The Preview: Aston Villa vs Arsenal

Intro so here we are we have seven games on Saturday capped with Aston Villa against Arsenal then three games on Sunday Tim Spears is here how are you Tim I am very well how are you I'm very well it's good to be here thanks by the way to to Michael Bailey for uh kicking off this uh this season's preview show I listened back and it was it was a wonderful listen it's good to have you on once again Tim and John McKenzie is here how are you oh wonderful thank you yeah looking forward to another nice tranch of games this weekend yes quite indeed you've gone for a trench I like that um oh Tim you've got a new column haven't you Rose Ed is it a sideways glance at football it is yeah have you read it I have I read it this morning it was great ah excellent I wondered who the uh I wondered who the one reader was and now we found him about it for people who aren't familiar so it's uh it's about the absurdities of football basically Adam you know be that sort of the greed of clubs or corporations or the silly manager sackings or the bizarre press releases the spin you know the stuff that we just kind of accept as normal I guess but it's actually crazy when you think about it and just sort of worth shining a light on and also you know stuff you may have missed so uh Preston are on to their third manager of the Season already and uh Chelsea going to be uh a weekly theme I think something gives me a hunch that we might be talking about Chelsea quite a lot this season so yeah there's um I'm not going to be short material Adam and yeah that's a new weekly column every Friday morning yeah nice one it is a is a good new feature for this season um so that's sort of a look back what are you looking forward to most this week John well in terms of the football I've obviously got my eye on Bournemouth versus Newcastle of course yeah but beyond that there's quite a few fun games I think this weekend um I think Bri Brighton Manchester United will be a be an interesting one I think Manchester United fans were were very buoyant about their win against Fulham uh but I think the you know Brighton is going to be a much tougher test so that'll be one to keep an eye out that's the early kickoff on on Saturday so that will be a nice tasty one to to kick things off we've got Arsenal versus Aston Villa which obviously we're talking about a bit in a bit more detail as well um yeah and I think Chelsea wolves as Tim said Chelsea are are the uh the interesting story at the moment um I watched their game last tonight against sevette uh which was yeah a little bit Scrapy but yeah it'll be fascinating to see how they um get going in the Premier League they they played fairly well against Man City but they haven't got a win yet so it's a big game for them yeah later on in the show we will cast our eye around uh the Premier League we'll hear from our own experts at the athletic on the likes of Chelsea Tottenham uh Manchester United Liverpool Newcastle as well all from the athletic podcast Network okay let's uh get in to the main game this week and Aston Villa vs Arsenal that is Aston Villa against Arsenal Villa who finished fourth last season one on the opening day against West Ham Arsenal last season's Runners up they beat wolves I'm afraid Tim on Match Day One um and here is the take of our Villa writer Jacob tanswell on what he expects from Villa this weekend although un AMU will never admit it there is a sense that the Arsenal games for him are are bigger purely because of the back story because they're the club they're the team that let him go this time around they will try to control the game whether that's keeping the ball around the back ensuring they recycle they regulate the tempo but at the same time like you saw when John mcin scored that goal to to give Villa fre points against Arsenal last December they will try and generate transitions try and keep the ball around the back they'll bait Arsenal into pressing and then they'll play through and they'll manufacture their own Transitions and they score on a counter takes on Gabrielle and pulls it back m it's the sharpest of starts for Aston Villa what I would expect his Villa to be very brave on the ball take some risks but also be very pragmatic in their defensive setup while still trying to keep on that front foot and making sure they engaged The Villa Park [Music] crowd yeah which they did last season didn't they when they beat Arsenal and then they followed that up um by winning at the Emirates as well and that was only two and that was two of the five defeats in all that Arsenal lost last season so they were they were key defeats if you think about it in the in the title race Tim I just wanted to talk to you about uh John Duran he obviously scored at uh the London Stadium you mentioned him in your uh in your rosed column and the sort of the confusion perhaps of him pointing to the ground and saying I'm staying here when he'd scored for Villa having been linked with West Ham um but aside from that it seems as if he is going to stick at Aston Villa uh this season and he's going to be a vital Cog in the wheel because as opposed to last season when you try and maybe rotate in Europe you can't rotate this season because you're in the in the Champions League so he's going to be needed isn't he yeah he is and and what Watkins form tailed off a little bit towards the end of last season as well if you remember um so they'll need to keep him as fresh as possible so Duran's going to be important to that and that's going to be a theme of vill season you know we saw with Newcastle last year the the physical energy but also the mental energy that went into those those Champions League games um it's an it's it's like having an extra six matches against the top four in the Premier League all thrown in before Christmas right so um it's it's not it's um it's it's very taxing and there there are eight games this year in the Champions League uh that Villa will be playing at least so yeah um their squad depth is going to be vital and I'm not completely convinced on that yet I mean Duran um obviously a great start last week but I think he's still got a bit to prove at this level which will presumably and hopefully from his point of view come from more game time but then you look at the likes you know jadden philine who has been you know cast aside by Villa before and is now back but unproven at this level I guess Jacob Ramsey Ian Matson also came off the bench for them last week they had some unused Subs in in buend Deere Ross Barkley Diego Carlos this this the squad is stronger but I do question um that there are a few sort of unknowns there we're not talking guaranteed quality in a few of those um but obviously they have Financial restrictions don't they compared to the clubs around them this game's really going to set the tone I think Arsenal at home for the season ahead you know can they repeat last season's heroics can they look like they're going to challenge the teams around them again or was that last season a oneof I don't think it was um the quality is there they've got one of the best managers in the league if they can get a decent result this weekend and a draw would be a decent result then their next four fixes after this are Leicester Everton wolves in IP switch before the end of September that's a really kind start um so if they can win sort of three out four of those then they'll be really well placed to sort of set off on repeating what they repeating what they did last season John they've lost uh Douglas Louise out of their Midfield brought in amadu Anana who um who scored with a really eye-catching goal wasn't it from from the corner at West Ham has that changed things I mean aside from him being a threat from from set pieces Etc in terms of the dynamic in Midfield will it change things for them yeah it was interesting hearing Jacob saying that the way that Villa set up is to is to bait presses forward and then try and hit in quite Dynamic situations um and I think in those situations what you require in your Midfield is um they play with two midfielders but you you need to have midfielders who are good in tight spaces who can receive back to goal can help in the buildup can help retain possession under a lot of pressure a lot of time because that's the the idea is that you want to have as much pressure as possible in order to create space that you can then attack um so yeah you need someone who's able to do that but at the same time if you are playing quite transitionally that can mean that you get transitioned back upon as well and that's always been the question I guess under uni Emory is do they have the the midfielders to be able to actually um resolve those those transitional moments and amadu Anana is is basically the the perfect kind of profile that he's going to be good in buildup he's also going to be exceptional in transitional moments as well so I think the on in many respects is is actually an improvement on Douglas louiz who obviously himself was was exceptional um and I I guess the the big question this going into this season is is will that make the difference for them in the Midfield I think I think it will um and you know I think people were surprised that Anana ended up going to Villa rather than maybe a bigger side because he that kind of profile of midfielder good technically but also physically dominant uh is is such is such a scarcity at the moment well he could have ended up at Arsenal couldn't he yeah I mean he was he was linked with them and it makes a degree of sense because that's uh meletta just loves that kind of profile of player um and so yeah I think that the fact that I I guess with Arsenal signing Declan rice the year before they they decided they didn't quite need that kind of profile but I was surprised that maybe even a club like Manchester United who've been looking for um that kind of profile this summer ongoing and um I'm surprised they went in for him as well but yeah really good signing for for Villa and it'd be fascinating to see what impact he has on their season well let's continue the Tactics analytical theme and check in with our tactics writer Liam tharm on how this weekend's two different styles compare I think when you're comparing meletta and un there's a really easy narrative to be drawn of similarities between the two obviously not least because they're both from a very similar part Spain in the bass country and there's often I think for better or worse commonalities that are cited between Managers from that region but I think you can see more similarities now without possession in the sense that Arsenal have that nice compact defensive block where they'll drop in often in the Midfield third a really nice sort of 442 no space to play through and that 442 shape we see a lot with emer's teams especially defensively they're probably a little bit different in terms of in possession partu seems to really like that Midfield box with two number 10s Arsenal's play I think is a lot more focused down the wings and getting those Wingers in behind getting those fullback combinations to get fullbacks on the overlap and create those Crossing situations we associate Aston Villa a lot with sort of having a particular High Line I think they're perhaps not as aggressive presses as Arsenal Arsenal really seem to squeeze up more as a unit they tend to suffocate teams more for making regains close to goal and you know using that form of Defense in order to create good attacking situations whereas FR Villa it's more having a high line I think to allow teams to have the ball but say you're not going to go anywhere with it we're going to catch you offside when you do try and playing behind last season ason Villa had over 100 more off sides than Arsenal Villa had the most off sides drawn in the entire Premier League so huge test for Arsenal and a really interesting tactical battle to to watch as [Music] well and Tim with Arsenal being beaten twice last season by Aston Villa you don't want to read too much into it but for Etta's Evolution as a manager he doesn't want to have a team like Aston Villa being a a bogey side does he uh no absolutely not and you know obviously it's going to be so important for Arsenal to to set the tone in the opening weeks of this season you know we saw in the running you know one defeat to Villa you know cost in the league basically and again if you look at fixtures we mentioned that Villa have got a really favorable sort of September on paper well Arsenal have got Spurs and Man City away next month which just feels massive already um then they got Liverpool at home in October so in Arsenal's first nine games they'll have played the rest of last season's top five already and yeah I think with recency bias we always looked at the most recent results as to who wins or loses the title or relegation or whatever but actually you know these moments are going to be really important already you know we see that man city are so close to Perfection that any drop points are going to feel costly so yeah it does feel like a big game for Arsenal this weekend I mean almost everything is is there for them right um in terms of what they got um what I really like about Arsenal is how young the team and the squad are and but they're sort of growing and evolving together and they've got you know they' barely achieved anything amongst them in terms of titles in their careers so there's such strong motivation for them to achieve this together and you know higher points for Four Seasons in a row for me they do have a couple of slight weaknesses I mentioned on the Pod last week in terms of maybe their keeper and and and lack of a top top goal scorer um if you're asking me that you know if that's the difference between them and City I'd say just those things but as well as maybe a little bit of Squad depth but they're going to be they're going to be right up there this season for sure we'll get stuck into the the defensive side of things also we'll be talking about um their their attacking style in a little bit of uh detail as well the likes of Kai hav is is either the right man um in a moment's time but just on this game and the the Tactical battle John um if you were standing alongside Mikel arteta in his in his technical area and you were to just whisper in his ear just do that differently Mel against unai Emory what would you be whispering in his ear yeah it's a tough one because I think if you look back on both of those games you can make a case that arsenal were a little bit unlucky in both of them um in the first one where they where they lose one nil John mcin scores very early on and then you know Arsenal largely dominate proceedings they um have a pretty good penalty decision turned down they score a goal that is disallowed um after it rattles between a couple of players and it is a judged have hit kab's arm even though it seems to hit everyone's arm in that in that sequence um and then yeah in the other fixture as well it was it was one of those games where you know they they sort of had a few really good chances early on and then and then Villa took their chances later on in the game um which is not to say that you know obviously incredible performances from Villa both times because basically no one could beat man sorry no one could beat Arsenal last season and and so they pulled off pretty impressive stuffs so I think that in some sense is important for artetta to to not get carried away and think right we've got to tear up the copy book and and and approach things differently what I would say is that the weaknesses that I see in Villa often stem from them um in in defensive moments when they're defending the box and um I think particularly crosses swung in can be dangerous and we've seen already that Arsenal very dangerous from those sorts of situations uh we're going to talk about Kai havit a little bit more in a little bit more detail as you say but uh the goal at the weekend that he scored was from just one of those situations where the ball comes out back to sacka who can swing in across and and have is there to finish it off so I would definitely be focusing on on that approach in the last couple of games they've played Gabriel jayus which is just he's just a different profile of player I would say um and is going to be I think maybe slightly less dangerous when you're coming up against a packed box and I think that's what we'll see from Villa we'll see them sitting deep again trying to hit the on in those moments of transition and cause them problems there so I think yeah Arsenal really need to be prepared to to to to have Villa bunkering in and thinking of ways of of being able to to cause some problems um and I think one of those problems is going to be trying to hit them um through through crosses and and have have its finish it's also worth mentioning how good Arsenal have been away from home uh this year as well they've won eight of their nine Premier League games away in 2024 uh only drawing one they've scored 28 goals conceded three kept seven clean sheets so they have been very very difficult to beat on the road let's just check in with our Arsenal writer James mcnicholas on how he thinks Arsenal might set up differently from those two defeats against Villa last season one difference could be Kai havitz I think Arsenal played with Gabriel Jus up top in each of those two games against Villa last season Kai havitz has obviously assumed the manor as Arsenal starting center forward and made a brilliant start to the the season with a goal and assist on the opening day against wolves he hasn't yet scored against Aston Villa though so that could be an interesting battle to watch how he fares up front another area to focus on could be left back zenko struggled against Leon Bailey and dii in that area last season Arsenal have jurian Timber back fit after a lengthy absence he came on as a sabot left back against wolves he could well start this game to give Arsenal a bit more defensive solidity should be a fascinating tactical matchup and thring intense game as it always is when these two meet yeah it should be indeed um and I'm really looking forward to it let's pick up on a couple of the points that that James has made there Tim you were you were getting all concerned and worried as is your want about uh Arsenal not buying a a Target man a 20 goal a season man and then Kai havs scores a really number nine Striker goal from across he got 14 last season he's probably going to get more this season so maybe the worry isn't isn't necessary is it I just I I just worry in general Adam you I am worried um no yeah if I guess if you look at his form from like November onwards last season when when he when he remember when they gave him that penalty was it at Bournemouth away charity yeah yeah I guess it was yeah quite embarrassing at the time but when I guess when you you look back maybe that was a little bit of a turning point um yeah I think you could probably take a leaf out of Oly Watkins bucket Villa really in terms of the positioning of where kav Kai havitz is um you know Watkins obviously made that change to his game where he went on emer's instruction it just in between the lines of the The Penalty Box and I'd like to see more of that from from havit for sure because Arsenal have got a lot an awful lot of creative players but they are slightly predictable I think in the in the way that they in the way that they attack I'm not saying it's it's simple but I think you know what you're going to get from them in in terms of how they progress the ball in the final third so yeah if if havitz can be a sort of a penalty box Striker to feed off the many chances that they'll be created then he's certainly got the finishing ability if he's got the confidence uh to go with it which is it seems like in the last year that he has so if he can keep that up maybe he can be the man to to hit 20 this season and that would make a huge difference to Arsenal's title aspirations and those games when many many teams come and enlist a low block at the Emirates and they're they're struggling nil nil after 70 minutes you know you want someone who's a prolific finisher in the Box to finish off those tight chances so so yeah perhaps he could be the man and I can I can stop worrying Adam it'd be nice but I I like your worry because it's almost as if you're thinking well no you've done really really well you should strengthen when you're you're doing really well and they could still have done something they may still do something in the in the closing stages of the transfer window but you would think that they would want a big ticket item to come in um and that is probably unlikely towards the end of a transfer window um and he did actually speak about um changing what he's been doing over preseason and and working a little bit more on getting into um those positions that you were talking about from sacka crosses in particular so um maybe yeah maybe Kai havs is is going to evolve further this season and let's not let's not forget that they were the second top scorers in the Premier League last season they were only five off uh Manchester City um where's your needle on this John should they have brought someone in should they have really upgraded it was interesting hearing you mention the the Arsenal results over 2024 because I think I believe Kai hav has really good u a really good record over that same period we usually obviously take our stats season by season but if we do it in terms of the calendar year um Kai habits is around one um goal well non- penalty goal or or assist per 90 minutes which is very high so if we if we look over the period since um 156 um the highest uh player I can see on this on this list is Alexis who was at 0.9 so we've got so that's 0.9 non-penalty goals or assists per 90 minutes so around every game he's getting a goal or an assist um Kai havitz is higher than that he's closer to one um so he's he's clearly having an impact and it's worth I think mentioning the assists are important too there um because he isn't just a goal geta um he is he is a goal provider as well and I think that's part of the reason why why he'll be included there so yeah I don't really have a huge amount of worry about about habits um particularly because I think the way that Arsenal play as we as we've said does involve and Liam mentioned this you know lots of wide combinations they're very good at progressing the ball particularly in wide areas and so they end up with these scenarios where they have to solve the problem of what how do you score from having possession in those wide areas and one of those is you know if you've got players as we mentioned like bayas Saka who has such a good cross on him and you have a player like Habs who who is is able to finish so well from those scenarios it's a it's a a convincing way of scoring and I think maybe with Arsenal as well there's a there's a bit of a weirdness in that they're so good out of possession that the the demands on their attack are much lower than than maybe we expect for um for Championship challenging sides um so I think that sort of throws things um throws a spanner in the work in terms of working out how good they're going to be the question for me is whether or not you can rely on that kind of game model where you're going to be super defensive um make sure the opposition aren't going to score and then pick up your goals from set pieces uh or from uh or from sort of you know what we would more traditionally associate with with with teams you just like to sling it in the mixer um and yeah I think a lot of us last season were maybe taken taken uh broadsided a bit by by Arsenal in so far as they did seem to change their model and it seems to work um so yeah I'm I'm I'm interested personally to see how it how it all comes out but I yeah I don't think habits is is is a particularly worrying aspect of of what Arsenal are doing as long as they can keep the goals down he won't need to score you know 25 goals in a season and anyway I think on the the rout route that he's going he may well creep over 20 goals anyway so and they've strengthened that defensive line as well haven't they Tim with um Yuri and Timber yes obviously not a new signing but wasn't available and now he's he is um they brought in Calif Fury as well from bologna who started uh on the bench against wolves um solidifying the best defense in the league what 29 conceded last season that was five less than than City if they weren't shrewd in buying a number nine they've been shrewd in in strengthening that um imperious defense haven't they yeah I mean the best defense basically guarantees you a title bid you know C certainly in recent seasons in the last eight seasons the best defense will get you in the top two in the league um in five of those eight seasons the best defense or the joint best defense has has won you the league on another couple of occasions like like with Arsenal last season uh the team of the best defense has finished either one or two points behind so you have to go back to 2015 16 for the last time the the the team of the league with the best defense didn't finish in the top two that was Spurs who conceded 35 and finished third and man united also conceded 35 and finished fifth which I don't remember but there you go um so yeah it's it's it's slightly different in defense you know they've got such a a settled setup um and adding calori and Timber obviously strength strengthens them certainly in theory but also it's a potential disruption in sort of the opening weeks or months of the Season as they form those those Partnerships and alliances and get to know each other's sort of game inside out um so bringing them in slowly is probably a smart thing to do there's nothing wrong obviously with last season defense although I think you would say looking at the team they started with against WS last week that zenchenko is probably the biggest liability and his former has dropped off in the past couple of season so yeah I think you'd expect Timber uh to perhaps come in uh for his first start this weekend so in that John you see Timber as as number one and zenchenko just playing a supporting role for for the entirety of the Season or or not because it's difficult to second guess exactly how artetta is thinking isn't it yeah I think the biggest issue with Arsenal in the last couple of seasons has has been rotation right so I think missing out on Timber last season was a blow because it it did sort of force their hand a little bit they've now added CA Fury to that mix as well and with Calif Fury you can play him as a left back you can play him as a left Center back with Timber you can play him basically anywhere across the back line and I noticed in arteta's press conference he was even talking about Timber as potentially taking up some Center Midfield minutes as well so yeah I I think overall you might expect to see Timber becoming the the standard the standard left back that that we expect to see on the match sheet every week but I also wouldn't be surprised to see um that they're being changed in in different um as different games come along zenchenko I think is is brilliant uh in possession of the ball maybe a little bit too um vulnerable out of possession which will cause artetta um the shakes I'm sure um but yeah there's no reason why you couldn't then use timber in some of those games where you your feeling there might be a little bit more pressure down that side we've already talked about Villa being quite dangerous in that area as well so I think it it will come down then to how well arteta can rotate them and we we could I mean we could even see Timber you know replacing Ben White in certain situations um and because I think at the beginning of last season we saw that happening we had Thomas party inverting from right back into the Midfield as well that makes a little bit more sense I think with Dean rice if you're playing Declan rice as a number six he likes to play a little bit more on the left so if you can have your inverting fullback coming from the other side it just makes things work a little bit better which is another benefit then of being able to um to to use I guess cenko as as a left back and keep him in the wide area and rather than inverting so plenty of options for artetta to to move things around and I I expect to see that happening um and for me I suppose the biggest test of I think Etta's next evolution is how well he can start adopting the the sort of Pep Guardiola approach to rotation which allows City to be super strong at the end of Seasons because he shares minutes around so well and we've not seen that from artetta and we've seen Arsenal drop off pretty much every season that he's been in charge because he's not been able to rotate as much as he might have wanted to well let's cast our minds forward to the end of the season and get your prediction as to whether Arsenal are going to better their points tally because if they can do it then then you would hope that they would be closer to Manchester City and they have done it in four successive Seasons from 56 to 61 points then on to 69 points 84 points and 89 points last season do you see them improving this season their points tally and that being enough to beat City uh it's I mean it's almost impossible to say if that's enough to beat City but what we can say about city is that uh since they started sort of winning this winning the title this um this run of six titles in Seven Seasons they average 91 points a season um well that includes when they got 100 in 178 and 98 the season after so I guess that maybe skews the recent average slightly but in the last three seasons it's been 93 points 89 points and 91 points so I think what you what you can sort of say with with some certainty is that it's it's pretty likely Arsenal would have to reach 90 points to have a good chance of winning the League this season it still might not be enough but I guess that that's we can't predict any of this but that's the mindset that Arsenal have got to have like I was saying earlier you know maybe they go to V par this this weekend and say look a point isn't good might not be good enough um or maybe there's I guess you can say there's only certain fixtures that they can pinpoint and say at a point here is acceptable like yeah like perhaps Villa away or Liverpool away or Spurs away or Man City away but having said that they went to Man City uh in the spring last season and played very very defensively for a nil-nil draw and ultimately if they'd have gone there with a bit more ambition and that's easy to say and won that game than they would have won the league so I guess we know that when that when that time comes for arsenal when they go away to these places and win or at least have the ambition to win and the confidence to look like they're going to win then that's when you can say they've sort of reached City's level um so yeah it's all about Evolution and do you know what they've done that every single season for for the past five years so I would back them to do it again and there are probably a lot of Liverpool fans listening to this saying well hang on a minute um you're not you're saying it's just between Arsenal City and who gets 91 or 92 points well Liverpool put together a pretty decent title challenge for the majority of last season so we can't discount them uh we can probably discount everybody else but I think uh I think we should mention Liverpool at this point as well game prediction two numbers from you John Aston Villa against Predictions Arsenal 2-1 to Arsenal Tim 22 to everybody excellent we shall see okay so Aston Villa against Arsenal ends your Erik ten Hag’s selection approach Saturday afternoon action uh Manchester United at Brighton starts at 12:30 in the UK that's 7:30 a.m. eastern um United beat Fulham on the opening day this is Andy Mitten on our United podcast Talk of the Devils on Eric tenh hard's selection approach this weekend I think the manager stays loyal until a player lets him down if you look at how Harry McGuire lost his place it was brenford when you conceding four four in in the first half a week ago we were wondering whether Marcus rashford would start I said he would because I think he and continue to think this that until as a stinker he keeps his play so I I might be wrong on this but I I wouldn't be surprised if the the lineup was very similar to the one which didn't let the manager down and Tim watching that Manchester United Fulham game back they were particularly unconvincing weren't they I know Eric ten hog was saying look we we're nowhere near full strength we haven't brought in some of our our new signings we're not up at our fitness levels etc etc we've only had 10 days together but they weren't convincing against Fulham were they but they did get the win they did get the win which of course they didn't on on so many occasions last last season and you know I think myself like a lot of people are predicting that Fulham can have a a pretty decent time of it this year so yeah but he's right they weren't at full strength I mean uh delant start uh Garo you'd say will probably come into the team uh at some point and and yeah a couple of others particularly in defense Luke Shaw wasn't there of course um yeah there is there is you've got to say for from United's point of view they had so many issues last season that these kind of games were really rare you know a fairly mundane uh dull 1-nil win at home to Fulham was not the kindor result that they were that they were producing in the second half of last season in particular so there were so many issues with United there were so many issues with the defense last year there were so many issues with the Midfield and then you know they haven't scored 60 goals for for three seasons now um so there was lots to rectify I do question um whether they have the manager to put it all together but I think they do have the the players to rectify last season's many issues it's just whether ten hog is the man to do it Brighton looked sharp at Everton though didn't they John they're going to be a tough tough opponent yeah I mean Brighton have done it again right they've they' brought in they've lost a manager brought in a new one and everything looks like it's going to carry on as normal they' got no Europe this season as well they've brought in rotation options all over the field which they've not had before they've got probably the most exciting selection of wide forwards in in Premier League squads right now it seems weird saying that so yeah Brighton going to be I think good I think maybe even Loki could creep into the European places again I think that's certainly what they'll be aiming to do 53 o'clocks on Other fixtures Saturday come after that game that's 10 o'cl Eastern Time Manchester City against ipswitch Palace West Ham Southampton Forest Fulham against leester who nicked a point against Tottenham on the Monday Night Football do you agree Tim or do you think that they shouldn't worry because they've got the perfect tonic in having to play Everton at home next uh perfect tonic he says that's controversial um I think I think I think with Spurs it's a mentality issue more than anything which is something he's been working on for and poog has been working on for for more than a year now um again if you look at the quality of the squad I think they made some good additions in the summer I think sank is going to do really well there and will fit in perfectly you know they tried with r Allison but he's just not quite the right molder Striker to fit in with the the Wingers they've got either side um you know Verna kesi son and Brennan Johnson they're going to create an awful lot of chances um and I think salanki you can sort of pinpoint him as maybe someone who reach towards 20 goals this season but yeah in terms of in terms of that Leicester game it's just the mentality thing for me um I if you look at Pro C's record over the previous Seasons his second season is normally when things start to click and I I do think we'll see that from Spurs this season I'll be backing them for top four I only said Everton a perfect tonic because they've barely got any players they've started off with a a 3-0 defeat against Brighton off the field um still dominating issues with finances it doesn't seem to have improved in any way shape or form over the over the summer does it unless you've seen some glimmer of light no I mean they've made they've made they've made a few additions more than I thought they would but no one that really sort of Screams I'm going to make a massive impact on this on this first team um I think on on paper on paper they'll have the benefit of three worst teams again this season you know you look at the three promoted teams and Forest and brenford maybe the most likely ones to struggle but that's just a theory you know we don't know how Swit going to do we don't know how L going to do sampton you live and die by your Recruitment and yeah I'm not convinced by the players that they they've brought in but obviously they're severely hampered by by what they can do I I don't think it's going to be very fun for them this season I think we could say that of course it's worth remembering as well that Everton are very good at set pieces and Spurs are very bad at defending them so there's there's that tasty narrative going on in that game as well and um yeah that's the worst thing that that Spurs want really something like that which could mean that they get a little bit game stated by you know an early set piece going in and then having to face the issue they faced against Leicester of of motivating themselves to get back into the game okay we'll see on Sunday 22 o'clocks 9:00 a.m. eastern at Eddie how back at Bournemouth with Newcastle they still haven't signed Mark Gay from Crystal Palace and here's Chris WF on pod on the time it seems that Newcastle are very much at decision time now they either are going to have to raise their offer for Mar G to to get Palace to come around the table again or if Palace aren't actually going to cave in to to to to newcastle's sort of pressure at the moment or they're going to have to move on to somebody else it feels like crunch time now the window closes a week on Friday they've let it drag on quite a while now and I think they're going to either have to pay more than they would ideally liked or they're going to have to move elsewhere seems to be the two outcomes at the moment unless Palace do suddenly change a stance which hasn't happened up till this yeah and as we record this on on Friday morning nothing has budged on on the mark gay situation Transfer news and recruitment um and David onstein reported just to add an extra sort of rumbling of discontent and there has been quite a few in terms of new um recruitment staff coming in there's been the changes in the in the ownership structure um maybe the relationship with with Eddie how just sort of getting a little bit more threadbear that Kieran tripier in addition also wants to to leave the club where's your Needle on the on the negative Rumblings at the club John I I like your needle today yeah yeah I'm not entirely sure what that means but I'll do my best to answer it but just go along with it yeah I mean Newcastle interesting right because we've seen it's a it's a club that's trying to step up to the elite level um in a PSR context and it's very very difficult to do and it almost feels as they since they got into the Champions League they have stagnated they they struggled in the League last year and it now feels as though even in a squad building point of view they've they' they've sort of hit hit a bit of a a bump in the road um it's tough to know how you take a team like that and then and then make the next step up and with players like Kieran trippier want to leave um it feels as though almost you're heading in in the wrong direction there although they do obviously have Tina liento there ready to step in to replace him so yeah I think they're at a point where they want to be improving the squad and they're finding it difficult to to do so I mean the gahi thing suggests that other teams aren't going to just let them buy their best players willy-nilly without without making it hard for them as well so um yeah Newcastle I think are really at a crunch point in terms of what they what what they're looking at in terms of the future as well as what they're looking in terms of this coming season as on top of it at some stage in the Premier League someone will sign a player called willy-nilly won't they I'm pretty sure play for wolves doesn't he I know he used to um speaking of wolves uh they're up against Chelsea uh that kicks off at the same time as that Newcastle um Bournemouth game Chelsea beat sevette in their conference League uh qualif fire midweek that was on Thursday night Enzo moresa has actually engaged in the perception that it is a mess at Chelsea Enzo Maresca at Chelsea saying it might look like a mess from the outside but I'm quite comfortable with it so he would have been heartened by that Victory on Thursday and then he would have been heartened by reading Rose Ed where you also said it's not a mess I used to read a book when I was a kid called what a mess but it's not a mess at Chelsea Tim yeah my my tongue was lodged firmly in my cheek though when I was when I was writing that that's my default setting to be honest uh yeah he's been quite spiky hasn't he he's basically know I don't care about the guys who who aren't training I don't care if they've got 20e contracts uh it's not a mess I fair play he's been getting lot of stick um and when he's only been in the job a couple of months and not really had time to prove himself yet so um but yeah of course it's a mess they've got they've got players who they signed for a total of 350 million quid just discarded who've got a combined length of 38 years on their on their contracts um so it's absolutely shambolic and it's hard to think of a tougher test for someone who's never managed in the Premier League before than that he might be all right he might be right I quite like I quite like the cut of his jib do you like the cut of his jib John I guess the benefit is is that when everyone can see the mess off off the field then they're probably likely to give him the benefit the doubt on the field right so that there's definitely that in his in his favor um but yeah I mean watching the game against Ser just massive massive issues that that they played a strong Squad they're playing against SW Swiss side in a I mean it's a conference League qualifier I mean you should be comfortably winning that and it took them 30 minutes to get their first shot Chelsea so there's definitely issues there people will argue that the former football he wants to play as complicated and will take time to to bed in but having watched what he did with with Leicester I do have concerns he he does seem to be um I called it last week I think a paint by numbers positional play coach which is you know you put your players in in the positions and hope that everything sort of works itself out and I think um it requires a little bit more than that you need you can't just rely on having nice structure and and your players just sort of solving problems so I am very fascinated to see how it plays out which isn't say that I don't think he'll do well but I think that the the the concatenation of different factors here could cause could cause problems the what the what now yeah I I've you know when you get that moment where you're like I've got to think of a word and you go for the worst word possible I said concatenation it just means like everything coming together the the combination I could have said combination and I didn't and now everyone hates me no everyone loves you for introducing a new word you're like um suie Dent from uh from countdown Liverpool introducing new words yeah the athletic FC preview pods Luc Su Susie Dent that's yeah exactly tactics and um words words brilliant um right final word on uh the games this weekend 4:30 Sunday it's all building up to um Liverpool who won at ipswitch brenford Who beat Palace on week one they go head-to-head and let's just quickly dip into our Liverpool pod walk on and hear from James Pierce yeah I'm looking forward to seeing whether we see things ratchet up a bit performance- wise and in terms of fluency and a better start to the game because I think for someone like slot and his staff they'll know they've got to make the most of these valuable days in terms of getting their ideas across and eying out some of the weaknesses that um that we did see at Portman road because as slot said so matter of factly afterwards you know there's much tougher tests to come and um you know other teams would have would have punished liverpol for some of the mistakes they made in that game so uh yeah they're going to need to raise the bar against brenford and just play they did in the in the second half and they will have a better chance weren't they John yeah yeah that was the impressive thing I think about that game Anna slot just finding solutions to to the problems that they were facing with with with um ipswitch ipswitch played really well I thought um and it was great to see Portman Road on TV it's a great underrated stadium so yeah hopefully they'll they will be um impressive in in their own way going through the season but yeah Liverpool on a slot um great tactician a guy who thinks very in in terms of you know solving problems and as a tactician I love watching coaches who do that come out second half and you start seeing Concrete Solutions to problems that have existed in the first half so yeah just a quick word all of those pods that we've Outro uh featured there and we've been dipping into our our guests from all available on the athletic Network we have the the tactics pod as well totally football show the the bite size briefing every morning uh and right here with the weekday hits of the athletic FC when we do our next podcast next week it will be deadline day thank you very much to my panel today uh Tim thanks a lot thanks Adam and John have a lovely week That's all folks quite let's see quite let's see yeah it'll happen um and thank you everyone for listening watching on YouTube as well we'll be back on Monday have a great weekend if you want to watch more episodes of the show please subscribe to the channel we'll be joined by the likes of David orstein Matt Slater Adam Crafton K Lanka and plenty more through the season if you'd like to listen to the episodes in Fallen audio form search the athletic FC wherever you get your podcast from