The Architecture of Exhaustion: Deconstructing Arsenal’s Unraveling, Liverpool’s Cultural Decay, and Chelsea’s Econom...

You're listening to the Men in Blazers media network, suboptimal radio. Setting them this bar of the quadruple was unfair, it was a way to be able to slag them off when they failed because everyone fails doing a quadruple. That's not the problem, it's the nature of the defeats. This is a genuine challenge for them now. Arsenal, do we see quadruple? We meant double, yeah? A generationally magical night of memory-making for second-tier Southampton, earlier Manchester City, a obliterated Liverpool, early Holland, activated like a sleeper cell, Liverpool, a worse-than-Genoeriema, Chelsea, treated third-tier portfell, like Manchester City, treated Liverpool, and a Westam Leeds game, the Leeds won, then lost, then won again on penalties, never in doubt, to make it all make sense. It's amazing to welcome a partner and pod the Crown Prince of Harrogate, the Cherokee of Words, Mr Rory Smith. We've all got FA Cup for you for now, Roch. It was borderline tantric, so let's get right into the FA Cup quarter-final, though wonder, starting with the Shoko Shocks. Did this happen? It did happen, Southampton, too. Arsenal won, going into this game, Roch. It felt like, at last, Arsenal back in action, after that stinger, the carer of our final, lost to Manchester City, McKellar Teto, I love his paythouse poetry. He said it was like a ball of poison in his tummy, tongue-sponsorship, surely incoming, but it really captured or hinted at the self-inflicted nature of it all. The problem with the timing of that carer of our Cup defeat was that Arsenal have had this very tense season, basically, since the start, effectively, but every wheat has been this psychological torment for them, everything's felt like a referendum on our Teto, on their style, on whether they're good enough. And then you face City in the carer of our Cup final, which you don't really care about. That's not the purpose of the season. The purpose of the season for Arsenal is to win one of the big two. And maybe both. But then they lose to City, and they have two weeks to think about it, and some of their players were distracted by international duty. But most of them weren't Roch, because most of them not taken back, because they picked up really unfortunate injuries. A virus of injuries. Yeah, it was a pandemic of injuries. So they've been stewing on it. It's impossible not to stew on it, I think, in that situation. And they will have been raring to go. They'll have been desperate to play again. They'll have been desperate to kind of have a competitive game. And it looked like a relatively easy start, a gentle reintroduction to the business of being Arsenal footballers. But I wondered whether that carer by Cup Defeat left them with a tiny little seed of doubt in their minds. Well, to give you thanks to Bank of America, official Bank of US Soccer, and the FIFA World Cup 2026 for supporting the Men in Blazers media network, discover what's possible in sports and in life. What would you like the power to date? Seed of doubt in the mind, and the poison in the tummy to championship punches, Southampton has to be said on a windy, windy night's storm, Dave. I don't make these out, Roch. I don't know who does come up with yet English storm names. Does feel a little bit like the phone in it in. Storm Dave. Well, Storm Steve was a storm night. Storm Lee. They kind of bounce back and forward, so sometimes you'll get incredibly kind of exotic names. So we've had things like Storm Galataea, all these names that are very kind of evocative. And I think they've done Storm Dave as a joke. You do. You just don't think they thought no one took Galataea seriously because it was over their head. Let's go out of the name that everyone can relate to. Storm Ant, Storm Big Tony. But also, it was sort of ruined Easter. That was the other thing. You want to have someone's name that you can kind of personify really easily. Oh, it's Dave's fault. Oh, Dave. Dave. You remember when Dave spoiled Easter? I tell you what, Roger, it has been, it's been a wet and wild weekend of Britain. We had glorious sunshine on Easter Sunday morning, followed about 15 minutes later by hail. And then I was, as I was walking the dog this morning, and it's covered a tree had been blown over in the park, because we've had gal force winds as well. So it has been... Dave. Tricky conditions. Dave. There's not do half measures. Damn it. Storm Steve is going to be the one that's generational. For Arsenal, Keppiceptis placing goal. Despite the blunder, which handed City victory in El Carrabau or Tetta God bless him, we knew he'd do this. He's a stubborn stiff neck person above all else. The injury problems you mentioned, incredible. Gabrielle Saliba. Gabrielle Jesus amongst those miraculously resurrected in the spirit of the season. They made the squad. Erdogol back great to see him after a month out with the injury. Story going in also. A start for 16 year old Max Downman. More on him to come. Southampton though. What story there are on their own right? Championship team who have been transformed by the management of 33 year old German. Tonda Eckert, who's fostered a culture of ecstatic attacking football since taking over in November from crashed reputation. He'll fellow outside a baby football manager will still 14 game unbeaten streak. He's taken the team from relegation curious to play off aspirants. They were wearing their yellow away kits. Tribute to the FA Cup winning team of 1976. An incredible team, second tier underdog who clipped Manchester United in the final one. They'll 50 years on sort of channel that spirit. I loved it. The crowd just being yellows, yellows to drive the opening exchanges, which were a lot of possession for Arsenal. Has to be said with little men. It's Southampton quite audacious choosing moments to counter down the flanks to ecstatic noise in that stadium. Arsenal looking very early, very vulnerable at fullback Gabrielle. Mr. Header Storm Dave. Question mark. See answer. Basilian Winger broke through. Why do one-on-one? She didn't execute. The goal is mercy. Well, those early exchanges. What surprised you more? There's Southampton. Organised. Fearless. Going for it. Or Arsenal just looking heavy-legged and even vulnerable. Well, I remember Southampton, I won't pretend I've seen loads of Southampton this season, Roger, but they did play Liverpool in the carabuck up earlier on in the autumn. And they went to Anfield and as much as this isn't a particularly high bar to clear this season, deserved to win. Because they looked really good. They looked well-organised. They clearly got talented players. She ends up, I think, missed a really easy chance to give them the lead that night. So I was expecting Southampton to have a bit of kind of bravado about them. And it's the FA Cup. It's a quarter-final. That's how these stories are meant to do. The underdol is meant to come out swinging. That is the point. So I suppose what surprised me wasn't so much that Southampton really wanted to play on the front foot when they could. It was that Arsenal looked so unnerved by it, because the one thing that Arsenal have had all season is this kind of vice-like grip on their own destiny. They're just that unmovable, that unflappable, they're unfasible. They're just kind of drying through things. I mean, that's a compliment. And Southampton seemed to just... The fact that Southampton came at them seemed to kind of almost take Arsenal by surprise. Yeah, it was. It was like a temerity to it. You know, we think of Arsenal. We think of the growing. We also think of control. Arsenal did not have control, really, for any stretch of this game. And it felt like in those early exchanges, it would only be a matter of time before the opening goal would come. But I don't think any of us expected the way. A sudden well-timed for a forward by Southampton. Kind of counter-honestly based on confidence in your defensive organisation. I wish the United States and the Pot should play to another story. Looping ball into the box. Ben White under it. Just missed time to jump. Left it to drop to roast you up. Gentleman who scored from the penalty spot in the last round. Southampton beat Fullham. Scottson were one of the best nicknames in football. Loch Ness Drogber. And he made no mistake with the gift. Thrash the ball through until the exposed keeper. Ruh, what was this? Was this Ben White doing whatever it takes to drop out of England's squad contention? Storm Dave, roach. Storm Dave. Yeah, it was SD. It wasn't element of that in everything, right? Just blame it. I've been in a lot of weekend just as soon as if I'm late for stuff. Storm Dave. Yeah. A momentary missed timing of a jump. But the fact is that Southampton kind of had the had the quality and the determination and the purpose, I think, in the way they attacked to wait for that sort of moment and punish it. But that said after that, Ben White had a tricky old evening, didn't he? He looked like a man who was really weighing up whether he wanted to play for England or not. I miss the end, but I almost made it to Neil. Cut inside from the left and leased the drive, which smashed off the bar. I felt like an ecstatic agony in the moment. Something that Southampton would rue. Or tet a reactor by pulling off J. Zeus to disappoint him Louis Skelly-Motton earlier the guard and replacing with the big guns. Yoccares, Califuri, Madwake, they're in pack instant. Kai Havett's got down to the byline. Pull back a really delicious ball, perfect weight, perfect heft, perfect girth to Yoccares. I think it might even have been Vicks first, in the game. You have three defenders around him. Still made the right body shape to be able to arch at home. Seventeen to the season for the Swedish hand-mouthed coverer. And the commentators couldn't help from bellowing. I think what we all fell in that moment, the Arsenal would be lucky to win it now. It was another moment actually where Yoccares stood up. And for all the criticism he's faced this season. Over the last three, four months, he stored some big goals for Arsenal. He's not Luminium Al, he's not this wonderfully slick, perfectly gifted, technically flawless footballer. But he does deliver in big moments. He did it for Sweden in the international break as well, stored the goal that stood into the World Cup. He does have the slightly wild eyes of a cornered animal, but apart from that, he does tend to deliver when Arsenal need him. And it's amazing how literally you hear that conversation now about whether Yoccares was a waste of money. It feels like he's kind of proved the point. Corn the Danimal, Storm Dave. By the way, it did feel for a spell like for T should kick into Southampton. You kind of fell at Arsenal's strength in numbers. That bench should have been decisive. But what was really surprising watching them, was just there almost an inability to create further goalscoring opportunities. There was the not-to-gabriel, which made the second half an anchored experience. I mean, the sugar coating in this whole game. And let's talk about him quickly. Max Downman, 16-year-old, ran relentlessly at his opponents. With surprising strength, incredible gravity-defying balance could not, would not get knocked off the ball. Head and shoulders above his teammates in this one. Attitude, fearlessness of youth, maybe. But he did look like a boy amongst men, amongst boys. Whatever that means, Artheta, the greatest tribute, moved him to the number 10 to try and run the game. And one, though, it's had a good thing, rule. Or should it shock us that Arsenal's season in key moments is coming to this? It is going to be fascinating to see how Artheta plays it here on in. This is the dollar-attacking performance. You know, the message has been we're going to ease in our boys slowly. But now, can you see an Arsenal future where they ride Downman? You know, the hot hand kid who's free of the mental stain of past failures, maybe. And just surrender to the Downmania. It's definitely not good for Arsenal, that in an FA Cup quarter finals, not the biggest game of their season, but a meaningful football match. The only player who seemed to have any real spark about him was a 16-year-old. That's not great for Arsenal. But that said, they trust him. They trust Max Downman to make good decisions, to course trouble, to create chances to carry danger. And if they trust him, then ultimately he's a weapon they can use. That comes with pressure, I guess, that he's a 16-year-old and you're you're looking to him a little bit more maybe than you'd want to. But if he's got the talent and if he's got the confidence, then as long as they don't risk him physically in terms of how much he's playing, then I think it's okay to use what you've got at your disposal. You do, because it is still a child rule. Mentally, this is going to be the crucible of the season. This is something that will either frame them or stain them, these players, to subjecting essentially a kid, an inexperienced kid to this crucible of expectation. And the point, I don't want to say the downside. But like, it's nothing there for you. If they get to the etihad in the middle of April and Max Downman's in the team, I think that'll suggest to people that things have gone quite badly wrong for Arsenal. He shouldn't, he should not be a, a first choice in games of that caliber. I see Artheta's thinking, it gains the championship side. Given the way they talk about Downman, given the expectations they have for him, the talent he has, the way he stood up to every test that Artheta's presented him with, I can see why he thinks, okay, it ends the championship team, you play. And then to be honest, in the game, if he's the player who looks most likely to do something for you, then you probably do accentuate him. But I think that, and I'm certain, I'm absolutely certain, Artheta will do this. You then have to withdraw him from the fire in line a little bit. You can't, you can't be like, well, he was our best player last week. So when we go to Lisbon in the Champions League, he's in the team. I think that would be when you start to think, okay, this is a measure of desperation, because Arsenal shouldn't need to do that. Cut, it does remind me. When I first interviewed Christian Policit when he was like, 16, 17, I was at Dortmund, he pulled up in, you know, very nice. I think it was a Mercedes-Benz, a nice car. But then a Bama Yang turned up in a Ferrari that was just custom, everything, the wheels, the gold paint job, even had his logo, like his superhero logo on the side. His dad said to me in that moment that Christian can do the football stuff. What's unclear for a young footballer is not just the pressure, but how they deal with that, the adulation, the bling, the sudden escalation of pressure, of height, the like of which most humans never see, definitely not 16-year-olds. And that's the gamble, isn't it? Because Arsenal have been, have known that Downman is special since he was about 13, possibly before, but he was one of those kids, I think we've said before, who's name you heard long before you should have done. And the club have done all they can to kind of protect him. I remember suggesting to someone I asked, that I might mention him as a player that they had come in through, and they said, look, it'd be much better for us if he didn't. He doesn't need to be in the media when he's 15, 14-15. It's just not something we really want to have to deal with. He clearly has a potentially generational talent. But what none of us know, what he doesn't know, what his family don't know, what the club don't know, is what happens when you expose that to the oxygen to the sunlight of this could be one of the finest players of his generation. This could be the player who leads Arsenal's line for the next 10-15 years. That brings with it, as you say, not only pressure, but money and risks and danger, and it's a really difficult thing to deal with. And crucially, I don't think you can foresee how an individual will deal with it. Surrender to the downmania. For Arsenal, Martin, Elni and my Duques scored the chances, and then the ecstasy that I believe Southampton fans are all who paid witness will carry with them till the end of their days. 84th minute, yellow sprang forward, Canadian Wendell Kyle Larrin, strong enough to hold up play to start the move. Shay Charles, 22-year-old graduate of Manchester City's Academy Exchange Passes. I think it was with Tom Fellows. And at least, I've got to say, a quite impudent strike that was all the more ecstatic. Really, because of just how bloody open Arsenal were, or defence of it. But also, this isn't what's meant to happen. There's a, as I say, there's a rhythm to FA Cup games, and what happens is, the underdog comes out swinging. If they score, they have to hang on. And as soon as they stop hanging on, as soon as the favourite stores, equalises, draws level, they kind of steam roller through them. What was amazing about Southampton even before the goal was they just kept coming. They thought, okay, you've scored. We'll keep having a goal. Never lost that focus. Never lost the belief. I was watching on a streaming service in the United States. Streaming service, IE, something that lags behind real time. As you got, you know, the tweet notification that Southampton scored, but probably it ran a minute before they did. Even with that knowledge, I still could not believe what mine eyes were seeing, or that was, that was the level of surreal wonder about this. And you felt Arsenal feel it. The level of their frustration and response, poor Kelly Fiori, lost the carobal, lost the World Cup playoff. Now this, why? Won a dreadful 12 days. A frustration. Just grip them. That was it. It was just like, that was their human emotion. You saw it when Martin Ellie elected to push the referee off with dead ball, which was a new one familiar. I got to say, Southampton, they kept their focus. There was no giddiness. There was a robust, unintimidation. Continue to break forward in moments. But it's been such a strange experience, by the way. Now how did you express fans watch this game, Ro? Watching Arsenal get beaten by a championship side? The joy they experienced. Also, a little bit the fear of their own future in that. Come through. Spurs, watching Southampton thinking, wow, we can't beat these. Yeah, they could. They could. I hope they get promoted, so we don't have to play them. I think there have been a lot of Premier League teams watching that game. And it wasn't a full strength Arsenal team, so that's the first thing to point out. But there will have been a lot of Premier League teams watching that game. I think, just wondering if maybe they'd had a bit more courage about the way they played Arsenal. It's one thing that struck me across the FA Cup games this weekend. West Ham leads as well. The teams are trying to play more football. Whereas in the Premier League, they all seem to hear the Premier League anthem and think, right, set pieces. Whereas, you know, West Ham leads was incredibly open. Southampton attacked Arsenal. They tried to play, then they weren't. They weren't trying to play the margins. They weren't thinking, okay, look, we'd get a set piece and we can we can see if we can knit one. It was, we've got a plan to cut through this team and create chances. And when they came, they took them. And the most remarkable thing, it was a massive FA Cup upset. It is one of those that will kind of echo for a few years. But they absolutely deserved it. Southampton had been the better team. I couldn't agree more. Almost the free hit of knockout football is exhilarating. And what Southampton achieved? To some degree, we focus very much on the middle class and the Premier League, the rise of their footballing abilities. There is a second story. I mean, we've even saw in the last round, Rex and Chelsea, just a, you know, even in that second tier now, that the increase in organization and tactics and ability, the upticking coaching. And for Southampton, I've got to say, I found it so bloody moving. Looking at the joy, amongst the Southampton fans at the final whistle, while singing along to Ksera, Sera, 50 years after their team won. As a second tier club, the whole FA Cup, you know, back again, at Wembley, in a semi-final fearless determined. As you say, a deserved victory over the Premier League lead is Arsenal. And they're going to head to Wembley rule, dreaming of a repeat of history. It's the kind of result that honestly makes the FA Cup sink. Yeah, it was a, it was a shot that I don't know anyone saw coming. You just assumed Arsenal have got this easy landing after losing the Caraba Cup. It's a, it's a championship team. They will win that game 2-0. No one will remember it. Southampton did a big payday. They'll be on the TV. It'll be great for them. They'll come out of it with a head held high and Arsenal sail through to the next round. But the way that Southampton played them was genuinely breathtaking. And I guess they will go to the semi-finals thinking, well look, we've just, not just beaten the Premier League leaders, the Champions Alliance. But we've kind of played them off the park. So why should we be afraid of anybody? I will say Tuesday night, it's quite seismic. Playoff repercussion class, your rexam is their really big game. And I do wish their fans joy. Hope they maintain their focus and they're not utterly emotionally shattered when they take the field. But let's dive into the Arsenal perspective. Truth is, this is about one game, but it's also not about one game. The facts are, Arsenal have not played well for at least a month. They've unfurled. The you talked about at the top grind slog kind of grinded it out football. But now even that ugliness is not working. That's the existential fear this moment. And for the first time this season, Arsenal have lost two games in a run. The noise this morning and the tabloids was just resounding. A lot of you said the B word that runs with Othle. So first things first rule, the defensive openness here. The lack of control in the midfield, the injuries, the blunt up front nature of the performance. Where should Arsenal panic levels be rule from being one? This might actually be a good thing. Our schedule clears up. We can focus on cluttered on the big two double guaranteed to 10. It's happening again. Second place, Olay Olay. Where are you rule on the Arsenal fearometer? I'm probably at a four, Roger. I think I'm at a four because as much as you can look at the two defeats and say they were really poor in the Karabakhok final. But they were up against Manchester City who are the second best team in the country. If you drop a bit and they play well, you're going to lose. That happens. City got loads of experience, all that stuff. But to follow it up with the performance like that, all be it without some of your first choice players. All be it in a competition that is not your priority. You know, they would have been more affected by players to win back from international duty than Southampton were. All of that, they're unmitidating circumstances. I think the compound psychological effect is probably quite significant. That this is a team that has, as I say, it has felt like the last three months, particularly, they have been passing tests. Every day has been a test for them. A test of their mentality and they have passed them. To be honest, they haven't played well for huge tracks of that. It's got worse recently. But they're not, Arsenal are not a beautiful team to watch. They haven't been all season. That doesn't matter because they want to win the Premier League. And however you win the Premier League after 21 years, that's what you have to do. But for the mentality, which has been so vital to them, to suddenly just creak in the last two games. And we've talked before about how setting them this bar of the quadruple was unfair. It was a way to be able to slag them off when they failed, because everyone fails doing a quadruple. That's not the problem. It's the nature of the defeats. I think it's the fact that they did have this showdown with Man City that felt psychologically important, and they lost, and they played badly. They then go into the Southampton game, needing a Philip, needing a boost, needing to reassert themselves, and they can't. If you're an Arsenal fan, I think you would legitimately be worried. Now, they still have a nine-point lead over city in the Premier League. They still have the easiest champions lead towards the final draw they could have had. We said that about the Southampton trip, by the way, they're gone. We did say that about the Southampton trip, to be fair. So it's not like they should be kind of tearing their hair out, hiding under the bed. But this is a genuine challenge for them now. A lot of laughter, as will be expected from those who live almost as much to laugh at Arsenal as to cheer on their own team. I think it's Arsenal derangement syndrome. I think it's called almost a hysteria. The desire to live through to a mocking division. We've talked about that a lot this season. But now, there's almost an angst rule. Secondary effect. A profound angst, I'd say, within the Arsenal fanbase, which is really metastasizing it. What's amazing is how many Arsenal fans in my life texted me at the final whistle. Some version of, I told you, we'll never win anything with that scooper players. Or, or player act should never pull on an Arsenal shirt again. You can set that cap up, Gabrielle Jesus, whatever. Now, I do understand this. Like the PTSD from the past three seasons from past April. A month of historical dread for Arsenal fans in which her team has slumped on repeat. The injuries, lack of mental composure. Failure to turn up in season, defining clashes. Those have been tropes in the past. Almost layers of trauma, failure. Failure sees from triumph at times. Almost I won't get fooled again. It's almost like there's an Arsenal self-catastrophising that just kicks in, or like no other team I've seen. I mean, I know we all do this. We've laughed about this. There's almost like a cognitive distortion. You fixate on the worst possible outcome. You own it yourself. You say it yourself as a defense mechanism to almost compensate for the complete lack of control. Is that the core of football fandom? Yeah, when things are going well, you look at the things that are going wrong. When things are going badly, you look for any sliver of hope. That's kind of the nature of fandom, I think. It's natural that the fans should do that. The fans should be, I've said this a million times, Roger, I said it to you. It's terrifying. Being in the position Arsenal are in is terrifying. It was terrifying for Liverpool last year. The fans don't incredibly touchy, incredibly nervous, really answering. And to be honest, the players did too. It's really hard not to look back on that period around this time and think that Liverpool basically seized up because they got so close to it. And eventually, they kind of didn't quite fall over the line, but they were slowing long before they got to the line. And it looks to me like the same things happening to Arsenal, to be perfectly honest. And that is the critical question rule. What then the players? We know there's the haters. We know there's the kind of self-catastrophising of the fans. That's a natural reality. What does trickle down to the locker room, I think, is the critical question? What do the players take in? You know, if the caribou was was quote, poison in the tummy, is this like, what's that bandagine de potrine? Is it like an angina pectoris, that condition of tight chest, signalling the oncoming of our heart attack? You know, Otetta was quick to defend them. She said, I love the players. I love the players more than ever. So much now rests on Michele, Ro, and his ability to make the players believe that, almost believe they're not doomed, that they're not losers. They are worthy, that they can break through this ceiling, that they can win. I believe they can win, by the way. But I keep coming back to what, that first time I interviewed Arthur Venger, we've talked about it before. He told me the most crucial task for any manager, is to stop one defeat, becoming two, and two becoming, this was his word, a doom spiral. I think about a doom spiral a lot. It just came out his mouth so early. This is a man who knew doom spirals. And this is what Michele Otetta is ultimately was sporting midweek, and a Bournemouth early door Saturday morning. That is the prospecting. How do I stop this doom spiral? Yeah, and Bournemouth and not a team you want to be playing, because Bournemouth will draw with you. There's no question. Bournemouth, whatever you're doing, they are going to draw with you. The issue that Arthur loved is the memories of the last three years, I think. That is the thing they don't have to really confront and deal with and find a way through, because, like you say, April does have negative connotations, and the players, as much as every footballer when he talks and will say, one game at a time, we don't think about the past, we just focus on the taster head. They are humans. They are humans who have the same doubts and fears as the rest of us. And there will be part of their brains thinking, man city is still quite close, and they look really good. They're suddenly storing loads of goals, and they've just beaten us. Maybe they're better than us. Maybe we can't get over the line. Bournemouth will tower in their imaginations now, like Titans. They'll be thinking about David Brookes and Lewis Cook and thinking, well, how can we deal with Lewis Cook? What we think about Lewis Cook? And that is a massive challenge for them. And I guess, I've never won a championship in anything, to be honest. But I guess this is the final Boston, isn't it? You've got to turn front all of your ghosts before you can get over the line, and that's that arse line now in their ghost busting phase. It is the ghost that they are facing. In moments of panic, you do face your ghosts. And by the way, they're all facing their ghosts. Max Down, when he's probably just in that locker room, just lighten his heart and thinking about what I would take for him to be able to meet central C, like whatever, any sex down there. He's sitting there on Roblox, and he doesn't know what's going on. He's just like, all right, man, what's the stress, man? I mean, that spirit, by the way, that is the spirit of teenage kick fearlessness that they need to channel. Once again, well played, Southampton, currently now, on a 15-game unbeaten streak across all comps, huge props to their manager, Eckert, not lost since mid-January. That's why his team had the ability to score late. He said, why? Resilience and belief. I think you need to live that every single day. That's actually wood's spirit that you should try and bring to your life less than ever my football, but it's certainly one that's asked or need to bring in. That Southampton will now bring against Manchester City in the semi-final, oh, Wembley. Talking quickly of resilience and belief, we're heading to a city that embodies both for those qualities. Oh, Philadelphia, we're coming to you. Tuesday, May 12th. We'll be live on stage in Philadelphia, presented by Verizon. We'll cut, we'll be less than a month away. Come be with us, come and raise a beer, come and commune with those who love football in America. Tickets available right now at the link in the show notes, come be with us. Talking about human beings who I believe would love Jim South Street, Mr. Pet Guardiola. Here's Manchester City for Liverpool Football Club Neil. I take no joy in this Raw. You were there. This was on a slots redemption tour. That's why it felt like coming in. Really, the last remaining realistic chance of silverware for your Dutch god with clay feet born a miracle in the Champions League. You've got five massive games stuff into the next 16 days. What did it feel like for you as an objective journalist? Yes, but there's a true Liverpool fan before the game. Was there a sliver of her where? Was there a belief? Do you know what was really annoying, Raj? No, there wasn't. I went into, I walked into the Etihad thinking, this is a relatively easy getting, get out job. I expected Manchester City to win. I didn't think Liverpool stood a hope. So, and to be honest, I was kind of at one with that. I had genuinely, and I'm lucky, I suppose, because on those occasions, I'm going to work. So I can kind of put my work head on and just think, well, I've done a thing to something to write. And then I'll go home and see my kids. And I might be back in time to catch the start of the Southampton Arsenal game. That was my mentality going in. And what was really deeply irritating was that for the first 38 minutes, Liverpool played quite well. And I thought, and I was thinking, after 38 minutes, this has gone yourself much better than I expected. I can suddenly see what's going on. I'm no longer just here for work. You've hooked me in again. And I was starting to think, could they get it to 90 minutes and maybe win on penalties, maybe could they nick one? They'd had the better chances in the first, in the first 35 minutes. They were looking dangerous. They would think, well, this is the same as every US game in the last international window, sweet, sweet rule. I love this. Arsenal fans have the cognitive dissonance of, yeah, we're not going to do it. You've got the cognitive dissonance of, I'm here for work. I'm not here to believe. I'm not here to get hurt again. Because you knew you were going to be against Pep Guardiola, Jenny, who, by the way, takes the FA Cup series. It's one of the many quick peffies. Made the last seven semi-finals. Lost the last two finals. And with rumours of his own imminent departure rumbling. This was really ten year defining for both men, Anna and Pep. I think it's close to two bull men fighting over a cameo as football will ever provide. And the game opened. You're right. It was cut and thrust. Liverpool, sprightly. Through votes and a KTK in the early exchanges. City trying to impose themselves through possession and press. By the way, one of the most fascinating stories. I need to hear how you felt this Pep Guardiola was suspended, yellow card accumulation. So he was up in the stands with his daughter. So it was his assistant, Pet Linders, on the sideline. Six years he was an assistant to Jürgen Klopp at Anfield. What was it like for you to watch Pet Linders go against you? At Fort Berry said, in the many blazes discord. It's the Liverpool Linders press being used against us. Oh, Liverpool, let's go and lose to our own tactic. It was odd, saying Pep Linders in the Man City, in the Man City, dug it out. It was very heated. Anna Slot seemed to have arrived in quite a grumpy mood. And Pep Linders is quite expressive on the touchline and whether journalist sit at the etihad. The managers are right in front of us. And they had two or three very kind of fallen frank exchanges of views in Dutch. I assume obviously both being Dutch, both speaking Dutch, that there is no option other than them both speaking their minds all of the time. But it was a little bit unusual. Yeah, it was unusual to think, well, that's the guy who worked with so many of those players for so long. And as you say, he did seem to be doing things that Liverpool maybe should have recognized to them for most of the game. Yeah, Liverpool had too many of their own things going on to be thinking about Manchester City. The other big storyline, this was Mo Salas last dance, started for the first time since announcing he'd leave the club at the end of the season. We'll talk about that big picture in one moment. But 40 minutes in, it was mew, springing directly from a gold kick, but a still outpacing cousin of Paul Bakker's foot to shoot. But the Uzbekki, this is remarkable, had time to fall over. Get up again. So I've still got a toe back to the ball, the second most shot, the ball went out for quite the most humiliating thing and football has shot the end up going out for a throw in. We'll get back to Mo in a second. But that game settled in, not knock on the quality of the match rule, but really just the sense of the occasion. In that first half, I just kept feeling like an ache and nostalgia for Pep Kloppier, a city Liverpool. For what we had back then, too heavyweight to go and have it like Godzilla and Kong. I think the Germans have a word for it. It's like zen-sourced or something like that, which means like a yearning. When part of your life feels imperfect for a form and more perfect experiences, here the football was fine, but just the sense of the stakes it felt so much lesser. Yeah, one of the things I'd written down that never made it to the light of day is, no, it's not great. Lost that, Roger, there's many, many thoughts I've drawn that way. Was that it did feel a bit like a tribute act to itself as a game, it wasn't, it's man-city Liverpool, so you kind of expect one thing and then obviously Liverpool have dropped their troubles. This season, obviously Liverpool, they're a pale shadow of what they were last year and in the Kloppier era. But I think the same story of City as well that City are not quite as imposing, they're not quite as breathtaking to watch. They don't have as much control. They look like a team that is a year ahead of Liverpool in a fairly substantial transition. And if you look through the teams, that's what's happening, that it's not just Salah Leven, Bernardo Silver's leaving Manchester City in the summer, Rodry might leave Manchester City in the summer, as you say, Guadiola might leave Manchester City in the summer, they both look like teams that are going through some stuff. It's just that City are a bit further ahead in that process. Yeah, and God bless, that's ultimately what edged this game. City had a penalty not given earlier in a half, I think, correctly. But on 37 minutes, Nico Riley, he had the Nico Row Riley Carrabout Cup final, he had the full back who lives the crop up in central positions where you don't expect him, spanning to the box. God bless, I'll verge, lecting quite unwisely. Another dank moment in a long, long season. I think it's his fourth penalty conceded this season. I think he conceded four, exact same number with his previous three and the 19 appearances for the club. An upstepped early in Harlan, to face Marmash Feeley, saved an early penalty back in November. But the raw milk lobbyist, just five goals in his last 20, rolled it home, made flippy floppy in celebration, raw 31st goal of the seasonal conceded about early rumors of his device, greatly exaggerated. Yeah, it is incredible that he's only stored a think six goals this year. That might have been his sixth goal this year, this calendar year, which makes you think, oh, he's having quite a poor season. But as you say, that was goal number 31 of the campaign. So he has tailed off. There's no point pretending that he hasn't. He's had a, he's had a right by his standards of relatively kind of follow winter and spring. But the numbers are still astonishing with Harlan. And the numbers got even more astonishinger, spoiler alert, because we asked us how would Liverpool react? Remember, this was a club who lost season. They often leap first when they won the title, but they roared back this season, 17 times they've leap first, but they've come back only two times. The tenacity of last season has been replaced by a timidity. They are. This game was like watching the US in the international wait, great first 30 minutes, but then completely burning off after leaking. Liverpool's defence just carved open again, and again, and again, Turkey, Semenio, their chemistry clipboard from Semenio for the second chef's kiss. Harlan thunderous, like an Anthony Edwards dunk with a third. I don't like to be hyperbolic. But watching Harlan come alive again, it's like seeing Ted Williams headbreak out of its cryogenic chamber, just starting hitting baseballs all over again. Suddenly, Arthur fans are imaginable, oh, crap, the last thing we bloody need is Harlan back to his thunderous multi goal the game for in this last stretch of the season. But the talk stopped being, can Liverpool matter come back? It was more like, could your boys even cock a fist? And the answer was now, Turkey managed crazy like a fox. By the way, that's an incredible storyline. You know, city wanted votes. Liverpool got him for a vast King's ransom, settled for Turkey for a casual 41 and a half million dollars. He's just an ecstatic force. He's what you call him, man, different gravy. Yeah, Linda said after the game, that was really interesting. He said that, that Turkey is a maverick talent. And that was always what, what I think put teams off when he was at Leon was this idea that he was an untamable free spirit. But what they've realised that City is that he does have a maverick talent, but he is able to not just do the work, but kind of harness that ability, that imagination, that impudence, harness it to damage the opponents. And that, Petlinder said, this not me, that is what makes great players, is having that sort of ability, but using it to help your team, rather than to have fun yourself. And Turkey still gets those, still gets it Rhonda Kaisley, was it in the caribouc cup finally hit at the ball, Juddlin and Dua Diola was very unimpressed. Yeah, this time he stopped on the ball and just like, as if the whistle had gone and then almost lost it, coughed it up in midfield and then just jumped on and again. He just seems to be playing football as if to amuse himself. His audience of one, is his deeply, deeply avant garde, occasionally quite adolescent brain and I love him for it. The ball he used to free Semenya, again utterly stunningly simple. Semenya then freed O'Reilly to send to F. Holland's smashing off the bar, 28th hat trick. In his career, 12 goals, 12 games in the FA Cup, Q. Poznan, Q. Liverpool fans leaving the Etihad before the hour mark with their side 4-0 down. To the astonishing uptick, it really, really was. We see it often from other fan bases. Liverpool, they, you know, are a different culture, a different level of fandom, a different connection historically between fans and team. Club Anthem, which is taking seriously word for word is you'll never walk alone. It was remarkable to witness. It was, I mean, the one little caveat I'd say, Roger, you'd rope in Liverpool, so you're probably better qualified to say this than I am, but I think it's easy to say Liverpool's, Liverpool fans don't walk out on their team when they're losing when Liverpool are very rarely 4-0 down after an hour. Welcome to my world, Liverpool fans. I mean, it was remarkable to witness the defending champions so woefully dismantled. You know, to the extent that this fan base, and I know them well, I'll grew up around them. Liverpool fans left without hope or cheer. Those are left spared from watching the indignity of the most salad penalty miss. You do already miss the pair of chances. It was really an aching numbness watching this man his legs have always suddenly become phantom limbs. And when he stepped up to take the penalty, God bless, by the way, James Trafford, another storyline, poor James Trafford, showing what he thought he'd do all season, probably knowing him compounds his frustration, but I will say to focus and concentrate in the way he did in this game, keep this clean sheet, all the more admirable, just the same. But Mo, after the save, left in the, like an Egyptian Natalie and Rugley, had cold, shame line, naked near the penalty spot. Well, it is remarkable watching Mo this season. It is remarkable watching David Hasselhoff in olden days, just flounder around on the floor, having a chasing a cheeseburger. Or probably a better parallel, a baseball great suddenly getting the yips or a golfer, suddenly getting the yips last season, we all talked about Mo, who was the best player on the best team, and there was no one even close. Now, he's playing so inside his head, he can't do it at all, it's always seeing a superhero stripped of his powers, it's honestly hard to watch. Slot said afterwards, and I think he kind of has a point that City stored the four really good chances they had. I think that's probably about right. It didn't feel like it at the time, but I think that is probably about right. Liverpool also had four good chances, and Salah missed all of them. Now, obviously, what's happened with Slot over the course of the season, that relationship clearly has become tense and fractured, the tactics aren't working, the team's not getting the best out of Salah, it's not set up to make the most of his abilities anymore. But there is a point where there was one in the second half, I think just before the penalty, where it fell to him 15 yards out inside the box on his left foot. Yeah. And ultimately, it is just not on a Slot's fault that Mo Salah puts that one over the bar. And the one thing that Slot didn't say, and he was absolutely right not to say, because Liverpool deserved nothing out of the game, they created the chances that could have at least made a fist of it. And Salah has been the case so many times the season just isn't storing them. And I find it now not just difficult to watch, but quite sad to watch, that you know that this is his last rodeo with Liverpool, the end of this incredible nine-year career. But to be perfectly honest, my sensation watching him is, you should play him as a substitute. You should bring him on for the last half hour when the defense is attired, and see if he can nick one. If you see if he can snaffle one with that kind of that gold poacher's sense that he's always had, playing him from the start almost seems cruel. Yeah, there's a John Barrymore quote of simulator, man, is not old until regrets take the place of dreams. That's what I think about when I watch Mo kind of just wallowing in his own memory, in his own current imperfection. And the impact of it all, we mentioned verge struggling. Alice on our injured. The impact is more than just individual role. It is collective. These legends were meant to be ushering in the new era and feel, taking the old values into the new bowl future with this whole new roster. They're meant to be the kind of leaders, induct them into the Liverpool way. But this last dance for Mo Salah, it's as if Michael Jordan and Scotty Pippin in that final season just got bounced before the playoffs. It's hard to watch verge be the opposite of the player that Jamie Kerr was it just a year ago. Kerriggus suggests it was too good for the highest level of football. This collective drop off, it hurts a club far more than just his individuals were. It is a collective cultural disaster in that locker room. You start to realise how high their standards were. You realise how broad they were. But also you start to see the players that they're missing. You know, there's no Milner, there's no Henderson. All of those kind of figures of this of that era. Roberts have gone. And will Robertson and Alice, there's four left. Does Robertson, Alison, Van Dyke and Salah? Salah has, I'm not sure I've ever seen a player go from such higher level to such lower level so quickly, if I'm completely honest. Van Dyke is not anything like himself. You could in his case maybe say that it's to do with the kind of, he's exposed a lot more than he used to be, but he's making mistakes. He looks uncertain. He's doing a lot of pointing. Doing a lot of pointing. When Liverpool considered Oliver to Van Dyke, Robertson, I think, doesn't have the energy in the dynamism to certainly to play left-back like Andy Robertson used to. And even Alison, when he's fit, he's been, he's missing awful lot of the season. Looks nothing like himself. They haven't reached. You may have thought, well, still incredibly handsome. And I think you need to have Liverpool have got a really interesting decision to make because you need to have some of them around to kind of, you say, to pass the culture on. But I don't know whether they were expecting them all to drop off so fast at this point. I think it has come as a surprise to Liverpool that it's easy to criticize them about the contracts with Van Dyke and Salah last season. And obviously, in hindsight, they were both a mistake. But I don't think it's unreasonable for Liverpool to have thought. They will obviously drop off, but not that they'll drop off quite like this. Bring Darwin and Navi back, your cowards. I will say Dominic Sobsite again, very damning in his post-match comments. He talks about how the fighting spirit wasn't there, the mentality wasn't there. None of us were there as much as we could. Remarkable words. Big Verge said his side quote gave up, which is also shocking. So again, much of the focus is going to come down to one of the slots. I thought it was, you talk about how Manchester City converted their chances. I always believe, I think he said that Manchester City outperformed their XG quote by a mile. I always believe, when you're brandishing the XG as a manager post game, that it's like the last refuge of scoundrels and managers who are really, really feeling it. It's never a good look. As a city fan's delighting and singing, you'll be sacked in the morning down the clothes. And now the visits are reigning Champions League Champions PSG. Really, the last chance saloon this week. A lot of continued tabloid buzz about how loud and how often Zavier Lanzo's phone must be ringing. But raw, if PSG dumb Liverpool really dump and pump him, aren't there's got to go right? You know, not just the the Torrid football, but really the feeling of dented hope that's now gripping the fan base. You said you did not expect to win this game. What's shocking to me is how few Liverpool fans actually believe right now that the PSG class is winnable. Tells you all you need to know, far more than anything, that to me is what makes on the slot's future untenable. I'd be sad if you didn't find the single Liverpool fan who thinks the PSG game is winnable. I think there might be, there might be some who think that you could keep it tight and have a chance maybe, but I don't think anyone's looking at that and thinking Liverpool are going to get through. There were three really damning things for slot on Saturday. One was the pity whistle from Michael Oliver the referee. 90 minutes and four seconds. Four seconds. Guys, that's what you do for kids in a baseball game where they've been slaughtered. That is, you don't need to suffer anymore. That's embarrassing. Mercy rule. Mercy rule. Number two, it would have been slightly worse had he said, do you want to bring an extra player on? The, just what you're allowed to do under eights when it's four nil. Yeah, bring on the kid. Bring on an over-age kid. Yeah, exactly, yeah. You know, bring one of the dads on. The second was the, was the site of the away end, which was, I mean, there were, I think, eight thousand there at the start. There were maybe 1,000 there at the end. That's not, that's not great. That's people giving up on you. And the third was, he broke down the game and he said, look, basically, and I don't disagree with this, that first, the first 38 minutes relatively even, 20 disgraceful minutes from Liverpool, where they did give up, where they seem to have no fight, no pride, no dignity. And then, and on the slot said this, the Liverpool manager said, and then both teams accepted it was four nil. That's not really what's meant to happen, is it? I mean, city should have accepted it was four nil. Liverpool shouldn't have accepted it was four nil. They should at least have been fighting for a little bit, a little bit of common decency. I think I've said to you before, Roger, I'm not shifted after that game. Liverpool want a slot to succeed, and that's really admirable. It's really admirable that they believe he's, he's had an incredibly difficult season. There's all these sort of extenuating circumstances and that he's still the coach who won the Premier League at the first attempt. I think that's a really admirable stance to take. If they get beaten heavily by PSG, if the, if the second ledger Anfield is, you know, if it's just, if it's a bot's ticking exercise and a piece of administration that needs to be completed for PSG to go through, if they lose the Darby at Hill Dickinson, if they miss out on the Champions League, if they come close to missing out on qualifying for the Champions League, and at the moment you have to say it's a pretty distant prospect. Liverpool's best hope of qualifying for the Champions League is Liam Rossiniar. That's all of that. If you stick with slot, that even if you give him a, you know, a whole load of new players in the summer, the minute Liverpool go behind net season, there will be outright and full-scale mutiny. And I think the wrist is now, and it's really harsh, just aren't a slot seems like a really nice man and he's clearly a good coach. The wrist is now, if you, if you stick with him, you've not only blown this season, but maybe you've blown that season too. Yeah, I've got to tell you, I believe more and more. He's like got future Tottenham Hotsapa coach written all over him. City, God bless, had all the joy. Mark Gagey racked up his fifth win against Liverpool since his deadline, they moved to Anfield Claps, which is just incredible. Of the only city misstep on the day, I think it was Turkey, to turn his ball on the Eckerti K shirt on the city bench, as I said, that man is different gravy. Was fascinating watching PEP, and it is sitting by his daughter up in the rafters, in agony, even for Nilla, when he was witnessing things he didn't like on the field, which was a lot. I mean, it's so him. Fasten, by the way, his daughter got, it's also fasten, she knew, knows her dad well enough to like not smile, not crack us or not engage with him, just let dad be dad. It is a fascinating moment. In this tenure, PEP tenure, and Manchester City, all the talk now, Willie Womte stay on at Manchester City, we've been told he's going to make the decision on his own at the end of the season. We know he's won the Kerobow Cup, which we know also is a bit of a Choczky, City nine points behind Arsenal, with a game in hand, that home fixture against our tetaside, charging towards us two weeks and counting. But rule, if it's a Kerobow Cup and an FA Cup for City this season, it's had enough for PEP, as is the kind of legacy last notes won, so. Basically, Raj, no, it's not, is it? It's, that isn't how he'd want to sign off, I think. Two domestic trophies is no small achievement, it's not to be taken lightly. I guess the call PEP has to make, is there any more guarantee that he'd get the sign off he wants next season? That's the calculation, does he look at City Squad, does he look at all the squads of Arsenal and Chelsea and Liverpool and Manchester United and think, I can at least win the Premier League next year, and I think if he does, I think he will stay. Last word, and I want to go back to Mo Salah, or, it remains to be seen where he goes next. You know, elsewhere to Europe, the Saudi League, outside chance of MLS. But I felt so sad watching him this weekend, they actually rewound the tape to go back to that glorious day, Liverpool 5, Tottenham 1, last April, you know, around a year ago, if you remember, it was less a football game, it was more like a coronation, a communion, a game which felt like the sound of a million red champagne bottle court just popping all over the world. Mo was a nirisistable force on that team. The hymn signing in new contract was greeted like a trophy in itself. This was less than a year ago, this is the point. You know, the Liverpool song book that rang out after that game, the fans, what Brené Brown came on our show and talked about as collective effervescence. And watching it again, just human beings collectively see in the moment. The entire team posing for a photograph, Darwin Nunez there, Diego Jota was there. Trent Alexander Arnold, the last to arrive, kind of charged in quickly, just before the shutter went on the photograph. Mo then stepped forward and took a selfie. And yes, it was like with a galaxy phone. Yes, it was for some kind of commercial use. But the whole team posed because he deserved to be in the foreground with all of them as background. It was fitting. That's how he was. He was that good, no close second to him. And now we're watching it when all that's happened since then, is so unbelievably powerful, not just again in a football sense, but in a life sense, really just a reminder, the nothing's forever. Say for what you have, well you have it. Joy is powerful, joy is fleeting. And I think the memories you make, I'm sure you're remembering this moment of feeling just the joy, a wonder, just deep, deep memories that you shared with your son. That are ultimately the most important thing of all. Yeah, and you wouldn't have been able to convince me in any way in the world that within a year, you'd be talking about Mo Salar as though he was, he was kind of finished, ready to be found to pass to you. Yeah. As I say, his drop off of it is astonishing. I suppose the other thing that it teaches you is even the most kind of co-restating brilliant, kind of illuminating players are totally reliant on the team around them working. Because that is, no, without question that is part of what's happened to Salar this season, is that the structure that supplied him so well last season is not there. And so he looks mortal. And I don't know, I think that's quite significant as well, that he has been one of the three greatest Liverpool players of this century very easily. He's in the conversation as the greatest of all time. But he kind of needed everything around him to work as well. And as soon as it stops working, he can't win games by himself. Talking about being able to win games by yourself. Chelsea 7. Poor Vale 0. But we didn't think Chelsea fans think that Storm Dave is really called Storm Caesar as Pillar Quetta, but no one knows how to pronounce that hence. It may well be that the person who names Storm Dave is a, says that as Pillar Quetta fan. Yeah, maybe it says that. In fact, maybe it says that as Pillar Quetta. I think we've just cracked it, baby. There you go. But Chelsea, for one weekend off, thank you, Dr. Port Vale, Chelsea. But I staggered into this game. Why do we watch football? We do so to witness an innovative disruptor business model cracking before a rise. What a terrible international break Chelsea had. The announcement that the losses of 349 million, the biggest ever seen in the Premier League era. And then two of their veteran leaders took time out of their international break schedule, sent you to lambast the club project and interviews at Enzo Fernandez. So I did a talk openly just about how much he'd like to live in Madrid? Dot, dot, dot. Meanwhile, Cucurea took quite passionately about how shot the players are with the Moresca firing that the club have quote paid the price for their inexperience and the model of the club and saying that the heavy defeat to PSG in the last 16 of the Champions League has left the players who want to win things, quote, discouraged. Leon Rossini said Friday morning, you felt Enzo crossed the line by attempting to manifest the transfer to Real Madrid. Won't be part of the squad for the next two games. That includes the Manchester City game fast coming. I wrote in the newsletter rule about how Chelsea's American owners have made no secret that they want the club to be a faster performing a content platform. God bless them in a way they're succeeding because Chelsea are the greasest mother drama in English sport. Yeah, from a content production point of view is really hard to fault Chelsea. They occupy, they take up a lot of oxygen, they occupy a lot of space. The Enzo Fernandez thing struck me has been really weird in lots of ways, but I think the main one was his agent is Javier Pastore, who used to play for PSG. Javier Pastore should not be an agent. Javier Pastore should be a number 10 who's often injured. But Pastorea said that they've been talking about renegotiating his contract. Why are Chelsea renegotiating his contract? He's got six years left to run. Why would you even surely part of the reason that you've signed place to contract that long is so you don't have to renegotiate them? Maybe Henry and this Viserys tried to navigate it down. Like if it's a prison sentence and he's a defense lawyer, like you're not. The good behavior, Enzo can get out after two years, yeah. This is the mad thing that Chelsea seemed baffled, the losses kind of make clear that the disruptive economics of the Chelsea model don't work. But also for the players, surely this Enzo Fernandez is now quite an example of why you shouldn't sign an eight-year contract, because when you get to the point where you want to move to Madrid, as you always wanted to live there, it's a great city. You basically can't, you have zero leverage. Yeah, to commit a great city, to commit to Chelsea, is that what you meant Enzo? I don't know. I do think that when you have that many senior players, essentially come and get me, please. It's an incredible sign, an incredible moment for this Chelsea project that they're going to have to really think about how to counter and correct. But this game then ultimately really blissful, going into it, I felt like it could have been one of the most humiliating banana skins ever. Chelsea had lost every single game, since they beat Rex him in the last round. Thumped by PSG, that's one thing, being battered by Everton another. I'd say losing to Port Vale would have been whatever the opposite of good better best is. The gap between them, this team, Port Vale rock bottom of league one, 14 points from safety, plummeting towards the fourth tier in their 150th anniversary year. The squads, Chelsea's $2 billion, in Port Vale's market value about 10 and a half million. But anyway, the agent fees at Chelsea, I think a loan eclipse, Port Vale's annual wage bill by more than 10X, which is kind of like the symbol of what happened. We all tuned in, Rubeneckas unite, and God, Port Vale wilted within two minutes. Chelsea early corner, Port Vale defended, as if they'd never heard of Corners before, Hato drilled a shot in off the bounce, followed game over, or in that moment, because Port Vale's dream of holding on, they had to come out and try and get to them. This meant that was moment was just like go home, you haters, you Rubeneckas, you Port Vale fan. Yeah, most of the time was a considerable, considerable relief for a senior, I think. Yeah, it felt at that point, as though there was a great letting out of air, and everyone thought, oh yeah, it's Port Vale. Yeah, God bless, the goals flowed. Gel Pedro, pump fake slap home, just before half time, and Mallow Gusto Flicko, set up another cold parmer, clearing up the slop for an own goal, came out for the second half, quite relentlessly. This is what was fascinating. Old Man Tosin got ahead of Esteval, just luscious all over the field, and you could tell how much this was all needed, by how much the good vibes just emanated around Stanford, the relief, the joy. Yeah, a sense of a bullet dodge, but more than anything, this young squad never mind the golfing class, never mind it was just Port Vale. It was almost the muscle memory of feeling potent again, feeling dangerous, almost a team, yeah, we'll drop down the weight class for a minute to feel good again. So let me ask you this, before they head off to Manchester City next weekend, and if they kept final for Liam Rossignia, it would be so good for the optics, wouldn't it, Rob? It would give him, I think, a real kind of shot in the arm, as I've dropped to a major final, it's still a major final, a decent chance of a trophy. Chelsea, on their day, presumably, it ain't as much as the city, it's not impossible, but it would also justify his appointment. I think it would give, clearly, Todd Bowley, whoever's in charge of Chelsea these days, it would give them reason to believe that this risk was worth taking. But then, that's a, I mean, that's surely something you have to decide over the, over the course of his kind of five months in charge, and the jury on that, as smart as he undoubtedly is, as eloquent as he is, the jury on that basically has to be out, because it's really hard to tell what sort of manager Liam Rossignia is, at that level, at this point. For Portfail, God bless their fans, ended up singing, you're nothing special, we lose every week. For this quarter final run, financially, so important for them, for their bottom line. I think it would probably feel kind of dark, but like bombets for boys on Monday morning, back in sixth grade math class, or whatever, as they go back to the lost course, of just trying to stave off League 1, relegation battle, it's already lost. But what you do have, you'll always have those memories, particularly of Ben Wayne, scoring that winner against Bristol City in the fourth round, and then taking down Sunderland in the fifth. A childhood new castle fan, just charging away with Alan Scheer, his trademark home in the air. We all, those memories ultimately, don't have forever. Yeah, and it's a shame that it wasn't Portfail against Chelsea, rather than Chelsea against Portfail. That would have been a very different kind of occasion, I think. Ultimately, for a club like Portfail, having the season that this Portfail team are having to get to a quarter final is an incredible achievement. And I think that's what will stay with them, not the results at Stanford Bridge. In Sunday's game, Westam 2 leads to leads, 1, 4, 2 on penalties, gain a low on quality, high on drama, two teams mired in the Premier League relegation battle. You think both would prefer almost a focus on survival, leads scored once in both halves, seem to be on a canter to their first FA Cup semi-finals, 39 long years. Leighton's could probably taste the number of beers they were going to drink pre-game in Trafalgar Square, give those fountains a good old Yorkshire workout. Westam have been, let's say, second best is being kind to them for the first 90 minutes, but then in 11 minutes of extra time, Eastern Miracle, Westam Resurrection. He is risen, and by he, I mean Jared Bowen, 93rd minute, Bowen thumped a beautiful shot off the post, Matthias Fernandez slapped home the rebound, and then 96 minute, Dessassi went crouching tiger to stab home the equalizer. God bless, new nose last name, a spirit of San Antonio, many of you pointed out in Discard means, holy spirit rule, which is very fitting for this Easter period. But the real lesson is, never leave a game to early people. Hundreds of Westam fans had left in disgust, a bit way through the second half, couldn't get back in when the team scored late, didn't see a thing. Roar, let's just say the sacrifice they made, right? I think that's really mean. I think they should let them back in. I think if you show you've got a ticket, you should be allowed back in. It's mean. You don't think, nah, you were you with the team? No, you weren't with the team. Out you stay, you can listen. There's nothing more shaking as a fan. When you've left the stadium, we just hear that stadium roar from a distance. You're like, what, what's just happening? In the age of cell phones, you can kind of follow along and work it out. We're back in like the 80s. You'd be like, what, did we score? Did they score? What happened? But my God, that is the life lesson. Never leave to early, never give up. Game ultimately went to penalties. Westam had brought their third string, keeper 20 year old, Finlay Harry. He seems like a remarkable gent. I think he'd come to their academy, only play 10 games for Bourbon Wood. As he saved the very first penalty, he faced as a professional, a terrible penalty from Perot. I was a kid, looked like John Mulaney, facially carried himself with a spirit of Jordan Pickford. It was almost like what's in Jordan Pickford in disguise, just his antics, between shots was beautiful. His reactions were immense and I love him. But then Jared Bowen, God bless, an academy match to do with an equally terrible penalty, and Lucas Perry later did the same, which meant leads will be in the semi-final after all. Royal Wolves game on Friday for Westam is definitely so much more important than this distraction, right? This isn't the purpose of either club season, and you're right to, and it's then, I think, both would be able to see the silver lining if they weren't in the FA Cup at all. But what I would say is that it's a long, long time since either's been at a Wembley semi-final. I think for Westam it's 20 years, and for Leeds it's closer to 40. Both of them regard themselves as a sort of team that goes to Wembley, that takes part in semi-finals that competes for trophies. Leeds being at Wembley for an FA Cup semi-final will be an astonishing day in terms of the number of people who go. The fact that it's against Chelsea, and this is one of those kind of ancient rivalries in English football that no one really understands anymore, or certainly new generations of fans don't understand, that will be a game of spite and bile played out against an incredibly raucous backdrop. That might well be the best game of the season, the Leeds Chelsea semi-final. I was so happy for Leeds fans. I really, really, I was speaking to so many here in my life. That the spite and bile, which I need to get on a coffee cup, their rivalry late 60s, early 70s, the notorious 1970 FA Cup final between the two teams which went to a replay was a game that referee Michael Oliver rewatched in like 2021 or 2022, and he admitted he would have dished out 11 red cards, and I think 27 yellows, if the game was played today. I can't wait real. It will be great, and it looked for the FA Cup. Southampton was an incredible story. City smash in Liverpool was an incredible story. Chelsea Port Vale, if I'm honest, wasn't. But I think the game this weekend that gave the most kind of lustre to the FA Cup was West Ham Leeds, because of how desperate both teams were to win. You really saw how much it mattered. And we saw with the FA Cup and the Carabella season that these tournaments they benefit when the teams that are in the final don't see them as one part of a treble or the least part of a double. They regard it as, you know, a generation defining achievement to just be at the final and eat and particularly to win it. And I think if Leeds were to make it through, that would be true of Leeds as well. So to me, Southampton's obviously the great romantic story. But if Leeds make that FA Cup final, I think that would be genuinely good for Leeds for the city, which is important to me, but also for the FA Cup itself. I'm for DCL, I'm Brendan Aronson, who combined in the penalty for Leeds second goal, so happy for both of those remarkable gents who have both developed thick skins to see all once again. And what a finish with a question from our mailbag. But first, quick toast. What raised my third first Michelubon through the day? To Roy Hodgson, who aged 78, returned to the sideline for a second spell as Bristol City boss. He won at Charton 21, first win at Bristol in 44 years and 35 days for Roy. The achievement alone was magnificent. As many joked, see what happens when you give a manager time. But what was really amazing was to see him. So immaculately dressed jacket, tie, pair of power shades, looking like an absolute aura king. He was asked if he was going to stick around next season. He had a lovely turn of phrase. It felt like it was ripped from one of his novels that he loves to read. He said, I should be happy enough. These last six or five weeks, one's gone now, isn't it? Only five before I get the slippers back on. Roar, as a French writer, Jules Renard once said, it's not how old you are. It's how you are old. It's really nice that Hodgson, who I've got to admit, I thought had retired properly, not in the way that most managers retire, which is until they get a better offer. It's really nice that he kind of made the exception to come back for the club where he started. I think that is given the amount of time that has passed since Roy Hodgson started out in management, I think that is an incredibly kind of moving thing to happen. It's like a salmon swimming upstream before, you know. And it shows kind of that, you know, in a lot of the books that Roy Hodgson likes reading, a kind of more Philip Rothey. It's kind of the dark heart of humanity. But he's obviously got a romantic soul as well. Godspeed. He's like a young David Moise returning to the club. God bless you, both to the male bag. A lot of joy for me this weekend as an Everton fan is in that we haven't played. So we got to extend the feel good vibes and dream still vibing off that 3-0 win over Chelsea. We inevitably go and crap the bed at Brentford next weekend. Sure, Tottenham fans feel light-wise, which is why it's such a wonders to get this letter from David Sheppard in Texacana. But I love the name of that city. I'd love to do a live show with you in Texacana. Rule, do the honors. Where is Texacana? It's on the border of Texas and Arkansas, which is why it's just like, what it says on the tin, Texacana. Nice. Roger and Rory. I can't tell you how healing it is. I can't tell you how healing it has been to experience a weekend in which Tottenham have not planned. No fear. No darkness. Not even a single Mickey van de Ven moment of self-sabotage to save her. Yeah, I've not been able to shake the fear of our predicament and the cliffhanging sense of whether our new dad Roberto deserve it. He's going to be our savior, all like that stepdad in Boyhood who started off kind, but then fell apart and became more and more of an older. That's that one. I'm both counting down the moments until we face on the next Sunday and also dreading it. Remind me what, remind me why we watch football again. Is it for the self abuse? Can you give us a rational objective read on how deserve you will do and whether we will survive the seven days intact? Yours in daring and doing Storm Dave. Storm Dave? A big big love for that, Rory. Tottenham, enter the deserving. On some coin, it has to be said, I think six best paid manager in the world, $60 million a year at a reports to sign on to the spurs doom ship with no relegation clause. He'll be there whatever happens. So he says next season he's arrived with his reputation as a deeply tactical innovative manager. He's uncompromising. I think not the most practical, not the most lock it down, growing it out over the next seven games rule. On one hand, spurs are saying to the players, we didn't bring in a temporary teacher. You've got to pay attention. This guy's going to be with us for this foreseeable future. Get it right. Impress him. But on the other, they put in an artist. And this is a bit like having an avant-garde creative like a Murakami to your house because you've got a termally blocked toilet. What words of advice do you have for spurs fans like Dave for all that is to come? I'm trying to think of how a rookie Murakami would unblock a toilet. I'm sure he can. I'm sure that's within his real life. We have a tiny little piece of origami. The, you don't want to put origami down your toilet. I know. That's the problem. The thing is, Raj, that football logic is that they should have appointed someone like Sean Ditch that you don't get the ferryman to the ferryman. Someone who can, a remediation specialist, knows what they're doing, knows the lead, battle it out, get them organized, get them, you know, keep them up, get us a big payoff off you don't. But not in the forest of Trident, it didn't work. They needed to get rid of Sean Ditch. I am a Sean Ditch believer. But to be honest, I think spurs have made the right decision. They've gone and got a really good coach. Someone who does have a distinctive style of play. Someone the players will want to impress. Someone who they will take seriously immediately. And that, in the circumstances, is probably the right play. The one little asterisk I have, the little doubt I have, is that quote from Lewis Dunn, who obviously played for Deserbian Brighton, who said that the first two weeks were carnage, that none of them knew what he was talking about or what he wanted to do. And it was only after a while that they started to kind of take his messages on board. Spurs don't really have that sort of time to play with. They need to work this out pretty quickly. But then I did, it did occur to me to be honest that the timing of it's quite smart. They didn't play this weekend. So he gets two weeks, he gets to have a little bit of time to imprint his ideas on the squad, to figure out which players he can use over the next six weeks. Does he only needs to win two or three games at most? That's all he'll need to do. And they'll stay up. So as much as it is a risk, as much as it is a gamble, as much as there are reasons to think they may be, he's clearly made the most of his leverage in terms of the deal he's signed. I have a feeling it's the right thing to do. I think they've done something bold and daring and brave and I suspect it'll pay off. Yeah, I mean, that is ultimately the question, Dave. Deserbian is a tactical, I was rigorous. You've done with a fundamentalist and whether you can inculcate those ideas, that strategy, that sense of cultural change in essentially one international break, we will find out. I'd worry more about two things. First is, with time, we've seen Deserbian prove clubs, but once his tactics are found out, it's what happened at Brighton. He doesn't change. He kind of burns his welcome out. That's been his pattern. He's the opposite of calm and stable. He is a volatile element in his own right, which is probably medium term, going to be quite a fascinating, is it what spurs need? But second, and probably the bigger question, at that question, what do spurs need? Who is making these decisions? Spurs, hiring of coaches, has just felt so unbelievably random. Postercogli, Thomas Frank, two-door. Now Deserbian, it's just all over the map of management styles, management philosophies, management personalities. That lack of a plan, which looks very much like reaction and counter-reaction. And we're definitely in the latter mode right now. It's that chaos thinking that's dead spurs to this place of deep, deeply profound loyalty and dignity. And it's that dull term that he has to change. There isn't any real sign that the club knows what it wants to be or how it wants to get there. I guess in Deserbian, you get a bit of both. You get someone who will force the club to be shaped in his image. But first of all, he has to ensure they're doing that in the Premier League. Because to be honest, if they're not in the Premier League, then all bets are off. So they have six weeks to survive. And then they can start to think about the bidder picture. Well, to give you thanks to Bank of America, official Bank of US Soccer and the FIFA World Cup 2026 for supporting the Men in Blazers media network, discover what's possible in sports and in life. What would you like the power to dig? I think win at Sunderland. And this, the noise just immediately goes away and God bless believing that Tottenham Hotspur. And also we believe that West Ham are not going to eclipse the results that you do. I think that's ultimately there's two teams that you can be cheering for. But that is it for today. Keep sending your messages about ideas, suggestions, to our mailbag at meninblazers.gmail.com. I do try and answer as many as possible. They fill me with incredible joy. We'll be back with European nights tomorrow, covering all you need to know about the European battles to come and they are delicious. I'm off to the masters. I'll be in Augusta Thursday night. Friday we'll do a show down there with Bank of America. Come be with us if you are golfing climbed until then, rule huge, huge love. Thank you, beautiful. When I don't recover from my dose of FA Cup fever, I think some paracetamol will do it. Oh, it won't. It's poison in your tummy. Big, big love to you. 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