Wrexham AFC’s Promotion – FA Cup ends with a Manchester Derby – Arsenal draw their way to doom and Spurs Collapse

0:00:01

Hello, and welcome to the squeaky bum time podcast presented exclusively on the chop sports channel of the premier streaming network. We are recording this on Monday, April twenty four. I am your host, LaRonde Corteens. In this episode, Arsenal Wilt, under the Friday night lights, the FA Cup final is gonna be a derby. And spurs completely implode up with Saint James Park.

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But first, Joy. Rexam, FC are going up to the football league. Wow. Wow. As you know, we've got to do our homework first. Please like, share, and subscribe to show. It means everything. Select on YouTube, share, however you find the show, however you come do it, please become a subscriber, become a follower, follow me on Twitter, any way you want to, all the information is in the descriptions, wherever you find the show, we need you, we love you. Now let's get to it.

0:01:07

Rexim FC. So we've talked about Rexim a couple times throughout the show. They are the owned by Ryan Reynolds and Robert Callahani of it's always sunny in Philadelphia fame. They have a welcome to Rexam on Hulu, which has become a big show, and they've done a great job of creating the narrative around the show. Season one, they lost in the playoffs. And in season two, they're gonna go up with no playoffs. So this Rexam team, they beat Bournemouth at home to win, they go down a goal, then Super Paul Mullins scores two, I believe, late in the in the second half and they win three one to secure their promotion to the football league. I felt all the fields. I think about American sport all the time. So let's sort of set the stage. Let me I I wonder if I can clear some things up about how British English football works.

0:02:08

At the top of the pyramid, the top twenty teams in England are in the Premier League. It's called the Premier League and separate from the football league because in nineteen ninety two, they broke away from the football league to form their own league that they could negotiate TV rights with and that is the start of the money that we see in the Premier League. They did agree to be part of the FA and part of the Pyramid. That was part of the negotiation process. So you have the premier league, then you have the football league. The football league represents the next four divisions in England. Twenty four teams in each league. All professional. All professional. And that is the traditional league that the Premier League was a part of and left. Okay.

0:02:59

The next level down is the national league. That is where that has traditionally been a semi professional league, that is league the fifth division down, so single a baseball, if you will. And it is very difficult to get out of because it's half professional, half semi professional, but now is becoming more and more and more professional. Beneath the national league is the national league South and the national league north, England split in half. Those are two professional teams. Both teams promoted from those leagues go into the national league. And then as you go further down, it gets more regional and more regional. So that's down that's down to seven divisions. Lots of different football teams. So to remember, England is a country of forty eight million people. It does include Wales, so probably fifty million fifty two million people. Maybe less than that, the size and area of New York State, and it has over ninety two professional teams, the FA has at least seven ninety teams registered. So it is a massive thing.

0:04:04

The FA, if you don't know what that is, and hence the FA cup, what you'll talk about later, is the overarching football structure that runs all the leagues in a charge of grassroots, whatever. So Think of it this way. There's there's the MLS and USL from the US perspective. NISL, those are all divisions beneath MLS, and then there's US football, US soccer, which runs all of soccer and is in charge of the national team. So the FA in England is in charge of the English team and runs Wimbley Stadium. Complicated stuff is three governing bodies each league. The the the football league runs four leagues The Premier League runs one and then there are leagues beneath it. Okay.

0:04:45

So Rexam makes it and the scenes just of them winning the fans rush the field. They have been in the wilderness out of the football league, so out of professional soccer for fifteen years. They had been in terms of bankruptcy in as recent as twenty eleven where fans raised a hundred thousand dollars to make payroll and save the team. And they had been struggling in this league that that they shouldn't have been in there, a much larger club than their status. And they're from a very similar, if you, you know, a very similar story to a lot of towns in the US, but England is a less dynamic economy, former cold town, coal plants disappear, jobs disappear, They lose their political will, institutions crumble, tax based crumbles, people leave, moving to bigger cities with service economies, or or and that such are banking and those industrial areas decline and decline and decline. Those are the traditional hotbeds of football.

0:05:49

If you look around Europe, all of the great teams are centered around industrial areas. In Germany, all of it is in the rear valley where all the coal is from. So Bharosa Dortman is in a cold area. Saint Thien in France is in a cold area. Lyon is in an industrial area. So football lives in its history around working class areas of cities and in industrial areas, and Rexam embodies all of that. So when you look at Rexam, you're looking really at the history of all of football. This is where it comes from. And so their success is something that intrinsically ties to the romance of football, its roots, its passion, it's not the most important thing, but it is life or death.

0:06:36

And for the town of Rexam where, you know, it's it's in Northern Wales. It's probably a hundred probably a one an hour and a half drive from Manchester. So just over the border, is that sort of northeast industrial area if you know how England's laid out? Whales is like a a rectangle that juts out from the western edges of England in the south to the parent. There's there's mountains in between. And it is you know, it has its own culture, their their own people, their wealth, they have their own language. It's its own thing. They have their own team, they have their own national team. So for whales, this is a big deal.

0:07:10

And their story resonates and why it's so exciting is because it does connect to the fundamental feelings of why we love sport. It represents something more than just the game and the kicking of the ball it represents more. It would be it it sort of takes all of your children's sports teams and all of your youth and all of your pride and all of every single moment that you felt for maybe a kid's recital and a piano lesson and and the singing and all these things. And it somehow takes those feelings of pride and joy and fear and loathing and sucks them into one single focal point but for a city. The team becomes the chill, the child, that feeling of butterflies, oh, are they gonna be okay that everyone feels? And that's what we're feeling with rexome.

0:08:04

And so them being on TV and Rob McGillicenny and and Ryan Reynolds seeming to get it and understand it. And Whether it's because they are actors and they can pretend or whether they're, you know, Rob from his Philadelphia working class roots kind of gets it, they have the correct empathy to show that they're not they're just stewards. They care about the story. They care about the town. And what we feel with Rexam going up is something larger than any of us can imagine. And if you watch the scenes, please go online and watch them. It's moving. You get choked up. There's there's Rob Miguel and he just crying in the owner's box Why? Because football does this. It no other sport does this. None. I have looked. I have searched.

0:08:56

You feel feelings that are beyond your understanding, that are beyond your understanding. Ryan Reynolds, they both sort of just discuss the town and what it means to the people in the town. And it just takes on more than Friday night lights and more than that because it's it's the feeling of their town rising up as a Phoenix. The way they wear that red and they have the red dragon of whales on their crest, they feel like they're lifting up. They can they can have hope within the team and so it lifts the city. And then the show just sort of brings that feeling that Americans and people around the world in modern times I think are looking for. They're looking for authentic feelings of connectivity and community. And when you watch people cheer and run-in a field and cry over a sports team, you can't help but not wanna be a part of it. And so that's what I felt with Rexam. And then the next feeling I felt was, God damn, it's a shame we can't have that in this country.

0:09:59

We have it in fleeting moments of of a of a March Madness game where, you know, the Richmond Spiders beat Virginia. We have it in in fleeting times where you get to feel the feelings of of of of your team winning the NCAA tournament. You have it in moments in baseball once every few decades, the red Sox winning in two thousand four, the Boone home run, Buckey Dan, the Dodgers, Kurt Gibson, and they're so infrequent that we can name them all. Whereas in football that story happens I don't know, every other week for some team, the story is there, and that is what makes football so special. Maybe now every other week, but some team is getting promoted, some team is getting relegated.

0:10:54

The thing is, is the jeopardy. Football has a lot of you can really lose and your team can really go down and disappear. On the two sides of it, we have the Rexam documentary, which is positive and uplifting and sort of telling the story. On the other side is we have the Sundle until I die, which I couldn't watch the second or third season. I don't remember which one it was because I knew what happened to the team and I know how sad it is to see that team going down. A big team, the stadium of light, and just the sadness in the in the fans faces and kids crying it. You can't handle it. It's too much feeling. So football has that jeopardy in that. That's probably what makes it so great.

0:11:34

And I just wish our sports had that. Like, after on Sunday, after watching a football, I went to see my team San Diego L'Oreal. And, you know, nothing nothing magic happened. You know, if we win or lose, It doesn't make a difference. We'll still be in the USL. If if the the teams we beat, if we win the league, nothing happens, we can't go up. We can't go down. So it's a shame that we don't live in that world because it's too competitive and too sporting. Whereas American sports are designed to make money. And we can argue about commerce and sport, I support the most commercial sport team there is. But for Americans, we don't quite understand it. We don't quite get it. And that's why I think it's resonating with people so much. Okay. From the Pyramid and Rexam. I think we'll go to the FA Cup, and then we'll we'll sort of touch on Arsenal.

0:12:31

So FA Cup weekend, two semifinals, Saturday, my beloved Manchester City dispatch of of of of Sheffield United, and I can admit it this game was semi training exercisey. The stadium was not full. Only twenty twenty thousand empty seats It's Saturday during your match week. People from the North, not as wealthy, two teams that don't have the biggest fan bases in the country. So it felt flat.

0:13:07

Sheffield did Preston played defensive five at the back to start with. Almost got a goal early, but then Citi just controlled this game. Riyadh Marrez, with three with take the first goal was quite good. The second was a penalty and the third was just the parting of the seas. Like, he had a force field around them and all the defenders disappeared and they put it away and city win three nothing. And then bringing the check-in line on, like, sixty minutes all the bench players, all Rico Lewis comes in. And it's really, Pohem, City, get through this game and basically barely break a sweat. Holland doesn't score, so that's good on Sheffield. Sheffield's United's big thing is they're going up. They need one more win and they will be in the Premier League. So it's a Premier League side effectively that city played It'd be like if we played, you know, Southampton and beat them at Wimbley.

0:14:01

This is in the greater picture of it, this is a great result for Citi, go to the semifinal. Don't exert much energy. Play players who've you know, no city player is really a bench player. They're all really good in top level. But furthermore, he hasn't been playing regularly, especially in Champions League games. He gets a hat trick. He convinced Holland to let him take the penalty. Which is good. Riyadh got dispatched it and city then stay rested, stay calm, prepare for Arsenal to come to the Etsy hat on Wednesday. We have games tomorrow. The Premier League does not stop and we'll get to that when we get to the Premier League.

0:14:42

The other game, the Brighton Man United game, which I thought fundamentally Brighton were better and were favored just slightly. First twenty minutes were really good. Brighton really showed everything that they could do. Downey Welbeck was putting himself around regular group, Esteban, Kaiseido, McAlister, and CISO got the start. Gross, No Veltman. Gross was playing left back, so that's why and CISO was at the number ten spot. Dunked the best defender no one's ever heard of. And Webster also killer ball playing center backs. They were really good as usual. Solly march cutting in from both sides.

0:15:20

Matoma had a hard, hard time United were quite good. No Maguire, it was Wombasaka, Luke Shaw, Lindalof, and Gallo. One Massocca just owned Matoma. It was Great to see as much as I love Matoma doing his thing. One Osaka was like, you shall not pass. He gave him the Gandolf. Listen, everybody knows One Osaka is a great defender. He's not good going forward. So this game was good.

0:15:51

Second half, it sort of slowed down. You know, not much to write home about, and then it ultimately went into penalties as it rained and rained and rained. And so we had the drama of penalties, but the game itself was a little bit fundamentally disappointing. But I think for United, this was a gut check performance where they're like, you know what? Let us just grind this thing out. When Wombasaka plays, United lose something. They're unable to They're unable to sort of create what they need to.

0:16:26

Bruno was back in the game, but also back up to his antics. Like, he's such a great player. He is literally the the yin and yang. On one side, you have this amazing creative player who's a dream, who can do things with a ball and take shots, and all those amazing things he can do. And then the other hand, he just throws himself on the ground, if a hand, if a fingernail touches his face, he rolls around. So it's tricky to watch him and it's not enjoyable. He he slows down games. He makes them choppy. And for for United, they needed that mostly.

0:17:02

But, you know, this game did not have much to write home about. Brighton dominated. Both teams had fifteen shots five or five and six on target for each group. I'd say just in terms of Just in terms of who I thought would win or who had the better chances, it was it it edged towards Brighton, but nothing really. And then just in the end, neither team could stop each other's penalties. David De Haya, as we know, is not a penalty saver. And the only reason that United they would have kept kicking and kicking was Solly Marsh who was the sixth penalty taker for for sorry, the seventh penalty taker for Brighton, kicked it over the bar, then lindel off, you know, dispatched it in perfect penalties from United, good on them, the hairless metal.

0:17:54

This is a championship. Champion level club it has, like I like to say, institutional understanding of what it means institutional understanding. You know, it's in the DNA of United. They expect themselves to win, and Tenhogs comes from a winning organization as well with IAC's And to be fair, you know, they dispatch the penalties. One, two, three. Boom. Boom. Boom. Boom. Boom. No real problems.

0:18:19

I think the interesting thing is for Brighton, Dunkin' and Webster, both taking penalties, whereas no defenders, aside from Lindahloff at the end, took one for for United. But United now have a chance. They're in another final. They have the league cup in the bank. And now they get a chance potentially to stop Citi from winning the trouble. Now it's a long way away, but at least they're there. So One of the things for United fans is they hold on to some things.

0:18:50

The ninety nine team is revered. They won the trouble. The trouble. What's the trouble? League, FA Cup and Champions League. It is very hard to do. It's only been done once in the Premier League. Those are the three most difficult trophies, most coveted. City won a quadruple, but it was, like, shitty cups, the league cup, the FA cup, the and the league, that's a treble sort of and then the the community shield, which doesn't count. So the big one is your league and the FA cup. Sorry, your league and the Champions League. That is the double that you really want, and then any cup makes it a treble, but the FA cup is traditional treble. Where you're at the business end of the season. It's one of the last games of the year.

0:19:36

Everyone is watching the seasons over and we have the final showcase game. Of the season is the Epic cup. If this was seventy years ago, the Epic cup is was the equivalent of the Super Bowl, but it has lost a lot of its luster in the Premier League era, specifically the last fifteen, twenty years. It's lost some of its juice in England, and the Champions League finals has now become that match. For the world to pay attention to the English were historically insular and loved what they did, but now the the champions league is now the gold standard of you're the best team in Europe. And so Citi are on for that semifinal against real Madrid. They are on to play United in the final of the FA Cup, and now they are on to play Arsenal for what is effectively a final or the Premier League. So we will go to the Premier League.

0:20:28

I wanna say something about Brighton before then. Brighton, this is a great season for them. They did not make this final and they probably feel like they should. They're the best team in the league by far not named arsenal and arsenal. I'd say they're the fourth best team. Not named Newcastle, not named Arsenal, not named city I think United fans will admit that they were on the ropes, and they've had a great season. But I think as a team and as a unit, Brighton are the fourth best team in England.

0:21:01

Maybe the results weren't there. They're definitely better than Spurs. They're definitely better than any of the other teams. Asin Villa, consistently throughout the whole season, Brighton and Hove Alvin are on the way up. And this is probably the last chance with this group. You'd expect McAllister Kaysaido and Matoma to get picked off. Hopefully, Ferguson will stay with the team. It looks like in CISOs another player that will come through and some of their older players might hold on to the institutional strength of the team, but you'll expect them to probably raise about a hundred and fifty million to two hundred million between the sale of those three players and really fund the next round of their team, but it will be very difficult for them to replicate what they do next next season. With where they are. But great team, great season, shame they couldn't get to the Epic Cup final or even score a goal. So Brighton have now played in four games at Wimbley and still have not scored a goal in their history. So kind of a bummer for them, but onward is an upwards for bright and great team, a team I will continue to watch, a team I will continue to love, provided they keep playing that way, and Tony Blum is their owner.

0:22:12

So let's get to the results. Results. Oh my god. Lot of Lot of FAQ stuff, but we have to go to Friday.

0:22:22

This is outside of the matchweek, where Arsenal Drew three three versus Southampton. We watched it as group kind of following along with each other on the on the WhatsApp group, and there was a lot of energy, a lot of fear a lot of every all the United everyone rooting for Arsenal to pull it out so that city wouldn't win me rooting for Arsenal to bobble it. And now you look at their their fixture list and there are those three draws in a row staring right at you. The first one And there's like a progressive two two verse liver pull. Good point. Two two verse West ham, we blew a two goal lead. That's not great. Three three versus Southampton, where you were down two one and three one down two nil, and three one, terrible. That is an awful result and it is bringing up the have they bottled it, have they bottled it, I don't think they have bottled it.

0:23:32

Honestly, it's really unfair for this arsenal team to feel like they've failed. It's just the narrative of the season is that they have held on for so long. They have yet to lose. Their last loss was against Manchester City. They're still on a One, two, three, four wait. Let's see in the league. Let's see. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten game unbeaten run. It's just that in that unbeaten run, it's three draws in arrival. So they have not lost it. Really, they haven't lost the game. It's just when Citi get in this kind of mood and the blue machine is behind you, you feel that pressure flying behind you and it is scary and it feels like It feels like arsenal are blowing it and it feels like they've played with poor energy. It feels like they're playing nervous. It feels like they're losing this thing, but they've gotta keep the bigger perspective and say, we haven't lost their promise.

0:24:38

They cannot defend as well as they had anymore because they've lost their world class defender, Saliba, the first goal against Southampton, Carlos Algaraz, was literally hiding behind Thomas Party, pops out from behind. Literally, Ramsdale doesn't see him. He picks off the pass and scores a goal within the first minute of the game. So arsenal in trouble early. Then another goal on fourteen from Walcott and another mistake, another Elionuzzi picks one off into Alcarez and Theo Walcott finishes that one. It was a turnover in the midfield that Rob Holding steps out creates the space for Elianuzzi to run into I mean, for Alcaráz to run into, then he passes it off to the side and Phil Walker. It had to be Phil Walker. Twelve years a gunner, really high quality shot, a great goal, right foot, right in. No problem. Then six minutes later, Martinelli gets it back, you're like, okay, arsenal are okay. They'll go into the half and be ready to do more, especially in the final five or six minutes in the back of the second half.

0:25:44

Arsenal really pressing just not getting good chances, but doing their football, doing their thing, taking lots and lots and lots of shots, trying to break South Hampton down. Francick, if you will, almost understanding the moment. Zinchenko grabbing the team some argument whether he should be doing that. I think it was great. I loved seeing the leadership. I loved hearing him gathering the team around, but like, hey, we've got this. We're too good to be losing this and and pulling the team back together. And they just go try and seed Southampton, honestly.

0:26:18

But then early in the second sort of the second half begins and there's really not much going on. They're kind of feeling each other out again as Southampton change their whole attack. They're much more pressing, much more front foot. Second half, they take players off. They go defensive. They're like, we've got a two won't lead. We're gonna hang on to this thing and see what we can do. And they really shut arsenal down.

0:26:42

But then on a corner, they get their goal. And from do from Kalatakar who had come on for the goal score, On a header, on a corner, unmarked back post, I know. Every corner cannot be a misdefensive assignment. I hate the way it's covered that way. But At that point, Southampton are up three one, and it is dark, dark times for Arsenal. But again, as we've seen with this team, very resilient in an attacking sense. Odeguard late on eighty eight from outside the box, puts one in then Saka on ninety. There's nine minutes of extra time and you just get the sense that arsenal are gonna pull this thing out. I can't breathe. No one can breathe. It's three three. We're watching it through the WhatsApp group. Wow.

0:27:32

I was certain that Arsenal were gonna pull this out and then trust our does hit the bar on ninety two, but that seemed to be the last moment where there was a chance for Arsenal to pull it out. So they draw again three three They hang their heads, their in shame, narrative shifting game. Are they bottling it? No. They still just have to win every game. And every game means they have to go to the Etihad and still beat Manchester City, but the game is out of their hands at this point. They had a buffer where they could drop points at the Etsy had. They cannot drop points now. They must must must win on Wednesday against Citi. It can be done. It can be done. This is a good arsenal team on ninety points.

0:28:19

But I do wanna say, only Liverpool fans know what this feels like. This feeling of draws being losses, this feeling of this machine on your shoulder, that being Manchester City, just coming, and it's relentless. And it it doesn't care. City are very much treated as the foil with a black hat. We are an emotionless terminator that comes for aristocratic royalty and the primarily arsenal deserve to win. Liberty deserved to win. Well, you know what city deserved to win to and we're coming. City are really looking at a historic moment.

0:29:02

I talked earlier about the essay cup and the trouble for United. If Citi can win this league, It will only be the second team to win three in a row in the Premier League. Liver Manchester United, have that claimed the fame of winning three in a row, o eight last last round, o eight, nine, and ten. I think is the last three that they won in a row with Citi breaking up that group previously. So It's a big deal if Citi can get into these win the league and cement themselves as one of the great Premier League teams. They do need a Champions League. I think United two thousand eight and then the ninety nine team are widely considered to be the great team's in the Premier League era, the first group with the class of ninety two maturing under under Ferguson. And then the second group, Rudy Ronaldo Tevez, hanging on for that second round of of the Premier League champions there. And then they they win that one champions league but then they run into Barcelona twice and just get embarrassed. They got no but no other way to say it. It's really hard to win the Champions League. And hopefully, Citi can do it this year. But this is these are the stakes that we're talking about historical moments here of, like, where teams rank. City winning three in a row will put them this PEP group will become up there with the great teams of all time and we've changed how we've played.

0:30:35

For Arsenal, the narrative is changing for them. They're starting to arsenal fans are starting to kinda go, hey, this was okay. We were we're we're ahead of schedule where we weren't supposed to be here, you know, they're on pace for ninety points still. It's just when it's Citi, Ninety points is not gonna do it. You need to really really put the hammer down and and win and get a lot of points on the board. And if you can't do that, City eventually will come good and come after you. So Arsenal do have to fight, do have to pick themselves up off the bat, this Southampton game was the game I thought. They they probably felt like they could book, but they can't. They need all their players. They're not deep enough. You can't have holding in defense anymore. It's just not working.

0:31:22

I wanna don't wanna kill Vieira, the young Where is he? What the hell is his name? Vieira Vieira Vieira. Trying to find He played for Granite Jacka. He's just not yeah. Fabio Vieira He seems a lightweight guy. He's been part of the squad all season, but he was weak in midfield and lost the ball. You know, a lot of players and then he's been hurt. He might be there.

0:31:46

I don't know what's happened with Smithrow. The midfield is light at the moment. They just don't have depth. They were running that same thirteen player group out all season and it seems to have finally caught up with them. They don't have enough center backs. They don't have cover. Or when they wanna shift the player over from one position to another, Tomiyasu being out has forced him to play holding for the last six weeks and he's simply not good enough and within you know, the last five games, five starts, they're dropping points nearly every other game. So Rob Holding is causing a prom. I don't understand why they have Georgina if they're not gonna play him. He should have been in the Vieira spot playing with shotgun, maybe let maybe let part a move up. You can question a lot of our tests on what he did or why he did it.

0:32:31

The issue is defense. Arsenal are not keeping clean sheets anymore. They haven't had a clean sheet for weeks. They've given up seven goals in their last three games. Their last clean sheet was against Fulham, which now is the beginning was a month ago. Mid March was their last clean sheet. So it's getting tough for them to shut teams down and win games without giving up goals. So in trouble trouble trouble or arsenal in arsenal land.

0:33:05

Other game of note The only thing that can make this weekend palatable for the great and powerful arsenal of North London is their neighbors in North London, Tietnam hotspur, going to Saint James Park, and getting completely and totally embarrassed and annihilated. They lose six one to Newcastle United, and it wasn't it it was worse than that. SPERS gave up five goals in twenty two minutes. In the first half, Stelini is fired after this game. He just got fired today. Ryan Mason will take over for the rest of the season. They finally clean house of all the kante guys.

0:33:49

I think the mistake that That's the lenient made easy. He went to a back four without full backs. He played two wing backs in paracitian Toro, and they couldn't defend anything. They were catastrophic. Just the worst. I would just rewatched the first twenty minutes. It was sad. It was pathetic. It was loud. And Newcastle just said, we're here. We're taking that top four spot. And you're not getting anywhere near us. They just completely bombed spurs to the tune of, like, I mean, five goals in twenty one minutes. And then the the peach of them is the fourth goal, actually, The second think of the things I have to stay here.

0:34:37

The second Jacob Ramsey goal was amazing. It was probably from twenty five yards out, top bins, Luis didn't move. He it was so good. He left his mouth open, like, I can't believe it. I did that. And then the fourth goal, the pass by Willic. For the ice into Isaac. It's just pure gold.

0:34:55

Spurs are attacking. They lose the ball in the final third on their side. Ball goes out into Joe Linton who passes the Willic on the wing. Willic outside of the right foot curved right into the path of eZach. Who finishes it and it's all good from there. Just laugh I mean, Newcastle fans were giggling. Spurs fans who'd went on a four hour trip, four hundred miles, leaving after a half an hour because they're so embarrassed by their team. It was an embarrassment it marks the end of spurs. I think this is the official end. They had been hanging on.

0:35:31

I think the narrative all season was how has this team been doing this How is this terrible team with a bad style? Just been hanging on into this this spot? It just never made any sense. And now we finally have this game where the dam breaks, where everything falls apart. And it's almost like they they see their They're on this trip and on this journey. It's like a soldier who comes home finally and he sees his mom and he finally breaks downs and cries and says, I don't know how I did it. Right?

0:36:01

SPERS have been at war, underneath Moreno, underneath Nuno, underneath Kante, brow beaten, and beaten into submission. All the creativity stomped out of them hanging on by Harry Cain's pure brilliance. Last season, he had help with son and Kulishvsky. This year, it's been just Kain, and they finally run up against a force that just shows how weak they are how their mentality is gone, how the talent is drained from this team. There's just nothing there. It's empty. And so Levy who's praises I still will go with. I did defend.

0:36:39

I think there is value in continuity. There is value in someone loving the club who's on your team. Just look at what's happening at Chelsea. Look at what happened at other clubs when you lose that continuity of a person. I think there is infrastructure at Spurs to continue. I don't think they're in such bad shape that they'll not make it. I'm just sort of wanted to say this is the end for spurs. And we get a real juxtaposition of two teams going in different directions.

0:37:08

I think spurs thought they were where they needed to be and were gonna kick on when they got Marino and then Kante and thought they were just a manager away, a mentality driver away. But they weren't. They never had enough talent. The the signings never really worked properly, Sanchez, and and they never were able to properly replace Alvareld and Verthige, and that's now four or five years ago and never able to do that. They try they push, they're not able to get over the line. I'm trying to find, oh, Christian Romero, just complaining that he can't play in a two. You're a fucking defender. You can only play in a three. Like, what the fuck is wrong with you? Eric Dyer still just there trying to hang on, but this is really about Newcastle. They showed everything that they are, the journeyman workers and Jacob Murphy, the new players in Isaac coming on, Joe Linton, and then Calvin Wilson just getting one. So it's still their old guard, their pre takeover guys, it's still Murphy, it's still Linton.

0:38:14

Gumeresh was injured, but then stuck around. I no. He did no. Anthony Gordon did come on for him. So there is a little bit of worry there with Kumar. They need him but it looks now like Newcastle will have European nights and football is better for them. They are now solidly in third.

0:38:34

The table is really shaking out. The three best teams and goal difference are at the top of the table. The three best teams and expected goals. Are at the top of the table. So it's then the underlying numbers are real and putting you where they should be, United, are gonna do well to stay in the top four, honestly. Just an amazing amazing season. For Newcastle. They deserve to be where they are. Only one loss at home all season. Really, their issue was the draws that they had as they came up to the league cup. And then after they had a moment there when Guma sure was out, when Bruno was out, they couldn't score, and Calvin Wilson was out, and they just didn't have enough when Almirall sort of went off the boil. So they are now solidly locked into the top four amazing amazing stuff from them.

0:39:26

Okay. Let us go into the relegation fight. I'm gonna sort of do it all as a group because I think there's just too many games to cover one at a time. We have full of defeating leads This was a game that I think leads probably would have wanted, but they are unable to really do anything Polini with an own goal. It's the only goal they get laid on, but they were down too narrow before they got their one ball back, and it was too little, too late. Leads are looking listless. They can't seem to find that energy. I think they were better under Jesse Marsh. At least they had some fight right now. They're not really finding anything.

0:40:07

Lester, get off the Schneide the Dean Smith Revolution, they come back. What from a goal down against wolves at home, calet cheese and a nacho with a penalty? Kistania also gets one on a cross from Christiansen. They really went attacking I thought it was interesting about Lester sort of just being like, let's just go down with what we've got instead of trying to defend. Let's just Attack. And they did Sumaré, Kubakari, Sumaré got back in the side with Telemans, so no duesbury hall. They did go Daka, Ionacho, Tete, and Jamie Vardi. Madison was sick. I like when they have any Ionacho. He just can't seem to Do enough, Varney drew the penalty. So, fun there, leicester out of the relegation zone ahead of everton on goal difference. Wow. So leads on twenty nine. Lester, on twenty eight.

0:41:09

Our friends at everton grind out a nil nil away to Crystal Palace. Weirdly a good result. I mean, you just have to keep getting the points that you need Mason Hallgate did go off after collecting his second yellow on eighty, but I did watch the highlights of this one. Dominic Calvert Lewin back in the game. The way that Crystal Palace had been playing, I think holding them to no goals is pretty good.

0:41:36

Considering scored five against leads in the second half last week. Calvert Loon had a couple of good shots that at least he's taking them, three shots, two on target, also Dwight McNeil taking them. It's good. They need to be taking them. Their best chance came from a wobbly who almost scored a wobbly that would have taken them up. But they get their drag. They don't give up goals. Gold difference stays strong.

0:42:00

I still believe in everton, to stay out of the relegation battle. Cool stuff for them and then the other one, Bournemouth. Mighty, Gary O'Neil's Bournemouth, get whacked by West ham. Four nil. That's two games in a row where West Ham has scored four.

0:42:20

It looks like the underlying numbers, the x g, for West Ham is now starting to pick up Poplar Formals with the pick of a bunch, a funky Scorpion kick. It wasn't exactly clean, but he did do it. It did hit off the inside of his back foot near goal. He scores the last one and starts crying. I don't know why he was crying, but it was still cool. Big goals Antonio Peketto with both with headers and then Deckel and Rice with a world you laid on all in the first half.

0:42:53

Yeah. Not a good performance from the mighty powerful Bournemouth and Gary O'Neil. They just didn't get much going in this game. West hand put ten on target, which is a fuck ton. If you know anything about L football, Neto unable to save anything for them and Fabianzky doing all the work on their side. So West Ham, off the tonight, clearly safe now. West Ham up to thirteenth on thirty four, right next to Crystal Palace. They'll do fine. It's like I said, all the teams at nine wins are pretty much in good shape there.

0:43:27

But let's go through the the the group here. So Let's just start let's say, we'll start on Bournemouth, thirty two games, thirty three points. They're looking safe then. Four points behind them. There's a little gap to leads on twenty nine. They have only seven wins, then luster on twenty eight. Eborton also on twenty eight difference and goal difference puts Eborton in the relegation zone, nodding him far as on twenty seven. And Southampton on twenty four after picking up the point versus arsenal. So But let's see. We have the schedule to do because we have midweek, Tuesday, Thursday, Tuesday, Wednesday matches. Only one day off, and then the party begins again. Here we go. Alright.

0:44:16

The big game obviously is is the arsenal versus Manchester City game. I don't know how the fuck arsenal are supposed to pick themselves up. I think they can do it. I don't think they will do it, but they can. First game up, wolves crystal palace. Both these teams are safe, not too much to write home about.

0:44:35

Aston Villa and the UNI Emery Revolution, supposed fulham. You'd expect them to win. They're still pushing for Europe there. They have not been shut out at all against since Unai emery took over scoring a goal game. The big game here, the sixth pointer, leads United at home. Versus lesser city, this is a massive game. If leads don't win this game, then I don't know where they're gonna get their points So this is a big one and a six pointer.

0:45:03

That's why it's the late game on Tuesday. That's the one I'll be watching. Leeds versus Leicester. For the Relegation Six Pointer, then Nottingham Forest, Wednesday. Also within our crazy Manchester City, big game Super Bowl. We have Forrest versus Brighton at the city ground. If Forrest don't win this game, they're in trouble. Chelsea versus Bedford, Don't care about that game. West ham Liverpool. I guess Liverpool might wanna try and win this game if they think that they're going to make the top four they'd have to win this game. This is a big game for them, but they have not traveled well. Away from home, liver pool are quite poor. Then we have the big one. Late on Wednesday, noon, eastern, western, sorry, arsenal versus Manchester City. It's got CheckTime.

0:45:59

Arsenal going away to the Etihad where they have not won in a very long time. There have been some Cup games that that have been won, but let me just see here in all competitions, Arsenal have last defeated city in the effig cup. What kind of dates are these? Yeah. Their last win was in the Premier League was in twenty fifteen. So it has been quite a while. They did defeat. If I remember, in the semi finals twice, they beat city in the semis, which sucked. But hey, what can you do? Two nil and two one? I remember that. One of them was the Obamian game, but the last win at the Etihad, last win for Arsenal was in twenty fifteen. It's been quite a while. So Citi, their last beat They last earlier this season. They beat him in February a couple months ago. So Citi have had Arsenal's number, but this is a different arsenal some really big ones. The five nil in twenty in August was quite the ass kicking. That was early in the art revolution when we thought, oh my god. What are they gonna do? They are seriously fucked. But they've had their number. Arsenal against Citi is just usually men against boys, but that's why we play the games. I think if Citi win the game, they win the league, It'll put them if Citi win the game, it'll put them on seventy three with two games enhanced just two points behind arsenal.

0:47:46

City right now are the best team in Europe. That's a fact. Numbers, performances, everything about them. They have a lot more steel They have a lot more energy. They're able to rotate. They're different from any other club right now in that they have eighteen guys that are better than your eighteen. There are teams that have better 11s. I think Liverpool at their best when they push city. They had twelve guys, thirteen guys. But when city go into the depth of their team, their eighteen is better than anyone's eighteen. And you cannot match it. So when the guy goes down, they're fine. When two guys go down, they're okay. They had one bad season, the Liverpool season because they lost all their defenders. Same as Liverpool did the following season. So it is difficult to Match City for that stuff.

0:48:40

PeP does start playing favorites like a congee hasn't missed the game in a year. I don't know why. He must be new. He's just like, oh, run them out there until he can't walk anymore. He probably won't play it all next season, the way Ultomendi had that problem the the season before.

0:48:52

But This is for all the marbles. This is effectively a championship game. It has the feel of of a college football game where two teams come in with city have the one loss and one of them is undefeated. But you know that arsenal doesn't have another game to get the the the the voters back on their side. So it's one of these jobs where we have to find out where arsenal are. Can they pick themselves up? They'll never get to the goal difference. They don't score enough. They'd have to really blow people out. They still Arsenal still have to play still have to play Newcastle away. We just saw what Newcastle away can be like and they're not gonna be afraid either. They have City, then Chelsea, then Newcastle, then Brighton.

0:49:38

So these next four games take them into the middle of May, brighten that home, never an easy game, and then they go away to Forest, to home to wolves. To end the season, but it may not make a difference at that point because they just might be gone by then. City have much tougher schedule but not tougher games. So every time Citi can play a game that's easy and take it easy, they're fine. So Citi have Arsenal, then full them west ham and leads in the league, then they have their two Champions League games with real Madrid, everton away, sandwiched between those, then Chelsea and Bradford to finish the league. And then, of course, they have the FA Cup. Out at the end of the season. June sixth, I think theFA cup is they may end up at the Champions League final for all I know. But Those two real games home and away will be in the sandwich in the middle of their season. So it'll start to feel a little bit pricey and funky for a city in the middle of that.

0:50:43

WOW! We're getting into the business end. It is now. Officially squeaky bum time for the great and powerful arsenal. It wasn't and now it is. Oh, I do have to give one shout out for miss Angela. I said I would at the end of the show we will check-in on the great and powerful Syria and see what's going on there.

0:51:10

Scores this week. We know Napoli are about to win the league. They have a seventeen point lead team of the season by far. Lachio, in second UVAY inexplicably get their fifteen point reduction turned off. They now jump into third spot, Roma, Milan, and Interall get pushed down and might miss a champions league spot because the corrupt inter pushed themselves into the league. Completely unfair. I don't agree with that.

0:51:39

At all. Napoli come off a late late late winter. Osimann, I believe, pulled one out in the last minute of the game. Incredible stuff. From the Great and Powerful Napoli even though they have to lick their wounds after losing to Milan in the Champions League in explicable stuff I don't understand that happened, but Natalie did just beat Sunday night, beat Uventis, one nil, massive win for them, parties in the treats. Nothing really going on there. Raspadori, in the ninety third minute, getting it done. Incredible stuff. Scenes all over Naples, they are celebrating. That's good to Scoodetho, like it never happened before and it hasn't since the great and powerful Diego Madalona played for them.

0:52:31

We should check on the relegation battle? I don't care. Oh, Sanpa Dori, being down there is weird. All we care about is the great and powerful. So learn a tana. Doing great on a six game on beaten streak, but most of them are drops. So Italian, just draw your way in. And that was checking in on Italy for Angela. Okay. I'm gonna say goodbye. I'm sure I missed seven things, but that's okay. That was the squeaky bum time podcast with LaRonde Corteens. We are the football wing. Of the chop sports channel presented exclusively by the premier streaming network. We record on Mondays and Thursdays So be sure to subscribe wherever you get your podcast. So you never miss an episode. And if you're looking today on Apple, please rate and review the show. Thank you so much. I love you all equally but different.