City Cut It To Six!

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They were away to Chelsea at Stamford Bridge and managed to get the win. Kukureya thought he had scored for Chelsea in the first half however it was ruled off for offside then in the second half that's where City and Pep Guardiola did all their damage. Nico O'Reilly Marguerri and Jeremy Doku all finding the back of the net as City walk away with three points and narrow the gap to Arsenal to six. Let's welcome Julianne Lorrance for this one but Craig let me start with you. The picture has changed. The picture has changed. We did some stats on Arsenal yesterday showing how bad they've been particularly in the last 10 games how ineffective they've been. They're playing in my mind they're playing with a fear of losing not an expectation of winning they're playing with that negative mindset at the moment and that's pressure as well as injuries and some lack of loss of form but that's you've got to deal with that when you're going on a title run in. City are playing with a bit between their teeth and congratulations Chelsea you made a statement ridiculous statement about Enzo Fernandez and you didn't pick your best team and you got walloped congratulations. And one of the biggest games of the season how stupid is that? The second half was a training game for Manchester City which I think tells you where Chelsea are and it tells you that City are on the front foot they're not perfect but they're in the right to Erky just kind of Bernardo Silva-esque and he's pumped although he was playing you know just going around step over his great passes trickery ingenuity everything that Arsenal don't have at the moment and this is a two horse race so I'm talking about Arsenal everything they don't have that ingenuity that guile that passing ability. He was that sort of spark at times for and I know he did saw him in the cup final with the keeper up and he's got that edge to him but it was a brilliant second half performance from him particularly and a really big statement from Manchester City which is going to beg the question when Arsenal go to the Emirates next time out what's the approach? Is it going up there with the fear and the defensive game that they tried at Wembley which was ridiculous and it didn't pay off or are they going to come out of their shell and realise if they're going to win this league they're going to have to play some football and score some goals and they're not I don't think they're going to win it by hunkering down and trying to grind out a few results. Well take today's match for example Chelsea in the first half were just trying to negate Man City and they did a good job of it or Manchester City didn't do a good enough job of being more urgent and more direct and more just engaging. Obviously there was the talk at halftime and it was a different level in the second half that Chelsea just couldn't cope with and if Manchester City are able to do that next weekend against Arsenal it's going to make for a very interesting title race. We know how close Jules is to the Arsenal camp. Jules Manchester City look up for it this is not what the Arsenal faithful would want to see right before they know they have to travel to the Etihad next weekend. You're right absolutely the momentum is always city the confidence is always city the results are always city and that league final at Wembley maybe psychologically also had a big impact on the Arsenal players and that momentum knowing that four weeks later they meet again this time at the Etihad which is next Sunday so it's tough and Arsenal are still ahead for now and I think that is also important but unlike maybe if there'd been 9, 10, 11, 12 points in between them now we've got a proper game on our hands because maybe with a bigger lead Arsenal could have gone to the Etihad thinking a bit like what the boys have just said we get a draw there we're happy you can't play for a draw next week they will have to go for it because it'd be too dangerous to play for a draw against a team like City in that kind of form so they will have to go for it and see they've been really good against City bar the league final in recent years and they are theta sometimes just parking the bus other times like we saw at the Emirates in the reverse fixture it was City parking the bus and getting that 1-1 draw with one shot on target or two shots on target so it should be great it will be great but right now you have to say City have to be favourite for that game next weekend. I still rather be in Arsenal's position where I might be able to get myself out of this funk and I know I can play better and I know I have the points in the bank and that's better than games in hand but their mindset is going to have to change and I think that is the key when you're in a title running and I experienced it when I was at Celtic that went all the way down to the last game of the season it's no fun it's not a lot of fun and the pressure is immense and there are bad games and opposition put pressure on you but you have to deal with that and at the moment if we're being honest about it Arsenal are not dealing with it particularly well I mean we talked I couldn't believe I was doing this yesterday talking about XG and all this but they are XG in the last 10 games from open play and this is the worrying thing when you look at it from open play not set pieces which have also diminished by the way their success rate from set pieces which puts pressure on their open play and they've been the poorest of being all season in terms of chances created and that's a worry at this time of year because when you're not keeping clean sheets and you're creaking a bit at the back and you're not scoring as many of these set pieces as you were and your open play is poor and so you're not creating those chances when you put all that in the melting pot that's a concern so a tether has to find a way I think in training to loosen up the mindset to try and relax the players to try and help them to enjoy it I know it's difficult but that's the camaraderie side probably going to go to the pub and you're playing a club that under Pep Guardiola has proven they can real teams in who've had big leads I know the player personnel has changed but the coaching staff hasn't and they have shown that they can add that confidence to their side to be able to have a deficit and say you know what let's hang in here at the end of the year because we've proven that we can throughout the last 10 years go on one of those runs and win six out of seven eight out of nine ten out of ten to finish a season off and to break somebody's heart I've said he don't want to he'll get a pass the manager because he's been successful I'm not saying that's right but you know there is a pressure on him but it's not the same pressure he'll get a pass because he's had all this success he's won titles he's won the champions league he's won all these domestic trophies and he may or may not sail off into the sunset in the summer so there's not really anyone near the amount of pressure that's on a tether who if this all goes belly up will not get a pass I mean he may get a pass from the Arsenal board in the summer I don't know the answer to that I think he probably will for the time being but I don't think it will get a pass amongst the support from the position that they're in from the position of strength that they've been in if somehow this goes wrong for them now yeah jules Craig brings up that interesting point has there been any talk about if Arsenal do somehow bottle this is there any pressure on Mikhail Arteza's job no I don't think so he's got a year left on his contract they are currently negotiating for an extension I think he wants to stay at the club the club wants him to stay too he's got the backup from and the trust from the ownership the Cronkie family to people in charge on a daily basis really the board as well all of that so it would be a huge disappointment of course if there's no trophies at the end of this season when you went in a final of one competition in a quarter final potentially a semi-final of the the Champions League coming up and then being pretty much not always in the lead in the Premier League but not far from it really and so it would be hugely disappointing I think they still wants to they want to fight as a squad as a team as a club they want to go out they know how massive next weekend is obviously but we've all known he's been ticked on our agenda for on a diary for a very long time so we all we all knew and for neutrals especially Sunday would be amazing to watch that game but for Arsenal as we've been saying right now they have more points than City I know we're talking about momentum and dynamics which is completely true and XG and and also the naked eye and what we can see but right now they still have six points more than than Manchester City have yeah there's still I mean there's still a lot to play for so yeah and also I know you didn't nothing against what you said but I'm not a big personally I'm not a big fan of the sort of bottling it I know a lot of people use that bottle of this and look they may win the league they may win the Champions League but if they don't I don't think it's a bottle it's just you know you've lost your form and you've not been able to handle the pressure of this situation and and and that can happen. Stevie made an interesting point yesterday Jules if it was to go all wrong for Arsenal and that's a big hypothetical if what would be the convincing factor for the Arsenal board that this would be the third season where Arsenal have been super competitive and this has been the strongest position they've been in by far what would convince them that it would come good in the fourth season if Arsenal were somehow to throw away the rest of this season. Yeah it's a great question Craig I am I was just showing when Stevie said that last time thinking about it and I think again he arrived six years ago where the club was six years ago to where the club is right now it's day and night so you can clearly see how much Artertas transformed this football club how much unity there is within that club the connection with the fans I know the fans are anxious right now which is normal and it's been a very long time since they won this title and I think like we saw for you know for for Liverpool even 30 years after the last title you can get a little bit tense obviously when your team is in it to win it again after so after so long but he's transformed he's transformed the the club and where the club is that compared to when he took over and yet there's that final step that is missing sure you can look again at it and you know think about the squad that they have it's the best squad that he's ever had as an Arsenal manager really they've invested massively every position is doubled some some position even have three different options on it so yes you can always have better players sure but right now that's not what should be missing really so it might be psychologically it might be something mental it might be the fact that you know for the style of football that he wants in terms of that control in terms of sometimes being being minimalist with the ball certainly but have that physicality and you need to be fully fit and if you look right now Zubimendi, Gabriel, even you know Saliba players like that they may be not fit enough to play the style of football that we can ask that one and so mistakes happen because you're not there mentally and physically maybe it's that maybe he could have managed that squad to be better and giving more minutes and game time to others I don't know I think they would have to look back at it but it would be a big disappointment if they don't win anything but this weekend was a marker you lose at home to Bournemouth and then you went away at Chelsea and that's a that is going to have a psychological factor going into this huge match next weekend nobody said getting over the line was going to be easy it's not not easy not at all all right well Arsenal still in a very favorable position of course at the top of the table six points clear city of course yeah let's stop being so negative don't worry Gunnys fans there's still a light at the end of the tunnel let's talk about Chelsea though because I don't know how bright their light at the end of the tunnel is let's have a look at the remaining games that they have in their schedule you could see some big ones Manchester United coming up on April 18th then away to Brighton Leeds United nothing on forest and then Liverpool Spurs Sunderland a lot of scrappy teams there Craig are Chelsea up for it based on what we saw today up for the Champions League yes probably just about you pick them to people Liverpool I think well there's five teams now yeah so I think I'm trying to remember I think Villa are going to be in there drew today anyway I can't I think there's a bigger picture here at Chelsea is that four four four years or so into this ownership and they're still also runs to a man city side for example that's far from the juggernaut that it was yeah they're still making decisions at management level with managers that are you know hurried and baffling you know my thoughts on Liam Rossigno in his rhetoric my thoughts on the suspension of Enzo Fernandez was just ridiculous Cuccarella was basically caning the board and their ability to or inability to run a football club properly and yet it just none of it made sense now I'm not suggesting if Enzo Fernandez played today that Chelsea would have won the game not at all but you've got to pick your best team and you don't make such a mountain out of a molehill which I think Chelsea have in this scenario when they have got this top five to go for when you have got man city coming on your doorstep and it's not just the result it's the reverberations around the dressing room when you're when you're agreeing when you're making comments and making decisions like this how that affects the rest of the dressing room the mindset of the rest of the dressing room what the hell's going on here what's the manager talking about what are the club doing are we not allowed to talk to people are we not allowed to give answers I mean if it's not the perfect situation respectable but yeah well for all that respect respectable and all that sorry so I just the whole thing just that I don't I just doesn't sit well with me and if I was a Chelsea player looking at the way they operate the football club and listening to what this current manager how he rattles on to press conferences and talks to the TV then maybe there's a few more players would like to go and live in Madrid because a lot of those players are good players and want to play at a higher level and there's a big question mark with you know Jules talked about Arsenal when loser draw they're definitely going in the right direction and have been for quite some time it was tough at the start but they're definitely going in the right direction with these with the squad the way they're playing the way they're competing and all fronts could you honestly say Chelsea are going in the right direction yeah they've been signing young players and giving them long contracts but do they know what their path is going forward for the next two three four five years I'm not sure they do they're going from pillar to post and I think we're seeing signs of that on the field well look at it look at Chelsea of the past you sign a young deroyner he can't get into the side but you're winning a lot of trophies you sign a young mosa he can't get in the side but you're winning a bunch of trophies okay nobody cares nobody cares if you get in the side or not but what you basically care is can you compete and can you get over the line and the the Chelsea teams of the past did that now yeah that's great signing young player big contract but they still have to produce and I don't think the fans care I think the fans are just frustrated that Chelsea is not producing the way they used to Jules you're asking what you saw from Chelsea today and how much the whole Liam Ross senior and so Fernandez situation is to blame I thought that decision was pathetic to be fair I agree completely with what Craig just said I actually think that Kukureya's interview was far worse than Enzo Fernandez just saying Madrid is a great city and I would love to play for Madrid like every single player on the planet would say unless you were born in Barcelona every single player says the same thing true okay that's true but when Rodríguez says it Guargiola answers in his press conference by saying I completely understand yeah it's absolutely fine you know why would you why would why would he bother you if one of your players said you know Ramadriida club I dream for you know when Leonard Carl who's 17 a Bayern Munich says that he would love to play for Bayern Munich one day in a long time Vincent company doesn't drop him for two games so I thought that was pathetic and for me it sums up very well what's happening at Chelsea right now that project is failing we know they're not going to make Champions League football next season which would be a disaster for them not just financially but for that project in itself and by the way if we don't even look at the project or where they might be in a year two three why are they even trying to do on the football pitch at the moment because today and I know I was with case on first half try to negate so what now you start playing football not to lose because today they set up not to lose against phd in Paris they set up not to lose against Arsenal in the league cup semifinal at the M reds they set up not to lose this is not Chelsea football club this is not how this team should play this is certainly not what this manager should be doing and our lovely Amor senior as you know we know the family we know Leroy's dad all of that I think he's a really good young coach that has a great future ahead of him but right now he's making too many mistakes and he's out of his depth so I mean just quickly jokes on this one I don't want to sort of dwell too much on it but that ridiculous decision and I totally agree it's absolutely bonkers this ridiculous decision to suspend a player did it come straight from the manager or do you think it came from up top and he had he had to swallow it so he so he said that it came from it was a joint decision with the people above him those million sporting directors that they have some people are a bit skeptical about that which I can understand what's interesting is when he was at Hasbro he suspended Emmanuel Omega who's the club captain their best player the number nine who's coming to Chelsea by the way this summer because Omega said a few things in in his mix zone interviews basically saying I'm the best player in this team look at when they're not when I'm not playing they lose to team like you know average teams but when I'm there we be phd we beat Marseille and Liam didn't like that so he suspended him he suspended his best player basically for so that part is making me think maybe that's actually his decision to go with that on Enzo because he didn't like a couple of things and if that's the case I don't know what's worth if it's his decision or the board and he just had to follow because in that job at Chelsea you have to be a yes man you know and we saw that with Mariska but it certainly had done it before all right well we'll take the negative talk away from Chelsea right now because it was a bad day for well it was a bad day for Chelsea but it was a worst day for Spurs. 9-1-1 where's the emergency? It's the middle of the night in a small town on the Jersey Shore someone reports an abandoned car on a bridge a search gets underway for the missing driver 19 year old Sarah Stern. Is it a missing person is it a suicide at this point nobody knows. Old friendships buried cash and a sinister plot that was once pitched as a movie plays out in real life. I'm Juju Chang from 2020 and ABC Audio listen now to Bridge of Lies wherever you get your podcasts. Tarnum Hotspur had to travel to Sunderland in Roberto D'Azerbi's first game in charge of Spurs as manager and they left without a single point as Sunderland came out as winners a very lucky shot from Mucchiello that took a deflection went in the goal but the goal still stands as Sunderland won this one and Spurs now two points from safety in the relegation zone. Craig it's a new manager but same old Spurs. Well well they didn't get walloped so that's just it. And it took a wicked deflection to beat them. It was a lucky goal because they got walloped in the second half at home against Nottingham Forest it was embarrassing. Look I think D'Azerbi's a lot I think he's a very good manager you know he did you know was it Marseille but it's a crazy place but they played some really good football early on in the season before it went a little awry. Obviously he's been at Brighton and he's been all over he's been in I think Ukraine and Italy. His teams play good football and it's going to take him time and we didn't really see that today because particularly as the game wore on Casey and I were talking I never ever felt that we're going to score or even come close so they were they're really lacking some creativity and he's going to have to figure that out with the players that they've got. Javi Simon's come on, Mateusz Tell's come on but really weren't able to have any real impact in the final third. And the question will be is D'Azerbi going to have going to be able to make them play well enough in the final games to win games or is he going to be able to make them a hard and gritty and grinding team to get the results because he's not that type of manager but it's requiring that type of result. But do they have that type of player? That is the question. I don't think anybody's questioning his credentials and given time over a period with transfer windows and and time on the training field I've no doubt he'll make Tottenham a better side but they're in this vacuum which is we just need to get results we just need to roll our sleeves up and that means keeping clean sheets, rolling grinding results out and somehow creating enough to pick up three points and grabbing a point here and there which they're not doing. You know even Forest at the Forest at Home to Villa I didn't see that game because I was watching Tottenham but you know a point here a point there you know maybe a win there you know Tottenham it's hard to see where even those grinding points are going to come from so I don't know what effect D'Azerbi's going to have in such a short space of time. To the point you know I'm obviously as an ex Spurs player but I'm thinking of Craig and I talking about who's going to score a goal and I'm thinking back to Spurs strikers that were used to seeing from you know Cleansman to Teddy Sheringham to Les Ferdinand to Robbie Keane to Jermaine Defoe to Harry Kane to okay maybe maybe at times Spurs can be a little cavalier but you know on the day you can outscore your opponent or you could. I'm watching Rich Arleson I'm watching Salenki and I'm thinking where the goal is coming from and then and then the creativity in the midfield who's running at people who's one twos I mean I mean I know it's a hard comparison but then you watch that second half from Man City and you're like Spurs for their faults at times it was never in the creative part of the field yeah and sometimes it was maybe a little too much let's invest too much money here to make our fans happy and it might leave us a little suspect back here but never was it a case of going are Tottenham going to score a goal that's just not in Tottenham's DNA. Jules what was your takeaway from the Spurs that we saw under Roberto de Serbe and what the guys are saying as well about where would the goals come from for Spurs it's weird that we have to ask this now. Yeah I'll come to that in a minute maybe I'm a bit harsh but he's been in charge for 10 days what have they been doing for 10 days what have they been working on because today we didn't see anything maybe maybe the poro shot you know when he when he plays on the on Solanki and that lays the ball back to him and then he has that shot because apart from that I just didn't see anything of what we could have seen for the Zerbe I mean I don't know remember when Tucho took over Chelsea he had two days to prepare for that World's game but already then you saw the setup the press the desire and it was it was obviously different they were not third from bottom but they were not great at the time like he took over Lampard they were ninth in the table or tenth in the table or something like that why is this lineup why do you have three number nines playing in a front three like that all three of them are number nines okay Colomani show at times with France he's played wide which I just suddenly know a white player and I know you don't have many options on the bench but you still have Chavi Simmons you still have Matisse Tell you still have Sa if you wanted to do something a bit different but today if you didn't know Robert of the Zerbe was on the bench this could have well been a two-door team or a frank team and that I'm sorry that's not why they invested five years and 15 million a year for having the same as two-door and I know you could say it's his first game Jules be kind you know give him some time one he doesn't have any time two I'm sorry but 10 days of training and full training by the way there was not a game in between it was 10 days where he could have double sessions treble sessions they could have slept at a training ground for a whole 10 days you know he could have done anything he wanted for 10 days right I'm sorry I didn't see today I swear to you it could have been Eagle to the on the bench nobody could have told yeah I agree with that and it looks to me like and if you watch his teams they do have an identity normally the way they play yeah and it's high-risk football but it's entertaining and it's effective and it's fast and he's a bit of a live wire on the sideline but I think to me on looking at today's game it's almost like he's caught in this crossfire of yeah right I want to do it this way but I'm thinking I might have to do it that way to stay up and in the end it's something in the middle which isn't very good yeah and at least it wasn't today I'm slightly concerned that he thinks if I try and get him to do what I want to do and how I want to play now we're definitely going to go down because they can't do it probably can't do it which is a worry if you're a Tottenham Hotspur player playing for such a big club and you can't play that style of football that he wants the positive football they're passing from the back they're taking the ball under pressure they're stretching the game making the pitch big all that kind of stuff I'm wondering if he's thinking I'm worried we're going to get relegated doing that so I'm going to have to change short term to try and get results and that's going against what how his teams play and his philosophies and then you end up in the middle of nowhere which is kind of what Joe's is in where they were today it was it was it was nothing it was nothing and then he talked about player short short of conference and I've also got an issue with something like van de Ven on the the deflections crazy and by the way Casey and I were talking it was so good to see kinsky at least not at fault friend kinsky had a decent you know and he didn't do it because he was a guy under severe pressure right so you know that was nice to see you know he didn't make any it wasn't a calamity but on the goal and I know there's a big deflection you've got van de Ven stood with his hands behind his back and he could have for two or three seconds he could have came out early and closed that damn ball down and you don't have to have your hands behind your back when you're outside the box could guess what you can't give a penalty away might give a free kick away but at least you get out and close it down and I think it typified spurs for me in a sense why they're in this mire there's three of them all stood on the edge of the penalty area inside the penalty area inside the hands behind the back whilst a sundown player pursued down on the edge of the box and was able to get a strike in and then the big deflection in the goal you got to go and close those scenarios down you got to put your body on the line because you're at that end of the season and there's a big question mark whether spurs are going to be able to do this well after the game Roberto de Cervi was asked about the tough situation that he finds himself in let's have a listen to what he had to say he mentions the mentality that he needs now during the relegations are now you're concerned about the impact that could have on the mentally psychological you can see during the game first of all the the the the players of Tottenham are all good guys and they are suffering for this moment they are no happy when we lose the game or they are no happy to to see Tottenham at the bottom of the the table for sure but but we have to find the energy we have to find the the the right spirit to be positive no to think during the week did you feel like the the fear of relegation itself is the problem I think I think so yeah interesting case what did you make of what they said we had to say there um I thought the fear of relegation should be the motivation that everybody needs to get themselves out of this situation um they're too talented of a squad they're yes we're talking about who's going to score the goals who's going to do these things like that um but it doesn't have to be a striker whenever there's a team that's struggling scoring goals I love seeing a center back pop up on a set piece I love seeing uh you know a a midfielder you know come in from the wing and get on the end of something just to take some of that pressure off and it just almost seems like that that you know Jules talked about you've got I don't know if it's at three strikers to try to get something but it it's just sums off it's just not it's not clicking it's not there's not the fight that you want to see and then there's not the I don't know how you build confidence until you do something that builds confidence and the only way you can do it is somebody has to say take the responsibility and I think that's what everybody's waiting for everybody's just thinking ospers will figure it out they'll get a couple wins they're too talented it'll happen and then each week it goes without doing it it's that little bit everyone's down fans are coming on press are coming on and and and I'm still waiting for that okay who's grabbing this who's grabbing this you know was a scruff of the neck and saying okay yeah this is this is what we're gonna do and I who are the leaders well the other the other side of as well they haven't got a midfielder at can pass the ball with any great creativity you know Paulinho at conagallia pappy sir you basuma you know benton calls not around at the moment benton call can pass the ball but he's not not around they haven't got anybody that you know we talked about the creativity it can't just be your wide players or your foot it has to be some from the middle of the park as well or the midfield and they've got a lot of you know got a lot of guys that run about and grafting the middle but they've not they've not anybody who can hit a 50 60-yard beautiful ball to a striker who's bent are on not not to my knowledge yeah but craig I call a lot of atletico Madrid games and I watched conagallia galaga run around make tackles get in the box get stuff going and I didn't even know he was on the pitch well he hasn't he hasn't been getting the game well but still he had a game today started today I want to see that run tackle fight get somebody behind you I mean yeah it's hard enough if you don't have a player that can play the ball like church he did for the second goal yeah then you got to win something like like man city did against caisino press win a ball in a good area and make an easier chance I didn't see either and that's the part that I think is the most frustrating joseph was saying he said 10 days right to look at play look at players he's got to these next few days he's got to look at this these players and say right right he's got right him he's in him he's in there right he'll I can trust him he's got I've got half a chance with him and he's got to figure out the ones that he's got pretty much no chance with not he's not going to say that to them because he's don't want to lose them but he's got to end his head he's got to figure out right is it is it mateus telling chubby chubby Simmons here is it you know talking about you know if I'm Mateus tell or chubby or any of that and I got as jokes said the number nine's playing in the wider positions or wherever they're ahead of me I'm asking a question is it what the hell am I doing and so he has to figure that out quickly the guys that are going to get him results the guys that he can at least semi trust at the moment to try and do a job and if he doesn't figure that out they're screwed they're screwed because the more times you're trying to figure it out and the longer you're making all these changes the less chance you have of getting results so he has to figure it out quickly and he's going to have to run with it well we've said it before that Spurs do have a lot of talented players but do those players have the scrap in them have that fight have that grittiness to just churn out an ugly win well if you look at their running of games now from now till the end of the season they're going up against a lot of teams that do have that grit and that scrap jewels if you look next it's against Brighton a team that Deserby knows very very well then they're away at Wolves they're away at Villa Park then up against Leeds then Chelsea and Everton where will they get their chances from that's a great question to be fair I mean I think the Leeds home game for me even more than Wolves away the Leeds at home might be the key there because he's so close to to the end of the of the season but Brighton next weekend especially at home because as we know Spurs are the worst team at home even worse than Burnley or as bad as Burnley really this season so at home there's no guarantee they won two games all year all season long at home in the league so that's tricky a Brighton team that as we saw yesterday is playing well could potentially be fighting for a conference league position for next season all of that so they will go there and and will want to go for a win and then you look at all the other fixtures they've all have something to play for apart from Wolves maybe okay but the rest they will so it's tricky even his communication will have to be good and certainly it feels like we'll have to be better the clip that we saw he he said that we need to find that energy he didn't look like he even had energy today yeah on the touchline or in this press conference he also said they don't need a coach they need I can be a father I can be a brother I can be okay they need a coach too I know they need some love and I know they need some confidence and the French have a great word we have like this word say Callinot therapy which is like like coddle therapy if you want sure they need a bit of that no problem yeah no it's great I knew you would but sure but they need a coach more than anything else because as we saw today they are all a bit lost and if the structure is not there if they don't really know what to do with the board if there's no creativity like you said if you start playing number nine in all those white positions you lose Romero potentially as well because he came off injured crying this is not good they need a coach before the dad the brother the nan the granddad the cousins the whole family if you want and all those like cuddle therapy sure but they need a coach too not enough there's not enough psychologists in London for this talk them to but you know what you know what would worry me they I think the home form is telling for for various reasons and I think some of it is structure and approach and the hiring Thomas Frank and the way they're about it I don't think there's any doubt about that but there's another side to it when your home form is as poor as it is Tottenham's has been and this this sort of fits into the whole relegation battle when your home form was that bad part of it not all of it but part of it is telling me and we know this Casey is what when your own fans turned on you when results are bad and the natives are restless it's a tough place to be when you're away from home there's a few thousand when you're at home there's 60 or 70 thousand and quite often they've not like what they've seen this season and I think the players have been affected by that and I'm not saying that's right but you live and die by how you're affected by it right and I think not not all of Tottenham's results but a big chunk of the results have come down to them folding folding when the crowd got on their back in second half of games and Ellie in the season actually was going behind very early they almost went behind in every game they played but they've folded in so many games particularly in the second half of the season at home that I think that would tell me that the mindset in this Tottenham camp is weak because they haven't been able to handle when the crowd get anxious and nervous and noisy players start to hide and I think we're seeing a lot of that with Tottenham and they have to get out of that yeah and out of it quickly here's a bottom half standings look at how things are shaping out in la liga you can see el cherello viedo much to sidlows this may still very much rooted in the relegation zone as well as levante look at all the way to 13 it's a tight race in the final relegation spot by an you know club not quite yet no right i'm using a winner too and here's a top half of the standings after real madrid dropped points this weekend and barcelona got a big win barcelona now nine points clear at the top of the table and they are on a five game win streak so it looks like they are very much poised to repeat as champions of espanol well if you want to see more about the la liga title race just head on over to our espnfc youtube channel and there's more spanish football coming your way on our networks the copa del rey final oh atletico de madrid opa kentreal sociedad the 18th of april 3 p.m. kickoff but you know join us 13 minutes before for the pre show on espn plus i said to the bundesliga now and see if we'll actually get these highlights yes we will we've gone up against vertebrae bremen in this one yep well contact in the box my players are going down for absolutely anything these days that's there was barely any contact that's what bar was supposed to take away and unfortunately didn't but then last defender gets the red card i thought there was maybe a little cover coming around there's a bit of a bad ball back there yeah maybe there's nobody around from that angle oh those are always fun as a goalkeeper you make two great saves and then there is another then nope nope i'm just gonna tap it help me out shave calling up 2 nil in this one oh somebody else what now oh god i mean there's a better contact doesn't it nlt and it's buried into the six minute of stoppage time we go and oh oh that's a nice way to score a goal yeah don't cheat the cross yeah don't cheat the cross and clean big wins both teams fighting fighting for survival elsewhere in the bundesliga stuttgart went up against hamburg 21st minute stuttgart here with the buildup an angelo steeler will get the goal that's just so easy it looked it was an easy day for stuttgart and that just opened things up and nice little back heel there is that undef 30 second minute good player with a nice little back heel into his colleague stuttgart up 2 nil in this one into the second half now yeah and then there is a stack will score from outside and again you know we talk about just letting players run and just standing there and not and not covering and it leads to the deflection same again speaking of deflection you know back in the day casey and that would be like absolutely on the defenders constantly about closing the ball down such an important part of the game we don't get it right and quite often you'll pay the penalty all right well here is the bottom 10 of the bundesliga standings you will find vertebrae man right there three points above the relegation zone yeah again another league super tight all the way up to 10th night you know with that with that final relegation spot well there's plenty more bundesliga football coming your way on our networks hoffenheim up against barusha dork well that's next saturday 9 a.m on espn 2 and barn munich they will play stuttgart that sunday 11 a.m. eastern time also on espn 2 all right well union berlin have made history marie louise etta has now become the first woman appointed to manage a men's team in one of europe's top five leagues after being named interim head coach of union berlin so history made here it is an interim role but joules what's the response been like for this one and tell us more about her appointment yeah i think this is great really i remember when corindia in france was appointed as the clement head coach in the second division at the time back in 2014 i thought okay this is great she'd be a pioneer and then many will follow after that and actually she left after three years she did a really good job they finished i think eighth tenth you know she she kept them up it was really good she had a good rapport with the players it looked very positive and in every angle possible and yet that ended in 2017 and since then just nobody followed until until eight today that was announced or last night she was announced as this the interim coach until the end of the season so i think she's got seven games maybe i can remember how many left or eight games in the boudinous league to to i guess prove what she can do and then hopefully get the permanent job next season but i think this is great i think again it was long due it should have come before and in a way it's not surprised that like like union berlin that does things very very differently to many many other clubs in the world is taking this decision yeah union berlin definitely love to do things their way but either way we love to see so i'm pretty sure this will be a talking point on the next edition of football w i will be on there alongside ali kreger and jeff kasouf that's tuesday at the new time remember one pm eastern time on esbm plus advertise on linkedin spend 200 pounds on your first campaign to get a 200 pound credit go to linkedin.com slash lead terms and conditions apply all right well that's going to do it for this edition of unlike us obviously and i like us we had to cut out some highlights because kray didn't want to do them but we're going to get some questions i phone them he hit the problem let's do it again don't go anywhere extra time next all right welcome in to extra time alexis unit here with kasey keller craig burley and julian laron's let's start off which storyline is most compelling to all of you arsenal possibly bottling the premier league or spurs fighting relegation jewels i think i think i think i think to both a great really but i would go for spurs if i don't miss out on the title they did it the last two seasons there's nothing different really or yeah they'd be more disappointing they would have been in the lead if city cash them up and and win the title for what i believe would be gradual as last season i don't think it would be the next season i think he lives in the summer that would be that would be a special line for sure but if spurs go down for the first time in premier league history obviously the last time they i think they went down with 1977 it would be huge because i think if you look even pre premier league and the boys would help me on that i can't remember maybe maybe united back in what was it the 70s or something i can't remember 50s but for such a big club at this time right now with the financial power that they have the stadium the training ground for them to go down this will be enormous well west ham with that i know and i know they've been up and down since then but they went back down and they went down in the 90s i believe with i think don was in that side but it was it was the canyon was canute it was there was a lot of very very good players minus don probably better players than no don was a good player probably better players than what torntham have now actually when you look at some of those those guys and and they went however they over the years have been a bit of a yo-yo club yeah torntham have not and they built this i mean to be fair what a cracking stadium for all those other championship teams to go play yeah but i'm not but i'm not sure i saw i read something a while back and it was talking about the clubs that generate the most match day revenue and totmham's in the top five oh and and you're thinking they but you know financially they they've put themselves in such a great position that you just can't imagine that that they can't get a couple results that they haven't won a match since december it says crazy they don't have the scrap do they and no and it just yeah but even the quality normally if if a spurs team was not a scrapping team they had the quality to get the results that they needed and then the question mark was always what are those little pieces that are they going to take them to that next level and you think over the last several years um european cup final winning the uefa cup to relegation yeah i mean that's insane massive fall from grace next question was a false sense of security part of pep guardiola's strategy but me thinking that they just the first half was going to be kind of just and then turn it up i just think it was they know and just shifting not the way they wanted to play that first half and then had a little talking to it halftime and took it to another gear we'll halftime hair jars treatment next question with pep guardiola's career accomplishments where would winning the league this year with a team going through a rebuild and transition rank tools i think he would like it especially like i said i think this is last season at the club and then after that he won't we won't see him again at club level i think he would take a national team at some point and then that'd be it so yeah it might feel special for him let's not forget as well they got the menu and gay in this in january and when you are able whoever you are as a manager wherever club but when you are able to bring two players of that quality for that amount halfway through the season to give your team another dynamic to give yourself more options to give to give that kind of boost to your season i think it's it makes a massive difference you know i'm not saying that the others did mr trick or something and i'm not taking anything away from the work that goreggiola did in the first half of the season and and since then but they've been game changers as has been nicole riley for example on the left hand side since he played in that kind of hybrid left back left sided defensive midfielder so but yeah i think pep because he's also artetan is also and they were behind for most of the season if they do catch catch catch them and win that race i think yeah it would be very pleased and a little i think also a little shout out to to kustinoff who uh the young lad who you know he came in from france and had a very tough time he youngsters not easy uh came in for relatively big money uh he has been on a very upward trajectory and what's you know i don't think and maybe i stand corrected as he learns the game and he learns the positional side of the game i just i admire how great an athlete is he is he has got to be one of the quickest if not the quickest centre back in the premier league or maybe european football it's a brilliant asset to have and once he gets all the other experience and continues with his conference and about positioning and all the other stuff you know he he could be something that set if fans couldn't see six months ago yeah because he was a struggling young man and he's got a long way to go but his progression has been very very good to watch we're gonna have to get your tickets to watch him at the world cup with Uzbekistan are they here yeah you can get some Uzbek shirt on kray yeah at least for scottland he's a big fan i'm not even getting a scottland shirt on worry about that all right next question kray can you believe that until the next world cup or club world cup chelsea will have to wear the badge on their kits only frank loves this question the whole club work i don't want to get into it i don't want to start i think they knew that's why they asked you it's a wind up for sure yeah i mean you take psg for example you know they're starting to hit the stride now but you know you know they had a long long season then they had that club world cup and they had some injuries and players were tired and they're just you know they're now really getting themselves going and we saw that game for those that saw it against Liverpool it should have been five or six so i think you know again i said i wouldn't get into it why am i getting into it i'm getting into it i'm utterly utterly utterly needless needless competition for players but they got the badge they got a badge and somebody's got a lot of money yeah somewhere and made a lot of made a lot of dollars off it so there you go well funny enough the next question is also for kray kray they're loving you kray with the leads only three points off the bottom why does it seem as though the general consensus is that they're safe from going down their last win in the league was more than two months yeah i don't think they're safe from going down but i don't think one of the differences with this lead side is they can play a little bit of football i mean the rfa cup semi-final as well yeah is they have something that Tottenham don't have at the moment as well as been able to play a little bit there's a little fight they got a bit of fight yeah they got a bit of fight especially at home ellen road they got they got fight they got fighting they got they got a bit of grit and they got a manager who understands what what what what they have and what they are and i think that's going to give them the best opportunity to stay up well jules talked about a little bit when we looked at the who has to play who and with spurs away at wolves and home with leads a couple weeks later those are going to be two gigantic matches and you're a lead or not if they're the type of team if they go down they'll they'll go down having given their best yeah and they might they may come up short i don't i don't know but they'll leave nothing on the table when you look at Tottenham they're leaving everything on the table at the moment yeah and you leads would leads would not go to Tottenham with any fear yeah why would you you've only won two games at home that's that's the tricky part i mean you always go somewhere and you think okay who are we playing here okay where are they where are their strengths their weaknesses and all this kind of stuff and right now with Tottenham you're just thinking they're folding under the pressure from their own fans like you mentioned they're they're not you know running scrapping fighting pressing and but you're seeing that from leads and so when when push comes to shove i think you're looking at it and going okay when that scraps needed against one of those other teams bring it the bottom who who that result might be the difference you just see it coming from leads more than you see it coming from spurs and you're seeing it a little more from from forest as well jules what do you make of leads i've i've tipped them to go down really when we've had the discussion before i i i've got a feeling that in these kind of final seven games and they obviously have a massive game tomorrow where united or troffords that i think can be a big decided too or where they will be but yeah i i think the other three will be okay and these leads we're going to go down big game tomorrow leads not winning that one well man united big game because sometimes it feels like we're around the same level next question for kasey kasey do you see stop do you think host well that was the ribbon amarim yeah oh am i a head coach or am i a manager well my manager and my head somebody what's this guy talking about now michael carrex at the wheel so i expect get him out ribbon amarim get him out kasey do you think hosting a world cup has slowed the us men's national teams development over these four years due to a lack of meaningful game i mean there there's a very big argument for that because you do you have a situation where you're so used to particularly from the management side and the player side where you can't experiment because each game matters so much that you're playing and so you you get this idea you know craig's talking you know jules talking about you know deservey having to figure out his side in a hurry um when you had 18 qualifying matches which is what we used to have you had to figure out who can do what who's done this over an extended period of time who's done it under pressure in a central american country on a terrible pitch where speaker trucks came out all night you didn't get any sleep there's guys with machine guns surrounding the field you think they're there to protect you but you're not sure but it's a but it's you got to get a result but it's more about that than the actual quality a hundred percent a lot of the options yes because absolutely because you're you're not and i'm not taking away the compliments of case you're not qualifying for world cups but you're not tested and qualification generally you're not testing yourself against the real cream yeah you're not playing the big european teams or south american teams but there's there is still a pressurized situation to get results you know you know look at uh what is his name the coach when they went bruce arena yeah when when they went down to was it trinidad trinidad tobago to shaka to shaka's against against trinidad's almost like second team yeah because trinidad were out yeah and we're i'm not saying mocking what they said but kind of in a jovial we just need to be here yeah and we're going to win and then got the patch taken down and was like wow yeah so yeah there maybe there is a little bit about that but you can still prepare enough for a world cup i mean i think i think what it does craig is it forces you to pick a team and i think over these last couple years with pochettino he's at i still have absolutely zero idea what the team is because everything has always been well let's give these guys a chance and let me have a look at this guy and then we'll look at these guys and then oh no that didn't work out very well so let's change seven eight for the next game where if it's back to back qualifying and you have a little blip in the first game you work on it in training you have more or less your same team and now you fix that you get a win and then you move on to the next round and it just has been experimentation it wasn't a good time to be talking about semi-finals just before you played and got walloped by not two top 10 teams well yeah and i would i don't think belgium are any more than average now they've lost a lot of their the big superstiles they had kevin de brogne is still there but he's not he's not the kevin de brogne of eight years ago he's still a good player but and then you play pochego you get you know you've got a bit of a lesson there as well what the risk goal line wasn't as bad so yeah i mean it's going to be it's going to be tough but they should they should not be any excuses really if it doesn't go well jules what do you think yeah i agree with the boys i think that that that pressure the tension you can't replace that and friendly suddenly won't won't help with that even for the players minds and even subconsciously not not the players may be thinking about it all the time but subconsciously you don't approach the game in the same way it's good to be french isn't it it's oh it was so nicely french man but i just just quickly why it's definitely subject to jules i feel like a fan here oh is there a better player in europe at the moment no i'm being serious is there a better player in europe at the moment than michael is he yeah no i agree i mean the lamina malphans will have the you know the fans will be there sure but i think vince and company and bayon have taken him to another level and himself as well with all the work that he's put up even somebody was telling me fight like physically you know physically he's been he's been able to now cope better with challenges and and and and rough defenders if you want our palace maybe we still a little bit like weight in some of them he was talented but but he's worked so hard to get to this level now that every time he touches the ball in different areas within the pitch is is is going impact on the game what fascinates me the most craig really and i know this is a subject but if you wear the front-steam medicals and case the same what he says not just is so he's maybe top three best players in the world but certainly the best in his position okay you can have lamine if you want level of within but if you would you change him and play him in a different position when the guy in his natural right winger position is the best in the world and yet deschan is taking him away from that and playing him essentially where he's very good as well i mean he's so good he can play anywhere but i would i would tend to keep him in the best position considering he's having the best in of his life jules is that the biggest worry for france is that the team is so stacked that you're you're trying to figure out how to keep all these great players happy and do it belly and baton and then the pressure of knowing you have this unbelievable squad to end the expectation from that yeah maybe i think we have we've said it the other day as well during the international break i think and as you know how arrogant we are in france and especially in paris where's was frankie the biggest the yes but the biggest thing is that you know we we can be our own enemy in the sense that we can take things for granted and we can take these lightly and deschan before the colombia game so after brazil and before colombia he said we have to stay humble here because already he could sense that within the squad after the brazil win there was maybe a bit of that kind of you know feeling so it's that and you're right i think for me and especially for deschan's last tournament he will all of his decisions and who you play where and don't get that one wrong because with all the talent that he has there's a lot of different options that he can use was it career 2002 how do we how do we turn into a france segment well because nobody want to go home let me let me let me just i'm going to wrap this up i want to just say something because before bascino fans get their knickers on the twist oh right i i i wasn't saying and by the way i don't care anyway i wasn't going to say a knickers thing you were going to care about i'm going to say there's a first time for everything come round my house and we've talked it out all right i i uh dox i wasn't saying sorry i wasn't i didn't mean uh michael at least it is a better player than lamina mal but i think at the moment my point was he has a bigger effect oh in some games he's yeah and if you want to come round the house hey i'll take you to the but no no it's it's great you know it's great to see yeah i'd love to see something going from a smaller club into a huge arena like alicia has not stepping out of a Liverpool or a man United or a psg but stepping out of palace where there's not really much expectation going on to this huge arena at the alley and with a ton of competition we're always great players and turning it on and strutting about with the chest out as most friends do anyway yeah all right let's not let jules in for this one but let's go let's see france will will allow me scissors and shit because i will have to jump on that bandwagon let me tell you what team anyways you just got a bonus france segment from us uh but there'll be plenty more talking about france probably not this week but there's a new espnfc coming your way tomorrow okay murray will be back for it to keep these boys in check we are on seven days a week just check your local listings