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 Nicholl. We'll kick things off in the Premier League. Liverpool taking on Newcastle. They played out a thoroughly entertaining affair at Anfield. It would be Newcastle who would take the lead. Gordon making it 1-0 ten minutes before the break. But then Iketike stepped in.
Chapter 2: What was Liverpool's performance like against Newcastle United?
Lovely assist from Florian Wurz as he'd make it 1-1. And then an individual effort from the Frenchman to give Liverpool the lead going into the break. Then the second half was all about Liverpool, Florian Wurz getting a goal, Canati late on as well. In the end it's a convincing 4-0 victory for Arnott's slot side. Take a look at what that means then at the top of the table.
Liverpool fifth, one point adrift of Chelsea, more on them a little bit later on in the show. For Newcastle down in tenth, already seven points off a place in the Champions League. Julien Laurent joins us. We'll chat to Jules in a moment, but Stevie, let's start with you. Just overall, this was, well, certainly the first half was a great game, wasn't it?
Chapter 3: How did Ekitike influence Liverpool's comeback?
Second half, Liverpool ran away with it, but this was fun.
Yeah.
Oh, I've got the wrong person.
Craig, this was fun, wasn't it? If you didn't have a horse in this race. It wasn't fun for half an hour. Let's be honest.
No, but I'm trying to be positive.
No, it's a neutral point of view.
I feel like we've been critical of the Premier League and we haven't seen as many games as this as we'd like. But this was good.
Well, I think Newcastle were the strongest side. Well, did you get me caught? Well, because you were so negative. Oh, sorry. Why didn't you enjoy it? I didn't say I didn't enjoy it. I thought the first, I don't know how many, 20 to 25 minutes, Newcastle, looked sharper, more likely to score.
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Chapter 4: What does Liverpool's victory mean for their position in the Premier League?
They had a little bit more possession, I think, statistically, at the start of the game. Gordon's pace through the middle. Obviously, Kierkegaard is a nervous wreck at full-back and he had Alanga against him. So they looked comfortable. I mean, they didn't have Bruno Guimaraes, they didn't have Joe Linton, so they had a couple of players out as well. But then you just felt that Liverpool...
you know, weathered a bit of a storm. Alisson had to make some big saves and then they gradually got themselves into the game. But it was end to end. And I think the energy that Newcastle put in in the first half, you saw that starting to wear on them in the second half. And it's not the first time this season we've seen that.
I'm thinking about the Champions League, Barcelona at home for 45 minutes. They were all over Barcelona like a rash in terms of their intensity. And then De Jong and Pedri just put their foot in the ball, took control of the game, and then they dictated it.
Chapter 5: What are the implications of the recent results for Newcastle's Champions League hopes?
It felt like as this game went on today, Liverpool just started to take more control of the game. And once again, the big Frenchman up front has been, and it has been a head-scratcher that why... When Izak was fit early in the season, they wanted to shoehorn him into the side when this guy was in great form, had just come in, scoring goals, leading the line, linking up with people very well.
And I think we saw again that today, being in the right place at the right time, making some good runs, always been a threat. And he was a thorn in Dan Byrne and Marek Chow's side. I agree. Right, you can go home now.
I'm going to get my coat now. I was going to say, let's be honest, for 30 minutes, Newcastle were by far the better team. Yes, Liverpool were trying to go forward at every occasion, but they kept giving the ball away. And then Newcastle were getting after them again.
But after that 30-minute mark, particularly after Ekitiki gets the first goal, then it was complete role reversal, certainly the second half. And again, it was good to watch because as much as Liverpool were dominating Newcastle, every opportunity Newcastle got, they tried to go forward. So that's why it was an entertaining game of football.
But I just found it strange that it took Liverpool 30 minutes to actually get a foot in the game. But then when they did, they certainly kept their foot down and went after Newcastle.
Jules, this was good to watch, wasn't it?
Yeah, it was really good. I agree with you. I don't think we've seen enough of those games in the Premier League. You know what I think about this season. I just don't think it's a very good level. It's competitive. That doesn't mean the quality of football is there. I don't think it's there, but today it was.
I agree with Craig in that intensity from Newcastle that dipped massively after the break. And I think... When you have Ramsey and Willock in midfield to replace Bruno Guimaraes and Joe Ellington, who are injured, it's just not the same. And they don't play enough to be able to sustain that intensity for 90 minutes. You can probably say the same about Lange.
on earth is Eddie Hart waiting the 72nd minute to bring on Wissam and Wouter Mader when he's losing the game. And by the way, let's not even go on to the EKTK second goal because what are Bern and Chou doing on that ball from Kerkes? They're 2v1 and yet they let EKTK go and to poke that ball like that. So a lot of mistakes from a Newcastle point of view.
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Chapter 6: What were the highlights of Chelsea's comeback win against West Ham?
He's a wonderful player. I've got an issue with Salah in this team again tonight. OK, it's an assist, but there's another massive chance that he misses. He misses one like that in every game, even the easy game like the one away in Marseille. And it's actually quite a very similar chance than the one that Viet gives him tonight in transition on the counter-attack. I don't know if...
If he's still the best for this position, maybe he is. I'm just watching him and I think there's something clearly missing there. There's something that is not right. But for the rest, and again, like we said earlier, this is very much becoming more and more Virtus' team. That's a weak area of their team now, isn't it?
You were shouting quite a lot about it. You were counting the number of times that you gave the ball away, Salah.
Yeah, I think for the first time... You know, we've all been asking the same question. How can you go from there... to there, just so quickly. You know, generally it takes a bit of time where you start losing a bit of pace and your balance and all these things. But today, Newcastle's right back. What's his name? Sorry, I've forgotten his name. Trippier? Trippier. Now, Trippier...
Doesn't play every week because Trippier's legs have gone. Trippier's a guy on the other side of his career. And today Mo Salah had four yards on him. A ball was played through from Sauber's leg. Could have been a little firmer, would have helped him. But Trippier caught him comfortably. And Salah actually, at no stage during that little passage, looked comfortable on the ball.
So he doesn't look comfortable on the ball. He's got a guy... whose legs we do know have gone, catching him, having given him a three-yard start. That's got to be alarm bells.
Do you know, he scored that great free kick against Karabag in midweek, right, when Sobazlai rolled it back to him. The role reversal from Bournemouth. But if you watch a lot of his games, even when he was... been brilliant and his stats were through the roof.
He gave the ball away a lot in those games, even in his pomp a couple of years ago, whatever it was, a year ago and all the preceding years when his stats are through the roof. He would do things that would make you shout at the TV like he has. He would do things, you go, what the hell is he doing there?
But the difference is, in my opinion, is that in those games, in those moments, he did something brilliant that changed the game. Maybe not once, maybe twice, maybe chucking a hat trick in, picking out a top corner, playing three or four great balls across. Those things, it seems to me, have kind of dried up.
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Chapter 7: How did Arsenal secure their victory against Leeds?
has personal written all over it. It's completely and utterly a personal decision that all these Muppets haven't voted for him. Because if you want to stick to what he's done, how he's coached, titles, you name it, players that he's made better, He would be number one. You would have to actually have a discussion on who was better than him in the history of the game.
So the fact that he's been elbowed is just frightening. That's like having Messi. Not in the Hall of Fame. Did you have a relationship with him? No. Did you have any conversations ever? No, we'd pass in the corridor and say hello. Right, that was it. No stories. No, he's a man. He's a man of few. Well, he used to be a man of few worlds.
But he never got voted in.
Right.
by some of the, I don't even know who was voting. Some of these people that are voting, you said it was personal. That's because of some of the stuff that was alleged to have happened off the field. The Spygate stuff and all that. I believe that's why some of them deemed. Yeah.
Yeah. But even taking... No, I'm not suggesting that's right. I'm just saying that's why... Nonsense. Absolute nonsense. Oh, there we go.
Will you go to the Super Bowl?
Not this time, no. Have you been to a Citroen one? I have been to a Citroen couple, yeah.
You've been to a couple, haven't you? Yeah. Which ones did you go to? Both Patriots winning ones?
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