The Game

Gregor Robertson, Tony Cascarino and Alyson Rudd join Tom Clarke for the Monday edition of ‘The Game.’

The postmortem on Man Utd v Brighton takes centre stage. Brighton were brilliant, a well run well managed club playing great football. Manchester United were the polar opposite in almost every sense. Will matters improve?

Are Liverpool title contenders. Gregor and Tony are far from convinced but Alyson is a convert.

Chelsea have stalled, no identity, injury prone and yet they have spent a billion pounds. Where next…?

Tinkering from Arteta, resilience from Spurs and what are Everton?

Finally Alyson caught up with Roy Hodgson to ask if he is becoming a national treasure.

Man Utd v Brighton

1’ Mystic Tony. Tony Cascarino predicted the result and the score of the Man Utd game. No one was surprised by the result. Was it brilliant Brighton or woeful Utd. Or both. Are the problems on the pitch or off…or both.

7’ Gregor Alyson and Tony all agree Man Utd are a club in chaos. In stark contrast to Brighton. “Man Utd are paying people to attend their party, Brighton just throw a good party.”

12’ off field trouble leaking on to the pitch? Tony thinks there could also be an issue around the type of football that Ten Hag wants to play.

Liverpool…title contenders?

17’ Gregor is so sure. He was at Molineux for Wolves v Liverpool. They are erratic, very poor first half, low in energy. But they have a wealth of riches on the bench and a manager willing to take risks. He thought second half they effectively played 4-2-4, throwing caution to the wind. But is that sustainable? What is their midfield balance. Can Trent defend and is Robertson being shackled? Alyson is convinced. On a bad day Liverpool still got the job done and she sees enormous potential.

25’ Tony doesn’t think they will challenge.  

27’ Gary O’Neil gets a bit tick.

Sleepy Sunday

29’ A slow day on Sunday. Alyson was at Bournemouth v Chelsea. A dull nil nil. The two managers cancelled each other out. One creating ordered chaos, the other well-structured and a bit negative.  Chelsea didn’t have an identity.

32’ lots of injuries at Chelsea, 12 well known players out. But are those players all important, Gregor isn’t so sure.

AI and injuries

33’ Injuries are not just bad luck. In an interesting take Alyson quotes the use of AI to predict potential injuries. She isn’t sure the injury list at Chelsea is just bad luck.

34’ Tony, as an ex blue says the club is in transition. Lots of new players and staff.

Everton

38’ “Everton are a poor version of Dyche’s Burnley” Tony is worried by Everton, a team unsure which way they need to play t get a result.

Arsenal - Ramsdale or Raya?

Is Arteta tinkering too much? Gregor thinks modern football has changed and perhaps interchanging a goalkeeper isn’t that unusual. Interesting all three prefer Raya to Ramsdale.

West Ham – diving headers

46’ Tony loves a diving header. Scored a few, but also talks about the technical benefits of a diving header, not giving the keeper time to get set.

Spurs v Sheff Utd

49’ Heart break for Sheff Utd. But is there a quiet Ange revolution going on at Spurs?

51’ Has Paul Heckingbottom been harshly treated by the media?

Villa comeback

56’ “Villa now look so dynamic.” “Diaby is a real player.”

Roy Hodgson

1’00” Alyson recently chatted to Roy again, before he fell ill. He talked about taking a surprise job on, gaining new fans and giving his players freedom.