The Debrief: Three Wise Goals from Jesus, & Rashford's "new challenge"
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Three quarters of the line-up for this year's League Cup semi-finals

is complete. We'll bring you full commentary on Thursday night of Tottenham versus Manchester United. That will be to see who joins Arsenal, who beat Crystal Palace 3-2. Thanks to Gabriel Jesus Patrick. We're going to hear from him shortly. Liverpool, the holders, they won 2-1 at Southampton. And these are the sounds of St. James' Park, where Newcastle had the easiest night of the lot against Brentford, Ian Dennis. Yes, extremely comfortable. The margin of victory could have been far greater. I don't think anybody could have complained had it been five or six points.

as well as the three goals that they scored. They hit a post in each half, Murphy in the first half and Barnes in the second.

but they never really looked back after Tenali with a sweet strike, put them ahead after nine minutes. It was an instinctive effort, right-footed, and he added it too with another fine goal, a right-footed volley, two minutes before half-time. And then the third goal came 21 minutes from the end, well worked. It was Hall with a shot that was saved. Guimaraes then just squared it, pulled it back, and it was a tap-in for Cher. And Brentford, who rarely laid a glove on Newcastle United,

did manage to get a consolation through Wissert in injury time. And we can hear from the Newcastle manager, Eddie Howes with Rob Schofield. Thank you, Steve. Eddie, very comfortably through to the semifinals. How pleased are you with that? Yeah, really pleased. Good performance from the players. Difficult game. Every game brings a unique challenge. I thought Brentford were...

everything that we thought they would be. They're a strong team, but we scored some really good goals. Great to see Sandro score the two that he did. Just a really good feeling about the group at the moment. I think we're building in confidence all the time. Two real quality finishes from Tonali, but all round, are we starting to see the best out of him now?

Yeah, we are. I think the tweaking position has definitely helped him. He looks a lot more comfortable, deeper on the pitch. Very, very intelligent player. All the qualities that we knew when we signed him. It was just about finding the right balance for him and for the team and

It's good to see him, Bruno, Joe Linton, Joe Willock all play well today in the middle of the pitch. It's such an important area. It goes without saying. Your midfield sort of wins and loses your games and at the moment they're doing really well for us. You spoke about the Leicester game going into this one, wanting a turning point, wanting to put a run together. As you say, you're starting to see evidence of that, that you can really kick on now and get that run that you're after. I think the balance of the team looks good at the moment. I think we've got players playing in their positions and playing well. We look...

creative again I think there was a spell where we sort of lost our attacking impetus attacking relationships weren't there for a couple of weeks but again a high number of shots today high number of chances to score and that is really the game you need the confidence in the front players and the whole team to deliver opportunities for you and that's great to see You were without Sean Longstaff tonight you'll be without Bruno and Fabian Schär for the first leg of the semi-final how frustrating is that becoming discipline at the moment? Yeah it is but I think it

It goes with the territory. I think we're a competitive team. We encourage the duels and the physical intensity with the way that we play. You can't have everything.

Yeah, disappointed with the bookings, disappointed to lose such key players, but we have to have to roll with it. And just finally, two semi-finals in this competition in three years. If we are looking slightly broader, evidence for you of real progress in the club moving absolutely in the right direction? Yeah, I think the cup competitions are important to us. I think the testament to the players' attitudes, these games aren't easy.

You have to do the hard work in the early rounds to survive. We've done that again this year. The semi-final is going to be tough. You look at the teams left in. But that's where we want to be in amongst these last stages of the big competitions. Great stuff, Eddie. Back to you, Steve. Eddie Howe with Rob Schofield after Newcastle's 3-1 win over Brentford. Ian Dennis inside St James' Park alongside Chris Waddle. Chris, we'll talk about Sandro Tonali in a moment, but goodness me, Brentford did

but didn't half make it easy for Newcastle tonight? Yeah, I was just surprised, yeah, how Eddie Howe said, you know, had to work hard and how a good side Brentford are. Yeah, maybe he's on certain weeks they are, but tonight they were terrible. He wasn't going to say they were terrible, though, was he? No, but he should have said, I was surprised Brentford, you know, were turned up. I would have said we expected more. And we did. It's a quarterfinal of a cup. You know, as I said earlier, you lose, you go home, you're out. And, you know, until...

he brought in Bouma and he played alongside Wiss out front for the last 15 minutes they started to create a little bit but up till then it was a non-event it was just one team had turned up and yeah listen that'll give them a lot of confidence if they can put a nice little run together going into the semi-finals and yeah

This is what they need. You know, when you're a team who play on the front foot and you've got a lot of talented footballers in your team, you need confidence and you need results and you know that you're creating and you're scoring and it gives more confidence. And that's what we saw in Newcastle, a whale back, you know, when they were challenging top four and everything. That's what they're all about. And they lost that. But it seems to be coming back. I should say as well, Ian, I think I'm right in saying that makes Eddie Howe the first Newcastle manager since Sir Bobby Robson to get to two Major Cup semi-finals.

Sorry, that wasn't a quiz question. I'm pretty sure that's right because I read it somewhere. Well, I will bow to that. I appreciate it. But I mean, it's great company, isn't it? Well, ultimately, if they want to get a trophy, that's what the fans have been craving for for such a long time. 70 years it'll be.

I don't think they did themselves justice when they played Manchester United in the final in 2023. So I think if they get back to Wembley on this occasion, I mean, albeit they've got to try and get past what undoubtedly is going to be a difficult semi-final line-up,

But if they can get to Wembley on that occasion, then they'll want to do themselves justice come March the 16th. The reason I mention it, Chris, is that I think if you sort of rewind to the Sir Bobby era and them getting to two semifinals, it wouldn't have mattered who the opponent was tonight.

St. James's would have been absolutely bouncing. It was a little bit flat and I don't know if that's partially because there wasn't that much jeopardy because they won so comfortably or whether there is an expectation that this is exactly what they should be doing. I just think that after 10-15 minutes you could see where the game was going and I think the fans could. I think they didn't need to

get behind them. They weren't under pressure. They were never looking like they were going to concede. They were in control of the game. So you could fail around the ground. There was no nerves, no edginess. The advantage they've got going into the semi-finals as well is that the teams who are in the semi-final are all in Europe.

And it's more games and testing your squad. And, you know, you get injuries. And, you know, with Newcastle, it's the Premier League. Go as high as you can, right? And you've got two cups to go for. You've got a free hit at them. And this is a big advantage as well because these teams will be playing, you know, European games. And again, you're testing your squad out all the time. And all of a sudden, the semi-final of the League Cup pops up and you think...

do we rest players? Do we go for the Europe? Do we go for the other one? Do we try and get Champions League? So there's a lot that will happen in the next few weeks before they play this semi-final. But Newcastle's in a good position. Because Scher and Gimara will be suspended for that first leg, which is the week commencing the 6th of January. But as Chris quite rightly says, the Champions League match day 7 is around the 21st, 22nd of Jan, and then the

final night when they all play together is the 29th of Jan and then the following week will be the return legs, week commencing the 3rd of February. So for those teams in European competition, as Chris says, that is going to be a very, very hectic start to the new year.

It's also going to be, Chris, a time of year when Newcastle fans will be hoping that the squad gets stronger and they spend money and this kind of thing. And I think we already know that that's going to be very difficult, which just makes it more important that one of their world-class players, Insandro Tenali, looks increasingly like he's finding his feet. Eddie Howe said he's playing slightly deeper. Yeah, he is. I've always said with Newcastle that they've not had a hold on midfield player for a while now.

you know, you're looking back at David Batty and players like that who used to sit and protect the back four and was always available to get on the ball from the back four and they've not had that under Eddie. You know, they've always played three midfield players who are attracted to the football and they go off running and want to score and want to join in and create and I used to feel for the two centre-halves because they were exposed a lot and, um,

the better the teams you play, the more exposure you can get. But Ternali, when he's fit and as he is at the minute, he plays just in front of that back four. It's a great position for him. Right, let's hear from the Liverpool manager, Arne Slott. Here he is with Chris Coles. Arne, well done. Good win. Much changed team, difficult conditions. What did you make of it? The question already gives the answer. It wasn't easy circumstances to play in because of the wind, of course.

But it was a very good and important win for our team because you saw a lot of players that maybe normally don't start. You see a few players that have had an impact already. So for us to have these players playing a game is important, especially if they win it. And a few of them, maybe most of them, played in a really good way as well. It was a makeshift team and at the time a very makeshift defence. In that second half, how pleased were you that by and large you repelled the Southampton threat?

Yeah, it doesn't matter that much what your last line is if you have the ball as much as we had in the first half so then you have control in ball possession. Second half that control wasn't as much there as in the first half so yeah then your defenders are a bit more exposed especially if they're not defenders in some situations. But they handled the situation really well I think we conceded maybe one or two chances in the second half and

The second half was not as good as the first half but it was in the end enough to bring the win over the line. And a watching brief from the press box for you personally, how did you find that? Not ideal of course because you want to be there down the line to help the players, maybe to influence them even a bit more.

What is also true is that you have a very good overview of the game. But I have such a good staff that even if I wasn't around these three, Sipke, John and Aaron, I could have handled them themselves.

and then I have also good players, so actually I'm quite used to this club now. And through to the semi-finals, I know it's a few weeks away, but do you anticipate bringing some of your big guns back for the semi-final or will you still look to play maybe some of the players that aren't playing as frequently? It depends on where we are at that moment in...

how many games we play at that moment. I don't know exactly now when the games are being played. So, till now it's been really useful for us, for the players that haven't played that much, to get some playing time. And let's see what decisions we will make in... Is it February? January, February. January, January, February. But for now it's been also a good league for us to get some playing time for players that haven't played that much. Appreciate your time. Steve?

We'll be back with Ian Dennis and Chris Waddle shortly at St James' Park when we hear from Thomas Frank. But given we've just heard from the Liverpool manager, let's speak to your commentary team, which is Chris Wise and Francis Benally. Before we do anything else, guys, can I just ask you both what it is like to do a commentary with the Liverpool manager sitting a metre away from you? Because he was actually in the stands. Well, I'll say this first of all. It took us 45 minutes to even realise he was there. Right. I have to be honest with you, Steve. He was behind us. He came up on the screen. You know, you get the little screens in the press box and we saw him there. But...

I had no idea where he was in the stadium. And it turns out that he's literally over our right-hand shoulder. Like, you can see freckles on his face. That's how close you are to him. It was Chris that actually spotted him, Steve. You know, my vision was very much like my playing days, completely non-existent. I had no idea he was there.

But I tell you, it's a good job he came to the press box here at Southampton now and not about three months ago because it's recently had a revamp. And it's far more plush here than it was with the little flip desks that they had here back in August. So he's picked his moment well. First world problems, Chris. It's actually a shame that Liverpool were so good in the first half in that sense, because if they'd had a bad half,

and you were slaughtering them with the Liverpool manager just behind you. That might have been fun. It would have been, yeah. I don't think he would have been so receptive to those questions afterwards if that had been the case. He looked pretty relaxed today.

to be honest. The times that I glanced over my shoulder all throughout the game, there was never any time that he seemed too tense or worked up at it. And clearly in contact with the touchline team. So, yeah, he'll be thrilled that they've gone through. But, Franny, Southampton under Simon Rusk, who's the interim there, they certainly gave them a game in the second half. They gave them a lot to think about, albeit, obviously, they were on the wrong end of the scoreline. Yeah, I mean, there's the frustration of clearly going out of a cup competition at this stage. Yeah,

But there's positives that they can and should take from the second half, most certainly. You know, there's very much that sort of little bit just going through the motions somewhat in the nicest way in the first half. Liverpool taking that 2-0 lead, you know, a little bit fortuitous in certain ways, that deflection there.

from Elliott's shot for the second goal coming off Ryan Manning. The touch that Jan Bednarek got for Nunez's goal, you know, a little bit fortunate and then McCarthy slipping. But, you know, very dominant from Liverpool in that first half with all the changes that they made. And they progressed in the competition. But Southampton have got

Clearly, the major focus now is back on Premier League survival and the appointment of a new manager coming in, which I think the team behind the scenes at Southampton will be working. They've got to get him in quick. This is a position that can't be not filled as soon as possible because whoever's coming in, and there's a number of names that Chris touched on in the comms,

about who's being linked with it and there's always that speculation but whoever does come in hopefully it's got to be very soon to then work with the squad and the team to stay up this season because there's a huge amount of work to be done brilliant stuff thank you very much both francis finale there with chris wise and thanks to chris calls and we'll hear from chris waddle who's at st james's park where newcastle beat brentford here's their manager thomas frank on the night we made a team that was better than us so they won fan square i think uh

The disappointing thing is that we conceded three goals. I think it's soft goals that we need to do better. That irritated me and disappointing. We actually think...

I know it sounds crazy, but besides the two goals in the first half, they had nothing. We couldn't defend well. And if you were here, and yes, we maybe didn't create that much, but we played against a very good team. And sometimes the game is two halves, and you stay in the game, and it's a cup tie quarterfinal. And then you hopefully can be even better in the second half,

But we gave two bad goals away and then the third one, unfortunately, as well. And because we scored that beautiful goal, the 3-1, so imagine that was only 2-1. Then we know the pressure will build the last four or five minutes. You never know what can happen, so...

That's the irritating part. But yeah, it is what it is. You lost Vandenberg in the warm-up and then Ethan Pinnock kind of early on there. I mean, to what degree did that impact the game plan at all? Just very disruptive, perhaps? I think, of course, Seb was the reason why we picked him to play. So we got a minor...

We don't know. It's a growing injury, so we don't know how we'll assess him tomorrow. But Nathan coming in was like for like, so Nathan did more or less all of the games. Of course, Ethan has been our best centre-back over the last five years. It was a blow.

Again, we don't know how much or how big it is. Brentford boss Thomas Frank speaking to Rob Schofield at St. James' Park. Chris Wadland, Ian Dennis still there. I think, Chris, actually, given the team selection and the changes and the performance, as good as that interview was, we could have stopped it after the noise he made right at the start of it where he just went, ugh. It was that kind of night.

Yeah, listen, he was honest. I like what he said. The best team won. We didn't turn up, really. He was honest what he said. And he even said, look, when I put the other centre forward on and boom, he scored a good goal and we looked a bit threatening. But you think, well, why didn't you start them? You know, when you come here, the one thing you've got to have is a game plan. You've got to match...

You know, when you're in Newcastle, like the press and play high and take risks and, you know, really go for it. And you've got to be able to stand that. But you've got to have a go at Newcastle. You've got to start the tempo like them. And you've got to have a go. You can't sit back and wait to see what happens in a game of football, especially when you come places like this. You've got to be brave. And Brentford tonight, we're not. I know you sort of think about those Brentford fans and fair play to them for making that long trip and the weather was rubbish and all that kind of thing.

if you're a team, if I was a Brentford fan, I think I might think, well, we're probably not going to be in a relegation fight. So is it really necessary when we're not in Europe to make so many changes? Yeah. Uh, I mean, we speculated about that during the game. You don't know whether he's given assurances to, to Ben me, uh, who'd started every, we started every game in, in the, in the league cup, you know, even tonight, obviously, uh,

Whether he's felt that he needs to get a run out. And also for managers to give players playing time as well. You don't know about those balances. I mean, obviously Eddie Howe was clear with his intent on winning the competition by going with an unchanged side. But...

They're the conversations that we don't know whether he was asked about that in the press conference at all, Thomas Frank. I do know he was asked about, he's gone on the set to the written media. I saw something from Simon Bird on his social media from the Daily Mirror that said lovely words from Brentford boss Thomas Frank. Newcastle can win it. I said to Eddie, I hope they can win it. We need a change. It would mean more to the Newcastle fans than the rest.

And I think that just sums up Thomas Frank. He was typically honest, which I knew he would be. I said that in commentary when he's been speaking there to Rob Schofield. Never tries to gloss over things, never tries to pull the wool over people's eyes. And there again, he's given an honest answer about how it would be great for Newcastle United to win this competition. So in that sense, full credit to Thomas Frank. Yeah, which is why every time a managerial vacancy comes up at

I'm feeling good. It's always good to score goals. Like I said, I'm the number nine of Arsenal, so...

I have to be scoring goals like obviously Kai as well. We are the strikers of the team, so we have a pressure. But that's it, you know, if you want a challenge for this, we have to try to keep scoring. You know, obviously it's not easy. You know, otherwise there will be a lot of strikers in the world, but it's not easy. But we try. So, yeah, I'm happy with the goals, but I'm more happy with the...

with the win, you know, put us to the semifinal. I think first half we didn't play good, but we stayed positive, we stayed strong. And then second half, obviously, we created more and then we finished the action. How important is it for you to get the hat-trick tonight? You've been through long spells

without scoring. So for you, for your own belief, I suppose, to get the goals. Yeah, you know, this will be always a question if people who watch the game, most of, not most of the people, but a lot of people don't watch the game, just go there after the game and see the stats.

like they strike who we score, you know, but a lot of people, they don't watch the games. Maybe we, do we want one nil, I make a very good action, make assist and then we won the game. Obviously, I want to score a lot. I want to score every game, like Kai, like all the wingers in our team, the midfielders, even the central backs on our team, they want to score. So,

But sometimes it's hard. Sometimes we don't have a chance. We don't get the chances. Like I said, I think before Monaco, when I played a few games and I didn't get chances. And then people don't watch the game and just see, oh, Gabi played 20 games in the season and he scored one. But they don't see. A few times I come in for five minutes, ten minutes. I come in against Man City. I come in as a...

left wing, not left wing back. I help more than attack. So people, you know, is always looking for stats. But I understand, again, I'm playing for Arsenal, huge club who want to win the Premier League. I come here to win the Premier League. And then we was there for details for my first two seasons.

So yeah, this third season I want to win as well, like next year, next year. But obviously the pressure to score goals, he'll be always there. Even if I score 10, they're going to ask to score 20. If I score 20, they're going to ask to score 30. It's life. It's their life, you know. You're on your job.

You want to, you know, work more, work hard to get promotion. So that's their life, you know. But like I say, I'm working very hard to put myself because I know I have quality to finish the action and to score. He knows you well, John Southall. You have graduated from those nil-nils at Palace a few years ago. Well, I was here on Saturday, in fairness.

What a great talker. Yeah, brilliant interview, isn't it? Yeah, absolutely. I mean, and he's right that, you know, people don't see what he does when he doesn't score goals. But I think he'd also admit that he hasn't started as many games as he'd like. He's been injured as well. And he does need to score more. Before coming into this,

It was one goal in 33 games before tonight. So, you know, that's not enough. I know he's only come on for maybe five, ten minutes in some matches, but, you know, he's a centre forward and should be scoring more. So this will do a lot for him, I think. It'll be interesting to see if he starts against Crystal Palace again

on Saturday. I mean, it was a great hat-trick. The first one was a lovely dink finish over the goalkeeper. The second, also on the rise of the area, smashed into the left corner. And then the third, he ran from the halfway line, kept his composure and finished it off. I mean, absolutely brilliant. And I suppose, you know, everybody's talked about your Arsenal centre-forward. Well, there's your Arsenal centre-forward tonight. But can he do it in the next game? I do think it's fascinating because...

especially in, you know, not his mother tongue. What he's done there is a really, really good job of explaining why it hasn't necessarily been going his way, but at the same time saying, I get it, you know? Yeah, absolutely right. And

Before that answer, he'd given us about another five minutes before that as well. And it was, it was, yeah, it was a great interview. And he explained it really well. You know, he said people shouldn't just look at the goals. It's not all about the goals. There's more to me than goals. But ultimately, I think he also said, look, I play for Arsenal. I play for a big club like Arsenal.

people expect goals and I expect goals as well so I think tonight you know could be really important for him also just to say Oliver Glasner came in he wasn't quite as chipper I think it's probably fair to say that he said that he thought his side lacked bravery tonight which was which was interesting from him yeah well why don't we hear from him here's Oliver Glasner with John

Yes, with a very good start with the early goal. But I think overall today, we mentioned it before the game, we have to perform on our top level and I think we didn't perform on our top level for the whole 90 minutes. So we missed several percentage out of possession, especially then. Also, it started in the first half, but

then especially in the second half, it's a half-half, attacking half-half, being in the shape, giving them too much space and especially in possession, we were not brave enough today with the movements, we didn't demand the ball, we didn't support our teammates in possession. What it needs to release,

from their press and from their pressure. And so then it's just a question of time when they score with all their qualities. And what's positive is that even when we were 1-3 down, we played forward, came back with an amazing goal of Adrian Kettier. But at the end, I think that Arsenal deserve to win. Why do you think your players didn't reach those levels tonight that you ask of them? Especially, I mean, it's a really big quarterfinal game.

Oh yes, I think we had a little bit too much respect it looked like after 1-0 up. It's nothing to do with the mentality was here because otherwise when you are 1-3 down you don't come back so everything that's

I know they were great boys, but I think we need more belief in ourselves in some situations, especially here. Always when we did this, it looked better. And when we were too cautious, they were too good.

Oliver Glasner and it is worth having a word on on Eddie and Katya I suppose John not just because it was a brilliant header but also because it fits neatly into the Arsenal striker discussion yeah absolutely when the Arsenal fans saw that they must have thought oh my goodness and when he came on actually he got a lovely reception a standing ovation from the whole of the stadium and and quite rightly so you know he's a youth player here back in North London really good header I don't know if you've seen it yeah kind of he rose really well and put it into the bottom corner one other thing to say about tonight the

the dynamic now for the game on Saturday at Selhurst Park, I think it's a 5.30 game, isn't it? Arsenal obviously made eight changes to their starting 11 and Crystal Palace pretty much played their strongest 11 tonight bar one player. So, you know, they've been able to rest quite a few players, bring them on when they needed them and ended up winning the game. So, you know, it's going to be difficult, I think, for Palace

to go again on Saturday. Thank you very much, John. That's John Southall-Sort in the Women's Champions League tonight. It was the last round of group games. Manchester City finished runners-up in their group. They lost 3-0 to Barcelona, who ended up with a total of 26 goals. So they topped the group on goal difference.

above City. Arsenal women beat Bayern Munich 3-2 at Meadow Park. Sahil Sahi was watching. Yeah, it was a seesaw evening. Two evenly matched teams. Arsenal took the lead from a corner, set pieces, dominating and proving to be the theme of the game. Bayern equalised and then took the lead via corners. Ex-Chelsea defender Magdalena

Could we end up with an all-English quarter-final then?

Very much, Steve. Arsenal, let's start with them. They can play Manchester City, Wolfsburg or Real Madrid. As for Manchester City, they can face either Chelsea, Arsenal or Lyon. And Chelsea, they'll play either Manchester City, Wolfsburg or Bayern Munich. So it looks likely we'll have an all-English clash in the quarterfinals.

The Football Daily Podcast with Steve Crossman. Hello, Gary Lineker here. Join myself, Alan Shearer and Micah Richards for The Rest Is Football, the essential podcast for football fans. We'll be bringing strong opinions on all the latest stories from the Premier League and indeed the wider world of football in a show that combines topical debate,

with the most outrageous tales from our own careers. Will Liverpool have enough to win the Premier League this season? Will Real Madrid's new Galacticos era be a success? Why did Gaza bring an ostrich to training? The rest is football. Listen on BBC Sounds.

OK, let's talk more now about Marcus Rashford's future at Manchester United. You'll remember he was left out of the squad for Sunday's win in the derby at Manchester City. He has said in an interview with Henry Winter that he's ready for a new challenge. Well, his manager, Ruben Amarin, has been speaking about that, giving his reaction to what Rashford had to say. I think he's right. We have here a new challenge. It's a tough one. For me, it's the biggest challenge in football.

because we are in a difficult situation and I already said that this is one of the biggest clubs in the world so this is really a new challenge and the biggest one and I hope all my players are ready for this new challenge. What I want is to take the best of Marcus Rashford as the player so I don't talk about the future, I just talk about the present. I want the best of

each one of them and that is the key point for me. I just want to win and to help the team to be better. So we are better with Marcus Rashford and that's simple and we try different things to push Marcus to the best level that he's shown in the past so that's all. This kind of club needs big talent and he's a big talent so you just need to perform at the highest level and that is my focus.

I just want to help Marcus. OK, that's Ruben Amorim. So we've got Ian Dennis and Chris Waddle with us from St James' Park. Let's also bring in our chief football news reporter, Simon Stone. Simon, obviously Amorim's got a lot of praise. He's won a lot of fans for his messaging and how he speaks and what he says. He's been given a big issue to deal with here. He certainly has. Although he's clearly not scared of confronting it. He said in that press conference that he would assess...

both Garnaccio, who was also left out of the Manchester City game, obviously without the interview yesterday, and Marcus Rashford on training today when we spoke to him this morning. And as it turns out, Garnaccio is definitely...

in the squad but it looks as though Rashford isn't now we're not absolutely certain but the majority or all certainly enough players got on the train to London at Stockport Rashford was not part of that party it is possible that he got on a

Another station, but as I say, there were enough players getting on at Stockport that you wouldn't need any more players. We've not had any confirmation from Manchester United that Rashford is definitely not there. And if he isn't there, why he's not there? Because the other kind of mystery around all this is that you're right, Marcus Rashford spoke to Henry Winter yesterday at a school visit yesterday.

But on Monday, he didn't train because he wasn't well. So we don't know whether he did train today, but it does appear as though he's not going to be part of the squad at Tottenham tomorrow. And that means more questions for Ruben Amorim, who is having to kind of navigate his way through this kind of first season.

major Manchester United issue since he's been head coach with this uncertainty over one of the best paid players at the club and probably the most high profile player at the club. And Simon, it's one thing for Marcus Rashford to say it, obviously. The other question is what is the market for Marcus Rashford? Because he's not going to be given away. Well,

Well, this is the issue. I mean, Manchester United, we all are well aware in profit and sustainability terms, they're kind of in a tricky situation.

You're right. What is the market? Certainly in January, what is the market? PSG get mentioned a lot with Marcus Rashford. Every time I've spoken to them about Marcus Rashford, they kind of distance themselves from it. And nothing has really changed in conversations that I've had with them over the last 24 hours. People talk about Saudi Arabia, but does Marcus Rashford...

at the age of 27, really want to go to the Saudi Pro League. Who's got money in Europe? Well, we know Real Madrid have a deep pocket, but they've got Kylian Mbappe that they're trying to assimilate into a squad that's also got Vinicius there and Jude Bellingham. Atletico bought Julian Alvarez at the start of the season. We know Barcelona can't register the players properly.

Danny Olmo, we're not certain that they're going to be able to register him for the second half of the season, so that seems unlikely. So then we're in England, well, it's difficult to see him going to Liverpool or Manchester City, so then where are we looking? And maybe Tottenham, but would Tottenham pay the amount of money that he's on, over £300,000 a week? That's a bit of a stretch, so would he take a pay cut to go? Would Manchester United give him away? But

If they're kind of taking a reduced amount of money, that's going to affect what they get in P&S terms. So it is not straightforward at all that while it may be better for all parties for Rashford to move on, it's not certain where he can move on to. I love that we're having this discussion as the Christmas music just absolutely booms out from St James' Park. It's perfect. Chris, what do you think?

Listen, I'm a believer that Marcus Rashford, we know he's a talented footballer. He's probably been playing for a lot of football, he's 27, he's been playing a lot of football over the years for, let's be arguable, the biggest football club in the world. So if you want a challenge, do you not want to put Man United back on the map? I don't get that. There's no bigger club than Man United in my eyes, globally. Now, what I've got to say also about it is,

We've seen players over the years, everybody says undoubted talent, Real Madrid want him and Paris Saint-Germain want him and so-and-so want him and so-and-so want him. Listen, they're going to look and think, why is he never consistent? Why does he have a great year and a terrible year and another terrible year and an average year and a good year? So they're going to say, what makes everybody saying he's got to come to Paris Saint-Germain and Real Madrid? Because he's got talent? Yes. Has he used it? No. Let's go over the years.

how many players are we talking about like this deli ali ross barkley i mean my name is younger how many you can there's a list of players we can talk about who've got unbelievable talent now just because you've got that much talent it's what's upstairs right and if you haven't got it upstairs well who's going to buy him why would somebody splash out 100 million quid let's be honest if if jack grealish is worth 100 million quid he's worth more right

ability-wise. So why would somebody splash out £100,000 to £110,000, £20,000 for somebody that they don't know what they're going to get? And if you upset them a little bit, what happens then? You're stuck with a player on a long-term contract on a fortune. Now, you know, he's got a challenge in front of him where he could roll his sleeves up and say, I'm becoming a Man United legend here. I'm going to help this club get back where they should be. That is the challenge. No, I need a new challenge. That's the easier way out for me. Having said it, though, Chris...

Is it now impossible for him to go back, really? No, no. No, Roderick sleeves up. Say, look, I've been there for whatever reason, whatever it's been. He scored 30-odd goals, 32 goals two years ago. Yeah. Well, what's happened to that then? Is it the team's played bad or has he really knuckled down and committed himself to the Man United shirt? I would say not. I've got to say, because of his ability, he should be winning games for Man United nearly every week.

he should be like unplayable you know when people talk about Mbappé yeah he's having a hard time at Real Madrid what a great player he is in every way he's trying to be the best player in the world and Marcus Rashford's got an unbelievable I think he's an unbelievable footballer when he's on his game but it's too easy for people to say he's not interested and I'll say it myself I watch him some games I think he doesn't want to play just for standing I don't want to be here

Now, he's got to look at himself, I think, because he's definitely got the talent, definitely got the ability, but we don't want to see it go past the waistline like a lot of other players have and we've raved about over the years. Ian, is the market for Marcus Rashford much less likely these days to be those top European clubs and more likely to be somewhere like Saudi Arabia?

Yes, probably. But, I mean, he talks about a new challenge. How is that facilitated? Because, you know, when Simon was talking there and he talked about Paris Saint-Germain, long-time admirers of Rashford, apart from that, you're either thinking Turkey or Saudi Arabia because, you know, I can't see on his current form one of the top clubs coming in for him. And also Manchester United are in a power of strength.

because he only signed his new deal last year. So he signed a five-year deal that means he's committed to Old Trafford until 2028. So Manchester United now can expect...

to be in a very strong bargaining position should anybody come in for him, whether it be from Saudi Turkey or France or wherever. I have to ask as well, Chris, has he not made it very, very difficult for his manager to pick him now? We've only just finished talking about how impressed we were with seeing how Amorim was ruthless in his selections and all that kind of thing. No, I actually think that he is a talent. Listen, he's a very good footballer, but it's obviously something, you know, what he thinks, whether he's been at the club, whether he thinks...

you know, he's one of them players who can't get dropped, he's too big, has he grew too big? But, you know, why does he not go on the park and enjoy it or enjoy football? I don't get that. I've never got that, but...

Listen, Amartya Shepard, two years ago when he scored 32 goals, was it? 31, 32, I don't know what he got, something like that. Over 30, yeah. Yeah, yeah. He gets in that team, week in, week out, and he plays. Yeah. You've got a new manager who's trying to get a bit of rhythm going. Great win at Man City for them. He should be thinking, I want to be part of this, I want to see something happen, yeah? I want to be on that team. And he would get the shirt because he is that good. But...

if he's talking about doubting, doubting, doubting, he's doubting himself, never mind the club. So, I wouldn't pick a player who's not right in the main. So, you know, he's got to sort himself out and he's got to say,

That is a massive challenge. Play for Man United, make them great again. Thank you very much, both Ian Dennis and Chris Waddley, your commentary team at St James' Park. That's it for this episode of the Football Daily Podcast. Up next on the Football Daily Feed will be the Euroleagues with John Bennett, Guillaume Balaguet and Julianne Laurent. As always, thank you so much for listening. Yoga is more than just exercise. It's the spiritual practice that millions swear by.

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