Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
Welcome into the latest edition of ESPN FC. I'm Dan Thomas joined by Craig Burley and Stevie Nicoll. What a game we saw early on in the Premier League on Saturday in the Manchester derby. United taking on City. Michael Carrick's first game in charge of course of United and boy did they impress. They got a little lucky early on. Dalek should have been sent off for a red card.
Vard didn't overturn the yellow card that was given, but then it was all about Manchester United. Mbwena would make it 1-0 in the second half, Dorgan making it 2.
Chapter 2: What happened in the Manchester derby between Manchester United and Manchester City?
It could have been a lot more for the hosts as opposed to Manchester City, who really struggled in front of goal. And in the end, Carrick kicks off his tenure at Old Trafford with a win. What that means, with Liverpool dropping points at Anfield, United now just one point of a place in the top four. For more on this, let's welcome in Mark Ogden.
Oggy, I tell you what, that must have been the happiest you've seen Old Trafford for a very long time.
It was. And, you know, they've had a couple of good results over the last two or three years. I think the FA Cup win against Liverpool a couple of years ago under Eric Ten Hag. But I think, I mean, the atmosphere was great that day. It was great today. But I think the difference today was that United actually won a game they deserved to win.
In the past, they've had big wins and they've been kind of clinging on. But today, from start to finish, you know, Michael Carrick got his game plan right. United were on the front foot attacking it. And it was like watching, you know, the old man United of, you know, being attack-minded and going for it, really. So you have to give credit to Michael Carrick for that tactic.
and I think obviously the return of Brian and Bumo and Ahmad made a big difference but having watched the Ruben Amrim teams and prior to that the Eriksen Hag teams but mainly Amrim it was just complete night and day because the football that we've seen for the last 18 months at Old Trafford has been terrible but today it just showed that they've actually got some good players if you play them in the right positions and give them the right formation and just give them a bit of belief They were really good weren't they today?
They were really good really good today and they've set a bar now they've set a standard these players that Michael Carrick can go in after the game and say, listen, that's it. If we play like that, we've got half a chance. But if we drop the standards, then the results will just go back to where they were and the performances.
You know, Martinez coming back in from a long layoff, you know, with not just his aggression at the back, and he's not everybody's cup of tea, I know that, but his ability to pass the ball out from the back. Maino coming in, who was out the equation under Ruben Amorim and looking really tidy on the ball.
Bruno Fernandes getting further forward, able to get in those more dangerous areas and get more involved and get runners off him, which they had. It just all looked...
a lot better and as Augie said it's the first time in a while I've seen them take on one of the best sides in England albeit they were not at the best today and maybe that was a lot down to United as well but it's the first time I've seen them against aside going for the championship, and they could have scored five. And they deserved to win. They outplayed them at times.
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Chapter 3: How did Michael Carrick's tactics influence Manchester United's performance?
So I thought all in all, bearing in mind it was a big decision, given Michael Carrick at the end of the season, it could not have gone any better.
Yes, Stevie, you said you've got to be careful if you're United not to go for it too much because you're going to leave yourself exposed. Yes. What happened?
Well, when they left themselves exposed, the back four did their job, which was as big a surprise as anything. You know, Dallow and Shaw in particular has shown us what he's capable of. Shaw's a guy who sometimes turns up and you think he's still in his bed. But today, he was at it. He was tight. He made good decisions.
And Dalot, other than that crazy challenge that he made on Doku, was good defensively as well. I mean, Harry Maguire and Martinez never looked in any danger. They looked comfortable, regardless of what they had to do, whether it was balls in the box or whether it was just basic defending. They were just a step ahead of anything that Man City could throw at them. And you're 100% right.
I said yesterday, if they go toe-to-toe, they're in trouble. Well, they went toe-to-toe and they completely outplayed City.
But Shaw's played a lot of the games as a left-sided centre-back in a three, which he can do. But he's a left-back, isn't he? He's stuck in the middle. But I know what you mean, Stevie. I mean, he has had a lot of injury problems and at times he has...
cut a bit of a frustrating figure, because you know there's a much more aggressive, better player in there, and I think we saw a lot of that today.
But I even think we saw some real composure in the midfield from Casemiro and Kobe Maino, and being able to play those little clever balls around the corner, because they had Bruno Fernandes in good positions, and he was either able to get turned and start things off, or drop a little deeper, and then play those balls over the top. And of course, one of the big decisions, I think,
maybe it wasn't a big decision, was the fact that Mbemo comes back and starts because Cesco has just hit a little bit of form. And I think one or two going to Old Trafford might have thought the big guy would have started up front. But you have to say he got that one spot on.
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Chapter 4: What were the key moments in Arsenal's goalless draw with Nottingham Forest?
I'm not quite sure why it didn't be reviewed properly. But I think my view is that Anthony Taylor is probably the senior referee in the Premier League. And I guess, you know, Craig Paulson is always a senior referee's junior to Anthony Taylor. It takes a lot of courage to say to a guy that's above your pay grade to say, I think you've got it wrong. But it definitely should have been looked at.
We're seeing it now in... I mean, that could have, that could have shredded Docu's knee ligaments, it could have been, it was such a bad challenge, so I cannot understand why Villar didn't take that further, because it was a terrible challenge.
Red, red, yeah. Right, that aside, what the heck was City doing today?
Well, A, well, where do you want me to start? Team selection? OK, Matthias Nunez has the flu and doesn't play, but again... The full-back area hasn't been addressed, and I think we see why Rico Lewis isn't playing. I mean, he was driving me bonkers coming into midfield all the time. It was already crowded enough in there as it was. So he plays two youngsters at centre-back.
The young lad, Alain, really struggled. And that's not a detriment to him, but it was a big game. Aki could easily have played there from the start. And Nico O'Reilly, who's been playing left back, instead of coming on at half time, when you're already losing momentum, he could have started at left back. So that was a strange one. We all thought Cherki would have played. He didn't.
He would have come on at half time for Phil Foden. Semenyo got more and more frustrating as the game went on. And the longer the game went on, the more inside Lewis and Semenyo came. And at one point in the centre half, I'm watching it and I was thinking to myself, they can't even go wide. They could only go one way.
So United could squeeze them to Doku because they couldn't go to the right-hand side in the second half. for the bulk of the game, or the bulk of the second half, because the full-back and the wide player were stood holding hands with Bernardo Silva and Erling Haaland when he was on the field. There was no space to operate whatsoever. I thought City were pretty pathetic today.
And I think all the defensive headaches, and you can tell me, Diaz and Guardiola are injured. I get that. John Stones. But go back and look at John Stones. Last year he played 11 games, Premier League games, so they knew it was coming. The year before he played 16 Premier League games, not even half, so they knew it was coming then.
And they haven't addressed, at the start of the season, they didn't address that scenario on top of the full-back position. I mean, it's just bonkers. I must talk about Ait Nuri more than any other pundit. But when he went out and signed him at left-back from Wolves, we all went... He can't defend. He likes to go forward. And he's now... A centre-half played at left-back to start this game.
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Chapter 5: How did Chelsea secure their first Premier League win under Liam Rossignol?
If you can't control your midfield, as United have found out over the last God knows how many years, you don't win anything. So City's midfield has suddenly regressed to the point where they're being overrun by Man Utd midfield, who we've criticised all season.
So he's picked the wrong team. He's picked the wrong midfield as well. Regardless of what you think of Reinders, you put him in there because he can get around. Right. So why don't you put him in there? You add that to the two full-backs.
I mean, how you play Kushinov and then the young kid at centre-back, when you've got Aki, there's nobody more experienced in that team in the Premier League than Aki. You expect Aki to handle Assad coming at you? And then, of course, you see the second goal. It's classic. The full-back's not a defender. Rico Lewis lets Dogu get inside him and sticks it in an empty net.
That is because your full-back can't defend. So he's got it wrong all the way around. And in terms of Haaland, he must have just packed it in. Pep must have said to himself, we're done. We're getting nothing. I'll get him off. Because 2-0 in a derby. You don't take the one guy who's capable of doing something and getting you back in the game, you take him off the field.
To me, that said, he had just decided, you know what, we're getting nothing today. Get him off and get him rested.
All the talk for City was, and not so much from inside Man City, but sort of around them, when Rodri was out and they were struggling last year, was, you know, once Rodri comes back,
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Chapter 6: What factors contributed to Tottenham's loss against West Ham?
everything's going to be rosy in the garden again. But yet, you know, one player was never going to come in and, you know, put stick and plaster over the issues that they have. And so he has all these players, particularly in the midfield to forward areas, and I don't think he knows how to use them the best.
When you want to play Bernardo Silva a little further forward and Phil Foden in there and two wide guys... I don't care who you are. I don't care how good you are. Rodri's brilliant on the ball, but he can't cover the ground of two people. That's impossible. He just can't. And so you leave him isolated in there, as he was at times, defensively, and you've got such a...
a weak back four anyway, an experienced back four, then you're asking for trouble. You're asking for trouble. So you've got to look at the manager and say, he got the shape and personnel of this team wrong today and Man United took their pants down.
City, of course, we saw last year, they don't mind panic buying in the January transfer window. You can't say that, obviously, about Semenu and Gehi. Great additions to the squad. Are we going to see more now, Mark, before the end of the month?
It's 50-50 with City. I think Gray should be done the next 24-48 hours. He's got a medical butting for Sunday, so that should get done. And obviously, like you say, Ā£20 million for Mark Gray is a great deal. They would like to get a midfielder in. They do like Elliot Anderson, but I just can't see Nottingham Forest selling Elliot Anderson this window.
I mean, it'll cost a lot of money this summer as it is, but... Forest are in a bit of a tricky situation at the bottom of the table. I think they'll be okay, but still, it would be reckless of Forest to let Elliot Anderson go now. But like I said, City, they've got money. They've got that ability to make teams do deals that they wouldn't ordinarily do.
They can appeal to players because of the wages, but I think that one's going to be a tough one to get over the line. But they would like a midfielder if they can get one.
Imagine Gueye leaving and I just want to tie that in with Glazda and his future because he certainly wasn't holding anything back after the defeat today. I feel we are being abandoned completely. The worst thing is selling our captain one day before playing a Premier League game. I've kept my mouth shut until now. You get your heart torn out twice this season, both times one day before a game.
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Chapter 7: How did Real Madrid perform against Levante?
It happened with Eze and now with Gueye. I'm not sure if Glazda's been quiet up to now. But, Hoggy, overall, is this a don't blame me for what's happening at Palace, I'm still a great candidate for Manchester United?
I think it's don't blame me, and it might be his exit strategy as well, because if he's talking like that, I can't see him seeing out the rest of the season, because he sounds like he's given up already. In terms of United, obviously, he will be under consideration, but I think those odds there that you're showing, I think they're very, very optimistic in terms of Glasden, because...
If Man Utd wanted Oliver Glasner, they would get him now because he's got six months left in his contract. In terms of compensation, it would be peanuts, really, compared to what they don't want to pay. You'd probably look at Ā£2 or Ā£3 million. So he's available now in the sense that he's leaving at the end of the season.
I think that United are looking at a different level of coach, an elite coach, but obviously we don't know how well Michael Carrick will do. We know that will start a bandwagon going. But in terms of Glasner, yes, he's available in the summer, but I think... I don't think he's that high up the list at Man Utd right now because, like I say, if they really wanted him, they could get him now.
I think Glasden wants to make a step up. I guess the club that might be more suitable for Oliver Glasden is maybe Tottenham. That kind of level below the top clubs but still a progression from Palace. But would anybody want to go to Tottenham? That's the question.
Can I just quickly go back to something Augie said on Man City? Because it's really, you know, I think it's a little bit annoying in a sense. Not what Augie said. Augie said, well, they need another midfielder, they need this. How many players does this manager need? Yeah. How many players? How much do they need to spend? What's he doing on the training field?
Augie says he needs another midfielder. They've got Roderick Fitt, Nico Gonzalez has got a knock, but they signed him for Ā£60 million. Tijani Reinders, they signed for AC Milan. Bernardo Silva's still there. And then they've got all these attacking... How many players? Are we just going to keep sitting here and saying, oh, they need another two midfielders, need another three centre-halves?
Are they just going to roll it out for him until he's got enough players to win this Premier League again and use that as an excuse? Because he has enough players. OK, he's got these injuries at the back, but I go back to it. They did not address these areas properly.
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Chapter 8: What did Harry Kane say about Bayern Munich's dominant win over RB Leipzig?
in the summer. But we're sitting here saying he needs another midfielder and he says they've got these players. They have them. It can't be an excuse for Pep Guardiola, after last season's debacle, to say, I don't have enough players. I'm sorry, that is not a good enough excuse.
When you look at his squad, and you look at, as I say, Gonzalez is out with a knock, but it's not long term, I don't believe. And Tijani Reinders is one of the best players in Italy, hence the reason they signed him. And Bernardo Silva is still there. There's four midfielders at least. Why are you hitting your phone? Because I'm getting angry.
I just feel there's always, and I'm not saying Augie's making an excuse, but I just feel that there is a thought process out there that A, City haven't spent enough, and B, City don't have a big enough squad. That's nonsense.
He was complaining last year that he had two bigger squads, didn't he, in the second half of the season. Nottingham Forest 0, Arsenal 0 then is how it finished. Arsenal missing out on the opportunity to extend their lead to nine points at the top of the table. Mark Ogden's still with us, so Arsenal, seven points clear. They could of course have been nine. Aston Villa can close that gap.
They're in action on Sunday. But overall, as I say, we've seen this before from Arsenal. Too much of late.
Yeah, and it was a great opportunity. I bear in mind they knew what had gone on in the morning. to go to a side that were beaten by Everton recently, amongst others. You know, Forest, apart from the West Ham game, they've not been in good form. They've been under pressure at home. And they... Yeah, of course, Arsenal dominated. They were always going to do that.
But Forest made it into the type of game that they wanted. You know, it was a bit scrappy and they tried to hit on the counter and there was a few tackles going in. But Arsenal were, you know, just poor in the final third. They just looked a little flat, as almost they think, and they thought a point was OK for them.
Do you think so? No, but I kind of...
and they just felt that. And obviously, I think there is a discussion. I mean, depending what happens tomorrow with Aston Villa, they can put a bit of pressure on or a little bit of pressure on. Once again, we saw a talking point up front in Victor Jokeres.
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