in old parlance, but on newspaper websites, photographs of them on an early Christmas party in Copenhagen of all places, I think it was. And that's where the signs come in. One of the players holding up a sign saying how much they love, they loved Enzo Maresca. Um,

Tom Colamossi said to me at the start of the season that dressing room wasn't as balanced as it should be in terms of the football point of view and psychologically and emotionally. And I think that has turned out to be the case. Cooper was sacked around about that time. And what we've subsequently learned, Chris, is that this wasn't about the manager. This was about the players. Yeah, and that's the way it seemed. I mean, Leicester are in that...

They're in that precarious position now. You know, they've gone down. I mean, our Leicester, when you look what's happened to Luton, and they had a big win against Derby on Friday, but they are banging trouble in a relegation battle at the bottom of the championship. I think Leicester still have too much quality in their squad,

for them to be languishing at the bottom of the championship. But that is, you know, that is a bit of a warning to clubs if they don't sort of get relegated, if they don't get their act together and get their act together quickly. So you mentioned Van Nistelrooy there, but I think there are two sides to that. And I wouldn't, I wouldn't necessarily sit on the fence there, but,

If they appointed him and claimed they did it for the right reasons, they must have known they were in a relegation battle when they appointed him. Why do they not just stick with him? He's been working with the players now for a long, long time. Who could they guarantee who could come in and do a better job?

than Van Nistelrooy. You know, a new manager, what will he say? Well, they'll come in, they'll want new players, they'll want, you know, players moved on, they'll want new players in. There'll be that, that sort of old phrase bandied about, you know, we need a manager who has experience of the, of the championship. We need, you know, championship players to,

to get us, you know, out of the league. I, you know, so is it, is it worth sticking with Van Nistelrooy? I don't think this is cut and dry. Do you seem to think that they should move on from him? Yeah, I do. I think, I think that Rood's contribution at Leicester has been,

Pretty miserable, really. How much of it is his fault? We can talk about Tom Conor Moss, we'll have a view on that. But equally, there's been zero improvement. In fact, there's been regression. And I think if you're going to continue with a coach who loses football matches, there's got to be evidence somewhere that...

there are reasons to be optimistic. Now, I don't know what's going on behind the scenes at Leicester. Don't know what's going on on the training ground. Interesting, by the way, just to go back quickly to what I was saying about higher winks. Winks hasn't been playing recently. Van Eastroy, I think Harry still lives in London. Van Eastroy had asked him to

at least come and stay over at the training ground the night before games. Harry wasn't very keen. There's clearly a disconnect between Rude and some of the big name players. And I think if you're in charge of football operations at Leicester, you've got to see a sign that that manager has got some kind of connection. And I don't see that at the moment. Anyway, like I said... Just going back to that though, Ian, I've just got to say that

So I saw that story. I didn't understand. I didn't know the detail of that story. So manager asks player to stay over the night before a game. Player refuses. I mean, really? Yeah, that seems to be the top and bottom of it. I think maybe that says a lot about... Well, that in itself tells you everything you need to know about the Leicester dressing room. They should just give the manager's job to Jamie Vardy. He's probably running the show anyway. Right.

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I keep seeing things on social media about how poor the Premier League is this season, how boring it's been because the relegation places are already decided and we know who's going to win the league. You know, people, I think it's a load of rubbish, by the way. I think the fight for the Champions League places is going to be fascinating. I think there have been enough upwardly mobile clubs in the Premier League this season to provide support.

entertainment and intrigue below or beneath what hasn't been in the end a very tight title race equally it's not unusual for a team to win the Premier League by a

a sizable margin I think we've been spoilt in recent years with the Liverpool Man City battles at the top and then the Man City Arsenal battles at the top but just looking last night at the in the last 20 years of the Premier League here's some examples Chelsea you know five won it by 12 points they won it by eight points a year later Man United won it by nine points in 2011 and

sorry, 2009, and they won it by 11 points in 2013. Leicester won it by 10 points in 2016. Man City won it by 19 points in 2018. Liverpool won it by 28 points in 2020. And Manchester City won it by 12 points a year later. It's not as though every Premier League title race since the dawn of time has been as hotly contested

as maybe we would like. It's about recent memory, isn't it? It's about recent memory, isn't it? And that's the issue, isn't it? Where Arsenal ran City so close. And so that's what everybody wants. They want it going to near the wire. We haven't even, you know, we haven't had that. So that's where the disappointment has come from. Disappointment is one thing. It hasn't diminished the quality of the Premier League.

No, I don't think it has at all. City's defence of the Premier League title has, of course, been surprisingly feeble. They've been out of it for a long, long time and at the moment are doing their very best to try and occupy one of the top five places that will guarantee them Champions League football this season. The win at Everton at the weekend certainly...

didn't harm their cause. 2-0 they won. Afterwards, Kevin De Bruyne made a beeline for reporters in the interview area. Seemed like he had something to get off his chest. The Belgian, as we know, will be leaving City this summer on a free transfer. No contract offer has been forthcoming for one of the Premier League's

stellar performers. This is what he said at the weekend. I've not had any offer during the year. The club just took a decision. Obviously, I was surprised, but I have to accept it. I still think I can perform at this level, like I'm now showing I'm not 25 anymore, but I feel I can do my job. I'm open for anything. I like to play football. I like to compete. It would appear as though De Bruyne would be leaving the Etihad football

With a little bit of bitterness in the air, Chris. Yeah, that's the case. But the end comes to us all, doesn't it? In football, often career doesn't end as you would like it to because I was at the game on Saturday and he's a shadow of the player, which...

once was, has been. He's not the only one, by the way. Bernardo Silva, I don't know his contract situation, but astonishing how Pep left Bernardo Silva on for 90 minutes. And he actually took Savino off. And I'm not saying Savino was having a great game, but he put Doko on to inject a bit of

drive and thrust and the game changed when he came on a little bit but De Bruyne was with his passing he wasn't on point which is what we've become accustomed to and it's not so I'm picking out one game here against Everton but this has been all season

So we know the quality of play, which he has been, but £350,000 a week, I suspect that came into the equation and Manchester City maybe looked at his injury record, maybe looked at, you know, his lack of impact, put everything in a pot and thought, well, do you know what? We've got to move on from this, however hard it is. So I get their decision. It's, you know, based on...

based on his recent performances. So I get their decision. You know, will he stay in the Premier League? Can he stay in the Premier League? I don't think he, I don't think that, you know, if you looked at the top teams, Liverpool or Arsenal, I don't think that, you know, he would cut either of those two clubs. Bernardo Silva has one year left on his contract after this season, by the way. Honestly, you think that De Bruyne is...

has dropped from that level and there is no return. You don't see it as a temporary thing from a player who's been suffering with injury. You think he has dropped from that level and there is no going back.

I just think it's physicality. His physical edge, his drive, that thrust, that ability. He's not one of those players who we've ever said has great pace, but he has that power and that ability just to create half a yard and shift the ball little moments away.

And he can't do that anymore. And it's the same with Bernardo Silva. It's the same with Gundogan. And that is his issue. He's still a brilliant passer of a ball when he gets time. But it's actually in tight areas where that's...

That's why we all come to the... The end comes to us all because you just lose that bit of power and what have you. And that's what's happened with him. I was going to say to you, actually, if for one moment we put aside the fact that he's been earning £350,000 a week at Manchester City and were he to stay in the Premier League, move somewhere else on a free transfer, he couldn't hope to be paid even half of that probably. But if you put that to one side for one moment, I was thinking...

in a kind of tangential world that he might be a he might do a season as a brilliant impact substitute for somebody like Newcastle or Aston Villa or even Liverpool somebody just someone who just you know to have experience on the bench come on when opposition are tired maybe you

you know, play a killer pass, have some legs around him. You just, you see no, you see absolutely no value in that argument at all. Well, I don't see the value in that. I can imagine how the contract negotiations would go. Kevin, would you come and sign for us? Yeah, forget the money. I'll get the money. Well, no, but so would you come and sign for us and, you know, you can play little cameo roles off the bench, Kevin? That's what.

Ideally, we want you for that. He's going to want to play. That's what he's going to want to do. But could he, though? Could he? Do you don't think he can? At the top, top level, why have Manchester City been that ruthless? Why have they been that ruthless? No, it's interesting. Because they clearly think that he can't cut it. And the wages would no doubt come into it. So, look, it's...

I sort of always loathe to criticise players. You know, what a career he's had. But, you know, at the weekend, this season, last season, he's dropped off. And, you know, if you want to be a successful club and win trophies, then managers have to be ruthless. And that's what City have been in this situation. But, you know, it's not going to diminish how we view Kevin De Bruyne in the future and his performance.

his career in the Premier League he'll go down as one of the greats Everton have now won two of their last 11 games under David Moyes maybe my maybe my Twitter feed might calm down a little bit who knows let us know what you think hang on a minute I'm not letting you get away with that just saying I'm not I am not Everton have won two of 11 wow

I'm just saying. They've won two of them. Just pointing out a fact, two out of 11. Anyway, that is what you think. No, no, no. Under David Moyes. Stop pulling me back. 21 points from 14 games. Under Sean Dyche, it was 17 points from 19 games. They're scoring more goals. Come on. They're not conceding as many.

Just say, you know, I got it wrong. I got it wrong about Everton. David Moyes has done a good job. You want to ground Potter in? He's lucky he's keeping West Ham in the Premier League. Oh, Potter.

Yeah, Nicholas Fulcrum not so chuffed with what West Ham managed to contribute the weekend, calling them shit. I don't know if we need a bleep there, Henry, maybe we do, but it's a bit rich coming from a bloke who's hardly been on the field after his big summer move from Dortmund eight, nine months ago. Anyway, let us know what you think about all of what we've discussed so far. Who is to blame at Leicester? Is it Steve Cooper? Is it the players? Is it Ruud van Nistelrooy? Should van Nistelrooy be retained?

for next season. Do players have too much power in dressing rooms these days? How is that allowed to happen? How has that been allowed to happen? What do we do about it? Trent Alexander-Arnold, Jamie Carragher thinks that he shouldn't be picked.

between now and the end of the season, if he's not committed to Liverpool beyond the summer, I'm sure people will have a view on that. And has this been a disappointing Premier League season? Or have we all been spoiled by what we've seen at the top end of the tree?

over the last three or four years. You know where you can find us? You can find us on the socials. I'm the one with the silly name and Chris is the one with the famous name. You can go to Mail Sports social accounts and leave comments there. And remember Spotify, Apple, wherever it is you get your podcast. Please hit the follow button, leave us a rating and a review and we'll read the best comments out on the show as long as they are kind. Of course,

You caused quite a stir last week with your opinions, didn't you? I saw a fair few comments on socials with your Manchester United or the old elitism argument. I think it's fair to say that I've come out on the wrong side of that one, with that being an understatement. The last time I looked, as I said on Thursday's show...

Oh, nice to see the... It was nice to see the Manchester United Appreciation Society giving a run out on Thursday, showing our absence, by the way, Nathan Salt and Mike Keegan. I mean, the Manchester United PR department couldn't have done a better job than those two between them. But anyway, nice of them to fill in for us. They did touch on that situation.

subject for those of you who need reminding I still believe that the Europa League winners shouldn't be given a place in the Champions League given the Champions League is supposed to be for teams who do well

in the league last time i looked the social clip of you and i talking about that on x had about 1.7 million views and um and a heavy number of comments and most of them coming straight at me between the eyeballs so we know what people think about that and it's probably time to move on manchester night by the way do you ever think though just do you ever think why did i say that

Do you ever think that? Yes. Yes, yes, I do, yes. Yes, I do think that. Yes, I do think that, yeah. Yeah, I do, yeah. But it doesn't mean I don't, it doesn't mean I lack conviction in what I said. I still believe the point, I still believe the point to be fair, but sometimes I do wonder why I jump into, you know,

waters from which I know are too deep for me. Yeah, I do sometimes wonder about that. Yeah, and I did, as I said on Thursday's show, I had a few days away in Ireland and for the first time in a long time, I took Twitter off my phone.

I actually said that I'd silence my notifications. That's not true. We don't actually know how to do that. I don't think that's right to do that. If you put opinions out there, you've got to be prepared for the opposite view to be heard. So I didn't silence my notifications, but I just took Twitter off my phone for a few days because I thought this, you know, the direction of traffic was such. It's a shame you ducked out of Thursday's podcast because of Monday.

the direction of travel was such that I was in danger of getting knocked over. Anyway, Manchester United seemed to have done Easter in reverse. They did the resurrection first. That was last Thursday against Lyon. Didn't go so well for them at home to Wolves in the Premier League. 1-0 defeat. That's a double that Wolves have done over Manchester United this season. Congratulations, by the way, to Vito Pereira, the Wolves coach. I was not...

of the opinion that he was a great appointment when Gary O'Neill was sacked back in the winter. I thought Pereira's lack of experience in the Premier League and the fact that he'd been a rather itinerant coach previously would work against him. I've been proved wrong. If the league had started the day that Pereira was appointed, Wolves would currently be fifth

which is extraordinary. They've just won five on the spin. They are safe from relegation. Well done to Vito Pereira. 1-0 to beat United. Just quickly, Ruben Amrim, given that United are in the semifinals of the Europa League now, they've got a two-legged tie coming up against Bilbao, has indicated that he's going to play young players in the Premier League between now and the end of the season. He did that yesterday. He left people like Bruno Fernandes out,

out of his team. I understand that. Do we think that's okay if he does that? And I only ask you that because United have yet to play Bournemouth, Brentford, West Ham, Chelsea and Villa in the Premier League. Two or three of those teams, certainly Chelsea and Villa, have something to play for.

between now and the end of the season, namely Champions League places. Does the integrity of the league come into play here? Or should Ruben Amin be allowed to choose whichever place he wants?

He can do what he likes, can't he? Manchester United, I had a caller into 606 last night saying, well, Manchester United are safe now, which is incredible mindset. He actually said that much today as well. Made me chuckle. That's unbelievable. He can do what he likes. If they win the Europa League, everything changes. The landscape changes, doesn't it, for Manchester United? My worry for Amarim is that

said before on the pod, is if they just keep stumbling on and poor performances and not getting results from now to the end of the season, then he goes to start the next season, he'll still be in the position, I'm pretty sure, as manager at the start of the next season. But he won't have a lot of credit in the bank.

And that's the situation. And you go back to Eric Ten Haag and winning the FA Cup, but that papered over the cracks. And I think that will be at the forefront of most Manchester United fans' memory, that this season has been disappointing. Amrim has had to come in and take over, but there hasn't been an upturn in results in the Premier League. And that's his problem.

I think that's a fair point. I'm with you, by the way. I think Ruben Amin should be allowed to pick whichever team he wants to in the end of the season, given that they have the Europa League to play for. But mark my words, if he does continue to leave star players out, pick young kids, there will be some chat around that. Without a doubt, there will be some chat about the integrity of the league coming our way. I can guarantee it. But you're right. The flip side of it is...

is exactly as you say, is that it's okay to essentially almost sacrifice league performances in this desperate bid to win the Europa League that would give them qualification for the Champions League and all the money that comes with it that would totally transform the summer transfer budget. I absolutely get that. But if they sacrifice league performances and don't win the Europa League, then the stats...

will then be there to throw at Amrim. If they continue to sink, not that they can sink much further, but they can. It's very, you know, those teams above the bottom three are all very tightly clustered together. If they're not careful, United will end up

that they absolutely will if they're not careful front page of our verdict pull out on the old print edition of the Daily Mail this morning is a picture of Bruno Fernandes with his head in his hands and some figures 13 times United have failed to score in the league this season 15 league games lost this season and

Wolves first league double over United since 1988. Eight home defeats for United this season, but at least now it says they are safe from relegation. Tongue in cheek there, but a very, very striking front page of our verdict pullout.

Just another thing, Ian, on that, Ian, if I may. It's interesting, I was at Ipswich Arsenal yesterday and I thought Arsenal would make a lot of changes. And, you know, and Mikel Arteta didn't. Declan Rice started, Saka started, you know, and he needs to manage his minutes. But, you know, there's that balance of getting him fit for the PSG game.

But the issue Amrim has in terms of resting players, Manchester United have not performed well

under him anyway. They don't have that sort of connection and understanding the players. Would he not be better served to play his best XI and risk that, you know, that they might get an injury or two? Yeah, that's what I think most coaches, you know, would think. They haven't found any rhythm or any flow under Amorim. So making all these changes, it may...

it may actually be detrimental really to them going forward. Yeah, it's a very, very fair point. A bit of criticism from the crowd at Brentford versus Brighton on Saturday. Coming towards the Brighton coach, Fabian Herschler, which seems a bit much. He was given the old, you don't know what you're doing. I think it was because he took Danny Welbeck off in the second half. Yeah.

Which made me think about how expectations rise at football clubs. You know, if you'd have offered Brighton supporters 10th place in the Premier League a decade ago, they'd have snapped your hand off, wouldn't they? But it also made me think, it has been a disappointing run for Brighton, no win in five in the league and also an FA Cup exit in the middle of that. They lost at home, didn't they, in the FA Cup, when they maybe would have expected to.

to get through to a semi-final. But what, you know, we have clubs like Brighton and Brentford and Fulham and Bournemouth that we know have been punching against that glass ceiling this season. It's been great to see. But I think what makes the real difference between those teams is

and the really top teams is consistency. They've all shown that they can play. They've all shown they can beat big teams. But I've just said that Brighton are now no winning five. Bournemouth are currently on a run of one winning 10. Brentford themselves had a run of only one winning seven back in December. It's those type of little spells that the really good clubs manage to avoid, isn't it? And it's probably squad depth,

it's probably experience, but that I suppose is the next hurdle to overcome for some of those upwardly mobile clubs in the Premier League. Yeah, but the clubs you've mentioned, the fans need to be careful. I'm not suggesting all the fans are thinking the same way in terms of expectation.

But Brighton are a stable Premier League club. They just need to be a bit careful not to get too far ahead of themselves. I think, you know, the position they're in at the start of the season, would Brighton fans want them to finish a little bit higher? Well, you know, of course they would, but it's OK. And it's not patronising Brighton or Brighton,

Bournemouth or Brentford, you know, but, you know, they are stable Premier League clubs and that's a feat in itself when you think of their recent, sort of recent pasts and where they are. And I think, you know, fans shouldn't, you know, shouldn't forget that, you know, they need to switch on and sort of be happy with the position which they're in. They could be sort of far worse off, you know, and there's many clubs that sort of...

I broadly agree. I broadly agree. Although fans would probably argue that just because a manager is doing well for them shouldn't make him immune from criticism and analysis. I would accept that. And equally, a year ago, you and I were saying the same about Crystal Palace, weren't they? When Crystal Palace fans were protesting about what they thought was stasis at their football club.

And we were saying exactly that, what do they want? But what they wanted was a more progressive coach of now Gotwin, Oliver Glasner, they're now in an FA Cup semi-final, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. So I suppose there's an example there of a club that did decide to try and take the next step. Not that it's helped them massively in terms of a league position, Palace, but Palace fans would say they're in a much better position now than they were a year ago.

over the weekend, Chris, I'm going to go first. You say that you were at the Ipswich Arsenal game super performance from Mikel Arteta's team. I have to say, very glad that Bukayo Saka's injury doesn't seem as though it's serious. That was a dreadful performance

tackle on the England winger. I'm going to pick out particularly that beautiful backflip from Mikel Marino for, I think, and I should know, I think it was the second Arsenal. Martinelli. Gabriel Martinelli. Absolutely brilliant.

Beautiful backflip. How he knew that Martinelli was there, I do not know. Eyes in the back of their head. Timing, nerve, execution. Absolutely beautiful from Arsenal standing centre forward. I did notice, by the way, and I don't want to dive into it, 24 shots in the game Arsenal had at Portman Road. We've talked a lot about Southampton. We've talked a lot about Leicester City.

Ipswich hasn't been an awful lot better, mate. I do think that Kieran McKenna's had a little bit of an easy ride on the back of what was a pretty significant investment last summer. And before I ask you for yours, do you want to cover it? I'm not going to have you criticise Ipswich like you have done because I don't think it's fair. Save that for Thursday. Okay.

Okay. Let's come back at that. Let's come back at that. Let's think about that and let's come back at that. If we don't come back at it on Thursday, maybe next Monday, but we'll come back to Ipswich subject. We'll have a look at it, look at some details, analyse it properly and we'll come back and have a proper look at that because we haven't really done that. You're not going to pull your pants down right now for that unnecessary attack. It's very, very possible. And we're running out of time. I've got a plane to catch from Belfast.

Pretty soon. And just before I ask you for yours, by the way, I've got to mention, so I've become a bit of a running theme. Walsall Top are now out of the top three at the top of League Two. We've talked about it a little bit. They had that huge league at the top. They haven't won forever. They drew with Harrogate at the weekend. They're now out of the top three. They're at Newport today. They may even have played that game by the time people listen to this on Easter Monday. Walsall Top.

at Newport. At the bottom, meanwhile, Mark Hughes' Carlisle won again. They beat Port Valey with a top team in League 2. Unbelievable. 3-2, 3-2, they beat them. 3 from 3, now, Hughes' Carlisle. They are at Accrington today. Accrington who are 6 points ahead of them with 3 goals.

games left if Carlisle could beat that one win that one the great escape could yet be on fascinating have you got any more moments of the week have you got any more moments of the weekend because because I mean why don't you just take all mine off me

Well, I always have one in reserve. You have been known to steal my thunder. You have been known to steal my thunder. I usually have one in my back pocket. Are you telling me that you haven't got one in your back pocket? No, I have got one. I'm disappointed in you, but I'm not surprised, Mr. Elitist.

That's all about the top level with you. So my moment of the weekend was with Barry FC. Okay, I don't know whether you sort of... I mean, you're from the Northwest. You should know about all these...

about their story. And they got themselves promoted. They won the Northwest Counties League. 8,719 fans packed into Gig Lane. Wow. So 109 points this season, 131 goals. And when you think they were expelled from the EFL in 2019 and I think a fan's

a couple of supporter-led groups a couple of years ago got together, didn't they, and got them back as Bury FC. So it's great to see them sort of start progressing back up that pyramid and some support at the weekend. But I think that's genuinely a really good story, Ian.

Yeah, great story. Almost 9,000, you say, at Gigglin. That's terrific. There were 12,000 at Carlisle. I did have a look at that as well. As we've said before, the support and the enthusiasm for football all the way down the period in this country continues to amaze and hearten me. And I know you feel the same. Right, that's it. Thank you, everybody.

Like I said in the middle of the show, let us know what you feel about some of the topics we've discussed today. And also, Chris, we're going to start thinking soon about our player of the season. We've already done manager of the season. I went for Arne Slott, you went for Nuno Spirito Santo. But we're going to talk about player of the season soon. Maybe Thursday, maybe next week. Chris, you need to start to have a think about that. I've already got my top three. I know who they are. Number one may surprise people. So I want you to have a little think about that as well.

Chris and our dear listeners, let us know what you think about that on the socials. Let us know who are you, who's your player of the season. Give us a one, two and three. You can do it on Chris and I's ex-account. You can do it on the male sports socials. You can do it on Spotify or Apple, wherever it is you listen to this show.

just as long as you hit that follow button and leave us a rating while you're there. Thank you, everybody. We'll see you on Thursday. I am Ian Laderman, the chap with his finger on the pulse of the Northwest County's divisionist, Chris Sutton. This has been It's All Kicking Off.

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