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sugar. Best Coke ever. Hello

1:07

and welcome to today's episode of The Rest Is

1:09

Football with Alan Shearer, Micah Richards

1:12

and me, Carol Innokur. Lots to get

1:14

through again today after an action-packed weekend

1:16

of football. We'll be

1:18

discussing Manchester United, making it five games without

1:20

a win in all competitions. The Mighty Foxes

1:23

getting their first win of the season. Liverpool

1:26

continuing to set the pace at the top

1:28

of the table. And much, much more. Before

1:31

we get to that though, how are we? Well, it's

1:33

not like I saw you that long ago, but... Well,

1:36

right. More importantly, how are you?

1:38

Me and Micah have been worried about you the last

1:40

few days. Can you tell us

1:42

anything about your contract? It's like you, Salah, Van

1:44

Dijk and Trent are

1:48

all coming to the end of your

1:50

contract. What's going on? Inform us, please.

1:52

I think there is one significant difference.

1:56

The Liverpool fans really care about those things. high-risk

4:00

football. They think they'll...

4:03

It's great to watch. They think they'll outscore

4:05

the opposition. I mean like Newcastle many years

4:08

ago, remember with Kevin Keegan that we'll score

4:10

more than you and that's the attitude that

4:12

both teams have got. I mean it

4:16

really frustrates you in terms of

4:19

fans I guess at times. You're all

4:21

first fans at half time. They've

4:23

been absolutely flying. That's

4:26

the way the manager wants to

4:28

play and for the neutral it's

4:30

really entertaining. Football's supposed to

4:32

be entertaining. Can I ask you where

4:34

this spursy sort of

4:36

feeling came from Gary? What's

4:39

around when I played Michael, we won the FA Cup.

4:42

I don't like it. Every time

4:44

Spurs have a bad performance it's

4:46

spursy. I think a little bit

4:48

of context is needed. Spurs have

4:50

got amazing ground. He was always

4:52

known for bringing young players through

4:55

and then selling them on. When

4:57

they got to the Champions League

4:59

Final it was just that question

5:01

could they go again? They didn't

5:03

and then they restructured

5:05

the club and again brought young

5:07

players through. Different

5:10

managers of course they want to win something.

5:12

Of course they want to do but I

5:14

think the club is run brilliantly

5:16

well and I think under

5:19

this manager although at times

5:22

it must be frustrating because it

5:24

doesn't seem like they have a

5:26

plan B at the moment

5:28

in time. But in terms of what Spurs have been

5:30

doing I think it's fantastic

5:33

but obviously a bad result today.

5:35

I think we'll talk about

5:37

managers and their inputs especially

5:39

the young Herzler. The

5:42

players have to take a little bit

5:44

of responsibility. They have to do on

5:46

this occasion. They want the manager once

5:49

but surely he could drop five

5:51

yards back or you know in the first hour Spurs

5:54

were brilliant they didn't finish off the game and then

5:56

ended up losing 3-2. It was just a

5:58

whirlwind of a game. That

10:00

was a big mistake. How can you leave Saka up?

10:03

I mean, I haven't got a clue about fantasy

10:05

football, but he's the first player you put in

10:07

Saka, no? Yeah, he's

10:09

all about fantasy. He's all about

10:12

clearly not out. I

10:14

went with Cole Palmer instead. He's gone full

10:16

last week. He got an assist, didn't he?

10:19

Yeah, but a assist, he's, guys, a assist

10:21

is not good enough. You

10:23

need to get off that, you need to get off

10:26

that fantasy. It's like social media, it's affecting your mood.

10:28

Yeah, I know. Have

10:32

you got Brennan Johnson? Because he's banging a bit at

10:34

the moment. No, I have not got Brennan Johnson. I've

10:37

got 30 points this week. I'm

10:40

retiring from the game. Oh,

10:44

dear. Has he's laughing alongside me, right? He's

10:47

got a lot of points this week. He's happy. He's

10:50

happy. He did, of course, have Saka. So, yeah, but

10:52

Brighton came back well. I mean, I don't know what

10:54

he said to them half time, but I suppose it

10:56

was... He did have a couple of good chances in

10:58

the first half, though, didn't he? I mean, well, back

11:00

home... Oh, yeah, yeah. And Spurs had one or two

11:03

in the second half. Yeah, yeah. He was a great

11:05

game. I think that Mr. Veltman's quite good on the

11:07

ship-towelry front, isn't he? I saw him had a little

11:10

skiffuffle with Madison and then threw

11:12

himself to the ground. He was

11:14

one, of course, who got Rice

11:16

sent off, wasn't he? With

11:18

the quick free kick. But he's got a little

11:20

bit of something about him, that one, hasn't he?

11:23

I got a little slightly angry

11:25

when he chucked himself to the ground when him

11:28

and Madison came together. I thought, what the fuck

11:30

are you doing? Come on. I

11:32

thought the same. I thought, come on, man.

11:34

Yeah, come on. We have to remember as

11:36

well that Spurs are missing, you know, quite

11:39

possibly their best player. Young Min

11:41

Son, he's a big miss to them, isn't

11:43

he? I mean, Werner gives him a lot

11:45

of pace, but his final product is not

11:47

that of a certain Son. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

11:49

No, when he's their captain and their leader

11:51

and what have you. So they were missing

11:53

him. But Brighton were missing two

11:55

or three of their big hitters as well.

11:57

So it evens itself out. Very true. And

12:00

you know, I did that. I mean, that was very

12:02

drab, wasn't it? And it's, I saw

12:04

Eric Tenharg at the, at the end

12:07

of the game saying, you know, that's

12:09

clean sheets and there's four clean sheets

12:11

we've had this season and we're going

12:13

in the right direction and everyone's, and

12:15

I just, I

12:17

just thought, well, you know, when you've been

12:19

struggling a little bit like they have, and

12:22

then try to claim that performances as a

12:24

step in the right direction. I mean, it's,

12:26

it's always a good, decent point going away

12:28

to Aston Villa, but I mean, it was

12:30

pretty turgid, wasn't it? In the grand scheme

12:32

of things, going away to Villa and

12:35

keeping a clean sheet, you look at it and

12:37

you think, okay, yeah, acceptable,

12:40

good result given their league

12:42

positions, but with

12:44

what he says after the game, I mean, I

12:46

really don't think he helps himself now and again,

12:48

when he says about we're going in the right

12:50

direction. They were 13th before the weekend and they're

12:53

now 14th. I've got a

12:55

few little stats here of the season,

12:57

Manchester United. I think it's

12:59

their worst start to a season in

13:01

the Premier League. It's, it's slightly worse

13:03

than it was last season. So goals

13:05

five, which ranks them at 19th. Expected

13:09

goals is fairly high. Their fifth,

13:11

their XG performance. I'm not quite

13:13

sure what that means. I think

13:15

that's probably how many you actually

13:17

score against what your XG is,

13:19

I would imagine their 20th conversion

13:21

rate of chances 18th and big

13:23

chances missed 17. So it

13:25

seems like the biggest problem they've got is

13:27

converting their chances, but there certainly weren't many

13:29

chances today. They're just not

13:32

good enough, though. They haven't, they've not,

13:34

they're not good enough. If only they'd

13:36

spent a few, Bob. We hear a

13:38

lot of the X players saying for

13:40

Manchester United, this is Manchester United when

13:42

they were playing, they're miles and miles

13:44

and miles away from that. They're not

13:46

good enough in so many positions, particularly

13:48

up front. They're very strong on the

13:50

bench, though, because they had 360 million

13:53

pounds worth of Eric Tenhogg signings on

13:55

the bench. Yeah, it was rotation, though.

13:57

Yeah, rotation. Yeah. You don't you don't.

13:59

take you center rafts. Come

14:02

on. Let's be honest. Martinez and De Licht

14:04

would drop, wouldn't they? Of course they were.

14:06

As would the rest of them dropped. I

14:08

suppose in their defense you would say, come

14:10

on, this is just a few days after

14:12

playing an away game in Europe, a Porto

14:14

tough game. Ten men. Ten men for a

14:17

lot of it, as they were the week

14:19

before. So also Villa, I thought looked a

14:21

little bit after the Lord Mayor's show, after

14:23

beating Bayern Munich. It looked a bit flat,

14:25

didn't they? In fact, both sides looked like

14:27

they could have done with the next two

14:29

couple of days rest before they played that

14:31

game. Yeah, agreed. I just want to

14:34

ask you, Gary, though, because me and Alan have

14:36

spoken about Man United for some time now and

14:38

I thought there was really good signs at the

14:40

start of the season, obviously winning the epic cup

14:42

last season. Alan pretty much

14:44

called it from the start of

14:46

the season, wasn't really buying it.

14:48

What's your opinion on Man

14:51

United? So we've got all the stats, the Ducts

14:53

growing of goals, of course, we've got a new

14:55

behind the scenes team that have come in. What

14:58

is what's missing from your experience within

15:00

football for a team? Not to the

15:02

club, because we know how big the

15:04

club is. Recruitment.

15:06

And whether that be in the

15:09

coaching staff or mainly

15:11

in the team, you know, they've spent a lot of

15:13

money. They're up there with the top spenders. It's not

15:15

like they've not been backed. And that

15:17

was the same in the previous income. I

15:19

mean, yeah, obviously the Glazers are still around,

15:22

but you know what I mean before Radcliffe

15:24

came in, they were backed and backed, but

15:26

I don't think they've really spent it wisely.

15:28

Now, I'll go to Eric Tenharg's team here.

15:30

Right. So I think it's

15:32

very difficult to buy a player for

15:34

Eric Tenharg because he plays a different

15:37

system all the time. Sometimes they're counter

15:39

attacking, sometimes they'll play a little bit

15:41

of a high press, sometimes they won't.

15:43

We've said it many times on here.

15:47

What is their style of football? What

15:49

is their identity? I don't think you

15:51

have that. Now, if you were buying

15:53

for, let's say, Angipostor Cogloo or

15:55

Brighton who do really well or

15:58

Brentford or someone like that. even those kind

16:01

of clubs or Manchester City. They have a

16:03

way of playing that very rarely varies. They

16:05

don't go from being a counter-attacking team for

16:07

three weeks and then being a team on

16:09

the front foot for three weeks. So you

16:11

can go, if you've got Anj Post or

16:13

Cogley, you know exactly what type of player

16:16

he would want. But you tell me, what

16:18

is Eric Tenhaag's type of player? Can

16:20

you answer that? I can't. So I think

16:22

primarily that is the problem. And I think

16:24

because they're, and I think that's been the

16:26

case for some time and previous

16:29

managers. And we know they've had problems at the

16:31

top of the club and that filters down and

16:33

all that sort of stuff. And it does. And

16:35

it's been difficult for any manager. But I

16:37

think it's exacerbated at the moment

16:39

by the lack of a style

16:41

and the lack of identity of

16:44

the actual playing side of things.

16:46

And therefore, they just seem

16:48

to buy ad hoc. Oh, he played it. I

16:50

had him at IACs. He was really good there. I'm sure

16:53

he was, you know, whoever, any of those players that he's

16:55

bought from there. But where do they

16:57

fit in? You know, someone like Hoyland, that

16:59

was obvious. He's a striker. He got to

17:01

have a striker. But in other positions, in

17:03

other areas, if you play a slightly different

17:05

system every week, how do you know what

17:07

you're buying for? So I think that's

17:10

probably what's happened. And the

17:12

other thing with, we'll see what happens with

17:14

with Eric Tenhaag. He was left in the

17:16

lurch, wasn't he? He was put in a

17:18

difficult position. I mean, things hadn't gone well

17:20

from last season. Obviously, they were starting to

17:22

talk to other managers. We knew about that.

17:24

We got lambasted a bit for discussing that

17:26

on the pitch after he won the FA

17:29

Cup. But we knew that the club at

17:31

the time was peaking to one or two

17:33

managers. We had that information. So it's the

17:35

whole thing's a bit of a mess. And

17:38

you thought when these new people would come

17:40

in, now they've obviously not been there that

17:42

long yet. But it's certainly not changed for

17:44

the better. And the way they handled the

17:46

whole summer operation, I thought was particularly poor.

17:48

Yeah, I think they've had a really poor

17:50

start. I think, yeah, they're given an extended

17:52

contract. They invested in players that spent fortune

17:54

in the summer. And I don't see them

17:57

improving. I haven't seen any improvement.

36:00

he makes the right decision every time he

36:02

said he can go outside he can go

36:04

inside and i think it might

36:06

be one of those players ultimately because

36:08

he makes things look easy gets sign

36:10

up a little bit underrated although certainly

36:13

not by those in the game i

36:15

don't think no for those who watching

36:17

we can we go i'm

36:19

sure the arsenal funds as well when he's at

36:21

home he's just is a special

36:23

special talent but not only that you

36:25

can play different positions can play wing

36:27

back to play full back to play

36:30

number taken anywhere which makes him so

36:32

great and yeah i

36:34

just think that the is format

36:36

this moment in time after everything

36:39

he's been through to

36:41

reach this level consistently is just. Really

36:44

great to see i mean he's just

36:46

an incredible left foot right foot attitude

36:48

every but you know what is also

36:51

so easy as you know i don't

36:53

like swearing he's a tough little man

36:55

is like he gets kicked every

36:57

single week and he just goes back

37:00

for more and he never shirks

37:02

a challenge he's like work

37:05

he's just a phenomenal football he's got

37:07

that sweet little personality in nature that

37:09

makes it very likable but you don't

37:11

and it kids you a little bit

37:13

as they because he's fiercely

37:16

competitive and and

37:18

strong isn't he really really strong and

37:20

hard so tough to get off the

37:22

ball i i i love

37:24

watching him play you mentioned him

37:26

last week and he continues to kind

37:28

of thrive in the number nine role

37:30

allen high habits was yeah i think

37:32

he's really impressing me in terms of

37:35

his performances and goals and every

37:37

game at the emirates this season yeah

37:39

incredible yeah he's been a real center

37:42

forward and not just his goals

37:44

but his hold up play

37:47

what he's doing for the team bringing

37:49

players into the game challenging for balls

37:51

in the air. When perhaps

37:53

he knows you might not win them but

37:55

trying to make it awkward for defenders so

37:57

i've been really really impressed with him. this

38:00

season. I think the good thing about

38:02

Havertz is he's been able to adapt

38:05

to what the manager wants because he

38:07

was always scratching our heads. Where's he

38:09

going to play? What's his best position?

38:11

You know, he's scored the Champions League

38:13

final. He's found his role, but he's

38:16

scored the Champions League final. Let's respect

38:18

what he can deliver. German international. You

38:21

know, I remember when it was at Leverkusen early

38:23

doors in his career and everyone was going crazy

38:25

for him. Yes, players have a little bit of

38:27

a dip. He's going through a time at Chelsea

38:30

where things were going. But now he's found

38:32

his home. He's found his home and he's

38:34

delivering. Totally agree. I

38:36

think we should end this particular episode

38:38

probably with maybe the performance of the

38:40

week from Brentford. Our old friend Thomas

38:43

Frank from we were over in the

38:45

Euros. Don't forget West Ham. Oh,

38:48

sorry. I think we should finish this week

38:50

on the two performances. I saw me start

38:52

West Ham,

38:55

how did I do that? What an idiot.

38:57

Yeah, Brentford and West Ham, we both banged

38:59

in loads of goals, but I still think

39:01

Brentford probably edge it. What about this madness

39:03

of keep scoring? I mean, but the previous

39:06

three games they scored in the first minute

39:08

and this game, I think it was just

39:10

over a minute. So I mean, wow. Brilliant,

39:12

innit? How good is Thomas Frank as a

39:15

coach, though? He's doing amazing job. We

39:17

spent time with him at the Euros and he

39:19

didn't come on the pod, did he? But he

39:21

spent a lot of time with us on the

39:23

downtime and just the way

39:25

his knowledge is about the game, the

39:27

way he sees it, the way he

39:30

would look at it a little bit different, maybe from like

39:33

the player's point of view. So when we

39:35

talk in our analysing game, we're looking at

39:37

certain positions or whatnot, but he's looking at,

39:40

well, the player is doing this because he's

39:42

been told this by the

39:44

manager. So you can't really

39:46

criticise him on that because that's what I'm telling him

39:48

to do. And it was just a different

39:51

way of seeing it. And he said

39:55

to us, didn't he, that he was going to play

39:57

attacking football? And I think the

39:59

big. thing, losing Tony, losing

40:02

Wisser this year

40:04

to injury, but still being able

40:06

to play the

40:08

same way and have very good results.

40:11

So he's showing how good he is

40:14

as a manager and he sent me a

40:16

voice note before the show yesterday,

40:18

which you guys know. And I'm sure he don't

40:20

mind me sort of saying that, but just how

40:23

the game went for years, I said congratulations of

40:25

the win and all that sort of stuff. And

40:27

he mentioned that

40:30

Dammsguard is really finding

40:32

himself and it was

40:35

a player who at

40:37

Sam Dory, he was fantastic on the

40:39

ball. He scored that free kick in

40:41

the semi-final, in the Euros, against England.

40:44

And it not quite lived up to

40:46

what we expected, but now he's sort

40:48

of finding his feet. So that was

40:50

great to see. Great win for them.

40:53

Very terrific performance. Now I really want

40:55

to talk about West Ham at

40:57

this point, but

41:00

it was a very, very much needed important

41:02

home victory because for the first time ever

41:04

they'd lost their first three home games. Well,

41:07

you can imagine the reaction if they

41:10

hadn't have beaten Ipswich at home because

41:12

they're already under pressure. Simon's coming in,

41:14

spent a few quid, new manager, and

41:16

they went all out with tack yesterday

41:18

and it worked for them. They had

41:20

Antonio, Pacattar, Bowen, Kudos. So

41:23

all of those played their

41:25

part, played really well, scored goals. And that

41:27

might just be the springboard for them to

41:29

kick on a bit. No, West Ham? Yeah,

41:31

I would say so. Probably a bit

41:34

of a reminder for Ipswich that

41:36

it's tough at the top

41:38

in this division. You would expect them to get

41:40

the odd something. All those teams coming up from

41:43

the championship are finding it difficult. Only one

41:45

game would have 21 between the three of

41:47

them. It was interesting listening to Keira McKenna

41:49

though after the game saying

41:51

that West Ham were really direct and that's

41:54

the first time. I thought it was a

41:56

tad disrespectful because I thought West Ham played

41:58

really well and they made it. might have

42:00

been direct when they had

42:02

to be, but some of their play and

42:04

their movement off the ball and one and

42:07

two touch passing was superb. They battered Ipswich.

42:09

I think producer John, our Wolves fan, will

42:11

be happy we haven't mentioned Wolves. We did

42:14

mention Brentford, but Wolves scored three goals, John,

42:16

so you should be really jolly. Worrying

42:20

times for Wolves and their fans. It is a

42:23

little bit, isn't it? Really a bit surprising, but

42:25

they've had a tough start. They've played a lot

42:27

of the top teams in those

42:29

opening seven games, but no victories

42:31

yet. I'm sure they'll come. I'm

42:33

sure they'll turn it around at some point. Okay,

42:36

that's it. We'll be back on Wednesday with our

42:38

question and answer episode. Don't forget, if you want

42:40

to get a question in for us, the best

42:42

way to do that is through the newsletter. Just

42:44

go to therestisfootball.com. Have a great week,

42:47

everyone. Goodbye from me. Goodbye from me.

42:49

Goodbye from me. Have a great week.