The Late Kick Off | Scottish Football Podcast
The comprehensive Scottish football podcast.
Every Tuesday, we bring you in-depth discussion of the Scottish Premiership, Championship, League One and League Two, breaking down our marquee match-ups, moments of the week, transfer news and stories from across the SPFL.
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The Late Kick Off | Scottish Football Podcast
Merseyside Derby / Arsenal v Chelsea / Relegation battle / FA Cup semi-finals / Scottish Cup semi-finals
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Liverpool's title hopes diminished yet further with a rare Merseyside defeat to Everton. A Dyche masterclass that's been long missing. Arsenal keep the charge alive with a stunning victory over Chelsea, who look done for the season.
We consider Burnley's faint hopes. Nottingham Forrest's bonkers statement. FA Cup semi-finals and the FA Cup news. Finally, with Aberdeen's valiant but disappointing defeat.
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Everton's Upset Victory Over Liverpool
Speaker 1Rasmus .
Speaker 2Hoyland to send United through . And he's done it , rasmus Hoyland , with a powerful , pure penalty and pure emotion to match . Hello and welcome to the Late Kickoff Football Podcast . I'm your host , jamie Guyon , and joined by the full cohort this week we've got Mike Wood . Mike , how you doing .
Speaker 1Yeah , I'm good mate . How's yourself ?
Speaker 2Yeah , cannot complain , and we've got Sheila back this week as well . Sheila , how you getting on ?
Speaker 3Hi , I'm grand Sometimes I wish you'd ask me first , because then I could ask how you doing , and then Mike would be stuck for a second to say it . Then Mike won't be stuck for .
Speaker 2Saturday . It's funny that I just over 117 episodes or whatever it is that I just always end up asking Mike first . Sorry , I'll put it in my notes Sheila Feedback three years in . Ask Sheila first so that he can ask me how he's doing Superb . But I'm still good mate though . But thanks for asking .
Speaker 2It's been a bonkers last week Plenty of happenings . We had the weekend fixtures , followed by not a full midweek game week , but plenty of goings-ons in the midweek as well , which we'll turn our attention to first , and there was no other place to start than at Goodison Park as Everton played Liverpool . Mcneil has gone deep . The start , then , at Goodison Park as Everton played Liverpool , dominic Calvert-Lewin rising above there for Everton's second . Nine of the last 12 derbies at Goodison Park have ended in a draw , without a win for Everton at home in 14 years , but Everton have only won one of the last 26 Merseyside derbies .
Speaker 2Draws would not be enough for Liverpool as they sought to keep up with Arsenal and put pressure on City . The game started at a blistering pace , with Dominic Calvert-Lewin driving through and winning a penalty for Everton , only for VAR to get the lines out and realise Dominic was offside by about four yards . Calvert-lewin had another great chance , as Everton caused all sorts of issues from set-pieces , before Jared Brantway shot and Alisson couldn't stop the spin and keep it out . In the 27th minute , another great set-piece in the second half and Dominic Calvert-Lewin riced highest , above the Liverpool defence , to make it 2-0 . In the 58th minute , a flurry of late chances for Liverpool weren't enough and the match finished 2-0 to Everton . Sheila , this was the absolute definition of a must-win for Liverpool to keep them in the title race and , safe to say , they really weren't at the races , as Klopp said after the game , and were put to the sword a little bit by an Everton side that until yesterday had been struggling .
Speaker 3I mean , obviously they got their win . Everton got their win against Forest , which obviously probably relieved a whole heap of pressure on them as far as the relegation fight was concerned . So they kind of came into this game with none to lose , but for me I thought it was their . From Everton's perspective , this was like your sort of stereotypical Sean Dyche performance and I mean that in the nicest possible way Like they didn't really give Everton sorry , liverpool any of the forwards on any sort of clear-cut opportunity . It made everything very awkward and Liverpool just didn't have anything really to break it down . They didn't really often get in behind , as you see them do against other teams , and you know everyone were relying heavily on set pieces and they took advantage .
Speaker 3I thought Tarkovsky had a great game , brantley obviously had a great game , godfrey was brilliant and then Kavert-Lewin did what he had to do up front as well , aside from trying to score from just inside the Liverpool half . And Sean Dish was not happy about that , particularly because , you know , easy save for us . But no , I think Everton were well worth the three points and this sort of just highlights the sort of issues we've seen over the past month from Liverpool with Atalanta or even against the one against Fulham , but it went great for large spells of that game and they found it tough going and I'm not really putting my finger on why that is . I think Jota not missing this game was a big miss for them . I think he's probably their best actual striker now .
Speaker 3They just seem a lot more efficient and ruthless when he's on the team . I mean he's not there . You've got Diaz and Nunes a lot of energy but not necessarily finished the touches , and I think probably it's time to say , as Klopp goes out the door , salah should probably follow him . That's maybe what Lurie Christos suggests . Maybe a year or so ago , I think that's him done now at Liverpool .
Speaker 2Yeah , well , retiring Mo Salah there . Mike Everton , from their perspective , as Sheila says , this is the Sean Dyche performance that we've been looking for for months . I've been asking the question about what's the point , and Sean Dyche and you know we discussed it in respect of the Chelsea defeat last week , where they were thumped at Stamford Bridge and they just look like a team reborn almost in this game , doing everything that you would expect them to do , right .
Speaker 1No , absolutely . They took their chances for once . That's something you haven't been able to say of Everton for the whole of the season . Calvert-wilson is sitting a bit off them at this period of time and , yeah , at the back they only really gave up two chances of any decent quality , and obviously Darwin Nunes wasn't able to finish in either way . So I think , when you factor it all in , liverpool have just gone to the well too many times , and now it's coming up dry . Even though they're getting players back like Robertson and Trent Alexander-Arnold , you're seeing players like drop off in quality .
Speaker 1Like Sheila said about Salah , who's going into his last year's contract at the age of 32 and will be commanding a high wage , I'd say he's probably right to try and shift him on as well , and Shobhaslai has been so far off the pace in recent times as well . Kanai has not been up to it . Quince has probably been the better of the centre-backs outside of Van Dijk . So yeah , there's a lot of issues in Klopp's final remaining games , but I think they've also got to remember when we were talking about local pre-season , we were thinking if they'd just gone to the Champions League , that would have been a good season because of the rebuilding job they had to do coming into it . So I do think there's .
Speaker 1You can't have your cake and eat it as well , but you can't say , because they pushed two teams who have been so impetuous this season and two of the better the last five games now that it's been a poor season for them . They've still got a league cup . It was unfortunate that the way they didn't go on to win or even go into the final against the Europa League . But I'd say it's a good season and it's still a good base of what the next manager if that's Arne Schlott or whoever may come in to build upon , because there is still options there .
Speaker 1Van Dijk seems to be back to his best after a few levels in previous campaigns and alistair still one of the best goalkeepers in the world . So even the experienced players on the team , it's not all doom and gloom . It's just knitting together that front three who do look a bit off the pace , and I agree with sheila that jott is the best pure striker they've got in terms of goal scoringscoring efforts . And Darman Nunes isn't a bad player but he just looks a bit erratic and he still looks a bit over the place . And Diaz Diaz looks a good squad option , but starting as many games as he has , I don't think that's the kind of best that Liverpool could do .
Speaker 2Yeah , nunes had one of his classic chances in this game , didn't he ? At 1-0 , where he drove down on the keeper and smashed it right at him , and even Jordan Pickford was able to see that one away . It just seems to be a dip in quality across the pitch and Klopp , in classic fashion , has dragged them into a title race this year and gotten them reasonably far in four competitions , but it's been a pretty miserable April for them , crashing out of the FA Cup , europa League now out of the league , and I was going to say going out with a bit of a whimper . That's probably harsh , but it just feels a bit like that , given that when he announced his retirement , everyone was talking about the quadruple and now they're leaving with a Carabao Cup in hand Instead .
Speaker 2On the next manager front , gary O'Neill , reportedly interviewed this week , which is tremendous . What we like to see . What's the word that the kids use these days Manifesting . We're manifesting Gary O'Neill into a big job , which would be tremendous . But interesting that they've said no to Amaran well , reportedly said no to him at Sporting Lisbon , as you just said there , mike , interested in the current Feyenoord manager who's just taken them to a league title , but yesterday Xavi announced he was going to stay in Barcelona , so that takes one of their sort of competitors out of the market in terms of finding a new manager , sheila . But there isn't the um , the pool of sort of world pre-made , world-class managers kicking about that there perhaps has been for the last decade or so . It felt like every time there was a big job , you had sort of Mourinho , conte , tuchel , ancelotti , you know three or four others that really were at the peak of management , potentially going for it . And now we're talking with no disrespect to somebody from outwith the top five leagues and seeing how they would do with it .
Speaker 3Yeah , I mean , I think that's probably symptomatic of the times . Obviously , we've seen that down to the bottom end of the table , where you know , especially this season , where managers sorry , chairmen have been reluctant to sack their manager because , well , there's not really much in the way of options . Also , I think obviously because we've discussed many times that the bottom three have been confirmed for a long time , although not quite as confirmed now . But yeah , there is just at the top end of football . There have been so many chops and changes outside of maybe Guardiola and Klopp themselves that no one has a quote-unquote perfect record anymore . Ancelotti's not leaving Real Madrid anytime soon , then , if it is , it's not to come to Liverpool , probably at a rational job . If anything , the guys you mentioned , like Conte , he's been in the Premier League , burnt all his bridges while he's been at it , so he's definitely not coming back . Tuchel's not had a great time of it at Bayern . Either way , they might end up with a Champions League to sign off with , which would be something , but yeah , I think it's just a case of like they're wanting . Even Klopp himself came from a sort of semi-unorthodox route , coming from Dortmund , so maybe they thought , oh well , we'll try that again .
Speaker 3It seemed to work the last time and obviously Liverpool have a pretty defined ethos about how they want to play their football . As Mike said , they've got a base there already . They don't want to completely change everything that Klopp's put in place , they just want to build on it , which I think is probably shrewd . You want someone in the same sort of mould rather than scorched earth and started again from nothing , which again , as we've seen , man United have had four or five managers , each different from the last , so there's no consistency through manager to manager . And then Liverpool have been shrewd operators for the past few years and whatnot , so they don't want to all of a sudden a scattergun approach and see what sticks .
Speaker 3So I think it's . I don't know much about Slott , but it seems just far from the coast for Liverpool . They're doing their research and they're taking their time . I think once Alonso said I'm not interested in any job , like Bayern as well , then everybody sort of had to rethink their strategy , because they probably would have thought he would have been now , would have been the perfect time to leave Leverkusen , but he's quite happy there . So , yeah , I think a lot of the bigger clubs had to rethink what they were going to do in the summer .
Speaker 2Yeah , definitely , I think he was top of every fan's list , that's for sure , and Liverpool would be hoping that their Dutch import was slightly more successful than man United's , but it would be a little bit funny if it was just as much of a disaster , given that they've been at the top of the game for quite so long . Just quickly flipping back to Everton , mike , they're now 8th player with 4 to play . Are we saying they're safe ? Are you putting them in the West Ham camp ? Are you no longer worried about them ?
Speaker 1No , I do think Everton are a good team in terms of they've got the basis of what they do well and if we can be organised and structured , especially at home . Obviously that Chelsea game was a debacle but then they bounced back incredibly well for it . I think the issues that are surrounding Everton , of course , are just the fact that there's so much off the field turmoil that next season might be the real worry for them . But this season I think they'll be fine . I think we've seen some signs of progress from Burnley in recent weeks , but beating Sheffield United isn't the be-all and end-all of their promotion . They've got to do it against teams that are much better equipped than them . So I do think they'll be fine .
Speaker 1I do think if there are teams in danger , it would be somebody like Forrest rather than Everton , but then who knows , if there's more points deductions to come down the road , then that might throw a span on them much . But no , I think in general Everton are fine . It's just next season , like a lot of teams , perhaps they've got to watch in terms of what the trouble might be coming .
Speaker 2Two points out of that
Premier League Managerial Turnover Trends
Speaker 2as well . As they just twigged when Sheila was talking about the lack of managers that have been dismissed , have we only had two ? Have we only had Heckenbottom at Sheffield United and Roy Hodgson arguably wasn't even sacked at Palace but has obviously moved on . I can't think of any others .
Speaker 1I think there's maybe one more , but it's certainly very , very few . I'll just have a wee check for now .
Speaker 2Yeah , apparently , oh , Forrest Steve .
Speaker 1Cooper yeah .
Speaker 2Steve Cooper went as well . So last year I think it was 13 , which was the record , and this year we've only got three so far and there's certainly not going to be another one before the end of the season . Now , les Mangonite had really fucking lose their shit with Ten Hag , but you would have thought that even he would get to see the season out . That's really interesting actually , because it kind of we were talking last year as if it was the new norm almost . I think everybody was the kind of 10-13 manager turnover a season .
Speaker 2But yeah , the other thing as well being that there's been a lot of talk this year about how the quality of the bottom three is so poor and it's an indictment on the money in the premier league , etc . Etc . Etc . But you know , looking ahead to next season , as you're saying there , mike , for teams like everton and whoever else survives , like , next season could be an incredibly challenging bottom half , um , bottom half of the league and um , yeah , we could be sort of flipping that narrative very quickly . Maybe the narratives will just swap every second year because there's only 20 good Premier League teams but three of them have to be in the championship every now and again . But it's good for Burnley . It keeps it makes the relegation battle a little bit more interesting , I suppose . But yeah , we think Everton have dragged themselves safe , which is fantastic . We'll come on to Burnley in due course . Elsewhere , tuesday night , as if my weekend wasn't fucking miserable enough as it was , arsenal decided to run out rampant winners at the Etihad at the Emirates .
Speaker 2At least he looks sufficiently embarrassed . When that went in , arsenal came into this game needing a win , chelsea chasing down sixth place after a disappointing weekend . But Arsenal took the lead inside four minutes through the Andro Trossard in what was a reasonably close first half . A number of yellow cards late on , but Arsenal turned it up a notch and Chelsea showed where they could have been this season without Cole Palmer . Ben White doubled the score before two . Kai Havertz clean finishes doubled it yet further and Ben White finished it off to make it five after 70 minutes with a floated cross that nestled in the far net . Arsenal took that opportunity to make a rare quadruple substitution and see the game out We've just discussed . It was a must win for Liverpool , mike . It was a must win for Arsenal as well , but they made sure in their game and just put Chelsea to the sword . Really , this was this looked like a Chelsea team that , after that man City defeat at the weekend , felt like their season was over . There was no impetus or effort or anything and Arsenal avoided the potential trap .
Speaker 1No , absolutely . Just quickly on Chelsea , they're like the Pokemon Dittos . They can beat anything they want to be in the moment because they thump Everton 6-0 . They're arguably the better team in the FA Cup against man City and they can pitch against Arsenal 5-0 . You could say there's tiredness going into it . You could say there are tiredness going into it . You could say there are a few things , but you just never know what you're going to get from this Chelsea side and that's probably the indictment on Pochettino . But on Arsenal , just very clinical , very efficient . Even Ben Meyer said himself that was a plus for his second . Obviously he wasn't trying to claim it or anything like that , but they were just very .
Speaker 1I thought Chelsea were just so far off the pace and Arsenal didn't need to be anything more than critical and incisive in the way they put them through them and I think , whether they're on form like a team like this , it's very hard to see past them as one of the better sides and obviously they've got over the disappointment . This is their sole focus and their only focus for silverware this season and you worry , if they don't get this season , then are they going to get as good a chance and a good opportunity to lift the title again and I think , the fact that they've got players coming back like Zenchenko Tomi Yasu starting games . Now they seem to have a full complement and seem to rotate . I still think there will be a few twists and turns in the title race and it's not a full-blown conclusion that any team is going to win at the remainder of its games , but it does look rosy for Arsenal at this moment in time .
Speaker 2Yeah , it does . I couldn't agree more . They've Sheila . They're just doing what they've got to do , despite giving up those points , the two games that followed . They've had to absolutely make sure they just get the wins , and particularly knowing that man City weren't going to be playing until tonight . To be four clear , it's points on the board at this stage of the season , not games in hand , isn't it ?
Speaker 3Absolutely . Yeah , I think there's something definitely to be said to be the clubhouse leader , if you like . We get the points on the board with other teams . I've got to play . I feel like it's been the reverse for so long , that City are normally the ones that are playing first and they get the ones on the board . So it always puts pressure on whoever's chasing them . But no , I think Arsenal . I think again , obviously , the spectre of the Champions League as well . Now that that's off the table , you can put all your eggs in the basket as far as the league's concerned , whereas City obviously still have to play that FA Cup , which they've got to bear in consideration . I wonder if that will have any impact , given the fact that their squad's massive . Probably not . But again , if you're City , you don't want to be spreading yourselves across two fronts where Arsenal can focus on this . But again , if every team they come up against plays like Chelsea , you know Arsenal wouldn't lead comfortably because it was just .
Speaker 3Chelsea's performance was the polar opposite of what Villa had put out the week before . Now , obviously , villa are in a much better place with comparison to Chelsea , but Chelsea were just so loose in their defensive structure . It was just unreal that , like for crosshairs opener Bryce is allowed to Waltz and a good position and then just lay it on for him and he gets a shot away and it goes in . But whereas the teams that you've seen take points off , arsenal have been very , very compact and try and frustrate them . And again , that's only four minutes in . If you go one behind against Arsenal at that early stage then it's going to be a long , 86 minutes to follow , and that was the case .
Speaker 3And Chelsea are just without Palmer . They're very without , sorry , any sort of strategy . And again , that's . I mean , he's just one guy , but you feel like he's a conduit through which everything happens . If he's not there , then it's just a mess .
Speaker 3No one takes charge , no one steps up , and I even think we've given Gallagher a lot of stick on this podcast throughout the season . He's probably one of Chelsea's better players . If Caldwell's not there , he's the one that's the next best to step up and take charge , because none of the other boys look interested at all and even in this game , even though they go slap 5-0 , they still manage to create chances or create chances for chances and spend them every single time . I've never seen a team so reluctant to square the ball in all my life just for easy tappings , and it's the same against City . There's your segue into the FA Cup . There they were arguably the better team , but were just not ruthless in those positions where like square it , you've got an easy tap in , square it , you've got an easy tap in . I've seen it so often from Chelsea , particularly in tight games , where they still manage to carve out chances and just make a complete arse of it every single time .
Speaker 2Yeah , you would argue that the midfield must be working in some respect , given that they do carve out chances . But Jackson is sort of Darwin Nunes in terms of his finishing , but without the madness that comes with Darwin Nunes that makes him a sort of viable option . The defence is atrocious and , like you say , it's reminiscent of a couple of seasons with Eden Hazard . If it wasn't for him , then where Chelsea might have been . It's the same with Cole Palmer .
Speaker 2I just don't know what comes in the summer for Chelsea . To be honest , there isn't the war chest of previous years . That are probably going to sell Conor Gallagher to free up a bit of cash . But where that gets invested , god only knows , because it arguably needs to be invested everywhere . Whether there's any shining light of getting Rhys James and Ben Chilwell on the same pitch together for a season , god only knows . Which would genuinely make a massive difference if we could . But you start to question whether that is actually a possibility . You know they're both made of chocolate .
Speaker 2At the moment we haven't had well , we've had a handful of games out of Rhys James and sort of Chilwell comes back and disappears , and comes back and disappears , and comes back and disappears .
Speaker 2So that's really sore because the guys that are having to play there now Kukerea and Gusto , clearly brought in as squad players in rotation and certainly aren't good enough to mount any kind of top four challenge , never mind trying to get Chelsea back to where they presumably want to be , which is towards the top of the league . It shows the difficulties they've had with Havertz is in great goal-scoring form for Arsenal at the moment . Mike , he's last couple of months really turned the corner in terms of his productivity and goals and assists and continues to just kind of link this Arsenal team together . We said in terms of the Champions League he's maybe not quite good enough to lead the line at the absolute elitist level , but when Arsenal are going to be playing against a low block , his sort of ability and tight spaces and his touch and his little layoffs and passes and a couple of quick shots in this game just seemed to blow away poor teams such as Chelsea and a lot of the other teams Arsenal have played recently .
Relegation Battle in the Premier League
Speaker 1Yeah , I mean essentially it was him and Odegaard kind of leading the line as two tens rather than a ten off a nine . And I think he's just . He's such a smart player off the ball , he's technically gifted , it's just that kind of knack for a goal and a consistency . He's XG's roughly where it should be for the chances that he's put on , for the 11 goals that he's got in the league . I don't think he can lead by necessarily at the top level , just because he's never been that kind of player anyway . So even when he's at Bayer Leverkusen he was coming through as a 10 kind of marauding forward from that deeper position trying to score from those areas .
Speaker 1And yeah , I do think Arsenal potentially need a number 9 who has a focal point but is also able to knit it all together as well , because Jesus likes to float off into the wings . So yeah , there's still work to be done on Arsenal in terms of getting absolutely spawned , because obviously Nke is not the answer , rhys Nelson is not the answer , emer Smith is not the answer , but they're decent squad players to have in a 25 man squad . So I think you can see why I wanted to bring him to the squad . You can understand that he was trying to play him in the midfield just to get another attacker that can push in once the goal back converts into the midfield . But it does feel more natural now that he's playing this off-nine position with Odegaard , because the two of them work in tandem , just because of the sheer intelligence on the ball .
Speaker 2Any more for any more , sheila . No , I'll come back to being more depressed when we get to the Scottish segment of the podcast as well , but you touched on the semi-final there , obviously man City running out 1-0 victors in the end and getting themselves a place in the final . Wanted just to touch a little bit on the Burnley 4 Sheffield United 1 game just because of the significance that has at the bottom of the league in particular , mike .
Speaker 1Burnley , as of late , have had a decent run of form , obviously being Sheffield United , there's nothing to share from the rooftops about , but it shows you what they can do . They had a draw against Burnley . They've drawn against Wolves , chelsea , west Ham . In fact , they've only had one loss in the last seven games and that was against Evan , when Muretch kicked off Dominic Carvalho and got into the back of the net . I suppose Muretch was also partially responsible for the draw against Brighton when he let the ball slip under his feet and into the back of the net .
Speaker 1So I do think there's signs that if any team is going to get themselves out of the mire , it could be Burnley . They've got to play Norm Forrest in the last two seasons . So if it is potentially tight and that's that tough move as well if it is potentially tight and you can get something from the three difficult games they've got upcoming against Manchester United , newcastle United and Tottenham , then there is a small chance that they could survive , which which would definitely imagine and you know it's coughing , because I know they've got a lot of issues off the field . I know their argument , this , that and they are , and the points deduction doesn't help them at all , but I think under his tutelage it doesn't seem to be as rosy as it was under Steve Cooper either .
Speaker 2No , it's remarkable for Burnley that they've even put themselves in contention . You know , three points behind , with four games to go . They've been relegated for nine months . You know it would be the . It would be the greatest of greatest escapes of all time , even if perhaps the actual numbers don't quite stack up to that West Brom team .
Speaker 2Just the actual attitude around them , the fact that they must have been in the relegation zone since week two at the absolute latest , if not the first week , because they got thumped by City , yeah , it would be genuinely astonishing if they dragged themselves out and probably devastating for Luton If one of the three newly promoted teams survived , it wouldn't end up being them . But they just seem to have run out of puff a little bit at the moment . To be honest , a couple of 5-1 thumpings back to back and defeats against Arsenal and Spurs have meant that they just haven't been able to capitalise on goings on around them . But , sheila , you'd probably say it's now a three horse race for that final survival spot . Four games to go , but no longer Everton , it's Forest , luton and Burnley . Yeah , I mean .
Speaker 3I just wanted to put , obviously , the points to that , because I've made that the way it is . But I agree with what you said there . I think if Forrest had kept with Cooper , they would be in a much better position than they are currently . That's not to say I think Nuno's a bad manager . I don't think that at all . I just think that the other teams that have been flirting with relegation at various points where it was Brentford , everton , they've all managed to . So no , we'll just stick with what we've got because we think it's heading in the right direction , whereas Boris obviously shit the bed and got rid of Cooper , and now you can just see the thinking in that club , with them picking fights with PGMOL and putting statements out on Twitter and throwing all their toys at the pram . It's just a bit scattergun again .
Speaker 2Has a team lost as much goodwill in as short a period of time as Nottingham Forest ? When they came up last season there was so much goodwill towards them . The whole yeah Forrester back after you know however many years it was . Everyone was delighted to have them in the league . Steve Cooper was an unbelievably popular manager . Folk had a load of time for them and genuinely like in the last two years like whether it was signing 327 players last summer , whether it was then getting rid of Steve Cooper , bringing in Nuno and now , well then , hiring Mark Clattenburg and now the constant fights with the PGMOL they just seem to have made themselves probably everyone's least favoured club in the top flight . Say . For you know , everton fans hate Liverpool fans .
Speaker 3But the one that we can all agree on , the one that , unanimously , the neutrals are really not arsed about yet , is Forest .
Speaker 3I mean , again , I can't even believe it's like a club that is having such issues balancing the books is actually actively paying money to a retired referee to look at other referees , knowing full well that nothing that he says is going to actually change the outcome of games .
Speaker 3So , yeah , it's kind of like why they are where they are um , just throwing money down a well , chasing lost chasing lost causes , um , and then that's just like , just like before we get into whether we think that they've actually got a point with regards to the decisions that went against them in the Everton game . But just a public meltdown is never good , especially when you feel like it's coming from the chairman's old lips . You feel like he's got the login for the Twitter and is actively typing that as it goes out , rather than , as a club we feel hard done by it does feel like he's got the login for the Twitter and is actively typing that as it goes out , rather than , you know , as a club we feel hard done by it . It does feel like there's one guy who , just to steal a term from wrestling , gone into business for himself and just went off the rails completely .
Speaker 1And they've only won two games since the turn of the year . So they had like a decent start under Duno where they lost the first game against Bournemouth fair enough , but they bounced back against Newcastle and won and beat man United . But since then they've only beat West Ham and Fulham . So they've only got quick calculation here . They've only got 10 points since the turn of the year and if there was any other team in any other year they'd be in severe trouble , never mind the points deduction as well . So a lot of the good work .
Speaker 1I know they didn't win too many games under Cooper either . They only had three before he was sacked . But they were kind of drawing a lot of games and they're still in a lot of these games as well . So I don't think it was the right move to sack Cooper . And it does feel like , as Sheila's alluding to there , it's the owner throwing these toys at the tram all too consistently , all too often , and we've seen that when he's been , when he is the chairman of Olympiacos in Greece , how he's always kind of forthright and always marching down to the field and making his opinion known .
Speaker 1So I do think it's a case that they've just too much of a skag on the process and that's why they find themselves in this point of deduction . It's nobody else's fault apart from their own . I know they're slightly hindered by the fact that the financial fair play restrictions on them count from when they're in championships , so they have a smaller ceiling to reach , but still they got Jesse Lingard as a free agent on the exorbitant wages . I think it's just all gone terribly wrong in terms of the recruitment from the start . I mean he said this the second they got into the league . I mean then they signed 25 players right off the bat . It's like this is a team that is kind of rudderless and Steve Cooper's playing it all together yeah , it's just .
Speaker 2The whole thing's a bit a bit bonkers . Just for anyone that's been living under a rock for the last week tweet on the 21st what was that Sunday ? It was Sunday . They played wasn't it .
Speaker 1It was five minutes after the full-time against Everton
Controversial Referee Decisions and VAR
Speaker 1.
Speaker 2They said three extremely poor decisions , three penalties not given , which we simply cannot accept . We warned the PGMOL that the VAR is a looting fan before the game , but they didn't change them . Our patience has been tested multiple times . Nffc will consider its options , which is a great final line . To break it down . Let's start with three extremely poor decisions . So they all involved Ashley Young , which is comic in itself . The first one was the flip of the heels inside the box , mike , for me 50-50 . If it was given , probably wouldn't be overturn , overturned . But we've seen similar ones not given . In particular , we were only discussing Dominic Calvert-Lewin sort of going down easily in the box a few weeks ago and that wasn't given under similar circumstances . So I don't think it's an egregious decision by any stretch of the imagination .
Speaker 1No , egregious was the exact word I was going to use , and the same for the second one as well . I think these are calls that could potentially go either way , but I'm more virgin and decide that they weren't penalties in first place anyway . So I'd be more aggrieved if I was an Everton supporter and those decisions went against me than if I was a first supporter and support and rent for me .
Speaker 2Yeah , I completely agree .
Speaker 3Sheila presumably didn't think much of those two . I'd agree with what Mike says there , and probably the third as well . I don't think any of them are going well . It's not like Ashley Young has absolutely chopped anybody down or the handball when he's caught it and autographed it and the referee's just blatantly not seen it . I don't think there's anything here that's like oh , that was what was the exact words Extremely poor .
Speaker 2Extremely poor ?
Speaker 3I don't think any of these decisions were extremely poor .
Speaker 2I think the third one probably flips the other side that I thought that was probably a pen . But I agree with you . A few folk have said , because Anthony Taylor makes the ball , that I thought that was probably a pen , but I'm not . I agree with you , like a few folk have said , but like , cause Anthony Taylor makes the ball kind of like he's doing Gesture . Yeah , he got the ball . Gesture , gesture , thanks . I was like what the fuck ?
Speaker 3do you call this ?
Speaker 2No , no , no hand signals , cause he does the ball gesture and actually young , clearly doesn't cleanly play the ball . But you know , maybe there's a bit more in that , but it's still not . You know he's not that John McGinn , is he ? He's not just fucking kicked the boy in the heels as he sort of passed and said have some of that .
Speaker 3The whole situation is just mental . I mean Clattenburg chimes in and he's absolutely stealing a wage from Nottingham Forest . That's absolutely ridiculous . I mean Gary Neville was saying after whatever programme he was on , that Clattenburg should resign . Resign from what Free ?
Speaker 2money .
Speaker 3It's not like he's in a position of authority within the rule makers of the game . He's employed by Nottingham Forest . I wouldn't be resigning . That's a cushy wee number . He's also not Nottingham Forest . I wouldn't be resigning . That's a cushy wee number .
Speaker 2He's also not Gary Neville . Gary Neville is he . He's not like a multi-millionaire with hotels in Manchester . The boy's happy with his gig .
Speaker 3I'm sure , clattenburg's having a squalor . He's not on Dragons Day and chucking money at people pitching at him , but nevertheless I think he should resign .
Speaker 2He's not in politics , he's just got a job .
Speaker 3He's got a job , which is a very easy job . He just has to basically disagree with whatever the referee says and he'll be fine . He just has to keep that batshit crazy owner happy . He's just effectively a yes man . He's like a hyped man , isn't he ?
Speaker 2He just walks in his office . That's exactly what he is .
Speaker 3He's just , absolutely just .
Speaker 2You've seen this man ?
Speaker 3Look at this , mark , look at this . I want you to figure out this . And he just went . What do you think ? I think that's definitely a penalty . I agree that it's definitely a penalty . I'm going to write a tweet out , like I'm going to write a tweet out .
Speaker 3Of all the retired referees that you see in the game these days , clattenburg's the one , the most that'll chase the money , the one everyone thinks is a cunt . Exactly , he's the cunt's cunt , if you like . Even you've got Magdine on Sky and all that , and Dermot Gallagher and blah , blah , blah , but Clattenberg will do anything to stay employed . Do you know what I mean ? There's nothing wrong with that . If there's people willing to throw money at you for no good reason , then you're absolutely no qualms about him taking it . But yeah , it's just a mess from Forrest . It just makes them look worse than you know , worse than their league position . He even suggests they are just feels like people want them to go down . Their own fans are embarrassed . Probably most likely , I don't know . I've not seen much from the Forrest side of things saying oh yeah , we were totally robbed . This seems like the club is trying to beat the drum and the fans are just not into it at all .
Speaker 2There's an echo chamber on Twitter , as there always is , isn't there ? I'd like to have a chat with a sort of sensible match-going Forest fan and what they make of all this , because if Aberdeen put a tweet out like that , I'd be fucking raging and then humiliated . We haven't even got into the fact that they said the VAR is a Luton fan Like the most down-the-pub sentence I've ever heard from a football team Aye , exactly .
Speaker 3No , we lost the game because the VAR guy was a Luton fan . It's just like the on-field decision was no penalty . So what the fuck ? It's
Football Drama and League Controversy
Speaker 3just like all Luton fans . It's just a case of you're down in the bottom of the league because , one , your team's shite and , two , your financial mismanagement is hilarious . It's not because of all the teams in the Premier League . The referees have decided no , we want rid of Forrest , fuck Forrest , and we'll relegate Forrest like nah . Should we think about maybe relegating I don't know , bournemouth ? No , forrest . And we'll relegate Forrest like nah . Should we think about maybe relegating I don't know , bournemouth ? No Forrest .
Speaker 2I can't remember which player it was , but there was a player . In his interview after the game on the TV he said well , that's just a problem because the big six teams get those penalties , but not in Forrest Stone . And you think you were playing Everton and you're complaining . The boys are looting fan .
Speaker 1Are they now part of the ?
Speaker 2big six cartel exactly exactly looting in the background , pulling the strings like ha ha , this poor season we're pulling them all .
Speaker 3We're the meal giants whilst Forest are signing , thousands of players looting smartly , I would just pay off their Fs , even though they're still under allegations on themselves . Like we'll just pay off our Fs , they're just really fucking good at cheating .
Speaker 2That's the difference survive on the last day and go from there , it's just . The whole thing is utterly mental . That said , the only good thing that came out of it was the Crystal Palace tweet in response , which I can't remember exactly what it said Five goals scored , two conceded , which we'll just have to accept .
Speaker 3Palace are now considering its options .
Speaker 2Oh no , it was Palace are going to enjoy their Sunday . I think it was the end , but yeah , which was class as well . That'll do for for the Premier League . We're just going to touch on man . United 3 , coventry 3 as well .
Speaker 2Mike , this was just an absolutely bonkers game United 3-0 up Coventry coming back late on 96th minute penalty goes to extra time and Coventry think they've won it in the 120th minute . Only for the I would like to word this only for the assistant referee to have made an incorrect decision by failing to put his flag up and stopping everybody celebrating in the first place , and VAR having to come in and wipe his arse for him and confirm that it was in fact offside , much to everyone's outrage . And then United go through on penalties , which was having to come in and wipe his arse for him and confirm that it was in fact offside , much to everyone's outrage . And then United go through on penalties , which was just . It was absolutely sickening . It reminded me of like a I don't know , like a computer game or something , where you've dragged yourself to the final boss and you think you've beaten him and then the fucking knocks you out at the end and you've got to start the game all over again .
Speaker 1Like it was . Just it was heartbreaking for Coventry . It wasn't embarrassing though we should say that it definitely wasn't embarrassing by Manchester United the way that they scuttled over the line . I think when you look at the way the man United players celebrated in general Anthony Escudid obviously Hoyland's a young , young enough lad . He's excited enough to score the winning goal at Wembley . He goes to cheer with the fans but like nobody else , comes to kind of celebrate with him Anthony's company's ears like a prick and Harry Maguire's doing probably the most sensible thing going over to the Coventry players and shaking their hands and getting down the tunnel I think that kind of shows you the kind of sheepishness of most of the man Utd players and how they felt to go through because , listen , they got through .
Speaker 1At the end of the day they made it on the FA Cup final playing Manchester City again . Fair enough , they might go on to win it . But it's very unsatisfactory what man Utd are up to at this moment in time . You can't be 3-0 up against a championship tied . God knows how much the wage disparity and the pay disparity is between your players and you can't seed three goals in the space of 20 minutes , even though Fulham's a debatable penalty , if you want to put it like that , and you can't seed three goals in the space of 20 minutes , even though Fulham's a debatable penalty , if you want to put it like
Man United's Managerial Crisis
Speaker 1that as well .
Speaker 1I switched on and Coventry City brought it back to 3-2 . And my and Ed were just under the caution for the last 10 , 15 minutes . You thought there was only going to be one winner and even the goal that they conceded that was flagged offside . My and Ed were all over the place . I know you play two hours of football , you're tired , games do get stretched , but it was just the way their defending and commentary got through because it wasn't incisive or anything magical .
Speaker 1It was just basically kind of just progressing the ball up the pitch and just guys run off and the guy who scored that was totally unmarked in the penalty box and it wasn't one of these things where he's got an advantage by being offside , by a toenail or whatever it was . So just poor , poor defending , and we've seen that in the Sheffield United game as well . Like man , united are really not a serious football club and , as much as the bad represents a lot of things , the players who represent it are just . They massively and Ten Hag's just in total . I know you've got to try and say the right things . I know you've got to try and get a belief out of it , but none of what he's saying is really making sense , because he's making an absolute arse of it .
Speaker 2Ten Hag's got to the point now where he before he sounded like a bit arse and vengary , where he was sort of like pretending not to have seen it or whatever . I think now he's gone , like he just sounds like a madman , like when he came out in his press conference and he's like absolutely not embarrassing to have won that game . We won the game . How can that possibly be embarrassing ? And we're in the final and then to defend Anthony and say that he was being mocked by the Coventry players for the whole game and that he was . You know , it was fine for him to react the way he did , despite , of course , he was getting the fucking piss taken out of him by the Coventry players .
Speaker 2It's a game of football , but you still conduct yourself with a bit of decorum at the end and then the day after to say that the media were a disgrace for the way that they've penciled man United's victory .
Speaker 2He said football's all about results and we got the result . As if he genuinely expected praise , like he was expecting , like you . Imagine him with his morning coffee whistling as he walks down the streets of manchester , grabs the old whatever the local manchester paper is , that's look at the back page is expecting to see like 10 hags , a legend man , united in the fa cup and fucking spits his coffee over the floor where he's called , uh , an embarrassment , and quite rightly so . He genuinely sounds like a man that's completely and utterly lost his mind , and I would probably explain some of man Utd's performances on the pitch . The whole sort of episode of this FA Cup semi-final is , despite winning it and maybe there being a possibility for him to salvage himself with an FA Cup win , I think this game , sheila , has been the absolute definitive final nail in his coffin to get him the boot at the end of the season .
Speaker 3Yeah , absolutely . I mean , the performances have been put off for a long time now . The team are pathetic in possession . They're pathetic without the ball . What more do you need to say ? They're getting dominated by teams I hesitate the words inferior because these teams have played much better than man United , but with a much smaller wage budget , with a much smaller investment in players , and they're the ones that are playing the better football . And then our possession is just absolute farcical . They concede the same goal , at least they concede the same goal at least . Like they concede the same goal every game . Drag back to a player , completely unmarked , between the penalty spot and the six yard box and he's just able to pick his spot . And if a goalkeeper doesn't make at least eight saves a game , then they're probably not going to win it , especially against the bigger teams .
Speaker 3Like you know , against the embarrassments against Liverpool . I'm talking about the 0-0 one where you know they barely got out of their own box and was just like heralded for a point , and it's like that's not a minority against Liverpool performance . You can't do that like it's just , you'd rather go and get cuffed 5-0 , it's just so against your identity that you know it's not worth the point and then it's come out and say the media was embarrassing , the media was just reporting the fan . Like the general feeling of like . Again , it's not a case of like , oh like . There's no one else here that thinks and it's embarrassment . Same with forest . It's like it's the someone else here that thinks this is an embarrassment . Embarrassment , it's just just the media that think we're an embarrassment . It's like . No , the general opinion of the club at the moment is you're an embarrassment and you don't take players to task or anything like that . Anthony cupping the players he's mocked by Coventry players for 90 minutes because he's Anthony and he's a low hanging fruit . If there's anybody in that man United team that you could single out we're going to get under his skin , it would be Anthony , because he's the most likely to react and do something silly and obviously he didn't get a card or anything like that , but he did do something silly and just um brought further shame onto the , onto his club , and he's done that since the moment he walked in the door . Like you know , um , obviously the allegation , the , the allegations against them and all that , among other things , that's obviously super serious . But just from a footballing perspective , he does stupid things spinning on the ball and all that part . So again you've got to .
Speaker 3I think as a manager , especially at a high level , it's difficult to have a go at your players but maintain the sort of the defend them at the same time , and I think that's what the best managers do have a go at your players without at the same time throwing them under the bus . So you might say certain things that make them save face , but there's like a crumb of truth to having a go at them , like Mourinho was an expert at it or something like that . Fergie the same , you're not going to . Klopp's done very well at it . Guardiola , the master of sort of reverse psychology , wins five now , although we could get better , or gets beat like no , I thought we were excellent the whole , the whole time . Do you know ? I mean so . And then it , I think it's . And you've got to sort of the players have got to sort of read the sub , read through the lines of .
Speaker 3When he says something like that , it's like oh , actually we weren't as good as you know , he's talking us up , but actually he's raging , you know ? I mean that's something like that when it's ten high comes out and the players have just hung them out to dry , as they have for the you know , the previous managers , as they're put in a horrendous performance and ten hag is partly responsible that because he picks a team , he deploys the tactics , but ultimately they're the ones that are on the pitch and to lose , or sorry , to throw away , a 3-0 lead against a commentary side that didn't , you know exactly , step it up . As Mike pointed out , they were just this was just basic sort of football on routines , and they still managed to get themselves back in the game and if it wasn't for a very marginal offside , they would have won the game and for 10 had to come out and just talk absolute nonsense . I don't know what really he could have said . Look , you know it was .
Speaker 3We were really embarrassed , but we got the result and we'll be in the final commentary , because that's cup football . The result is the most important thing . But the performance was not up to par , at least for the last 30 minutes of the game . So that is something that will have to be addressed , because we won't get away with that against City if we play like that , something like that , and then everyone you know what . Fair enough , he's right , the result is the most important thing , but he's acknowledged the fact that the performance was shite . And then everybody would move on the media's blah , blah blah . It was a disgrace . We're in two cup finals in two years and it's like , yeah , but not by great footballing ability , it's more just so that you've got the luck when you needed it . Yeah , absolutely .
Speaker 2I think I heard on the show it's the first repeat FA Cup final since about 1884 . And it was I think it was Blackburn and Queen's Park , as in the Scottish Queen's Park , which is an unbelievably cool stat . That's mental 140 years , 130 , 140 years since we've had the PFA Cup finals .
Speaker 1That seems insane yeah 1883 , 1884 and 1884 , 1885 , Blackburn and Grovers beat Queen's Park both times , and then Blackburn Rovers won it again , but they beat West Brom in a replay . So if that's the repeat and obviously last year was the first Manchester Derby final and then you're obviously getting the second one immediately after it as well- yeah , mad .
Speaker 2it's just crazy to think , with the way that football's gone , that yeah , we haven't had a repeat FA Cup final in all that time . It's remarkable Sticking to the FA Cup just quickly . The replays were scrapped last week , which brought about a lot of outrage among fans in particular . A lot of clubs put out statements about it . We've long said on this podcast and I put out a number of tweets kind of backing the idea of the replay scrap .
Speaker 2I think I genuinely think scrapping replays is in the same category as the 3pm blackout .
Speaker 2It's one of these echo chamber football opinions that everybody holds , because everybody holds and nobody actually gives it any scrutiny . And if you disagree with it it's because you're not a proper football in person and you don't understand football and you're not with the fans . But I think , as we said in the chat , mike , if a club is relying on the lottery of a replay against a big team for their financials , then their financials are an absolute mess . Anyway , you did a lot of really interesting analysis . Big team for their financials , then their financials are an absolute mess . Anyway , you , you did a lot of really interesting analysis on the number of replays there's been , where there's been upsets , whether they've been home and away , and you know the numbers are are really , really small . You're looking at sort of three teams a season at most are getting a replay against the side that are bigger than them and you know A that's not a lot , and even fewer than them are coming up against the Premier League sides .
Speaker 1Yeah , I mean , what was it ? I think it was like one in three ties in a season will be a gap of at least two divisions and obviously nobody really cares if you're a National League South team getting a League Two team . I mean , that's not the difference you want . You want it to get the big fish and it's the Premier League . But they all go on about TV rights and stuff like that . Most games nowadays are on TV in the FA Cup . If you go on an FA Cup weekend there'll be probably five , six , seven , eight games spread between the Friday night and the Monday evening games . So I don't think the TV rights is going to be a massive issue . Nobody's taking away the fact that you're still going to play Premier League teams . Possibly you're just not getting that potential replay , but you've still got to do it . That's another thing as well .
Speaker 1Talking about getting your chickens , I think if you want to do it properly and if you want to still have the big ties more consistently , you have the high ranked team go to the lesser team , not in the championship , but at two divisions , but disparate , because you can arguably have Burnley versus Leicester and obviously that's not necessarily going to be a big upset if Leicester did Burnley this season . So I think if you had , like Arsenal have to go to Vex on next season in League 1 , so it's going to be a big upset if Leicester did Burnley this season . So I think if you had Arsenal have to go to Vex on next season in League 1 , then you've got the potential for an upset . Probably not going to happen , it's very rarely going to happen , but the best chance you've got if you're a lesser team to knock out a bigger team is in that first tie and it's if you play them at your home ground as well . The drop off after that is quite big . So I do think there's better ways of doing it and stuff like the Coupe de France where you have to go . If there isn't two divisions , you have to go to the lesser stadium of the team and face them . That's ways of keeping the FA Cup kind of alive in a sense , but you're still giving lesser teams opportunities to try and get further in the competition .
Reforming FA Cup Competition Structure
Speaker 1Because what I think the last team to win outside of the Premier League was 1980 and it was West Ham . Since then I think there's only been four teams from the Championship to make the final , cardiff , molde , all kind of went off too often at the top of my head . So it's very rarely that they get chances to get to the FA Cup final and it's usually the other teams that win it , the same teams that win it . Leicester's an exception , but they recently won league anyway , so it's not like a massive surprise . Wigan obviously upset man City , so you're still getting the same churn of teams to win it and they're probably all still going to win it . But I think if you make it more appealing to teams down the pyramid to cause upsets and cause shocks , then you potentially might have different teams making the semi-finals and the end of finals and it might make it a bit more palatable and a bit more interesting .
Speaker 1Like I don't , this is obviously done in favour to reduce the schedule for the bigger teams , but I think in general it's a bit it's just from a sporting factor as well . It's a cup game , it's luck of the draw . It should be done in that 90 minutes extra time and penalties if you wanted them . Why they have replays anyway is a bit of a nonsense and in a cup competition you get another crack . It should be on the day can this team cause an upset over the other one and is this team better than the other one ? And I think that's much more palatable . Doing that over 90 minutes , and if you take it into divisional ties as well , you don't get the same teams playing each other . I think it makes for a much better competition , much more intriguing competition rather than one you just switch on when you get to the semi-finals .
Speaker 2Yeah , I completely agree . I think I disagree with the idea of seeding because I think it just gives all the big teams an easy run to the final . And actually the big teams playing each other is a good thing because they knock each other out and that's why you know Coventry albeit they beat Wolves get a chance of getting to the semi by , to an extent , avoiding some of them . I also , like a lot of people said , why don't you keep replays for rounds one and two before the big teams come in ? But I genuinely believe that during the season , if you were to go to a Wrexham fan and Wrexham had drawn Colchester in the cup and then they drew , the last thing Wrexham fans would want as a replay because they're just playing another team in their league and they're having to fill in another midweek when these teams are playing 46 games a season anyway . Teams are playing 46 games a season anyway .
Speaker 2Like the idea of a replay being a good thing is entirely isolated to like when marine play liverpool and on the off chance they can dig out a null , null draw and then go to anfield and those games are so incredibly rare that building an entire competition around that being a slight possibility when if marine draw liverpool , it's still a big tie anyway . We'd all still be interested in it , we'd all still watch it . Marine would still get a massive um kickback out of it . You know , and I agree with you , might like you either make this smaller team at home or you give them the choice . You know .
Speaker 2You say to marine like you can have it at your gaff and you give yourself maybe a 10 slightly better chance of winning because it's a small pitch and the grass is shite . Or you can go to Anfield and your players play in front of the Kop and 60,000 folk and you get a few extra quid because you get the gate receipts . It's entirely up to you what you want to do and I think it actually , presented with that , most teams would choose to play at home because they would suddenly be like , well , no , we'd rather win than make an extra hundred grand . So I think it's like I was going to say , it's like old man shouting at clouds , but it's like 15 million football fans shouting at clouds , because I just think there's an element that nobody's really taken a minute to think . This is actually not a bad idea , sheila .
Speaker 3I agree with Aaron . Both of you say that it replays and the same problem exists up here in Scotland , to an extent that the lesser clubs are hoping to be drawn against an old , firm team and that'll save them okay , for the next year financially . But again it's just the case of like , well , what are these moments in football worth , as you say , like if Maine draw Liverpool and it goes to penalties , they've got a 50-50 chance of winning , and how much is the moment worth ? If they beat Liverpool , how much is that ? What sort of price can you put on that ?
Speaker 3Personally , as a fan , I'd rather beat Liverpool on that night and have that moment for the rest of my life , and rather than be like oh you know , we made an extra hundred grand that year . Class , well done , well done us . Um , I think it's just like some things in football are tradition just for the sake of them being traditionally , without them being like sort of challenged or out there . Just , it's just one of those things that are like oh no , you can't possibly change this because that's the way it's always been . But football largely has changed since the days of bloody 18-whatever , so we must change with the times .
Speaker 2The final used to be a replay , didn't ?
Speaker 3it None of us missed that .
Speaker 3Exactly . No one misses that . Again , as you say , the proposition that you gave Jamie there or letting the wee team decide , there's the the proposition that you gave jamie there , like or letting the team decide . You just get the feeling that , like the big teams , I'll say no , we don't want to let them decide because it feels like you know they're being favored or whatever it just sometimes you let football gets in its own way , and replays are one of those things where it's like you know , statistically speaking , if you look into the data , as Mike did , the chances of you drawing a big team are very , very slim . But if you can progress through the rounds , the chances of drawing a big team all of a sudden go up . It just makes perfect sense .
Speaker 2Absolutely . What was the other thing ? The final is now also during the season , so it's the penultimate weekend of the season , which that is shite , that's pish . Final should be the last game of the season , so we can all get on board with that . And the FA Cup final and the Scottish Cup final are now going to be played . Well , this season they're being played at the same time , which is interesting . Probably chop and change between the two , and probably chop and change between the two . And finally we'll come on to Aberdeen 3 Celtic 3 in the Scottish Cup semi-final .
Speaker 2Heartbreak on Saturday morning for me as Celtic progressed on penalties . Incredible performance by Aberdeen . They took an early lead through Bojan Mijovski before going behind James Forrest coming on and scoring against Aberdeen as he always does , and Aberdeen as he always does , and Aberdeen come back with a 90th minute equaliser , an unbelievable cross from Justin junior Hoylett . And then we go behind again to Matt O'Reilly in extra time , before Angus MacDonald's full redemption arc was completed as he scores the 120th minute equaliser , a carbon copy of the second goal with another junior Hoylott cross to the back post , taking it to penalties . And it started so well for Aberdeen until Kelroos got injured holding up Ryan Duncan's penalty , which he missed . We were then saved by the most arrogant man in the stadium , joe Hart , trying to be the hero as he smashed one against the post but it wasn't to be and probably Aberdeen's worst player for a long time . Yet another low-knee Phillips missed his penalty and Celtic progressed to the final .
Speaker 2It was an up and down morning , to say the least . It was just grim . It felt like when we came back a second time , it was written in the stars that we were going to get to the final . Mike , it was as far as the semi-final goes and as far as an Aberdeen game against Celtic . You can't ask for too much more . It was . It was a ding dong battle .
Speaker 1No , it's far better than that direct the day after when Rangers beat Hearts . You've got a golden opportunity . You go up against Celtic . You've just got to try and see out I know it's very hard against the might of that side and what they've got in opposition .
Speaker 1But I thought Peter Lieben played a blinder in the way that he conducted the game , the fact he stuck on Angus MacDonald up top when he seen was it .
Speaker 1Was it Narocki that came on for Celtic at the back just to try and see the game out , and Trujillo's tactically shooting was aware of the situation and then just unfortunate , I think , like especially on the penalty shoot , the way that Keira Roos kind of goes down the cramp and then that just heaps immense amount of pressure on Ryan Duncan .
Speaker 1I believe he's a younger kind of kid . We all know that Peter Head in the past . Like you can't add any more pressure to him and I think that's ultimately one of the reasons not the sole reason , of course that Aberdeen are not in the final . And it's a shame because the way that they were playing in that game just solely that game you'd have potentially fancied them against Rangers in the final as well with the way that they've kind of fallen apart at the seams . So yeah , just very , very disappointing . But I suppose there is the upside is there is signs , when Jimmy Thielen comes in and Peter Levin and the coaching staff , that Aberdeen could potentially kind of get moving back towards the right direction and hopefully , if they get back to the semi-finals then they can see themselves on the line against one of these old front teams .
Speaker 2Yeah , absolutely yeah . It's just kind of Like we said in the Coventry game it's about the result at the end of the day , and it was an unbelievable performance , but ultimately doesn't really count for very much . The positives are there , perhaps shows that the squad isn't as poor as we worry , and Peter Levin is staying on the coaching staff to see through the new era as well , which will certainly help , and I think you could see that in the attitude of the players and the effort that they were putting in . They knew the new guy had been announced and that the boy that was there was going to be around as well . But it's going to be a much more interesting season next year for Aberdeen , that's for certain .
Speaker 2I think we'll probably call it there , gents . It's been a fantastic chat . Plenty to get our teeth stuck into . Sheila , thank you very much for joining us . Enjoy the rest of your weekend , mike . Likewise thanks for jumping on . I know it's been a mad week for you , so really appreciate it and , uh , equally enjoy the rest of your weekend and we'll speak again next week .