In Episode #146 of the Squeaky Bum Time Podcast, Mike and Laurent discuss the implications of the Russia-Ukraine conflict on the football world, including a potential ownership change in West London? Also:

• Looking at the paths Liverpool and Man City are on leading to their title clash on April 10th
• Tottenham lose to Burnley, shaking up both ends of the table in an impressive just three days!
• Arsenal push past Wolves on a dramatic late winner, are they in pole position for the last Champions League spot?

Follow us on Twitter (@SqueakyBum_Pod), Instagram (@SqueakyBumTimePod) and Facebook (Squeaky Bum Time Podcast) to stay up to date!

Part of the Chop Sports Media Network!

00:00

hello and welcome to the squeaky bum

00:02

time podcast with mike lebron it is

00:04

friday february 25th

00:07

in this episode the title race is back

00:09

on or so does liverpool tell everyone

00:12

arsenal have staked a claim

00:14

leads in a relegation fight no and

00:17

they're terrible but first mike

00:19

war what is it good for oh

00:24

first of all let's get this out of the

00:25

way and we obviously

00:28

hope for a peaceful and uh you know

00:31

as less bloodshed as possible resolution

00:33

to this ridiculous conflict between

00:36

russia and ukraine and the impending one

00:38

with china and taiwan uh and uh i don't

00:41

like it yeah it's not great bob um yeah

00:44

obviously i i i wear my my rabbit for

00:46

hat in solidarity with my uh ukrainian

00:49

brothers and sisters especially my

00:50

co-workers

00:51

marina

00:52

pavlo

00:54

constantine

00:55

eugene my crew who code for me i pray i

00:59

was bummed out all day sad i hope

01:01

they're all okay yeah and um we hope

01:05

beyond hope that what happens from this

01:07

does affect the football world and we

01:09

have

01:10

breaking news that's a possibility no

01:12

yeah but it could happen well all right

01:15

and as we segue back into why you're

01:16

listening to the show

01:18

new i mean plenty of news to talk about

01:19

in this episode but i think off the rip

01:21

we have to go with

01:23

what may happen to one of the biggest

01:26

names currently in world football the

01:27

current

01:28

european champions right

01:31

may

01:32

be forced to sell

01:34

uh their own

01:36

football club so called chelsea for a

01:38

reason

01:39

that's right

01:40

so roman abramovic uh is a dirty dirty

01:44

russian man and we've known this for

01:47

a decade

01:49

and exactly now the chickens just yeah

01:51

the chickens are starting to come home

01:52

through rest almost two decades

01:54

um

01:56

the actually like his name was brought

01:58

up in parliament saying you should not

02:00

be able to own a football club yes

02:03

because of uh i guess

02:05

disingenuous dealings it's just finances

02:08

there's just there literally is a list

02:10

of people that they have in their pocket

02:12

for when [ __ ] goes down they go and say

02:15

hey fu you can now this has happened

02:17

before there was a guy that the russians

02:20

02:24

the invasion of georgia and nothing

02:25

happened so

02:27

this is a little bit bigger i think

02:30

ukraine and and russia

02:32

i don't think people know this ukraine

02:34

is the second largest country in europe

02:37

by area and provides

02:39

almost all the bread so it would be like

02:42

if you know um wonder bread got taken

02:44

over by [ __ ] hostess it's bad this is

02:48

trouble they really went after them they

02:51

wanted those [ __ ]

02:53

rainbow bubbles and dots and stuff this

02:55

is bad news count chocodile breaking in

02:58

stealing [ __ ] this is what's happening

03:00

so here's where it could get bad for

03:03

chelsea specifically yeah if

03:06

if roman abramovich were to sell the

03:08

theory is or even just have the team

03:11

confiscated

03:12

that's even worse theoretically but the

03:15

thing and the way that chelsea has

03:17

used their finances or i guess laid out

03:20

03:23

going to read from an article from

03:24

forbes from a little earlier today

03:28

roman abramovich has a sanction

03:30

insurance is the headline a two billion

03:33

dollar loan to chelsea fc what does that

03:35

mean effectively all of the signings

03:37

that chelsea has made since he bought

03:40

03:42

million yeah nothing i mean 100 million

03:45

teams are very cheap

03:47

relative to american sports so

03:49

03:51

argue is a large sum of money back 20

03:53

years ago but nonetheless now they're

03:56

valued at 3.2 billion and the problem

03:58

with that as i mentioned all of these

04:00

player sales that we've always talked

04:01

about over the years

04:03

those are all technically loans

04:06

to roman abramovich so he is owed two

04:10

billion dollars so if at any point he

04:12

decides hey i'm gonna hit the cash out

04:14

button you effectively have a chelsea

04:18

football club who's two billion with a b

04:20

dollars in the hole yeah and that's

04:22

gonna be a problem you're gonna bring

04:24

back the save the bridge signs right so

04:26

yeah um so so so that's one piece that

04:29

we have you know russian oligarchs and

04:32

whatever and and i think that one of the

04:34

owners of of arsenal was also implicated

04:36

in this i can't remember his name he

04:37

tried to buy arsenal many times but the

04:40

cronkies bought him out i can't remember

04:41

his name unfortunately well then and

04:43

then but the other one is the champions

04:44

league final is going to move well i

04:45

want to get to that in a second yeah

04:47

this is sort of how

04:49

when putin stands there and he goes i'm

04:51

walking in the front door of ukraine's

04:53

borders uh and if anybody threatens me

04:56

i'm going to nuke you which is i'm

04:57

paraphrasing but effectively what has

04:59

been said so far basically yeah the way

05:02

that corporations can sort of fight back

05:05

well it's an extension of cancer culture

05:07

really but um

05:08

the sporting world like joker it which

05:10

is one of the biggest teams in the

05:12

finnish hockey scene they're in the khl

05:15

in russia yeah they have withdrawn from

05:17

the khl for the rest of the season right

05:19

out of protest so so there are ways for

05:21

teams

05:22

uh teams organizations and and uh

05:26

gas prom off yes and that was what i was

05:29

going to say um

05:30

there's a lot of things that united has

05:32

yet to comment on its sponsorship

05:35

biggest airline aeroflot it's eight

05:37

million dollars well whatever but so the

05:39

point is that all these things are going

05:41

to start to add up and yeah i um yeah

05:44

it's interesting that like you said oh

05:46

wait we're talking about obrava has that

05:48

that out clause if you will but russia

05:51

as a whole is going to start to feel

05:53

yeah i think i think the thing is that

05:56

sports is culture culture is sports

05:59

football is global russia is part of

06:02

that global world shaktar do next has

06:04

not played there those are freaking

06:06

that's a that's a europa league champion

06:08

in the last 10 years

06:10

you know uh fernandinho from manchester

06:12

city who played there did a whole uh

06:14

message to the team so all these

06:16

interactive things it is not in a vacuum

06:20

we're going to have issues with teams

06:22

here and there there's going to be

06:23

players doing dissidents i think the

06:26

napoli versus um a barcelona game that

06:29

the the teams both came out with no war

06:31

signs and these are these are big things

06:33

because putin is

06:35

is

06:36

a dangerous actor he could do something

06:39

[ __ ] weird you know you don't know it

06:41

he's got he's an autocrat he can do

06:43

whatever he wants so we have that

06:45

looming over football and the champions

06:47

league final which i actually thought

06:49

about going to but now that it's going

06:51

to leave st petersburg maybe i'll

06:53

actually go to the city yeah well

06:56

maybe me and you will go because there's

06:57

a chance it could be a difference yeah

07:00

well the emirates there's a chance that

07:03

there's a shiny brand new stadium in

07:06

london

07:07

that is begging to hold big events

07:09

they've they've bid for the super bowl

07:12

it's time for hotspur stadium i've been

07:14

there it is a gem right this is fit for

07:19

a large scale event like this it's

07:21

literally built for things like this and

07:23

so the two uh names that i have heard

07:26

shortlisted for the potential move of

07:28

this emirates

07:30

wembley and spurs stadium uh i don't

07:32

know why you would do emirates with with

07:34

with literally spurs aim right up the

07:36

road um

07:38

somebody somebody another deep dirty

07:40

brown bag right that's just saying

07:46

yeah yeah maybe you maybe you owe some

07:48

money somewhere and you don't right

07:49

right right but so that so there's an

07:51

interesting thing there and then um you

07:54

sort of have the segway into huh

07:57

liverpool and chelsea will be at least

08:00

into the quarterfinals of the champions

08:02

league city will be there too of course

08:04

but there's no real beef with city

08:06

as a spurs supporter

08:08

but there's a chance that the first

08:09

champions league final in tottenham

08:11

hotspur stadium is won by one of spurs

08:13

rivals which

08:14

would not sit well with dotnet yeah

08:17

that's another thing you don't you kind

08:19

of don't want to have that happen yeah

08:20

anyway but we do want to get to the

08:23

football and mike has had a wonderful

08:25

wartime distraction uh to uh take away

08:29

from spurs who are completely changing

08:32

the premier league both at the top end

08:34

and now at the bottom end one game at a

08:36

time one game at a time changing all the

08:39

narrative so we talked last week was the

08:41

big win for spurs our

08:44

our effusive amazing moment of oh the

08:48

title race is back open oh look at spurs

08:50

they're going to kick on then they play

08:53

burnley midweek

08:55

and

08:56

they play like spurs again they're back

08:59

they're normal i think the irony of it

09:01

was was you know you guys spurs played

09:04

city after city had played midweek

09:06

burnley plays spurs after spurs had

09:08

played in midway and the absolute high

09:10

of that game is hard to and so to not

09:13

have a hangover yeah and so the resting

09:15

and all the stuff comes back to bite you

09:17

you go to turf more and you get george

09:19

boyded uh late late goal and you didn't

09:22

play well

09:24

we didn't play poorly i would say it was

09:26

an average time performance we had some

09:28

good chances i think sunny was a ghost

09:30

uh i know that because i bet on him to

09:32

have two shots not on target just two

09:34

shots he had zero um

09:36

well he did set up the two cane shots uh

09:39

two of them and one kulesetsky shot who

09:42

uh just missed going wide far post um

09:45

but listen i think that this story here

09:47

and and it's true um from burnley's last

09:49

game where they beat the [ __ ] out of

09:51

brighton too is that they are

09:53

they're they're

09:54

they're feeling the back against the

09:56

wall maybe not so much now but that's

09:59

two wins on the bounce where they went

10:00

out and got these wins okay this was not

10:04

your sit back and and we'll just hit you

10:07

on the counter sort of burnley they got

10:09

two name brand wins they got one against

10:11

villa which you would not have expected

10:13

especially the way villa had been

10:14

playing and one against your mob where

10:17

you would not have expected it well no

10:19

no and and and brighton

10:21

i'm sorry brighton excuse me they beat

10:23

brighton even better an even better win

10:25

yeah exactly and so i mean look the

10:27

stats if you look at it 34

10:29

possession but they out shot spurs right

10:32

so it's not good no um but they went out

10:35

and they got this game and and more

10:36

power to him

10:37

frankly this could have been two or

10:39

three nothing as well like

10:41

hugo made a couple of really nice saves

10:43

um

10:44

and i cursed christian romero because he

10:46

was having a phenomenal game uh i was

10:49

watching him closely and

10:52

i thought he was great

10:53

and

10:55

his bend me beats him for the goal now

10:58

he's sort of it's it's a weird

11:00

angle and me does a great job in the air

11:02

to go up and get it and and angle it

11:04

into the corner um

11:06

i don't really put this on romero all

11:08

that much he did but frankly his man got

11:11

the goal his he got beat by ben me

11:14

yeah i mean i think there was just a

11:16

it was a

11:17

englishness verse

11:19

i'm not ready for englishness not that

11:21

i'm bad but this guy went full english

11:23

on me i think it was he had it i'm not

11:25

allowed

11:26

to sausage

11:28

he had a full run but he did go through

11:31

romero right yes well he like it was but

11:34

i mean it was it was playing like it was

11:36

a one-on-one yeah

11:37

he beats him but he beat him right and

11:39

then we told you we told you that

11:41

liverpool would beat the living [ __ ] out

11:43

of leeds oh they really [ __ ] pounded

11:46

them like they did six no

11:49

i want to say something that [ __ ] me

11:51

off because

11:52

i understand narrative everyone's a

11:54

title race when city beat leeds seven

11:57

nil it was the end of football as we

12:00

know it all the league's over it's

12:02

terrible this thing doesn't work the

12:04

money blah blah blah with the narrative

12:06

was that when liverpool beat leeds six

12:09

nil it's oh look isn't this great look

12:12

how great salamani are if like listen

12:14

i'm not a [ __ ] tinfoil hat thing and

12:16

it goes back to the thing but i'm just

12:18

pointing out

12:20

some teams get or have the right to

12:22

glory and others have to earn it i don't

12:24

know when city will earn the right to

12:26

glory they need to have 96 of their fans

12:29

die they need to have communist owners i

12:31

don't know when that's gonna happen i

12:33

don't think i want that to happen i

12:35

don't begrudge liverpool for having it

12:36

but if i do [ __ ] pisses me off i do

12:39

that there's a constant din of

12:43

city or bad city our evil city city city

12:47

when you know

12:48

i get we have to accept it but it's

12:50

really frustrating and i only call it

12:52

out because

12:53

it's really [ __ ] annoying it's

12:55

cyclical it's cyclical there's three

12:57

teams three and a half if you want to

12:59

count chelsea there's three teams where

13:01

they're the story no matter what and

13:03

those teams as we all know are liverpool

13:06

manchester united and arsenal okay yes

13:08

and the stories are they're the biggest

13:10

they're the biggest clubs in the world

13:12

short top ten the the the stories of the

13:14

former uh the latter two i should say

13:16

for the last ten years has been that

13:20

they haven't been at the level of a

13:21

manchester city or a chelsea or a

13:24

liverpool so

13:25

they are red

13:27

they do right that's very

13:29

observant of you but the storyline is

13:32

it's very much it's very much like the

13:34

yankees here in the states

13:36

if the yankees i saw somebody have the

13:39

balls to say the yankees have a world

13:41

series curse

13:42

13:45

standards that is a very long drought

13:47

but it's by the yankees own standards

13:49

you don't get to consider everybody else

13:52

by the yankee zone standards do you no

13:54

you i don't see you talking about how

13:56

the um let's see the seattle mariners

13:59

the oakland a's right the cleveland

14:02

indians yeah that's a curse

14:04

right right so so like you know

14:06

stop it behave yourself right well i

14:09

don't we know the the internet has made

14:11

sports fandom brutal just awesome right

14:14

and so but it's true it's even more true

14:17

in in england because again as i've said

14:19

many times on the show this is the only

14:21

[ __ ] thing you people have and they

14:23

have no access so they have to lean into

14:25

the bottom even more so

14:28

if liverpool united or arsenal are very

14:31

good they're the best that you've ever

14:33

seen and you're privileged to be alive

14:36

in this moment to watch greatness and

14:38

unfold or

14:39

if they're

14:40

four five god forbid six or worse then

14:44

there

14:45

everybody needs to be hanged in the town

14:47

square immediately right so there is no

14:49

middle and the fact of the matter is is

14:51

that i mean united are a bit of a

14:53

[ __ ] mess but they're comfortably

14:56

well no i shouldn't say comfortably in

14:57

the force but because arsenal are the

14:59

plucky underdogs now right so so so

15:01

you're starting to see that narrative

15:03

already

15:04

shifted yeah i mean i think there's a

15:06

there's a i mean

15:08

i do want to talk more about liverpool

15:09

just because it it'd be unfair to sort

15:12

of

15:13

short trip the fact that they're really

15:14

[ __ ] good especially at home they now

15:17

have the top three leading goal scorers

15:19

and the top three leading assist makers

15:22

they've scored 70 goals which is more

15:25

than the next

15:26

three combined i mean it's a big number

15:28

they're gonna put a hundred down for the

15:30

season they are on city's back

15:33

city cannot we have

15:35

nine we have 18 19 all over again

15:37

april 10th mark it down the new el nuevo

15:41

clasico

15:42

liverpool versus manchester city ate

15:45

etihad is and if you need to see it

15:49

at the etsy hand

15:50

yes it's

15:51

german sorry

15:55

no more german i can't even make war

15:56

jokes anymore because now we're having

15:58

16:00

it's not even funny anymore

16:02

it's upsetting kind of funny they don't

16:04

have as nice uniforms as the old ones

16:06

though

16:07

i haven't noticed the uniforms no

16:08

they're not good it's not quality are

16:10

there any spikes on health no no no fur

16:13

no hats none of that

16:17

none of this good stuff

16:18

none of the real [ __ ] um so i'm gonna

16:21

put my my uh my i gotta get all my loyal

16:23

gear on i got my new hat for the season

16:26

ah san diego loyal very nice yeah it was

16:28

co it's cold in san diego it's 45

16:30

degrees wow

16:32

so um yeah so liverpool on city's back

16:36

it'll be a title race down to the end

16:38

what i was trying to say is

16:40

barcelona

16:41

madrid with ronaldo and messi with pep

16:44

versus mourinho that

16:47

2009 10 11 12 13 seasons those clasicos

16:52

that you had to watch in la liga just

16:54

before the just before the premier

16:56

league took off again

16:58

not really not only were they battles

17:00

the level of play was so high you were

17:02

just like this is a different sport

17:05

yeah something else is going on here and

17:07

liverpool versus manchester united city

17:09

is now that

17:10

right you get

17:12

the two best managers in the world you

17:14

can argue and pick which one you can say

17:17

uh fraudiola or checkbook pep or you can

17:20

go to klopp and say

17:22

yeah you won one trophy and one of them

17:24

when everyone was at home so take it

17:26

easy

17:27

i ate punch magoo right you you lost

17:30

every big game until until you didn't uh

17:32

win it with fans there then you'll feel

17:34

some real [ __ ] pressure [ __ ] uh 93

17:37

20 for life

17:39

yeah it was easy it was easy when nobody

17:41

was there to win the [ __ ] league love

17:43

that

17:45

you like that you like that i do like

17:46

that i do like that yeah i'm salty it's

17:48

like counter argument is the kind of

17:50

argument to that is like yeah but we

17:51

have anfield and it's like okay you only

17:52

have anfield half the time yeah i don't

17:54

know whatever i i have nothing my my

17:56

stadium is like playing with no one's

17:58

there all the time so you can tell that

18:00

like manchester city laurent is on the

18:02

ropes yeah i am on the ropes and i'm

18:05

gonna help him out no i uh i think

18:09

i'm salty man i'm [ __ ] had it i hate

18:11

liverpool i don't want them to win i now

18:13

have to live [ __ ] uptight games for

18:16

the rest of the season and have to watch

18:18

my back and when when we draw against

18:20

everton away because frank lampard

18:22

figures out his stupid [ __ ] team and

18:25

and my and and guardiola is like oh

18:28

let's play zinchenko so he doesn't have

18:29

to think about the war and he gives up a

18:31

[ __ ] goal i'm gonna be very upset

18:33

about it

18:36

let's play zinchenko so he doesn't have

18:39

to think about the war

18:40

all right let's buy a fun game who's

18:43

gonna drop points first because no

18:45

neither of them

18:46

neither of them i will say will go

18:48

undefeated or i guess pick up all of the

18:51

points between now and april 10.

18:53

somebody has the city has a better

18:54

chance to do it they're just better

18:57

you mean they have a better chance to to

18:59

run the table

19:00

because they have a better team um okay

19:02

so

19:04

i'll say this saturday this coming

19:06

saturday everton man city

19:08

and liverpool don't have a game because

19:11

they have the efl final so

19:13

you're going to

19:14

um goodison to take on everton always a

19:18

tough game oh i don't agree i think

19:20

i think

19:21

i mean this is not a good ever i don't

19:23

think i don't think that um

19:25

sorry i don't think that lampard is a

19:27

good manager

19:29

so i'm less concerned nor do i think

19:32

everton is a good team or a tough tough

19:34

game for city right now okay city

19:36

schedule is everton united palace but

19:39

the thing about this game is this is in

19:41

liverpool's backyard right once

19:43

two

19:45

it is literally in liverpool two

19:47

um

19:48

thankfully

19:49

unlike

19:50

your jellyfish spine manchester city has

19:54

one right and they're damn [ __ ] good

19:57

so they're gonna see liverpool put up a

19:59

touchdown on leeds and they're gonna go

20:01

all right [ __ ] you wanna dance

20:03

let's go and they're gonna make they're

20:05

gonna they're gonna pull everton's heart

20:07

out of their ass and they're gonna show

20:09

it to them it's gonna be three four

20:11

maybe five nothing but it's gonna be one

20:13

of those it's like ah

20:15

we are not like liverpool's not the only

20:17

team in this race okay so i think that

20:19

they're going to have a convincing

20:22

like just we're here to kind of win

20:25

statement win yeah um

20:27

liverpool might get a trophy this

20:29

weekend for all we know

20:30

one is sure that doesn't that's not the

20:32

end of the list

20:34

go on we let them win uh then what that

20:37

also means is they will have a game in

20:38

hand coming up after this weekend uh

20:40

liverpool then hosts west ham on march

20:42

5th the west ham are a big bag of who

20:44

knows what uh

20:46

yeah but that weekend that weekend city

20:48

has the manchester derby and they have

20:49

the darby the thing the difference there

20:52

is that

20:53

if by chance west ham gets something out

20:55

of liverpool city's going to know it

20:57

because it's the next day right they

20:58

play on a sunday right rather than a

21:00

saturday thing is united are always

21:02

that's a tough that's tough i

21:05

i hope that the next the rest of the

21:07

season and it does look that way

21:09

um

21:10

that at least through april 10th

21:13

they never play on the same day oh they

21:16

don't plan well they change th this

21:18

information changes all the time so it

21:20

doesn't

21:20

i don't think it's gonna change to this

21:22

point i think it's pretty stocked in uh

21:24

at this point but like so the reason i

21:26

said that is because every like you're

21:28

gonna know what liverpool did and vice

21:30

versa every time you go on the pitch

21:31

it's not gonna be like one of those like

21:33

we're both playing at the same time and

21:34

you've got one of the assistant coaches

21:36

with a uh checking his phone right i

21:38

don't know they they move stuff trust me

21:40

they'll they'll figure but not this not

21:41

this soon right they were sure they will

21:44

the only thing that they'll move is the

21:45

second uh the quarterfinals of the

21:47

champions league which isn't until

21:49

right around april 10th you can't tell

21:52

me that in all of april city is playing

21:55

at at three o'clock there's just no way

21:57

that's happening no no no no no no in

22:00

fact i'm saying exactly the opposite i'm

22:01

saying through april 10th this is the

22:04

schedule after that yeah no you've got

22:06

fa cup you've got you've got champions

22:08

league so i don't know those games will

22:10

move i'm sure of that but what i'm

22:11

saying is

22:12

we have a we have a we got a monday

22:14

night game against palace that'll be big

22:17

yeah

22:18

yeah

22:19

[ __ ] it's gonna be a fun one

22:21

you've got brighton

22:23

you've got the harder run

22:25

to april 10th and i think i think

22:28

liverpool has a harder run after april

22:31

10th

22:32

yes we have this is a tough one this is

22:33

a tough run i mean this is this is a

22:35

tough run it's tottenham everton united

22:37

palace brighton burnley than liverpool

22:39

like i would rather not play burnley

22:41

before liverpool because that means that

22:43

you're gonna be bruised you know even if

22:45

you beat like it is a myth right like

22:48

yes will go away to burnley but

22:50

they

22:51

it happens enough that that you just go

22:53

whatever but city do

22:55

kick the [ __ ] out of burnley there's no

22:57

like i shouldn't be i have it right here

22:59

league schedule in front of me

23:01

there's a chance that there's a chance

23:03

that the quarterfinal might be midweek

23:05

before man city liverpool i hope it's

23:07

not i hope it's after

23:09

um but it's definitely going to be one

23:11

of those

23:12

um

23:13

it's either going to be like april 7th

23:14

8th or april 12th 13th something like

23:18

that so

23:20

our 13th 14th so i hope that it's the

23:22

latter just because like i don't i i

23:25

want eight days off for city and let me

23:27

look at liverpool

23:29

i want yeah well that's okay that's the

23:31

first time they play on the same day

23:33

up until that match so i want them both

23:36

to have eight days off i want every big

23:38

dick they have swinging going into that

23:39

match and i want ali frazier like this

23:42

is what we're talking about here yeah

23:44

yeah it's gotta be it's gotta be like as

23:46

nationally televised it needs to be big

23:48

it could be if it's still three

23:52

uh that it could possibly be three that

23:54

it's

23:55

it's a it's a title decider ish it is a

23:58

title decider regardless of what happens

24:00

leading up to it right because um as

24:02

long as they stay within three of each

24:04

other right exactly exactly

24:06

you know uh i do the thing is the whole

24:08

difference thing that the leads thing

24:11

blowing out leads was bad because well

24:13

that's why i say now you've got an

24:15

opportunity to do the same thing to

24:17

everton who are a [ __ ] side right now

24:20

right so so but that's that's the point

24:22

is that you you don't

24:23

style points now are going to matter

24:25

it's almost like like college football

24:27

like no no we're going to keep the first

24:29

team on the field because we want to

24:30

actually win 70 to nothing instead of 42

24:32

tonight yeah i mean and that's actually

24:34

the that's actually the shame that's

24:35

actually the bad thing for city that

24:37

liverpool's defense is not

24:40

the title defense team where they would

24:42

get those early leads and they would

24:44

take their foot off the gas because they

24:45

could because van dyke was otherworldly

24:47

he's now just good

24:49

and now they just throttle teams they

24:51

don't stop anymore because they have to

24:54

keep going right otherwise they'll get

24:56

beat like if they try and sit they're

24:57

not good enough defensively

24:59

to me defensively anymore to not attack

25:02

sure because by the way very very few

25:05

teams ever are

25:07

right you shouldn't do that and if you

25:09

don't some teams do that some teams do

25:12

that they're really good and they don't

25:13

do like yeah

25:14

not good and do that yeah but i mean it

25:17

it is a style that's going away but i do

25:19

i do think we should go in to talk about

25:22

liverpool your beloved wolves

25:25

come from behind when at home the place

25:28

going nuts

25:29

this was a good performance

25:32

go down arsenal arsenal i said let's

25:35

pull i meant

25:36

yeah yeah wow what a game it was good

25:39

and they they

25:41

they fought hard to get the win this was

25:43

not a

25:45

this was this is not a weak

25:48

a mentally weak arsenal side they are

25:50

building

25:51

something at this point that is either

25:54

youthful exuberance or

25:56

arteta

25:58

winning the hearts and minds giving a

26:00

mentality a fight listen

26:04

i know in our preview i did tout

26:07

arsenal but there were reasons right

26:09

like they did have a good defense even

26:11

with leno they did sign davies i didn't

26:14

know about gabriel i mean uh

26:17

ben white but i knew about him he was

26:19

one of my sons from the championship i

26:20

knew about him in leeds he came up with

26:22

leads and then went to my beloved

26:24

brighton and was good in brighton i

26:26

didn't know about gabrielle

26:28

tomiaso i didn't know about but these

26:29

sort of stabilizing defensive forces

26:32

um

26:33

weirdly the shaka thing hasn't hurt them

26:35

lately but the smith rowe saka

26:38

the energy the fight uh i really like i

26:42

don't know i mean arsenal fans seem to

26:43

not like him but i think lacazette's

26:45

really good i i i mean he has a hard

26:48

time scoring winner here i mean

26:50

but but but but but outside of the goals

26:53

whenever i watch them i'm like he's in

26:55

on everything that they do

26:57

in the games where i mean he ends up

26:59

being sort of like quote unquote like

27:01

big game player he always bothered me

27:02

with spurs he's had a few really really

27:04

nice goal he fights he does work he does

27:08

things he's not

27:09

passive like he's he comes deep he comes

27:12

gets the ball he's he's the kind of like

27:14

when i look at arsenal i do see

27:18

the manchester city side of it so i see

27:22

the same patterns they're not as

27:24

clean they're not as predictable it's

27:27

kind of like a [ __ ] version of city but

27:29

they have something that's different and

27:31

that is

27:32

a bit more

27:34

swag and juice

27:36

right like

27:37

cities very ordered and professional and

27:39

robotic whereas arsenal has some

27:43

has some fun to it it's like there goes

27:45

[ __ ] martinelli holy [ __ ] that guy's

27:48

amazing that one that's the difference

27:51

in personality not in quality

27:53

personality yes between pep and arteta

27:56

arteta encourages that whereas pep

27:58

basically stomps on it

28:00

yes you yes we are a collective we are a

28:03

unit i am the spokesman of this unit

28:06

well

28:07

yeah yes that's the main piece right

28:09

it's not so much that arteta doesn't

28:12

uh it's not like he fans the flames or

28:14

he puts them out he lets the players

28:16

appreciate we are a collective but i

28:19

want you to enjoy your

28:21

cog in the machine essentially yeah and

28:23

i'm not going to be the face of the

28:25

program here whereas pep is

28:27

hellbent on this is me and my team in

28:30

mind there's not as much depth so the

28:32

players are

28:34

there's

28:35

less rotation because they just don't

28:36

have the like arsenal can't rotate and

28:39

like it's not his cutthroat where

28:40

there's a guy to replace you at every

28:42

spot right who's like literally the best

28:44

player from his country yeah

28:47

but it was a good win uh the goals were

28:50

good i love that smith rowe and

28:52

martinelli have a little bit of

28:53

competition between them they kind of

28:55

move in and out gives a little bit of

28:56

juice for both of them saka seems to be

28:59

a permanent fixture in the team uh you

29:01

know party was good

29:03

shaka didn't hurt them he plays a little

29:05

bit deeper the the ben white and and

29:08

gabrielle partnership was good you know

29:10

wolves

29:11

wolves are [ __ ] name brand man they

29:13

don't [ __ ] around now they

29:16

are and this is gonna i just looked this

29:18

up

29:18

their goal their expected goal

29:20

difference is so far off the charts that

29:23

it is like they they they are bound for

29:26

a regression to the mean but their games

29:28

are the lowest scoring events in the

29:30

league because they are one of the

29:32

lowest scoring goals uh lowest scoring

29:34

teams in the league at um

29:37

uh where is their goals against oh my

29:40

god i can't find goddamn wolves sorry

29:43

wolves are third bottom but they're also

29:46

third top on defense so they're third in

29:49

goals four and third from the bottom and

29:51

goes four but third from the top in in

29:54

goals again so nothing happens in their

29:56

games yeah yeah no i know but their

29:58

expected goals against is plus 14. so

30:01

they're like playing way over their

30:03

heads and it's just

30:05

look at looking at this table because

30:08

i think we can as far as the top four

30:10

race is concerned i think we can

30:12

probably despite the fact

30:14

that what you were just saying i think

30:16

we can close the book on wolves now i

30:17

think that this game and using it in the

30:20

fashion that they did this was their

30:21

chance to to jump back up

30:24

and their quality does not reflect it

30:26

right they're not this good exactly yeah

30:29

and i look at it and i go man if if

30:32

spurs beat burnley or southampton or

30:35

[ __ ] villa or or newcastle or

30:40

any of these games you're just like what

30:41

the [ __ ] are you doing

30:44

they're right there with arsenal and the

30:46

game in hand that both teams have left

30:49

is the north london darby so we're

30:52

talking about just such a missed

30:53

opportunity when you talk about the

30:55

massive

30:56

nature in which we're looking at with

30:57

man city and liverpool where i'm not

30:59

comparing it to oh they're already those

31:00

teams are gone i'm not comparing it with

31:03

equality but like as far as like

31:05

that would be the second biggest game of

31:07

the year would basically be tottenham

31:08

arsenal for a champ music spot towards

31:10

the end of the year yeah when is that

31:12

game being rescheduled for i don't know

31:15

let me see here's arsenal's fixtures i

31:17

don't know that it has yet to be quite

31:19

honest

31:20

wait you got to create you want a crazy

31:22

stat you're ready for an another wacky

31:24

one emile smith rowe

31:26

is the

31:26

joint top scoring englishman in football

31:32

yeah phil foden well you know jared

31:35

bowen is on eight

31:36

uh uh uh

31:38

jamie vardy is on eight

31:40

and uh jared bowen and and smith rose on

31:43

nine and he doesn't play every game

31:45

which is pretty pretty in credible uh i

31:49

do want to go through some more games we

31:51

didn't go through the scores because it

31:53

was a bit of a

31:54

haphazard week we can't jump into scores

31:58

as i go through it i hunt them down i

32:00

look for them i find them and the scores

32:03

midweek we had

32:06

we had burnley one nil that we know ben

32:08

me grabbed that one on uh yesterday then

32:12

our boy conor gallagher returns puts a

32:14

knife into watford what watford crystal

32:17

palace really put the smackdown on them

32:20

wilfred zaha with two goals matata carno

32:23

gallagher god i [ __ ] love palace and

32:25

i hope they lose to city uh badly then

32:28

we know liverpool smash leads leads are

32:31

in a relegation fight mohamed salah with

32:33

two goals money with two goals salah

32:35

both penalties sadio mane uh in the 80th

32:39

and 90th van dijk and matsup score

32:41

they're just getting goals from

32:42

everywhere they put 16 shots on target

32:45

against pathetic leads leads aren't

32:48

really leads are in trouble let's stop

32:49

there for a second do we want to you

32:52

don't want to go let's go through the

32:52

rest of scores then we'll go yeah no the

32:54

last score is the arsenal wolves game

32:56

just to cover the scores pepe in the

32:58

82nd minute and then by the way after

33:01

that pepe gold goes in

33:04

this is an arsenal that is not seen for

33:06

[ __ ] ages they were like

33:09

wounded dogs looking for blood against

33:12

wolves no pun intended it was wolves

33:15

against wolves uh they were after it and

33:17

i was very impressed it was like whoa

33:20

where's this team from and the emirates

33:23

had some juice and the players were

33:24

edging them on there was

33:26

some collective spirit coming from the

33:28

stadium to the players to the goal to

33:30

pushing everything forward it was it was

33:32

nice to see it's the thing that happens

33:34

with football that no other sport has

33:36

it's the drive of the crowd the whole

33:38

thing it's why we hate [ __ ] anfield

33:40

because you're just like [ __ ] they they

33:43

got them it's like

33:46

they're willing them forward you can

33:47

feel it you're like

33:50

you see it in like college football

33:51

sometimes you see it in like like when

33:53

seattle did their 12th man [ __ ] but

33:55

like like

33:57

you can see

33:58

the fear on the opposing players

34:01

it's not it's it's that's the that's the

34:04

the metric right it's not like van dyke

34:06

going nuts it's not the cop end going

34:08

crazy it's it's

34:10

everybody else looking around like uh oh

34:13

oh [ __ ] right like that's where we're

34:15

gonna get got and that's yeah it's it's

34:17

it's barcelona down four i mean up four

34:21

falling apart like that doesn't happen

34:23

in it it just simply doesn't happen uh

34:26

but but anfield has that and leads uh

34:29

just get swallowed up by that we were

34:30

talking about that arsenal get dragged

34:32

along forward but i think the relegation

34:35

fight is where you want it to go or yeah

34:36

you want seven teams that i'm gonna

34:38

include in this now we talked a lot

34:40

about how it's a four it's a four-man

34:42

race it was one spot not anymore it was

34:46

and then burnley go out and win two

34:48

[ __ ] games and they're right there

34:50

okay but it's not just newcastle who are

34:53

in danger now everton what are you doing

34:56

guys they're on 22 points so all right

34:59

let's start at the top we're gonna go

35:00

all the way up to our beloved

35:03

we hope not brentford at 14th yeah okay

35:06

now they're

35:07

right around 26 games yeah they're right

35:09

in the middle on goal difference yes 24

35:11

points from 26 games now that point

35:14

ratio is going to start to be the factor

35:16

that you look at here now

35:18

i do want to give the xg they're way

35:20

better than these teams

35:22

yes

35:23

well but this is expected so this is in

35:25

terms of quality now this is games

35:27

they've already finished we know about

35:29

their early games that's the entire

35:30

season xg

35:32

sure if we were probably in the last ten

35:34

no no they're right there okay

35:37

something has happened

35:38

like everything we thought we loved

35:40

about brentford has gone away all of the

35:43

exuberance all of ivan tony's just juice

35:46

all of the thomas frank magic

35:49

it seems to have dissipated

35:51

okay they can't stop anyone they're

35:53

giving up goals like crazy

35:55

yeah yeah and as you mentioned a few

35:57

times on the show you know you lose your

35:59

uh a strong goalkeeper to johnny they

36:02

got him back though that's the problem

36:03

and maybe he's not well

36:05

so let's let's see their last

36:07

since

36:09

their last six games i think was it wait

36:11

one two three four five they three of

36:14

liverpool three to united two to wolves

36:17

two the city a nil nail dragon

36:20

to the wolves who you we just spent five

36:22

minutes talking about how they don't

36:23

create anything

36:24

no they don't right you can't give up

36:26

two wolves then right yeah it's just

36:28

they just they're just giving up you

36:29

know three three is when you're giving

36:31

up threes you're in trouble so they

36:33

can't keep clean sheets and that's what

36:34

was keeping them in games early and a

36:37

lot of the the hay they made was early

36:39

like they only had one loss in their

36:40

first eight but they've now slipped a

36:42

lot yeah um and they need a win i mean

36:46

this newcastle game is a big big [ __ ]

36:49

game on set

36:51

and that's the thing is that's the fun

36:53

part now is that we've got so many teams

36:55

included that there are points to to

36:58

you know give out and so these numbers

37:00

are going to change and the crazy thing

37:02

is the margins are still so razor thin

37:04

that as we said with burnley two wins

37:07

changes the outlook of your season and i

37:10

saw it in the [ __ ] burnley players

37:11

faces they were they got that three-nil

37:13

against brighton they're like we're

37:15

gonna go get these bastards and we're

37:16

gonna win three more points i mean what

37:18

did we say we said eight eight wins it's

37:20

gonna take eight and burnley just got

37:23

two of them yeah right so uh everton's

37:26

on six so we're kind of just like hey if

37:27

everton win two more games they're

37:29

probably in decent shape but it is

37:31

everything has four draws so i i don't

37:34

know what the number and and wins is

37:36

hard right but like i

37:38

it's gonna be

37:39

35 points i think he's 36 yeah 35 yeah

37:43

right so um that's the race

37:46

you look at it you go okay well

37:47

brentford needs theoretically four more

37:49

wins or however you want to slice it up

37:50

but the problem you're getting into now

37:52

and as i mentioned you're getting

37:54

lighter on games brentford only has 12

37:56

left leeds has 13. everton to their

37:59

credit has 15 right so this is where i

38:02

look at it and i've been harping on

38:04

games in hand all season because of the

38:05

wonkiness of the year but i think

38:07

brentford on 24 is in more danger than

38:10

everton on 22. because brentford

38:12

brentford has three less games uh to go

38:15

than than everton right so is everton

38:18

bad yes is everything going to get boat

38:20

raced by city on saturday yes but can

38:22

they beat leeds can they beat burnley

38:24

watford norwich i think they probably

38:26

can right yeah so that's where everton

38:29

is going to stay up because a they've

38:32

got games in hand but b

38:33

they're better

38:35

than some of the absolute [ __ ] in the

38:37

league whereas

38:40

they may not be it's super close on

38:42

points per game so

38:44

uh newcastle and brentford and leeds are

38:47

all on .92 points per game exactly so

38:50

they're relatively even on their quality

38:54

where watford and norwich are on 0.72

38:57

and 0.68 so you can you can find this if

38:59

you go to fbref and go to the all top

39:02

five leagues and then you sort by points

39:04

per game you get a good sense of you can

39:06

get a number so you need to be on a

39:07

point per game at this point right so if

39:09

you can get to

39:11

right there's 12 games to go a point per

39:12

game puts them at 36.

39:14

exactly and so i mean yeah you you you

39:17

can probably kiss goodbye to watford and

39:19

city but the latin norwich city i should

39:21

say the last time i said that burnley

39:23

went out and won a couple of [ __ ]

39:24

games so yeah you don't know

39:29

it's a vote for they got the right

39:31

striker that they needed for them i

39:33

think that is the thing that i always

39:35

think about with burnley

39:37

they may not get players you like they

39:39

may not be flashy but they get the

39:41

player that they need for them when they

39:44

need him

39:46

it works

39:48

is a problem creator he's good he just

39:51

he just starts problems for opposing

39:53

defenses yeah i thought tottenham did

39:55

well against him i just not well enough

39:57

unfortunately well ben me was the

40:00

the winner but but white horse was was

40:02

in and around and it was interesting to

40:04

watch that because you haven't i mean

40:05

chris wood was always like it was your

40:07

consummate counter attacking forward

40:09

right but and he was any and he was a 10

40:12

to 12 game 12 10 to 12 goal scorer

40:15

course has scored 20 goals in the

40:17

bundesliga and finished in the top four

40:19

this is not a bum this is a real

40:22

guy like this is not a joke it's a good

40:25

thing he's had his last his last four

40:27

seasons in wolfsburg finished sixth

40:29

seventh and fourth seventeen and seven

40:32

sixteen and three twenty and eight he

40:34

was having a down year because wolfsburg

40:35

was having a down year and i'm sure they

40:37

wanted to pick up their money but for

40:39

his career his goal plus a six goals

40:42

plus assist rate he's on a goal every

40:43

other game he's .49 for goals 0.63 for

40:46

goals and assists this is a good good

40:49

good player like if he plays well

40:51

they'll sell him and his and his uh his

40:54

style works for the people giant yeah

40:58

he's six five and a half he's quick oh

41:00

he's good yeah and he's quick and he's

41:01

dutch he can move his feet yeah so uh

41:04

he's had he's been bedded in we like

41:06

burnley to stay up cornet didn't even

41:08

play and they're they scored okay we

41:10

like burnley's chances

41:12

i don't want them to stay

41:15

again i want them to go of the teams

41:18

that are in danger that i've said

41:20

brentford leads everton in in addition

41:22

to the normal four newcastle burnley

41:25

watford and norwich

41:27

i think brentford and leeds are in the

41:29

most danger of that group of four yeah

41:32

of getting pulled in

41:33

yes

41:34

however newcastle without trippier

41:37

does look to be a little like well same

41:40

old newcastle right like they have

41:42

they are undefeated in five they're

41:44

and points are points i get that but but

41:47

i'm

41:48

i was bullish on newcastle i am slightly

41:51

less so without trippier who by the way

41:53

they won goals uh they won games on two

41:55

free kick goals so it's not like one of

41:58

the games it's not yeah it's not

41:59

actively one minute

42:04

but there is something that has changed

42:06

i think uh bern my guy from from uh dan

42:10

byrne solidified that team's defense he

42:12

has a winning mentality

42:15

they took a player who did not work at

42:17

the job that doofus uh steve bruce had

42:20

him playing joe linton went from being a

42:23

striker that couldn't score goals to now

42:26

he's a deep lying

42:29

box to box midfielder who just crunches

42:32

people they literally changed his job

42:34

and so so you got to give credit to

42:36

eddie how to be like oh you have this

42:38

guy who's not good buy me a striker i'm

42:40

going to use him to go kick the [ __ ] out

42:43

of people

42:44

so i'm gonna find the defensive

42:46

midfielder that i thought i needed but i

42:48

haven't but again

42:49

and these were lately free kick dead

42:52

ball goals

42:53

that got you four extra points because

42:55

you figured they would have drawn those

42:56

games if you take those four points away

42:59

they are literally watford

43:01

so

43:02

i'm not sold on them staying up yet

43:05

but

43:06

this game against brentford

43:08

massive massive big and it should be

43:10

good because now that you're a fan of

43:12

attacking football if you are a fan of

43:14

not newcastle and running the league for

43:16

the next 10 15 years

43:19

you are pulling for the bees

43:21

by the way we have to segue into this

43:23

side story related to newcastle's new

43:25

owners the pif the far foreign fund that

43:29

presented 80 of the money for this

43:31

newcastle purchase was trying to do the

43:34

same thing in golf

43:35

with this uh they tried to do a rival

43:37

league to the pga

43:39

uh that's in saudi arabia and

43:42

what people wanted the premier league to

43:44

do the golf world did the players

43:46

completely rejected it they've been

43:48

touted and called out because of uh phil

43:51

mickelson made his his comments public

43:53

about how terrible this actually is but

43:55

i want the money and all the other

43:57

players from europe were like no these

43:59

saudis are evil they killed khashoggi

44:02

they did all the stuff and they got they

44:04

just completely

44:05

killed this golf super league to make a

44:07

new pga but you know it's good enough

44:10

for the premier league but not for golf

44:14

which i find which i find to be amazing

44:16

when you scrat and i do like our sort of

44:18

themes here of just like hey

44:21

society is sport and sport is society

44:24

they reflect each other and so you sort

44:26

of have this sovereign wealth and who

44:29

are are they allowed to do what they

44:30

want i don't know but it was interesting

44:32

to see that the pif

44:34

is rejected by golf uh but not by

44:37

premiere not the english premier league

44:39

yeah i mean

44:41

you've got my cash

44:43

yeah

44:44

mike ashley was a dick that was they had

44:47

to get rid of mike ashley right you have

44:50

he didn't have people killed as far as

44:52

we know no

44:54

but

44:55

what he was doing to

44:57

if you're the premier league yeah i get

44:59

and you have one of your and it's not

45:01

guaranteed because promotional

45:02

relegation i understand they have gone

45:04

up down up down up down up and

45:07

he's flagship franchise yeah

45:10

this is one of your name brands right

45:12

yeah he

45:13

he is as a function of holding newcastle

45:15

back he is holding back the revenues

45:18

that your league could generate because

45:20

that's how big of a name brand this is

45:22

yeah right yeah yeah

45:24

yeah it's sort of like a dance schneider

45:26

it's dan schneider with the redskins

45:28

what are they called now who gives a

45:30

[ __ ] oh we do wait chop sports does it's

45:32

the commanders that's right oh yeah

45:34

that's right we had it right commanders

45:36

the commandos we're gonna we're not

45:37

wearing the commies

45:39

the coffee's even better i'll bring it

45:40

around to the beginning of the show um

45:44

if you have that like i lost my train of

45:47

thought now but it was basically to say

45:48

if newcastle were up

45:50

in the top ten if they were wolves right

45:54

if they were where wolves have been like

45:56

just a bit such a bigger story they

45:58

would be the easiest team to market in

46:02

the english premier league you know why

46:03

awesome because it's like they have an

46:06

alcoholic beverage with their name on it

46:08

it's the easiest team to promote ever

46:12

yeah but they don't

46:15

no but it doesn't matter to a to a

46:18

growing fan base around the world

46:21

specifically in the us are you kidding

46:23

me i know two or three guys from like 15

46:25

years ago who are still newcastle fans i

46:28

think i don't talk to them anymore who

46:29

became like every every american has a

46:31

dumb origin story right you don't care

46:33

what fan you are you have a stupid

46:36

reason for supporting that team because

46:38

it's just not the correct reason which

46:40

is i grew up here this is my club right

46:42

yeah and it's okay there's nothing wrong

46:44

with that i mean there is inherently but

46:46

it's okay

46:47

the reason to support newcastle blindly

46:50

as an american is

46:51

i like the beer by the way the beer is

46:53

[ __ ] but also

46:55

it's just a silly reason right yeah we

46:58

all have stupid one day we'll i have to

47:00

do my my origin story it involves oasis

47:03

which is yeah pathetic yeah and mine

47:06

involves contemporary and fifa right and

47:08

so i don't it doesn't matter it doesn't

47:10

matter is the point overseas anywhere

47:12

outside of england which as we remind

47:15

you again is the size of new york

47:17

[ __ ] state so anywhere outside of

47:20

that bubble you're allowed to have a

47:22

dumb reason to support whoever you want

47:24

yeah

47:25

it is it is one of those fascinating

47:27

things that the narrative of the whole

47:29

league comes from this small local

47:32

parochial island nation

47:34

that they don't that they can't watch

47:36

all the games like we can they actually

47:38

can't cover their own league as well as

47:40

we do because we can literally watch

47:42

every game and they can't

47:44

uh tifo uh a great channel if you're not

47:47

following on youtube tfo is fantastic

47:49

they're probably athletic but they were

47:51

already on their own and then like

47:52

everyone i'm joining the athletic they

47:54

got scooped up but they do good

47:57

uh explainer things and they did a whole

47:58

video on the explainer of the the the

48:01

noon window in the uk where no games can

48:04

be televised from i think 12 noon to 3

48:07

15

48:08

every saturday and only england does

48:10

that no other country does that

48:12

like not even the germans who are the

48:14

most traditional lunatics ever don't do

48:17

that like they still wear spiked helmets

48:18

to the games they don't they don't race

48:20

bikes

48:22

that was one last war reference all

48:24

right but now i have to go back to world

48:25

war one right we're gonna talk about

48:27

we're gonna talk about mud we're gonna

48:28

talk about verdun we're gonna talk about

48:30

rail guns it's gonna be great

48:35

so that's what you have to look forward

48:37

to on the next episode of the spooky bum

48:39

time wartime podcast oh my god we could

48:42

can we do that i'm gonna do that

48:45

but i do want to go through the schedule

48:47

uh just this weekend's coming up we have

48:51

uh southampton norwich on friday

48:53

southampton on i think a four or five

48:55

game winning streak they're really good

48:56

that you can expect them to beat norwich

48:57

at home then leeds tottenham if

48:59

tottenham can't score versus leads you

49:01

can't quite do anything

49:04

the get healthy game you better put four

49:06

past them brighton aston villa on a

49:09

battle of two teams that we love and

49:11

we're worried about them i don't think

49:13

brighton need this game as much as villa

49:14

do steve gerrard needs this game it's a

49:17

big one then we talked about it probably

49:18

the game of the day brentford newcastle

49:21

at brentford should be a barn burner

49:24

then palace burnley the less talked

49:25

about that game the better united

49:27

watford don't care city everton a big

49:30

game the saturday late game

49:33

city need this game but it's at goodison

49:35

yeah yeah yeah i'm scared and then uh

49:38

west ham wolves i think both these teams

49:41

are going to find out that they're also

49:42

rans i would bet the draw

49:44

and then chelsea lester i was gonna say

49:46

when they made this schedule

49:48

all right that's postponed oh it even

49:50

says it sorry west ham

49:53

the league cup final between chelsea and

49:55

liverpool on sunday

49:57

um

49:58

be interesting to see who liverpool

50:00

trots out there uh one

50:02

they better go [ __ ] win that thing

50:03

don't be well they do have depth now so

50:05

it's not it's it's not like you know

50:06

that's the same 11 and they're gonna

50:08

give them a blow but it's chelsea so

50:10

we'll see but i want to go back to the

50:11

west ham wolves game i do like a draw as

50:14

a bet i'm not going to

50:16

i'm just going to lose a lot more money

50:18

but this does feel like an elimination

50:20

game and and i know that it probably

50:22

both are probably far gone from the race

50:25

but

50:26

if if

50:28

if either team wins you are one game off

50:31

the mark for europa league at least

50:34

which for west ham and wolves is not

50:36

nothing it's a big deal so

50:39

west ham are still in the euro league

50:40

remember this is a playoff round for the

50:42

europa league before those teams that

50:44

qualified these groups even that's right

50:46

they broke it up so west ham are still

50:48

in the europa league when i started that

50:50

sentence meaning to say and then i

50:51

remembered united are probably going to

50:53

beat watford is that that brings you a

50:55

little bit closer

50:56

if you win this game regardless of who

50:58

you are specifically west ham though

51:01

you're still in the top four race you're

51:02

probably not but you're still

51:04

mathematically in it i don't trust

51:06

united in any game even against sure

51:08

listen the problem now

51:11

is not that you're how many points you

51:13

are behind how many teams you are behind

51:15

okay yeah because now you just need more

51:17

teams to drop [ __ ] and and i don't think

51:20

i mean we've seen crazy top four races

51:22

where it's literally a hot potato nobody

51:23

wants it but uh it's happened many times

51:26

yeah

51:28

and in that case tottenham's got a shot

51:30

still do you're right yeah i think i

51:32

think the inside tracks now are united

51:35

by virtue of they actually have the

51:37

points in hand which is very valuable

51:39

and they have the most talented squad

51:41

i think arsenal's got the inside track

51:43

yeah well that would be the other one is

51:45

arsenal has the inside track um but

51:48

they you know we can't i don't think we

51:50

can expect

51:52

arsenal to lay

51:55

consistent performances they have a

51:57

tough

51:58

back half of the season they still have

52:00

to play liverpool they still have to

52:02

play united they still

52:05

that's

52:07

they still have to play west ham so they

52:09

have tougher games but uh you know i

52:12

would expect them to lose versus

52:13

liverpool because they never beat anyone

52:14

ahead of them but there's less and less

52:16

teams ahead of them so

52:18

so as long as they stay in that realm uh

52:21

you know maybe they'll pull chelsea back

52:23

you never know the way it's going

52:24

especially with lukaku we haven't even

52:27

talked about him but he had the seven

52:28

touch game

52:30

he got benched in the in the champions

52:32

league game versus lil

52:34

i mean

52:35

i wonder what roman abramovich thinks of

52:36

him

52:38

how does he feel about his 100 million

52:39

pound loan

52:41

i think he's uh doesn't he give zeroes

52:44

and he's just like i'm good i'm good

52:46

yeah yeah yeah all right i've read in

52:48

that same article that uh his his worth

52:50

is 13.3 billion so it's still just a

52:52

drop in the bucket for him but yeah all

52:55

right that'll do it for us let's get it

52:56

all right that was the squeaky bum time

52:59

podcast with mike salerno and laurent

53:00

corteans we are the football wing of the

53:03

chop sports network we record on

53:04

tuesdays and fridays so be sure to

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so you never miss a show we thank fanhub

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who has been killing it for us and thank

53:13

all the people in england and pray for

53:15

the people in ukraine and that's about

53:18

as non-sequitur as i get