The Late Kick Off Football Podcast
Title Challenge / Spurs and 5th / Relegation / EFL, SPFL Round up
Jamie and Mike this week and we discuss the Arsenal and Man City games from the double game week!
We move onto the European places and discuss the all but relegated teams!
A round up of European football and the playoffs!
All reviews, likes, shares and of course listens are hugely appreciated! Why not leave a review right now, it only takes a second!
Please follow and tag us on the socials @latekickoff:
Twitter - Late Kick Off Podcast (@latekickoffpod) / Twitter
Instagram - Late Kick Off Football Podcast (@latekickoffpod) • Instagram photos and videos
Thanks to all our contributors:
Ciaran Fowler for the artwork!
Ross McDonald for the logo!
Mike Leith and KMAND DJ for the intro music!
Jamie and Mike this week and we discuss the Arsenal and Man City games from the double game week!
We move onto the European places and discuss the all but relegated teams!
A round up of European football and the playoffs!
All reviews, likes, shares and of course listens are hugely appreciated! Why not leave a review right now, it only takes a second!
Please follow and tag us on the socials @latekickoff:
Twitter - Late Kick Off Podcast (@latekickoffpod) / Twitter
Instagram - Late Kick Off Football Podcast (@latekickoffpod) • Instagram photos and videos
Thanks to all our contributors:
Ciaran Fowler for the artwork!
Ross McDonald for the logo!
Mike Leith and KMAND DJ for the intro music!
I love someone like you.
Speaker 1:I wish nothing but the best for you.
Speaker 2:Don't forget me, I'll be.
Speaker 1:Yes, the dulcet tones of the Borussia Dortmund team, led there by Jadon Sancho, dueting with Adele in the dressing room post their victory against Paris Saint-Germain. But will they be saying hello to the Champions League trophy for the first time in 27 years? Elsewhere, there was late mayhem in Bournemouth as Brentford won an injury time a day after Thomas Frank's father sadly passed away, and there was also an away victory for Crystal Palace to leapfrog Wolves into 12th position. West Ham all but relegated Luton in David Moyes' home farewell. Everton inflicted further misery on Sheffield United, and Newcastle's draw with Brighton and subsequent defeat to Manchester United ended their hunt for fifth. This is the Late Kick-Off Football Podcast. I'm your host, jamie Guyon, and joining me this week is Mike. Mike, how are you doing?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I'm in fine film, mate. How's yourself?
Speaker 1:I'm absolutely tremendous, mate. Thank you very much for asking. Pleasure to have you on. We will start at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, where Manchester City took a giant step closer to a record-breaking fourth successive title. After demolishing the hosts at Craven Cottage in the early Saturday kick-off, city stayed in the capital and travelled 14 miles north to make up their game in hand and, just like Noel Gallagher, refused to acquiesce their hold on the title as Erling Haaland converted Kevin De Bruyne's 112th Premier League assist and the Blues roll with it as the Norwegians late penalty secures a second successive golden boot. Absolutely incredible scenes there, mike.
Speaker 1:It was a tepid first half, I think you would say. There was a lot of interesting build-up going into the game, but City just kind of seemed to edge the control, as they often do in these types of encounters, didn't let Tottenham get too much in terms of mayhem that might upset the City rhythm, and then, when it really mattered, turned to screw and got the goal. And then, you know, just after that phenomenal chance for Sung Hoon, min made sure of it and finished the game off. It was a different kind of professional performance, but one still that we've become accustomed to with City and Guardiola.
Speaker 2:No, absolutely. It just shows you the lethality that you have. You've got Kevin De Bruyne on the park I believe he's second in Premier League assists now and just the way that he and Talon as a result, goes about their business. It's very hard for any team to defend in the league, never mind a team that's got defensive struggles like Tottenham and a team that seems that their sports were actively cheering on them losing, which was a strange situation in itself. But I think the way that City are going about their business has been very imperious.
Speaker 2:Both teams had their minor blip in the winter period and since then they've just gone on and on, and it's much like the Liverpool and City fight from a few years ago, where the teams just go on and on and on and it doesn't say much about West Ham's hopes of hindering City's title chances when everybody put their eggs in this basket, saying this is the only chance that City have perhaps of seeding the title to Arsenal. So, yeah, it seems a procession from here on in, but just very clinical once again, and considering the Howland 2 has been off the boil and had the injury worries of his own, to score over 25 goals again in this league is quite remarkable for a guy who's much more in for a lot of the season because he wasn't going to fit into the way that City were operating, and I because his big ginger pal wasn't in the team?
Speaker 1:Yeah, absolutely. It's a funny season when a guy can score that many goals and then it's criticised so heavily. And actually it was quite interesting watching him in this game just getting frustrated with a lot of the other players other than Kevin De Bruyne for maybe not making that pass that he's obviously calling for. Vardyol, in particular, a few times looked like he could have slotted him in and didn't, or ponders. You can see, jeremy Doku reminds me a lot of Cristiano Ronaldo when he first came into the league. And would you know, he would get the ball out wide, he would take somebody on and he would cut back on himself. He'd try and take him on again, he would slow the game down, and I remember Ruud van Nistelrooy being an incredibly frustrated figure in the middle of the box. And a few years later some of those man United players told the stories that van Nistelrooy eventually managed to get through to Ronaldo that if you keep cutting back on yourself or if you do an extra trick, I can't time my runs. So I'm making a run with you to get in front of the defender and as soon as you cut back, then we lose all that momentum. And it was learnings like that that no doubt helped Ronaldo become the player that he did. And you can see that Haaland has similar frustrations with some of Manchester City's players, but I think it's probably most notable with Doku, because he's the one that sort of stands out in that City team as something a little bit different but nonetheless bangs in well over 20 goals. Considering we thought that Cole Palmer might catch him all of about three weeks ago and I think he's scored seven goals since then. Well and truly put it out of reach.
Speaker 1:The kind of funny talking points out of this game, mike, was the attitude of the Spurs fans. I text a mate of mine who's a Spurs fan before the game and said I presume you want to win. And he said I don't know yet, I'll tell you after the game. And then we seen a handful of fans doing the Poznan. And then Ange is absolutely irate.
Speaker 1:After the game he said in his post-match interview the last 48 hours have revealed to me the foundations are very fragile and he was quite hurt when he was quizzed on that. He also seen the the video of him shouting at a fan behind the dugout who was apparently making a chant for Spurs to chuck the game for 90 minutes. So I'm not hugely surprised that that eventually got on Ange's tits and he went and said something. But it's an odd. It's a unique situation, mike, obviously, just the way all the games and everything have worked out. But I think what you're seeing from Ange is that he is probably reading between the lines. Ange is suggesting that Spurs don't have that sort of winning mentality anywhere, whether it's in the dressing room, whether it's in the boardroom or whether it's in the stands. That was, for me, the message I think he was trying to get across.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think, because when he came in obviously it was about vibes and that, but he was very steadfast in the way that he wanted to play his football but also the attitude that he wanted to convey across like we can stand toe-to-toe with anybody in the league, there's no reason we should diminish ourselves just because we haven't won anything. And when you talk about things like Conference League and Europa League, would you rather chuck that to get a better position in the league to get finished in the Champions League spots. I think he's just slightly pissed off because, if you can imagine, of course, your whole plan, your whole routine of the week leading up to a game is to get those three points by hook or by crook. And I can understand the fans kind of friction with wanting to get one up on Arsenal. But the problem is when Spurs and Arsenal weren't winning things in the late 2000s to them into the 10th finish above one another in the league, and that's fair enough because both teams were kind of mildly pish, so that Spurs who have been in Arsenal's shadow, another in the league, and that's fair enough because both teams were kind of mildly pish, so that Spurs, who have been in the Arsenal shadow for the last 30 odd years in terms of winning league titles, kind of have an aberration against them where they're not kind of thinking about winning the big games and the big games. But you've got to see past that now, like if you were taking them seriously as a champions league club and Spurs haven't been consistently in the top four for quite a number of years now you can't be thinking, oh, it'd be great if we lost this game because it'd cost Arsenal a title.
Speaker 2:And I mean, there's still. There still could be a couple instances of events where Tottenham win this game, win their last game against Sheffield United, and man City don't want to win the league and still win the title. Or there could have been a situation where Tottenham lost this game and Arsenal still going to win the title as well. So it wasn't necessarily predicated on the outcome of this game where the title was going. It's probably got a bigger chance of going to Manchester City now than it does to Arsenal. But I think that's where a lot of the frustration comes from, because this club hasn't won anything since the league dropped under Randy Ramos in 2008.
Speaker 2:And if you're a club and you're a fan of that club and you consider yourself to be one of the big six. It's kind of a misnomer in a sense as well, because there only seems to be a big three at this moment in time and that fourth team seems to rotate now. So, like would you say, because Aston Villa is in the top four, that now it's a big seven. Newcastle won it last year. Is that a big eight now? How much does it grow and expand and exceed? Because we're talking to you part of the big six conversation it's a bit strange, considering how few times I've been in the Champions League and how few times I've actually won things over the years agree with that.
Speaker 1:it's something I've thought before, that the so-called big sixes has really for a long time been a big four, because even Arsenal were out of it for a while. But but they obviously had an incredible repertoire of trophy winning teams during the Premier League year. So that's fine. You know you've got City, arsenal, liverpool, chelsea, manchester United are winning European trophies, domestic trophies, on a regular basis, even as we like to laugh at Manchester United and Chelsea. Even at the moment, chelsea have been to something ridiculous like 5 out of the last 7 FA Cup finals, or they've been to a number of Carabao Cup finals as well. They obviously won the Champions League in 21. So you know United have got FA Cup victories under their belt in the last few years as well. These teams are all winning something. But Spurs seem to have sort of got themselves into the so called big six by having Gareth Bale and then Harry Kane. Mean that they're sort of there or thereabouts consistently, but never actually the team that are on top.
Speaker 1:If I was a Spurs fan, I'd be delighted to hear that kind of chat from Ange. I think that'd be exactly what you want from your manager. I thought his comments before the game were quite good as well, where he was asked by a journalist about the fact that Spurs have had bragging rights over Arsenal during the last period of time and he said we haven't won a title for 15 years. Yeah, spurs have had bragging rights over Arsenal within that 15 years, but walk up and down the hallways. There's no pictures of players who have won bragging rights. It's people like Bill Nicholson that have won actual trophies, which I thought was quite funny and, again, pretty on point, and Spurs fans don't like to hear that. All that probably does is corroborate his point that there isn't a sort of winning mentality around the club. So it's going to be fascinating over the next hopefully 12, 24 months to see what Ange does with that team. And yeah, just on your point about when in the game, we sort of discussed this at the time and for me there's just not a scenario where I'd ever want my team to lose. You know I've been slightly different, I appreciate, but I've been in situations where, you know, aberdeen are playing Celtic and the top of the table is incredibly tight between Celtic and Rangers and the last thing any Aberdeen fan wants is to hand the league title to Rangers. But you go into that game absolutely wanting to beat Celtic for the benefit of your own team and if you lose then a silver lining to defeat is at least you know it doesn't benefit Rangers. It's kind of like softens the blows slightly. But yeah, spurs fans seem to be taking that the other way around. They were almost thinking if we win it's a disaster because Arsenal will win the league. But I guess a silver lining is we might get Champions League football, which I think is a peculiar outlook, particularly given English football's attitude towards the Europa League. You would have thought that every Spurs fan would want to avoid that and to try and make sure that they're in the Champions League.
Speaker 1:Before we get on to final day drama, let's move on to the Manchester United-Arsenal game that took place on Sunday and we'll cover it at the same time. Tempo has somewhat slowed from both sides. It was a warm afternoon out there as Havertz managed to stay onside Up against Jonny and Evans, havertz who cuts across and Trossard's there to tap home A first-half Leandro Trossard goal. So the Gunners win their 27th Premier League game of the season they're most in the division since the 70s and their first at Old Trafford since Rihanna topped the charts with Umbrella Suitable for the weather and the way the game finished and the crumbling, leaking facade of the stadium the perfect imagery to juxtapose the product on the park.
Speaker 1:I thought this was actually an incredible performance by Arsenal. Mike, I tweeted just after the game that, um, it was mentioned in commentary and on on um X that Arsenal had given up control to United, and you know they looked timid and it was worrying. Um, I in fact thought that exactly what Arsenal did was avoid the game descending into chaos, which we've seen all too often suits man United down to the ground, and they sat off United because they know they don't have the quality to hurt them, given Arsenal's defensive records. And by doing that as well, they also took away United's greatest threat, which was the counter-attack, and what we've seen was pretty much 45 minutes of man United passing the ball around in horseshoe shapes and not really creating or carving any particular chances, and Arsenal leave with the three points, which is absolutely vital at this time of the season.
Speaker 2:No, I've perfectly summed up. I believe Garnaccio had man Utd's two best chances in terms of XG, and they're both 0.1. So it shows you how Arsenal once again limited the opposition to nothing but pot shots from outside the area. And if you look at the shot map as well, only four of man Utd's many shots were inside the area as well. So I think you're absolutely right.
Speaker 2:One thing that Pep especially well it can be boring at times and tedious get the noses in front and then kill the game off, and Arsenal haven't been able to do that. I would travel for a number of years now, obviously Brianna talking to Charles Lombardella back in the mid 2000s. So it shows you how much Manchester United teams over the past 10 years, which have been full of batter Arsenal, still haven't been able to get the job done. Old Trafford's obviously a mental block that they've overcome. While it's maybe not the dominating victory that you've seen, it's still enough to get you over the line at this moment in time, and not every result needs to be flashy, not every result needs to be a thumping of a lesser opposition. Sometimes it's just about being professional and getting the job done, like you've seen in the example of all Arsenal teams. I think even in that situation you would have seen them in previous years perhaps even crumble when they tried to play the lower block, try to get off the transition.
Speaker 2:Whereas this Arteta team's impeccable defensively, they've still got errors within them we've seen that in the past but for most of the time they're probably the best defensive team in the league at this present point. And even the goal they've exploited the situation and Havertz has very switched on to it and look, he had the freedom of Old Trafford to get that ball in between the lines but he's still got to convert the chance and I think Havertz kind of just revamped himself into this kind of all-round player that seems full of confidence and considering he was getting penalties at Bournemouth to try and lift him at the start of the season, it shows you just how much opportunity presents itself and while he's playing more as an 8 earlier in the campaign, it shows you like him done wonders for him and he's flourishing under Arteta and that's how the million looks kind of a bargain at this moment in time.
Speaker 1:Yeah, absolutely, he's having an absolutely fantastic second half of the season. An extended purple patch, almost. That goal was comical, like one of those when it's initially played to him and the commentator says he's managed to keep himself onside, and you think, well, no, he hasn't the flag's going up any minute here and it goes in. And Havertz actually knew. You could tell. He obviously knew because he was looking across the line and could see that Casemiro was effectively standing on the goal line. It was absolutely bonkers.
Speaker 1:Quick question on Actually no, I'll save it. I. Quick question on actually no, I'll save it. I'll save it. We'll stick with Arsenal for now. I'll ask you that question in a moment when we move on. You put in the discussion, mike, that a lot of people look to that draw against Manchester City being the deciding factor of Arsenal don't win the league. But they only took one point in six against Fulham. They took zero points against Aston Villa and they were beat at home against West Ham and when it comes down to, almost certainly it's going to be two points that they miss out on the title. It's those, those are the, those are the games that will really sting for Arsenal.
Speaker 2:I feel especially like you'd expect kind of like lower half of the lower half of the league to be able to take at least one victory for them. And I'm not saying that Arsenal could be flawless or anything like that, but that's going to be the pair of games that really sting. The Aston Villa one was a bit of a sucker punch in the last game. They were thoroughly outplayed at Villa Park and West Ham. The West Ham game was a very strange one where West Ham were just low block and then got a late penalty to make the goal line look a bit more, the scoring look a bit more flattering. But yeah, it's those two games against Fulham where really the title was lost and Arsenal's probably going to lose the league with 89 points.
Speaker 2:It's a lower kind of return for City than they've achieved in the past, but they can still win it with over 90 points and it's just like you've got to be near flawless, even if you don't think man City, who are reigning Champions League winners and Premier League winners, going for history to win 4-0, which hasn't been done in England before. It's just very hard, as we've seen, to keep going all the way, like Liverpool are going to finish third with 82 and still be quite distance off them. So I think it's just very hard to keep up with the City jumping out at the moment in time.
Speaker 1:A lot obviously made, mike, of City's dominance under Pep Guardiola and the points totals that they're accumulating season after season. And the rhetoric tends to be that you know you've got to be absolutely perfect these days to win a league title and if you're not, city will probably do it. Arsenal look certain to finish on 89 points this season but interestingly that would not have been enough to win the title in 14 of the last 24 seasons. So you know it's not like there was obviously the three seasons in a row where you had City get 198 and then Liverpool got 99. But the last three years they've got 86, 93, 89 and they look set to get um 91 this year, which is, you know, in keeping with other examples.
Speaker 1:The, the Chelsea team under Antonio Conte scored more points than Arsenal will. Fergie in his last season got more points. Um the Aguero season. Manchester City finished on more points and, if you go further back, both Chelsea seasons under Jose Mourinho were more points.
Speaker 1:The Arsenal Invincibles team, which actually sometimes there seems to be a sort of a hipster opinion that the Arsenal Invincible team wasn't as good as it was because they had too many draws, but you know that team scored more points than Arteta will this year as well, and you know a couple of United teams in the 90s during I'm hastening to add 38 game seasons, not when it was 42.
Speaker 1:So, while Manchester City perhaps have set the bar incredibly high in terms of consistency because we haven't obviously seen a team do it four years in a row, we haven't seen a team do six and seven either, but the actual, the totals themselves aren't too different to what we've seen now for the last sort of 25, 30 years. And I suppose the task for Arsenal is not necessarily complete and utter perfection, like we're suggesting, but it's just getting one or two more of those results against the teams that they're expected to beat, almost, like you were just saying, fulham, and then West Ham and Aston Villa as well, which I just think from a psychological perspective or from the fans' perspective, the task isn't as out of reach as perhaps it's sometimes suggested that it is.
Speaker 2:No, and if you consider Arsenal's record against the top six this season is they're undefeated. I think they've gained a tremendous amount of points actually just from playing the teams that are around them as well, outside of Aston Villa, of course, and I think so. I do think they've come unstuck against a few of the lesser teams in the division and actually the issue that comes down with and we look at the Champions League as well the kind of teams that they've come a copper against. You need a Pele shootout against Porto to go through, and a lesser by Munich's side, which has been knocked out of the Champions League, against Real Madrid, when you expected Arsenal to win those games as well. So I do think you can't just say it's been a good season and you've finished second.
Speaker 2:You've got to follow up and next season Arsenal have to go into the title, because there's no room for error. The project is to go on and win the title. It's taking a club who is 5th, 6th, kind of middle of the pack there, trying to push you to the Champions League spot. That next step has to be winning the title and it's going to be very difficult because we've seen the way the Manchester City have dominated across all competitions for a number of years. Now the title, where's the pivot point? What comes next? Some of these boys are thinking where's the opportunity going to come? If I can't win the title now under one of the best teams in Europe, when's the opportunity going to come?
Speaker 2:So I think it's like a case like winning is very difficult. As we've discussed, there's only one title per season. So it's just a case that Arteta's not won anything since his first season, with the FA Cup as well, and it's not like a glorious thing to look back on. As much as Liverpool under Klopp okay, it's only won one Premier League title, but it's a Champions League, it's League Cups, it's FA Cups that have gone into that as well. He's won the whole lot with them and that's why he's held. He was one of the Rodgers just because he broke that duct as well. Arsenal are pushing 20 years now without a Premier League title. Manchester United are coming up for 10 plus years without a title. Now Chelsea are kind of falling into that bracket where they've not won for a number of years either. So it's hard to win things, but when you've got a juggernaut in front of you, it just seems to be that mental task that becomes all the more tougher.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I completely agree with that. And it's also worth highlighting one of the players of the season, rodri, who hasn't lost now, I think, in 48, 49 Premier League games for Manchester City. And so the only time Manchester City lost games this season was that brief three and a half game spell where he got sent off and he was suspended. So that potentially worrying for game spell where he got sent off and he was suspended. So you know that potentially, um, potentially worrying for for next season, that you know they go on to then start scoring even more points. And there's no getting away from the fact City are a juggernaut and I'm definitely not trying to suggest otherwise, but the the task is um, eminently, eminently, I should say, more achievable, I think, than perhaps um it's suggested in some quarters. Moving on to Manchester United, they were also in action again last night with a 3-2 victory over Newcastle United. Goals from Kobe, maynew, diallo and Hoyland broke Newcastle hearts and made their chances of even Europa League football next season that bit slimmer, I should say. Gordon and Hall made it a little bit respectable and tried to set up a bit of a blockbuster finish, but in reality United were probably good for the win. On that one.
Speaker 1:We've discussed United to the hill here, mike. I think the main thing for them is that they've given themselves half a chance. Now they're on the same points as Newcastle, far far for them is that they've given themselves half a chance. Now they're on the same points as Newcastle far, far inferior goal difference. But they've given themselves half a chance of seventh. And that way, if they win the FA Cup, they get Europa League football. If they lose the FA Cup, they get Conference League football. And I think it's important for United for the fact the project looks like it's going to restart in the summer and for FFP that they find themselves in Europe next year and just try and make some progress from there, almost wipe the slate clean and go again.
Speaker 2:Yeah, but I think it'd be scandalous if my night match to Rob a European place for how poor they've been for a lot of the campaign as well. I think they've been for a lot of the campaign as well. I think they've been keep getting away with some results not this one, including. I think they did enough throughout the tie to see themselves pass Newcastle United, but some of the decisions that Ten Hag's been saying and his speech on the pitch, where he gave the most generic kind of well, you're the best fans in the world and we're going to try our best to bring the FA Cup back to this side of Manchester and that as well. It's a guy who knows he's on a sugary peg and to get a confidence league. That's fantastic. That could potentially give the next guy in charge should it be Gareth Southgate or whomever a platform to build upon as well.
Speaker 2:There's some youngsters that they've either bought the tournament or come through the academy that are contributing to the side. Now there does need to be a clearing of the decks. Whether it's Rashford goes somewhere where he can produce his better football. And, yeah, there's a few ageing bodies. So, as we've seen like Casemiro's probably going to leave, brand's definitely going to leave. Ericsson is another one you think probably had his day as well.
Speaker 2:So, yeah, I think there's certainly signs of life in Manchester United, should they get it right. But once again you're in a transition and it's been a transition for the last 12 years now since Ferguson retired. So that's really the disappointment. And when everything lies at the feet of the next manager coming in, then I assume that 10 eggs are not going to stick around, not through choice, but through design. If you're making all these large, sweeping changes, if you're the head at any Austin and all that's involved in the football recruitment side of the game as well, then I think you've got to really get at the manager as well and really come up with a clean slate and think how you're going to really build up this project, much in the way that Chelsea have, perhaps in a more smart, more acute way of dealing with things moving forward.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I absolutely, completely agree with all of that. The question I was going to ask you previously that I'll ask now is is Casemiro the worst signing, pound for pound, the worst signing in Premier League history? Because we've had some bad signings before for a lot of money Romelu Lukaku springs to mind, pepe Arsenal springs to mind but none of these players have sabotaged the team they play for quite in the same way that Casemiro seems to be doing at man United. Last season I think a lot of fans thought he was quite integral but worth mentioning he missed 11 games through suspension because he kept getting himself sent off. And then this season he's been absolutely dreadful and in particular in the last few games he handed Arsenal the victory at the weekend. He did his absolute best to give away a penalty a couple of times against Newcastle last night and he'd had some shocking performances in midfield or at centre-back in the previous few games as well. I cannot see a single positive that's come out of a £65 million signing here at man United.
Speaker 2:No, and you probably said it at the time as well like if Real Madrid are selling you players, that means their worth to Real Madrid is done. You know what I mean. You're not poaching boys off Real Madrid. And this was already an aged player in a position where these days you certainly need the legs and the mobility to move around in the position. And I think not that he surprised us. But I think he had a solid six months up to the Christmas and then, like you said, kept him getting suspensions, kept him picking up injuries, kept him making really, really daft challenges because he's exposed, and some of that is because of the set-up of the side around him. Like you see, like Real Madrid, they've got Modric, who's aged and he must be about 38 now Kroos, 36. But again, they don't look exposed in the way that Ancelotti set up the team around him. So it's a better give and take.
Speaker 2:He's been made to look like a fanny at centre-half. It's definitely not his position. I'm not sure why. I know Scott McTominay couldn't really come to himself in glory at centre-back for Scotland, but you would think at least, if you're struggling for bodies, he's perhaps at least a guy who will listen to Evans, who will help him through the game, whereas I think with Cassie Meadows' personality in terms of his ego and rightfully so, because he's necessarily going to cede the leadership qualities to his centre-back partner, whereas I think McTominay is very one who's a team player and would be happy sitting next to Evans and doing a job for him much as he has done, or in the team for Scotland as well.
Speaker 2:So I think it's an endless signing, a horrendous signing. It's just indicative of the kind of signing that man Utd's been making for years now kind of boys over the hill just because they're big names, whether it's Alexis Sanchez, angel Di Maria, paul Pogba as well. Another disaster, anthony, who was very pitchy when he got told to go to left back in Scotland, kind of had to dig him out at the weekend there as well. I think it's a. It's a manifestation of brand Manchester United thinking who's going to really move the ticker in the stock exchange rather than who's going to do it for us in the park.
Speaker 1:Yeah, absolutely going into the final day for those teams we've just discussed. Then Spurs away to Sheffield United. They need a point to confirm themselves. Finishing fifth Manchester City host West Ham. Manchester United away to Brighton. They'll be looking to get a win there, but I suspect, with an FA Cup final coming up, a lot of their players might be rotated. And Arsenal are home to Everton. Arsenal need a favour from West Ham, mike, a team has never come from lower in the table to win the Premier League on the final day in the history of the Premier League. Man United famously very, very nearly did it back in 2012, before the Aguero goal. But it's snooker's time, isn't it? And I presume that with your sensible hat on, you don't hold out a huge amount of hope, but perhaps with your lottery-winning hat on, you're hoping for the David Moyes Masterclass at the Etihad.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I've struggled to see that one happen. I think it was West Ham conceded that weekend there and it was the 17th consecutive game where they didn't keep a clean sheet. And I'm like, if there was any hope of arsene, when the title would think that west ham would have to keep harland and co quiet, and I just, I just can't see it now. Eminently possible, of course they could give where david moyes, one last big harabia. David moyes, masterclass in defending once again and backs to the wall. But I think it'd be very difficult. I think you'd actually see city perhaps running away with the game 4-5, perhaps even 6-0, should it come to that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I do agree with you. I think it'll be one of them where Manchester City are winning 3-0 after 25 minutes and sort of any conversations are finished. But it would be nice to get, it'd be nice to get an Aguero moment or an equivalent there. I'll tell you what would be really good. It's like the opposite of an Aguero moment, where Arsenal have already won, man City are winning 1-0 while on the pitch and then Rodri just lays one back to Ederson, but Ederson's not there and it rolls into the back of the net and that's how man City lose the league. Something really un-pet-like like that would be would be terrific. But I agree with you, I think it's actually, if anything, I think Arsenal are more likely to slip up against Everton than I think City will against West Ham. We'll move on then and continue talking about the challenges for the European berths. We'll move to the Forest Stadium. Here's Reece James. With time in berths will move to the Forest Stadium.
Speaker 1:Great goal that by Chelsea to grab victory. A wonderful cross, actually, from from Rhys James. Mikhail Mudrik opened the scoring after 8 minutes, only for Willy Bolle to equalise from a free kick that Benoit Badia-Shiel gave away and then played the De Forest defender onside, former Blue Callum Hudson-Odoi netted in his 100th Premier League appearance, before a quick-fire double from Raheem Sterling and Nicholas Jackson gave the visitors their first away win in the league in six. Chelsea followed that up with another victory on their travels, beating Brighton 2-1 last night. We'll start with Chelsea quickly here, mike.
Speaker 1:They really are ending the season in quite a purple patch of form. I was looking back through the form table. In the last 15 games only City and Arsenal have scored more points than Chelsea. And even in the last 20 only City, arsenal and Liverpool have more points than Chelsea. And if you wanted to extend it even further, the last 30 games, chelsea would be 5th and only a point behind Aston Villa. It kind of also starting to show some fight, grit, heart, determination in games that they're losing and, as Potts alluded to, if he could get some of his injured players back, he thinks this team has the quality as well as the personality to kick on. I think we're maybe seeing that in the last month or so.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and you talked about the amount of money you spent on a team that you would be able to have some quality within it. I think you see Gallagher sitting next to Caicedo and that's probably the best of Caicedo, I think. The case that he's not stumbled upon I don't like that expression. I just think they stumble on some sort of players that they've got and put them under formation. The combination of Jackson, mudrick, palmer and Madaweke, while they have some technical limitations, it seems to have kind of knitted together quite nicely. Palmer played more centrally. Obviously it's turned into this goal-scoring fiend. I think it's coming together nicely. There's still kind of aspects of it where you think Chelsea could still approve. But whether they have the finance to improve those situations, such as even though he's coming to a game he's playing more invited now, that's quite interesting. It's getting some of the better qualities out of him as well. But you've got the suspension worries now, with three teams being suspended for the first three games of next season, and Gusto's been in quality addition, but Chilwell as well. He's still always injured. You know what I mean. So that's disappointing. The goalkeeping situation Petrovic not convinced by him, to be honest in the long term and Sanchez, and that's two goalkeepers that Chelsea just signed this season as well to be effectively two backups. So they're still missing the number one there. So there is aspects of it where it's going well.
Speaker 2:I've always perhaps thought they're better than some of the parts in terms of where they were on the table.
Speaker 2:But, yeah, I think there's signs of where Poch can get things going. But again he's playing the drama in the media where he's thinking, oh well, maybe we won't be here next season, etc. And I think it's because the football kind of recruitment side of it is a bit all over the shop at this moment in time still as well. So I think if Chelsea manage to get their ducks in order and really act with some professionalism in terms of that that department, then it frees up Poch to really do his best as a coach and he evidently has got the best out of all of these players. I think he must be one of the most squad ages in the Premier League as well, especially with Thiago Silva leaving. That'll reduce it even further. So there are signs that these guys can progress and to be something more, but I think a lot of cosmetic work needs to be done in the summer and whether they have the finance and the capabilities to do that is another question, I suppose.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's an interesting one. Certainly, the reports coming out of Chelsea are that they're financially stable for this summer and it shouldn't have any FFP, shouldn't have any impact on their ability to improve the squad. I just hope that that means in a sensible manner. It was actually quite good that Chelsea didn't go and splurge in January and I think a couple of quality additions in the summer is all that's required. That'll obviously be expensive, but out and out.
Speaker 1:Number nine, nicholas Jackson, is playing well and improving, but I think I personally would prefer him to be back up European player alongside a more established striker, and perhaps he'll improve and turn into that. As you say, the squad's incredibly young. These guys don't need to be the best player. Right now. Nicholas Jackson's only 22 um. I agree in terms of the goalkeeper as well.
Speaker 1:I think I was speaking to somebody else earlier in the week about Petrovic and described him as the kind of goalkeeper that when a goal goes in, you never think, oh, he definitely should have saved that and he doesn't really show up with any clangers. But he also never makes any saves that get you out of your seat and think you know, he saved us a goal there. You look at even Stefan Ortega against Son on Tuesday there making an incredible save, and also Ederson against no, sorry, it was the other way around. It was Vicario against Foden in the first half. Petrovic just doesn't make any of those kind of saves. There is talk of signing Emi Martinez, which would be a laugh because he's a complete fucking shithouse and maybe in some ways that's the kind of personality that Chelsea could do with being injected into the team as a bit of a shithouse and, in fairness, a guy that's a bit of a winner as well. The way that he performs in big games is always absolutely stellar, so I think it will be a fascinating summer.
Speaker 1:I do hope box sticks around. I have said all season that there's absolutely no point in getting rid of them and I stand by that. So interesting to see, but just glad to finish the season with such positivity. I think it makes a massive difference going into a transfer window when your last 5-10 games have ended so well. While I don't think Chelsea will slip into 5th because I can't see Sheffield United getting a win against Spurs, even finishing sixth this season, given where it was started, will be actually a tremendous improvement worth noting. They finished 12th last year with 44 points and they're currently on 60. So you know if know if they finish on 63, that's an extra 19 points across the campaign. It's six places higher up the table. While it's not the kind of progress Chelsea would have anticipated needing, it's progress nonetheless, and they keep going in that direction. I think it's only going to be a better season again next year.
Speaker 1:On to Forest If you take points deductions out of it, the teams in the bottom quarter of the table, the one with the longest tenure is Brentford only three years. Mike, you asked the question are we seeing the gap to the top eight increasing, but actually a more worrying trend where we're seeing a gap increase between the sort of mid-table mediocrity of 13th 14th to the bottom five as well? We obviously know now that, strictly speaking, luton aren't down. But save for what is it they need? They need an 18-goal swing to stay up. So I think fairly safe to say that Luton are down. So all three promoted sides relegated for the first time since 97-98. It does look like there's a chasm opening down there, doesn't it?
Speaker 2:Yeah, even like Brentford season, they've been hit with injury after injury. So it's maybe a touch of fright in seeing them down there. But we know the issues that they've got in terms of how they can bridge the player gap in terms of quality. They have to be smart with their identification and not spending big wages. You know Fulmer have been a yo-yo side in the past as well and try to get some stability into their team. It's taken a while as well.
Speaker 2:Wolves are kind of the one that have been circling the dream for a number of years. I've been in the Premier League for five, six, seven years now. But even their team are more pushing towards Palace and Bournemouth now rather than just trying to stay in the division. So you think, even like say, it's less than Ipswich coming back. A lot of people thought Burnley, who are playing nicely trying to football in the Championship, might transition and might finish comfortable in the league and it's not transpired. And we do fear, perhaps because Ipswich, even though they're under similar American ownership and might spend a lot of money in the summer, is that enough of a gap to even bridge it towards a Crystal Palace or even a Bournemouth or anything like that, like that. So I do think, like, while it's become more of a close shop in terms of the top, in terms of those are probably the eight names you do expect to be there probably not in that necessarily in the order.
Speaker 2:I think they just try to stay in the division. Try because the palace, who just spelled upon 12th and 13th place, finishes. There's no kind of disrespect towards that and it'd be nice to have a european tour every once in a while. But, listen, if you are building infrastructure, if you want to get better players, if you want to get better facilities, it all has to come from kind of building, from a smaller base. And look, I think it's going to be very hard, even if it's two or three names that come back up that went down last season, to once again bridge that gap and really try and force themselves into an area where you're safe and comfortable for most of the season.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I completely agree with all of that. In fact, I did want to touch on and I appreciate it's just the Forest game. We've obviously done quite a lot in Forest. I did want to touch on Burnley in particular, mike. Just given the as you alluded to there, the kind of hype that they came up with and then sort of how much of a damp squib that's been since. It sounds like Vincent Company's gonna stay with Burnley. That seems to be the murmurings that we're hearing, um, and try and bring them back up again. But it it's an interesting um. What am I trying to say here? It's difficult.
Speaker 1:I just think the Burnley project has been fascinating.
Speaker 1:They completely changed their style of play.
Speaker 1:They came up it's worth mentioning they spent 90 million quid in the summer, including buying 20 million quid in a goalkeeper that they've subsequently dropped for the goalkeeper that they had anyway, and it hasn't worked at all. And we discussed it a little bit last week that Kompany has this sort of style of play. But I think he's done his own stock quite badly this season, given his inability to adapt, to learn, to show any form of pragmatism whatsoever. And, as we said last week, if you come up and you play the same way as all the other teams in the league, but your players aren't as good. You're going to get beat every week, which is which is largely what's what's happened. You know their points total is only made respectable, actually, by points against Luton and Sheffield United. Their points against the other 17 teams has has been incredibly poor this season and I wonder if you think can you see Kompany sort of learning from this experience and maybe doing a bit of a Sean Dyche? Go away, come back up straight again and come back fighting, come back stronger.
Speaker 2:Well, that's going to be a litmus test for Kompany, I imagine, moving forward if he has a career in the top table of England, because if he doesn't go back down, get Burnley back up, even if they say, finish 16th in that season and play in the style of football that they do, they've evidently solved one issue, which is they play nice, attractive football, so that becomes now a brand, and how do you get build upon it? And how do you get build upon it? And how do you get players into the door now because, say, just abandoning his ideas went route one and still got relegated. That would more go against him in terms of his career trajectory as a manager, because then you're just seen as a firefighter, aren't you? And I think that's why you really see likes of Sean Dyche and Sam Ardice and the likes. Now you're not seeing any of them really come back into the top flight to do safety jobs now. So I think, while football's evolving to this way where everybody plays football, not many teams go direct. I think you have to do that for your own career, because if you abandon your principles, I think teams and recruiters now get off that. They want guys with a style, they want guys with a plan and while it's like I said, that it all becomes homogenized, I don't think you are become like like even like sunday or even the point of production would be a top half side. That's a tremendous job considering all the malaise and the kind of nonsense that's surrounding everyone that has them for a, the kind of nonsense that's surrounding everyone that has them for a number of years. But nobody's saying everyone walks into the Brighton job if the Zubby leaves. Or nobody's saying if Ange walks tomorrow that Sean Dyche should come in.
Speaker 2:But while maybe a leap at this moment in time to say, oh well, company could do the same thing, I think it's less of a leap if oneley go down, come back up and then solidify themselves because you think, oh, maybe that transition would benefit us, whereas Shandic you know it's very root one, it's very rudimental and there's nothing wrong with that, it's very good for his evidence side. But how do you evolve that? How do you scale that up? And I think that's really where the difficulty comes with with just abandoning your principles and changing their direction, even if you need to be more pragmatic and the best managers are pragmatic.
Speaker 2:Arsenal are one of the best defensive teams in the league, they're also one of the best attackers. Same goes for man City. There is errors, there have been issues with the transition, but they're still one of the better ones. You know, eddie House side that was one and the Newcastle side's been porous, but they've got a lot of defensive injuries and they've been playing a backup goalkeeper for a large period of the season and Ten Hag's just an absolute rabble at the back.
Speaker 2:So the best managers do manage to tether playing nice, attractive football, but while being pragmatic and defensively sound and that's what Burnley have to do they have to shift and their goalkeeper situation hasn't helped because even though Muret has been making saves, you see when he plays with his feet he's cost them points this season and points that possibly kept him in the Premier League if Forrest Because it was Forrest and Berman last year this evening. And so those two situations where they let the ball roll onto his feet against Brighton and kicking the ball off Dominic Calvert-Lewin, the ball wrong under his feet against Brighton and kicking the ball off Dominic Carvallone that could mean an extra four points that Muretches directly cost his team just because he's not comfortable with the ball at his feet and playing that style. So I think it all ties in, whereas Burnley are unfortunate in some instances, but they made the road for them back in a lot of cases.
Speaker 1:Yeah, absolutely, and in all seasons as well. Nottingham Forest could lose at the weekend and then stay up with 29 points, which I assume is the lowest ever points total to survive in the Premier League. I haven't double checked that, but to score less than 30 and survive seems like it must be the lowest. And granted, they obviously have actually scored 31 points. But that's sort of by the by in terms of what it would have required for Luton and Burnley to stay up. We've discussed a bit of Luton. We'll probably come on to them when we do the end of the season stuff.
Speaker 1:Just a sort of quick word, mike, here on Villa and Liverpool 3-3, great comeback by Villa. Hilarious goal by John Duran at the end where the sort of through ball is smashed at him at thigh height and rather fortunately loops up and into the back of the net. But Unai Emery's done a sensational job. They were guaranteed Champions League football after that Tottenham result and he's got to be manager of the season, doesn't he? He's got to be where he's taken them from. Steven Gerrard 18 months ago is nothing short of sensational.
Speaker 2:No, absolutely. When you consider that he'd done something that they couldn't do at Arsenal and that's the version they talk for, it's quite incredible with the strength of the teams surrounding them. He's built something of what was a good squad, but it was was underutilised by Gerrard. He's transformed the football department as well. He's got his pal Monchi, who's well respected at Sevilla for all those years.
Speaker 2:I think the only thing that's lovely is what we'll come into in the European, whereas the Conference League was there for the taking, and that's kind of very disappointing, until it's 4-2 at home to Olympiacos in the first leg and that really cost them. I think that would have been the icing on the cake if a team like Villa could have won a title to go with their success this season. But I think for what he's done and it kind of goes to the fact that the manager of the season shouldn't necessarily just go to the guy that wins the title, because that's what the title's for, it's for the manager, who's probably done the best with the resources at his disposal. And I think, when you consider the fact that Chelsea spent a lot of money and that's not to say I haven't spent any money, but you'd say, imagine if Emery had those resources to spend on. Think. What he's done with that squad of players is truly remarkable. I am considering the first day of the season. He got beat 5-1 off Newcastle.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's quite funny to look back at that and the fortunes and the directions of the two teams since then. We'll do more on Liverpool, sort of in the round-ups and stuff. We've spent a fair bit of time on them recently. You did just allude to it there that Villa ultimately went out 6-2 on aggregate to Olympiacos in the Conference League, while in the other side of the draw Fiorentina went through 4-3 against Brugge. It sets up a Fiorentina-Olympiacos final in Athens, which is obviously the home of Olympiacos but, rather interestingly, an AEK stadium. So Olympiacos would no doubt absolutely love to lift the trophy there, and they're of course owned by Nottingham Forest chief Marinakis as well. So an interesting sort of oh, a lot of interesting talking points, I guess, going into that, going into that final and it'll be a good one to watch.
Speaker 1:In the Europa League, atalanta came out 4-1 victors against Marseille, while Bahadur Leverkusen kept their quite astonishing unbeaten record alive with yet another late comeback in that game against Roma, and since then have now gone on to be unbeaten in 50 games. It extends what was the European record held by Benfica between 1964 and 65 of 49 games unbeaten in all competitions, and it's just a bonkers job being done by Xavi Alonso. There they're in the German Cup final against lower league opposition, and it would be quite sensational if it was Kaiserslautern that ruined this long-running unbeaten record. But they of course have the Europa League final as well. And then we mentioned at the top the Champions League final. Borussia Dortmund sensationally threw against PSG while Real Madrid do what Real Madrid do, and former Stoke striker Hosolu drove them into the final against Bayern Munich. And so they'll play Borussia Dortmund in London, at Wembley, and it'll be Marco Reus's final game for the club.
Speaker 1:And you've also got um what's his face? The centre-back Hummels. You've also got Hummels both, who played in the previous Wembley final. No, it wasn't in Wembley, was it? Both played in the? No, it was in Wembley.
Speaker 2:The one against Munich. Yeah, yeah, it was at.
Speaker 1:Wembley Against Bayern Munich. So they'll be hoping to change their fortunes there. Quick round-up back in England Bolton through to the League 1 playoff final, coming out 5-4 victors against Barnsley and Oxford beating Peter but I don't think Oxford have been in the championship for 20-30 years, something absolutely crazy like that. So they'll be hoping to overcome Bolton. Bolton, obviously former Premier League team that have spent a long, long time away. League 2 playoffs Crawley coming out 8-1 victors against MK Dons. And devastating news for Doncaster, as they were beating 2-0 in the second leg to take it to penalties before losing 6-5 to Crewe. That final is this weekend. Just also worth mentioning.
Speaker 1:While we're in England, mike the Wolves have petitioned a vote, which will take place in early June, for the scrapping of VAR. They cite a number of reasons, being the time it takes for decisions to be made, the impact it has on the flow of football, the fact that it isn't creating a large enough increase in new correct decisions Interesting. Their final point was that it fuels nonsensical conspiracy theories about corruption within the refereeing community. Clearly I dig it. Nottingham Forest, that one. It needs 14 teams to vote for it. The news that came out shortly thereafter was that the Premier League teams look set to vote to keep VAR, but to use the vote as a way to drive improvements. It's an interesting period, mike, that it's going to a vote. It's quite a big step by the Premier League, completely out of kilter with the rest of European football, and it'll be fascinating just kind of see what happens between now and then in terms of the politics going on with that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, well, I think evidently you need a discussion because nobody seems to be happy from any of the stakeholders about the implementation of VAR and not, most importantly, the refs. But I get the sense that the refs aren't too buzzing about it. I noticed when Willie Colm has took the head of a refereeing job, he of intimating the fact that they need to improve on how VAR works in Scotland. So evidently this is a case issue of north and south of the border as well. But yeah, I think using the vote as an idea of how to create better conversations around VAR, better implementation of VAR, is a sensible way to go about it. And going by the VAR score net positive or negative moves have been in a lot of decisions that I've got against them, so I can understand why maybe they're putting forward the case for it. I just think that VAR it can be a good thing if utilised properly. But there's just a lot of situations that we've talked about. We've discussed over the kind of couple of years that we've been doing the podcast about how it doesn't just seem to be used in the correct application of what it needs to be used for. It seems to be a lot of minor decisions sometimes being overturned and a lot of big ones not even being seen at the time. So, yeah, there needs to be a kind of broader discussion, like you said.
Speaker 2:I don't think they'll vote it out because that would make them and Sweden the only two of the top rugby leagues in Europe, not to have VAR, and it'd be crazy if one of the big teams especially as well sorry, one of the big leagues especially as well voted to get rid of it. I think the only case as well is what IFAB has made up of the United Kingdom as well. So you think, if there'd be any way you can go about changing legislation within the laws of the game, well, the Premier League would be one of the kind of factors that could go about making change with the FA as well. So it's in their court to make it a better product. Much so for themselves, because obviously they sell it across the world and it makes big money for them. So getting it right and getting people appeased with the correct decisions is obviously the correct way to go about things.
Speaker 1:Yeah, absolutely. I think everything you've said there is spot on and it is interesting. I agree with you that I don't think anybody is happy with it. Question whether if the Premier League did get rid of it, it might in some ways it might actually work for them in sense of being this global product, because so many fans do seem to be disheartened with it that it might make everybody love the Premier League even more because you get to watch football in its purest form. Exactly what we said about Scotland I think it was a fortnight ago now in terms of one of the reasons that they should consider removing it it.
Speaker 1:I think the Premier League are meant to have semi-automated offsides coming in next season. I do think that'll make a massive difference because it makes the offside decision making process infinitely quicker and infinitely more definitive. And I think, even though it's toenail off sides, when you see it in that kind of graphic that the semi-automated product produces, it's a lot easier to accept than the kind of funny, blurred, squint drawn lines that you see across the pitch. So I think that would actually take away one of the biggest criticisms of VAR and make people a bit happier with it. It doesn't really help the oh, you can't actually celebrate goals. I think that's a bit of a misnomer. I hear people say, oh, I don't even celebrate goals anymore because they might be chopped off by VAR. You look at a stadium when a goal goes in, unless people already think it's offside, then usually the flag's gone up. But that happened anyway. Goals that were where the flag went up. That happened in football anyway.
Speaker 1:You would go fuck's sake and you see the Lionels standing with his flag up. The difference is now that sometimes you then get them back, which we've seen in the Real Madrid game. You know that was flagged for offside against Hossalou and they went ah yeah, okay, he's offside, and then they get given it and then everyone goes absolutely bonkers. So you do celebrate it and I think you know most of the time teams do celebrate wildly and then you know VAR chocks it off and kind of everyone gets on with it again, but it's obviously not working in terms of the penalties, red cards etc. There was an example in the man United-Newcastle game. Anthony Gordon had his heel trod on while being pulled by Amrabat. I thought it was a penalty and I said straight away this won't be overturned by VAR. I think it's a penalty but it's not going to meet the threshold, and that seems to be the outcome. You and I were discussing the Vardyol penalty with Wolves, where the independent panel held in a vote three to two that that shouldn't have been a penalty on the field but unanimously voted 5-0, that VAR shouldn't get involved with it, and I think it's these sort of things that fans really struggle to get their head around how the panel can look at it and say it's a penalty, but say that it shouldn't have been given as a penalty effectively. So there's a lot of work to be done. I think one difficulty I have with this idea that the Premier League teams will use it to drive improvement is nobody seems to have any ideas, actual ideas, even us. We're discussing what's wrong with it and fans keep saying it's not VAR, that's the problem, it's the people using VAR. Well, where are these other people coming from? Um, as we've discussed many times, referees don't grow on trees, and certainly not referees that are better than the ones that you've already got, that's for sure. So um and Howard Webb's determined to get ex-pros involved and to fast track them, but I haven't seen anything to suggest that that's actually got legs yet and is and is moving. Um, so I is moving. So I do struggle to see sort of what these improvements could be, and I think fans will just continue to moan irrespective of what happens, and rightly so, because that's what fans pay their money for. Largely is for a release. But it is fascinating and it's obviously a big step in the Premier League that they're even considering it.
Speaker 1:We'll save the major Scottish round up for next week, mike, but obviously we've got to note that Celtic are crown champions now. They had a 2-1 victory over Rangers at the weekend and then secured the title against Kilmarnock last night, rangers beating Dundee, which did push it back to Celtic and it could have gone to the final day, but Celtic made sure and they'll lift the trophy. At the weekend, st Johnston and Ross County drew on one, which leaves Saints needing a win at the weekend and County to not. Otherwise, it'll be St Johnston against Wraith Rovers or Partick Thistle to stay in the league. Wraith Rovers have got a one-goal lead heading into the decider tomorrow night, which is fascinating because Wraith Rovers haven't been in the top flight for an incredibly long time. So it'd be a really interesting promotion, but obviously one that you, sheila and many of the friends of the podcast. I'm actually wearing a retro pars top right now, coincidentally as well. So yeah, a lot of our listeners will be hoping we do not make it up in St Johnston. Stay in the league to stink it out under Craig Levine for another 12 months.
Speaker 1:Inverness beat Montrose. They play Hamilton in the final. The first leg of that was last night.
Speaker 1:Mike yeah, 2-1 Hamilton yeah 2-1, hamilton, who you did say you anticipated would go up, and then in League 2, or for promotion into League 1, sorry, sterling Albion beaten by Dumbarton, which means they go straight back down and Spartans thumping Peterhead 7-2. So it's Spartans against Dumbarton in the final. Have we had a leg of that yet?
Speaker 2:Yeah, dumbarton won 2-1, so it goes back to Spartans, which will be interesting. It'll be close. It'll be interesting if either one of those teams go up, because Spartans are the low-level league champions from last season. That'd be consecutive promotions and Dunbarton have spent quite a number of seasons out of the League One wilderness as well, so it would be interesting if either one of those teams go up.
Speaker 1:Yeah, well, actually, because League Two in Scotland was a fascinating league as well and there was a lot of quality at the top Dunbarton Spartans. Obviously Stenhouse Muir went up automatically, so it'll be really interesting to see. So absolutely, if you get the opportunity to watch that, it would certainly be worth it. That's on Friday at half past seven kickoff. So yeah, we'll come on, we'll do a proper Scotland roundup in the next couple of weeks, mike, really to go through it, although worth highlighting. If you haven't seen the Lundstrom sending off for Rangers and Kenny Miller's complete meltdown on commentary thereafter, please, please, dig it out, because it's absolutely sensational. You know, somebody has had a nightmare where Chris Boyd is saying it would have been a red card in the 70s, never mind now trying to bail him out. He got so angry he started shouting at Willie Colum speaking to a Rangers player and Kenny Miller screaming in commentary why?
Speaker 2:is he?
Speaker 1:so angry talking to the players man, why is he so angry? It's just absolute gold. Completely and utterly lost the plot with his Rangers hat on. No doubt that was a cracker, mike, absolute pleasure. We go into the final day on Sunday all to play for at the top of the league, less to play for elsewhere. Hopefully everybody can tune in. I've already got a four screen set up ready to go in hindsight I'm not entirely sure why, because only two of the games particularly matter. But I guess I can have Chelsea and the Spurs games on the other screens to see who will get into the top five as well. But it's fingers crossed. We are both wrong and we're treated to a cracker, and maybe you'll be a happy man next week if Arsenal can get themselves over the line. But thank you, as ever, for your time there, mike, and we'll speak again next week.