The Premier League manager we think looks 'desperate'
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Chris, this morning's Premier League table is worth a look. We are starting to take this stuff for granted, but we probably shouldn't. Nottingham Forest are joint second, Bournemouth are eighth. Man United and Tottenham, meanwhile, are in the bottom half and are threatening to get stuck there. Some brief headlines from male sports on this Monday morning.

Reuben Amrin, the Manchester United manager, says, We are the worst team, maybe, in the history of Man United. One of the quotes of the season right there. Our Tottenham correspondent and one of our most experienced football writers, Matt Barlow, meanwhile, writes this after Spurs defeat at Everton.

Of all the ways Tottenham have found to lose games during this awful winter demise, this was a strong contender to be the worst. Strong words there from Matt. We'll get into Manchester United.

in a minute. And we're also going to talk a little bit about goal scorers, Marteta at Palace and Kluivert at Bournemouth. We have questions for Chris coming up, of course, and we do have an answer to the great Adder debate. But first of all, we are going to talk about

Tottenham. First things first, we at male sport do understand that at the moment, Daniel Levy, the Tottenham chairman and his board of directors are minded to stick with Ange Postacoglu for the time being, maybe even give him a little bit of money to spend in January. And he got 10 or 11 days left to do that. So they probably need to get a move on. Um, but I want to talk a little bit, Chris, about, uh,

Daniel Levy. And also, Chris, just your reflections on another, what I say, strange weekend in the Premier League. It's actually becoming the norm. The teams that we consider to be the smaller teams punching up against that glass ceiling and some of the bigger teams doing their best to come crashing right through it.

Yeah, absolutely. Well, my Nottingham Forest, Ian, have shown that consistency all season and I think they've surprised everybody, no doubt about that. And Bournemouth, albeit under Iriola, they finished the season strongly last season and have just

have just carried on the big thing for Bournemouth was whether they were going to be able to replace Solanke's goals I mean blimey they've found a way of doing that and one of the stories of the season but on the flip side of that Manchester United and Tottenham I don't think anybody could have seen their drop-offs to be as extreme as they have been

Are you a little bit like me, though, in that you are starting to look at the league table every Monday morning? Well, I was going to say without your eyebrows raised, but maybe with your eyebrows not quite as raised as they would have been a year or so ago or two years or so ago, because we had got used to a set order in the Premier League over the years. We had got used to a set order. Other than Leicester City. Yeah, so every so often Leicester comes along.

or Villa came along, Newcastle came along. But it's different now because there's a queue of them. There's a queue of them all the way down for the top half of the Premier League table, queuing to kind of give the established pecking order a punch on the nose.

Yeah, and Forest and Bournemouth are the disruptors, aren't they? And they are. They're doing it and doing it in brilliant style. So, you know, they're sort of worrying the elite at this moment in time. I did see last night on Match of the Day that Nottingham Forest have as many points

as Leicester City did when they won the Premier League. I still don't feel they will have enough to topple Liverpool, but this is what football is about, isn't it? This is why I think we all follow football, for stories like this, for teams emerging, surprise packages.

And so the no hopers, and let's get it right, who would have thought Nottingham Forest would be sort of sitting where they are at the start of the season? You certainly didn't. No, I took them to go down, of course. I refuse to accept that Nottingham Forest are genuine title contenders. However, had it not been for Darling Darwin's

late brace for Liverpool at Brentford on Saturday, then maybe I would have been singing a different tune this morning, but I'm sticking with it at the moment. Right, let's get into Tottenham. Matt Barlow joins us. I...

I want to talk more this morning about Daniel Levy and Tottenham's approach to life rather than get deep into the Hans Postakoglu debate, which we've done many, many times. So, Matt, welcome. You were at Goodison Park yesterday to see another capitulation, I suppose, by Postakoglu's team. I want to start with it.

With a big question, but a straightforward question. Bournemouth have an annual turnover of £141 million. Tottenham's is over half a billion pounds. Why can't Spurs get it right? Why can't Spurs beat Bournemouth? It's a bit different, isn't it, when you're one of these disruptors? Like the well-run little clubs that have done well.

A set-up streamlined, lower overheads, lower expectations, lower ambitions probably, fewer games. They operate differently. They operate differently in the market. They operate different tactically. Bournemouth don't often set up to play against a team that sits in deep and tries to pick them off on the break. They're always engaged in an open game. But from the Spurs angle, why can't Spurs do something similar? Well, it's the eternal mystery, isn't it?

really over 20 years. And I think what you're seeing at the moment is them trying to do it differently, is the change in the recruitment policy and the change in the structure inside the club. That's what they're in the middle of. And I think that's why they're trying to hold their nerve and not just say, oh, we've got it wrong. Let's go back to what we were doing. Spurs revenue is the eighth biggest company

in the world of football. They take in £6 million per game these days, as opposed to £1 million per game, which is what White Hart Lane used to bring them. But despite all that, Tottenham's wages are modest by comparison. We have 11 days of the January window left. Do you anticipate, and do you think there's a great need now for...

Daniel and the Tottenham board to just put their neck out a little bit and say to Hans-Poster Kloglu, if possible, there you go, there's three players to help you with your injury crisis and to help move us forward. He needs help. He keeps saying he needs help. He keeps saying it in a gentle way because Tottenham managers know that they can't criticise Daniel in public because that's the beginning of the end.

So he keeps saying it in a gentle way and they brought him in a goalkeeper pretty quickly, which they desperately needed, but they desperately need something else. And I suppose that they're sort of walking that tightrope now between not wanting to abandon what they've committed to, buying young players and lining them up and making sure you get the right water and not going, oh my God, it's an emergency. Let's get somebody else. And say, look,

We need sort of senior footballers in here who were sort of stress tested and know the league and are actually going to help us pretty quickly. You know, that might mean expensive loan deals, might mean expensive players on bigger wages than they want to commit to. And I suppose they're balancing it off against what this means in the summer when sort of the next stage of their

identifying young players when they go back to that and what they've got coming through and kids that they don't want to block off by signing. It's interesting what you say about the summer. You know, we've just seen Pep Guardiola essentially admit that Manchester City are attempting to do all of next summer's transfer business

right now because they feel they've got an obvious need for that. Pep has actually said that. The business we plan to do in the summer, we're doing now. It's not as easy to do that when you're Tottenham. I think football clubs roll over when Manchester City come calling. I don't think they do when it comes to a club like Tottenham. It's just an unfair question, Matt, I'm going to ask you anyway before we let you go. If

If Ange had his full squad available or something close to his full squad available, nobody has a full squad at this time of year, but close to it, are they seventh right now? Are they sixth or seventh? Is it that simple? Or is there a flaw, a deep flaw in the Poster Coglou method? I don't know if there's a deep flaw. I think if he had his two centre-halves and his goalkeeper available, there'd be a lot.

further up the field, up the table. But those two centre-halves are so unreliable. They've been unreliable. Van de Ven has an injury issue. Romero has injuries and disciplinary problems. So you can't say they're blameless in that, but I think if they had them two and their goalkeeper...

there wouldn't be 15th. Yeah, okay. Matt Barlow, thank you very much for being with us this morning. Chris, I'm now going to ask you a very, very unfair question. You are listing... Well, you normally do. I've changed my head about my lifetime. This is even more unfair than what I've just asked Matt. Hans-Poster Coghlu, if you're Daniel Levy right now, stay or go?

Well, I've got to tell you, at half-time yesterday, I was worried about, you know, had Everton scored another couple, I think that the extreme nature of the defeat, and blimey, Everton scoring three goals against you, I mean, you know.

that's a surprise anyway. But I think he overachieved last season, lost Harry Kane, overachieved. This season they're massively underachieving. Of course, they're still in all the cup competitions, but the pressure is really on them. I think that because of the overachievement last season, they should stick with Postakoglu. The Tottenham fans, as far as I can see, they are a large majority still with him.

But there's no getting away from the fact that he needs a couple of results and a couple of results quickly. I think their next Premier League game, Leicester at home. That is a must-win game for Postacoglu. At Manchester United, it's certainly too early to be talking about getting rid of a manager. However, Ruben Amirim is now 11 games into his United reign in the league and has only won three.

three of those games. 3-1 they lost at home to Brighton on Sunday and I think the shocking thing is that that surprised absolutely nobody. Doesn't sound as though it surprised Ruben Amirim either which may surprise a few people. The United have lost six of their last seven games against Brighton. I think that shows us

everything about the way the landscape of English football is changing. We've praised Amram before, Chris, for his straight talking, for his intelligence, for his ability to hit the right note

a game, win, lose or draw. But let me tell you, I was at a football writers dinner on Sunday evening, a tribute night to the great Dennis Bergkamp and those Amarim comments, when they began to kind of filter through and land on people's mobile phones during the dinner, they were the talk of the room. Maybe the worst team in United history is what he said. How

how on earth will Manchester United's players be feeling when they wake up on a Monday morning to read that? I mean, he, he, I think he's too emotional. Uh,

Actually, Amrim, you think about his first press conference, the smiles, now it's sadness. You know, the optimism and now the realisation that his team are really ordinary. Picked up some of his comments from that first presser, actually, and he's beginning to agree with you guys, the press. I mean, you probably were there, weren't you?

He talked about truly believing in the players and he said, I know you guys don't believe a lot in these players. It's taken him 70 odd days to realise that these players are letting him down. But I do think the general point which you made is

to come out and tell the players or tell the world that these players are part of the worst Manchester United team in the history of the club. That can't go down well within the confines of the dressing room. If the manager does that within the four walls, I said this many times in this podcast, nobody would bat an eyelid. Nobody would have a gripe. You know,

Many of them may agree with him. But you don't publicly out your players like he has done. It hasn't taken him long, but that tells you how desperate he's becoming. And normally when managers fire off stuff like this...

It's a last resort, isn't it, to try and get something out of the team? It's normally something that comes after about 18 months, not 70 days, as you put it yourself. I mean, it's a funny one because he needs those players to buy into him and buy into his system particularly. He's asking them to play a way that they haven't played before, didn't play under Eric Ten Hag, the kind of 3-5-2, or however you want to describe it, football.

how do we describe it? 3-4-2-1 probably. Regardless, he says he's not going to change. He's not going to change. He's got players playing at wing-backs who aren't natural wing-backs, for example. He says he won't change. If he's not going to change, he needs his players to buy into him and buy into his process. And saying things like that isn't going to help him. Totally.

It's interesting, the system and the fact he says he's not going to change because of...

Because of the pressure he was put under to take the job. But he did come in and say, this is my way. And the Manchester United hierarchy still went for him. They put him under pressure to take the job. So I do think that he is entitled to do that. I mean, what's he asking for? He's asking for, as far as I can see, a lot of new players to come in and replace this current mob. But that's not going to be an easy thing to do in any way, shape or form. But...

Why should he change? But then you have the flip side of that and think, well, if you're not getting results, if you're not getting results, then maybe you do need to tweak a thing or two. But he's not going to, so how on earth?

How on earth this is going to rumble on? Of course, I mean, my view is he needs time. He needs a couple of windows. Manchester United hierarchy and EOS hired him because they believed he was the right guy and this was going to be a longer term approach. But also you do need to, you know, the supporters do need to see signs of improvement. And I mean, he also said in that presser, didn't he, that everybody needs

That is his role as manager to get far more out of the team than he is doing.

He looks embarrassed to me. He looks embarrassed. And he touched on it himself after the Brighton game, saying that essentially he realised that supporters are looking at a new manager. He's doing worse than the old manager. I think he actually feels embarrassed. What strikes me about the run they're on in the Premier League is the three games that they have won. I was at two of them. And it would be Everton 4-0 on the day when they were very clinical, but could have been 2-0 down after.

after half an hour quite easily. They won 2-1 at Manchester City. Again, a game that they stuck in, but were a goal down with three minutes to go. And then there was a win against Southampton last Wednesday, Thursday. Anyone who was there will tell you that they got away with one there as well. We're still waiting for a proper Manchester United performance. And the things that I highlighted earlier,

as positives that we took from the draw at Liverpool 2-2 and the draw at Arsenal last week in the FA Cup that they then won on penalties with 10 men. I spotted signs there of commitment and unity and enthusiasm and endeavour and mental strength. But you said to me straight away that

You said it after Anfield and you said it last Monday. How are they going to get on when they've got, when they, it's all right sticking in a game when you're the underdog. How are they going to get on the next time it's up to them to force a game and to win a game? And two games later, unconvincing against Southampton, beaten at home by Brighton. We have an answer. So props to you for that. But that's the problem that remains unsolved at Manchester United. And let me ask you this question. Let me ask you a question.

If they're at Fulham next weekend, they've got Rangers in the Europa League on Thursday at home, which, you know, you don't need to really elaborate on how big a game that feels. And then they're away at Fulham, right? If they lose that at Fulham next Sunday, they are in danger of getting stuck in the bottom half, of getting cut adrift from...

from the top. They're in danger of that anyway. So do Ineos and Jim Ratcliffe and Ineos, do they stomach that? Do they stomach that? They have to. Well, they don't. They've already sacked Dan Asworth after three months. They don't have to. They can start again if they want to. But how foolish would they look

I don't think they care about how they look. And that's not a criticism, by the way. I think they've got, I think Jim Rackett's got big enough balls not to care about how he looks. He'll make decisions that he thinks are right for the business, as he showed with Ashworth.

But nobody can dispute that Ruben Amorim... I don't know if you can hear my dogs there, Ian, can you? Sadly not. I can only hear you, which is a shame. I don't think they're happy with any of us. But, no, I think it's one where...

where Ineos can't change. I mean, you know, you say, well, they don't care how they look. Of course they care, but their judgment would come massively into question. And then would there be the trust in them to appoint the right guy next time? Hamrin's come in with a reputation. They went for him. They made a beeline for him. They sort of gave him an ultimatum. He's come in. They've got to stick with it. And they have to back him. Imagine if they don't back him. Yeah.

I mean, you know, in January now, in the summer, that would be ridiculous. I mean, they are a club who have been in a bit of turmoil in recent seasons because of the history, because of the expectation. They've gone down a bit of a different route. But Amram needs help. It was always going to be the case this. I don't know why everybody is surprised. I don't know why everybody thought they had turned a corner because all season, even under 10 Haag, they haven't...

They never controlled games and with the same personnel that wasn't going to change. As we used to say about the Ericsson-Harsman tonight, if you keep turning corners you end up a

exactly back where you started. It feels a little bit like Groundhog Day for Manchester United. Let us know what you think about Ruben Amrim and his comments. Has he thrown the United players under the bus with what he said or do they deserve it? And are those comments overdue? Ange Postacoglu, stay or go? Let us know what you think about that one too. Is Postacoglu to blame for Tottenham's problems in the wrong car for the Premier League or is it all down to chairman Pogba?

Daniel Levy. Let us know. You can find us on X. I'm the one with the strange name and Chris is the one with the famous name. Of course, you can also find the show on male sports, social media accounts at X, Instagram, TikTok, et cetera. You can go to Spotify or Apple podcasts or wherever it is that you get this show and leave us comments there as well. And while you're at it, please do hit that big follow button and subscribe.

leave us a rating. Had some quite interesting comments on the back of Thursday's podcast. I'd been moaning about the fact that VAR didn't intervene to give

Tottenham a goal kick when Arsenal were awarded a corner in equal eye and scoring their first goal in the North London Derby last Wednesday. As Steph Douglas says on Spotify, Ian, would VAR also get involved if the referee incorrectly awards a goal kick instead of a corner? That happens too. Yes, it does, Steph. I think when things are as obvious as the one at the Emirates, then...

Stockley Park should get involved. Stu on Spotify talks about West Ham. We said last week, Chris, we talked of how West Ham had signed 40 4-0 strikers in the last 15 years. And Stu on Spotify says, that West Ham stat blew my wig back.

Well, I hope you managed to put it back on, Stu. West Ham, by the way, lost at home to Palace. I think it was. Tell me if I'm wrong there. No, it wasn't. Who was it? Who did we just lost at home to, Chris? Was it? Palace. It was Palace, yeah. West Ham lost at home to Palace without managing a shot on target in Graham Potter's... It's the Graham Potter way, progressive manager. Graham Potter's third game. Fazza on Spotify...

talks about Everton. I think Fazza's a Liverpool fan. We've had him before. 100% agree with Ian. Everton fans are incredibly deluded. I said the same to my mate. They're exactly where they should be and Sean Dice deserves a medal for what he's done. Be careful what you wish for. Thanks for that, Fazza. Anyway, moving on, let's get in some questions for Chris.

I've got four here for you, my friend. These have all come from X. I love this one from Light Switch. Is your podcast any good? I haven't listened to it. I haven't listened to it yet. How on earth do we answer a question to a guy who's not listening? Give it a go. Should he be listening? Well,

Of course you should, Light Switch. He listens to many football podcasts, he says. But yeah, try something a little bit different, Light Switch. If you are listening, thank you for listening. This one also from Johnny on X. This is interesting about new managers. Should managers A, work to the strength of the players available, B, make their team hard to beat, or C, use their own ideals and forget about A and B?

Use their own ideals. Well, yeah, use their own ideals, but I think they're all sort of linked, aren't they? All interlinked, these. You know, you want to make your team hard to beat and you want to play to the players' strengths as well as, you know, it's about that blend, isn't it? So, yeah, all three.

Yeah, I think B, make the team hard to beat, is always a decent starting point, I think. This one comes from... You're glass half empty. Yeah, glass empty I am. GJPUSB on X, who is the best pundit out there and why? Same question to Ian. You go first, Chris. Well, I like Roy Keane because he's straight to the point cutting and you're terrified of him.

Roy Keane's a bit of a shock jock as far as I'm concerned. Great for back page newspaper headlines. Would you say it to his face? If I had the chance, as long as I was on the move, as I said it, yes. Bit of a shock jock. Great for back page headlines, not great for the depth.

Favourite, best pundit out there, Gary Neville by an absolute mile. But also, I think, best newcomer pundit this season, Joe Hart. I think Joe Hart has brought some analysis to the world of goalkeeping on the BBC this season, which we haven't had before. I've really enjoyed that. Finally, Chris, this is for Matt.

Are Everton fans delusional to expect more from this squad? Chris said they were last Thursday, suggested that Everton fans were delusional to think the team could be any higher. They've now given Tottenham a hiding, of course, so I think Matt's been a bit quick off the mark with that one.

Yeah, well done to David Moyes, good appointment. But, I mean, yeah, one of my favourite phrases, "I wouldn't be getting the bunting out just yet, you're not going to get into Europe." You said that Everton pretty much deserve to be where they are, and I still think that's probably where they'll finish come this season ends. Everton have struggled for goals, Chris, as we know. They got one from Dominic Calvert-Lewin in the Spurs game at least, and a lovely goal it was too.

It's not an uncommon problem for teams to struggle scoring goals. Look at Manchester United, for example. But there are some out there, aren't there? We've mentioned the Brentford duo, Wissam and Brembo, before.

Great value Brentford continue to get from those two. Now we've got John-Philippe Mateta at Palace and Justin Kluivert at Bournemouth, both ripping it up. £15 million and £10 million respectively. Eight Premier League goals so far for Mateta and 10 now for Kluivert after his hat-trick against Newcastle for Bournemouth at the weekend.

Yeah, Clive is not an out-and-out number nine. I think he can play off the wide areas or just from a little bit deeper. But no, what does it show us? That there is value out there. If you look for... I think Mateta took a while to get going at Crystal Palace, but...

you know, he's got most of the attributes which you'd want from a central striker and, you know, his goals have been really important for Crystal Palace, the Brentford guys. I mean, I was at the game at the weekend and, you know,

Brentford, Liverpool and Wissard does he drops deep at times and tries to link things up there out was always Mbumo on that right hand side and he looks such a huge threat their numbers are

have been phenomenal. And that's why I think, you know, it does get frustrating for the, uh, for the bigger clubs when they, when they have these, uh, massive outlays of money, Anthony being one of them at Manchester United, you know, spent a fair few quid on, uh,

on Hoyland and these players, you know, haven't given their team much. And then Manchester United fans will be looking at Brentford's, looking at Bournemouth's and seeing these players on fire and confident and scoring goals, hitting the back of the net and thinking, blimey, you know, why can't we unearth a gem like them?

You mentioned Plymouth last weekend, the Plymouth fans and the journey that they've made also to Brentford as it happens. What about the Bournemouth round trip? Bournemouth to Newcastle, 695 mile round trip for their supporters. I think some of their coaches left at 2.15am Saturday morning. They've got eight or nine injuries left.

Bournemouth and they go all the way to Newcastle people have been talking about Newcastle being title challengers and they pull Newcastle's pants down I mean there's there's devotion from a set of supporters but there's also a heck of a good day out yeah yeah but but what a day for Bournemouth and the fact they have to get up so early you you know

You have to sort of question the kick-off time, don't you? Half-twelve, wasn't it? I mean, blimey. I mean, that's a harsh one, but, you know, made all the sweeter for going there and wiping the floor with Newcastle and a good Newcastle team. I don't think anybody saw that coming, but Bournemouth are one of those teams, Ian...

Their results, with every win, their results don't really... You're not surprised when they win. That wasn't a great surprise. It wasn't like Southampton going to Newcastle and winning 4-1 when we'd have been thinking, blimey, where did that come from? They're a really well-balanced team, well-drilled...

And, you know, as you said, they've got injuries at this moment in time. But because of the nature of Bournemouth, you know, and we view them as a small Premier League club, that's not brought to the fore, is it? But they just get on with it. And that's a testament to Iriola. Justin Cliver has a very famous father, of course, Patrick. Do you ever come across him?

I don't think I ever played. We played Barcelona in the Champions League a couple of times when I was at Celtic, but he, for whatever reason, didn't play. I don't think he had an easy time at Barcelona. He was a fabulous player. Fabulous centre-forward back in the day. Yeah.

Rewind a little bit to something that we got into on Thursday, Chris. I can't quite remember now how it happened. I think we were talking about Nottingham Forest and I described their transition from defence to attack as like a cobra, which took us into the world of snakes, which took us somehow into the world of adders. And I claimed...

erroneously as it turned out that adders were non-venomous British snakes and if you were to come across one they'd be totally harmless I was wrong Mike Prince says on X yes adders are venomous we have loads of them here in the New Forest and he'd be well advised to keep away they will kill a dog

says Mike. They will kill a dog. And one of my good friends, Nigel, this was direct to me on WhatsApp, shuts such snake ignorance while I'm doing the washing up. Adders are the only venomous snake in the UK. Stick to football, stick to football, you reptile ignoramus. Nothing like a bit of...

That's very accurate. Nothing like a bit of support from one of your friends there. But at least he was listening. See, we go back to light switch and our questions. There you go, light switch. That's what you get from this podcast. You don't just get football and opinion and news and insight. You know, you get a bit of...

Get a bit of wildlife as well. A bit of wildlife. Olly Gunnar Solskjaer is back in football, Chris. Go on. What are you going to say? I was going to say, you're no Chris Packham, are you? I am absolutely no. I think I'm a bit more Michaela Strachan than Chris Packham. Anybody who watches Autumn Watcher... Rather Michaela than Gordon. ...will know. Although no one... I mean, I'd love to be a bit more Kate Humble, but there we go. Right. Yeah.

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer is back in football. He's the new manager of Beziktas in Turkey, which is interesting. Ole's been out of football for three years since he was sacked by Manchester United. Time doesn't half fly. He's turned down a few jobs in that time. This feels like a...

An interesting one to take. And when I say interesting, I mean a surprising one to me. If you just look at some of those statistics, Bzikatas are eighth in the Turkish Super League. They're 20 points behind the leaders Galatasaray.

He signed an 18-month contract saying, Reziktas' project is similar to Manchester United's. We need to stop the bad trend. I don't know if he can do that in 18 months. Blimey, if he thinks expectations were high at United, they tend to be very, very high at one of the biggest handball clubs.

Yeah, it smells to me like he's just desperate to get back into the game in some way, shape or form. It's like a drug, isn't it, to some people that they just cannot stay away from being part of a football club and, you know, in this case, management with Ole Gunnar Solskjaer. He just wants to get back in. Besiktas is, you know, historically, I mean, there are similarities to Manchester United in they are a big club, but...

in their own country. And it's an opportunity to build, isn't it? I mean, it's, you know, in many ways, you're better off taking over a club which is doing pretty poorly by their standards because then you have a chance to build. But as you've quite rightly said, and I played in Turkey on a fair few occasions, you know,

The punters over there, they tell you what they think. They let their feelings known and the pressure will be on. Another former Manchester United manager already in Turkey, of course, Jose Mourinho, who's manager of Fenerbahce. He's had a quiet time, hasn't he? Yeah, absolutely. He's keeping his head down. Who are seven or eight points behind Galatasaray themselves. I mean, it is win or bust for the Istanbul clubs. Beziktas last won the Turkish Super League final.

in 2021 they are the current Turkish cup holders but a big job there for Solskjaer undeniably I must admit I wasn't overly convinced by what he did at United and

if you remember, he had that very, very good start. Didn't really manage to build on it. I thought he was weak. I thought he was weak with a player like Cristiano Ronaldo, for example. Don't think he made some of the big decisions that a big manager needs to make. Yeah.

Speak to people who worked at Cardiff when Oli was at Cardiff and they weren't massively impressed either. But then he did do well with Molde in Scandinavia. So you never know. He certainly deserves another chance in football. Absolutely, for sure. Has Amram... So you mentioned Ronaldo. Ten Hag was strong with him. And Amram's been strong with Marcus Rashford, hasn't he? And Gannaccio. So you admire that. That's strong management. I think if you're at big clubs...

- Well, if you're a manager at any football club, you have to make the decisions that need to be made. And you have to make them even if at the time it feels as though the world will be against you in doing so and acknowledging to yourself that the optics of it might be poor, that if you make that decision and then the team doesn't play well, it'll come back to haunt you. But the fact is you've got to have the balls to make those decisions.

And you and I, despite our criticism in the second half of Ten Hag's reign, were quite happy to say that he was right with Ronaldo. He was right with Sancho. And I think at the moment that Amirim is right with Rashford. And if he doesn't think that Garnaccio is for him, he's probably right to do that as well. And those are the decisions that I think Oli Solskjaer...

turned away from when he was at Old Trafford and it'll be interesting to see how he goes in Turkey we wish him well for sure moments of the weekend Chris do you have one for me?

Oh, yeah. Well, I have too. Darling Darwin, who was criticised by his own manager the week previously, coming good, delighted for him. He did miss a big opportunity before he got his goal. But, you know, I'm really, really pleased for him and Liverpool, those sort of five forwards and that ability to rotate things.

You know, it's probably why they're going to end up winning the Premier League. And secondly, my real favourite moment of the weekend, John Parkin. Remember John Parkin? Yes, I do. He's been around. Yes, played for Mansfield for a long time. 43, I think he's 43, he's in his 40s anyway. Quite a sizeable character. And he was a mascot for dorking at the weekend. Why? I don't know.

When you say mascot, do you mean he was a bloke who dresses up as a furry animal or he walked out holding hands with the captain? No, he walked out as far as I could see. Yeah, as a mascot. So, I mean, probably the...

the largest mascot who there has ever been and the oldest mascot I suspect but you're not going to tell me how wide are you because you haven't researched it properly have you come on you need to know the reasons you've left so much hanging in the air here but that's a lovely moment I mean it's just you know that is a moment and

that will lead people to look that up that story up which you will do once we're finished I'm sure grown man former professional footballer walks out as mascot and you aren't able to tell us why well at least you've introduced us to the subject because he wanted to go away and have it because somebody asked him he said yes

Darling Darwin, you've stolen one of my, you've kind of stolen my moment of the weekend, but that's absolutely fine. I can put some gravy on top of it. 37 attempts on goal Liverpool had at Brentford. 37, which is the highest for an away team since Opta started putting those stats together in 2002. 37 attempts and not one of them went in in the 90 minutes of regulation play. What a beautiful finish that first one was from Nunes, by the way.

No, sorry, the second one. The second one. Takes the pass on his instep, moves it inside and lashes it into the top corner. Absolutely beautiful. But you know what I really loved about that? So those were Darling Darwin's first league goals since November the 9th.

No wonder he looked happy. I absolutely love the way that Federico Chiesa celebrated with him. Chiesa, of course, the Italian midfield forward player, not had a great time since he came to Liverpool to start the season, been injured for an awful long time.

in the team scored a goal last weekend but he was involved in the build up to one of the goals and the look of joy on his face as he ran towards the Liverpool fans you could just see weeks and weeks and weeks and months of frustration being lifted off

that guy's shoulders all that time in the treatment room all that time knowing that the outside world is saying who the hell is this Chiesa bloke why did we buy him what a waste of money and it all disappears in the final 20 seconds just like that and that's what football is all about and I'm going to finish and the win bonus

When they win bonus, yeah. And I'm going to add to that something that the great Arsene Wenger said last night, Sunday night, at this Dennis Bergkamp tribute dinner that I had the privilege to be at. Wenger was on the stage paying tribute to the great Bergkamp.

And Wenger said, people will always forget what you did and what you said, but they will never forget how you made them feel. And there was probably two or three thousand Liverpool fans in that away end as Nunes scored those two goals and celebrated in front of them that will not forget.

how that made them feel. That wraps up another version of, of our podcast. Um, doesn't quite wrap up the weekend's football, Chris, because there's a game on Monday night and you're going to tell me who it is. Um,

Chelsea against Wolves. Chelsea against Wolves, that's right. So the weekend isn't quite over yet. And then we go straight into Champions League action, of course. And also Manchester City have a big...

in Paris against PSG. City seem to have rediscovered a little bit of themselves in the Premier League, but they need to get at it in Europe as well unless they are not going to qualify. Man United have that big Europa League game against Rangers on Thursday night. I will be at that one. Big one for Celtic. Whoa, whoa, whoa. Yeah, the biggest game. The biggest game of the week. Celtic at home to young boys who haven't won a game. They haven't.

played for the best part of a in fact I don't know whether they played at the weekend but I know they'd had a bit of a break but this game is enormous enormous for Celtic because if they win they're basically guaranteed a place in the knockouts and

But it is a bit of a swing game because I always felt at the start of the season, I think I said that on this podcast, that Celtic would be judged this season because of their recent domestic dominance in Europe in the Champions League. So a win for Celtic, that would be enormous for Brendan Rodgers. One trophy already in the bag this season, 13 points clear at the top of the league.

but still this is massive. It would be fabulous. It would be absolutely fabulous if Rangers were to qualify, or Celtic, if Celtic were to qualify for the next phase. That would be fabulous and it would also prove me wrong.

I said when Brendan went there that all he could do was do what he did last time, which was win lots of domestic trophies and fail in Europe. So he might be about... You're often proved wrong. He may be about to prove me wrong, and I actually hope that he does. Can Rangers beat United? I know they can. Let's rephrase it. Do you think Rangers will beat Manchester United? Can they capitalise on all that weakness and insecurity that's bubbling away at Old Trafford?

But you know what? The contrast between Rangers' home form and away form is extraordinary. I mean, really, really extraordinary. So I would say no, but I'm not convinced with Manchester United either. So I think Rangers do have a chance, but their away form has been so bad yesterday.

in this season domestically the amount of points that's dropped that's the that's the difference in the title race in Scotland so I would say no but then you never know which Manchester United team are going to turn up you know will it be the worst team in the world

There we go. Well, there we go. We finished where we started on that incredible Ruben Amarim quote, maybe the worst Man United team ever. They did have a team that played in the second team, by the way. Dennis Law, the late Dennis Law, passed away just on Friday and sadly scored that goal, of course, back in 74 that helped send United down. So I think Amarim maybe should have a...

Maybe have a look at that before he starts throwing those wild statements around. But we knew where he was coming from and we'll see where it goes from here. Let us know what you think about it all. Postacogu, stay or go? Amarim, right or wrong? Bournemouth's trip to Newcastle for that lunchtime kick-off, that incredible round trip. Have you done anything that was...

arduous than that have you had a more rewarding day out than that as a Premier League supporter and also a football supporter at any level and what is the one journey that you made that you really put your heart and soul and wallet into to watch your team only to get there and watch the game and think my god why on earth did I bother let us know you can do that on our social accounts which of course are x

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there as well thanks for being with us everybody I am Ian Laderman the chap who continues to bang the drum for Brendan Rogers is Chris Sutton and this has been it's all kicking off