Football Daily - The Debrief: Another defeat for Celtic & EFL Cup wins for Man City & Newcastle

Episode Date: December 18, 2025

It’s a busy one on the pod as we are at Tannadice Park, St James’ Park and the Etihad – as Steve Crossman gets the latest from the EFL Cup quarter-finals and asks what’s next for Celtic as they suffer another defeat.The pod starts in Scotland after Wilfried Nancy has now lost all of his first four matches as Celtic manager. It's the first time since January 1978 that the club have had a run like that, that's after Dundee United came from behind to win 2-1. We hear from Nancy himself and Scottish football reporter Kenny Crawford who watched the action unfold. Steve is joined by John Murray and Clinton Morrison as they witnessed Newcastle beat Fulham – in a game that nearly went to penalties! They also hear from Yoane Wissa after he scored his first goal for Newcastle. And not only that, Ian Dennis and Leon Osman join the pod from a very wet Etihad Stadium after they saw Manchester City beat Brentford 2-0 – even Pep Guardiola makes a cameo!And we find out the state of play for the British teams in Women’s Champions League action on Wednesday night, after the final round of league phase fixtures.Timecodes:01:20 – Celtic section. 07:27 – Wilfried Nancy interview. 13:13 – Newcastle v Fulham analysis. 15:00 – Yoane Wissa interview. 1620 – Eddie Howe interview 18:40 – Marco Silva interview. 24:!5 – Manchester City v Brentford chat. 29:20 - Pep Guardiola interview. 33:20 - Keith Andrews audio. 35:00 – Women’s Champions League.

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That finished 2-1, Lewis Miley, local lad with a stoppage time winner. Also, we've got the draw for the semi-finals, so Chelsea are going to face Arsenal or Crystal Palace. Remember, two-legged semi-finals, so the first leg will be at Stamford Bridge. Arsenal and Palace play each other in their quarterfinal next Tuesday. We will bring you full commentary on Five Live. And the other semi-final, the first leg at home, Newcastle United at St James's Park. And they, of course, are going to face Manchester City in their semi-final. So we're going to be joined by Clinton Morrison, Leon Osmond, correspondent John Murray and Ian Dennis shortly.

They were at the various quarterfinals on Wednesday night. We'll start with this, though, in the Scottish Premiership, Wilfred Nancy. has now lost all of his first four matches as Celtic manager. This is the first time since January 1978 that the club have had a run like that. This is after Dundee United came from behind to win 2-1 at Tannadice. So we'll start there. Kenny Crawford was watching.

Yeah, two amazing goals from Dundee United and we've got to give them credit for turning the game around. Both the strikes in the space of three second half minutes, 58 and 61 were really nice on the eye. Christian Corestesse and Zach Satsford. That was after Dyes and Maeda had. put Celtic in front in the 13th minute in the first half. In the first half, the Celtic looked

really, really good. They were very cohesive, very confident the total opposite of how they looked in the League Cup final on Sunday. But then they just didn't build on it. They only had two shots on target in the whole game. Their last shot in target was the goal that they scored Celtic. And then

from then on in the second half, after having a very poor first half, Dundee United, just absolutely flew into the game and just dominated in that second half. And it's just left us with the question. Now, what do Celtic do. I was hearing a quote from Pat Bonner, the former Celtic goalkeeper who is on the BBC Radio Scotland commentary

team and he just said, I don't know where Celtic go from here. I remember the wrap-up of Sunday at the League Cup final, I said in my wrap-up, how much longer does Nonsie get? And as I drove home, I thought that was maybe a bit harsh to say that. But then you've come up

here and he's lost again and you think, well, as you said, Steve, it's the first time that lost four games in a row since 1978. There's been no massive sign. apart from the first 15 minutes of this game that things were going to get any better and the optics from Nancy haven't been particularly great either

the fans haven't taken to him a similar situation to to Russell Martin at Rangers the fans have just not taken to him there was a little tactics board thing he used in I think his first game against Hart's at the side where he was calling players over

to look at these little dots that he was moving around on a white board and that did not go down well with the Celtic fans either thought it kind of looked a bit average and things just haven't looked good from him and I can see that he's out talking to BBC Radio Scotland at the moment and hopefully we'll get to hear from him soon.

Is this thing about his Twitter profile tweeting this sort of image of things that matter versus things you can control? Do we know that this was his Twitter account now? Because I've been trying to sort of piece it together through all of the various interviews he's done, but Celtic fans weren't particularly impressed with that. No, when you see the replies and things to that, everyone was fairly embarrassed about that. but I've got to caveat that with what you hinted at there, Steve, we don't know 100% it's definitely his.

There are things on that feed that make it look like it is his, but I suppose we can never be 100% sure about that. Fine. It's basically a Venn diagram, which some Celtic fans felt looked a little bit embarrassing, but as Kenny says, we're not 100% sure, perhaps we'll find out. What we do know, John Murray, who's also with us, is that one of Britain's biggest football clubs are in a right old mess. Yeah, that is exactly it.

And I think, you know, unless you've been to Glasgow and experienced Celtic, you know, I think there are a lot of people who talk about Celtic and don't really know it because they haven't been there. But once you've been there and experienced what goes on around that club, then I think you'll understand why there is the frenzy around it in the way that there is. But, I mean, to start on, I mean, this is an absolute nightmare for Wilfrid Nancy. and I think particularly coming in in the way that he did with Martin O'Neill, you know, having really steadied the ship and now the contrast just seems so stark

between that little reign of Martin O'Neill and what's happened since then when, I mean, it's been an absolute collapse, hasn't it? Kenny, how realistic is it then that they might make a change? Because I hear everybody saying, what now for him? And it's only four games, but I appreciate Celtic. Celtic fans don't want to hear that.

Well, it was interesting before the match on Celtic's own media channels. There was some quotes from the chief executive Michael Nicholson, and he said that Nancy is absolutely solid in terms of that was a quote. And he also talked about having discussed January and summer transfer window

targets. Now, he will clearly be wanting to support Nancy because he's been part of the team that have brought him in. But you just kind of think, how long can this go on? I mentioned Russell Martin earlier, and from very early on in his reign, you just saw that he wasn't going to recover from it and we're really getting hints

stronger hints than that that this isn't going to get turned around by Nancy and you just think how can sell to keep going on I mean you think that as you mentioned or John mentioned there Martin O'Neill coming in and having such a good effect winning all five of the league games that he covered and then Nancy coming in

and it going completely pear-shaped and Nancy's talked about how he knew it was a tough run of games he had, he had hearts, he had Roma then he had the Cup final and then he had done United, but he still wanted to come and take the job. But you just think it would have been so sensible just to let him kind of come and be in

the background a little bit while Martin O'Neill and Sean Maloney got them through this other week or so of big games and just let Nancy soak things up in the background. But maybe Nancy was offered that and he didn't want to do it that way. We don't know. Presumably, Kenny, there are only two possibilities here. Possibility one is that Wilfred Nancy keeps his job and we see what happens. Possibility two is that he goes and they just bring O'Neil back to the. end of the season. They're not going to do another permanent appointment, surely.

Yeah, well, I saw a thing on social media where it was a giff of Martin O'Neill behind, I squeezed up behind glass and it said break glass in case of emergency and you get Martin O'Neill coming out. So that might be the case again for Celtic to get him. But I think it's too early to start talking about that just now and it's possibly still a little bit unfair on Nancy to say that. But what we do know is that hearts are still six points clear. They've got the chance of making that nine on Sunday when the host Rangers. And Hearts will definitely be top at Christmas the first time a non-old firm team has been top of the league at Christmas since 1993. Seltic, I've got Aberdeen at home on Sunday. You would think

that's a decent chance to get three points, but everyone thought this was a decent chance to get three points and it's not happened. So it's up in the air what's going to happen from game to game here. Well, when situations get like this, I suppose one way out of it is to choose your words carefully. So let's hear from Wilfred Nancy speaking to the BBC's Jonathan Sutherland. Wilfrid, how do you feel it went wrong for your side this evening? Three minutes. We lost the game in three minutes regarding the two set pieces that we considered. Maybe the second one was offside before the corner.

But again, on the second wave this time, there was not a first contact. It was on the second wave. I think that we did a good job. We had a good performance, but we didn't score all the opportunity that we had. First also, I think that if we score, obviously, the two or three tap-in that we have, this is not the same game. But we didn't do it, so they stayed alive. And after that, when they came back in second half, they push. And they had corners, and we were not able for the three minutes to fight and also to keep the score.

So this is the reality, Royaling, why we didn't win this game. But we had many chances, but we, yeah, we didn't score. We didn't score all the goal that we were supposed to score. Do you think the players are a bit low on confidence? You had a few opportunities in this match the players didn't take them? Maybe, you know, when we don't win games, obviously we can have a lack of confidence, but again, we had clear chances.

So again, we're going to try to help the player with that. I know that they wanted to do well with that, but the situation is we didn't do well. It is four defeats on the Trot. That's the first time that's happened to Celtic in six. 27 years. There were a chance about Martin O'Neill from the stands this evening. Are there any regrets, Wilfrid, that you've obviously made significant changes since you came in with the way Celtic play, that you perhaps didn't maybe keep more to the way that Celtic were playing.

Martin O'Neill, obviously, with seven wins out of eight before he came in. Someone asked me the discussion already, and Martin plays in a certain way. And me, I wanted to see something that I believe that we were able to win games. and for the future also and for a moment in terms of results this is not that but in terms of

what we want to do we are improving so that's why for me talking about Martin I know that he won before but again we are close to win games but we didn't do it so today again we had a possibility to win the game

but we didn't do it so this is because of Malice for Martin or because of the player No, this is not the point. The point is, I think, that we need to work on certain things to be able to finish the action. It's ridiculously early into your tenure as Celtic manager, but some of the Celtic fans were already chanting for you, wanting you out.

What is your message to those fans who have already lost faith? No, I can understand. Obviously, I am a human being. I'm disappointed for that because the connection with the fan is very important for me. and I know that this connection comes with results. So just to tell them that I give everything and I can understand that they can be upset regarding the results but at the same time the context is not easy

regarding all the games that we had and we play every three days. So everything is new also. So just keep faith knowing that I know that is difficult for them but I'm going to do everything as I always did to help the team to go back on track to win. Just finally, do you have to adapt? Do you have to change anything in terms of your approach ahead of the match with Aberdeen at the weekend? I'm going to analyze the game and again, I think that we did a good game.

It's a fact that we had, like I told you, I will not repeat myself. We had a really good thing that we did today and after that, like I said, in three minutes, we lost the game. So I'm going to analyze the game and to see what we need to improve on that. Wilfred Nancy there speaking to the BBC's Jonathan Sutherland Kenny. we let you go then. Next up they've got Aberdeen at home and then they've got Livy away which is a plastic pitch and then they've got Motherwell away which is a team Motherwell who are playing with loads of confidence at the moment third in the league and another thing to point out as well that now on the same number of games Steve and Rangers are only three points

behind Celtic so it might be that they've got a Rangers to deal with very close to them soon as well if Rangers get a good result at hearts and I should say just we're closing out you mentioned that the diagram on X. Dundee United have cottoned on to that and in their their kind of victorious tweet that they've put out tonight, they've put a mock of that diagram and put

one, the letter W for win in one circle, the letter L in one circle for lose and in the bits that overlap they've put 2-1. Yikes. Kenny, thank you very much. My name's Steve Bradnell, assistant manager of Royal Oak FC.

You may have seen me online with viral. Vinyl sensation. And now, the BBC have given me the chance to set the footballing world banter eyes. This could be a great opportunity for us, lads, a podcast for the BBC. Can I just say, what's the podcast? Brilliant. Great start.

Well done, Bob. Brilliant. We could completely show utter... transparency to Royal Oak fans, I'll use my charm, gift it gab. Games gone. The Steve Bracknell podcast. Watch on YouTube. Listen on BBC. Bring more gear, carry more passengers, face greater challenges. Welcome to the world of Defender, with seating up to eight, ample cargo space and legendary off-road capability. It's built to make the most of every adventure. Learn more at landrover.ca. This podcast is brought to you by Wise. the app for international people using money around the globe.

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Right, we've already heard from John Murray, who's inside St James's Park. He was with Clinton Morrison to watch Newcastle beat full of. A massive result for Eddie Howe. After the disappointment of the weekend and Newcastle won't win another cup this season. Obviously they're the holders from last season, so yeah, it's a big result for them. And it was a big performance, especially in that second off. In the first off, they were a bit nervy crossing, but I thought in the second off, they were outstanding and thoroughly deserved it.

Yeah, it's a massive result. You want a response after it's disappointing and credit to the players and to the stop and to the fans who turned up in their numbers this evening. You won't find a bigger look of relief than that on the face of Eddie Howe or a bigger smile than that at the face of Lewis Miley, John. Yeah, it needed that after the feeling following the match.

He's not often had that, Eddie Howe in his... Well, it's nearly 200 matches now. This was his 100th win as the Newcastle United manager in all competitions and they have had to they've had to hunker down haven't they after the events at the Stadium of Light on Sunday afternoon

and they've received criticism the like of which he's rarely received during the course of his time as manager but what do you have to do in football, in sport you have to go out and win your next match your next game and that's what they've done. I thought they might have gone for a

more uplifting Christmas song than this one after a last minute winner but here we are Well, everyone is lovey-dovey again now on Tideside. Everyone's winning again, Crossy, so that's why they're playing this song. Lewis Miley's a special player, Clinton, isn't he? Yeah, he is. When you can go and adapt and play right back, and he's got a big presence about him as well.

I didn't know he was that big until you see him, actually, live. A big presence, it's a fantastic head. I think he's trying to flip that back into a dangerous area, but he manages to get into that far post, but I thought he was comfortable in possession, and good players can play anyway, and he certainly is a good player. A goal on his first start for Newcastle United.

Here is Yuan Wissar. He's the greatest place. He's the best place in Premier League. So, yeah, I score against them, but now I'm with them. So, yeah, I was buzzing here with the friends. So, yeah, very, very happy today. And considering the injury problems you've had since you've arrived, you were very busy inside the penalty area, putting your body on your line.

You obviously feel that you're just about 100%, would you say? I'm building. I'm building. I can't say I'm 100% because otherwise I could play 90 minutes. But I need to manage myself. I just come back from a long injury. I know I can help the team from in three days time. But yeah, I'm building up. I build it up. And in your ideal world, do you see yourself and Nick Voltaemar that forging a partnership or do you think the manager is going to have a difficult decision to choose either Nick or you to start moving forwards? I think the manager has the best job. got so many good players. So, of course, he can enjoy that.

But for sure, Nick and me, we're talking about playing together, for sure, because Nick is a talented player. So playing around him will be fantastic for me and for him, because he can release for me. But yeah, we're looking forward to play together. Right, let's hear from the Newcastle boss, Eddie Howe. There's the supporters, we're brilliant with us today. After Sunday, you know, you sort of don't know coming into the game how the atmosphere is going to be how that's going to affect the players. But I have to say to a boy and girl,

a man and woman, they were exceptional. They were there for us. They were supportive of us. They were supportive of all the players and then it makes it a lot easier to perform at your best level. And I thought we see a club united tonight and that pleases me so much and very thankful to everyone that came and how they supported the team and the delight for everyone that we got through. And as you say, another semi-final. And I just wonder the journey you've been on, the semifinals that you played in recent seasons. How much does that just add to the intellectual energy of your players in knowing what to expect, knowing what's to come. Yeah, I think that can help you. I think we are a different team this year. I think we've got

new strengths growing and new weaknesses to maybe solve. But I think these games are great. The away game, the home game, the sort of challenge that they bring. That would be really good to prepare whoever we play. But that's in the future. We have no recovery time now to prepare for Chelsea and play for Chelsea early Saturday kickoff. It's another extension of an incredible fixture list for us. But we look forward to that game in a better mood after last week. And Yohan Wiss has been in. Great smile on his face, as you would expect, as I'm sure you'd want to see.

And in his mind, in his dreams, he sees himself playing alongside Nick Volta Mada for Newcastle United. Is that something you see one day? That's a good question. Yeah, I'm sure they will be on the pitch together. I can't promise anything really to any player. It will always be what's best for the team, whether that's one starting or both together. let's see, and they'll have an opportunity to develop that partnership, I'm sure, at some stage. I'm just delighted that you're on the pitch, back fit, and he's got quality that we need.

I do feel for Fulham, Steve, you know, as I say, they've gone so far and no further in Cup competition. So that, you know, over the course of now four seasons, F.A. Cup quarterfinal, Carabao Cup semi-final, FAA Cup quarterfinal, they can't make that extra step. And, you know, for their supporters, That carrot of winning a major trophy, you know, now, right now, seems as far away as it ever has. That's got a bit of reaction from the Fulham camp then. Here is their manager, Marco Silva.

He's always disappointing when you are out of the competition that you aim and you wanted to be playing the semi-fathers next month. Consider early goal, the reaction was very good from us, good goal from us. First half, we match clear them and it was a very good first half. I think both teams they tried to score. Second half was more difficult for us when they start to make some changes, create an impact in the game, more fresh players, and it was more difficult for us to set our game the way you like to set and even if you, I think we control well them, looking for our defensive

organization, I think we did control well them. They didn't create many things really even if they had more the ball. They play more in our last third definitely, but not with many chances. But our offensive transition, our counter-attacks, they were not at the level in the second half because that we didn't create as well. to lose the way we lost, but the attitude, the commitment and everything from the players was there, probably playing better first off than the second. I just wondered, did you sort of sense, did you almost fear that last sort of five or ten minutes

you were dropping deeper and deeper and they were getting more possession and eventually their chance came? Yes, it's true. They were pushing us, but you see the players that they put from the 16 minutes forward, the quality they are able to push the way they were. were fresh to put it and they refresh all the front line they did I cannot mention to you what's happened what's happened there because it's not is not my job but I think sometimes the things are so easy to understand why that way

why happen and you've done so well in cup competition you sort of seem to get to a stage and you just can't quite get beyond it which doesn't always underline how well you've played in those matches it's true of course we have been creating one mentality inside the club that we wanted really to to face all the competitions aiming eye. And in four seasons in the domestic cups is at least the fourth time that you arrive in the quarter's final of the domestic cup.

Two seasons ago, we achieved the semifinals for the first time ever in the football club. You won't the second. This season again was not possible. Okay, it's a moment for us to look, why, and to see, to be in these competitions and to make these competitions very important for us. like mentally we have been doing some moments

we have to have players to rotate as well to manage in a different way because you need and look what they did and look what we did as well. The level of competition is only growing though John, isn't it? Because I'm not saying Fulham are a have not. They're an established Premier League side.

But teams like Newcastle who had gone almost as long without winning a trophy if that's possible they're in a different league financially they can do things that clubs like Fulham just can't do. Yeah, exactly so. But, you know, Crystal Palace showed last season what is possible? And, you know, they've got a home tie against Middlesbrough,

which obviously won't be easy in the third round of the FA Cup. But, you know, as I said, with 20 points already in the Premier League, there was no reason for them not to really have a tilt at this. And I think you could say the same about them in the FA Cup this season as well. Clinton, do you now go back and look at the team selection from Marco Silver and think, could he have done this? Could you have done that or ultimately

were just beaten by a better team just? No, I think they were just beaten by the better team just. There's nothing else he can do.

You lose three players of your key players to Afcon so that's difficult and that's a huge blow losing those three players when they made a big difference but that was the strongest

11 he could put out this evening and they've done world crossy only listen we could have been still now playing penalties if it weren't for the Miley Heather because they did defending their box ever so well

but they didn't really have a threat in that second half and that's where I think they need to strengthen in January and help Marco Silver. He's to see him not knowing if they're going to sign a contract. I think he needs help from the hierarchy because he's done a fantastic job here at Fullum. But, yeah, Newcastle were the better team on the night.

Big night for Wissar as well with his first start and his first goal. Yeah, and he looked sharp for the 65 minutes that he played. He's different to Baltimore. He wants to run him behind. Big shoes when you put on that number nine shirt because there's a lot of number nine at Newcastle that scored a lot of goals and it's been a stop start for him. And now he's just starting to get some.

started again. They've missed him because he gives you something different from Nick Voltaimada, but yeah, I like Wissar and I thought he was good and that's more minutes in it and to get the goal as well, so you're always waiting for that first goal you can get for your club and once he gets that so early, it gives him massive confidence moving forward. I think it'll be very interesting to

see who plays against Chelsea on Saturday. I'll answer you that. Go on. Voldemada will start. But not Wissar. Not in the team. Not in the team but I think you, you know the only reason I say that, John, is because You can give him 65 and then you start him on the weekend. You don't want him to break down, so you have to manage his minutes.

So I think he'll go back to Nick Botomada, but he'll come off the bench and make an impact. I could be wrong, but that's how I see it. However, you just need to mention it again as well, that's another defensive injury for Newcastle tonight with Liveramento, which didn't look great. And Cher, having received a yellow card in this match, he will be suspended for the first leg of the semi-final.

And, you know, that is not too far away. That's the win is that. That's the second midweek in January. Yes, it is. Week starting January of the 12th. Clinton, that's you. Thank you very much. Cheers, thanks very much.

Topman, Leon Osmond and Ian Dennis were across all the action at a rain soak to Etty had. Thanks, Steve. Well, Leon, there's only one place to start, really, and that is the decision that could have been match changing. Should Husenov been sent off

after a quarter of an hour for the denial of a goal-scoring opportunity on Kevin Shada, where he only picked up a yellow card. Yeah, I think he should. I really do. I think in a modern game, I don't think it has to be a nasty challenge. I just think it has to deny a goal scoring opportunity. And in doing that, I think, for the first time in the game, 15 minutes, 16 minutes in. Chad, finally time to run right. They got it right, Brentford. The game plant takes the ball beautifully behind Ake, so he's out of the game. City's fullbacks weren't involved in this moment. So then he just takes a touch towards goal. Kushinoff comes over, brings him down. I don't think there's any question in the stadium

whether Kushinoff filed him and brought him to the ground. The question was, was he denying a goal-scoring opportunity? I think the ball then bounced into the penalty area. I do think it was a slight angle away from goal. I think that's probably what sided the referee in not going directly with a red card. But I do think it was going into the goal area and I do think his next judge would have been a shot on goal.

So in my eyes, that's a goal-scoring opportunity. I think he got very fortunate. And I think Manchester City got very fortunate because that could have changed the outcome of this game. You know, that early in the game being 10 men, having to deal with a Brentford team that came here full of energy, full of desire to win this game,

but City just had too much with 11 men. And certainly Brentford, they acquitted themselves very well. They never stopped going forward at every opportunity, even when they were 2-0 down later on in the game. But they weren't blessed with a great. great deal of fortune will come to the second goal a little later on but even when you think the first goal sharder with his defensive clearance with the header he's actually taken out by the goalkeeper valdem arson the header meanwhile falls to

turkey who fires in an absolute terrific finish right put it into the top right-hand corner but valdem arson as a result wasn't in the center of his goal when he got back to his feet it didn't seem to reset properly yeah that was the that was the only real thing i thought Brentford gave away to Manchester City that corner could have just been dealt with easier it could have been allowed with a bit of talking to go all the way out for a goal kick shot I didn't really need to head it also at the same time shot as trying to head it he gets clattered by his own goalkeeper City then get the ball into Cherokee really really quickly and it's an incredible touch and

top corner finish from there so we've been slightly disappointed Keith Andrews that they allowed that opportunity but I think if you we always say if you come to the Etihad, you don't give anything away. You force City to work for the goal, to earn the goal, to show their qualities and the goal. They certainly made Cherokee show all of his qualities in putting that with power and pace right into the top corner. It was a brilliant finish, a wonderful goal.

And then Keith Andrews will also be saying, as we were pushing forward, we got hit on the counter attack for the second goal, which also took an incredibly unfortunate deflection as far as they could consider. Fortunate for City, very fortunate for Savino, who did actually, is in a part of a season in his career where the goal really helped him.

And actually helped him for the last 15 minutes. He looked a better player once that goal went in. But Brentford came, didn't give an awful lot away and he had to actually beat them rather than Benford beating themselves. Yeah, that second goal was nothing that Valde Marson could do. Iyer sliding back into his own penalty area off his leg and it just took him away from the goalkeeper who was already committed. Early in the first half, Oscar Bob had gone off with injury.

Phil Foden then came on. He had a run out of about 63 minutes. That probably didn't help Brentford, did it, because Macassar then went out wide, right, and you had the quality of two individuals in Cherokee and Foden who were looking to combine in and around the penalty area. Yeah, it didn't help Brentford, but it also showed on a shrewd operator, Pep Guardiola, and his vision to see things happening unfolding on the pitch. And why he's one of the best at getting a squad of players to beat the opposition quite regular?

Because, yeah, I thought Brentford had obviously worked on a way of trying to hurt Manchester City getting in between spaces and getting sharder in behind. And you could see the patterns of play that they were doing. They had Damsgaard and Jensen starting in the wide areas and coming centrally just to try and rotate City about a bit, three centre backs. But from that moment, Pep Guardiola made the substitution, brought Phil Foden on, moved Mukase into a wide ear

and suddenly City played with near enough three, what we'd call false nines. None of them going up against any of those three centrebacks for break. Enford and they didn't quite manage to to organize themselves from that moment up until half time it's it's incredibly hard when you've worked on a way of playing against the opposition and they managed they managed to change something dramatically after 15 minutes and suddenly you're now scratching your head thinking we haven't worked on this so City and PEP made a wonderful change utilized the injury to the unfortunate

Oscar Bob in a positive way Phil Fodon's introduction and you know they grabbed the game by the by the horns from that moment well let's hear the thoughts of the Manchester City manager, Pep Guardiola. First of all, thank you for our fans. So this uncomfortable day, wind, their reign, 95 minutes, and they were wet like we were, and thank you for coming. So for our fans in this competition, Carabagabagos, take that time. And in Wednesdays today, yeah, on Wednesday day.

So, yeah, happy to be in the semifinal again. So happy for James, for Rico, for Nathan, for Cusa, for Devine, for many, many players that play. that play recently didn't play much and today they play really really good and against top side and defend and we struggle in the in the first half to be more affected by high pressing but at the end we did it yeah you did have to kind of really break down brentford didn't you and it was certainly with the churkey goal the moment real quality that brought me the premier league team so tell me one team it was easy to break brentford and do it that it's a difficult team and just on the

jerky goal i mean that was another brilliant one wasn't it what a goal yeah we are lucky have that gives it players you know to do this kind of actions and uh then sevinio follows that up he gets a he gets a he gets him for him because he's a guy always asked to the players he's trying he try he try he try he try he try and at the end when you get you know digging digging digging at the end you have uh your was a reflection but he had to try it and he fought a lot is a incredible incisive the first minutes him on Oscar and Fortry was injured making gravel runners in behind and just finally I mean there was an instant first half Kusanov on Charter Brentford

think it should have been a red card what's your view of that I don't know the ball goes direction to the to the corner I don't know to be honest I don't know but we are in the hands of the reference most of the time so I don't know just for a moment we'll just talk about Brentford this was the fourth time in six years that they'd reach the quarter finals. They've only ever once got to the last four in their history. That was against Tottenham in 2021. I know Keith Andrews was excited about the prospect, but such a daunting task, isn't it, to come here against a Manchester city side, regardless what Team City put out. Yes. It's never easy coming to to Manchester City away and

trying to get the victory. And you know, City are in it to win it themselves. But, you know, I think credit to Brentford as a club because if you keep putting yourselves in these situations, if you keep taking the competition seriously and getting to, as you've said, four quarterfinals in the last six year, at some point the draw will be favourable. There's some point the things will go your way. You will get that bit of fortune, but you have to be in the competition at that stage to be out the benefit of the fortune. I've seen so many teams who haven't managed to do that. So yes, the Premier League is very important.

and yes, it's easier to keep taking the competition positively and seriously when you're not worried about getting relegated from the Premier League, but they are putting themselves in the right position that sooner or later something might fall their way. And Henderson and Tiago had picked up knocks in the game against Leeds United. I would imagine that they'll be back now because they'll turn their attentions to that trip to Wolverhampton Wanderers at the weekend. And when they've gone three without a win in the league,

just to get three points to get them back on track. Yeah, the last two wins that they've had have both been at home. So, you know, I think it'd be good for them to actually go away from home and win as well. And, you know, you get into the point where wolves, this is a huge game for wolves. You know, they're still on two points. I think it is in search of desperately trying to stay in the Premier League. But you know, get into the mindset and the feeling that if any team in the Premier League doesn't go to wolves and get the three points, it'll seem like points drop. So Brentford don't want to fall into that situation.

It's an opportunity for them to go there, be positive. Take the positivity they've had for the majority of the season and get into quarter-finals of Cup competitions. Into that game, we can wave three points. Well, we can now hear the thoughts of Keith Andrews, the Brentford manager. I'm struggling to comprehend that one. I'm very quick to defend the officials because it's a very difficult job, but that for me was a mistake.

You never quite know exactly what way it materialises. They're still going to keep the wall very well, but it's obviously a distinct advantage for us. So, yeah, it's hypothetical, obviously, at this stage, but I do feel it's one of the officials got wrong. Just looking forward a little bit, obviously going into the Christmas period now, I think it's seven matches in about three weeks.

I mean, it gets really intense now, doesn't it? Yeah, and that's why we need everybody. Staying up tonight, do things right, recover as much as we can rather than logistically going up and down the motorway or flying up and down. So, yeah, it's an intense period. It's a period of the year that I love. I'm quite a traditionalist. So I love festive football.

It's part of our calendar. And I love it. So there'll be zero complaints for me, but it'll just be about making sure that we're right and everybody's available and ready to fight. And just finally from me, obviously Saturdays is a big game at the start of that period at Wolves.

I mean, how significant is that match? Significant as the last. And the next, because it's the next one, it's the most important game for us. We always focus on one eye on the next game and the schedule in general and how we manage players to a point. But we went all in on Sunday for that game against Leeds. Similarly tonight, we picked as competitive as a team as we felt it could be.

And then we'll dust ourselves down tomorrow and get ready for balls on Saturday. So that was Keith Andrews and my thanks to Leon Osmond. We'll be back in unison on Saturday afternoon for the 3 o'clock commentary and the usual goal service. against West Ham United in the Premier League. But as far as the League Cup is concerned, Manchester City are in the semi-finals for the first time since 2021.

Right, let's check in on the Women's Champions League now because remember, it's the final match of the league face. So we now know of the three English clubs, who's going straight through to the quarterfinals and who needs a playoff, Katie Smith? So Chelsea, straight through to the quarterfinals. They started the night in the top four. They slipped out.

They fought their way back, came from behind. They beat Wolfsburg, two wars. Sam Kerr with the winner eventually. So crucially, two fewer matches for Sonja Bon Pasteur to worry about into the final eight in March. Arsenal, I mean, they did everything they could. Three in a win over Leuven, but that result for Chelsea and Byron's dominant display elsewhere

means they couldn't finish in the top four. I think what can't be ignored is their resurgence in form and in results. They won every game in December. They're in the top seed of bracket for the playoffs Arsenal as well. So I think slightly cyclically and bizarrely, they could actually face Leuven who they beat tonight who finished 12th again in February

so that will give them plenty of confidence similar for Manchester United as well in the playoffs an important win they beat Juventus it felt like a good win for them back in in form after back to back to feats so you know especially remembering it's their debut season in the Champions League what this means

then Arsenal cannot face Manchester United in February's two leg playoffs so they finished fifth and sixth tonight in the table that means they're in the same seeded bracket so their opponents will either be 11 or Athletico Madrid will find that out tomorrow. Steve, what's quite exciting and massive is that if both of them, Arsenal and Manchester United, progress through to the quarterfinals, coming through their playoffs, one of them

is guaranteed to play Chelsea in the quarterfinals. Right, that's it for this episode. Big thank you to all of our guests. We're back tomorrow with the Euroleaks. As always, thank you so much for listening. This winter, cricket's oldest rivalry is reignited. England and Australia do battle to compete for the Ashes. That is extraordinary. Hear live ball by ball commentary on Fife Sports Extra. And get analysis and reaction of every day's play with the Test Match Special podcast. The Stamps out of the ground.

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