Are We Live? Episode 41

-Tottenham lose...again

-City Title Door Opens

-United Make Me Sick

-Brief CL QF Thoughts

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

Transcript

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SPEAKER_00 0:00

Are we lying? No, no, no, yes. Yes, yes, yes. We lied. Yes. Okay, so I ain't gonna curse you.

unknown 0:06

But these punk.

SPEAKER_00 0:22

Yo, we back. It's been way too long. Um the last pod was what like three weeks ago? I mean, we had a international break, an FA Cup week. Um, I did a pod with uh Teflon Sports Pod. It's on my page. You can go look at it about the NBA awards and basically all things NBA. Um so yeah, I had that in the meantime. But we back. We got the Premier League back. Got some Chamber Z games I want to talk about too. Um, so let's get into it. First game of the weekend that I want to talk about, Sundor and Tottenham. Absolutely massive game for Tottenham, obviously. Um I only spoke, I only watched the second half of this game, so I'm just gonna speak on that part of the game. But coming into the game, uh West Ham had already won 4-0 against uh Wolves. Uh massive result for them, obviously. So coming into the game, Tottenham were already in 18th, the relegation zone, and we're playing at the same time as Forrest, who were playing against Villa. So needless to say, I mean, any game is already a must-win game for Tottenham at this point, but now relegation is like it's here. You're in this you're in the bottom three. Um De Zerbi's first game, um, their third manager of the season. Uh, I don't know if I talked about the Zerbi getting hired, but um, yeah, I I understand it. Like, people are talking about how De Zerbi is like this crazy guy you can't trust and all that, but it's like, bro, I don't give a damn about that. They need to win two or three games at most, I would say, to avoid relegation. Maybe even just two, two games to avoid relegation. Just take whatever chance you can do. Like, like, who we'll worry about, we'll worry about next season with the Zerbi when it comes. Um, but yeah, so I understood them stacking two door and going to the Zerbi. Um, and I was expecting some level of improvement from the Zerbi because, like, you know, he's not perfect by any means as a coach, but like he has some tactical nouse, you know, at least when it comes to attacking football. At least you can say that, right? But um, okay, I'm like I said, I'm just speaking on the second half. I mean, Sunderland were really comfortable, like it looked really easy for them to play through Tottenham, create openings, you know, create half chances, some good chances, and all that. Um, and it finished 1-0 or 1-0. Um, but really I thought Spurs were fortunate because it felt like Sunderland could have ended up with a couple more goals, honestly. Um, and to be fair to Tottenham, I did think that Broby should have been sent off. I don't know how that wasn't. I mean, was that even checked when he just blatantly shoved Romero into uh the goalkeeper Kinski? Um, both players were down for a while. I think and uh Romero got subbed off. I think he's gonna be out for this season, they said, with some knee injury, but um, yeah. I mean, that was just a very dangerous play. Like, for no reason, he just shoved Romero into the goalkeeper. Both players, I mean, like I said, both players. I used yeah, I thought that was definitely warranting a yellow card, and he was already on yellow cards, so he would have been off. So, yeah, if I'm a top note fan, I'm kind of feeling hard done by there. Um, and of course, the goal came from a flute deflection of uh Mukiya, they're running shot, but um, I thought Sunderland were definitely the deserved winners all thing, like in terms of you know performance level. Again, I'm just speaking on the second half, first half and really get into it, but um, yeah, so that Sunderland win now leaves Tottenham 18th in the league. And this is not a on the verge of relegation, they're close to this is they're in the bottom three with um, I believe six games left. Um and really at this point, if they avoid relegation, I'll be kind of surprised. And if you watch the game, the the like whenever Spurs lose, the cameraman just does an amazing job of uh you know picking up on the emotions of the Spurs, either the team or the fans. When they're at home, he finds all the fans there like depressed. And this one they found all the players, and all the players just looked like defeated, like the season was over, and it's like wow man, this is not, I mean, it's not to say it's over, but it's not inspiring to say the least. Um, and like the final kick in the balls to all Spurs fans was that you know, throughout the week there was news from Ornstein coming out that Andrew Robertson to Spurs is basically wrapped up if Spurs avoid relegation. Um I was joking, like, bro, if I'm a Spurs fan, just relegate me. I don't I don't want to be subjected to signing up a washed Andy Roberts, you know, like and the thing that's got me thinking is like even if Tottenham avoid relegation this season, right? Are we sure they're not gonna be in the same situation next season? Like, last season we were like, alright, 17th. That was just because they're going on a Europa run, you know, it's not gonna happen again, yada yada yada. And it's like they're they come back off worse from that. And on top of that, I mean the summer window they had was awful. In January, they acquired a Gallagher, uh, which made no sense considering what the team needed. Um if I'm not mistaken, they tried to sign Robertson in January, but it didn't happen. Um, I'm guessing Liverpool for depth reasons wanted to keep him, but it seems like they're gonna sign him if they avoid relegation. Like, I don't know, this just looks like a club in free fall, and if they don't have the right summer, I would not be shocked if they're back in this area next season because like this core of players is pretty broken mentally, I would say. Now, to be fair, a lot of players will probably leave as a result of this season. Like, Romero is probably gone, Van De Ven is probably gone, um, they'll bring they'll get some players back from injury, you know. Madison, Kulisevsky, I don't even know. Is he gonna is he alive anymore? Uh Kudus, um, there's probably some more that I'm gonna forgetting, but like, man, I don't know. Uh this could be like it almost feels like a Leeds, you know, uh Aston Villa. I mean, to be fair, Tottenham's status in rural football is even higher than those, I would say. Um, but it does kind of feel like one of those, you know, in Newcastle when they got relegated, it does feel like it that one of those clubs where you know it's just steadily falling worse and worse and worse, and before you know it, they actually do get relegated. But um, yeah, crazy times. Um, and to talk about sundering for a minute, I mean, to be honest, it kind of feels like maybe uh like living under a rock, but it feels like this Sundalin season has kind of gone under the radar. Like, I understand they spent loads of money in the summer, but for them to be so comfortably clear of relegation, um it's really impressive in my in my opinion. They play some good football too, like uh and the weirdest thing for me is I've not heard much hype about their manager. I mean, to be honest, I don't even know I didn't even know his name until this morning when I googled it. I was like, okay, who even is this guy? Because you would think when a manager does this well at a you know mid-table club or even a forget that promoted club, there would be more hype around him. Like, if you remember when McKenna was doing well at Ipswitch, there was a lot of hype around him. Um Ariola, I mean it's not really gated clubs, but when Eddie Howe was at Bournemouth and he got them promoted, there was a lot of hype there. Like, I don't even know who this guy's name was until this morning when I googled it. But Le Brie, I think that's how you say Regis Le Brie. I don't know if I'm I think he's French. I'm not even sure if I'm saying that right. Uh, but yeah, he's doing a great job. And um, I wonder, like, are they gonna try and kind of push into that European spots next summer? I mean, we'll see. But like, they've had a really impressive season for them to like to just you know, relegation not even really been a consideration for them all season, basically. Um, yeah, so that's it on Sundown and Tottenham. More of the same for Tottenham. Scary hours for real, for real. Um, all right, on to the next game. Chelsea City. I watched this whole match, so I got more some more thoughts, but um, again, massive game for both teams. At this point, Arsenal had already lost to Bournemouth at home, um, meaning City were nine points back with two games in hand and a future matchup with Arsenal at the FTCad. So, realistically, the title is essentially in Man City's hands. If they win out from here on out, including this Chelsea game, they were gonna be champions. Because, yes, goal difference can go difference, assuming both teams win every game except for their matchup head-to-head. But I think realistically, all of us believe in a shootout when it comes to goal scored. City were gonna come on top against Arsenal. Um, so yeah. The title is in City's hands, technically speaking, I would say. Um, and for Chelsea, coming into the game, uh, Villa had already drawn with um uh who was it, a forest. So they were that means they had dropped two points. Um the head the funny thing with Chelsea is they had a very drama-filled international break, and maybe that's a bit overdoing it, but like I mean, there was this whole Enzo thing where he's I mean, begging Madrid to come get him. I mean, I don't think there's any world where Florentino Perez would want him, to be honest with you, but who knows? Um and they ended up suspending him for two games as a result of that, which I can understand. I mean, there needs to be some level of you know self-respect from Chelsea. It's like Alright, you want to leave, okay, fine. Let's let's just keep it keep it respectful to the end of the season at least. Um, especially when we're in crucial games. Um And then there was, I mean, there was it felt like every Chelsea player got asked about playing for Barca or Madrid during the international break. And I and to be honest, I feel for the players because when you get you have to remember they're getting asked the question, and then in their head, they don't want to say, nah, I'd never play for Madrid, because realistically every player wants to play for Madrid or Barca. But at the same time, they're kind of stuck like, Alright, I don't want to rule out playing for Madrid or Barca, but I don't want to piss off my you know Chelsea fans of the club. So what do I say? I just say like, oh, anything can happen in football, which is kind of like a blanket statement, but in the context, it doesn't sound that bad. But then you have all these these uh social media accounts like Fabicia Romano will um will cherry pick these quotes and be like, oh, Cucarella on Real Madrid speculation, anything could happen in football, which just in isolation looks bad, but you know, in reality is just a nothing answer. So I feel for the players in some aspects, but yeah, regardless, I mean Chelsea had a very hilarious international break where uh it felt like every single player was talking about leaving and whatnot. But um, all right, let's get into the game. Um, the first half of this game was some of the lowest quality football you will ever watch. Um, and for both teams, I would say, but especially, I mean, this is obviously relative to their expectations and the standard they've set, but Man City were atrocious in this first half. I mean, I had never seen a Rodri so sloppy on the ball. Like the way sometimes he gave the ball away, I was like, what's happening here? I mean, um, Doku I thought was poor, Holland was alright. Um, who else was on there? Turkey was not bad, but not good. Um, yeah, in general, it just felt like Cydney had not understood the magnitude of this game. Like, they were just kind of like, you know, messing around like it was some chair, like it was a preseason game. And I'm like, oh, these guys are not serious. Okay, like the whole idea that they're gonna run the table, this does not look like a team that's ready to run the table. Um, and to give Chelsea some credit, like they were more competitive in this game, at least in the first half, that you would think. But um, you know, same issues played them, just not enough quality in the final third with their um attackers, especially. Um, but second half started, and it was a completely different city team. Like, you would have to imagine that in the dressing room, Pep Gordiola or the coaches or whoever, or maybe maybe the players themselves were very vocal on how unacceptable that first half performance was. Um, and Turkey, especially in that second half, and they felt like they just let Zidane come out halftime instead of Turkey. He was going absolutely crazy, you know, with his dribbling, his passing, his playmaking, his this overall like final third, you know, threat was just incredible. Um, and of course, he made the difference with the two assists. Uh by the way, the back finish with Mark Gahey, the touch and the finish, top-notch. Like, there are a lot of strikers, a lot of top-level strikers that I'm not, or let's say they're playing the top-level strikers. I think you know who I'm talking about. I'm not confident if they're uh finishing off that chance. But um, yeah, second half, Turkey was incredible. Best player on the pitch by a mile. City in general, it looked like men against boys, Chelsea didn't have a sniff the whole second half. Um, yeah, ended up 3-0. And I think City are now six points behind Arsenal, a game in hand, and then of course next weekend is the matchup against Arsenal at the FD head. And then so if they win that match, by the end of that, by the end of by next Thursday, right, they'll have played Burnley, which is their game in hand, they can be top of the table with I believe four matches left. Or no, maybe five matches left. Um, yeah, I think it's five matches left, which my goodness. I I just I really can't believe that we're in this situation. Um the thing I don't I still do not trust Man State just run the table. Um mostly because you know, Holland, he don't look like Erling Holland. You know, he's just not that sharp when it comes to, you know, he doesn't look that he doesn't look the same threat, he's not as scary. This is it's just he just looks like off it for whatever reason. It's hard to like explain it in words, but he's not in terminator mode Holland, you know. If he was doing that, then yeah, Arsenal are finished because when he's in that like form, then City are basically starting every match up one-nil, you know what I mean? Um and if that doesn't happen, then I'm relying on guys like Doku and Semenyo and even Turkey to score big goals in the title race. I don't know. It's not, I mean, this Nico Riley guy has been a revelation as a box crasher, but um, he also pulled up with the injury. I don't know how severe that is, but um yeah, um, and you know, bringing Arsenal into this discussion because you know, Tyler Race and whatnot, I mean, if they don't win this league, they will never let it down. Like, they will legitimately never like be looked at the same as a club. Um, and the thing that stuck out to me, you know, in their I didn't watch their game, so I'm not gonna speak on the performance and whatnot, but the fact that fans are booing when the club, when the team is at that time when they lost, there were still nine points clear of City after 32 games and they're getting booed. I mean, have we ever seen that? Have we ever seen a team in that situation in terms of points on the board and whatnot, and the team is booing after one loss at home. Not one loss, but you know what I mean. They're booing after a loss, and they're getting-I mean, that's it's it's crazy, but if you're watching the games over the last few weeks, uh, you cannot blame those fans. And I've been saying this all season, like, yeah, they can win the league and it's all gravy, right? They'll shit, they'll celebrate, and they should, they should celebrate and enjoy it and all that. But if the football does not improve going forward, you know, next season and whatever, the fans will be sick of our teta 100%, and they'll be calling for his head. Um 100% because the trophies and football, like, yeah, you need to win trophies, but football without entertainment is just not fulfilling. It's not, no fan likes it like that, you know, unless you're like a massive underdog, like a Leicester City or you know, when Chelsea first came on the scene with Mourinho, you mean he probably told those fans they don't care how it looks, they'll take trophies, you know what I mean? Athletico Madrid with Andre Simeoni, they I mean, not to like you know box him in that that defensive football thing, but still, like these fans that they'll be in contention with Madrid and Barcelona going forth, they don't give a damn how it looks. But at Arsenal, there is a standard, like, you know, the fans have gotten accustomed to a certain brand of football, you know, under Wanger and um with through all the great players they're having all that stuff, and ultimate, and let's not forget, the same Arsenal fans, when Chelsea were winning with defensive football, they were mocking it. They're I'm sure these same Arsenal fans hated you know defensive football their whole life. So deep down, they don't enjoy this, of course not. So, you know, the booing is just another example of that. Um yeah, I mean, I'm still gonna say Arsenal I'm gonna pull it out just because I don't trust City. Um, and I think Arsenal have enough shame. And the thing is with Arsenal, like despite them being so poor of late, I mean, it's still really hard to score against them, you know what I mean? So um we'll get to that in their uh Champions League tie. But yeah, City win 3-0 against Chelsea. Chelsea's seven points, oh not seven points back, they're uh seven points back of third, but they are still only four points back of Liverpool in fifth. I mean, Liverpool got a win at home against Fulham, obviously. But um, I mean I'm looking at the table though. Brentford Brantford and Everton are right on Chelsea's tail. So they could I mean they could easily finish ninth, tenth. They could finish. I mean, I'm looking at the table right now. Chelsea are sixth with 48 points. Fulham are in 12th with 44 points, so they're as close to fifth as they are to 12th. Wow. I mean, it's quickly it that can change that quick. And then is I mean, there's been reports that Rosenya is safe no matter what. If they fall to like 9th, 10th, 11th, are they still is he still safe? I don't know. Um, that's it on that game. On to the Monday night game, United versus Leeds. Again, another massive game for both teams. Um, the first United game, I believe they said 24 days. Like, it as a United fan, it legit felt like the summer break where you don't watch your team for like two months. I mean, and I'm joking, but like also like United as a club, you know, the fan, the players, maybe not the coaches because they're not they're they weren't involved, but the players in the board level, they should feel a sense of shame that they've basically played zero cup games this year. Like, there should be immense shame within the players and the club that they lost a European Cup final or a Europa Cup final to this Tottenham team that we're seeing fight relegation, and that's the reason they're not playing in Champions League football this season. There should be immense shame and all that. Like, I don't want it's it's all jokes about United, you know, one game a week and all the people were talking about how one game a week is good and all that. Like, no, to me, no top couple of club should be doing this where they're just playing one game every month. Like, damn, like hell no, like it's ridiculous. Um, and for leads, of course, they're coming in. Kind of they were kind of fighting, but like they were, I mean, they were right there in that relegation fight. Like, this win, which we'll get into in a sec, kind of cleared them for now, but they were very much in the race coming into this match. Um, now getting into the game, I mean I mean so of course leads go up 2-0 in the first half. Not the it's a it's a tricky one because in attacking sense, I think United were very dangerous even in this first half. Um but in terms of possessional dominance, I mean it was not it was a very even game in terms of penetrating, in terms of possession, it was even, but leads with a more dangerous team. I mean, very early on, Lemens had to make a save inside the six yard line box. Across and then leads one on the score quickly. I felt like I feel like these back five teams with wing backs, you know, have kind of caused Carrick some issues. Um and they started in that uh against Palace. If you remember in the first half against Palace, United were really struggling with how wide Palace were playing. With you know, they've got wing backs obviously in their formation, and they were just having a lot of trouble picking up the wing backs and the all the width that the opponent was was creating. And I thought we saw a lot of that today as well in this game against Leeds as well, where it felt like United were chasing the ball a bit. Um and part of that is their pressing was poor, part of that is the team is not very athletic, I would say. Um, especially like I'm watching you know the front players trying to press from the front, the midfielders push up, then the back four is kind of lagging behind. Like Lu Shaw, Lysandra, they're kind of like not you know pressing together as a unit because they're not athletic enough to do it. Um, yeah, and um okay, we have to get this out of the way. Ugarte. I'm every time I watch him, I question how he made it. Not just at Man United, not just you know, a top division player, not just as a top five European League player. I really question how he made it as a pro. And that might sound harsh, but this guy is truly one of the worst footballers I've ever seen. And it's absolutely insane that you know, coming into the game, you're playing against Leeds at home United. It should, you know, I was confident. I was like, yeah, United are gonna win this game. It might not be the prettiest, but they'll be able to outscore Leeds at least. The moment I saw Ugarte in the starting 11 in for Kobe Maynard, who was injured, all my confidence disappeared. All my confidence disappeared strictly off that. Despite the fact that Sesco was starting and I was thrilled, despite the fact that Mbumo was finally benched and I was thrilled. Um, despite the fact that Lissandro was back, all that was completely erased strictly because of Ugarte starting. He is that bad of a footballer and that detrimental to your team. Um, and I have to be on to be honest with you, I had to give some blame to Carrick for that. Now you can say, oh, who's he supposed to play? Anyone, dude. I don't care, anyone. Figure it out. Grab a man for the academy. I don't care. 18-year-old, 19-year-old, I don't give a damn who it is. Grab somebody from the academy, play Bruno Fernandez deeper, and play Mason Mount as a 10, or you know, play Bruno Fernandez a CM and play Xerxes. I don't you could have anything, any situation, any solution, play Delhi, play Diego Dallas as a midfielder. I don't give a damn who it is. Somebody else has to play over Menu Agarte. He cannot play another second for Man United. And any second he plays going forward, I'm looking at Carrick Funny. Simple. He's that detrimental. Like, bro, you have to remember this is a player when he was at PSG, Luis Enrique said his best performance for us was in a game he didn't play. He said, Yeah, he was amazing today. He didn't get the ball away, no fouls, nothing, because he didn't play. Like, yes, he's that bad. Where he where he's that he should not be playing a single second for the remainder of the season, and hope praise, please, hopefully, he gets sold in the summer immediately. Um, yeah, that's it on the uh Ugarte stuff. So, like, um, yeah, first half is 2-0. Even at 2-0, though, despite United not playing that well, there were openings to get in behind the Leeds defense, and leads as a team are just you know not that good generally, so they were gonna be in the game regardless. Um and I thought United's attack did not have enough composure when they found space in behind. Um, Cunha, even Bruno, Cesco, Ahmad had opportunities to make something shake with the space that Leeds were giving them, and I thought that he'd do well. Sesco, he had that chance where Ahmad played him through. He was one-one with the defender, and he kind of malfunctioned. And that's kind of been a trend for Sesco where if he has too much time to think, he can overcomplicate it and not really know what to do and then mess up, you know. Um, but when he plays confidently and quick, amazing. You see his talent shine. Cunha, I mean, he was trying, but it's just like sloppy execution. Bruno, I thought Bruno was a little bit too eager to do anything. And I thought there were two opportunities where he got played in in behind the goal, and instead of bringing the ball down and trying to score or you know, find a pass, whatever, he was trying to do a flick or clever flick first time. And I'm just like, relax, you got time and space. Bring the ball down and do something there, but wasteful. Ahmad, which I've been saying for weeks now, like the thing is, he's not he's not even like he's been poor or anything, but there's just too many instances of him not taking on his fullback, not looking to shoot, not looking to cross, not looking to create, and it's just I'm just tired of it, bro. Like, you're too talented to be playing this safe, like, you know, do something. Just I don't I don't even give the ball away. I don't give a I don't give a hell. I don't give a damn. Do something. Um so yeah, the attack was wasteful. United's back four was extremely poor. I mean, all four, I would say. Luke Shaw, I mean, at this point, again, I can't really blame him. He's just wash, it is what it is. Athletically, he's not up to the pace, he's not up to the level. Um, on the ball, he's just okay. Defensively, he's not like that. Um, Lisandro, I want to give him some leeway because it's his first game in a few weeks, in a long time, really. Actually, if you think about it, but he was extremely poor defensively. Um Lenny Yoro, um, I actually thought was okay defensively, but on the ball was really poor. Like his passing was really bad. And it's like, bro, you're not even under pressure. Like, these are passes you need to make at the highest level. Um, Mazrawi was poor, he was really bad with the ball. Um, bad decisions, I thought. I don't know why he started over Dallo, but regardless, to be fair to Mazrawi, he's not normally that bad. Like, so I'm not gonna lose my mind, but he was poor in this game. Um, so yeah, halftime is 2-0 leads. To be honest, I did think United would get back in the game because one leads not that good. United are at home, and they're gonna, you know, they're gonna put bring some fight, you know, at home at least. Um and typically Herrick has you know done well to get the team firing out at halftime when they're not playing well in the first half. Um, and to be fair, I think that did kind of was kind of bearing fruit, and then the red card takes place, and effectively, I mean you're down 2-0 with the 10-man, you're kinda cooked no matter how bad the opponent is. And I'll get into the referees in a minute, but um yeah, United pushed really hard to equalize. They got a goal through a combination through Bruno and Casemiro. Um, we've seen that combination, Bruno crossed Casemiro header so many times this season. Um But yeah, United had chances. I mean, they had a goal clear off the line from I think Calvert Lewin. Um they had some half chances here and there, but you know, trying to come back when you're down 10 men, at some point you're also chasing the ball a bit too much, and there wasn't enough to equalize and or go on to win. Um, so yeah, United missed a chance to go up 10 points on sixth, which would have realistically basically secured Champions League football. You you know, you take into account the form of the other teams behind you, you would think that's at least top five is secured. Um, and I don't want to hear any excuses about like, oh, they're too rusty, they don't play. I'm not trying to hear that because you can't tell me like you played too many matches, you're too tired, you don't play for a long time, you're too rusty. Like, I'm not trying to hear all that. Like, if I'm not mistaken, Leeds also had a long break to not play, so that's a crap excuse to me. Um, what else is there is hard in this game? Oh, from what I just want to say, from a fan's perspective, I'm just really tired of watching a lot of these players do dumb things, not be athletic enough, not be technical enough on the ball, just make mistakes. Make mistakes is actually the wrong way of putting it. Do things that are obviously stupid, uh, the same deficiencies in players, players being injury prone. I'm just all tired of the same, like Lissandro. I love watching you play out the back, you know, dribbling and passing, and you're amazing. But I can't the defending, I can't excuse it. And they're going on top that you're injured half the time. I you gotta go this summer. Might be I'm sorry. Luke Shaw, I'm tired of watching. And to be honest with you, I can't be mad at Luke Shaw because he's not supposed to be playing. Like, he should not be relied upon like this at this point in his career. But I'm tired of watching you. Uh Lenny Euro, uh, you're young. I don't want to be too harsh, but like, nah, I need a real center back starting week in, week out. Who else? Uh Casemiro and Bruno. I mean, it feels ridiculously harsh to get onto Bruno and Casemiro for this season because they've done so much good uh this season, and to blame them for the state of United is extremely unfair. But at the same time, having two midfielders that treat the ball like a bomb, that aren't very athletic, that can't dribble in tight spaces, that that just try ridiculous passes for no reason. I'm not gonna lie to you, I'm getting tired of it. And um, I know that they both Bruno left this game with an assist, and Casimir left the game with a goal. I need more mature play in the midfield. I'm sorry. Like the difference without Kobeino today was or not today, but in the game was glaring. Um so yeah, I'm just tired of it. United need an aggressive summer, like aggressive summer when it comes to selling and buying players. Like Mason, like that bomb squad stuff they did last year with Rashford, Garnacho, uh Hoyland, yada yada, all those. I need that, but to the next level. I need like so many players gone from this shit. Like, um, I mean, all the names I've already named, but like Mason Mount has to be gone. Has to be gone. He I don't care what they do to get rid of him. Loan, you know, terminate content, whatever it is, he has to be gone. Um I'm kind of upset they extended Maguire, but whatever it is, I guess. Um, and you just watch the Champions League quarterfinals, you watch PSG, Bayern, Munich, even like Madrid in a down year, you watch uh Barça, Athletico, even Athletico Madrid, like you're like, man, we are nowhere near this level of you know quality of player when um and you think about United potentially playing in Champions League next year with some of these players, you're just like, hell no, bro, hell no. Um, and it sounds like obvious, but like, bro, more athletes, more technicians. It's that simple. Like, you can't you like this United team that plays, like, in terms of athleticism, you have on top of the team that play against leads, you have Sesco, who's rapid, you have Cunha and Amar who are kind of quick, not that not that quick, but kind of quick, and then everyone else is pretty slow I mean, Yoro is fine. Everyone else, I would say, is pretty slow, and then you want to put that in comparison to like PSG, where everyone is quick, intense, insanely technical. Like, those are the players you gotta target, bro. That's the type of players you need to target. It sounds like Captain Obvious, but like it has not it for some reason has not been that obvious for United to spot over the last got 10 years, over 10 years, 13 years now. Um all right, last thing on this game: the referees. And I don't really like talking about referees when United have been so poor. Um, and it's not the same as to me, like the Bournemouth game was different because the referees, like it's hard to say blatantly cheated, but that that was a robbery, right? In this game, United were poor and were down and deserved to be down. So is I don't really like complaining about the refs too much. But realistically, the first goal that Leeds scored should not have stood. I mean, Cavert Lewin smacks Lenny Yoro in the head, somehow is not giving us a foul, somehow is not even checked by VAR as a foul. Um, and that's some and the goal stands. Um, and then the Lissandra red card. I mean, the game is gone if that is a red card, and I think people need to understand how damaging a red card or a penalty is for the gif for referee just to be giving out red cards and penalties willy-nilly, like it's nothing. Like, no, this completely changes the game. Like, completely changes the game. Like, I really do believe that United would have gone on to at least tie from down 2-0 if there was 11 men. Like, I do believe that, but I mean, I know that in the rule it says if you grab a man's hair, it's violent conduct and a red card. First of all, if you're on social media, you've seen the multiple examples of that rule not being played, uh not being applied consistently from the same exact ref, mind you, which is hilarious. Second of all, to me, that rule is there. If you're uh you know blatantly grab tugging a man's hair so they can't run away from you, okay, that's a red card. Fair enough. Lisandro Martinez is in the air, is contesting an aerial ball with Kyver Lewin, who's one of the best, you know, target man holdup strikers in the Premier League. They're tussling back and forth, and in slow motion, you see him slightly tug at the back of his you know, man bun or whatever, and let go. It's not even like he like yanked it hard or nothing, it's a slight tug. If you want to give a foul the other card there, fine, I guess, right? A red card for that, something that the player, nobody even complained about on the pitch. I mean, I guess Calvert Lewit did say he grabbed my hair. I guess he knew the rule and knew that if the referees checked it, it would be a red card, but that cannot be a red card. Like that, it's just not it's not extreme enough to completely change the whole game like that. To me, it's completely ludicrous. And the refereeing in this league, maybe in football in general, continues to be ridiculous, and it's it's ruining games. Like it's the the referees are ruining games by doing stuff like this. Um, and this is not this is not for me to say that Gary of R all that. I'm not one of those people, but uh how do you watch the replay and honestly think, oh yeah, yeah, that this is a red card offense. A pet a team should be down 10 men because of this. Like, and to be fair, like they're Lissandro does deserve to be somewhat comparable for even grabbing his hair, but like they're grabbing well, like it's first of all, it's in super slow motion, so it looks more deliberate than it probably was. But like you're you're tussling in the air, you might just reach something, grab here, and it just happens like that. Like, honestly, if I'm a coach, I'm telling all my players, grow your hair out, grow your hair out, because if someone just innocuously grabs your hair, it's a red card, and we're playing against 10 men. Um, so yeah, to me that was ridiculous. The referees with United have been very ridiculous of late, I would say. Um so yeah. Alright, that's it on the Premier League games. I do have you know, I haven't really talked about Champions League on this pod, but I just want to get some brief thoughts on some of these ties because I mean there were some amazing moments. Um let's just go through some of them. So Liverpool PSG uh finishes 4-0 on aggregate for PSG. Um advanced, obviously. Um you know uh for sadly for Liverpool sad that Ek T character gets treasured off which uh with the uh Torn Achilles, which is just a brutal, brutal thing to watch. Um but yeah, 4-0 for PSG. And realistically, I thought Liverpool were a little bit fortunate and finished at 4-0, especially based on the first tie. In the second leg, I mean PSG kind of took the front of gas, and Liverpool had some spurts of pressure, um, especially when it comes to crossing the ball in the box and whatnot, but in the end, it it never really felt like Liverpool were gonna come back. And it just took one moment of quality from Dembele to kill the tie, and then Liverpool very much defeated. But um, the thing that stuck out to me the most in this tie is Liverpool after winning the league, spending 500 million, and if you remember, they were eliminated by the same PSG team last season in the first round of the knockouts, which was a much closer tie. I mean, closer in the fact that the result was PSG going through on penalties, right? But I thought even in that contest, PSG was a better team, but in this in this you know, rematch, as you might say, like I mean it wasn't even close, like it's two two teams on different ends of the spectrum, like it damn near looked like um a team in different division, like in a league above the the other. It was that the gap in quality to me was that start. Like, I mean, you want to compare the midfields in these in these from these two teams: Vitinha, Jao Neves, uh Zaire Emery, in comparison to Sobozla, Graven Birch, McAllister. I mean, you could maybe throw inverts in there even. He's playing he's playing in the front three, he's playing an attacker, so I won't include him in this. But you those three guys I mentioned, McAllister, Sobozla, and Gravenburch. Sobozla and McAllister, especially, just out of they looked out of their depth in these two ties to me. Um, even Gravenbirch. I'll say I'll include Graven Birch. But um, yeah, that was startling to me. I mean, Freempong was laughably, laughably bad in the second leg. He had to get subbed off at halftime because he was so bad. I mean, the fact you could, I mean, I've said this so many times, but the fact that you had training Alexander Arnold and thought Jeremy Freempong, who was playing as a wing back at by Leverkusen, was the sub as a suitable replacement. I mean, how does that happen? How does it happen in the highest level? But uh, yeah, anyway, to me going forward, PSG will be the favorites to win the whole thing. Um, of course, they've got Bayern up next, which will be a tough, a tough tie, but I would say that they're they're the most complete team, I would say. Um moving on, Athletico Barca. I mean, at this point, Barca, they lose the exact same way in the Champions League every single year. Like, they get a dumb red car, they give away their uh bad defending with their offside trap and all that. It's the same thing every year. Last year, it gets Inter, they give away the dumbest goal possible in the last second, um, in the last second of uh was it extra time? No, it was regular time. Uh two years ago, Arajo gets that not too was it two years ago? A couple years ago they got a red card against was it against PSG? I think Arajo got a red card in one of the oh, was it against Dortmund? I can't even remember what they played, but they played one of these teams and Arajo got a ridiculous red card, which ruined their season. Uh, and then this season again, a red card in both legs. Basically the same situation. The defender's last man with Sorloth, he gets brought down, and the referee deemed it uh a clearing of a goal screen opportunity, red card, and at that point you're kind of cooked. Like you just are like you can't chase the game with 10 men in the Champions League knockouts, you're kind of cooked, and despite that, they had a chance. Are ho had a free header in the box and whiffed it, but um yeah. I mean, the conversation with Barca is tough because it's like across the whole league season, Han Z Flick's methods are proven to you know bear the results you want, but in a knockout situation where moment the game is decided in moments, and I know he's a Champions League winner at Bar at Bayern, even though that was a COVID, you know, you know, some extreme situation, but still he has one CL CL CL. Um, but yeah, I don't know. I but the thing is, if you're gonna play like this, you need to bring in top-level defenders, like the top of the top level defenders. Like, when I'm watching PSG, they can be a bit you know expensive with how they play and they can lead the defenders in space, but Pacho, he's a he's immense in the back. And Barca don't have someone like that. And they need to. I know they have financial situations where they can't spend money like that, but they need to find their version of you know, when Liverpool got Van Dyke, when uh PSG getting Pacho, whatever you want to call it, uh Arsenal getting Sleebuk, they need to find their rock as center back. I know they lost Nigo Martinez. Before the season to Saudi, but um they need to they need to fix that quickly um because they're wasting too many. I mean, wasting is harsh because they're gonna win an elite title. But Yamal should be playing for the Champions League. He's too good, and even in this tie, he was too good. Um But yeah, Athletico through, they're gonna face Arsenal. Um Simeone, he's I mean, he's he keeps he can't they can't kill him. But um, alright, next one, Madrid Bayern, instant classic. I mean, you could tell that this is gonna be an instant classic in the first minute when Noyer did that. But um, you know, after the first leg, despite Bayern being, I thought, the better team, they left the door open for Madrid to be in the tie at 2-1, you know? Um, and really in that first leg, despite Bayern, like I said, Bayern were the better team, Madrid had chances. You know, Noyer had the game, one of his uh vintage game out of nowhere to you know foil the Mbappé a couple times. Um and we got we very much got the washed version of Neuer in the second leg. I mean, he gave the ball away for the first goal for the second for the free kick. I mean, he has to do better there. He has to you can't punch the ball to the top corner, bro. What are we doing? Um, but yeah, an amazing tie. Elise was quiet early on, but he kept growing and growing and growing. He got closer and closer to scoring, and then he eventually the dagger at the end, which is just beautiful. Um, yeah, and I thought Bayern going through was fair, they were the better team. I thought as the second half went on longer and longer, they became the more dominant team, you know, and they were controlled, like at one at one point the whole Madrid team was in their own final third defending. You saw Mbappe, you know, tracking back and whatnot. You're like, whoa, they're really up against it here. So, yeah, bye with a better team. Now, to me, that red card Takemavinga is disappointing. Like I said with the Lissandra red card, like, bro, we could not be calling red cards willy-nilly like it's you know, like it's just whatever, you know. It just can't be, it has to be more blatant to change the game like that. And I don't think that offense was worthy of a second yellow. The foul was like, you know, it was a foul on Kane, not an egregious foul, but a foul. And then, yeah, he was kind of time wasting with the ball, but it's not like he booted the ball away in frustration. Like, if he did that, then fair enough, he's an idiot and deserved it. But like a couple dribbles with the ball to like you know, delay a free kick, it's like, come on, that can't be a second yellow. And really, it looked like the ref forgot that he was on a second yellow because he gives the yellow, he turns his back, and then he gets into the back, he turns his back, then he turns back around and gives him the second yellow for the red card, and it's like, ooh, did he forget that? But um, anyway, yeah, I hate a game being altered like that. Um, you know, with a red card and whatnot. At the same time, Kamavinga, it's like, yeah, you can say he's an idiot for that at the same time. To even to even put himself in that situation, you're a little bit stupid. So I can't I can't be too sympathetic, but I just I just hate that the game is being, you know, that games are being, you know, quote unquote ruined from by referees just being a little bit too, you know, eager to change the game. And um, yeah, you know, despite all that, buying with a bear team, so I'm not too upset with them going through. And the last tie, Arsenal Sporting. I am very happy to say I did not watch a single second of this tie. You know, I watched the first uh in the first leg, the Harvard school, I saw a clip on social media, good goal. I didn't watch a single second of the tie. And I'm very happy to say that. Um yeah, I mean I I can't how many second legs have finished two a nil no? Like, you know, especially when it's close after the first leg. Like I can't think of so many ties that ended second legs, um, or ties in general that finished one nil. Um, especially when you know you've got a team in Arsenal who are in theory so much more superior to their opponent in sporting. But uh yeah, like I said, very thankful I did not watch a single second of this tie. Um yeah, that's all I got. Um first part in a minute. I gotta do I'll of course I'll be potting on the NBA playoffs. We had the play in matchups, the 7 8 and the 8 9 games. Um Friday we got the the final play in games, which will finalize the eight seeds. And then we got the playoffs. I'll be doing those you know, weekly playoff pods for sure. Um but until then, see ya.