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The Game Football Podcast
Is Pep Starting To Panic?
Tom Clarke is joined by Gregor Robertson, Jonathan Northcroft and Martin Samuel in The Times office.
Mason Greenwood will leave Manchester United imminently, but how easily will he find a new club and where in the world could that club be? (00:00)
Manchester City are being forced back into the transfer window later than they usually would. Are they starting to panic or just simply reacting to the injury to Kevin De Bruyne? (06:38)
Aston Villa are practically through to the group stages of the Europa Conference League after a 5-0 first leg win at Hibernian. How much does this European involvement mean to the club and why do Scottish clubs struggle to compete at this level? (18:22)
Everton have started the season badly and look like they’ll struggle for goals. Is this the season they finally go down and how important is moving to their new stadium in the search for fresh investment? (27:15)
Martin Samuel has written in The Times about Bruno Fernandes’ captaincy at Manchester United and why managers choose certain players to lead the team. As a former pro, Gregor has some thoughts on his favourite skippers he’s played under (38:31)
A mention of Ben Foster’s second retirement leads to a conversation about the difficulty players have getting into elite sides and how the quality of the football pyramid is improving as a result (49:31)
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Pep’s new contract; Manchester United’s new start and Premier League previews
58:52|Will Pep Guardiola’s contract extension end Manchester City’s poor run? Martin Samuel, Gregor Robertson and Tony Cascarino join Tom Clarke to look at what Guardiola signing means for City and for the Premier League – another unbeaten run or a stop gap till the end of the season?Across Manchester Rubin Amorim begins his tenure at United, what can we expect?Finally, a run through the weekend’s fixtures, who needs a win and who is looking strong?England are fun again! Will it stay that way?
54:11|Lee Carsley has left England with a veritable spring in their step – a five-nil defeat of Republic of Ireland, four first time scorers and the joy of scoring seems to be back.So... who impressed most in Carsley’s brief reign? Will Tuchel continue the young blood approach and could captain Kane be under pressure?Scotland have a new star; Ben Doak is giving full backs nightmares…how good is he?If you had to take a selfie with a player, who would it be?And finally, as we head back to the Premier League next weekend, how is the teams predicted table looking?Why can't refs answer back?
55:23|David Coote’s career as a referee looks to be over; but do we have unrealistic expectations of referees? If referees are berated by players, fans and coaches are they not allowed to react?Tom Clarke, Martin Samuel, Gregor Robertson and Tony Cascarino look at football’s relationship with its officials. Could or should the football culture around referee’s change?Harry Kane has questioned the number of dropouts from the England squad. Does it reflect injuries, a caretaker manager who leaves next week or the nations league group B?Plus, Martin’s ire is raised by the House of Lords…EFL Extra: Millwall and Middlesbrough on the up
45:23|After slow starts Millwall and Middlesbrough sit seventh and eighth in the Championship. Millwall haven’t looked back since they went back to the future and appointed club legend Neil Harris earlier this year. Gregor Robertson played with Harris and describes his strengths. Michael Carrick has been playing good football at the Riverside, but without the results to reflect it…that’s now changing. Tom Clarke joins Gregor to also look at Mark Robbins surprise departure from Coventry City; high flying Wycombe Wonders and Shrewsbury, and in League Two Walsall and Colchester.Ipswich win! And Liverpool go clear
01:00:01|Liverpool are top, why aren’t more people talking about them?Alyson Rudd and Tom Allnut think they know why.Ipswich won in the topflight for the first time in 22 years, how did they do it? And has it put Ange Postecoglou’s swashbuckling style under pressure?Pep Guardiola has a look about him and Tom and Gregor Robertson have seen it before.Elsewhere Brighton, Brentford and Caicedo impress; West Ham don’t. Tom Clarke is the chair.Manchester City stalling; Liverpool soaring
01:00:18|Manchester City lost for the third time in a week. That hasn’t happened since 2018. Is it more serious than a blip? Martin Samuel thinks it could be. He joins Gregor Robertson, Hamzah Khalique-Loonat and Tony Cascarino to look at City’s dip, Arsenal’s worries and Tyrone Mings mental aberration. Liverpool are top in Europe and top in the Premier League, what more could Liverpool fans want…? And Manchester United have a four year plan…another one.Arsenal and Man City Shocked
01:05:55|What’s going wrong at Arsenal? Was this a freak result for City?After both lose again is it down to better opposition, poor performance, lacklustre management or plain old exhaustion? No such problems for Nottingham Forest who are now third in the table or Liverpool who roared back to go top against Brighton.Gregor Robertson dissects the weekends results with Martin Hardy, Alyson Rudd and James Gheerbrant.Plus, hats off to Bournemouth, Newcastle and Spurs and a quick look at dapper Van Nistelrooy and woeful West Ham.Is Amorim the man for Manchester United?
01:07:06|Is Ruben Amorim the man to bring the good times back to Manchester United? As the current Portuguese coach is set to be named the new man in charge at Old Trafford what will he bring and more importantly what kind of squad will he inherit? Martin Samuel, Jonathan Northcroft and Gregor Robertson join Tom Clarke to assess his credentials to take over “…the biggest club in the land.”Can Ange-ball win a trophy at Spurs; Chelsea’s B team looked light against Newcastle and what makes a good leader?Oh, and a quick mention of rampant Aberdeen.EFL Extra: Is Sunderland's start sustainable?
39:03|On the latest whistle-stop tour of the EFL, Gregor Robertson and Tom Clarke discuss Sunderland's surprise surge (which is starting to look less surprising), Coventry's potentially season changing win against Luton, Ian Holloway's latest adventure in Swindon and much more.