Chapter 1: What significant goodbyes are discussed in the Premier League?
They never go home, they never go home, they never go home, those boys. That's... Yeah, they have asked for that, really. You can laugh. I have to walk up.
I'm a little bit of an idealist, but having said that, I want to be like me.
Seamus Coleman has made a career out of standing up for himself and his teammates on the football pitch. Often, you could argue, preemptively standing up for himself and his teammates at the first sign of potential aggression from the opponents. And he wasn't about to give up the habit of a lifetime in his last appearance in an Everton matchday squad.
So when Guillermo Vicario started shooting his mouth off on the Tottenham bench yesterday, Coleman got into it. with the Spurs sub-goalkeeper which only made Vicario angrier to the point that he executed a sort of chokehold on his own manager after Jaupolini scored the goal that helped Spurs stay in the Premier League. You're welcome to Monday's Second Captain's Football Pod. Hey guys.
Hey Eoin, how's it going? No surprise really to see Coleman still giving it socks after all these years. You'll do it again. Yeah, that was the Kieran Gibbs incident from a few years back. You'll do it again? What are you talking about, you'll do it again? Unfortunately, we won't be seeing any of those antics at the World Cup because, as we know, Seamus Conlon won't be there.
But Ken Ernie certainly will be. Yeah, you can laugh. That was the World Cup. This is the best tournament in the world. I had a number of good boys here. How long has this guy been pulling the wool over people's eyes? Well, I'm not going to take it anymore. People are tweeting me stuff like, he's a World Cup winner. How many World Cups have you won? I was at the World Cup.
I don't remember seeing what you thought it was like. Let's look up David Silva's World Cup record. The pressed out garbage. Played the first hour, got substituted. Hmm, what did he do in the next game? Didn't get on. What about the next game? Didn't get on. What about the second round? Didn't get on. What about the quarter-final? Didn't get on. What about the semi-final? Oh, he didn't get on.
What about the final? Can you believe it? He didn't get on. Now we're sitting on the sidelines, watching a team win the World Cup, makes you a World Cup winner. then you're speaking to a five-time World Cup winner. So put some respect, put some respect on my name. I've won five, five World Cups by David Silva's standard. Five! No, well, it doesn't matter really what you think.
Our greatest thank you, guys.
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Chapter 2: What is Ken's Premier League team of the season?
Yeah. You don't say us will. No, no. It's okay. No, no. Thank you for... Important to keep clarifying right to the end of the Premier League season. Just keep the tobacco corrections. No David Silva in the Spain World Cup squad? No. No Real Madrid players. I saw David Silva popping up in the Man City farewell. So long, farewell, Auf Wiedersehen thing that was going on at Man City. Oh, he's at it.
You were at it? He was at it, I asked. Oh, sorry. Is everyone's brain okay here today, lads? Sorry, I just thought you said I was at it. We'll end the season fair. No, he was speaking on the big screen. He was one of the city legends who was saying goodbye to Bernardo Silva and John Stones. Oh, yeah, so he wasn't at it in person, unfortunately. No, a few of them were.
Fernandinho had turned up, I think, Ederson. Pep mentioned a couple of the lads who were there. Pep's dad. Yeah. His 95-year-old dad. Oh. Valenti Guardiola, he did. I mean, it was pretty amazing. I mean, the game itself, obviously Villa came and ruined everything. Did you see the Villa players' reactions? Yeah. What was it? Tyrone Mings.
I don't ever hear anything again about sports science or preparation. Stumbled out onto the field and a hockey man said, how have we done that? Says Ollie Watkins who scored two goals. Harry Maguire getting involved as well with a few crying laughing emojis. Good to see you still got a sense of humour intact. Yeah. But yeah, David Silva was there. You learned a lot playing with a legend like me.
It was a great privilege for you to play with me. Now, he's not in the Spain World Cup squad this time. Neither are any Real Madrid players for the first time ever. There's no Real Madrid, not one Real Madrid player in the Spanish World Cup squad. No, it's the first time in 16 World Cups and there's no Real Madrid player. So Madrid has fallen. I think Bellingham snuck in.
I mean, probably just snuck in as well. Into the England squad. England squad, yeah. No, the player who could have been in there, I guess, is Dean House in the centre-back, but his stock has fallen over the course of a difficult first season in Madrid. Yeah. There was Carvajal who's leaving Real Madrid now and is not in the squad. He was in the last one.
Asensio was in the last one as well from Madrid. So this has been a kind of a trend for a while.
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Chapter 3: How did Pep Guardiola prove himself as a top manager?
It's just, yeah, it's not good. Anyway, who cares about Spain? We'll be talking about them again, you know, over the coming weeks. Talk about them plenty, I'm sure. Messi, by the way, got injured. Saw that, yeah. Don't know if it was a bad one. There's no such thing as a good injury this close to a World Cup. Yeah, I don't think it's a bad one. It was like, oh, I don't like that. I'm coming off.
Straight into the dressing room. No explanation yet as to how bad it is, but it's kind of some type of muscle problem. So it's not really what you mean. What's their first game is July or rather June 16th, I think. So three weeks away from now. Yeah. Let's face it, Argentina are probably going to get out of their group. Yeah, it could be a similar job to Neymar.
1st of July.
I'm annoyed because I've made the effort to go to Kansas City. Oh, okay. Kansas City to watch Argentina against Algeria. This is on my schedule. Oh, right, okay. I was like, come on, I should probably go to Kansas City. Like, am I going to go there? Am I going to get there any other way? No. Probably not. And if Argentina are playing Algeria, that's a good game. It's the first game.
You know, Algeria are a decent team. And, you know, Messi, Mania. And, of course, now it looks as though... That probably won't happen because I think it might be with the same as with, say, Laminia Mal. Yeah, his injury was certainly, well, certainly appears to have been a good bit worse than whatever mess he's got at this point. But it's going to keep him out of a couple of games.
But Spain are like, well, you know, the first, the group stage is just warm up games. I would also say there's a bit of a difference in that Jamal sprints around a lot. Leo Messi. He does sprint. Yeah, Leo Messi doesn't really need to do that much sprinting. Oh, he does, he does. He needs to do his little eight-meter runs, you know?
Yeah, but he gets to walk around for increasingly large portions between those eight-meter runs. Yeah, you still have to have the little explosions, though, I mean, even Messi can't literally just walk. He needs to be able to move around. So, yeah, I'm hoping they managed to sort him out. The sports scientists, whatever Tyrone Ming says, have come on. Although, not that well.
Did you see the Enhanced Games was on? Yeah, I saw they were on. I saw there was one world record broken. Yeah, just one. I mean, the Enhanced Games, it seems, was it like a one-day event? Like, it's over? It was a weekend event, I believe, in Las Vegas. Um, and the, some guy broke the like 50 meter freestyle record. Yeah. But that was the only one. Also wearing the old suit apparently.
So maybe that was providing as much performance enhancement as the actual drugs he's pumping into his body. Yeah. I, I think, although I'm not 100% sure, I think that the, the current freestyle record was set in one of those suits. Right. Um, Probably, yeah, a lot of the swimming ones were. But they had a bunch of, as far as I can see, pretty disappointing performances. The drugs don't work, Ken.
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Chapter 4: What challenges does Arsenal face in maintaining supremacy?
Why is he going? Because of Slott. Because, you know, they kind of decided, okay, this isn't going to work. This isn't, you know, I mean, he has been like blasting away at this guy for some months now. But it appears that Slott's not going to... I wonder, could Slott win everyone back over just by... sticking it out.
Like would people eventually go, like Harry Maguire, you know, could he be like the Harry Maguire of managers where people are like, ah, and then after a while it's like, this has gone too far. Actually, we kind of respect the dignity with which this man has endured all this and now we like him. I don't know.
Yeah, something tells me, something about the football universe as it's currently constituted does not fill me with hope that that will be how this plays out. Yeah. Say what you like about Ernest Slotten, his 10-game losing streak for Liverpool next season, but at least he keeps showing up. He's not something you get a lot of credit for, I think. As a manager, no.
And of course, there was the Arsenal trophy celebrations, which took place at Silhers Park. It is honestly, I think it is the most Hollywood-style trophy celebrations I've seen. I think probably what's still at the moment was Arteta and his wife kissing each other there. It was like, this didn't used to happen. You didn't see this from Bob Paisley. You didn't see the Lady Cathy. You did.
You didn't. But it was all very romantic. You know, obviously so much happiness. The pressure was off last day. Arsenal won the game. Incredible images. Incredible images. And, you know, a special word, I think, for Declan Rice, who overcame his own personal heartbreak. Oh, yeah.
And put a bright face on it and smile through those celebrations when he just probably would have felt like retiring alone into a dark room. If only I could get out of here, you know, get home. As West Ham, his West Ham had been sent down to the championship. And I suppose lots of Arsenal fans would have rather that result had gone the other way.
But only Declan Rice, for the reason that Declan Rice wanted it to go the other way.
Was he devastated?
Well, there was a video of him, I suppose, reacting to the news as he was standing in, I guess, through the tunnel area and he seems to get the confirmation of West Ham's down and he goes, gosh darn it. He made a gesture which can only be described as, gosh darn it, and turned on his heel and sort of stomped away, you know, thinking, God, that's really put a dampener on the day.
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Chapter 5: What are the implications of Guardiola's departure for Manchester City?
had lines like, this is a city that's built from work, from graft. You see it in the colour of the bricks. People who clock in early and stay late, the factories, the pankhurst, the unions, the music, simply the industrial revolution and how this changed the world. And I think I grew to understand that and my teams did too. Yeah, it's like he's... It's not true, Ben.
It sounds like a politician, you know, it sounds like... Maybe he is a little bit now. Uh, running for the mayor of Manchester or whatever. Um, yeah. So I thought that was a bit, a bit pointless, but, um, but yeah, he's, um, he's gone now. Many will feel a great shadow has lifted. Uh, he has been too dominant to be any fun.
It's kind of like, yeah, you know, you've sort of won too much and this is what our, our Tata at least has, you know, I think we can say it probably was for the best that are someone this style. Right. Well, I think so, but why do you believe so? Well, just, just seeing, imagine it had been seven out of 10, seven titles in 10 years. That's what it would have been.
And like the last two years, the team hasn't even been any good. Like they've been okay. They're all right. But like, they're not, this is not the, they're miles off where they used to be. You know what I mean? If he managed to win again with a team that was so far off. You know, like the scenes last Tuesday night in London were like pretty unbelievable.
And that's just something you're going to get with Man City. Well, not now. I mean, I remember Jacob said that to us last week. And of course, the thing that I should have said was, well, what happened in 2012 when City won? You know, having not won it since, what, 1968? I mean, that was... I mean, I remember I could have been at that game, but didn't go.
Yeah.
I didn't go because I was like, well, you know, season's over. United are going to win and I have to go all the way up at the time from London.
To Sunderland.
And that's how I wasn't at the Aguero game. Yeah. A word for Tottenham again? Well, what's the word? 17th? Not relegated. Two words for Tottenham.
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Chapter 6: How did the end of the Premier League season unfold?
Where should I start? Probably goalkeeper would be the traditional way. Do you want to start up front? He actually has done this in the past. He starts up front. Brandon wants you to start in midfield. Do you want to start in midfield? No, I'll start with goalkeeper. It's the easiest one to pick out of all the positions. It is... Donnarumma? No. Oh, Raya. David Raya.
David Raya is the kind of clearly outstanding goalkeeper of the Premier League at the moment. So that's, yeah, really obvious. I can't even think who the second best goalkeeper is. Maybe Donnarumma. I think Lammons has been cruelly overlooked. Lammons has been good, yeah.
But, I mean, Lammons, you know, the whole thing with Manchester United again, I mean, it's sort of touching on what we were just saying. Please don't get sidetracked into talking about Manchester United just because of my bias. Well, the fact is, like, Arsenal have played nearly 2,000 more minutes this season than them.
So, you know, it's going to be interesting to see how they handle this schedule next year. Like, Chelsea are kind of the opposite case. Like, Chelsea ended up finishing, you know, and they, like, that's going to be a real problem for them. They have a massive squad. Like for their gigantic squad, it actually needs those games. You know what I mean? You need to sort of get people involved somehow.
And now they're just going to have, I mean, so good from some point of view, extra training time, less injury risk. But also you've got like loads of people who are totally irrelevant to what you're doing sitting around with no outlet. So who's your defence? How many defenders have you got?
I've gone 4-2-3-1 Owen because it's a it's a sort of a 4-2-3-1 dominated Premier League now isn't it everybody likes 4-2-3-1 these days so I'm going for my two centre backs who do you think they are Saliba yes and Gabriel this is very boring isn't it Well, so far, but I maintain hope that it'll get more interesting. Salih van Gabriel, yeah, I mean, that's, again, above everybody else.
I mean, the only other player I was thinking maybe in there is, strangely, Virgil van Dijk. Really? Yeah. Because he's just been part of the worst Liverpool defence in 50 years or something, which doesn't sound good. But if it wasn't for him, they would have been relegated.
I'm serious.
I don't think they'd have been relegated. I think they would have gone down. And he's also the oldest player to play every minute of a Premier League season now. I mean, they've absolutely flogged him all season. And he has actually been very good. But not as good as Gabriel and Saliba, who are the two centre-backs. Left-back. This is actually another easy one. Although, more competition here.
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Chapter 7: What insights do the guests provide on the overall season performance?
So yeah, Raya, Timber, Gabriel, Saliba, Rice and Saka. That's six, is it? Yeah, three of the back four, the keeper, Declan Rice, Saka, yep, six. So then Man City have got Nico O'Reilly, Haaland and Simeoneo. And then Man United have, oh, I'm sorry, and Cherokee. Did I mention Cherokee? Nico O'Reilly. You did mention Cherokee. Cherokee, Haaland, Simeoneo.
So 6-4-1 in the top three.
This was the year when the middle class of the Premier League showed that this is what makes the league different from anyone else. there's quality players all around the league. It's not just concentrated at the top. And in fact, the top teams were less incredible and consistent than they usually are. And yet you've gone for just all Arsenal and City players. Well, look at the table.
I mean, look how many points Arsenal have on. I mean, you're talking about the Premier League middle class, blah, blah, blah. And that, you know, we can use that to... We can throw a hanky over the middle 18 teams or whatever. I mean, you know, like there's not a lot of points separating, say... Sixth and 15th. 16th. Aren't there 20 points clear of fourth place? Yeah.
So if you go from Aston Villa... I'm not saying the other teams are as good as Arsenal. I'm saying they've got some individuals in there who are as good as some of Arsenal's individuals. There's 13 points between 16th and 6th. 13 points between 16th and 6th. 16th and 6th, yeah. I mean, there's 21 points between Villa in 4th and... No Villa players in here? No. What about Sabazlai?
So, I mean, Sabazlai is a possible right back. Right back?
Yeah.
Stick me in midfield somewhere? Yeah, I mean, I think he's a good player, but I don't think he's a player of the season necessarily. A Liverpool player of the season, I'm sure. Have you done all 11? Yes, yes, yeah. I've gone through them all. Manager? Well, that's got to be... Keita Andrees. Mikel Arteta. Regis Lebris.
he was the other he's the other it's those three those are the three Andrews, Lebris and Andrews and Arteta sometimes the manager of the Champions gets overlooked when there's an incredible story as the Lebris thing is and the Andrews thing to an extent but you'd have to put Lebris above seeing as he qualified for a year but in this case the back story to the Arteta stuff the rest of the last few years you've got to give it to Mikel Arteta there's also Unai Emery who did get Villa to fourth again and win the Europa League which is like that's a pretty incredible season for
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Chapter 8: Who are the potential challengers to Arsenal's dominance in the future?
I mean, he's contracted until like 2034. If he's already thinking, oh, hang on, I'm not sure I want to hang around here. That was... Seems like that might have been a mistake.
These... Yeah, but... OK, there's a lot of nine-year contracts flowing around these days, aren't there? But, you know, you've seen Enzo at Chelsea. That one appears to be one that someone is happy to break. And Haaland will cost someone a lot of money should they want to buy him out of the City contracts. And that is one of the things of the Manchester City years since Abu Dhabi took over is that
They very rarely lose their top players, don't they? I mean, Sergio Aguero being one. Sergio Aguero is a player that you would have thought back in 2011 when he joined the club was a player that would end up at, say, Real Madrid or Barcelona. Never did. you know, lived instead in the Cheshire countryside rather than going to play back in Spain.
And it feels to me, Haaland, there's always been a career plan there. Is it really going to be all that time in Manchester? I'm not sure.
He's quite the other greatest manager of all time. No. I don't think so. Do you mean, sorry, because it's always greatest Premier League manager of all time? Obviously the greatest manager of all time would have to have... would have to have a substantial body of work in the Premier League. Could it not have been before the Premier League? I mean, the top flight.
Okay, you're going for top flight then, just to clarify. I don't think so. I think there's obviously aspects of what Guardiola has done that are not aspects. There's a huge amount of what he's done that is extraordinary. The drive, the relentlessness of it, the...
the way he, the vision he had for football and even the fact that that vision has now kind of mutated into a kind of a style that everybody kind of, or many people recoil at, you know, and think like you've killed football, Pep. So like that is a huge, that's a huge, it's a hugely influential figure.
When you look at him, do you feel that there are so many aspects of what Pep has done, especially at City, and especially this is the place he spent the longest, where you're like, well, how many titles would Manchester City have won without Pep? They wouldn't have won everything. They wouldn't have done what they did with him, but they had an awful lot going for them.
I think they would have won a few, all right. They already won a few. You could say the same about Barcelona and Bayern Munich. You could, yeah, you could. So these are the questions. So it is the relentlessness of what he did that is most notable, I think. And the fact that given these huge advantages, there wasn't any sense of him kind of going, well, we can play to our strengths here.
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