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The Game Football Podcast
Late goals, ladles of drama and a Liverpool comeback "for the ages”
Gregor Robertson is joined by Alyson Rudd, Tony Cascarino and Martin Hardy in The Times office in London.
Liverpool’s Darwin Núñez came off the bench to score twice late on for ten-man Liverpool against Newcastle United in a modern classic at St James’s Park. The Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp ranked the victory among the most special of his career, but just how big a missed opportunity was this for Newcastle?
Manchester United also produced a stirring comeback, after going 2-0 down in the opening four minutes against Nottingham Forest at Old Trafford. But has Old Trafford lost its fear factor?
Following a series of high-profile stories involving the mistreatment of women by men working in football, including the recent suspension by Fifa of the Spanish Football Federation’s President Luis Rubiales, we ask: is football, as an industry, failing women?
There was more late drama at the Emirates as Arsenal conceded an 87th minute equaliser against ten-man Fulham. The Arsenal manager, Mikel Arteta, is trying to evolve last season’s title challengers, but does he need to? And Manchester City took advantage to go top of the table with a late winner at Sheffield United, much to the relief of Erling Haaland — and Kyle Walker.
Following impressive wins for West Ham United and Tottenham Hotspur, inspired by two new recruits familiar to the Premier League, could the relatively unheralded signings of James Ward-Prowse and James Maddison respectively be the summer’s most inspired transfers?
Finally, after Joachim Andersen equalised for Crystal Palace with what can only be described as a slide tackle through the legs of the Brentford goalkeeper Mark Flekken, Tony Cascarino talks us through a goal he scored for Aston Villa that was so bad it won an award.
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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.