Why the League Cup Final is Newcastle's to Lose...
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Hello and welcome to It's All Kicking Off. This is our weekend preview show. The first English Cup final of the season is here. Sunday sees Liverpool face Newcastle in the Carabao Cup final. And there's been a twist. Liverpool are out of the Champions League, having played 120 minutes against an excellent PSG side at Anfield and lost 2-0.

On penalties on Tuesday night, Mo Salah in tears, Darwin Nunes off target in the shootout, Trent Alexander-Arnold out injured, Ibrahim Akhenate didn't look that clever as he left the field in extra time either. Chris Sutton, I told you Newcastle were going to win this final. When was the last time Newcastle beat Liverpool, Ian? Oh, you've come at me with a good question there.

I don't know. Do you know whether you believe in sort of historical facts or whatever? I want to know the answer to that question. Are you a believer in sort of recent form? Are you a believer in clubs who do well against other clubs? No, but I am interested in the answer to your question. Hmm.

Well, I mean, you know, I'm not in the know like you, but I had a look this evening. I think it was December the 6th, 2015, I think. Ten years since Newcastle played Liverpool. I'm probably wrong. You look it up yourself. But I did scroll back through however many Premier League seasons and I could not find...

a Newcastle victory in any way, shape or form. So let's get this right. You are going for Newcastle based on that then, are you? That they haven't beaten Liverpool in a decade and they're due.

Well, dear listener, we just had a little break in play there because Chris's microphone wasn't working terribly well. So during that break in play, I took the opportunity to have a quick look on the Soccer Bracer website and check whether Chris's stat is correct. And it is correct. Why did you have to check?

Because you were doubtful. You were clearly doubtful yourself. You were doubtful. I'm disappointed in you for that, but go on. Sunday, 6th of December, 2015, Newcastle 2, Liverpool 0. And if you do believe in omens, and I'm afraid Newcastle fans, that one of the goals that...

day was scored by a Liverpool player. It was an own goal from Martin Skirtle. The other goal was scored by a bloke who went on to make his name for Liverpool, Jorginho Wijnaldum. So it's scored for Newcastle that day. So I don't know whether that means anything, but there you go. You know what? That is a good stat. Newcastle haven't beaten Liverpool for 10 years. I didn't know that. But, you know, so what's my suspicion based on? It's based on

It's based on a hunch. It's based on a hunch. I had the hunch. I think it started when I saw Newcastle play Liverpool at Anfield about three weeks ago. Yeah. Liverpool beat them 2-0, I think. But I just saw there was a period in that game for about half an hour when Newcastle were well in the game and looked as though they could hurt

Liverpool. Didn't happen on the night, but I also looked at fixtures and I saw the fact that Liverpool had the PSG game before the final. And Newcastle, of course, played a Premier League game on Monday away at West Ham, 1-1-0. And now I see what's happened in the game against PSG. Liverpool looked a tired team at the end of that game, Chris. And obviously losing it won't have done them many favours, I just think.

if Newcastle can turn up despite the fact they haven't got Gordon and Hall and Bottman but they will have Isaac I just think that if they put a performance together for the first time in a while in a domestic final Newcastle's record in domestic finals is not good didn't play well in 2023 in this one against United didn't play well in back-to-back FA Cup finals in the late 90s either losing them both

If they turn up and play, they've got a heck of a chance. That's what I'm saying. I mean, that's not really scientific, is it? I'm tipping them. It's not scientific. It's not scientific. Everything you've said, and this is certainly your judgment here, isn't it? That everything points against Newcastle. Their record against Liverpool, not beating them in the best part of a decade. You've mentioned semifinals. Newcastle have been in...

and not been successful. You know, last time they won a trophy, 55, was it 1955? Domestic trophy, yeah, 1955 domestic trophy. And I take your point about Liverpool and maybe a bit of fatigue, but what worries me, you've touched on it, Newcastle's left-hand side, Haaland, Anthony Gordon out, and that's, whatever way you want to look at it, that's a massive blow.

for Eddie Howe and Newcastle. But they are capable. Of course they're capable. But I just sense with the disappointment...

of Liverpool bowing out in the Champions League. And I've got to say, and I thought it was a terrific match. I really, really did. And they were like two boxers where late on in the game they were pretty much punched out, weren't they? And then the penalties, the drama of the penalties as well. And that would have taken a lot out of them. I think Canarte, you mentioned Alexander-Arnold. He looks, I'm no medical expert, as you well know.

But he looks like he'll miss. No, he is out. Yeah. But Canarte looked like cramp. Centre-back's getting cramp. Blimey. Whatever next. But yeah, I suspect it'll be one of those inside the Liverpool dressing room. The disappointment of getting knocked out of the Champions League. And they would have had...

you know, felt like, I mean, I don't know, but I would have thought they felt they had a great chance of winning the Champions League after getting that result in Paris, not being able to see it through because PSG were, you know, were brilliant. And then penalties, penalties aren't a lottery, by the way, it's a skill and, you know, players taking them for, you know,

I've got to say, Donna Rumer was brilliant. And no, they found a way, PSG, but I think Liverpool will sort of feel that they want to prove a point against Newcastle. Get that first trophy in the bag under Arne Slott. That'll be big. They're going to win the Premier League. We know that, but I think they'll be not doubly determined, but want to sort of, you know, use that anger of getting KO'd out of the Champions League and take it out on Newcastle.

I'm going to ask you a question. You mentioned the penalties there. Mo Salah took Liverpool's first penalty, swept it across Donnarumma top corner, no problem. How he takes all his penalties. Why don't more footballers take penalties that way? And before you jump in and ridicule me,

Alan Shearer, your old strike partner at Blackburn, used to take penalties that way. You know, hard and high is probably the best way to describe it. I remember Ruud van Nistelrooy used to take penalties that way for Manchester United as well. And when you take a penalty that way, no goalkeeper in the world saves it. I mean, physically, they almost can't. You know, too powerful, too high. Why do so many players give goalkeepers opportunity to,

at penalties such as the way that Nunes did with a low penalty, Curtis Jones with a low penalty, keep or save them both. Why do you see so many variations? When there is one, that works. It always works. Did you see Vinicius Junior's penalty for Real Madrid?

against Atletico. That was, that was hard and high. Uh, but three, three feet over the crossbar. I think, yeah. Do you know what? I think, yeah, I understand what you're saying. John Dean, remember John Dean once of, uh, brilliant, brilliant, uh,

Claire John was, brilliant centre forward, and he was an excellent penalty taker. And when I was coming through in the reserves at Norwich City, he said a similar thing to you. He said that goalkeepers, they never save a rising ball. And he was an expert penalty taker. So getting that high. But it does take a great deal of bravery and skill. It's not as simple as just, you know, you rock up from 12 yards and you think, I'm going to hit the top corner.

you know, it's a, it's a massive skill there. Very quickly, if Newcastle are going to win this game on Sunday, how do they, how do they do it? Don't stay by scoring more goals than Liverpool. Where do they, where do they, where do they win this game? What do they do to, what do they do to win this game? Well, I think that there's always, there's always head to head you look at. And I think, well, how, how are, how are Newcastle going to cope with, with a pumped up Mo Salah? Yeah,

I suspect there'll be Liveramento who would play at left back and he's athletic, he's mobile, it may suit the fact that he's a right footer. Salah likes to come on the inside, but I think that that's

That's a key battle. And I think Newcastle play counter-attack. I think that's what they'll do. I think Liverpool, I think in the two fixtures this season, Liverpool have pretty much dominated the ball. And Newcastle, you know, they'll have to pick the moments. But they, you know, they do have players who can hurt Liverpool. Craig Hope thinks Alexander Isak is the best striker in the world. I'm not quite with Craig on that, but...

On his day, I do think that he's a phenomenal player. I think Eddie Howe described him as a winger playing as a centre forward or something along those lines. He has got a good variation to his play. And I suppose now, you mentioned the Newcastle players missing.

Who will slot in at right back for Liverpool? Will it be Kwanzaa? Yeah, Kwanzaa, I presume. Or Endo. And that's not ideal. But that, when you think about it, Anthony Gordon, that sending off, that would have been an ideal opportunity. I suspect it'll be Barnes, won't it, off the left-hand side for Newcastle?

And I've got to say, I like Barnes. I do like him. Me too. I think he's a clever player. He's one of those who likes to come inside and get shots off with his right foot. So I think that that's a key area which...

which Eddie Howell looked to exploit, like Jacob Murphy as well. You know, once of Norwich City, yes, he has. And I don't think it... Excellent season. Look, a lot of admiration for Andy Robertson. I think he's a brilliant defender, but maybe he hasn't hit the heights this season for Liverpool. But I still think with what's at stake, Liverpool, I think, have greater strength in depth, more players that they can...

can make a difference off the bench. So that's why I am erring towards Liverpool. Are you erring towards the obvious as usual? I think Andy Robertson's gone over the top of the hill, by the way. Don't want to get into that debate now. I've watched him quite a lot this season. It's late. I think he's just...

I think he's just coming over the top of the hill. Liverpool might need a new right back and a new left back this summer. Who knows? Anyway, one thing is for sure, if Newcastle do win on Sunday, there will be no shortage of giddiness. There is some excitement building in the North East and that's just among the press corps at the moment. And I do think that...

I do think that if they do win on Sunday, I'm not sure what time and how most of them will actually manage to get home. But we'll see. We hope for a good game. Hear that? Spring is back. And so is Church's Seafood. With eight-piece shrimp, surf and turf, or fish sandwich. Each starting at £3.99. Offer valid at participating locations.

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There are Premier League games this weekend, full programme. There are Premier League games on Sunday. Leicester are home to Manchester United, which for some reason, I'm sure somebody will have an answer, takes place at seven o'clock on Sunday evening. Not quite sure what that's all about. Ruud van Nistelrooy is Leicester, of course. I want to talk briefly about, as we often do, about Jim Ratcliffe, the coach.

Monaco Jim as we like to call him on this podcast United's part owner had a lot to say this week first of all just to be clear I've never called him Monaco Jim that's a wide I have a wide well just have a wide ranging series of interviews

on Monday. And then of course the announcement and unveiling of plans for a new Old Trafford on Tuesday. We'll touch on the stadium in a minute. One thing that leapt out at me from Ratcliffe's interviews on Monday was when he talked about the money that United still owe on a number of players this summer in terms of

transfer installments and he named them Anthony, Sancho, Casemiro, Martinez, Hoyland and Narnia. According to Radcliffe they still owe about £17.17 million each on those players. In terms of installments that's not unusual. Lots of clubs stagger transfer payments like that so that's not particularly worthy of debate.

But what is interesting is what Ratcliffe said. Some of those are not good enough and some are probably overpaid. Now, given that, uh,

Casemiro, Martinez, Holland and Arna are still at the football club. That must have been quite something for those players to hear. And equally so for the manager, Ruben Amorim, who'll probably have to deal with the fallout from that going forward. First of all, do you think Jim Radcliffe is wrong or do you think his statement is correct?

I think it's probably, well, he probably is. He probably is right on somebody like Casemiro. Is he right on the goalkeeper? Not sure. Is he right on the Sandro Martinez? Not sure. Is he right on Hoyland? Young lad who may or may not get better? Not sure. But the bottom line is, Chris, is that there are lots of things that people who own football clubs and lots of people who manage at football clubs

about their players that may well be true. That doesn't mean that you're, that it's a very clever thing to do to tell the world about it when you know that it's going to get, you know, it's going to filter into that dressing room within 10 seconds of you saying it. Yeah, I think that, I think David Sullivan said something similar about me when I went to Birmingham City for four months. He was, he was pretty accurate and,

Um, you were on your way by then, weren't you? I was what? You, you already on your way out the door when he said it, weren't you? Hadn't you left to go to Villa? How dare you suggesting I had a deal already done with Villa? Uh,

Was I over the hill, as you like to say, was going down the Andy Robinson route over the top of the hill? Anyway, come on, Jim Rath. Right, yeah. Would that have ruffled a few feathers? Maybe so. Should he have actually, he did name names, but there are a lot of players in that mix and I suppose, would I be offended by that? I don't really think so.

Really? Really? Would you not? Really? But they... Would you not think stuff you? Maybe. Maybe. But, I mean, does it really matter? Should he name names? Probably. And he did name names, but, you know, it was... I think he...

When you named all those players, he talked about these were players he had inherited. That was his point, wasn't it? So he's saying, I don't know whether that was in the same sentence.

about the overplay. Casemiro has played 75 times for Brazil. He's won the Champions League five times. But what's that got to do with anything? He's won La Liga three times. Well, it tells you that whatever he may or may be now, he's an experienced international footballer, a proven winner, who undoubtedly is not the player that he was. But I think he probably thinks...

because he is someone I play like that and I'm singling him out because he's so decorated. You can't accuse him of not trying. I think he's deserving of more respect than to be publicly slaughtered by a bloke who actually doesn't own all of the football club. I just don't really understand. But he said they're overpaid and overrated. He did. Right. But if you're a customer, you probably think you're deserving of a little bit more respect than that. And if Jim Radcliffe thinks that, why tell the world that?

I know what you're saying, but I mean, have Manchester United performed? Name a Manchester United player who's performed well this season. Amad Diallo. I'll name him for you. So there's also an element where players can be too thin-skinned if they get affected by...

by something like this. We're a Manchester United in the Premier League. 14th, is it? You know, severe underperformance. If I was a Manchester United player, I'd just be keeping my head down and accepting what's, you know, if shots are fired in my direction, that's what I'd be doing. I wouldn't be getting too upset about an owner, you know, spouting his mouth off, essentially telling the truth.

I mean, why would you be offended? If shots are going to be fired at the players, I expect them to be fired by the supporters. I expect them to be fired by sections of the media. I expect them to be fired occasionally in a constructive and productive way by the manager. I don't expect them to be fired willy-nilly, randomly and unnecessarily by...

a part owner. I just don't, I don't understand. I don't know why you do it. I don't know whether we're going to talk about this all evening, but so do you think, do you think this is going to cause further turmoil at Manchester United? It may do. It may do. Players are thin skinned, as you say. Players are thin skinned. And those players have, for one reason or another, been through a lot, largely because they're not good enough. Because they're overpaid, overrated. Most of them, from what I can see, are trying. And,

I just think that when you get to this part of the season, you've just had a half decent performance in the result against Arsenal. You've got a big Europa League game on Thursday night against Sociedad. If you win that, then you move on towards a little step further forward towards saving your season. I think morale is important. And I think if you're Manchester United, you want to be doing everything you can to preserve whatever performance

small amount of morale you've got left rather than tossing it into the wind like Jim Ratcliffe. Well, maybe a couple of firm words and a bit of honesty. Arne Slott did it at the weekend and we're all giving Arne Slott praise for going in and getting the hair dryer out on the Liverpool players at half-time. Maybe it's a masterstroke from Monaco Jim, as you call him, and he's trying to get the players out of the door. Yeah.

I didn't hear Arna Slott call Darwin Nunes overpaid and overrated when he missed that chance at Aston Villa a few weeks ago. I saw him be critical of him for letting his head go down and not working hard enough. That's what he called constructive criticism. He didn't call. Let's just be clear. Jim Ratcliffe did not call all those players you have named overpaid and overrated.

Some are not good enough and some are probably overpaid. Okay, there we go. Okay. Anyway, we're going to talk about the staging, but we won't now because we've spent far too long debating at that point. It looks interesting. Have you seen The Greatest Showman? It reminded me of that. Yes, I have. What I love about it is people keep saying things like you'll be able to see it from the Peak District. Is that a good thing?

Is that a good thing? Is that what you want to be looking at when you're walking, when you're having a nice hike in the beach district? And then somebody else said, sorry, he also said, you can see it from Liverpool. I don't believe. I don't believe.

Just imagine Liverpool fans seeing Manchester at this new stadium. Maybe if you were perched on top of the Liver building, you might be interested. See it from Liverpool. A load of nonsense, that is. Anyway, there you go. It's been 10 years' time. 10 years' time and United are still...

She's kind of 16th in the Premier League and getting beat at home by Doncaster Rovers, who've been taken over by a Saudi billionaire and a fifth in the Premier League. At least United fans will be saying, oh, it's all right because we can see our stadium from Liverpool. Anyway, yeah.

There we go. Very, very quickly. Big Premier League game this weekend. Arsenal-Chelsea. Arsenal through into the next stage of the Champions League. Heck of a game that they have got coming up in the quarters. Just looking at my phone to see if that game has finished yet. The Madrid game, it was going into extra time when we started this podcast.

And it is still going on, but they'll be playing one of them, Atletico or Real. Not a great reward for coming through so impressively against Atletico.

PSV. It does feel to me as though for Mikel Ateta and Enzo Murescu at Chelsea, as though a lot depends on what happens at those football clubs now, between now and the end of the season. I would worry in particular for Murescu if Chelsea didn't finish in the top four because he did raise the bar of expectation by having such a promising first half of the season.

But it looks like Champions League football, you can finish fifth. So what if he finishes fifth? Yeah, absolutely, yeah. No, well, okay, for top, I suppose I'm using top four in the traditional sense. What I mean is the Champions League places. So yeah, top five. Yeah. You've been facetious, but point taken. No, I think, no, I think facetious, just factual, which is, you know, quite important. Yeah, fair enough.

Yeah, and I think we all got excited, myself included, with their form earlier on in the season. I don't think beating Southampton and Leicester necessarily means that Chelsea are back on track. I take your point that this season there needed to be a progression scene and...

Which is why the end of the season is so important for Chelsea. But I think there are a lot of disgruntled Chelsea fans out there because just finishing in a Champions League place, this can't keep going on season after season. They want to see their team competing at the top end of the Premier League, competing for titles, competing for major titles.

European competitions so that's where that's where the pressure I think is on Maresca a little bit need a centre forward need a goalkeeper I just think at the end of the season where Manchester United have again massively underperformed Tottenham have underperformed City have underperformed

There's obviously been opportunity there for a club like Chelsea. Nottingham Forest look like they're going to finish in the top four, stroke five. If Chelsea weren't to do that, I just do wonder what somebody like Todd Bowley may make of that. Are you suggesting that Maresca could be sacked if they...

I certainly think it will cross their mind. I certainly think it will cross their mind because it seems to be the model. It seems to be the model. That's all I'm saying. And a small opportunity for Arsenal on Sunday. If they were to win the game, they do at least take three of those, claw three of those points back.

on Liverpool at the top of the Premier League. We do think that is probably a race that is pretty much run now. Anyway, I'm sure everybody's got some views on what we've just been talking about. I'm sure people have views on the Jim Ratcliffe Manchester United debate. Was Ratcliffe right to call out United players, calling them good and not good enough and overpaid? Even though it may be true, was he right

to say it, how would you feel if you're one of those players? And what is the worst thing that you've ever heard? Um, the chairman or chief executive or owner at your football club? They'll be crying into the £50 notes, won't they? The players. Let us know. Um,

What do you think? Who's going to win the big game on Sunday? Am I right to have a little bit of faith in Eddie Howe's Newcastle? Or is the absence of players like Anthony Gordon and Lewis Hall going to prove too much of them? And is there any rescue at Chelsea? Safe or not safe? You can leave some observations on our social accounts. You can find us both on X, Ladyman and Sutton. You can also go to Malesports social accounts at X.com.

and Instagram and TikTok and you can go and check out our YouTube channel as well. You can see excerpts from the show in most of those places. And just remember, if you ever listen to this podcast, whether it's Apple or Spotify, you can hit the follow button, leave us a review.

and leave us a rating. A couple of amusing comments here on Spotify. Chris from The Weeknd, one of our regular listeners, Lulu Bells, gets in touch. You were talking at The Weeknd about going for your turkey duo as your Sunday lunch. I'd never heard of it. Didn't know what it was. You explained that it was turkey and roast beef on the same plate. So I thought it was a load of old nonsense. Lulu says, Ian, what are your thoughts on a trio of meats?

Chris, any clue what that is? I had to Google it. A trio? A trio of meats. Well, it's basically what it says. Well, yeah, there's three even. Go through Rose Denham and get three different types. I think that's okay. It's even more ridiculous. Even more ridiculous. So you just have one meat and that's it? I think this is an east side of the country thing because you're from Norwich and I know for a fact that Louise is from Dart. Does it have meat up north? I think this is an east...

I think this is an East Coast thing. Yeah, it was rationed. It's rationed. We've got some meeting messages. You can see it from the Peak District. So... Very good.

Anyway, it's Trio of Meats. And on a totally different subject, we were talking, you and I were talking about the Club World Cup on Monday, weren't we? Pep Guardiola and his attitude towards it. Pep has been suggesting that he may encourage his Man City players to take the families to America in the summer for the tournament and that he's going to play a bit of golf. Steve gets in touch and says...

I'll be ignoring the Club World Cup, but what plans do the male have? Will they be sending squads of reporters out on jollies and providing war charts and sweepstake kits? It's interesting. I know what Steve is getting at there. People said this to me before the Qatar World Cup. I was quite vociferous in my...

in terms of my views about the World Cup being tough, the same reasons that everybody else was. Winter World Cup, human rights issues, et cetera. And people used to shout at me saying, yeah, but you're going, but you're going staying in a five-star hotel. Well, yes, I did. Seven star. No, no, no, I did not stay in a five-star hotel. But it's interesting though, isn't it, Chris? Because just because as a journalist, you don't agree with something. And I don't agree with the, with the Club World Cup in the summer, 32 team tournament, blah, blah, blah.

But as a journalist, that doesn't mean that you don't go because if you're a journalist, you only ever went to places that you liked or that you were in favour of, then things would go unreported on. Well, obviously we owe our readers, listeners who support City, who support Chelsea to go and cover the tournament.

Do you think our news report... Hang on. Do you think our news report was particularly approved of the war in Ukraine? Of course they didn't, but they still went to cover it because that's their job. That's what journalists do. They go to places and they tell people what's happening there. That is journalism. So what was the guy's name again? Sorry, who made... Steve. Steve.

I actually think Steve's onto something there because you were so sort of negative about it. And what would worry me is if you went out in that negative mindset, you wouldn't be accurately reporting to the likes of Steve and myself back home. I used to be so negative about the Qatar World Cup in advance of it. And I won't apologise for this in the hope that people in Qatar would pick up on it and maybe they wouldn't let me in and I wouldn't have to do it.

Every time I saw you in Qatar, you had a glass of champagne in your hand. I mean, dear me. Utterly ridiculous. Well, you've said ridiculous. You've said ridiculous. You haven't said it wrong. You haven't said I was wrong. I don't drink champagne. I certainly couldn't afford to drink champagne in a place like Qatar. It would have been about 35 quid a glass. And see...

I only invited you out once. And you said, no, I invite you out for dinner the night before the final. He said, no. So you wouldn't have a clue whether I drank a glass of champagne, a bottle or a Gerard Bowen of the stuff. Anyway, I haven't answered the question yet. I don't think I am going to the Club World Cup, by the way. I think Kieran Gill, I've applied for accreditation, but nobody in the office appears to be encouraging me to go.

Kieran Gill, our Chelsea correspondent, will be going. Jack Gorn, our Manchester City correspondent, will be going. Beyond that, I'm not sure. Right, quickly, very, very quickly, touched on the last World Cup there. The road to the next World Cup begins in earnest. I'm looking forward to that. America, US, how exciting. Are you?

Thomas Tuchel, I never look, I never look beyond the, I never look further than the end of my nose. And you've got, when you've got a nose as big as mine, that's quite some way. Um, haven't given it much thought yet. It seems a long time away, but Thomas Tuchel, um, chooses his first England squad this week. He announces it on, uh, Friday. Very, very quickly. Well,

It feels a little bit as though Thomas is a little bit behind the eight ball already. He was criticised for not starting the job soon enough. Got the job in October, started the job in 1st of January. Now he's been criticised for not going to enough Premier League games. It feels as though he needs a couple of decent results straight off the bat just to get

Just to put all of that to bed, really. He's been criticised for living in Germany, hasn't he? Where he's from, which is, yeah, maybe a little bit harsh. Yeah, he probably does need a couple of results, doesn't he? A short contract, wants to come in and hit the ground running and gather a bit of momentum. So, yeah, I mean, you know, I suppose the question is...

Will there be that real faith in him if he doesn't get off to an absolutely storming start? There needs to be patience, a bit of patience. I'm sure he'll do okay. I'm not so sure England have got enough to win the World Cup, but as ever, they're still going into the tournament. They are still...

You look at the English squad and the English players, they are still up there in a group of maybe eight or ten nations who are capable of winning it. Albania and Latvia, the first two games, both at Wembley. I mean, if Thomas Tuchel's England can't get his reign off to a convincing start against those two, then he maybe should give up straight away. The squad will be interesting. Anyone of you, I mean, you've mentioned them, the Arsenal duo. Yeah, Lewis Skelly. Yeah.

Yeah, you mentioned it in one area as well. I think those are decent calls. Morgan Rodgers of Villa, I think is a good shout. He's got a couple of caps already, of course. Morgan Rodgers is a good shout. Elliot Anderson at Forest, maybe. Archie Gray, not a bad shout. I read that somewhere. He's had a really good season at Tottenham under pressure, proved himself versatile.

What about Liam De Lapp? We're always talking about understudies for Harry Kane. Liam De Lapp, has he done enough at Ipswich to squeeze in, do you think? I think he'd be worth a look. He will not be... Ollie Watkins hasn't been tearing up trees. Well, Ollie Watkins will be ahead of Liam De Lapp in the pecking order, no doubt about that, but...

You know, you have to sort of look further down the line and yeah, the lack won't be at Ipswich next season. I am pretty certain that a Premier League club, if and when Ipswich go down, I shouldn't be that negative about Ipswich.

So he is a bit of an all-rounder. I do like the look of him. I don't know how much you've seen of him this season, but I think he has all the attributes, Ian. I really, really do. He's playing in a struggling team.

So, he's, you know, proper all-round centre forward. He's got pace, can run a channel, can hold the ball in and he can finish. Seems fairly confident. So, get him in a, you know, a team and then creating chances. I think he'll do really well.

He's better on the ball, De Lappe, than I gave him credit for. He's got a nicer touch and a bit of a trick. Saw that in a game that they actually lost at home to Tottenham, but he did enough in that game to impress me. I tell you, flipping it completely, Chris, if Thomas Tuchel picks on form rather than reputation and history, then there'll be a few players who

left out. Phil Foden, probably one of them. Jack Grealish, without a doubt, another one. And then you could equally argue that somebody maybe like Marcus Rashford or Eddie Avila has maybe done himself no harm in terms of getting back in. But in terms of players who are out of form, there are a few, aren't there? You know, you could even, you

You could even chuck Cole Palmer into that if you wanted to, in terms of on form. No, in terms of form. We've just talked about form. Because the players I've mentioned there, Palmer, Grealish, obviously, Foden, they are not in form. They are not in form. No, they're not. And I suppose it does make it more interesting because we don't quite know Tuchel well.

that much where you know we know what sort of decisions he's going to make over certain players where you always after a while under Gareth Southgate we knew he was he was one of those guys who sort of stuck to players who he knew and you know was very loyal and

Tuchel may go left field in that respect, but he's a strong character, Tuchel. So I don't think he's one of those where he'll worry about axing players. I think he seems a pretty ruthless manager. So I do think that's one to watch, but he's not going to leave the likes of Palmer and Foden out. Grealish is the one possibly who may be cold from a first squad.

It was interesting to hear Mark Bulligan, the chief exec of the FA, talking last week saying that Tuchel had been looking at as many as 55 players for this squad. I mean, blimey, that's an awful lot of players.

I'm not sure I could name 55 players who I could think would be good enough to play for England, but maybe that's just me. We'll see what he does anyway back at the end of this week. And that's it for this one. Thanks for being with us, everybody. Let us know what you think about the England squad, who you would like to be in it.

should Thomas Tuchel be throwing things up in the air a little bit or should he be sticking with those players who did well in the hole for Gower Southgate and indeed subsequently Lee Carsley in the Nations League of course find us on the socials go to Spotify Apple Podcast leave your comments and your thoughts there and we'll get back to them on Monday Chris are you going to the final on Sunday am I going to see you there in the flesh will you be at Wembley

There's only one game on Sunday, Ian. Oh, of course, it's the old firm. It's the old firm, isn't it? Yes, it's just a shame that there's a country mile between the two of them at the top of the Scottish league, really, isn't it? Yeah, I think you're right about that. Celtic, 16 points clear.

Even if Rangers beat Celtic on their own patch, then they're not going to win the league from that position. But first time there are supporters allowed back. Oh, good. I think it's about 2,500, 600, whatever. So that will make it a better spectacle. Do you remember last season? It's been a while, hasn't it, since either club allowed...

opposing supporters in for the old firm. I remember last season proposing that we discussed it on one of the podcasts and I was going to go off on one about it, saying that neither of them should be allowed in the league if they weren't going to allow away fans. You were just like, don't go near that subject.

Just don't go near that subject. Just leave it alone. Your life won't be worth living. And I was like, no, I really want to go about subjects. And you were like, Ian, don't go anywhere near that subject. So we didn't go anywhere near that subject. For once, I listened to you. I asked you to listen to me. We didn't go near that subject. But I am delighted. I didn't know that they had resolved that issue. And I'm delighted that they have. Well, you won't appreciate this, Chris, but for what it's worth, I will wish by Ferguson well.

all the best in his first All Firm Derby as a Rangers not Brendan Rodgers you're not wishing Brendan all the best as well don't think Brendan needs any luck does he Brendan's got everything sewn up in Scotland as always right thank you mate good to see you my friend and be back on Monday