EPL Week 35 – Tensions and Tactics

In this electrifying episode of Football Yanks, join hosts Derek, Luke, and Ryan as they dissect an action-packed week in the Premier League. The hosts discuss Harry Maguire's recent form and the broader challenges facing Manchester United's recruitment strategies. Amidst the tactical talk, there's some unique banter about possibly bringing Harry's mom on the show for a heartwarming mother’s perspective on football pressures, with a dash of humor to keep the atmosphere light.

As the conversation heats up, the trio delves into the thorny issue of VAR's influence on the game, fiercely debating its impact on referee confidence and judgment calls, especially in the dramatic ending of a recent controversial match. Attention then shifts to the strategic adjustments Chelsea's coaching staff made at halftime and how injuries are reshaping team dynamics across the league — notably Brighton’s struggling lineup and the tactical tinkering at Chelsea.

Take advantage of Derek, Luke, and Ryan's anecdotes, from TV repairs to battling illness, which add a personal touch to their analysis. Additionally, they explore the instability at Barcelona, speculate on potential blockbuster transfers, including discussions around Rashford and Christian Erickson, and predict the high stakes in the impending Tottenham vs. Chelsea clash.

By the end, the hosts lay down their bold predictions and share their fiery takes on everything from managerial changes to the mid-table turmoil affecting teams like Crystal Palace and Chelsea. Tune into this episode of Football Yanks for your comprehensive roundup of EPL Week 35 — infused with humor, expert insight that will keep you well-informed, and the unmatched camaraderie of Derek, Luke, and Ryan. Subscribe to never miss all the drama, both on and off the pitch!

LIVE on Twitch Every Sunday whenever Luke feels like it

Check out our website: footballyanks.com
Join the Discord: Football Yanks Discord

Transcript

Derek [00:00:00]:
Everybody, this is the football Yanks podcast for week 34. This week we'll be covering two rounds of matches, so lots to talk about. We're especially going to focus on the top four, the results there. And then because we feel obligated to hurt ourselves, we're going to talk about Tottenham and Chelsea as well, and then throw a little tidbits on Yanks in the ranks to wrap everything up. Anything else I missed, guys?

Ryan [00:00:28]:
Yeah. You'll get our score predictions. It'll be house divided part two for Tottenham and Chelsea. Luke, you got anything? No, absolutely. Luke's here. We should probably let everyone know when Luke is here.

Derek [00:00:43]:
Yeah, you'll.

Luke [00:00:44]:
My attendance rate has been as good as anybody else's.

Ryan [00:00:47]:
Luke will pop in later.

Derek [00:00:48]:
You may not see him at the beginning, but you'll see him there by the end. All right, everybody, thanks for tuning in. Yeah, we're american, but we're talking about soccer here. Hosts Derek Ryan and Luke are all football fanatics tracking our fellow Yanks in the EPL and abroad. Enjoy today's episode.

Ryan [00:01:14]:
What's going on, man? How are you doing? Good.

Derek [00:01:18]:
Just, you know, spent, uh, spent the better part yesterday disassembling and soldering and reassembling. Actually, I need to finish that. My, my 20 year old tv. Give it another, uh. I think I'm gonna give another ten year lifespan. We'll see. Maybe that's too aggressive, but I guess it's like 15 years. But we're trying to go for 20.

Ryan [00:01:43]:
So where is it? Where do you keep this?

Derek [00:01:46]:
This was the tv I had, like, in my. My exit, like, my spare room, my den. Right. And so it's got these capacitors that are going to go bad, and then the tv will stop turning on and there he is. Yeah. Like, kind of like Luke. It'll just intermittently shut off randomly, and so by replacing the capacitors, it resolves the problem. And I upgraded the capacitors this time.

Ryan [00:02:11]:
So who knows?

Derek [00:02:11]:
Maybe I'll get, like, 15 years of useful life out of it this time. I don't know how much time you got left with us, Luke.

Ryan [00:02:19]:
Yeah. So for context, we got tired of waiting for Luke and just launched the episode and he just joined the right decision.

Derek [00:02:29]:
So we got some filler about. Yeah, we figured we'll have Derek's home tv repair as the lead, and then we'll just have Luke join as he pleases.

Luke [00:02:39]:
Welcome to the podcast, Luke.

Ryan [00:02:41]:
Yep. So, yeah, that pixelated mess that jumped on your screen is Luke Farley. Yeah.

Derek [00:02:51]:
If you can't tell. I mean, it's probably. Yeah, it's gonna clarify that.

Ryan [00:02:55]:
And this is the Luke Farley podcast. Yeah, I mean, we just do whatever you say.

Derek [00:03:03]:
I don't think we're in charge anymore.

Luke [00:03:05]:
We aggressively take it over the podcast week by week.

Ryan [00:03:10]:
Yeah, it's been pretty aggressive.

Derek [00:03:14]:
Yeah, you might think it's passive aggressive. This set response on Sunday being. What time did you guys say?

Ryan [00:03:21]:
Yeah, it's been the. The unrelenting march of Luke Farley's podcast takeover.

Luke [00:03:29]:
You guys made a mistake is how.

Ryan [00:03:30]:
I would describe it. Well, we. We were talking about Derek rebuilding his tv for some reason. Why I think my weekend.

Luke [00:03:42]:
That's what I do it. I'm not watching soccer fucking tv.

Ryan [00:03:46]:
Yeah. I don't. Well, so I, like, free now.

Derek [00:03:49]:
I bought. Well, not the.

Ryan [00:03:50]:
What?

Derek [00:03:51]:
Yeah, not the one I bought. But I did buy a new tv.

Luke [00:03:53]:
I'll take it.

Derek [00:03:54]:
So I have an excess tv. So I'm donating. I'm donating it to somebody, you know, family in need.

Luke [00:04:01]:
I don't have kids, so Luke does not qualify.

Derek [00:04:05]:
I don't. We can talk about what kind of discount you've got for friends and family and your new job, but you're donating.

Ryan [00:04:14]:
The tv that you just rebuilt. You, like, soldered the parts to. To a family in need.

Derek [00:04:21]:
Yes.

Ryan [00:04:22]:
Okay, so you're trying to set a needy family on fire is so, like, to me.

Derek [00:04:29]:
It's funny you mention that. I may or may not have reversed the polarity the first time. I wired the capacitors into the board, and they may have immediately popped and smoking. So there are. The polarity is correct.

Luke [00:04:42]:
You can either give it to a needy turn on and test it, or you could give it to me to put above my bathtub so when I take a bath, I can both watch Netflix and think of you.

Derek [00:04:51]:
What's better if we put a tv above your bathtub? We're never gonna see you on this podcast on Sunday.

Ryan [00:05:00]:
Yeah, the audio couldn't be worse than what I had to edit last week.

Derek [00:05:12]:
Those bubbles I hear.

Ryan [00:05:15]:
I had to. I was so sick, man. Like, I. It was all I could do to get it. To. To get to the race that Shannon was. Was running. And, like, she.

Ryan [00:05:26]:
Like, somebody had to go. Like, she needed to drop her shit off to. To someone. Like, at the start line, I think they have bag drops, but that's always a pain in the ass. Um, so anyway, I just, like. I felt like. I think starting Thursday of last week, I felt like. Like absolute hell.

Ryan [00:05:45]:
Um, and, uh. Uh, I just gutted it out. And then Monday was, like, peak. Like, I felt like Shannon saw me Monday and said, it's, like, the sickest she's ever seen me. And I'm sitting there, like, I honestly thought you recorded next to your, like, running dryer. Like, it was just this consistent noise. Your mic was never quiet. Like, there.

Ryan [00:06:09]:
If there was always. Yeah, there was always this. This, like, white noise or something.

Luke [00:06:17]:
The window was open, or my fan was on. Yeah, the two. There's probably the windows open. Some shithead was using their AC unit, like, in April. Yeah. But really, I'm just here to make.

Ryan [00:06:28]:
Life difficult for you guys, so. Yeah, so where I'm going is, like, I'm sitting. I'm sick as shit. I'm having to, like, meticulously edit this episode that they're just trashing me the whole time.

Derek [00:06:47]:
I was gonna ask what you thought of the episode, but it sounds like we're gonna get into that organically here.

Ryan [00:06:53]:
Yeah, I mean, I don't. It's pretty funny. I mean, our numbers have never been lower than that episode.

Luke [00:07:02]:
They've ever been. I don't believe you at all.

Ryan [00:07:07]:
They have. Honestly, we've been. We've, like, been flat for two. Two months. Yeah. So, yeah, yeah, I don't. It's. Honestly, it coincided with me not being able to post on social media as much because my job is awful.

Luke [00:07:22]:
We should make it more interesting, like I said. Yeah, more politics, for sure. Everybody wants to hear us talk about politics. And then with the second thing. And I can offer this, right. Instead of live streaming video, I could take the podcast from the tub, and I can be, like, a cam girl for, like, an hour. It's like.

Derek [00:07:42]:
I. I might be in finance, not marketing, but I think I.

Ryan [00:07:47]:
Know where the numbers are gonna go.

Luke [00:07:49]:
So I might be the first person to make money off this podcast.

Ryan [00:07:54]:
One of us has to be football yanks. He sets up his own. Yeah. Leaks onlyfans. Yeah. I don't know it. I need to get back to, like, I just need time to edit all the clips that go on social media. Like, posting to Twitter doesn't seem anybody anymore.

Ryan [00:08:22]:
Like, is Twitter, like, a thing still? I won't call it x.

Luke [00:08:27]:
Okay.

Ryan [00:08:28]:
I won't even. I dead named Twitter.

Luke [00:08:31]:
It's.

Derek [00:08:32]:
I'd say it's useful if you want to get a clip of something that, like, just happened in sports. And that's the only time I log into it. But wait.

Ryan [00:08:39]:
But.

Derek [00:08:40]:
But I think it does have a use case for how Ryan has used it both from a marketing standpoint. And just for, you know, our enjoyment really is the most important part of that, which is Ryan just. Just trolling straight through the back of United fans.

Ryan [00:08:56]:
Oh, yeah. Over and over again.

Derek [00:08:58]:
Yeah, I'm here for.

Ryan [00:08:59]:
Which was fruitful this weekend. It was fish in a barrel.

Derek [00:09:04]:
Well, as it usually is. Yeah. Luke may not remember.

Luke [00:09:08]:
I definitely don't usually. What the fuck even happened this week?

Derek [00:09:16]:
It would probably help. One of your co hosts spent less time on dating apps and more time on social media, too.

Luke [00:09:21]:
Not nearly, I'm telling you. But onlyfans could be our savior.

Derek [00:09:25]:
Culpability.

Ryan [00:09:29]:
Let's. Let's check out the standings. So we got Arsenal currently in first place, although City has a game in hand. So 80 points for Arsenal City, 79, Liverpool 75. City holding a game in hand over both of those clubs and Villa 67. Not looking good for Tottenham getting into the Cl. Yeah, it's not gonna happen, I don't think.

Luke [00:09:59]:
Unfortunate, but not unexpected.

Ryan [00:10:00]:
I'm so sorry. Yeah, the England team's just bombing out of the Champions League. Uh, that didn't definitely be fair. Weeks, like, you're not. You're not at risk of United overtaking you. So, like, you, like, had the english teams got, like, gotten the coefficient, I also.

Luke [00:10:26]:
You would have think we really deserve it. Like hoping, like, hoping on a fifth place finish when that's never been the case before. It's a little. I don't know, it's a little naive. Even for. Even for a Spurs.

Ryan [00:10:37]:
Yeah, even for a Spurs, beggars can be choosers.

Luke [00:10:42]:
I don't think the Europa League for a team at the stage that spurs are in is going to be a bad thing. And honestly, you got to give it to Villa. Villa went and beat Arsenal last week. Like, they deserve to be in the top four. Like, just generally. So, yeah, not a huge spurs game. Do you guys watch that today or do you want to follow the sh.

Ryan [00:11:03]:
Yeah, yeah, we can do that. I watched some of it. I saw the. I was watching the Chelsea game during the first half and I got the text from you that, ange, ball has been figured out. And then I flip back over. I mean, literally the moment the third goal was scored, I have her, its header into the goal and then I got to see the halftime highlights or whatever and it didn't look that bad. Like, it. The score line was bad, but it looked like Tottenham was playing pretty well.

Ryan [00:11:46]:
But then just got kind of done in by a couple of set pieces and I think it was Havertz from.

Luke [00:11:53]:
A corner, a Hoiberg own goal from a corner near post, both of them pretty much. And then Sokka scores on just a counterattack. I think the Saka goal is really the controversial one because Kulcheski was fouled in the box. I I'm not like, it's not a huge foul. It's not like he gets, it's not like Declan Rice kicking someone's fucking nuts in the middle of the box, which happened later in the game. But yeah, that was called. And it was.

Ryan [00:12:21]:
That was called, though. That's how you got your second goal.

Luke [00:12:24]:
But really, that looked at from a VAR perspective, I think, in terms of the standard. But that all being said, it was like, we can't give two goals away from fucking a corner, from corner kicks. Like, I don't like, this has been happening constantly. Angie needs to step the fuck up and take responsibility and say, we're not doing enough on the training pitch to defend corners. It's just not like, how do you, like, not slap the fucking tan off Ben White's face as he backs into your goalie? Like, punch that. Punch that dude in the back of the.

Derek [00:12:54]:
Easier said than done. I mean, that's a tan that's been worked on for the better part the whole season. So, I mean, where was Timba?

Luke [00:13:02]:
No, Verna got hurt in the first round.

Ryan [00:13:04]:
He didn't even make the squad.

Luke [00:13:06]:
Yeah. And, uh, and, uh, and I hope.

Ryan [00:13:09]:
Oh, okay, I missed that part again.

Luke [00:13:12]:
I think. I think he's been a. I think.

Ryan [00:13:15]:
You'Re buying him d. Oh, that's a deal. That's a screaming deal.

Derek [00:13:19]:
Yeah. He's gonna be a starter.

Luke [00:13:21]:
Never what most likely case for 15 million pounds. In terms of the market, he's really not about signing. Right. But not for spurs like Fulham. Like, wolves is that kind of club that Vernon really needs to be going to like, realistically. But if he's on our squad next year, I'm gonna fucking take a shit sandwich and send it to Daniel Levy. It's just gonna be.

Ryan [00:13:45]:
Is that like an annual tradition or where's the bar for the.

Luke [00:13:52]:
Daniel Levy gets a nice harassing nail for me.

Derek [00:13:58]:
He doesn't. Always watching the tv in the bathroom.

Luke [00:14:03]:
No, but the second half was encouraging. I think they did play well generally. I just think you can't get, you can't lose a game on two set pieces and a counter attack. So the counter attack is really where I was like, oh, yeah, they figured it out. Keep a wide high, play the ball over the top. He's going to do Ben Davies every single time like.

Derek [00:14:25]:
Yeah, I looked at that lineup and I was like, why the hell is Hoyberg in this lineup? And then he goes and scores an old goal. So arguably, anyone that would have started in place of them would have been taller and bigger than.

Luke [00:14:37]:
I don't think the own goal is kind of unlucky. Like, I've been a defender that in that near post, you know, it is a tough position, especially with the quality of ball coming in, but I don't think Hoiberg should have been in the stern lineup. I agree. Even through the passage of play, he just, like, isn't good enough on the ball. He's just not good enough on the ball for a team that wants to play the way that that team wants to play. I was very disappointed. I think it was more of, like, a message to Basuma than it was anything else. I think it was like, yo, get your fucking shit together.

Luke [00:15:07]:
Like, you're expendable, essentially. So hopefully that, and Basuma came on and did play really well. So I. My hope is that, you know, Bisuma keeps starting and Hoiper gets old. Yeah.

Derek [00:15:21]:
Where gets sold.

Luke [00:15:23]:
He's a good player.

Ryan [00:15:24]:
Nothing wrong with Bentiker. Bent occur. I feel like, I mean, I don't watch all spurs matches. I feel like you guys were pretty poor in the midfield in general.

Luke [00:15:36]:
Yeah, he's not.

Ryan [00:15:37]:
I didn't think bent her was very good. And Madison. Yeah, Madison has not seen the same Tony since he came back from injury. So, like, that's. I think that that's like, the nucleus of your issues right now is the middle of the part. There's just a lot of inconsistency.

Luke [00:15:57]:
I think you're right, Madison. I'll give Bentiker until next season to make a judgment. He was out. He was out for 1112 months. Like, you got to give a player that happens to, like, some, like, basically half a season to get anywhere near where they were before and a preseason. But, yeah, Madison's just, like, not making an impact. And I think Derek might have said this. The teams just figured out how to crowd him out, make him go short.

Luke [00:16:22]:
Make him. Yeah, yeah.

Ryan [00:16:25]:
He got found out. Yeah. So you don't think it's any, like, lingering issue from the injury took. I don't even know the nature of the injury.

Luke [00:16:34]:
I just know he's out for a couple months.

Ryan [00:16:36]:
Right.

Luke [00:16:37]:
But usually. I'm sorry, Derek.

Derek [00:16:39]:
Yeah, but I think. Well, I was gonna say, but to that point, right. I think that's where Teemo becomes even bigger issue, because you can throw more of your attention than 100% because you're less concerned about Teemo.

Luke [00:16:53]:
In terms of the flow of the game. When son got moved out left and Richarlison got brought in. You can say whatever you want about Richarlison, but son at least put makes. Makes defenders scared, right? Like he's a fucking threat off both feet. Teemo is a threat off no feet. Like, yeah, like he just. He's just fast cause he has no feet. And then.

Luke [00:17:18]:
So I think that that was also a mistake. If Richardson's fit enough, he should be starting the game and son should be playing out left with Johnson being this kind of super son. Yeah, but yeah, I think Ange got found out a little bit on a counter and fucking fire Ryan Mason. Why the fuck is he coaching set pieces? Like what the fuck?

Ryan [00:17:39]:
Yeah, okay. That's. I don't even know. Right.

Derek [00:17:43]:
I have a question. I expected to start learning the names of set piece coaches.

Ryan [00:17:46]:
I know, I know the guy who Chelsea retired for next season because he's the best set piece coach on football manager. And that's how Chelsea makes all of their decisions. That's the only set piece coach I know.

Luke [00:18:03]:
Top of the league in football major.

Ryan [00:18:06]:
Yeah, they're not even. They're not on there.

Derek [00:18:11]:
Yeah.

Ryan [00:18:12]:
You have to dig them out of a hole if you take charge for a long time.

Luke [00:18:18]:
Had a bad head injury when he played at whole City and has been coaching in at spurs forever. That's really the only reason I know. I know who he is. It's him and Jed and Ack is Crystal palace midfielder who are the two other coaches but yeah, man, disappointing but also not surprising. So we'll get on from it.

Ryan [00:18:35]:
Well, yeah, well, Chelsea got absolutely fucked up by Arsenal midweek and we play Tottenham. So our clubs will face each other on Thursday.

Luke [00:18:49]:
That's the biggest probably game of the next couple for spurs. And Chelsea will think it's the biggest game of their season because there's nothing else to play for.

Ryan [00:19:01]:
I mean Chelsea still thinks they can make the conference league which like do you even want?

Luke [00:19:08]:
Wait, no, but the question is who cares? Does a club like Chelsea really want to be in the conference league? The financial pay. The financial, right.

Derek [00:19:17]:
Yeah, I think it's playing time and well, you get some incentive and playing time for the squad.

Ryan [00:19:25]:
Yeah, the playing time is the big thing, the big win. There is just more games for like a bloated squad while you continue to try to cleave it down. The real issue financially is that who the fuck knows what kind of shape Chelsea are in. Uh, they're the. The FFP rules are more stringent for Europe than for the PL. So, um, like, Milan turned down conference league football, uh, a couple seasons back, because they would have failed FFP and.

Luke [00:20:02]:
They were like, well, UEFA.

Ryan [00:20:03]:
UEFA standards. Yeah. So it's possible Chelsea just doesn't care at all. But, yeah, they got absolutely fucked up by Arsenal in another game that, like, I think it both.

Luke [00:20:22]:
Kind of wicked.

Ryan [00:20:25]:
Yeah, yeah. Arsenal's really comfortable with.

Luke [00:20:29]:
That's the big difference in that team.

Ryan [00:20:31]:
Just a huge.

Luke [00:20:32]:
Yeah. Made such a difference.

Ryan [00:20:34]:
Yeah, yeah. So that'll be a big match. Chelsea, Tottenham. I think Chelsea are going to absolutely fuck you guys up. And I say that unironically. Like, I think the way you guys play soccer is the perfect. It's like, if we could choose a way for a team to play against us, it would be the way ang insists on playing soccer.

Derek [00:20:59]:
And Tottenham give Chelsea ten breakaways. Niko's only going to convert one of them.

Ryan [00:21:04]:
I'll have none of this. Niko Jackson is a specimen.

Derek [00:21:08]:
Oh, sorry, sorry. Right, Ryan's back of the podcast.

Ryan [00:21:11]:
We better. Had a great finish today. He was off sides, but that was.

Luke [00:21:15]:
A great back then.

Ryan [00:21:21]:
What happened to, I guess we could talk about that Chelsea game because Villa's a top four team. Our plan was to cover the top four teams today. Luke, you weren't here yet, but did anyone catch why Martinez came off at the half? He was injured or something. I just saw that they swapped keepers at the half and I think he was injured.

Luke [00:21:46]:
I think there was, like, some injury halfway through the first. Yeah.

Ryan [00:21:53]:
And, okay, I was getting other things.

Luke [00:21:57]:
Going on well, and generally that, like, Martinez is such an important player for Villa because, like, he's that anchor, that back four that plays so high without him. You can see how the game turned a little bit.

Derek [00:22:11]:
Yeah.

Ryan [00:22:13]:
I felt like. I don't have the first and second half breakdown, but I felt like. I mean, obviously, I'm a Chelsea fan. I knew how this game turned out so that when I watched it for the first time, because I was at a Orioles game with my parents yesterday while this game was happening, but I thought that Chelsea just dominated both halves and it were. It was basically two mistakes that. Well, one was an own goal, a pretty bad one, in my opinion, but. And then the other one, like, it was completely against the run of play. When they scored their second goal toward the end of the first half, like, I felt like Chelsea just dominated this game and.

Ryan [00:23:00]:
And you should have won. I mean, 21 shots to 971 percent possession, 92% pass success to their 70 711 successful dribbles to their five. Like practically every statistic, Chelsea dominated.

Luke [00:23:19]:
Well, Villa's form a little up and down. We'll also say, I think teams have, and this is true for Totem and for Chelsea as well as some of the clubs. Teams have conceded things like possession and certain kinds of chances to a team like Chelsea because they're not concerned about them finishing and they can come on the break and score, essentially, which is that second cold for Villa, really. Right. It's just off a transition and a really good finish. I thought Chelsea did play well. I thought there was like, there's good signs in Chelsea all season. It's just the top of the pitch.

Luke [00:23:50]:
It's just not good enough.

Ryan [00:23:54]:
Yeah. So credit, credit where credit's due here at the half, Pach made some interesting tweaks that I noticed. He moved Kukurea. I don't even know what we were playing in the second half. Kukureya, the announcers called this out, but he was, he came centrally. He was playing mitt like midfield alongside Gallagher. And for the most part, Casey, though, was sitting further back and then every so often coming forward. In the second half, Case was given by the match day crew or whatever he was given man of the match who scored has madweckes.

Ryan [00:24:39]:
Man of the match. Anyway.

Luke [00:24:41]:
He was a lot at spurs, but he would push the. At the time, it was like Danny Rock, Danny Rose, Kyle Walker. He'd push them really high and wide, which I actually don't think is Cucurella's best position. I think he is a good inside fullback. And then he'd use the center, the defense or centimetre to cover all the space, essentially, which I think is smart that he doesn't really. He's been much more on a double double pivot with Kaisedo and Enzo. But I kind of like Kaisedo sitting back and just covering all the space in behind. It makes sense.

Ryan [00:25:11]:
Yeah. So, yeah, look, the first half, if I like when I noticed it when we were in possession up the field, we had like three at the back and it was. It was Chalaba Silva and Badi Ashiel in the second half, it was more of a like, box that was set up with Kaiseido, Kukureya, Baddya Shield, Silva. Chalaba seemed to be getting further up anyway. He definitely made tweaks and Villa couldn't do anything in the second half. And I've been super critical of Pochettino and I still think he should be fired and never have another coaching position again, but he figured it out, I guess, in this one. What do we think about the VAR review on this? Really curious. What specifically I think about VAR review.

Luke [00:26:05]:
We'Re talking about now? Which one? Oh, well, I didn't watch at the.

Ryan [00:26:11]:
Very end of the game.

Luke [00:26:11]:
Let me. Let me get some context here.

Ryan [00:26:14]:
Oh, okay. So in the 92nd, no doubt about it. Okay. But it wasn't. So it was not called afoul by the ref, like live. Do you think that that is something VAR should review and overturn? That's the question. The ref was on the field, official was like, right there. Didn't call it.

Ryan [00:26:56]:
So. Are you okay? Are you okay with VAR calling him over to overturn that goal?

Derek [00:27:02]:
I'm okay with them. Them reviewing it. I'm okay with them overturning it. I do think this is an area where I see Luke's point about, like, it taking away from the flow and. And just kind of the. I don't know, the spirit of the game in some sense where you're. You're making. You're overturning judgment calls because obviously, I assume the ref was looking at the.

Ryan [00:27:29]:
Play like that was right there. It's like, right in front of him.

Derek [00:27:35]:
You know, turning it down. Speed, you know, speed wise, changed the opinion. But ultimately, I don't have a, you know, a gripe with, with the. The call itself. I will say I did, actually. Luke and I talked about this last week. Like, pach in some of these situations, to me, isn't showing the right reaction as a coach. And this time, like, I think he actually did the right thing by showing that he was incensed and going after the refs and, you know, not, not like, you know, going in for, you know, a choke hold, like, you know, Lutrell freewall style, but at least, you know, getting in their face.

Derek [00:28:14]:
Yeah, run our tests going to the fans, but, you know, at least showers.

Ryan [00:28:19]:
Look like they were ready to throw hands.

Derek [00:28:21]:
Yeah.

Ryan [00:28:21]:
The.

Derek [00:28:21]:
The players, and I put this might say the players were real pissed. Mad Wake was incensed. And I get it. And, like, like, I don't. I outside what they're saying, not knowing what they're saying. I don't have a problem with it. You know, I think Palmer actually was. It was impressive to me.

Derek [00:28:38]:
A palmer, like, walked over the villa, coaches were trying to push him out of the way, and he was having none of their fucking shit. And told them to take his hit. They take their hands off of him and then just stood there politely looked at the refs. It was like, you know, what do you guys think you're doing here?

Ryan [00:28:54]:
So it's for sure, right?

Luke [00:28:55]:
We can all say like objectively, with or without VR, we look at that and it looks like a foul, right? What the fuck? Why hasn't it been called? Right? Why hasn't been called on the pitch?

Ryan [00:29:03]:
Yeah, it's a foul.

Luke [00:29:04]:
My problem. So I have no problem with VAR coming back and looking at that. I think the problem is one of two things. One is that I think referees are scared to call fouls like that because they think they have VAR as a backstop to, like, they're like, well, it's okay, I don't have to make the judgment call. Like, VAR is gonna save me anyway, right?

Derek [00:29:24]:
Yeah.

Luke [00:29:24]:
Some of the similar issues exist with the offsides, but really in this case, the second issue is, is that particularly with today's game, again, Tottenham fans, so thinking about this, like ready on my mind, why would you send the referee to see a replay of that but not see the foul on Kulicheski? Right? It's a clear foul on Kulicheski. It's not like a. In the lead up. I mean, to Sokka's goal. It's, you know, he gets clipped. It's not on purpose. Is it a foul? Fuck yeah. Is it a penalty? Probably, but the fact that the referee is not sent to the screen consistently in these situations is the problem.

Luke [00:30:07]:
That makes no sense to me. There's just no consistent rule being applied in these games. And it really hurts the experience of the fans. For the fans or for me, even watching from home, it's just like, what the fuck? Like, apply it judiciously and evenly, make the referee look with the least time wasted and there's too much time wasted and it's not inconsistent. So it's like, fuck that. I'd rather the game continue, Chelsea win the game and we just deal with a bad call. I just don't, I don't. I don't like the inconsistency of it all.

Ryan [00:30:43]:
Yeah.

Derek [00:30:43]:
I think that's the biggest thing across all these references discussions and VAR discussions, the lack of consistency. There's, you know, there's some bad decisions too and some. Some head scratchers. But I think that's the bigger problem is that it's really inconsistent. It manifests itself, I think, in bad decisions.

Ryan [00:31:02]:
I just think it's inconsistent. I also think they're, they're terrible at their jobs, right?

Luke [00:31:12]:
I think it more and more I'm not on the, like, you a use AI or whatever, but it's just. Just get new reps like.

Derek [00:31:21]:
That. They clearly have as bad a performance management strategy as most companies in corporate America, which is on those pips, dude.

Ryan [00:31:34]:
God. Because. Yeah, we got to talk about the Liverpool. The shit that happened in the Liverpool game. That guy Anthony Taylor is heralded as like the greatest, the best in the business by the Pl. It's. It's who or the fa. Whoever like, controls the refs.

Ryan [00:31:55]:
He's like, he's the. The rep for ink for England at the euros this summer. This is the guy who had a fucking howler early in the season. They sent him to the championship as punishment for a game. He fucked that game up and then they just brought him back and served your time. Yeah. And he is. He is.

Ryan [00:32:21]:
He looks perplexed. He is perplexed. He's fucking terrible at this.

Derek [00:32:27]:
It's perplexing.

Ryan [00:32:31]:
He is just abysmal at this. And how anyone can can with a straight face say that Anthony Taylor is the best of the business. I. I don't see it. I don't understand it. It's bizarre.

Derek [00:32:48]:
It's bad giving them big games. Right?

Ryan [00:32:50]:
Yeah. So this Liverpool match where I've got this up here somewhere.

Luke [00:32:57]:
What was the ends to Gakbo and incident? Yeah, it's just weird.

Ryan [00:33:06]:
Yeah. So what the fuck is this? So Liverpool draw to West Ham. This is like. I mean, this like more or less the only hope, I guess, if you'd prefer Arsenal win the title. The only hope of city not winning their fourth Pl trophy is. Is Arsenal at this point. But Liverpool two, West Ham two. And Areola has like possession of the ball.

Ryan [00:33:47]:
It is not a goal kick. He rolls the ball out in front of him to presumably to then kick the ball and Gagpo like jumps all over it and this piece of shit Anthony Taylor blows the play dead and then walk. Walks over to Areola and tells him to go down with an injury to cover up for the fact that he made a crazy bad call. Yeah, dude, I. That just. Just shocking to see. I watched it in real time and I was like, what?

Luke [00:34:27]:
In no way, like, in the spirit of the game. It was just like. It was like. It was like. It was like a question on the sat that you just like, fucking forget. You sit there. Everybody looks at, like is looking at or you feel likes looking at you and you like, try to cheat, get caught and you're like, no, he was looking at mine. It wasn't me.

Ryan [00:34:45]:
Yeah.

Luke [00:34:45]:
Like, what the fuck? I have some PTSD from the SATs, by the way.

Ryan [00:34:50]:
Yeah, it's like a fucking, like, yeah, misfired and he blew the whistle and that like had to figure a way out of it.

Luke [00:34:59]:
I feel like a little of this, like a lot of our taken up by referee mistakes. I feel like. And to a certain extent you can understand mistakes, right? Soccer is a game of mistakes. To score a goal, often you need the other team to make a mistake. Right? And referees are going to make mistakes that influence the game. It's just kind of part of it. But that level of incompetency, like there's no performance plan that you can put that fucker on. Send them back to fourth grade to learn the ABCs.

Luke [00:35:28]:
Like what is happening?

Derek [00:35:35]:
Did you like they teach the ABCs?

Ryan [00:35:36]:
You made it through fourth grade without knowing.

Derek [00:35:39]:
Did you go to school in Alabama?

Ryan [00:35:44]:
I thought you were privately educated. I didn't know what type of private education.

Luke [00:35:54]:
Teach that bitch. Don't write cursive. I don't game. They lose that game because of that call. The call is just like, like a, like a ridiculous, like. I don't know, it's just referees trying to make it all about themselves, but they shouldn't.

Derek [00:36:12]:
Well, no, yeah, Liverpool have collapsed.

Luke [00:36:14]:
It's true.

Derek [00:36:17]:
Look at their form between in the last two games after, you know, prior to that, earlier in the week, they lose to nothing to Everton, right. And in a game where frankly, you know, whether it's talent wise or like team, team performance wise, like they're light years ahead of where Everton is, but their front of form has been garbage lately and their, their defense hasn't been there and the offense hasn't covered up for, I mean, getting blanked by Everton frankly, on offense is pretty bad anyways, right? Like what does that say about this Liverpool attack that looked so dangerous at times.

Ryan [00:36:55]:
Chelsea scored five. Well, yeah, Cole Palmer I guess scored.

Derek [00:37:01]:
Nico Jackson would have got one too.

Ryan [00:37:03]:
Yeah, of course he did.

Derek [00:37:05]:
Darwin couldn't do it, which was overshadowed.

Luke [00:37:07]:
By them being fucking toddlers trying to get the penalty from Cole Palmer. But anyway, that was, I think Liverpool lost it. I think the timing of his announcement of leaving really has to come into question now. Yeah, they've lost their high emotional level for a manager for fucking four months or whatever it's been. Yeah, it's just like, you can't do that.

Derek [00:37:31]:
No, it's insane.

Ryan [00:37:32]:
Yeah, but they want to care about cop.

Derek [00:37:36]:
So, I mean, successful season, right?

Ryan [00:37:39]:
Yeah. I think that I can appreciate the position they were in because it was becoming clear that there was going to be a real battle this summer for managers, like with the number of vacancies in high profile manager positions. And I think that they made the announcement because they. They couldn't. There was no way they were going to get away with conducting a search for a manager and it not get public at some point like that. Yeah, you know, it would have leaked at some point. Reuben Amarin flying Liverpool into London repeatedly.

Luke [00:38:19]:
Or whatever, apologized to his team for it's Arnis slot from fair Noor.

Ryan [00:38:25]:
Yeah, yeah, no, I know, but he was. Amarin was connected to Liverpool at one point, like, yeah, so, like, this stuff would have been reported on and so I, like, they were probably like, we got to make an announcement because we have to start. We have to, like, compete for these managers here.

Luke [00:38:41]:
I also think that some more credit than just saying you did this too early in the season because I think that's maybe a little reductive. The team does need a midfield rebuild still. They've been kind of over performing, in my opinion. Like, it's. Showbizla is a good player, but, you know, like you, they don't have that Rodri type of player, player that they had. They used to have in like Firmino. They don't have the part a or Declan Rice kind of player. It's really kind of light and technical in the midfield and I think that the team has been overperforming.

Luke [00:39:13]:
I don't. I don't think that they're at the level that they've been in the past. Third and Champions League next year, I think will be a success and a Carabao cup trophy. So you got. You can't take too much away from them.

Ryan [00:39:27]:
Yeah. So do you have any thoughts, Luke? I talked about this with Derek a little bit already, but do you have any thoughts on, did you see the animated Mohamed Salah clapping back at Klopp over whatever Klopp said? Like what I saw Liverpool fans being like, not like this guys.

Luke [00:39:52]:
You can see how tensions get free, especially, you know, and this is part of Klopp saying he's leaving, like, these players, like, okay, so what am I going to do next year? Like, who's going to be the manager? You know? So I think that. That there is some dissonance there. I think Salah is probably going to move on. Like, you know, I think it's been clear for a while in terms of what he's been connected to. I don't like to see it, especially from a player as high quality and well regarded as Salah. I don't think it'll bother Klopp at all. Be interesting if Salah didn't start another, another game, though. That'd be kind of dope.

Ryan [00:40:28]:
Yeah. My favorite comment that I saw on that, or like, like caption, like, sort of like, like it was like a joke about like, what was said there and it said like, clop. If you score, try to keep your shirt on this time and then freaking out on clock for suggesting you keep his shirt on.

Luke [00:40:53]:
Yeah. Teams, and teams in downspan finish third anyway. Kind of like, whatever. I think they're pretty much like a mid table team now. They're like a crystal palace or something. They're just gonna coast through the rest of the year, which is good for spurs. We could beat them now, but probably not.

Ryan [00:41:09]:
Yeah. Yeah. You didn't answer my question earlier. I asked how many points do you think Vicario has been worth to Tottenham this season?

Luke [00:41:23]:
I think like a third of their points.

Ryan [00:41:24]:
You don't have to be specific, but.

Luke [00:41:26]:
Like, I think he's.

Ryan [00:41:28]:
Yeah, I think, yeah, I think he's.

Luke [00:41:29]:
Been that in a system like that, you do need a really high reactive goalie, which is what he really is. He can make really good split second reflex saves. The real. And I would ask you this then, how many points has he given up from not being strong enough on corners and set pieces? I think that that would be kind of the question back. It's like a little bit of both. Right. But I think especially early in the season, he was saving our asses over.

Ryan [00:42:00]:
He really does struggle on setup.

Luke [00:42:02]:
Setup is fucking terrible.

Ryan [00:42:04]:
He.

Derek [00:42:07]:
Referring to that the one play.

Luke [00:42:08]:
Were Ben, it happened three, four times earlier corners and he's just not strong enough. Like fucking tear that motherfucker down.

Ryan [00:42:17]:
Yeah, it is happening a lot on corners through like about midway through the season, teams caught on to the fact that they could just put someone in front of Vicario, but like, it kind of crumbles.

Derek [00:42:30]:
I will say this like, as a fullback or defender, whatever, right? Like, if I see somebody doing that routinely to my goal, I'm gonna put my knee. They're not gonna have a good.

Luke [00:42:39]:
There's no doubt about. Yeah, yeah.

Derek [00:42:44]:
Or to explicitly state what I would do. Luke just stayed to the end.

Luke [00:42:49]:
Then you get that asshole bleach. So that's what's gonna happen. Yeah, talk about, talk about, like, cam, girls like Ben White's after Premier League career fucking fire. So I guess, dude, he's good looking.

Ryan [00:43:07]:
He doesn't look natural at all. Anytime I see him, I'm like I don't feel good.

Luke [00:43:13]:
So I think it's a setup issue. Right. I'm marking zonally in the corners and instead of just putting someone on that player who's on the keeper to push him away, it's okay. It's a huge, it's a issue that ange should rightfully stay, stand up and say we didn't do a good job coaching the players. They've done a fantastic job in other areas.

Ryan [00:43:34]:
Just.

Luke [00:43:34]:
But that is just like every time makes me so fucking mad. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Ryan [00:43:43]:
It has. It is for sure been a problem. Like I don't watch every Tottenham game, but on the car, IO is fragile on corners for sure for that reason or the system is fragile. I don't know, there's an issue in.

Luke [00:43:58]:
His abilities, but whatever.

Ryan [00:44:03]:
Yeah. All right. And then there's city, who looked terrible against for like, dude. What? I didn't even pull this up. Where is. I was gonna pull up the. Who scored for this?

Derek [00:44:20]:
67% possession to city.

Ryan [00:44:24]:
Yeah.

Derek [00:44:25]:
91% pass rate. I mean, I really, when you look.

Ryan [00:44:29]:
At that, see woods, who scored?

Derek [00:44:31]:
Oh, they just give him a flat six, which is being generous. I mean, to your point, Forrest outshot them 14 to eleven. I think you and I watched this together. So like, yeah, they're. Nottingham force was in this game much more than they probably should have been given were city stands at the table. Right. And contrast to their, they're running form which has been not up and down. I guess they've shown glimpses maybe late, but like, to me, like I'd still like to see Lewton pull out ahead of them in the relegation battle, but city let him in this game at least once.

Ryan [00:45:12]:
Yeah. Not even worse. Force.

Luke [00:45:14]:
Yeah. Yeah.

Ryan [00:45:15]:
I'd say at least twice. What a two sitters. Like absolute. Like, I have no idea how it. He just, all he had to do is put his foot through it and, and didn't it. It's remarkable for I didn't, I haven't tracked not Nottingham as much as like Derek has this season and he pointed out to me and then the announcers corroborated it that he's been like the most efficient finisher at the night. He's like the anti, is kind of.

Luke [00:45:47]:
Like an anti nico in terms of profile as a player too.

Ryan [00:45:51]:
Yeah.

Derek [00:45:51]:
Like I just can't believe the shit coming out of Ryan's mouth right now.

Luke [00:45:56]:
Go Jackson.

Ryan [00:45:57]:
He, he's a more efficient for sure. He makes that argument. Yeah. Seems like something that would matter in front of goal, but.

Derek [00:46:08]:
Okay, continue.

Ryan [00:46:10]:
It's not what Niko does in front of goal that matters. It's. It's all the other. It's the intangibles he brings to the team.

Luke [00:46:17]:
Got it.

Derek [00:46:19]:
Tried to ball out of Cole Bombers. Yeah.

Ryan [00:46:22]:
The deal is still on the table. Nico Jackson gets his second pl hat trick against Tottenham. And I'm buying a handful of Nico Jackson kits for the fans. Do I wear one every podcast?

Luke [00:46:36]:
Can I get one, too?

Ryan [00:46:37]:
Regardless of whether it's starting? Yeah, I'll give you one. Are you going to wear a Nico Jackson? If Nico Jackson was a hat trick against you guys, paid for by you? Hell, yeah.

Luke [00:46:49]:
On the podcast. Yeah, I'm in that game.

Ryan [00:46:55]:
Let's see.

Luke [00:46:56]:
It doesn't matter. They won. Excuse me. Yeah.

Ryan [00:47:02]:
Ederson injured again. Yeah, Ederson injured again. All right, so some things. So it was Nottingham, zero city. Two some things I found interesting. One, Doku was yanked at the half for what's his name, Kovacic, which was odd. That's like a completely different profile. So pep really didn't like what they put Bernardo silver out wide.

Ryan [00:47:31]:
Is that what they did the first half?

Luke [00:47:34]:
That kind of makes sense in the.

Ryan [00:47:35]:
Setup, I think so, yeah, yeah, I was. I'm looking. I'm trying to remember what I saw because De Bruyne was definitely central in the second half. Yeah. And then, well, guardiol, he had a great game and I've been critical of him recently. And he's very scored. Like, he's not four in his last five or something. Yeah, yeah.

Ryan [00:48:06]:
Great game. And he. He stopped one of those. I mean, there wasn't much work to do, but one of the goals that Wood should have scored, Vardy ol was the one who cleared out, but he, like, barely hit it.

Derek [00:48:16]:
It was because Wood hit it directly at him, you mean?

Ryan [00:48:19]:
Yeah, well, would hit it directly at him and, like, really soft. It was bizarre. And Holland came on and just bullied people. I don't. I don't know, I. I assumed he was injured and that's why he wasn't starting. But he came on, he scored a goal, and he really just. It was like a man amongst boys.

Ryan [00:48:41]:
Once he was on the pitch, Guardiola's.

Luke [00:48:44]:
Kind of trying to give him. Send a little bit of a message to him. Like, you, like, you need to either work harder in the game, be more clinical or something, because it is weird he didn't start that game.

Ryan [00:48:58]:
Yeah. Yeah. He was definitely a game changer. And then, at least for what we were listening to, they called this out. And it's true. Both goals you can sort of lay at the feet of Nuno. Nuno spiritus santo. Is that how you say his name? The first goal that was scored, he was delaying on making a substitution for I forget who.

Ryan [00:49:36]:
I guess it would be up here. Neko Williams was injured and Nuno was trying to hold off on making that sub and they were playing down a man for quite a while. And City scored during that period of time. And then Murillo or Marillo, I don't. I. That looks like Mario to me, but I don't know, I'm doing my best. He was injured and was calling for a sub and Nuno was like, refusing to sub him. And then Holland just ate him for breakfast on that goal.

Ryan [00:50:15]:
And so both of those were like, man management issues, like, squarely at Nuno's feet. It's just really shockingly bad. Like, if you have a player just screaming at you because he's injured and being like, I can't even run, and you're like, no, stay out there and play against that baby eater.

Derek [00:50:37]:
Is it a viking reference? Is that what that is?

Ryan [00:50:39]:
No.

Derek [00:50:39]:
Look at him and his head get a lot bigger.

Luke [00:50:42]:
Mister Holland. He does have like, a very big cranium.

Ryan [00:50:45]:
Yeah.

Luke [00:50:47]:
Yeah. I don't think Nuno's a really great manager to begin with. I think he had a great time at wolves, terrible time at spurs, you know, got kicked out of Saudi Arabia by Kareem Benzema. Like, it's not a great man manager. I think he. I think. I think Nuno got the tactics in the game right. Like, if you look at the chances, you know, the chances were there.

Luke [00:51:07]:
That's really on the players for not finishing. But, yeah, in those two kind of transitions, you're right, they need to. Need to have those decisions set up before the game happens. Like, I feel like at that level, you need every position covered if an injury happens, so you can make a split second decision to change, you know, and they didn't. Didn't do that. Ryan, I have a quiet. We discussed this a little last week. How do you feel about Nottingham Forest's, like, social media, public posts about refereeing in their games?

Ryan [00:51:39]:
Oh, shit. I'm fine with it. I don't know. The ref should be better.

Luke [00:51:43]:
Oh, but the referee calling out a ref for, like, having a bias, do you think that's a real thing in the game? Like, do you think that's something that's going on?

Ryan [00:51:55]:
I have seen compelling data with refs that would indicate a bias over large data script. I don't know. Which refs they were calling out. And I don't know why. I don't know why anyone would care enough about Nottingham Forest, correct. For there to be a bias here.

Derek [00:52:17]:
That's more where I'm coming from on this.

Ryan [00:52:19]:
But, like, Anthony Taylor. Like, there are refs that are banned from reffing certain teams. Like, that is a thing. There's a list somewhere. And Anthony Taylor has been shown to have extreme biases in favor of, like, Man United, I know, is one of them. I don't know where he's from. He's probably from Manchester, but, like, he seems to have a pretty strong bias to Manchester clubs and against London clubs, I think, is what has been borne out in the data. So, yeah, I think there are biases.

Ryan [00:52:54]:
I mean, every human has biases and there's not, as far as I can, like, the refs have been sort of miserable for as long as I can.

Luke [00:53:06]:
Remember, historically worse, I think.

Ryan [00:53:11]:
Yeah, I mean, maybe, but, like, as long. As long as I can remember, like, these guys have not been great in the PL and it's the same guys who come back every year. I don't know what this. Like, I don't know what kind of, like, union or, like, how this is set up, but to me, clearly there's not enough competitions, competition for these refereeing positions or slots, whatever, or the ability to fire these refs to iron out biases and make them be, like, consummate professionals around this.

Luke [00:53:48]:
I would argue that was, like, the most childish Sunday league bullshit I've ever seen. Right. I understand, like, where you're coming from and the frustration of Forrest, but it's like, come on. You're basically denigrating the league that you play in. You get paid. The club gets paid more than any club could imagine. And you're fucking sending out a statement like that. Be a fucking adult.

Luke [00:54:11]:
Like, it's not your.

Derek [00:54:14]:
Well, they're gonna have a good time in a fired.

Luke [00:54:16]:
Steve Cooper brought in nuno espirito Santo. Like, fuck you. And they hired Mark Plattenberg as a fucking referee expert, an advisor. Like, what the fuck is that? What does Mark Clattenberg gonna do?

Derek [00:54:29]:
Yeah, they're like, oh, this. This statement has been ghost written. Ghost written by Mark Latin. The fuck lead authenticity.

Ryan [00:54:37]:
You think they're gonna. You think Luton's gonna overtake them?

Luke [00:54:40]:
I really hope.

Ryan [00:54:41]:
What are their. Yeah, they have Sheffield next week who, like, literally have nothing to play for today. Relegated yesterday. Yesterday that they. That they're relegated. Then they play Chelsea, which is just a fucking randomizer who knows. And then Burnley. So, yeah, they have like, very winnable fixtures.

Ryan [00:55:08]:
We'll see the way they play. I think Chelsea will beat him. They're not a, like, they're not like an organized block type team for us.

Derek [00:55:21]:
There's a hot take for the episode, so.

Ryan [00:55:25]:
So Chelsea may just fucking run them over. I don't know. Who does Lewton have?

Derek [00:55:30]:
Everton and West Ham. I think that's. That's. That's tougher.

Ryan [00:55:35]:
Everton, West Ham and full.

Luke [00:55:37]:
Yeah.

Ryan [00:55:37]:
But all those teams schedule, there's not.

Luke [00:55:40]:
Going to be a whole lot to play for, for any of those teams, really. Right. David Moyes is probably on his way out. So West Ham is kind of like. Although they get the tie, obviously. Yeah. I don't know. It's interesting.

Luke [00:55:54]:
I think that forest probably has the upper hand. You know, you get six out of the six points out of those three, you're in a good position. But I hope Lewton's day up.

Ryan [00:56:04]:
Yeah, yeah.

Luke [00:56:05]:
I think it's a good story for the league to have such a tiny little bizarre club as part of the, part of the setup. Maybe they can make more improvements to that Walmart of a stadium that they play in the storage container unit, you know?

Derek [00:56:21]:
Yeah, I was, yeah, add a couple of containers to the top and just.

Luke [00:56:26]:
Put some more chairs in there. I was watching. I can't remember what. What the fixture was. I was watching it and there's like, literally like a television like pillar right in front of like 40 seats. It's like, I hope those motherfuckers aren't like, season tick holders, ticket holders from like 30 years. Like, that would suck.

Derek [00:56:49]:
You clearly spent a lot.

Luke [00:56:50]:
Refused to go there.

Ryan [00:56:52]:
Oh, dude, that's better. That. Whatever that is. That abomination is.

Luke [00:56:58]:
I'm going to see terrible green day, though. Is that. No, I'm not going to FedEx. I'm going to the capital stadium for that.

Derek [00:57:06]:
Yeah.

Ryan [00:57:08]:
Capital one or no. Yeah, capital one used to be Verizon, Man United. I mean, a couple other, like, interesting fixtures. Man United. They. They are. They drew to Burnley. Man United are ridiculous.

Ryan [00:57:24]:
Just ridiculously bad. What was the comment you made yesterday? You're like, boy, Man United is surprisingly bad or something.

Derek [00:57:35]:
The quality of this game might be the worst of any I've seen all season. And I immediately replied with, is this.

Ryan [00:57:40]:
Your first United game since the last united to play?

Luke [00:57:44]:
Quality between the two teams? It was just like the worst game of fucking high level soccer I've ever seen in my life. Like, that could have been mls in like 20 yeah, it was fucking awful.

Ryan [00:57:59]:
Yeah.

Luke [00:58:00]:
Cares about that.

Ryan [00:58:02]:
And then.

Derek [00:58:03]:
Well, not only that, they went down. They were down. Were they down two to one against Sheffield?

Luke [00:58:10]:
Like.

Derek [00:58:12]:
Yeah. So they went down two to what? They went down one nothing, and then went down two one before eventually beating Sheffield four to two earlier in the week, you know, they got bailed out by some individual, which is the entire. That was a real shitty.

Luke [00:58:28]:
Right there. We have some good transition players. What happens? Kick it.

Ryan [00:58:35]:
Yeah, there.

Derek [00:58:37]:
Yeah.

Ryan [00:58:38]:
They're so bad.

Derek [00:58:39]:
What I was gonna mention was in the penalty kick that Burnley was awarded. I couldn't find a clip of it, but they showed one angle. I don't know if anyone else saw this, but from dead behind the ball, the penalty taker, McGuire, was in the frame. Maguire gets into a sprinter stance because everybody knows he's basically a striker playing center back. So he's going to be the first in the box to go in there and help clear it. If there's a rebound, he literally the ball, like, there's a run up to the ball and it struck and he just stays there in a sprinter stance. I like. I know that I don't give the best effort on plays that I think sprinters like.

Ryan [00:59:16]:
Is he down in the blocks or.

Derek [00:59:18]:
He was halfway down? I mean, it was down the blocks, but I mean, he, like. He took 1ft to his toes.

Luke [00:59:24]:
Right?

Derek [00:59:24]:
Like, you would normally try to get into the box. Like, everybody runs in the box to try and control the rebound, right?

Ryan [00:59:29]:
Yeah.

Derek [00:59:30]:
The penalty kicker, I think, is. The penalty kicker or taker is the only one that can't touch the ball on a rebound there. Right. Or can't be the first.

Ryan [00:59:39]:
Yeah.

Derek [00:59:39]:
So, like, it's not like there wasn't time to react. He just stands.

Ryan [00:59:44]:
Oh, my God.

Derek [00:59:44]:
I'm seeing exactly what you're talking about.

Ryan [00:59:46]:
What's going on?

Derek [00:59:47]:
If he had a seizure or whatever.

Luke [00:59:48]:
Oh, Nana. Oh, Nana. Sucker.

Ryan [00:59:54]:
I think that's. I think that's what all the city players utter to themselves as they walk out of the locker room at the beginning of the game. Okay. Sorry. Not. Yeah. United.

Derek [01:00:10]:
Yeah. This is just gonna go out there and go through the motions. Yeah.

Ryan [01:00:14]:
I don't know.

Derek [01:00:15]:
His mom.

Luke [01:00:16]:
Yeah.

Derek [01:00:16]:
I'd like to get his mom's take on that lack of effort. But anyways, that was one of the things that stood out from United this week.

Ryan [01:00:22]:
Harry Maguire, you really have an issue with his relationship with his mom, dude.

Derek [01:00:27]:
Well, that's. Relationship with his mom. Just. I don't get.

Luke [01:00:31]:
Her own podcast will compete with her. I think we should invite him.

Ryan [01:00:36]:
She has a standing invite. Yeah, yeah.

Derek [01:00:40]:
She's probably gonna bone to pick with.

Ryan [01:00:41]:
Me by now, but, yeah, probably. Can't imagine how that would.

Derek [01:00:46]:
But I'd like to get her take on that. Right? Like, why was Harry, like, was Harry daydreaming? Was he thinking about, like, what he was going to eat after the game? What was going on?

Ryan [01:00:55]:
Imagine if we could get Harry Maguire's mom as a recurring 50 viewers that we got last week.

Luke [01:01:03]:
I think Harry Maguire is an interesting one in that United team. And kind of, like, in comparison to a lot of teams, you know, Harry Maguire lost the fucking captain armband. And I think since he's done that, he's like, well, I'm just gonna do my thing. And he's played much better than he had in the past. Right. He doesn't, but he's basically going out every game. It's like, it's okay. It's not about the team.

Luke [01:01:23]:
Like, I don't care about them. I'm just gonna play for myself. It's.

Ryan [01:01:30]:
Yeah.

Derek [01:01:30]:
Which, to Ryan's point is that entire.

Luke [01:01:32]:
Squad performer for that team.

Ryan [01:01:36]:
Yeah, they were.

Derek [01:01:39]:
Yeah, I would agree.

Ryan [01:01:41]:
That's, dude, that squad, the only club to recruit worse. I don't know.

Luke [01:01:45]:
They're going to be in the past, like, three years. Like, I couldn't name another team that's recruited more hectically and, yeah, it's shocking.

Ryan [01:01:55]:
It's because they also, on top of, like, none of the pieces going together, there's no asset mirror. Fairly old. Yeah.

Derek [01:02:06]:
Mayno and Hoyland, I would think, but, yeah. Outside of that.

Ryan [01:02:09]:
Well, yeah. Well, Mayno's academy, Garnacho has.

Derek [01:02:13]:
That's an ass, right?

Ryan [01:02:15]:
Yeah, yeah, yeah. But what I'm. What I'm saying is that, like, Chelsea, like, they're whole. They're the youngest squad in the PL, so, like, they have that going for them. Like, theoretically, if they needed to sell players, they can get some. Like, not maybe. There's almost certainly not a return, but they'd be able to sell them. Yeah, the, like, United's gonna get.

Ryan [01:02:37]:
Not like they don't have anybody really to cash in on. I mean, I guess. What's this thing? I can't, I think at Rashford like, that. They could. They could cash in on that. Garnacho is probably valuable, but they don't want to get rid of him. He's their best player by my estimate.

Luke [01:02:56]:
I would think Antony on probably a place like Saudi Arabia or something like that. China or something. Fucking backwater of football.

Ryan [01:03:05]:
Yeah. Yeah, you can blast on it from the stands in Saudi. So I think Anthony fit right in. Dude, we were hanging out. Oh, my God. I probably should say we were hanging out and I was like, do you think that was the stadium giveaway that day? And Derek was like, yeah, was take your wife to the game day.

Derek [01:03:28]:
Be clear, I'm not advocating for any behavior in Saudi Arabia, only. Only making light of that.

Ryan [01:03:35]:
This commentary is anti. Is against. It is. Yeah.

Derek [01:03:40]:
Set. Satirical, but, yeah. Like, I don't know what the hell goes on there, but you're right. Like, somebody with clearly no scruples at all would fit in well.

Luke [01:03:49]:
Yeah, I think Rashford also for Anthony. I don't know.

Derek [01:03:54]:
Rashford Greenwood can join them.

Luke [01:03:55]:
Yeah. Rashford for probably Christian Erickson definitely needs to get off the book. He's books. He's probably making more than 200,000 pounds a week that. Yeah, dude, he's old.

Ryan [01:04:07]:
He's old and has a wonderful footballer.

Luke [01:04:11]:
In his past, but he's just not good enough. Casamiro, it's just like, yeah, I hated.

Ryan [01:04:18]:
That guy when he was on Spurs.

Luke [01:04:20]:
I.

Ryan [01:04:22]:
Want on spurs because. Yeah, well, that. I mean, that was why. Like, he would just. You'd feel like. I just remember feeling. Watching spurs and Chelsea play each other back then. Like, I would feel completely comfortable.

Ryan [01:04:39]:
I would. Why am I getting an echo? I would feel completely comfortable in the. In the game until the ball was at Ericsson's feet and then I. There would just be this sense of dread until it. Until he didn't have it anymore because he would just unlock a team instantly. Like, he could just find a pass.

Derek [01:04:59]:
Yeah, he had, like, that Ces Fabergass aspect to his game.

Ryan [01:05:04]:
Yeah. The last thing I wanted to comment on, I didn't watch this game. Derek, I think did. What is this lineup from Brighton? Brighton got destroyed by Bournemouth, who have looked very good the back half of the season. Like, very, very good. But, like, I don't like what. There must be just like a pile of injuries because I don't even know who O Mahoney is. They're the striker.

Derek [01:05:35]:
They started right well, but, yeah, I don't.

Ryan [01:05:40]:
Number nine.

Derek [01:05:41]:
Look, I get him playing Joe Pedro there. He can play there. But I mean, they do have a. But they've just been shit form and a bunch of people are hurt. Right.

Ryan [01:05:51]:
Yeah. What happened to Ferguson? He did. He's not even on the bench.

Derek [01:05:57]:
You might get.

Luke [01:06:02]:
Brighton has been fucking terrible the second half this year. Like, I think deserves actually lost a lot of, like, kind of straight, like, nobody's really being linked to him. Yeah, they've really fallen apart.

Ryan [01:06:16]:
This dude they had playing at left back, Valentin Barco, he is one to watch.

Derek [01:06:21]:
He looks legit. I don't understand how he only got a 60 and I guess because these are quantitative ratings but you know I thought Duncan Barcode well I think gross is considered to play, considered, continued to play well. Chal Pedro played well but like there's not a full team. Yeah, Billy Gilmore's really falling off, right? Like we were singing, I was singing his accolades beginning of the season. He's done, you know, Jack, all the rest of this season. But you're right, I don't, I don't know what the hell happened to the player pool there. They must all be hurt.

Ryan [01:06:53]:
Yeah, I mean what's his name Matoma's been gone for. I thought he was injured and came back. He must have been injured again. I don't know, active injuries brighten, you're.

Derek [01:07:06]:
Right, he was back and then he was out again. That, that, that helped when he came back but he wasn't back long.

Luke [01:07:11]:
Did a stupid answer. Right?

Derek [01:07:14]:
That's a big loss for them.

Luke [01:07:15]:
No, yeah, so no, so he was.

Ryan [01:07:19]:
He wasn't on the bench. He's out for the season.

Luke [01:07:22]:
That.

Ryan [01:07:22]:
Yeah, solely march and that was a huge injury. Solely March, yeah, October 21 he was injured. Unknown return date. That was, that was, I mean that was the, when I saw that happen I was like multiple ligaments are torn like in slow motion. I remember it being horrifying. Henchelwood fractured foot, out for the season. Matoma back injury, out for the.

Luke [01:07:54]:
Some struggles with injuries.

Ryan [01:07:55]:
What the hell. Milner. Milner. Thought I forgot Milner was even on that team. Thigh injury, he's returning soon. Thigh injuries can be like fucking fatal apparently, cuz that's what you're at.

Derek [01:08:11]:
Chelsea.

Luke [01:08:15]:
Is out for the season.

Ryan [01:08:19]:
Oh I'm so happy he's about that anyway.

Luke [01:08:23]:
Yes you do.

Ryan [01:08:24]:
I don't root for injuries for anyone but Tottenham players. Just Tottenham players. Perva test opinion calf injury, out for the season. Evan Ferguson, muscular is all it says, out for the season. Billy Gilmore's back lamp tea. It just says unknown date, injured na, expected return na and then. Yeah.

Derek [01:08:49]:
Anyway, was Fati on that list or.

Luke [01:08:51]:
He hasn't been a good.

Derek [01:08:52]:
He just didn't play.

Ryan [01:08:56]:
Yeah dude, we were, we were stoked about that when that came through.

Luke [01:09:01]:
He doesn't have the deal with the physicality.

Ryan [01:09:04]:
I don't think it's wild cause he seems like an absolute baller. He's going back to Barcelona and I don't know what happens to his career from there. They need to sell people. Barcelona's financial is in financial shambles. They did just walk back.

Luke [01:09:21]:
Javi is going to stay.

Ryan [01:09:22]:
Javi being canned. Well, I don't think he's going to stay for another season.

Luke [01:09:29]:
Yeah, he.

Ryan [01:09:30]:
Yeah, he resigned under pressure from, like, virtually everyone and then he actually put in a really good season, especially considering the circumstances. Yeah. And then I guess, like, PSG is targeting luminium all. Who knows what happens with that? He's so. I don't know if you guys listen.

Luke [01:09:48]:
16 1617.

Ryan [01:09:51]:
Crazy.

Derek [01:09:53]:
He looks good.

Luke [01:09:55]:
Barcelona. Epic collapse.

Ryan [01:09:57]:
Yeah, he. He looked really good for Spain. Who did Spain play at the last international break? I watched and, oh, who do they play? Doesn't matter. They, like, he was just cooking the whole game. He was. He's so good. They have a billion dollar release clause on him, is what I read, which is probably just to, like, help book value and, like, it's probably a lever of some sort. Like, this player is worth a billion dollars on our books.

Ryan [01:10:27]:
Like, give us a letter.

Derek [01:10:28]:
Well, yeah, when you're. When you're 100% leveraged. 100% leveraged.

Luke [01:10:32]:
Yeah.

Ryan [01:10:32]:
Barcelona.

Derek [01:10:34]:
Yeah, that's that freaking club.

Ryan [01:10:37]:
Yeah. They may be fucked forever. I don't know how you get out of that.

Derek [01:10:42]:
Not the way they talk about it. Yeah, it'll be interesting to see the next six months for that club, whether they actually sell anyone or they just. I don't know what the alternative is.

Ryan [01:10:50]:
Yeah.

Derek [01:10:51]:
But, yeah, I think there's better days ahead for Brighton next season with. When, you know, when they have a healthier squad. Cause I think there's some. Some good young talent there and some. There's some veteran pieces and Dunkin gross and others that, you know, should lend itself to some cohesion, but, yeah, kind of a lost season.

Luke [01:11:08]:
We're kind of at that season.

Derek [01:11:09]:
Right.

Luke [01:11:09]:
Part of the season, general, where most of the games just feel like total fucking waste of times. There's a lot of, like, mid tier table. Mid table teams that are just like, meh, coasting like Crystal palace. It's like they finally got their two best players playing on the same team. Nothing to play for.

Derek [01:11:27]:
Yeah, true. Yeah, palace has been playing better, but I think that's different. Like, you can start to see some cohesion and things moving forward, whereas, like, if you're a Chelsea fan, you just, like, we still suck, so.

Ryan [01:11:43]:
Two really bad.

Luke [01:11:45]:
You have a bubble in your face.

Ryan [01:11:47]:
What do you. What was.

Derek [01:11:50]:
Yeah, I saw a little bit of a bubble. I didn't have you zoomed in. Okay.

Ryan [01:11:54]:
I tried to, like. Did I make like, a hand gesture? I don't know what that was. All right. So, Derek, did you have anything you wanted to cover before we call it?

Derek [01:12:07]:
I think, yeah. The two call outs for yanks in the ranks. Timothy weah got the game winning assist to help Juventus advance over Lazio in the Italian cup this past week. That was on Tuesday. So he's been getting some more minutes. He started against Milan, I believe, um, yesterday. Um. So good to see him getting some more minutes.

Derek [01:12:34]:
We talked about Wes and McKinney there, but, you know, Timothy way has been more of a super sub kind of secondary piece. That's getting some more minutes. That's good to see for, you know, the team that's up there on the table. Outside of that, I don't know. It was a game we didn't talk about, but Robinson and Chris Richards played against each other in that Fulham palace game. I thought that was interesting. Richards has been getting. Richard looks good and playing.

Luke [01:13:01]:
Could be a player.

Derek [01:13:03]:
Yeah, I think he looked. He played a good game. He's. Yeah, he also is one of those players that looks really dangerous on corner, opposing corners. Robinson, you know, I will say, continues to be like, very consistent, as we've said. I thought he actually may have given away a penalty early in that game. So not his best game, I think, in this one. Richards in Crystal palace definitely stole the show.

Derek [01:13:29]:
But. But good to see Chris Richards, you know, rounding in the form there, even though it's at Luke's point. Kind of a lost season for palace at this point, but I think better days are ahead for them.

Luke [01:13:40]:
I would really like to see Premier League next season and Robinson is a player that I would love, even though he's a little bit, like, older, so the resale value won't be there. Would love Tottenham to pick someone up like him to play in Europe in the mid week, to kind of rotate with the doggy. And that's not really just about Tottenham. I don't think we'll sign him, but he should go to a good club. Like, there's no reason he doesn't like a big club.

Ryan [01:14:04]:
Yeah.

Derek [01:14:06]:
He would fit well with that system. I saw a take today that was talking about how much better suited it is for a system like that. Or maybe like Villa or West Ham then a city system.

Ryan [01:14:20]:
Yeah.

Derek [01:14:21]:
I think Chelsea's another one where you.

Luke [01:14:22]:
Can now with Kook and Chili there.

Derek [01:14:25]:
No. Oh, yes. Sorry. Too many left backs down with Kook and Chili there.

Ryan [01:14:34]:
Matson alluded to the fact that he wants to come back to Chelsea and Dortmund has said that they don't have the funds to pick up his release clause. So he's a 40 million euro release clause.

Derek [01:14:47]:
Oh, I thought we had sold him. Jesus. He doesn't want to. He wants to come back. Okay, well maybe that's the solution. I don't know.

Ryan [01:14:56]:
He's a big club. He wants to come back but he wants minutes.

Derek [01:14:59]:
I don't know how it. What position is he going to play in that Chelsea system though? I just don't.

Ryan [01:15:04]:
I think good enough. Yeah, I think, I think both of them could be sold. Yeah, Chillwell and Cougar.

Luke [01:15:14]:
Yeah, chill.

Ryan [01:15:14]:
Well, is not looked right.

Luke [01:15:16]:
Injuries are really starting to pile. It feels like the amount of games that these guys are playing is just decreasing the quality. I think I've talked about this before, but it's just too many, too many injuries. Yeah, it's just like it's become too bright. These guys should not have these international breaks. All these like just extra, extra games. Like we're spurs are fucking playing Bayern Munich at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium like two weeks after the season. That's there.

Luke [01:15:42]:
Like what? Like what the fuck? That's a good idea. Like these guys need time off, but whatever.

Ryan [01:15:49]:
Yeah, I don't see Byron. I see them playing Byron on August but yeah, they are playing. Yeah, they've got like a few friendlies lined up. Yeah. I don't.

Derek [01:16:06]:
Know. That was it for Yanks, the ranks this week.

Ryan [01:16:09]:
All right. I, I thought it would be all right. So two things before we call it. One, I was just going to run through the fixtures that both of our clubs have or all of our clubs have remaining. So for Tottenham, they have Chelsea this week. Then they have Liverpool, Burnley, man City and Sheffield to close out the season. No, that is not a fun.

Luke [01:16:32]:
I think that's kind of why I'm like pretty solid on the fifth place is kind of a good result. Like the run of fixtures at the end are bad here. I don't think Newcastle has enough to catch up with us, especially after the tie, but after their tie. But fifth place is good. That run of fixtures is rough. We do have a. Yeah, Chelsea's behind you anyway, sir.

Ryan [01:16:55]:
Yes. I don't think it may, it might be mathematically impossible, I'm not sure, but yeah. So Chelsea, they have Tottenham West Ham, which I'm, I'm curious about that. The, the West Ham game earlier in the season stands out to me. That was, that was the, like, literally the point where I was like, oh no, I don't think we're very good like that. That. That game is the moment this season where I was like, ah, fuck, this is bad. So West Ham, Nottingham Forest, Brighton and Bournemouth.

Ryan [01:17:37]:
That is a. Yeah, that's not a bad.

Luke [01:17:40]:
Get some momentum going in the offseason. Keep putch. And going to the offseason.

Ryan [01:17:50]:
The only way I can think that you can rationalize that is that you like that. He's cratering. Chelsea. Gotta be.

Derek [01:18:00]:
The look on his face says it all.

Luke [01:18:02]:
Chelsea. I think they've had a really bad year, but, well, I'd like to see parts succeed there. I'm not quite as, like, I don't know, what's the word? Hateful to other clubs, including Chelsea, as some people on this podcast. So, you know.

Ryan [01:18:20]:
I don't know how.

Luke [01:18:20]:
Anyone could hate Chelsea, but all of Ukraine.

Ryan [01:18:26]:
What? We've got their golden boy.

Luke [01:18:29]:
And by golden boy you mean, you know, sir shanks a lot from Kirchoff.

Ryan [01:18:36]:
Dude, that was. Holy fuck, that was a bad.

Derek [01:18:39]:
I think Ryan was. Ryan was pretty excited about that. They deflected a little bit of that, no pun intended. The attention away from Niko.

Ryan [01:18:48]:
Yeah, dude, he almost hit the touchline rough, like on the other side of the pitch. Yeah, that was. That was fucked. All right, so last thing. Go for sorry score. Predictions for Tottenham, Chelsea and we'll revisit this. I'm turning whatever Luke says into a clip for my stream deck.

Luke [01:19:12]:
I'm gonna go three to one to spurs.

Ryan [01:19:18]:
Okay. Fucking one. Chelsea, five to two. Chelsea Nico. Five to two. Chelsea Nico James.

Derek [01:19:30]:
Yeah.

Ryan [01:19:31]:
Cole Palmer. And I'm gonna call.

Luke [01:19:35]:
My hot take is gonna probably get sent off again though.

Ryan [01:19:43]:
You shouldn't even start him. He's not very good. He did win a low. Yeah. Yeah, he was hard carried by Messi.

Derek [01:19:53]:
Yeah, I think World cup. The World cup. And enzo.

Ryan [01:19:58]:
Yeah. And Valentin Barco. Wait, was he on that team? He might. He might not have been on that squad. Maybe he didn't make the plane. I think that's it.

Luke [01:20:08]:
Good job.

Ryan [01:20:08]:
That's the podcast.

Derek [01:20:10]:
Thanks for tuning in to the Football Yanks podcast.

Luke [01:20:13]:
Be sure to subscribe, subscribe wherever you.

Derek [01:20:15]:
Heard this podcast so you never miss a future episode. We'll see you next time.