Are We Live? Episode 39

United v Villa

Bruno POTY?

Liverpool v Tottenham

Crosby fiasco

I think the Spurs are gonna win it all....

Song: Podcast By Snail Music (Loop)
Author: ‪@SnailMusicES‬

Transcript

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Are we lying? No, no, no, yes. Yes, yes, yes. We lied. Yes. Okay, so I ain't gonna curse you. But these punk Yo, we back. Got some things to talk about. It's been a week because last week there was no Premier League. There was and I feel free agency stuff, but I wanted to wait a little bit for things to like you know crystallize to talk about that. Um there's some NBA stuff I want to get into. So uh but let's get started. Premier League is back after the FA Cup break. Um, let's get into a couple of the games. And first, the United Villa game, um, which is a massive game, of course. Um, I believe both teams I believe were tired on points coming into the match. So basically, you know, the two third place teams at this point coming into the match. Um, Chelsea had already lost to uh Newcastle the day before. So big opportunity for both teams, just like separate a little bit from the from in the top five race. Um United in great form under Carrick. I think I saw that since Amran has been sacked, United are top of the table, you know, based on the form since then. So great form for United, of course, only a one loss uh to Newcastle, which is a bit annoying, but still only one loss. Um, and then of course that drawed at West Ham. And for Villa, I mean it's the complete opposite. I mean, they've been free-falling for a few weeks now, and the fact that United caught them so quickly uh speaks to that. I mean, they got hammered at home to Chelsea. Uh was it 4-1? Uh they lost they lost to Wolves convincingly. I mean, they've been dropping points for uh several weeks now. So the complete opposite team in terms of form, two ends of the spectrum. Um, and Villa had also played um that Thursday away to Lil. United, of course, had a long break after the loss to Newcastle. Um, so I to be honest, coming into the game, I was expecting a United win. You know, it's Adult Trafford for whatever reason, Uran Emery really struggles against United, especially as his um since he's been the villa manager. Um, yeah, for what whatever reason, I don't know what the um, and of course, Bruno Fernandez likes to perform, you know, produce uh against Villa as well. So what I don't know I was expecting United win, like you know, a one a one-nil or two-nil type win. I was expecting to be honest with you. Um, yeah, let's get into the game. So let's first let's look at the starting 11. For United, it was a pretty customary 11, but um Karrick went to Mbumo back up top and Ahmad on the right, and Cisco was dropped. Now I this has been the only real thing from Carrick that's annoying me, you know, as a manager. This is this uh reluctance to just bench Embumo because to me, of the ends four attackers, uh you could argue Ahmad to be fair, but of the four attackers, I think he's been the worst of you know the last couple months. Now he scored some very important goals, and I guess that's gonna always buy a player time when it comes to like getting dropped and whatnot. But overall performance levels, I think he's been clearly the poorest of the four um for a while now. So I I thought it should have been Ahmad on the right, uh Cunha on the left, and Cesco up top. Now, to be fair, Ahmad himself has not been very good these last two or three games. Um, so I thought dropping him was justified, but you can see that whenever Ahmad doesn't play, even his like floor of his uh performance level, uh, what he brings to the team is very valuable when it comes to pressing for the front, tracking back defensively, his ability to shield the ball and progress the ball up the pitch, um, all that is very invaluable and helps United as a team play better football, in my opinion. So for that reason, I understand why he brought Ahmada back in the team. I just felt Cesco being the one to get dropped was um very harsh. I thought it should have been Abumbo. Uh and um yeah, the rest of the team though is pretty standard. Um, I would also go with Mazrawi or Lukshaw. But to be fair, Lukshaw was quite good in this game. But um, I think generally speaking, Mazrawi just offers more than Luke Shaw at this point of uh Luke Shaw's career. He's just not you know athletic enough to get up and down the pitch and provide, I would say, um, in the final third, especially. Um, and even really in build-up, he's not really providing that much as he you know, as he used to at the at the peak of his uh career. Um so yeah, for the Free United, that's about it on the 11th. For Villa, I mean, with the T Lemons and uh Kamara injuries, they're very much compromised in the middle of the park. I mean, they had to start up Bark Ross Barkley and uh uh uh Anana as a midfield pivot, and yeah, it was pretty quite not that great. Um let's get into how the game went though. Like, so for United, it was kind of similar to the Crystal Palace game in that the first half it was pretty timid, it was a pretty lifeless half from both teams, I would say. You know, both Villa and United had spells of possession, you know, control of the game, but neither team really created you know quality chances, I would say. From a United perspective, I thought it was really frustrating that there were several great crosses put in the box, but there's no striker in the box. Or if there was a player in the box, it's um Ahmad or it was Mbumo, who are just you know naturally small targets in the box. Like I'm just I guess it's hard because I keep hampering on this, but it's hard for me not to watch for me to watch the team put in so many quality crosses, and one of the best aerial threats in the world really is sitting on the bench, you know, and it's just like I'm like to me, it's blatantly obvious that that's been missing. That has been, you know, we the United as a team create their best chances when Benjamin Sesco is on the pitch, and it's not an accident, he's a striker that gets on the end a lot of chances, which he did when he came on, too. Um so yeah, first half was pretty lifeless, I would say, from both teams. Maybe from uh I think Villa had some openings, but the quality and their touch, I think Ollie Watkins was extremely poor in this game. Like um, he has some opportunities in transition to do something, but his touch was off. I think he had an opportunity to go out. Euro one-on-one, he got clamped, you know, too easily for my liking if I'm a villain fan. Um, so yeah, the quality in the front from Villa was really poor, in my opinion. Now, I compared this United performance to the um Crystal Palace match, and uh um one of the things that got lost in that match because of the red card and penalty was how United came out the half. Now, I think this United, again in this game, came out the half, you know, with a bit more intensity, urgency, uh, just a overall more threatening look on the pitch. And um, that resulted in, you know, what eventually resulted in a Casemiro header from a corner, another set piece goal for United, another assist for Bruno, another goal for Casemiro. I mean, from midfielder's I mean, Casemiro's impact in both boxes on set pieces is just incredible, and like to me that part is almost gonna be the hardest to replace for United because the way he finds a way to like the way he um gets on the end of all these chances in the box from crosses, from corners, from set pieces. I mean, he's a magnet for the ball in the box, and defensively, he's the same way, he's a magnet for the ball, like clearing the ball and crosses. So, yeah, another Casamira header. Um, and uh funnily, directly after that goal, Villa had about five 10-minute um spurt of like controlled pressure on United. And to be honest, United helped Villa a lot with some really sloppy passing. Um Ahmad, which I'll get into later, was really sloppy. Uh, I thought Casemira was a bit sloppy for him for uh for his standard as well. Um, and I just felt like okay, United are in that mode where they're kind of you know crumbling under pressure of the opponent, and lo and behold, Astonville scored uh pretty pretty much immediately. Um now I tip for that goal. I don't know if that goal should have stood, to be honest with you. Um, first of all, I don't think they checked the handball of Mings enough for my liking because it looked like a clear handball, but they just didn't show the replay enough. So I'm gonna assume they saw that. But um, yeah, I mean I the thing is the the weird thing is they have not been calling these obstruction things all season, so I'm just gonna assume they're not gonna call it because I mean the pla I think it was I forgot who the player was, but that's the player was clearly in the site of Lemens, so yeah, whatever. It is what it is. Um and another goal for United where it's just like it just comes out of nothing, you know what I mean? Because it just feels like all the goals you score are like just the team scores like a crazy goal or just something sloppy off, you know, that uh couldn't really be prevented. But um uh yeah, I thought United bounced back pretty quickly, and you know, after that, kind of comfortably went on to win 3-1. Of course, Cisco came on, he got a goal, and I thought United saw the game out pretty well in the end. Um so yeah, I thought a good performance to United. Uh 3-1 sounds about right in terms of final score. Uh now let's get into some individual performances. So, even though I just was pretty complimentary of that game, I gotta start with a bad. Now, the most disappointing for me is the Amadiala performance because I rate this player quite a lot. Um, but he was just he's way too good of a footballer for that level of performance. Like it legit felt like a zero out of ten. Like, basically every action he tried did not come off. Um, and usually he's the basic when it comes to the basics, he's exceptional, and that's what makes him so impactful to the team. But today, I mean he was everything was off every pass, every dribble, every touch. Um, and normally when I see that, when I see a player that I know is technically good struggle at the basics, I feel like, okay, it's gotta be a confidence issue for whatever reason, you know, off the pitch, on the pitch. I don't know what is causing it, but that's clearly a confidence issue because that I know he's too good to do the stuff he was doing. Um and I'm really disappointed because this should have been the season for Ahmad to put like his name stamped on that right wing position. Um I think he's good enough to be a starter in a title winning team at his best, but if you're United going into the summer at this point, if you're being honest, you have to say, like, has he done enough to claim that spot going in the future? I don't think so. Now, do I think he can? Absolutely, I think he can. But if you're if you're squad building this summer, I think you have to look at the right wing. Um, because not only has Ahmad not you know really grabbed a hold of that position, I think and Boom, we'll get into a second, has been a pretty big disappointment. Um, so yeah, Ahmad, really poor performance. I really need him to finish the season strong because he is capable of a lot, and I think even Karrick kind of knows that he needs Ahmad to be better. Because if you notice after the game, I don't know what he said, but he pulled us Ahmad to the side and was giving him some like it looked like some words of encouragement. He's like, So I think even he realized like it's clearly not a uh technical issue, it's a mental issue, whatever he you know was causing the form. So yeah, Ahmad Poor, I expect better. Mbumo at this point, what does this what does he do? Now, one thing I need to say that I need to get off my chest is that I've been seeing a lot of United fans, uh football fans in general compare Mbumo to Salah, where it's like, oh Mbumo, he doesn't do anything in the game, but he'll score a goal just like Sala. And it's like, okay, first of all, Mbumo is not scoring or assisting enough for that comparison to be valid. And secondly, like, yes, Mama Salah is not the cleanest technician we've ever seen, but he's a million miles, you know, a level above uh Brian Mbumo on the ball when it comes to creativity, even dribbling, um, his speed, his you know, his threat as a like the thing with Salah is yes, he can be a bit ugly on the ball in certain games, but he's a constant threat throughout 90 minutes. And I'm forgetting he's on the pitch half the time. Like his off-ball movement is there, but it's not top-notch. Like, he doesn't stand out like oh my god, he's a constant threat in behind. Like, I don't see any of that. So he's just not sharp on the ball. Off the ball, he's alright, he's good, but not great. Uh, there's no real threat in the box when he plays up top. Athletically, he's pretty average, I would say. He's not much of a dribbler. I'm just I'm like, what do we see here? Like, I just thought I tweeted during the match. I'm like, going forward, if we expect to compete for the league, Cunha and Mbumo cannot be starters, you know, can't be like nailed on first like first guys in a team sheet type starters. They can be squad options for sure, but you know, main man of the team, absolutely not. Um, so yeah, that's I I've been it's been uh on my mind for a few weeks watching him. Like, I've just been more and more sick of watching this guy attempt to play football. And uh, you know, the goals, it's not enough, it's not enough goals to play that poorly, in my opinion. If you're gonna be a guy that's that poor on the ball, you better put up monster stats in terms of you know goals and assists. And he's not done that, and not only is the goals not bad enough, he's not really creating chances for other people. And I guess playing as a striker can limit that to some degree, but yeah, it's just not good enough, in my opinion. Um, now to be fair, Mateus Cunha, who I've been very critical of this season, who I was just critical of, saying he's not a starter on a serious team, his recent performances have been quite good, I would say, especially in the second half of matches. And um, of course, he's mixed that in with getting in goals and assists as long as well. Um, when he commits to playing wide, you see a really good player and a really impactful player because he's obviously talented. Like, as much as his first touch annoys me, like carrying the ball physically, he's immense. And of course, his uh his ball striking and goal threat top-notch as well. So he has real talent, you know. It can be overstated how talented he is, but he's capable of crazy things on the pitch. Um, he just needs to commit to playing, to holding with when he's playing on the left, because that makes the team so much better. Um, and we saw we've seen that in these last couple games. He's actually committed to staying on the wing, and it's helped the team out, you know, create better chances and whatnot. So yeah, I gotta give him some credit. He's been better of late, and I want to keep playing like this as a real winger. Because when he starts floating around on the right, in the middle, everywhere, it's just like the left-hand side of the pitch is just vacant and it becomes crowded, and it's just like it's a bad, it's bad for the whole team. Um, and the last one I want to talk about was Lenny Yoro. I thought was great in this match. I mean, you know, he's had his struggles up and ups and downs this season. Um, I think he handled everything great in this game defensively. I think the Everton game, he was also quite good defensively when uh they won at Everton. Um, I think to me the clear weakness in this game is the physical side of the game, you know, winning balls in the air, holding up strikers and stuff like that. But um I think people need to remember that he's 20 years old. Like he is not a baby in terms of center back. So that part of the, I mean, the development should be expected to come, you know, come along in the next couple years. But um, it's good to see him, you know, play the level we know he's capable of at. Um, so yeah, I thought good you could argue he was mad in the match on that, not really probably Cunha or Bruno, but um, yeah, alright, that's up for individual stuff. Actually, the last one I want to talk about. Ollie Watkins for Assin Villa was atrocious in this game, and he's really been poor for most of the season, I would say. And even last season, you know, I mentioned this in the summer that Rashford, who everyone was saying was not good enough for May United, came to Villa and took Watkins' spot in the starting 11 as a main striker. I mean, at one point, like clear clear as day that happened that happened, I saw it happen. So, um, yeah, I mean to me, he's been in decline for a good bit now. He's just he used to be like one of the one of the better holdup strikers in the league, and now it's just like loose touches, uh not as imposing physically. Um, and he's always been like a poor finisher, and now that the rest of his game is kind of falling off, you really got like a poor level striker. And I've said this in the summer when it was reported that United's option as striker was either gonna be Ollie Watkins or Benjamin Sesco. Now, I wasn't oh totally in on Sesco, but I knew I was out on Ollie Watkins as you know as our United striker, and people need to remember Ruben Amorin wanted Ollie Watkins and Emmy Martinez ahead of LipMenz and Sesco. So, yeah, don't let people revise history on that stuff, too. Um so yeah, that's it on the players. Um takeaways from the match. Um I think I think I said this last pod too, but the drop-off from Villa Um should not be that surprising. Like, whenever I've watched them this season, they have been pretty poor. Like, I even when they were winning all those matches in a row, I was like, man, these guys are not playing well. Um and there were, you know, uh lucky, I don't want to say lucky, but they were, you know, these Morgan Rogers scoring the goal this season every week. I mean, that was obviously not gonna, you know, last. And we're starting to see the regression to the meme when it comes to the expected goals and stuff like that, and how they had the luck in the first half of the season, not the bad luck because came the on the other side, law beverages type stuff. So yeah, their fall-off to me is expected. Um, and of course, they've had injuries and stuff like that getting the way as well. But I just don't think they've been that great of a team this season. To be fair, I don't think many teams have been that great this season. So uh relatively speaking, I guess their positioning in the table is still fair. Um, yeah, and onto the United side, um, they should be on track to get top five. I believe they're six points ahead of Chelsea, who are sixth right now. Um, yeah, I like I said, they're first in the table since Amorin has been sacked, um, which does not surprise me in the slightest, uh, especially considering how poor City and Arsenal have been in that period. But um, yeah, as soon as Amorin was sacked, I was expecting United to get top four. Like, I don't like we don't have much depth in the team, but this team is clearly top four quality. I mean, look at the look at the talent in this in this team, bro. Like, it's clearly top four quality. Like, there's they clearly like there are holes, don't get me wrong, like we don't have a real left winger and all that, but like Cesco, Cunha, and Bumo, Bruno, Meinu, Casemiro, like, bro, these are good players, these are really good players. You're telling me you can't get top four in this season, where Liverpool have been extremely poor, Chelsea have sacked their coach and have been up and down. Um Newcastle fall off a cliff. Like, you can't tell me you can't get top four in that season. Hell no. So I'm not surprised the slightest. And um the character thing at this point, to me, this is just me. Um unless it's Lisa Enrique or Thomas Tuchel, I want Carrick to get the job. Because the simple fact is all the other managers that get like listed Nanglesman, Dezerby, Roberto Martinez, uh Glasner. Ariola, you know, all these guys you can think of, these guys all have massive risks. Like, if you really think about it, like the job that Carrick did at Middlesbrough compared to what Ariola has done at Bournemouth, is it that different? Like, not really. Like, it's not really. Like, and then you factor in Karrick as the interim for in both interim spells at United. Like, is it really that much safer to take someone like Ariola or Glasner or Deserby? He almost got lost a job at Marseille over Carrick? I don't really think so. Um, so yeah, Enrique is my number one choice. Tukul, I'm not the biggest fan of personally. I just think he does a lot of weird stuff. But at least with him, I know we're getting a competent high-level coach, right? Even if it's not my favorite personally, I know we're gonna be in good hands tactically, you know? So I can live with him being a coach over Karrick. But everybody else, man, hell no. Hell no. Like, I'm just like, no, like Glasner, I mean, he's kinda I don't know. I mean, this the f I know it's not the same as Amerim, but this three of the back stuff, I'm kind of scarred from that. Um, and to be fair, he has talked about you know being flexible with his formation over the years and stuff, but still, um, I'm gonna be I'm gonna be um if you think of the talent that he's coached at Crystal Palace over the last couple years, like Eze, Olise, Margate, like you know, Adam Wharton now, like they had a lot of good players at Crystal Palace. Like, so maybe he was just fortunate to be at the right, you know, right place, right time. I mean, who knows? I'm not I'm they like that's what I'm saying. Like, all these things, if you want to nitpick at Carrick, you can nitpick other guys too. So, uh like I said, unless it's one of those top two guys, I'm going with Carrick. Um, alright, now the last thing I want to talk about for this game was, you know, over the last few months, Bruno Fernandes has been playing at a uh really since Ten Hag got sacked. I thought Bruno Fernandez has played at a world-class level, you could say, you know, a top-notch level. Like, you know, and as a result of that, he's been uh getting some player of the year type buzz. Um, of course, he's got he's got this uh assist record in his sights. I think he needs five or six more in like eight or nine games, um, which is tough but doable. Um, and a lot of the I'm not saying personally Bruno Fernandez has to be player of the year. I think he very much has a good case for it, and I think a lot of the like the pushback is kind of the the the arguments against it have been terrible to me. Now, the first one is that um he's only played well for half the season, which is not true. I mean, first of all, every player has down periods in the season of 38 games, every single player, whether it's five games, ten games. I mean, Erlen Holland is the biggest example of that. I mean, the first half of the season he's been he was monstrous, and since then he's been pretty ghost, especially for his his own standard. Um, I think Gabrielle, who people talk about, has had some crucial mistakes and big moments that have not cost Arsenal in the end, but really and truly this this whole thing could have wrapped up by now without that. Um yeah, so basically, every player is gonna have periods in the season where they're down. The only reason that gets you know hyper fixated with with Bruno is because the good period has stood out so much that people are nitpicking at his down period, which everybody has. Um, and also, I mean, he had plenty of good performances in the first half of the season. Was he as consistent as he has been the last two or three months? No, but he definitely had plenty of good performances in that spell as well. Um, so that that narrative to me is nonsense. The second narrative is nonsense to me is that he he's benefiting from not playing any other cup games because the United are only in the Premier League and they're only one game a week. I'm like, first of all, it's a Premier League player of the season, so the only thing that should count is the Premier League games and performances in the Premier League. Um, and second of all, if any athlete or any footballer deserves the benefit of the doubt when it comes to fatigue or durability or going playing you know mouse amounts of minutes in games, I mean, is that is Bruno Fernandes. The guy's mainly like his main guy is Wolverine, basically, like he never gets injured, he never gets tired, he plays every minute of every game basically. So that whole argument that I mean he's played, I mean, I could have been in cups over the years, and he's played basically every single second of those games. If anyone could have handled a more rigorous or difficult schedule, it's Bruno Fernandez. So that to me is complete and a nonsense. Um, and to me, the idea that um, like I said, I don't think Bruno has to be the player of the year, but I just think that you have to the idea that an Arsenal player has to be rewarded because they're gonna win the league, I just don't agree with that at all. Like, to me, the most valuable players in football are attackers, you know, guys that score and create goals, and nobody in Arsenal is valid, none of Arsenal's attacking players, you know, are worthy of winning any type of individual honors. So I don't think you should just give it to Gabriel because oh, Arsenal can win the league. I'll give it to Declan Rice because they're like, no, they have not been the best, they have not been the best player in the league. Like, best defender, yeah. Best uh ball winner, box for box, Declan Rice, sure, I guess. But best overall player, absolutely not. Like, I to me, like, if you watch the game, Bruno Fernandez at this point is basically creating two or three, you know, high, high quality chances every game, basically, at this point, last over the last couple months. Like, that to me is outside of scoring goals, that is the most important thing in football. And he's I I think he's been way more mature on the ball as well. Like his past completion stats are way up over his like career norms. Um so yeah, I just think if you think a defender is a defender or a ball winner is more impactful, more valuable, better, yada yada, however you want to distinguish it, than that, then I just think the way you view football is kind of crazy, in my opinion. And I'm not diminishing, and and also like you know, I've seen Arsenal fans bring up oh Nemanjovitch won player of the year, and Golakante won player of the year. It's like, yeah, they probably shouldn't have, you know what I mean? And Golakante should not have won player of the year over Eden Hazard, you know? That was a narrative thing because he won the league with uh with Lester and they didn't give it to him that year, but they felt like they had to give him the next year. Uh, that was a narrative thing. That should not have happened, it should have gone to Eden Hazard. Uh, yeah, Domanian Vegas was not better than you know, Wayne Rooney or uh uh Luis Nanni or whoever you want to say, like, yeah, those are also wrong decisions. So I don't think you should look at previous wrong decisions and make that as your argument. To me, that's kind of a weak argument and always has been. Um if you want to say Igor Tiago has been player of the year for all these goals he's scoring for Brentford, hey, I don't I don't mind that to be honest with you. I don't mind that at all. Um, but I just think it's a really poor year for individual honors, like with like especially for attackers, like you look at the assist numbers, like nobody's up there. It's like Bruno and then a massive drop-off. So yeah, do I think he could he's deserving to win it? Yeah, probably. But do I think in a normal year would he win it? No, probably not. Like if most tala was having a normal season, would he would Bruno Fernandes win it? No. If um who else over the years, if Erling Holland was having a normal season, nope. If Bukayo Saka was having a normal Bukayo Saka season, would he be the player of the year? No, I don't think so. So, you know, Cole Palmer, this list goes on and on. Like, the reason he's gonna win it primarily to me, well, primarily is the wrong word because he has played great. The bit uh a big reason he's going to win it is because the quality of attackers in the Premier League has been extremely poor this season. Um, yeah, that's my little mini rant on that. Now, let's get on to the next game. Liverpool Tottenham. Um, coming to the game, absolute must-win game for both teams. Um, on the day before West Ham drew Man City, which means they were level on points with Tottenham and Nardio and Forest were playing at the same time as Tottenham. So, or no, was it the same time? No, it was not the same time, it was beforehand. So, coming into the game, I mean the relegation was staring Tottenham in the face, like we've never seen, or at least not seen for a long time when it comes to like you know top-level big clubs. You know, we've seen Aston Villa, Newcastle, Leeds get relegated when they were, you know, big clubs, but this is different. This is the reigning Europa League champions, bro. Um, so it's different. So absolute must-win game, obviously, for uh Tottenham, and absolutely you know, a pretty important game for Liverpool as well. I wouldn't say necessarily maybe it is a must-win. Actually, what am I talking about? It's definitely a must-win game. You're playing Tottenham at home, probably the least informed team in the Premier League. Um, Aston Villa and Chelsea have both drop points. So this is a a huge opportunity to you know pull away in the top five uh Champions League spot race. Um so yeah, uh massive game for both sides. Um to a starting 11 for Spurs, I mean, they're just playing whatever 11 players they can they can fit in. I mean, they they don't really have an option at this point, you know. And uh later in the game, they've subbed on some Academy guys I've never heard of, because that's what they got at this point. Um yeah, and with Liverpool, much more interesting decisions when it comes to starting 11 because uh they play Galatasurai on Wednesday at home. You know, they're 1-0 down in the tie. So I think with that in mind, Arnestlot rotated quite heavily. I mean, Ekitique, Sala, Kerkez, Kunata were all on the bench. I think typically those guys would all start in Arnes Lot's you know, preferred 11. I would think maybe not Sala, but maybe who knows? Um, all on the bench. So a very much rotated team with you know Rio Ngamoha at left, uh Gakpoan through the middle, and uh Jeremy Fringpong on the right. A very makeshift front three, I would say, but um still considering the form color we're in, you're expecting a Liverpool win at home as well, like um, and uh so getting into the game now. From the first minute of this game, I said this is gonna be a shit football match, and these two teams did not disappoint. Um, Liverpool were the better team overall, I would say, but they were extremely wasteful in the final third. Um, especially if it comes to the final pass, not even like missing chances, but just like making the wrong decision, uh, you know, fumbling a pass here and there, just not very crisp in the final third in all their actions. Um, yeah, and for Tottenham, they were actually very threatening in this match. You know, maybe that's just relative to expectations, but I felt like, man, these guys are gonna get a goal. Like they had openings, but Charleston was getting on the end of chances quite a bit. I thought he should have had a penalty when uh uh Van Dyke was just arm locking him like on the edge of the box. Like to me, that's the only reason they didn't get a penalty there is because Charleston didn't fall down. Um, and that's kind of crazy. Um that could have been a red card because he was last man, he's not playing the ball. That could have been a red card as well. So um, of course, uh Sabozai scores a free kick in the first half. I don't know how Vicario didn't save that, but we'll get into him later. Um, and the match was just kind of going along 1-0. Spurs had their openings, they had their threat, but they kept fluffing their chances. Uh and then Liverpool just refused to kill the game. And the longer the game went on, it felt like man, Spurs are gonna equalize, aren't they? You know, it just felt like that. Um, but at the same time, Liverpool posed a lot of threat too. Like in the second half, it became a bass one, but just back and forth, back and forth. Just nobody could sustain possession at all, nobody could defend properly. I mean, it was just a crazy match until eventually retardlesson equalized. Uh Kolomuani kind of, I don't know how they let him go through the defense like that. And then he even scoffed the finish, Richardson, but uh went into the corner and finished 1-1. I mean, Liverpool had one break um off a Tottenham corner. Uh, I think Ekitk did really poorly there. He just kind of got nervous and he made a really poor pass to Chieza. Chieza actually saved the thing and got it back to Ekitk, but he got his shot blocked by uh, I think it was Dregerson, and the match felt finished 1-1. I felt like 1-1 based on the performance both teams was about right. You know, I thought I was about right. Both teams had chances, openings, and yeah, 1-1 feels about right, which is if you're a Liverpool fan, depressing. Uh, which I'll get into in a second, but uh a couple individual performances. I mean, I want to say individual, but I gotta talk about these two guys in conjunction. I mean, Vicario and Drago Sin. I mean, I I don't know, like calling these guys championship players might be an insult to the championship. I mean, how Vicario did not save that um Sabazlife free kick. I mean, it's the middle of the goal. He even got a hand to it in the middle of the goal. How are you not saving that? And um, his kicking is atrocious, like truly awful. Like, you question like, did he grow up playing football? Like, how is he so bad with the ball at his feet? Um, and Dragar Scene is just a calamity on the ball defensively. I mean, what he did for that solid chance where uh the ball was bouncing and he just kind of like headed it towards I'm like, bro, what what this is like amateur-ish? Like, what is going on right here, right now? Um, so yeah, those two guys, wow, they are bad. Um and I know Tottenham can't wait till they can bring back Van De Ven and uh Romero um into the team because Dragoson has been a calamity since he had to come in for Romero with a red card. Um, and for Liverpool, Florian Verts. Nobody can convince me this is good enough for a supposed elite level footballer, for a hundred plus million footballer that Liverpool, Man City, and uh Bayern Munich competed for. Nobody can convince me this season he's been good enough. He's had decent spurts, decent, remind you, but even his good level is not good enough for a supposed elite player. It's just not like it's just not enough impetus, it's not good enough, like creatively, like he's just not as creative as you would like for number 10. Dribbling, he's like good, but not great. Like dribbling, so like what are you really doing? It's not like he's just tidy on the ball, and even then he's not really that tidy if you've like you watch the game. Like his passing can be a bit loose, like his final ball can be a bit, you know, shaky, in my opinion. So we'll see. I guess I don't know. I mean, he's he's kind of under the radar, really. That he's but dude, he's a hundred million pound player, and he's just not there enough, in my opinion. Um yeah, takeaways for this. I mean, Liverpool, if I was in charge, I would easily sack a slot after the season. Um, even if they finish in Champions League, because I mean there have just been way too many games this season where teams are comfortable against Liverpool at Anfield, especially. Like, I mean, to me, the lowest point was when they got absolutely slapped by uh PSV um at home. I believe they lost 4-1 in the Champions League group or league phase. I mean, that was just crazy. Like, these type of games don't happen to top level managers, you know what I mean? Like, think of the top managers that you've even Arteta, like, his team just getting slapped still, they just don't happen, like it don't happen like this. So, yeah, I would move on. Um, I guess the obvious name is Sabi Alonso to replace him, but I don't know. Find someone to coach, bro. It can't be that hard. Um I don't know if I'm in my own bubble, but I feel like Liverpool's title defense is not being talked about enough, like how poor it is. Like, the fact they won the league pretty comfortably, uh, they spent 500 million on players, and the they're gonna there's a decent chance they missed out on Chimese football. Goodness gracious, that is that's terrible. That is terrible. Um and really when it comes to title defenses, this is the worst since uh Chelsea under Mourinho when they were uh damn near fighting relegation after winning the league, I think it was 2015. Um Leicester, yeah, Leicester, but that's Leicester. Like we all expected that to kind of happen anyway. Um yeah, I mean and not to absolve slot, but to like I've said a hundred thousand times, Liverpool summer to me is their biggest was their biggest issue. Like, there's just a lot of work to do. Um, and instead of addressing holes and needs in the team, they went for vanity signings in Verts and Isak. Um, so yeah, in the summer they got a lot of work to do. The fact that Frame Pong is starting at right wing in a front three in a must-win game is crazy. The fact that you're relying on Gakpo this much this season is crazy. Um, the fact that a 16-year-old, or was he 17? No, I don't know, a child in Rio and Gomoha is this important to your attack is crazy. Um, yeah, big summer for Liverpool. And to be fair, like Liverpool are normally pretty prudent in the market, and what they did last summer was very much against that. So it'll be interesting to see how they rebound in the summer because they need big changes. Um for Tottenham. I mean, did this game save Tudor's job? I mean, there was that Orange Scene report that they're looking for a replacement for him. I would still do that if I was them. Like, I don't know who I would hire, but somebody to win a couple games. I don't think this game is indicative that okay, they turn the corner, they're gonna stay alive. Like, no, I don't feel like that. I think I still think there's a very good chance they're gonna get relegated. So, yeah, I mean a massive point, don't get me wrong, but if they were thinking of sacking Tudor, I would still do it, to be honest with you. Um yeah, that's it on that. Now, I got these two other small topics. Um NFL has been the free agency period. There have been a lot of you know, a lot of transactions and whatnot. But I think by far and away the story of the NFL offseason has been the Max Crosby trade and then no trade to the Ravens. Um, I mean, first of all, the fact that even happen or the fact that it was going to happen was a massive shock to me because um the Ravens are not the kind of team to trade multiple firsts for you know a quote-unquote star player. Like I think they said it was the first time the Ravens have traded a first round pick for a player. I think they said that that's kind of crazy to think about. But um, yeah, so Baltimore sent initially sent their first round pick this year, which I think is like 14, and their first round pick next year in the um you know highly anticipated 27 draft for Max Crosby, who is an all-pro edge rusher, one of the best five in the game, I would say. Um he's 29 years old, he's coming up with his knee surgery. Um, and to be honest with you, even though I understood why they did it, when it happened, I'm like, man, this is a big risk of taking on for multiple reasons. First of all, the 14th pick is pretty good. I know it's considered a down draft. That 14th pick is pretty good, and 27, that draft is supposed to be loaded, and people are saying, like, oh, with Lamar, you're not gonna that pick is gonna be 20 anyways. Like, yeah, most likely your team is gonna be good, but we've seen Lamar get hurt over the years, so there's no guarantee that pick was gonna be 25, 27, 28, 29. Like, we don't know really. And to go along with that, I think Jesse Minter is gonna be a good coach. I don't know that. I don't know that for sure that he's gonna be the next, you know, Mike McDonald or whatever. Like, how good he is a coach, we don't really know. So there was a lot of risk in trading those first, in my opinion. Um, and on top of that. They have a lot of holes in their roster. Like, okay, if you get Mads Crosby, your defense is pretty much set, but now you've got, to me, you got needs a receiver, you got needs an offensive line, especially a guard. Um, and you've got needs a tight end, losing likely in Kolar. Um, yeah, those are important, you know, especially offensive line and wide receiver, premium positions. Like, it's not easy to find those players, and now that you don't have your picks and you've you know you got more money coming into Mass Crosby. I don't know, it could be hard to fill those holes in the team. Because let's not remember, let's not forget, like this Ravens team last season with Lamar was not that great. Like, they were gonna make the playoffs if Lamar was healthy, but that was not a real contender, even with Lamar last season. So they had several holes to finish. Now, if you want to argue the biggest hole was a pass rush, I agree with that for sure. But I don't know, I don't was going all in to fix your biggest hole like that, the most you know, smartest move. I don't know. You know, it's it's tough to say, to be honest with you. I probably would not have done it, to be honest with you. Um now, but having said all that, the Ravens, of course, uh scratched the trade. Um smart for the Raiders to come out and say it first, so that it looks like all the blame is on the Ravens. Now, I'm not saying that the Raiders did anything wrong, but it's smart from their from their perspective perspective to point to come out and say immediately, like, yep, the trade is off because the Ravens said so. Um, you know, did the Ravens get cold feet because they were like uh two first-round periods, I don't know, or were the medicals really that bad? Now, to be honest, I think it's a mix of both. Because you had to know that his medicals were gonna be a little bit, you know, a little. I mean, his medical thing was clearly gonna be a little bit iffy because he's clearly recovering from a uh was it miniscus injury? Like, that's a serious knee injury. Um, and also one thing I wanted to mention two first round picks for an elite player when they're 29, you know, is a little bit different than like what the Packers did with Michael Parsons. You know, if the if the Ravens did this exact same trade or did the Michael Parsons trade, let's just say, last year, I would be all in because yeah, the first round picks are a lot, and you know, of course the the Packers gave up Kenny Clark as well. They gave up a lot for Michael Parsons, but that's the future Hall of Fame player at 25 years old. Like, you've got a much longer window. It's not like you know with Max Crosby's like the next two or three years, that's your window to win a title. And I know Lamar age is a part of that too, but with with uh Parsons, I I know he tore his ECL and that kind of uh dampers the whole thing, but you had a much bigger window with uh Michael Parsons or you know a younger star in general, but um yeah, back to the Ravens Knicks in the trade. Um yeah, I I think I think it was a combination of the medicals, but I do think it was more like uh we should probably not do this, you know. Um I think they might be better off with signing Hendrickson and keeping their two first. Now, first of all, that media spin that they were gonna pay Henderson and trade for Crosby, I don't I don't buy that. No, you're not you're not spending, they're not putting that much into edge rusher. I don't believe that for a second. Um but like as an edge rusher, purely pass rush, Henderson is up there for agile guys, like not in the he's not in the Miles Garrett. Miles Garrett is in his own tier, of course, but like he's up there for pass rush. Now, of course, he doesn't play the run like Max Crosby at all. And um, of course, Henderson himself is dealing with his uncertainty with age and injuries like that. Like he basically, I mean, last year was basically a wash for him because of injury. I think he's gonna be 31 during the season, so that can be discounted as well. And he's definitely a much worse player than Max Crosby, uh, not to mention that. But um, yeah, they've got holes to fill, and those picks are gonna help them, especially I think it's about time you got Lamar a legit, you know, a legit wide receiver one. Like, um, will they have a chance at 14 to get that guy? I think so. Like, you know, Carnot Tate, uh, Makai Lemon, uh, what's his face? Tyson. I think one of those guys will be there at that 14 spot. And if you could like think about Trey Endickson, uh, one of those receivers, and 2027 and first, or Max Crosby, what do you pick? You know, I can understand the Ravens' logic to cancel the trade. Um, yeah, that's it on that. And the last thing I want to talk about is I've been watching the NBA the last few weeks, and a lot of the Western Conference has kind of been faltering, right? You know, Denver, Minnesota, Houston, and the Lakers have kind of been just very confusing. Like, I don't know what to think of any of these teams. Like, all four of these teams have had stretches where they look like a really good team, um, maybe less so on the Lakers, but all have stretches where they look like you know, a top-tier team, and then they all had stretches where they look like a first-round exit, you know. And the biggest example of that is probably Denver, where the first two months of the season, you're like, okay, is them an OKC, right? This is they got a deeper roster, Jamal Murray is playing at his best level in the regular season at least. Um, Jokic is Jokic. This is this is them and two at the top. Then they pick up the injuries to uh Payne Watson, Aaron Gordon, Christian Braun. Uh Jokic, of course, gets hurt, and they've just been really up and down since then. And I don't know what to think of them. I still think they're probably my choice to be the third best team in the West when it's all said and done. Um, but if they lost in the first round to like the Timberwolves as a four or five seed matchup, would it shock me? No, not really. Um, but I would pick them to be the Lakers and the Rockets as I think about it, though. So, yeah. Um, but yeah, those four teams have just been not very impressive, you know. Um, and of course, the depth in the West has not been there this year, you know. Uh Golden State looks like they're kind of cooked with these injuries. Um, the Clippers are looking kind of good, but I think in a playoff setting, I don't know, I don't really see it, to be honest with you. Um Phoenix is a you know, I watched them yesterday against the Suddox. They're a very impressive team, I won't lie to you. Like, they're probably the most physical team I've seen play the Suddox this season. Um, and what makes them so physical is they're physical on both sides of the ball. You know, defensively, of course, they're handsy and physical and all that, but offensively, like they're big screen hard. Like you better you better be ready to get through a screen against them. Uh, Devin Booker as a scorer is really physical, and you can call it pushing off or you know, offensive fouls or whatever. It is what it is. Like, he's extremely physical as a scorer. Um, so yeah, they're out and I like the way they you know run off-ball actions to get shooters open and stuff like that. So I think they could actually you know give uh give someone some trouble in the first round, but I think they're almost definitely a uh first round exit anyway. Um so yeah, and I've been watching all these teams, and I've been even OKC, like, listen, okay, OKC, everyone at their best level, OKC to me is clearly the best team in the league, it should win the championship. But despite SGA clearly being MVP, clearly being the best player in the league, at least this season, and basically is unguardable at this point. You know, I know he had a stinker versus the wolves last week a couple days ago, but I mean other than that, the guy is just completely unguardable. All the pieces around him offensively are really bad. Like, I mean, Caruso, Caseen Wallace, Lou Dort, these guys, when they shoot, the defense is happy, you know. And I know uh Case and Wallace had that stretch where he was uh hooping for like a week, but that shit was fake. Um, these guys are all bricks from the two-point line. None of these guys are to be trusted with the ball in their hands, especially Lou Dort. Um, of course, they're amazing on defense, especially Crusoe is just an incredible defender. But yeah, man, I just don't I don't really and and the biggest thing is that like J Dub has basically not played all year, and when he played, even when he played, he did not look good, and he's been doing his hamstring stuff now. He had the wrist stuff on his arm. Um, and I think I think it needs to remember that he was recovering the whole offseason basically. So I'm not expecting him to be like the J Dub we saw in the playoffs last year. And that player was really valuable because you know everybody was asking, okay, who's gonna be the second option for the for uh OKC when they need buckets? Like, is J Dub gonna be that guy? And he was. I mean, he scored what 40 in the finals game? Like, he did his job as a number two, I would say. And if he doesn't do his job, do they win a championship? I don't know. Uh Caruso was averaging like 15 a game last year with 40% from three in the playoffs. Like, if it doesn't happen, they win a championship. I don't know. Uh, do I buy that happening again? Uh I don't. I don't buy that happening again. So if I look at that, and I'm like, okay, who can who can capitalize on those weaknesses the best? And to me, I mean, watching everyone this season, to me, is clearly, at least in the Western Conference, the San Antonio Spurs. Um, because I mean, I don't want to overrate the the matchups between the two teams because we've seen that happen before and not matter. Like, I'm famously, I remember the Brooklyn Nets when they had uh Paul Pierce and KG. I think they went 4-0 versus the Miami Heat in the regular season. Everyone was like, Oh, this is a bad matchup for the Heat, and then the playoffs came, the Heat won in five games, wasn't even really that close. Um, so yeah, famously, regular season hit the heads can be a bit misleading. But the simple fact is when Wemby is on the court, the Thunder are not scoring layups, and that's not really a Thunder exclusive thing. It's exclusive. That's like that's true for most teams, to be honest with you. If you're playing the Spurs and you don't have a five out system, you are not scoring layups on Wem with Wemby on the court, and if you do, it's gonna be a like Herculean effort to shoot to shoot over Wemby or even Luke Cornet has been good at the rim too. But uh, yeah, you're basically not scoring layups. Um, and really the OKC is not really a team that you know you have reliable finishes at the rim anyway, you know, outside SG, of course. But like everyone else, yeah, yeah. Wemby's packing that stuff all that rim. Um, and to be honest, uh, some of this happened last season for the Thunder against the against the Nuggets and the Pacers, where the offense went dry, um, especially on the road, and they probably got stretched to seven games when they were probably better than that, you know what I mean? Um, and I think the Spurs defensively are more equipped to do that to uh you know a higher level. So um yeah, anything else to say? So, yeah, so I'm basically what I'm trying to say is I have a feeling the Spurs are gonna win the title. Like, they meet all the criteria, like they have a guy playing at a top five level. You know, sometimes it can be a little bit he can be a bit ugly on offense, but generally speaking, Wemby can play at a top five level for sure. They have depth, um, they're a 40-20 rule, they're elite defensively, elite defensive boards. Um, like I said, you don't score layups when Wemby's on the court. Like this, they have enough shooting, enough shooting, I would say. Not a lot of shooting, but enough shooting. You know, you got Champagne and Vassel, and uh, I guess you could say Wemby in that too, but uh enough shooting, I would say. Um but two things that I think are gonna propel them in the playoffs is that because Wemby got injured a couple times and he had a minutes restriction, we have not really seen them play Wemby and Cornet a lot this season. I checked recently, it was like they played 85 minutes on the whole season together, and I think why that's happened is quite obvious because of the injuries. But uh, yeah, I think that that combo can be really lethal because uh defensively the reprotection is insane. Uh Wemby at the four offensively is fine, like he can shoot the ball and all that. Um offensive glass is gonna be crazy. Uh you got two gigantic players in the court. Um, yeah, so I think that's and of course both Wemby and Cornet can pass as well. Um, so yeah, that combo to me hasn't really been unlocked, and I think that's gonna be something that the Spurs can go to in the playoffs. And I think De'Aaron Fox, who's kind of been, you know, he's been he's been alright, he's been solid, I would say. Like, not what you would expect from a max player, star, all-star, all that, but like a good player, I would say. Um, but I really do think in the playoffs he's gonna scale up quite a bit. Now, the last time he was in the playoffs was 2023 with the Kings, yeah, with the Kings, and he was great against the uh the Warriors. So I think, and I know he's maybe lost half a step since then, but I do believe in De'Aaron Fox scaling up his offense in the uh the playoffs. Because I think Dylan Harper might, you know, he might have some issues playing um in the playoffs as a rookie, which is to be expected. And uh even Steph Castle will have his issues playing the playoffs, um, you know, because both of them struggle with their jump shots. So, you know, De'Aaron Fox isn't a sniper by any means, but I think you know his jumper's gotten to a place where it's good enough, I would say. So, yeah, I'm I'm a believer in Fox scaling up his offense. Um, and really people talk about the young guys on the Spurs being the X Factor, but really and truly, Wemby on offense is the X factor. Like, if he's rolling on offense, you are not being the Spurs, dude. Like, if he's hitting his threes, his jumpers, like, you're cooked. There's nothing you can do because realistically, those are the shots you're willing to give up to Wemby. And if he makes it, it's just over. Like, there's nothing you can do because you don't want to give up the lobs, the rolls, all that stuff, the dunks and stuff like that. Because once you start overplaying his jumper, then the game is over. The game is legitimately over. Um, so yeah, his offense to me is the real X factor for the Spurs, not like you know, oh, is Dev Missel gonna make shots? Like, yeah, that he's probably gonna miss shots on the road and make shots at home. You know, that's gonna be the case for most role players, but Wemby playing at a top three level instead of a top seven level, that's the biggest X factor for them. Um, and I've been thinking, like, what matchup is tough for them? Because, like I said, the only way to kind of nullify Wemby's impact on defense is to be five out. But um, who can actually do that in the West? Like, I don't think anyone can do that in the West. Um, like, and then the only team that can maybe do that is is um Denver with Jokic at the five. But I could also see the Spurs going with um you know Wemby on Christian Braun and let him roam off him and like dare him to shoot threes. Um, so yeah, that matchup is interesting. It's a shame we haven't seen Jokic vs. Wemby this season because uh that matchup was so incredible in the past, but we haven't had that matchup this season, so that's gonna be interesting to watch. But um, yeah, man. If you ask me to pick a team to win championship today, I might pick the Spurs, and that's basically what I've been coming to the I've been watching the games over the last few weeks, and that's that's been my conclusion watching everyone play. It's like this team is legit, and um, the way they handle the the pistons, I'm like, yeah, man, I have to buy stake in this team. Um, so yeah, that's all for this week. We'll see y'all next week.