Arsenal Outclassed By Brighton, Goals Galore At The Etihad & Chelsea’s Frailties Exposed

Have Brighton shown they’re ready to mix it with the Premier League big guns? Are we seeing more carefree attacking football this season? How do Chelsea fix their defensive problems? Gary, Alan and Micah also discuss the ongoing troubles at Tottenham Hotspur and the relief Coventry will be feeling after getting off the mark this season. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

• 0:11Speaker 00

  Hello and welcome to The Rest Is Football with Micah Richards, Alan Shearer and me Gary Lineker. Well, this weekend threw up a few interesting results and I think we have to start with the Champions Arsenal. I don't think any of us saw that coming. It's been a long time since Arsenal were really spanked and a brilliant performance from Brighton. But before we come to the football, how has your weekend been?

• 0:38Speaker 01

  My weekend was match of the day on Saturday guys. I had a friend's wedding yesterday, so didn't see too much of the football during the day, but watched it when I got back. Well, yeah, I've had a busy weekend, all good.

• 0:50Speaker 02

  Mine's been not so good guys, to be honest. I was doing some respect savers, we lost. We lost the football match.

• 0:59Speaker 01

  Sack the coach, sack him.

• 1:01Speaker 02

  But more importantly, night before I want to go down, I stay in a hotel, I won't say which hotel because and I don't want to sound like a snob, but you don't want to put two single beds together and one's higher than the other and you can't quite get comfortable. And the size of me, my big frame, I was up, I was down, I was round and I was round. So I go for a toilet about three o'clock. And Netflix probably won't want this, but I'm going to tell it anyway. I go to the toilet and I hear a grunting sound. I thought, is everyone all right? And then I hear more grunting.

• 1:42Speaker 02

  I go back from the toilet, back into the bedroom and the sounds coming from next door all made me feel sick. They made me feel sick and it didn't last for 10 minutes. It was a good 45 minutes to an hour. One voice to the other voice, to another voice, to another voice. I'm like this in bed and I've got to be up in three hours. And it was just, I just knew from that moment when I seen the single bed and I just knew I was going to lose. So yeah.

• 2:17Speaker 01

  Well, you know, like that at the wind, at the wall, Micah, you know what you're caught. You were, weren't you, you liar?

• 2:23Speaker 00

  Micah, can I make a sincere apology for disturbing your night's sleep? Well, Arsenal, is it a crisis?

• 2:37Speaker 01

  Not yet, not yet. But, but I mean, he would have been very, very alarmed at how easily folded. I mean, they absolutely, Brighton battered Arsenal, didn't they? From not for 30 minutes or first half or so. It was the complete game. They went after them from the first minute. They had a game plan. The game plan worked to perfection. They looked fitter, they looked stronger, they looked better in every department. So yeah, Brighton were amazing.

• 3:06Speaker 02

  Only me and Gaz had only seen the highlights because it was three o'clock.

• 3:10Speaker 00

  Yeah, three o'clock Saturday, yeah.

• 3:11Speaker 02

  So what was it about Brighton that was so good? Obviously I watched match of the day, I seen the analysis, but it seemed I was, I was listening to the reports of it and it seemed like from start to finish.

• 3:23Speaker 01

  It was, that's exactly right. I mean, it was from the very first ball, the way they closed them down in as a team and just stopped. You know how Arsenal normally do that to you and don't allow to give you any space. But the way Brighton found their space with Arsenal's back four dropping off and allowing Brighton to have shots at Raya. Then yeah, I mean, it was something that we very, very rarely see from Arsenal. Two centre halves dropping off, letting someone Gross or whoever that was in the little hole, turning and having pops at goal. It was, it was incredible the way Brighton played and everything was defensively superb.

• 4:04Speaker 01

  The way they closed down the midfield, the way they stopped Arsenal and then in forward positions, them to get, it could have and should have been six or seven.

• 4:12Speaker 02

  Who impressed you the most from Brighton's point of view?

• 4:16Speaker 01

  Gross was good, Vuskovic good at centre half as well. I mean, when you look at what's happening at Tottenham, for them to let him go to Brighton in whatever deal it was, it was something similar, wasn't it? 50 or 55 million. Those two I thought were outstanding, but everyone, every single one of them, the manager also for his game plan for it to work that well. For them to go after and be brave, they were so brave, you know, in possession and closing down. So he has to take a lot of credit, the manager too.

• 4:43Speaker 00

  Yeah. Kostalis looks a real prospect, doesn't he? Well, he's 19 years old.

• 4:48Speaker 02

  Is he only 19?

• 4:49Speaker 00

  According to my notes, I hope so.

• 4:52Speaker 02

  No, I knew he was a good player, but I didn't know he was only 19. I'm normally good with age. He's that young. He looks like a real talent then prospect, doesn't he?

• 5:00Speaker 01

  I'm all right in saying, the guys might correct me here, that he was at Olympiakos.

• 5:05Speaker 02

  Yes.

• 5:06Speaker 01

  So who, Marinakis owns Olympiakos.

• 5:09Speaker 00

  And they missed it.

• 5:10Speaker 01

  And letting him go to Brighton. I mean, how does that work? You know, with Forrest and him and what have you, I don't know. Seems a bit weird that they pay that money for him and allow him to go to Brighton rather than Forrest take him. If he's the owner of Forrest, don't know.

• 5:25Speaker 00

  There's a bit of a golden generation coming on of Greek players, isn't there?

• 5:29Speaker 02

  Yes. I spoke to someone who's Greek and he said, in the next, in the next Euros, they fancy themselves.

• 5:37Speaker 00

  Yeah, they've got some really good players suddenly emerged out of, well, not out of nowhere because it's obviously it's hugely popular in Greece football. So could have a little moment. They've had it before, obviously, when they won the Euros.

• 5:49Speaker 02

  Do you remember that, when they won the Euros?

• 5:50Speaker 00

  Portugal, yeah.

• 5:51Speaker 02

  Against all odds. And they was one of the most boring teams of all organised teams ever. It was brilliant. I was actually buzzing when they won it, absolutely.

• 6:00Speaker 00

  No, they've got some really good young talent coming through and the way Brighton, obviously their recruitment's been excellent again, like you said. Also the fact they didn't, you know, it wasn't like they sat and just hit on the counter. In fact, do you think this season, but I was talking with Harry yesterday, do you think this season it's, there's been kind of a bit more of a positive, forward thinking football approach by a lot of sides, not so many low blocks? I mean, watch the City game, which we'll come to obviously, and that was, you know, it was really open. Both teams having a go, Sunderland having a real pop as well. I think it's quite refreshing. I hope it, I hope it continues after the international break.

• 6:38Speaker 01

  Last season I thought was, I mean, Arsenal were brilliant, but I thought there were so many teams pretty dull. I don't think it was a great spectacle Premier League wise as a whole. But you're right, I think it started really well in terms of teams being brave, teams perhaps going after other teams more than they did last season. So I hope that, as I say, you, I think it, I hope it continues, yeah.

• 7:01Speaker 02

  I think that would be probably down to the manager changes. Is that fair? You've got Alonso at Chelsea. We all know how Brighton play. Marco Rosa wants to play that way at Bournemouth.

• 7:12Speaker 01

  Newcastle manager, yeah.

• 7:13Speaker 02

  I think it's the positive impact of managers coming in, to be honest.

• 7:18Speaker 00

  Yeah, well, it's got to be a good thing. It'll make continue. If you're Arsenal now, you've, it's, I always think it's funny with these things. You get a bad result and then you've got an international break. Now, it's a really long international break. So do they think, right, that's good, we'll have forgotten about this by the time they all come back? Or do you think, or do you just mull over it for three weeks?

• 7:40Speaker 01

  I think for, for teams that have a real poor result, have had a really poor start, it's a long three weeks. I mean, Arteta will be stewing on that for, for three weeks and he'd been desperate for a game this week. But for those, for those players and managers, it's a long three weeks when you're going on the back of a bad result.

• 7:59Speaker 02

  I don't think it'd be too bad actually. I think they'll see it as a blip. If you've watched Arsenal a lot, how many times have we said that Raya's been outstanding and saved Arsenal? You're going to get those days when they all go in and they were just excellent. They just kept applying the pressure and they scored the goals. But I wouldn't be too worried. If they would have a couple of draws in the first five games, I would say, yeah, but it's one off, isn't it? If you're going to lose one, might as well lose well.

• 8:28Speaker 01

  They're two points better off on the after five games than they were last season. So there's no panic. But you can't have too many of those in a season. The way they were, the way they were beat up by, by Brighton was, yeah, you can't have too many of them.

• 8:41Speaker 00

  Brighton, could they conceivably do something like Leicester did? We're getting ahead of ourselves a bit carried away here by, by a few good results, but that's their 11th goal in the past week. It's pretty impressive.

• 8:55Speaker 01

  We've said it a few times, haven't we, about how impressive he is as a young coach? And clearly his players love working with him because they all react to what he's getting them to do. But nah, I don't, I wouldn't expect that, no.

• 9:07Speaker 02

  No, they've got Europe as well, aren't they? They're in a conference league, aren't they? So the further they go in that competition, it's going to be, I'd say more difficult, but they're a joy to watch. We know that much.

• 9:18Speaker 00

  They'll have a good chance of winning that.

• 9:19Speaker 02

  Yeah, they probably, they probably will win that.

• 9:21Speaker 00

  Probably be favourites to win that. What a start to the season Mareska's had.

• 9:27Speaker 02

  Yes. I told you, don't count out Man City. It's not pretty guys. They conceded too many goals. We know that.

• 9:34Speaker 00

  5-3 is pretty, pretty, pretty, pretty, I would say.

• 9:37Speaker 02

  Yeah, for the neutral, not if you're a defender who likes to analyse a game. I just think Mareska's finding a way to win. He's brave in the way he wants to play. Yes, they're going to be open. Yes, they've got a new midfield that we talked about. I have all the same concerns in terms of the way teams find it so easy to counter attack them. But it's because of the way he wants to play. I think obviously the press, you see one with Anderson where he jumped really high. As long as you've got the back four coming with you, I don't mind it as much. But if you play like that, you are going to concede goals. It's just about scoring more than the opposition at the moment.

• 10:16Speaker 02

  Which I don't think is sustainable throughout the whole season, but five from five, new manager, new manager bounce. What more could you ask for?

• 10:24Speaker 01

  And you can imagine the reaction if you'd lost a game or two. Oh, they're not the same, they've spent all this. So for him to go out and get five out of five, I think is a huge statement and brilliant for him because we know what it would be like and what people would be saying.

• 10:39Speaker 02

  How much do you guys think Community Shield plays a part in the season? Because the loss to Arsenal, was it 3-0 in that game, if I remember rightly? And the golf looked big, didn't it?

• 10:51Speaker 00

  I don't think it plays any part.

• 10:52Speaker 02

  You don't? You think it's just another fitness exercise?

• 10:54Speaker 00

  I think we read too much into that game sometimes, particularly after a World Cup as well, where a lot of players weren't ready and not fit. I mean, I've always thought that. I don't think it kind of bears any resemblance to, to what's going to happen in the season. I think it's nice to, to get a little trophy. Does it count as a trophy?

• 11:13Speaker 02

  Of course it counts as a trophy. Of course it does.

• 11:17Speaker 00

  You won one then, Micah.

• 11:18Speaker 02

  Yeah, of course I have.

• 11:20Speaker 01

  Not for me, it doesn't. It's a load of shit. I think I got beaten in three of them.

• 11:27Speaker 00

  Al, here's a question for you. Have you ever scored a hat-trick in a defeat?

• 11:32Speaker 01

  I don't think I have. I don't think so, no.

• 11:35Speaker 00

  No, I haven't. I was trying to think of one.

• 11:37Speaker 01

  I was saying about how bloody good was he, Brobby, and is. I mean, he's a handful and a half, isn't he? I mean, yeah, to score a hat-trick and come away with nothing, it's like, oh my goodness. He's a player, him. He gives defenders a really, really tough time and I love to see it. It's great.

• 11:54Speaker 02

  But his movement, isn't it? Or, you know, I think we can talk about the strength and he can hold it up. I think there was one part in the game where I think he was holding Diaz and he was just saying, you're going nowhere. You ain't going nowhere, just stay there. And then after, it's the movement. How many times do you see forwards just, they've done, I won't say the hard bit, one of the hardest bits is holding it up when you've got a defender on your back. And then, the thing, the job's done. But if you see Brobby, his movement, he was going short, he was going long, he was going in between the two defenders. I thought he was a real handful. He's a good player, he is. Really good player.

• 12:32Speaker 00

  Oh yeah, and he's really aggressive in the box in terms of his runs as well, Mike. He just absolutely goes on around that six-yard box and, I still fail to understand why not many strikers seem to get that. It's not that difficult to work out. But he, I mean, he's really good at it. What is he, he's mid twenties. So, I mean, I wonder whether they'll be able to keep hold of him in the future. But obviously, Premier League teams all have money nowadays, so maybe they'll be able to keep him because, he was impressive in the World Cup as well.

• 13:05Speaker 01

  Yeah, yeah, I did a couple of games with, when he was in the World Cup and seen him up close. I know we saw him last season, but, seen him up close, yeah, he's a proper handful.

• 13:15Speaker 00

  Just going back to that thing, scoring a hat-trick and losing. God, I don't know whether I'd be really, really happy or really, really sad.

• 13:25Speaker 01

  A bit of both.

• 13:25Speaker 02

  Have you done it? Have you done it, Gaz? No?

• 13:27Speaker 00

  No, that's why, no. But I mean, imagine if you score a hat-trick, obviously, you think you're going to be the hero of the game, you go all the headlines and then you don't win, you lose the game and it's like, all a bit miserable. But at the same time, you've got three goals in your locker, three extra goals. So it's...

• 13:45Speaker 02

  You strikers, you go away to the Etihad, if you come away with a hat-trick, you couldn't care less about the result.

• 13:51Speaker 00

  No, no, no, no, no.

• 13:52Speaker 02

  You strikers, you go away with a match ball. I've seen Brobby with a ball underneath his stomach, yeah. He knew he's done his job.

• 14:01Speaker 00

  Well, he has done his job and his defenders have let him down like so often was the case during our careers, Al. And there's always a forwards and defence thing, isn't there? We did our job.

• 14:16Speaker 01

  Yeah, but what happens if you win 4-0 and you don't score? You're devastated.

• 14:20Speaker 00

  That was going to be my next question. So if your team wins 5-3 and you don't score, are you less happy than you would be if you've scored a hat-trick and you've lost?

• 14:33Speaker 01

  Yeah, there's definitely a bit of both. I may be walking away from there thinking, yeah, I'm walking away with a match ball. At least I've done my job. Come on, lads, any chance of backing me up or what? But then you're right, you'd be devastated winning five or scoring five and not having any goals to walk away with. So, but I get you'll have a bit of both, yeah.

• 14:54Speaker 02

  By the way, not to bring fantasy football into it again, but I'm going to bring it in. This week was pathetic, wasn't it? I had Haaland captain and he missed a few chances.

• 15:06Speaker 00

  At least he got one in the end.

• 15:07Speaker 02

  He got one in the end. Honestly, I was, you should have seen, I was on 20 points up until about 80 minutes. I nearly quit the game. I nearly quit the game.

• 15:18Speaker 01

  If you'd done your homework, Micah, you'd have known that Sunderland were the only Premier League team he hadn't scored against.

• 15:24Speaker 02

  Yeah, but at the Etihad, come on. Haaland's going to get a chance, isn't he? He might not play well, but you know at the Etihad, he's going to get a chance.

• 15:33Speaker 01

  Well, he got you one, stop being greedy.

• 15:35Speaker 02

  No, I needed more than that. I needed more than that.

• 15:38Speaker 00

  Tactically, Manchester City, what's the fundamental differences or can you see any from last season?

• 15:44Speaker 02

  Pep's all about control, which we all know, and he doesn't want to force a pass. I think now, well, under Pep, he sort of went with Bernardo Silva in midfield and then off the right. And he wouldn't, he's got the brain to get away from somebody, but maybe not the legs as he was getting a little bit older. But now he's going with N'Gai and he's going with Semenyo. And he's got Shirky, he's taking a little more risk with Shirky in that number 10 position. And then you've got obviously Anderson and you've got Enzo. And if you watch Enzo, he always wants to go into the box. Every opportunity, just watch him next time you play him.

• 16:26Speaker 02

  As soon as a ball goes wide, he goes into the box. Whereas under Pep, it was a little bit more control. And I'm like, what about timing, timing your run and waiting for the killer pass? Whereas Maresca seems to want to get the ball wide as quick as possible and press really high and be more aggressive in the final third. Those are the differences. Obviously, you've got some similar players, but I just feel like the game is a lot more stretched. It's become a lot more chaotic, but it sort of fell into Man City's hands because they've got the players

• 17:06Speaker 02

  to put you away if they're given the opportunity. And the game becomes stretched, so there's more space for the likes of Haaland, the likes of Shirky, Semenyo and N'Gai. If it's Enzo crashing the box as well. I just think the game's more open on both sides.

• 17:20Speaker 01

  Yeah, they're definitely more open City on the midfield, aren't they? More open in the midfield, yeah.

• 17:24Speaker 02

  Yeah, they're way more open, which was always going to be the case. And losing someone like Rodri, it's just, it's not just on the ball. If you watch the game, it's how many fires he puts out. He's always in the right position. Anderson's not the same, Enzo's not the same. They're doing it in a different way, a little bit higher up with a little bit more energy. And if you break that first line of press, then you are open for that counter-attack.

• 17:51Speaker 00

  The one thing they've got is real legs in midfield now, aren't they?

• 17:54Speaker 02

  Hmm.

• 17:54Speaker 00

  Cover a lot of ground. I mean, they might, you know, sometimes, like you say, they might jump early and you get a bit of space behind if you can beat them. But, but what about Enzo's free kick as well?

• 18:05Speaker 01

  Clever, eh? Clever.

• 18:07Speaker 02

  Goalkeeper.

• 18:07Speaker 00

  Well, yes, but he'd spotted the goalkeeper and edged across a little bit.

• 18:11Speaker 01

  Still got to put that in and whip that in like you did at that post. But I would, I'm like you, Micah, the keeper shouldn't get beaten there. But from, his point of view, it's a great strike.

• 18:20Speaker 02

  Great technique, wasn't it, to find the corner? But the goalkeeper, you give him the angle, do you mean?

• 18:25Speaker 00

  Do you have Brobby in your team, Micah? Obviously not.

• 18:28Speaker 02

  No, no.

• 18:29Speaker 01

  No, it would have been the first thing you would have said in the, not about this weekend and someone shagger in the hotel room. That would have been the first thing that you would have said.

• 18:39Speaker 02

  I can't get it out of my head.

• 18:41Speaker 00

  Brobby's not the only one to score this weekend.

• 18:47Speaker 00

  Oh dear. Chelsea, having had a good start with a couple of good results, they've conceded in pretty much every, well, more than one goal in pretty much every game that they've played this season. Few concerns?

• 19:02Speaker 02

  There's always been concerns though defensively. They concede every single game, even when they was playing well and scoring goals with Jao Pedro. Obviously, he didn't feature, it was Welbeck up front, wasn't it? Rodgers and Cole Palmer behind. You're always going to score goals, but unfortunately, Brentford scored and just had a really good game plan. They knew exactly what they needed to do, played forward quick when they had two, was aggressive, the press was really good. And it was physical. It was way more physical than Chelsea. So, all the things we said at the start of the season, yes, they can compete in terms of going forward, but defensively, with the way they chop and change, interchange positions, it's always going to be difficult.

• 19:45Speaker 00

  I've got some stats here, Al. Goals conceded this season in the Premier League, 12, that's bottom of the ladder. Set-piece goals conceded, 6, which is bottom of the ladder. Shots faced, 72, 15th. Shots on target faced, 32, that's bottom of the ladder. Expected goals against, I know we all like this one, 8.82, which is 18th. But it tells you that, to be honest, you only need to see the goals against list really to see that they're struggling back there. What does he do about it?

• 20:19Speaker 01

  Well, he's got to find a solution. It is alarming because if you're conceding an open play and you're also conceding from set pieces, which they look dreadful, they look really weak and really poor. So, he's got to get those players in terms of a unit getting stronger and tighter together because they're far too open and far too weak.

• 20:41Speaker 02

  I think it was a mistake, Chelsea letting Enzo Fernandez go without replacing that. Caicedo's a wonderful player. Lavia also is a very good player, but he struggled with injuries over the last couple of seasons. I think they should have brought someone in before letting Enzo go because...

• 21:00Speaker 00

  Well, they were trying to last minute, weren't they?

• 21:02Speaker 02

  But it was too late. It was too late. When you've got Barco and then you've got Henderson, who's a really good experienced pro. But the way they want to play with a high energy, you know, having an old and someone young, it just, the balance in midfield didn't look right. And then at the back, they looked all over the place.

• 21:21Speaker 01

  Didn't look right. Didn't look any good up top either, did they? I mean, Welbeck came in, didn't he? He didn't offer hardly anything. Yeah, it's not, it's not just defensively, I think, I would say in the midfield, they're open as well.

• 21:35Speaker 00

  Brentford, very, very impressive again.

• 21:37Speaker 01

  Well, you spoke about Brighton and how impressive they've been. Brentford superb as well. Keith Andrews has got them all putting a shift in. We've said it, they will beat up a few teams this season as well because not only there are they physically strong, they can play a bit.

• 21:51Speaker 02

  You know what's annoying me about football now is we talk about systems and we all, me and you do the punditry and Gaz, you've been in it for years and years. And we talk about systems and we talk about style of play. But we rarely talk about winning the physical battle anymore. And that's what Brentford do and that's what Brighton do and that's what Bournemouth have been doing for them to be successful. And it's almost like the big, the big teams, I won't call them big clubs because they're all big clubs in the Premier League, but the big teams, they've gone away from what made them so, so competitive getting up to this point.

• 22:34Speaker 02

  You have to win your physical duels first and then play after. All the, the, the top teams now are too easy to play against. You know, if we look, we'll talk about Man United and Fulham in a bit. I'm looking at the game and I'm looking at the results. Brentford are putting it in every challenge, every single challenge that they're putting it in. Brighton the same, whether they do it physically or whether they're just very aggressive in the way they press. Now it's just over, we'll play out from the back and we'll look good on the ball and we'll play through the lines and we'll have our rotations and we'll have our, our wingers coming into midfield and we'll have our midfielders crashing the box, we'll have our centre half stepping it out. Our, our centre half have got loads of touches on the ball.

• 23:18Speaker 02

  We only want to sign centre backs that can play 30 yard balls into midfield. What happened to winning the battle first and then playing after?

• 23:27Speaker 00

  I mean, you can talk about tactics all day long and, and all these tactics that most of them have been around forever and different permutations of them, but the, as, as Fabian Hertzler says, there are some non-negotiables and, and, and that's, that's work rate, energy, winning your duels, et cetera. So in fact, you would never said winning duels in my day either. Duels, that's another one, isn't it?

• 23:52Speaker 02

  Who, who's he?

• 23:54Speaker 00

  We have a duel on the box.

• 23:55Speaker 02

  He was on the pod the other day, wasn't he?

• 23:57Speaker 00

  Yeah, he was. He was very good, actually.

• 23:59Speaker 02

  Very good.

• 24:00Speaker 00

  Yeah. We have duels on the box. Anyone watch my show, The Box?

• 24:04Speaker 02

  Yes, I missed it this week because them idiots.

• 24:08Speaker 00

  Catch up on ITVX, Micah.

• 24:09Speaker 02

  Ah, lovely.

• 24:10Speaker 00

  We have a duel at the end of the show. There's always a duel.

• 24:13Speaker 01

  I had the choice of watching that or picking the dog shit up, so I picked the dog shit up.

• 24:17Speaker 00

  Well, that's nice, isn't it?

• 24:19Speaker 01

  Sorry, guys, I didn't mean it. I haven't got a dog either.

• 24:21Speaker 00

  I was going to plug you, you, you, Alan Shearer Foundation Golf Day, but now you can fuck off.

• 24:27Speaker 02

  No, I've not seen it. I've not seen it. What happened in the last one? Give me a little snippet.

• 24:35Speaker 00

  I can't, I can't. I ruin it for people because obviously lots of people watch it on catch up on ITVX, so.

• 24:40Speaker 02

  Well, I went to the first one. Um, soon as when did I started from the second one, so I missed a week.

• 24:45Speaker 00

  Ah, you missed a.

• 24:47Speaker 02

  I missed the first week.

• 24:48Speaker 00

  Well, you must go back and watch it on ITVX.

• 24:51Speaker 02

  Okay, I've watched all the other ones, but I missed the first week. I didn't, I didn't, yeah, soon it went out, didn't it?

• 24:57Speaker 00

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• 25:42Speaker 00

  excluding taxes, fees and hotels.com cash.

• 25:45Speaker 03

  On that flight with 350 passengers on board.

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  We assess Prime Minister with high confidence it was Russian.

• 25:58Speaker 05

  Holding the Russians accountable is World War III.

• 26:00Speaker 06

  They took down a British passenger jet containing 350 people.

• 26:03Speaker 07

  Man in the Kremlin is playing, Alex. Got to ask yourself, you want to play or not? You're the Prime Minister. You've done nothing.

• 26:13Speaker 05

  We would need to understand the policy context.

• 26:17Speaker 07

  All the relevant context will be structured as a framework today. Kill the President of Russia. Yes.

• 26:24Speaker 05

  Who is going to be able to pull this off? Sergeant Tom McDuff. Devised as a technically rigorous geopolitical action thriller. We have two times friendly. Where Britain plays its strongest hand. He's the best.

• 26:38Speaker 03

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• 26:58Speaker 07

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• 27:03Speaker 04

  We assess Prime Minister with high confidence it was Russian.

• 27:11Speaker 05

  Holding the Russians accountable is World War III.

• 27:14Speaker 06

  They took down a British passenger jet containing 350 people.

• 27:17Speaker 07

  Man in the Kremlin is playing, Alex. Got to ask yourself, you want to play or not? You're the Prime Minister. You've done nothing.

• 27:27Speaker 05

  We would need to understand the policy context.

• 27:33Speaker 07

  All the relevant context will be structured as a framework today and disseminated into an operation order or frago. A frago that says to kill the President of Russia. Yes.

• 27:47Speaker 04

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• 27:50Speaker 05

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• 28:03Speaker 05

  Devised as a technically rigorous geopolitical action thriller. We have two times friendly. Where Britain plays its strongest hand. He's the best. Against its strongest foe. Don't do it, Duffy. Bear Hunt. Available now wherever you get your podcasts.

• 28:20Speaker 00

  Welcome back to The Rest is Football with Alan Shearer, Micah Richardson, me, Gary Lineker. Let's discuss one or two of the other games. Two sides that have been struggling this season met at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. At one point it looked like being a humiliation for Spurs. They still lost 3-2, but a couple of late goals at least, something that they can cling on to this season, the first goals that they've scored, but it's looking a bit grim for my old club.

• 28:58Speaker 01

  Yeah, I watched that full game and did it on, on Saturday and Spurs did all right, you know, for the first 25 minutes, 30 minutes, they missed a couple of chances.

• 29:08Speaker 00

  Got to score then, you are.

• 29:10Speaker 01

  Yeah, I said it straight away. I looked at Danny and I said, you know what, they're going to get beaten here because you know what happens, they miss a couple of chances and if they go in, it might be different, but they missed them and then they conceded just before half time when Van de Ven's going off to get some treatment. But it was an alarming second half. I mean, other than the last couple of minutes, the way they conceded, they were weak defensively, terrible. I mean, goodness, Nicholas Jackson ran two centre halves ragged. Those two were, those two were hopeless.

• 29:37Speaker 00

  Micah, all right, Micah, I'll do it for you.

• 29:40Speaker 02

  Interesting, oh, interesting, go on, go on.

• 29:44Speaker 00

  You, you told us how great he was last week, Micah. You were ahead of the game and I was going to, I was going to mention it without you having to go, ooh, look at me, I'm so great.

• 29:53Speaker 02

  I didn't say anything, I just said, ooh. I was doing the sound of the people next to me on the Saturday night.

• 30:01Speaker 01

  Yeah, Van de Ven and Van Hecke were hopeless. He ran them ragged, he beat them up, he bullied them. He was too good for both of them. And they go 3-0 up Villa. I know they concede late too, but very, very alarming for Spurs. They look very weak and fragile.

• 30:16Speaker 02

  I actually thought Spurs are very good, like you said, in big parts of the game. It's just the moments, isn't it? Football's all about moments. And in them moments, if you don't score, you're going to get punished. Al's absolutely spot on with what his assessment of that. And they need to be careful now because you can't have a period like that in the game, not score. And then because then you're thinking, well, when's, when's, where's the next win coming from? They're thinking they're playing well. They're good off the pitch, thinking, what more can we possibly do? They scored two goals. Yeah, it was late doors, but it's, it's not good enough.

• 30:56Speaker 02

  But I don't, I don't think it's as bad as, as everyone's making out. If you actually look at just the performance.

• 31:02Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 31:02Speaker 02

  It's, you know, if you look at just the before, obviously the result's not great, but they need, they need to start putting teams away. They really do.

• 31:10Speaker 01

  I listened to, to Dzerbi's comments, not only this week, but obviously in the weeks before when they haven't been getting results. And he was talking about how they're not fit a week or two ago. And then after the game on Saturday, he said, we need more fight and we need more heart. And I'm thinking, well, you've, six of those players that you signed started on, on Saturday. I mean, he has to also think, what does he have to do different to get more fight out with those players?

• 31:37Speaker 00

  He gets quite emotional, doesn't he? And he's both on the side of the pitch and, and his team talks. I think sometimes he probably speaks before he thinks on occasions.

• 31:46Speaker 02

  We've all done that.

• 31:47Speaker 00

  We have, absolutely.

• 31:49Speaker 02

  No, I, I, I love his passion for the game. I, I love how honest he is. But he's, he's, he's got to get it right. He's got to get it right. It looked like he, he was getting it right last season. And then you're bringing the players, like Al said, six, six started.

• 32:05Speaker 01

  Six started, yeah.

• 32:06Speaker 02

  Got to perform for them because they are good players. On paper, yes, in terms of the transfer fee, probably too much for some of those players. But the quality that is brought in, they're good players. They just need to, they need to show it now. Need to repay the manager's faith, I think.

• 32:22Speaker 00

  Unai Emery pulled out another good performance from his team. I thought, obviously they were up against it for particularly the first half. I think Tottenham were very much on, on top in that game, didn't create, but they always looked dangerous. And I mean, Jackson's been around for a while. We've, we've seen that, but I thought, and I, and I know you said this, you did say it last week. And I, I know I challenged you in the sense of how many goals he's scored in overall seasons and stuff. And, and that, that's the next thing. He still could have had one or two more goals in this game. But you're absolutely right in everything else that he holds it up. He's, he's strong. He's intelligent with his movement, his runs behind.

• 33:01Speaker 00

  And if he can get that consistency of finishing, which is often the hardest thing, you could have a player that does score a lot of goals. But let's, let's wait and see on that. He just needs to find that.

• 33:14Speaker 01

  They've signed a good goalkeeper, by the way, as well. Suzuki.

• 33:17Speaker 00

  He was impressive in the World Cup, wasn't he, playing with Japan, didn't he?

• 33:20Speaker 01

  His passing is fantastic. Yeah, he gave a couple of weight to begin with. It didn't bother him at all. And he made a couple of really important saves at, at 0-0 too. So he'll be a good signing for them.

• 33:30Speaker 00

  What about Man United? It looks like it's going to be a similar story. Looks like the same old. Not very impressive at all. I saw some of the running stats and they're bottoming everything this season.

• 33:43Speaker 02

  I think running stats can be a little misleading because if you're keeping the ball, which you've said multiple times on the pods in the past, Gaz. But when it's directed at Man United, I, I feel it's, it's justified because the games, it's too flat. I don't, I don't understand it. They, they've got, they've got the midfield as they want. Everyone was talking about bringing in Manu. Everyone knows what Manu can do. But if you look at Manu's game, he's a, he's calm, he's composed, he plays forward. That's his game. Telemans is the same, very, he's got a really good strike, but he, he's not a box to box midfield away.

• 34:24Speaker 02

  He's got loads and loads of energy up and down. He times his, his run very well, very good technique. And he dictates the, the game. And ever, ever so often he crashes a box with a wonderful strike. That's what Telemans is. When, when Sesko's not playing, I, I don't feel like they have that, that someone who they can play off.

• 34:46Speaker 02

  And just the, the all, all round energy, it looks off, you know? I don't, I don't know if they just used to be, okay, we've got to look at Carrick. How was he successful? I think last season, when he did well, we were saying Man United are very good on the counter attack. And I think next step now, when teams go in a low block against them, they don't really have the ideas. That's the next step, isn't it? I think that's the next step. You, you can talk about shots, but I was watching, I think it was match of the day and I talked about they had loads of shots. But the shots were happening outside of the box, you know? That's where you've got to be able to, you know, wriggle through that low block and they've, they've just not got it at the moment.

• 35:28Speaker 02

  It must be quite frustrating for the, for the fans to watch that.

• 35:32Speaker 01

  Yeah, it feels very flat there. And I, I think part of that was Michael not being backed as he should have been in the summer. I still, I said it last week or the week before, I think I said it. The, the, yeah, it feels very flat there. And I think that's one of the reasons for that.

• 35:46Speaker 00

  You did say at the beginning of, obviously early in the season, you've said that they haven't backed him. And I mean, I look at Man United and I see that the problems, you know, it's that thing coming down from the top. I must say though, I must congratulate the Glazers on finding someone even worse than them that they can blame and getting him in there and getting all the stick. Jim Radcliffe, because he's clearly everyone. I don't think he's a particularly pleasant human being. And he's making a, it's a bit of a shambles of a football club, the way it's been run at the moment. So yeah, well done the Glazers for that one, deflecting everything away from them. But it is a mess, that club, I think.

• 36:28Speaker 00

  You know, you've got a ground that's kind of falling apart a little bit and you've, you know, all sorts of complaints about various things. They're losing young teenagers. Looks like that's going to happen. The results, the inconsistency seems to be back. And they, and again, I mean, they have backed the manager over the, lots of times and it's not worked for them. But there's got to be something dripping down from the top there.

• 36:53Speaker 01

  So was the case. So was the case. We've said it, hasn't it, haven't we?

• 36:56Speaker 00

  A win for Newcastle, Al. They needed that probably after the, the previous game.

• 37:01Speaker 01

  Yeah, they were really good for the first half. I think particularly after what happened against Leeds, when Leeds beat them up and were miles better than them. So you, you need a reaction. So they got that first half, two early goals, but second half, they were under massive pressure. Hull came right back into it. I just knew it. It's like we say, when you miss your chance, like when Whissler missed his penalty to go 3-0 up. I think 3-0, the game's all over at half time. But I just knew that second half, that Hull were going to come back into it and they did. And they put under, you're putting Newcastle under massive pressure for the last 20, 25 minutes.

• 37:35Speaker 02

  But you must be happy with how Newcastle have performed with new manager, new players, players left, et cetera, Al, no?

• 37:42Speaker 01

  Yeah, definitely. I think it's, it's really positive what's happened to start of the season, the first five games in the league. I, I just think it's this, that's going to happen. They're going to have really big bumps in the road because of a young manager, young players. They had seven or eight out injured on Saturday, coming on the back of a heavy defeat. So I thought it was a, it was a much needed result going into international break, a lot better feeling.

• 38:08Speaker 01

  I don't know where they are, eighth, whatever, something like that. So I think, yeah, I think plenty to look forward to.

• 38:13Speaker 00

  Big win for Coventry.

• 38:15Speaker 02

  Hey, they're up and running. Go on the Cove. I'm rooting for them. Why, let me look at the league table. Two seconds. The 18th, it's not bad. Join me Bournemouth, it's not so bad. It's all not doom and gloom, is it? To go, to go to Forest to get a win, that is massive, massive for their confidence.

• 38:34Speaker 00

  It was a big result.

• 38:35Speaker 02

  I think though it was more than, it was the clean sheet, wasn't it really? More, more than anything. Because when I've talked about Coventry and how I think they would stay in the Premier League, it is not really been about clean sheets. It's more about, again, talk about rotations and playing for the Lions and attacking football, all that sort of thing. But to get a clean sheet, that is massive. That'll give them the world of confidence now. So come on the Cove.

• 39:03Speaker 01

  What about the goal, by the way? How good was the goal?

• 39:06Speaker 00

  Oh, the first touch.

• 39:07Speaker 01

  Jada Silva, wasn't it? The first touch and then to switch it, first touch with the right foot and then put it in with the left foot. From that long diagonal pass from the goalkeeper. What a goal that was.

• 39:18Speaker 00

  Absolutely brilliant goal. Yeah, probably a massive relief for Coventry fans. And obviously Frank Lampard needed that result. You've got to get one. And I thought if they're going into the international break, having lost another game, that would have been a grim, grim three weeks, wouldn't it?

• 39:34Speaker 02

  Oh, grim. Because in, in certain games have played really well and had nothing. So to get three points before the international break.

• 39:43Speaker 01

  Thought they'd blown it right towards the end as well, because Forest got that goal, didn't they? Then VAR ruled it out, rightly so. But I thought, yeah, I was looking at Frank thinking, oh my God, he's, they've blown it. But the relief on his, on his face at the end was, was unbelievable and rightly so.

• 39:58Speaker 00

  Yeah, I'm, I'm, I'm sure he'll have a better three weeks than he otherwise would have done. Let's call it a day there. Have you got something on today, Al? Do you want to plug it? Go on.

• 40:09Speaker 01

  Yeah, I've got my, my foundation top on, playing on my foundation golf day. So we'll probably raise, I don't know, another 40 or 50 grand for our target for this year. So we've got 25 teams coming in to play from all over the country. So it should be a good game.

• 40:22Speaker 00

  Is it a celeb one?

• 40:24Speaker 01

  No, no, no, no.

• 40:25Speaker 00

  No, just?

• 40:26Speaker 01

  No, just, yeah, just normal, normal people who play to play. Close house.

• 40:30Speaker 00

  Well, play well, Al. Play well and raise lots of money.

• 40:33Speaker 01

  Thank you.

• 40:33Speaker 00

  That's it for this episode. The rest is football. Goodbye from me.

• 40:36Speaker 02

  Goodbye from me.

• 40:38Speaker 01

  Goodbye from me. Have a great week, everyone.