Football Daily - Premier League Review: A perfect start for Carrick’s United and a winless weekend in the title race

Episode Date: January 18, 2026

After a dropped points for Arsenal, Manchester City and Aston Villa Rick Edwards is joined by former Premier League midfielder Nigel Reo-Coker and the Telegraph’s Luke Edwards to reflect on the weekend’s Premier League action.Can Michael Carrick inspire his Manchester United players to consistently reach the level of their derby win?Is Erling Haaland’s frustration showing as his Manchester City goal drought continues?Do Arsenal need more from Viktor Gyökeres to get them over the line in the title race? Can Oliver Glasner continue at Crystal Palace after his claim that his squad "are being abandoned completely" by the club's hierarchy?And are Thomas Frank’s days as Tottenham boss numbered after defeat to West Ham. Timecodes: 01:20 – Perfect start for Manchester United under Michael Carrick 15:25 – Manchester City’s winless run continues 22:25 – Do Arsenal need more from Gyökeres? 25:00 – An important point for Nottingham Forest 26:01 – Aston Villa miss the chance to move second 29:21 – Half time teaser 31:55 – Glasner’s standoff at Crystal Palace 41:59 – Pressure mounting on Frank after West Ham defeat

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Buy your next car gurus today with Car Gurus at Cargooros.ca. Go to cargooros.ca.com.com.com.com. That's C-A.gurus.comerus.ca. League Review with Rick Edwards. Hello and welcome to the Premier League review after a weekend of drop points in the title race and not tons of goals. Joining me to dissect it all the Telegras Northern Football Writer

and interestingly, the inspiration for John Lennon's I am the Eggman line, Luke Edwards, and former Premier League midfielder and probably your third favourite Rio, Nigel Rio Coker. Evening fellas, how are you? Hold on wait, who's the first and second favourite Rio? I just need to know. Ferdinand and then the play.

in Brazil. Debatable and debatable. I'll leave you at that. I admire yourself confidence. It's not a great weekend of football, I wouldn't say. There was some interesting stories emerging, but not many goals. No, it's a weekend for headlines

for everything but the games, really, wasn't it? Yeah, it felt like it. Which is great for this podcast, let's be honest, because we want talking points, we want fallings out, we want people behaving badly. And we've got all of that. We want, you know, we want people offering others out for a fight, which is one of my favourite stories of the weekend.

That's not great. Sorry, this is my... You may as well keep it in. Mum, I'm recording a podcast. Has she gone? She's gone. Oh, okay. I don't know where the best place to start is,

but should we go Manchester United? Why not? Yeah, I think so, because we've been hammering them, like, week in, week out. And now they've had really a perfect start to life. under Michael Carrick. Two-neill win over Manchester City in the Derby at Old Trafford. Don't think anyone was anticipating it.

Even if, you know, I spoke to the United fans before and they were like, if we can get a draw out of this, they'd be delighted. But actually, deserved winners and Burma and Dogger with the goals. Also a sort of added bonus for them.

Obviously, creeping up the table, but denying City the chance to close the gap to Arsenal. Kind of ideal for Carrick. And could have been more, as well. I mean, there was a,

how many, how many goals were disallowed rough side? Two, three? Something like that. Three. Three goals

were offside. Yeah, hit the post right near the end as well. Like it was a really dominant performance, Lou. Manchester United are so back

part 972. They did feel like it though. They are back. They are back. They've got a legend in the dugout, playing legend in the dugout, transformed them in a week. I think I know.

I have seen. this film though I don't remember this film quite well let's concentrate on the let's concentrate on the positive

because everything you said is absolutely 100 accurate they outplay city dominant probably the best Manchester United performance for some time

people would certainly this season for two years which doesn't reflect overly well on Ruben Amory I think the person who probably

came out of this looking the worst is Rubin Amarim given that he couldn't get a tune out of that team and certainly not a performance

of that quality So bodes really well. Excellent start for Michael Carrick. I think he will bring, forget the legendary player stuff, forget the Messiah, forget, you know, they've cracked it and their back. I think he'll bring a calmness to that position. So a dignity almost to it as well. I was impressed with the way he spoke to the media before the game,

even more impressed with the performance. But yeah, it is unfortunately. In the back of my mind, I've just got a voice saying, they're going to end up giving Michael Carrick the job permanently and then we're going to be back into the Oligana Sol Shoya saga or scenario again. So yeah, perfect start for them but I think Michael would be the first person to say

it is only the start. But yeah, brilliant performance from them and completely outplayed Manchester City. Also very interesting to see Manu playing. Yeah, Rumen Amoryam, obviously. Didn't fancy him at all, but he came in and played well with Casamero, Nigel. Yeah, but come on, it's like you said, it's one game.

I expected a new manager bounce. Did I expect it to be as good as this? No. It's a win for Manchester United, but I've got to say it's a win that they actually deserved. And what makes it better is because it was the Manchester Derby. But like you guys have said, we've seen this story before,

so we've got to be careful. You know, we always say to the players and players always say, consistency is the key. Let's leave it for a while and let's just see, because I don't say straight away. in Manchester United have turned the corner because it's these same exact players who when they drew against Burnley or I think is it like they drew to Burnley or is it they lost to Burnley at home

wolves. Yeah, they ran down the tunnel. You know, so all of a sudden now, I think it's a good start for Michael Carrick. But again, cautious tell, Oliver, Olegona Sholskar, before he was given the permanent job, one after 14 out of 19 games, then he gets the permanent job and only wins two in 10. But it's a good start. It is a good start. And again, some of the same. Sometimes that's why I love the game of football. I don't know about you guys, but I really love this game of football. Because it can be seen in so many ways through so many different eyes. I mean, you look at Carrick's team there, yes, Maynu comes back in, good game.

Finally, they put Dog who higher up the pitch because defensively, he can be a bit of a liability. And he's causing more chaos for Manchester United up the pitch, where Rubin Amram did it, then revert back to putting him at wingback again, where it just shows the beauty of the game how so many eyes see it in so many different way. And I think for me, sometimes we try and overcomplicate things. And you get people like Luke who try and make it seem like some of these... Why am I getting shots now? Why are you turning on me?

Can I finish? I'm not turning on you. I'm just saying people like Luke in a negative way. Well, we don't know that yet. Okay. We don't. Exactly. Carry on. People like Luke in the media who like the new coaches trying to act like they're reinventing

the wheel. And one thing about football will not change and the foundation of football will not change gentlemen is sometimes you get to a level where you just have to stroke egos. And some managers are better than others at it. And I think that when you look at Manchester United, it's just stroking egos, getting these players to find that confidence in themselves again, to go out there and perform. And sometimes you might have to find different ways to motivate these players. And I think that's what Michael Carrick's done. You know, there's not much you can really teach too many of these players.

What happens in a situation like the one with Coppianna? Because from the outside, I think most people are looking at it and thinking, but he's really a very talented, I know he's young and he's got stuff to learn, but he's a really, really good player. And I couldn't understand why Amarim just didn't want to play him. It's, Rick, can I just say this?

Yeah. I think it's great you say that because so many people say different things. So many people will say, oh, well, Amram came out and said, oh, you've got to train well to play. Amrin also said Kobe Maynou's in competition with Bruno Fernandez, where they're two complete different players for me, two different profiles. So basically you're saying the kids got no chance. I think sometimes what people have to understand is, again, I always use this word, the human element of it. It's not wrong sometimes just to admit that you don't like someone. Because sometimes some of these managers get in these positions

and they make it seem like it's never personal, it's never about the individual, it's, oh, they don't train well. But it's easy for them to say it because the people in the media, people like us, will feed into that and say, okay, well, he's not playing because he's not training well.

But we don't know that. We're not there in a day-to-day occasion. Sometimes managers just don't like players. They don't like the player, regardless of how when he trains. That's what it felt like with Amarim and Mayno, isn't it? That's just my opinion. I'm not saying it's 100% gospel,

but from my opinion, I just believe he didn't. fancy Manu as a player. That's it. It's not about, I'm not there today to day training, so he could say that and that might be true. But at the same time, this is a young kid coming through the academy who, if you do play and you don't play,

you do lose your confidence. We've seen it happen with players older than Kobe Manu. We've seen it happen with season players when they're in and out the team, don't play and they lose the confidence, and then there's the individual ego side of it. So I think that plays a part. The beauty with Michael Carrick coming in is he understands the club Manchester United, You understand the academy, what the academy means to the club and playing young players through the club.

And also, Michael Carrick played in midfield. He's a centre midfielder who could probably coach and develop Kobe Manu more to understand what he's best role or what he's best suited to play as a centre midfielder. So that becomes a bonus onto it. A long list of baffling decisions, Amram's just ostracising of Mayno was right near the top of list. Just really weird. Just really weird.

Because he'd been fast-tracked into the England squad for a reason, and he actually did pretty well at the Euros, if you remember. And we were talking about him. Yeah, he had a lot to learn. Yes, there was mistakes in him. Yeah, but that's fine. But the young player. But coach him, make him better.

But the fact he seemed to be trying to force him out. Yeah. And I wondered whether that was for PSR reasons, whether that was going to free up money for him to invest in the squad. I don't know. But of all the things he got wrong, we won't dwell too long on the formation he refused to change. that was probably one of the biggest blunders.

And just plain odd, just really odd from a manager to sort of do that to a young, homegrown talent, who obviously has ability and had potential. And he made him worse. So at some point that has to reflect on the manager rather than just the player. Let's get massively ahead of ourselves then, as we like to do. If Michael Carrick secures champions league qualification for Manchester United, does he get the job permanently? He will have a great shout.

I mean, there will be, there will certainly be a lot of supporters who would go for that, I think. I think if they finish the season well, if they do well, look, Michael Carrick didn't fail at Middlesbrough as such. He had two pretty good seasons there and had his team ripped up and lost his best players, and it unraveled in the third season. I think he showed potential there. It is a catch-22 situation for them, though, because they're pausing in the hope that there is, for want of a better phrase, there is a world-class manager out there

that they can persuade to come and take the job. But if Carrick does well, there is bound to be a temptation. If he sorts that dressing room out, finish the season strongly, get into the Champions League, they will be sorely tempted to give him to the job because he is a former player

because he understands the club and there will be that emotional tug for them to do it. It is a very difficult decision for them to have to make if Michael Carrick does well. And my personal feeling, is. If he shows he can work with Jason Wilcox, if he shows he can work in the management structure that's in place, those people at the club who are also feeling vulnerable, who have

been threatened by Ruben Amarim's sort of exit speech, they may well go for Michael Carrick because they think it's the least explosive option for them personally. So it'll be very, very difficult. I think some supporters will be very underwhelmed if it was Michael Carrick, no matter how well he does. I think there'll be some supporters who think if he does well, we deserve the chance. Now, let's talk about the thing that we've obviously all been done. to talk about, which is the possibility of a fight between Lassandro Martinez, Paul Skulls and Nicky Butt. Because it's really, there's nothing to not enjoy about this.

Say it to my face, Rick. Say it to my face. Just say it to my face. Because I think that Butt and Skoles were both quite funny about what Harlan was going to do to Martinez. And you would probably have thought that they weren't a million miles off. And then Martinez just comes out is really. good. He won 100% of his aerial jewels, won 100% of his ground jewels, kept Harlem really quiet, and then basically said, come over to my house or wherever. Come to my face, it's lovely.

Can we say it to my face? First off, as in sympathy with Nikki Bart and Paul Skull, there's somebody who's never said anything stupid on a podcast. I've got no way in ever have a track record, have ever put in my foot in my mouth and embarrassing myself. They made some lighthearted comments and Martines responded to those comments, absolutely brilliant. First thing I'll say is Manchester United are actually better at the back when Martinez is in the team, in my opinion. It was a bit unfair. I think everyone would agree with that, really. It's a bit cruel.

I mean, they mocks his size. They said that Harlan was going to pick him up on his shoulder and carry him. They're not exactly units. Whilst laughing, whilst laughing like school children, it was very funny, but that response from Martinez is just box office. Come and say it to my face. Second thing I'll say is I don't think Nicky Butt in particular is going to shy away from saying exactly what he said on a podcast to Lissandro Martinez's face. No. I don't think Nicky Butt is that type of character.

I think he'd be quite willing to go to his house and probably front up on his door step and say, yeah, I've said it. And I think Martinez will be quite willing to open the door and have it out as well. I think he underestimate the heart that that Argentine has to be fair. He's got the heart of a line. The butcher. He's a lute. is what he is. The butcher.

He's got the nickname the butcher. Yeah. I don't want to go around to someone's house whose nickname is the butcher for a fight. Yeah. But to be fair, listen, it's credit to him, though, because it's not even the first time we've seen this, though, because when he first got to Manchester United,

people did mock his size as well to say, how is he going to play centreback in the Premier League. Too small. Yeah. And he proved people wrong in the first couple of games. It's surprising how good he is. The heart. Yes, he is. He's very good, very influential.

Sometimes he can. get too over-emotional, too passionate in the game, but he is a big difference maker. He's someone that could actually be a leader in that back line and be a leader for Manchester United because he's got it in him. They stumble on a partnership because McGuire's hardly played either and he was also phenomenal. A player who's been written off more times than I've said stupid things on this podcast. Harry McGuire back in the team, he was phenomenal as well. So, I mean, that was a big part of the reason why Manchester is so good.

And I think it was very interesting. if you watch before the game Jonathan Woodgate, who was a brilliant centre half, probably the best centre half I've seen play live in my professional career. Best Rayl Madrid debut of all time? Well, that didn't go great, but it was a phenomenal player and it's interesting that he's gone in there with Michael Carrick

and Nigel's talking about Michael Carrick been able to help the midfielders with that previous experience. Jonathan Woodcote elite centreback and he's playing day. They should have been capped way more time to England but it's interesting that he was working intensively with Martinez and Maguire before the game as well.

well. So that could have a really positive. Are you surprised? It's a bit of common sense, Luke. You know, if you've played in that position and your good player, and you've played against world-class players and top players, you know how to transfer information well, and you can get these players to understand their strengths and how to play in this league. It will be very easy. But again, I agree. I think that does play a part and goes away.

I think you don't see enough. Obviously, it used to be quite in vote to have little and large strikers. you don't see many little and large centreback pairings and I really like it. Manchester City were pretty disappointing and this is sort of part of a quite disappointing passage for them. I know they were unbeaten for a while, but you look at them in the league now,

haven't won in four, so lost this one obviously and then drew the previous three. And I don't quite know what the problem was, but I guess scoring goals is an issue Harlan's only scored one in his last seven which for him is a real drought and then Foden who was looking electric at the start of the season

now hasn't scored for eight games I think it is Rick I'd say for me my biggest concern I don't know what Luke Feeks is Hallen, Erlin Halland and it's not just he's not scoring goals but it's also his body language on the football pitch now I think the frustration is really starting to creep in.

Because even watching him against Newcastle, yes, they won 2-0, but you could see that he's kind of getting a lot more frustrated now. And more so back to the Manchester Derby, he's making runs, he's not getting found, he's not getting the ball, they're not playing to the strengths, then they're not even getting crosses into the box. And then the time when he actually gets taken off is when they start putting crosses in the box,

which is absolutely crazy to me. And I think that the frustration in him now is really starting to grow that's a worry. And the worst thing about that is you got Semenon in and then you've also got Doku. Both these players are out and out wingers. And I think for me, like, you've got two absolute weapons out wide, but they don't get enough crosses in the box. And the difference between Semenium and Doku for me is Semenon is probably bought in more so to get more goals to take off the pressure off Erlin Hallen because he's definitely capable to get it. I'll say probably at least 15 goals a season. Doku won't probably get you as many goals even though he should. But then,

again, Phil Foden's forms dropped off now. So again, all the pressure and burden of scoring goals as landing on defeat or Erlin Hallen, but he's not being used well enough. They're not finding him enough as they should. So that's a worrying. And I know defensively, Pep already is very aware and knows that his team is very vulnerable.

So I think Pep's mindset now is we're just going to score more than you. But because of obviously all the injuries they've got, fortunately for them, they've been able to maybe get gay here and there who can be a bit of a difference making that back line. because that back line is just not good enough. You know, you look at the whole back line. Their best defender you can put your hat on is probably Guadio,

and he's injured now of a broken leg. Other than that, there isn't really that solid still along that back in Manchester City's team. No. It's nice, so if you have a few problems, isn't it? Yeah, it's nice if you have a few problems as a manager that you spend close to half a billion pounds in 12 months to improve your squad. And what is fascinating about this? Do you think that means he stays, by the way?

that spending. Yeah, I think that's a really interesting... I say it's signpost that he is because they're spending so much money mid-season to get Semenyo, to Bing Gehi in... Wait, stop. Sorry. Did you just say you think he's staying, Luke? I think, well, I have some inside knowledge of this.

I did actually ask Pep Guardiola if he was staying on at the end of the season at the press conference and he shouted, oh my God, and shouted at me and got very animated. one more year left on my contract. I'm staying, I'm staying. So he's either lying, but I think it's more actions rather than words, because he's never, he's never conclusively said, I'm going to stay for another year. There's been all this noise about maybe he's going to leave,

but they've just spent close to 500 million pounds on players. You can only presume he had a pretty, he's pretty strong saying in them coming. I just think that I wouldn't be surprised if he leaves. I think that like Luke said, I do see the motivation in him, but I see motivation in him in the belief that they can win the Premier League title this year. And I think if he wins the Premier League title, with those players there, he can leave and he's left Manchester City in a very healthy state for whatever manager takes over next. I don't see it as a two-year project or anything like that.

I think he wants to win it now, say, there you go, stuff this in your face and walk away and can walk away with a healthy, strong squad, wherever comes next. What if they don't win the top? title and he's still got one year left on his contract? If they don't win the title, then I think he probably will stay for the last year. But I think if they win it, we've obviously being against catching Arsenal, maybe. He's prodigé, Mikhail Arteta to win it like this. I think it'll be, there you go, have that and walk away.

Maybe. And he leaves him with a healthy squad. I just think he's in a very fortunate position that he's had that financial backing to try and rebuild that team midseason. They were very, very active last January as well. when the season were in trouble to tallying off, brought in a load of new players. They've spent as much as Liverpool

have spent. Liverpool have taken a lot of criticism for their recruitment. How good has Manchester City's recruitment actually been in the last 12 months? I mean, that is a pertinent question that could be asked. Marmuch can't get a looking behind Harlan, can he?

Cushanav hasn't really played that much. So, yeah, it's in a very fortunate mission that they are doing it. I just think it would be strange for a club to spend that much money or buying players at a manager who was about to leave. But they're in trouble, because this is the time when we presumed

they would put the accelerator down, they'd go in a massive winning run, they crank up the pressure on Arsenal. They're in danger of let an Arsenal get off and ride off into the distance. This is very unman city-like, actually. But you've got to also look for the future of the club. There's still time for that to happen,

but it doesn't look likely, does it, at the moment? No, and we weren't, we weren't, We went into the start of this year thinking that, you know, Man City had that title winning know-how, you know, Arsenal will under pressure. Actually, at the moment, it's the opposite. Arsenal are holding their nerve and Man City are faltering. Actually, in fairness, at the start of this season,

we're all saying, well, Liverpool are going to walk this, and look at that, it's turned out. Only you said that, Rick, I didn't. No, no, no, no. I went very early and said, people keep assuming that Liverpool, just because they're playing badly, I remember it very vividly, I said people just presume the Liverpool playing badly

and they're going to click. And I said, what if they don't? What if actually they've got worse? And look what happened. They certainly have got worse. By the way, cities, you know, I don't really like XG, but interestingly, their XG in the Derby was 0.45, the second lowest recorded

in Guadioas' 364 Premier League games in charge. He's probably a lot of new players. That could do funny things. the dressing room as well. You know, we've seen that at Liverpool doing all those changes in the summer. Just signing players doesn't automatically fix problems.

It doesn't automatically make you better. It is a team in transition and it isn't transitioning as we expected it to, not very well. On Arsenal holding their nerve, they obviously dropped points as well with a goalist drawer at Forest. And they did, the thing is,

they created enough chances to win it and they just weren't clinical enough. and it's one of those games where I thought this is why you need Yoccharez to be better than he is. They're certainly needing to be better. Well said. I certainly need to be better. I think, listen, you don't even need to add more to that. I think there is no better way to put it than you just eloquently did, Rick.

100%. I think you want to be a top team. You still need your striker to do his job and score goals. Or the great teams we've seen. Yeah. on those kind of frustrating nights, you just want your top-notch goal scorer to pop up with a goal.

And he didn't. And they can sort of complain a bit and say that maybe they should have had a penalty. I think that would have been really harsh. But they didn't, yeah, I just don't think they particularly... Well, I don't know if you can say they deserve to win when they did create chances.

But if you don't put the board in the back of the net, just aside, have it... Have any of the big money summer signing centre forwards, have they really, any of them, been brilliant? The best one has been Eckertique. Eke. Eke TK. How many goals has he scored?

He's not scored, in fact, he's not scored tons, but... But he's impactful. But he's done so far, even when he's not scoring. He's not scoring. He has all of them. Okay, no, that's fine. I was asking a question. I wanted your answer. But you look at Volta Marda started really well, massively tailed off. Three goals in 19 games.

him now. SESCO struggled at Manchester United. Chor Perez struggling at Arsenal. Isaac injured was awful before he was injured. Wissar, obviously big money against Newcastle. He's struggling. So it has almost been all of those big money centre forwards that were signed. All of them, to varying degrees, have struggled.

And it's just an interesting sort of issue I wanted to raise, really. None of them have particularly prospered. Yeah. It's called eight goals this season. in the league, Akateke. So not loads in 19 games. But I think, yeah, I think Liverpool fans would say that they like him, they're happy with what they see him.

Yeah, I think Volta Mara scored seven. So they're not being disastrous, but there are issues there for centre forwards coming into the Premier League and finding it very difficult. It was actually a really good result for Forrest, I think, and it's the kind of performance that you want to see from a Sean Deich Forrest and the kind of performance that suggests

they probably will if they can keep that kind of thing up they probably will be all right. Yeah, and it was almost because of results elsewhere because of Manchester City losing and because of Aston Villa losing to Everson, it wasn't actually an awful result for Arsenal.

There was a lot of hand-fering going on on Saturday evening. But yeah, that's exactly what you need. It's why Sean Deich went in there. I'm not concerned about Nottingham Forest going down. They've got too many good players. They've got a good manager. they'll get themselves out of trouble.

Where you worry about forest is, can they push on again, you know, next season? Can they get back up towards challenging for those European places? I'm not so sure how will that be met. But yeah, a really good result. And there was a feel-good factor back at the city ground as well. The atmosphere was really good.

Yeah. The scenes at the end. Very, very important point. And I sort of have you say peak, peak dice. We just finished watching the Aston-Villa-Everton game. Villa beating at home, missing a chance to close that gap on Arsenal. And, you know, a big opportunity for Villa. And in commentary on TV, they said, when they went a goal down,

this is the kind of situation where if you are title contenders, you find a way back into this game. And they couldn't find a way back into the game. And, yeah, I thought Everton were good for the win, really. and lovely, absolutely lovely finish from Barry. And it's just looking like he's starting to come good for him. It's such a cute. The first time you see it, or I saw it, I was like,

oh yeah, that's the kind of thing he should finish. Now on the replay, like, no, that's lovely. That's really cute. And it's a mistake from Emmy Martinez, which I think I'm right in saying everyone loves to see. Big mistake from Martinez. I think that's the frustrating part when you lose a game like that, especially you could see Unaimri how motivated he was wanting to win this game,

knowing what's at stake, putting pressure on Arsenal. And whether UNAMRI wants to publicly admit it or not, I could personally see that he really believes Villar in the title race. You could say take it one game at the time, but you could see he's really motivated to want to do something special. But you just can't have your goalkeeper who's been very reliable, making mistakes like that. I think for me it was a very savable shot from a goalkeeper of his quality.

Credit to Barry, like you said, the finish was, very exquisite. Great composure showing a work of art, something of beauty, because people think it looks easy than it actually was, but it was a really good finish. But it's an opportunity miss for Villa. It kind of one of those performances today, I must say, Rick, that reminds me at the start of the season when they were struggling to win games where it just wasn't clicking, wasn't happening, and you couldn't quite put your finger on why. It was one of those flat performances, and it wasn't just one or two individuals. It was the entire team. And then, you know what you're to get when you face a David Moy's side.

They're going to be physical. They're going to be well organized. They're going to fight. They're going to make it difficult for you. And from when Everton took the lead, just give them credit. They managed to get the job done. They weather the storm. And that's big three points for David Moyes and Everton.

Here's your halftime teaser. Cole Palmer's penalty in Chelsea's 2-0 win against Brentford. Could be Ken for Chelsea, actually. That moved him to seventh on the list of the best Premier League penalty takers in terms of conversions. He's converted 93.8%. 15 of his 16 penalties. That is level with Julian Dix.

Different style of penalty from Dix, of course. Can you name the players above him on the list? Answers on the way after this. Hello, this is Matt Chawley's urgent questions. Your daily dose is political mayhem from the heart of Westminster. Order, order. I call Matt Chawley. I'm a supporter of flags.

It turns out time is finite. Government doesn't want to be involved in this. I did not think the candidates are for lips. Match release. Urgent questions. Subscribe to the podcast and you'll get the best bits every day from around 5 o'clock. Listen on BBC Sounds. On the Football Daily podcast, Premier League Review with Rick Edwards.

Hello, welcome back to the Premier League review. Before the break, I asked if you could name the six players with a better penalty conversion rate than Cole Palmer in the Premier League. So, um... Alan Shearer. Alan Shearer is incorrect. Oh, he said he was useless. Balotelli, he's there.

Balotelli is not... You're making me look good. Matt Letticee. Matthew Letticey is there. Come on. 96.2%. He's scored 25 out 26. Oh, wait.

Yai Arture. Beautiful, Nige. Top of the... That is a good one. I knew it. A level, 11 from 11 scored. 100% Yaya Touré. Who else has got 100% penalty record?

Ivan Tony? No, it's a great shout. He's 11 out of 12, 91.7%. Is it another Manchester City player? No. So this guy who is level with Yaya, he probably scored most of these for a club that are really struggling

this season that he doesn't play for anymore. Wolverhampton Wanderers. Yeah, Wolverhampton Wanderers. Oh, Coonner? No. Come on, put us out of a misery. Him and S. And then in fourth,

this guy, I imagine most of these were scored for Liverpool, but there would have been some for another team in there as well. Torres. No. Danny Murphy?

Danny Murphy. Bang on. 18 out of 19, 94.7. And then finally, we've got a two in joint fifth. One who is still playing and scored a winner this weekend. And one who is very much not still playing and have one absolutely spectacular season

and got himself into the England set up. So who scored a winner this weekend? I don't know. Callum Wilson. Yes, Callum Wilson. Here we go. scored 16 out of 17 94.1%

exactly the same stats for James Beatty getable felt getable was getable I should say that's only with players who've taken 10 or more penalties

in the Premier League otherwise it gets to be Anyway thank you very much for listening to this episode for the Premier League review That's your lot I hope you enjoyed the second half quite an interesting week

if you're a Crystal Palace fan and not in a good way So Oliver Glasner said he's going to leave the club at the end of the season on he said that on Friday said his squad of being abandoned completely by the club's hierarchy. I've seen a team that is leaving the heart in the pitch but we've seen we couldn't make us up. We have no one on the bench.

I feel that we are being abandoned completely because I can't blame any player. They did everything they could and this is for weeks and months now and we have 12, 13 players, from the squad available, feel no support. And then the worst thing is we're selling our captain one day before a Premier League game.

We're preparing is the first week we are training since September. And then we're selling our captain one day before a game. So I have no understanding for this and I always kept my mouth, but I can't because I have to defend these players. Because we have a few, it was the 30 fifth game today. And then, yes, we get under pressure here. Then we're unlucky, I think it was deflected before, yeah. But again, if you have, you can't really,

react, we can't help them, so that makes it really tough tonight. When you say abandoned by who, who do you mean? It's pretty clear. It's pretty clear. Again, I didn't sell anyone. So if you get your heart torn out twice this season, one day before a game, it was with Asia in summer, it was with gay now, what should I tell the players all the time?

What should I tell them? Well, Oliver Glasner there, have you a quick flick through the Enzo Moreska and Ruben Amory in Playbook and thinking, yeah. Sack me. I don't quite under. It's really sad the way this has turned out. I know, I know.

Because Glasner's draw. But how does he stay in position saying that? Well, the lack of complete lack of self-awareness saying he's always kept his mouth shut this season. When he really hasn't, he's been winging and moaning since the summer. I mean, he's been taking shots. With good reason, by the way. In a way where I would say that no one had any. sympathy with Enzo Moreska moaning.

No one had any sympathy with Ruben Amarin moaning. I think people had quite a lot of sympathy for Glasner moaning. Yeah, but is he tarnishing his legacy now? The way he's so blatantly trying to force his way out. I don't think he can tarnish his legacy when he's won Palace, their first cup. I just... But why would you have... Rick, but why would you have sympathy for Glasner, though, when, if you know the situation

and circumstances you're dealing with at Crystal Palace, he wasn't naive to it. Let's be real. Crystal Palace has always been a selling club. selling club. They have to sell players. They always have to. They always have to. It's their place in the food chain.

It's frustrating and it's annoying and the wonderful players they've had to sell through the years is incredibly frustrating. But that is the ecosystem of football, particularly in a PSR world. He knew that when he got the job. I think he's trying to talk his way out to Crystal Palace. I think he knows he's in a rut. I think he knows that the team is in decline. Part of that, of course, is down to losing some of your best players. But it's like he's trying to get.

out now before he does any harm. And I said on the podcast last week, these outbursts, the slump that Crystal Palace are in, he's talking his way out of getting that Manchester Nighto job, or even being on the shortlist to get on that Manchester Night job. Because the Manchester United hierarchy, not only is Michael Carrick on in and won his first game,

so he's the latest saviour, but they'll be looking at this thinking, is this guy emotionally stable enough to come in to Manchester United? And is he going to start dragging Jason Wilcox into it, Brady into it, so Jim Ratcliffe into it, when things go badly. When I say tarnish his legacy, no, his place in Crystal Palace folklore is enshrined. He won them their first trophy.

But he was so popular and so adored and so idolized. What I mean is, where he's going about it now, I think that leaves a bit of a bitter taste. And I think that doesn't just sour things a little bit. I don't think there is any palace fan who is sitting there thinking, oh no, it is good that we've just sold Mark Gayee.

No, well, it's not good. And it is good that Mattetta's on it. on his way out that we sold Ezra. It is good that we sold it. Like, no one is, no, no palace fan is sitting there enjoying that. Rick, I'm 100% agree with you. Luke, I understand where you're coming from. But I think also we've got to be careful because the expectations at Crystal Palace

are not the same expectations at like Manchester United. I still think regardless, Oliver Glouznor, Oliver Glasner stock is going to be very, very high. I think it's very high. Whether the way he's going about it is Palatian. is more of the discussion. And I think that it's just frustration that's spoiled over. It shouldn't be a surprise to anyone

because he started like this at the start of the season talking about the squad and the strength. And I think that if he just had enough of a squad to compete, then he probably would have kept his mouth shut. I just think he's put himself in a difficult position. I think he's put Crystal Palace in a difficult position now where they have to make a decision. That relationship is broken.

You can't have your manager saying stuff like that in the public domain. We're very familiar. Repeated. Repeatedly, but you've also lost playing. This is as strong as it's been, though. Now, how are the players in the dressing room going to look at the manager to say, okay, we're going to play for you, knowing he's already said, I'm leaving at the end of

this season, he's moaned about Gehita captain going. So how the other players in the dressing is supposed to feel to say, okay, well, what about us? We're still here. But Crystal Palace kept that secret. Palace had kept that secret that he was going, and he's just spewed it out in a press conference. He's trying to get out now, isn't he? No, but the players, the players are going to go, won't they?

Almost certainly. Maybe they didn't. Maybe they didn't. But when you hear him, the thing is, when you hear him talk about his players, he is always No. No? No, he doesn't always, no. If they lost to Macclesfield, he said the under 21s could have done better.

So he's, he's, he's, slaughtered his players, he's slaughtered his players for not being able to defend set pieces this season. It is emotional outburst after emotional outburst. It's like he's lashing out everybody. And I agree with you, Nigel. He's done a phenomenal job. Absolutely brilliant job. I just can't

help but feel this. It's very sad that he's trying to force his way out now midway through the season. He just wants out now. I'm sorry to keep sort of hammering this home, but I just think like, I feel that he is just saying what the fans

are feeling. So when he comes out and hammers them after that FAA Cup upset, which was amazing, by the way, all of the fans are thinking it as well. Well, that was pathetic. And it was. Do you want your manager?

I mean, listen. No, but you also don't want your managers to come out and sort of make excuses. Like excuses. Like plastic pitch. He bought Crystal Palace, their first major trophy is a football club. Yeah. And you look at what he's done in the manner of what he's done it. It's great.

Why can now the standards of the club not raise? Why can you not have high expectations and stuff like that? Why can't Palace fans look at their club to say, right, where a club is at least going to start winning Cup competition? and any manager that comes in there, this is the standard and the level that we're at right now. So he's rightly done that. And I think that the fans 100% will be frustrated

because now it's not just where Crystal Palace, we want to survive in the Premier League. Now we're Crystal Palace, yes, Premier League survival is the main thing first. But we want to go deep runs in COP competitions. We want to push for Europe because we've shown that we're capable of doing that in the likes of Glasner. So now again, yes, the focus can be, yes, we used to be a selling club, but now how can we do better to start?

start to keep players in whether it's more investment and stuff like that. So I'm with Rick. I just don't think that a lot of fans would look at him to say his tarnish's reputation. And again, we've seen this before. It's not the first case. We've seen with managers and board members and managing up with where it's been the season of it, Nigel. It's been the season of it. You must see the difference though. In this one, I see the difference, 100%. I do. I think it's a difficult position. If this was the manager of Brighton, we'd be saying the same thing. If it's the manager of Bournemouth will be saying the same thing.

Wolves. These clubs have always had to sell players. I don't like it. I don't like PSR. I don't like the fact that the Big Six. I've got this huge financial advantage. It means they can just cherry pick the players off the lesser clubs. But that is the way of the world.

And Glastard will have known that. They kept Gahy for another six months because he refused to sanction the deal to Liverpool. I mean, they're brought in Brennan Johnson this month. He said he wanted players in early this month. They signed Brennan Johnson on the, on January 1st for a club record fee. They're trying to rebuild the squad for him, and he's just had enough.

And I'm going to keep going to using that word. I just find it a little bit sad that he has reached that point where he's had enough. And we were all making valid points, me more than you two, obviously. But we are making, we are all making valid points. You know, he has brought wonderful time to Christopalus. It's incredibly annoying.

It's heartbreaking that they've lost so many good players. But he knew that in the summer, and just the way he's going about it now, He's starting to come back. He wants out now. He wants to get out. Will he be just yes or no? Is he in charge next weekend?

Nigel? No. You can't keep him there, Rick. I want someone to just give me a reason of how you can keep a manager there that's come out and said these things publicly, said he's going to leave at the end of the season, how are these players going to be motivated to want to play for him, when they're going to be looking at him like,

why should we care you're leaving at the end of the season? You've created an atmosphere now that you could just not get back. I think I can't see it. I think for Crystal Palace, you have to make a change. I think Palace of a briefing, sorry, it's not quite a yes or no answer, but Palace a briefing that they're not going to get rid of him at the moment. But, you know, maybe Oliver

Glasner fancies a cruise before he takes his next job in the summer. You know, managers don't get a lot of time off. Nigel, can you set him up on a deal? Yeah. I'll reach out to him. We can go on a cruise and I'll bring the cigars as well. Honestly, look, it's a BBC documentary I would happily watch. It's Rio Cocoa and Glasner on a

Cruz. Let's talk at Tottenham then. Last week, I said, if Thomas Frank's team lose to West Ham at home, then he will get sacked. Your mate, Thomas Frank. I love Thomas Frank.

Absolutely knifed him. You knifed him in the back. I didn't honestly think they would lose to West Ham at home, but they managed to do it. It was your big, bold prediction of the series so far. But I don't know. I mean, that is a disgraceful.

It is a fantastic result for West Ham. It is a disgraceful result. God, I'm laughing so much on coughing. Rick, I understand what you're saying, but you've got to give credit to West Ham because they deserve to win. We don't want to do that. No, no.

They were the debt aside, and they deserve to win. You're right, but given this kind of like, given his bold prediction last week, he wants to talk about Thomas Frank's future. If I'm a Tottenham fan, I am so livid at the moment. With that home form, it is unacceptable, isn't it? It is, and the reaction after the game would suggest that Tottenham fans are livid, booed, jeered, a disastrous result, a defeat he couldn't afford.

When your own fans are chanting, you're getting sacked in the morning. It's very hard to come back from. very hard. I don't think there is an appetite at Tottenham at the moment that they're desperately trying to support him. They desperately want to keep him. But when fans inside a stadium turn in the numbers that they did and with a lever of anger and animosity,

it is incredibly difficult for a manager to carry on. As far as we can tell, all options are on the table at the moment, which is a polite way of saying they are at least, we are at least considering sacking him. Whether they decide to do that, I don't. no, where do Topham turn next? These are all questions. That's the big question.

What are Tottenham as a football club? Where should they be? These are all questions we've raised constantly. I'm not going to change my view on it. I think they have to give at least Thomas Frank they need to give him the rest of this season and the summer window to rebound that team because the team isn't good enough.

I mean, he said he thinks he is going to be given time to turn it around, but I guess that's sort of what you expect him to say. The CEO came out on the program and was, lyrical about all the things they're going to do and what they've got to do and they know they've got to sign best player better players they're in a mess tottenham an absolute mess and what the question is will thomas frank pay the price for that mess will they all this talk are backing him will will will they sack him now the fans have turned nine times out of ten nigel when the fans turn inside a stadium the manager goes sooner rather than later

it's going to be very difficult but you make a great point there right you probably you know better than me. Who is making the footballing decisions at Tottenham Hotspurs right now? How much input does Thomas Frank have in these players? The Tottenham's problems run a lot deeper than the manager, but it's just it's always the same in football

though when results aren't good enough, the people with the ultimate power and say protect themselves by getting rid of a manager. We've talked about it already this season, but they want to back him. I honestly do believe that the hierarchy want to back Thomas Frank, but if the Rank and file

supporters have gone. If you've lost the crowd, that's the difficult thing. Because you can't play at home. Yeah, you can't play at home. Yeah, they can't play at home anyway. The Tottenham fans who are going to the games and everything's saying right now that they're just not liking the football that's being played. It's very negative.

Once you lose the fan base, it's very hard for the people above Thomas Frank who might want to give him time, who know that they're part of the problem to keep him. Because the worst thing you need now is every time, Tottenham play, home or away, the fans start booing and start protesting and it's not a good look. And you know how clubs are so worried now about this whole branding and image and stuff like that. But I feel with Luke now, because we've said it so many times with Tottenham, this is deeper than the manager. We've seen so many managers go there. We've seen winning

managers, winners, as we say, go there and still have a hard time and not being successful. We've seen managers with potential go there and the likes of Thomas Frank who can build something and still struggling and having a hard time. And again, I think a lot of Tottenham is for me is you've got to question the recruiting. The recruiting hasn't been great for a long time now. When you look at the players that they've come in there and I'm not being disrespectful, but it's very, it's just not been names that have actually really taken them to another

level. What players have gone into Tottenham recently have gone to another level? Van Van der Van. Van Vanne. And gone to bigger clubs. Van Van Van Van van. I'll give you Van der Van der Van. Kutosevsky, I think it's a really good player.

They've got injuries, every team's got injuries at the moment. Every team's got injuries at the moment. It's at that stage of the season where everybody's missing key players and it's a muddle, isn't it? Even the recruitment's a muddle. I know what you're saying, Nigel.

It's like the signing players, but do they ever fit into a certain style of play? Do they fit into the way Thomas Frank wants to play? They've got the six highest wage bill in the country, by the way. So they are failing on every metric. I mean, the six highest wage

wage bowl. They should be able to get better players than they've got. They should have a better squad than they've got. So that eventually comes down to recruitment, but none of that matters in, you know, at this stage, because Thomas Frank can't win a game at home. The fans don't like him. So the people that, he is in the firing line, you know, we can talk about the mistakes being made, but nobody cares about that at the moment. The only care about Thomas Frank, because Thomas Frank is playing a boring style of football, a pragmatic style of football that doesn't fit into what Tottenham wants to go and watch their team play, and he also can't win a game. He's dam by results and he's damned by the

optics of the way his teams are playing at home. Bring back, big ang! The home and away thing is crazy. So their home form, as we know, is miserable. Only Burnley, West Ham and Wolves are worse. But then away, only

Arsenal and Villa have as many points. And then I was thinking about Newcastle is sort of the opposite, aren't they? So really good at really good at St. James's Park, pretty terrible away. As a player, you will be aware of being good at home and pour away or vice versa. What is going on there, Nigel?

It depends on an individual player, Rick. For me, I really didn't care. I actually did prefer to play away from home. Really? I kind of liked the atmosphere, the underdog mentality, you know, us against them kind of vibe. So that I fed on that. And obviously, you were a bit of a warrior night. So yeah, I get that.

Yeah. Thank you. Thank you for that. You can call me that again if you want. It's fine. A gladiator is a better word to use. Let's go with a warrior for now. Okay.

Scrapper. But yeah. Scrapper. No. Ugly, Scrapper. It's a lot of the mental side of the game, Rick. I think for me, and if you've got good leaders in the table,

team. Good leaders will stand up and let these players know, yes, okay, people in the press are talking about this, talking about let's show them that they're wrong. You know, let's have that mindset that we can go out there and get a result, both home and away. And it's about just infecting the players and your teammates with the right mindset to say, it doesn't matter if we're home or away. We're going to get that result. Sometimes easier said than done. And then it comes with confidence as well with winning. If you do get that one or two win away from home, then that should be the momentum and give you the opportunity to continue to build on that momentum.

But it definitely is a mental battle that players have to find a way or manage and coaches have to find a way to get their players mentally not to believe this narrative that might be in the media. We'll wrap it up there. Thanks very much.

Nigel, thanks very much, Luke. Just a quick point, actually, Nigge, your t-shirt, which says, I hate mornings and morning people. Now, given I do a morning breakfast show, is that a dig at me? No, not really. I'm not like that. Now, give you your mum a call back for me.

Cheers, Luke. That is all we've got time for on the Premier League review. The Monday Nightclub will be your next episode for the football day. Ice Sports. Go to the end-zone touchdown. NFL. Touchdown, Philadelphia. Great play design.

I think you just have to go out there and be the best of you can be. We're going to go out there and lay it all in the line. A 12-yard touchdown run. A speed, power and skill collard. And the Eagles have beaten the Chiefs convincingly in Super Bowl 59. Buy life for NFL. Listen on BBC Sounds. When you're car shopping on your phone, you need to see all the information.

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