Pep HAMMERS Carsley | Grealish injury confusion | New Guardiola contract soon?
36:12 Share

This episode is brought to you by I'm's Pet Food. When you choose I'm's dry dog or cat food, you can see a difference in your pet with your own eyes. Healthy energy in five days, healthy digestion in 10 days and healthy skin and coat in just 25 days. Satisfaction for you and them guaranteed are your money back. Feed I'm's dry dog or cat food and see a visible difference. Visit I'm's dot com slash difference to learn more.

This episode is brought to you by Honda. When you test drive the all-electric Prologue SUV, there's a lot that can impress you about it. There's the generous passenger space, the clean, thoughtful design, and the intuitive technology. But out of everything, what you'll really love most is that it's a Honda. Visit Honda.com slash EV to see offers.

This episode is brought to you by Dutch Bros. Big smiles, rocking tunes, and epic drinks. Dutch Bros is all about you. Choose from a variety of customizable, handcrafted beverages like our Rebel Energy drinks, coffees, teas, and more. Download the Dutch Bros app for a free medium drink, plus find your nearest shop, order ahead, and start earning rewards.

Offer valid for new app users only. Free medium drink reward upon registration. 14-day expiration. Terms apply. See DutchBros.com. Hello and welcome to another edition of our Talking City podcast with myself, Alex James. Today, joined by City writer Joe Bray, live from the City Football Academy. Joe, as I can see in the background behind you, the pristine pitches, having just spoken to Pep Guardiola this afternoon.

Yeah, these are the, I think the academy train on here and maybe the women's team sometimes. But yeah, it's very busy in here and the CFA and there's people walking back and forth. So if I'm, if I sound a bit bad, I apologise for that. But no, we've just heard from Guardiola and short but sweet, I would say he was not in a good mood at all. We'll come on to that in a minute. It's

See if he walks past in the background and see if he stops for a more extended chat with you, perhaps. But we'll just begin with where we've been over the past week and a position of unfamiliarity, to say the least, for Pep, for City's players and for everyone who follows the club on the back of three defeats for the first time in, I think I'm right in saying, six and a half years. I don't think Pep's lost four on the spin full stop as a manager, which is...

which sort of beggars belief in in some respects despite the success he's had but it's been um it's been a different and difficult week yeah and i think some of it is down to injuries and a lot of it is down to injuries but also they've not played that well and they collapsed obviously at sporting and that was unfamiliar from from city from from this team and it it feels like everything is going against them and when one thing goes wrong

a lot of things are going wrong and he's happy with how they played at Tottenham. He admits that Bournemouth outplayed them and a lot of that was down to fitness and fatigue and the fact that Bournemouth were just better on the day and won the duels and were up for it more. But he says that the game at Sporting, the performance was

was good on a whole but those two minutes at the start of that second half it was 20 seconds from following the restart they were behind 22 seconds after that restart they were they'd given away a penalty and he said that they sort of lacked the something like the emotional discipline or it was a bit of a turn of phrase about emotions but I think he was just talking about the penalties they conceded and when you have Erling Haaland missing penalties that sort of sums up that not a lot is going right for you but

I think he's right in the sense that the performances aren't too bad. It is just sort of human nature that when you're without half your players, you're playing not many players, you can say, are definitely fully fit. Even the players who are fit are having to play more than they would usually. It feels just like a lot of things are adding up and it's resulted in these three defeats. But I mean, there weren't three defeats last season, but there was a Champions League game

in the middle of it and yeah like you say it's it's three three sort of defeats on the spin the first time since it was april 2018 you say he did say he did make a point of saying it was three different competitions it's not three on the spin it doesn't and i'm not sure i agree with that you've got to sell it haven't you if you're the manager you've got to tell your players that it's not as bad as it seems but yeah it just feels like everyone's on a bit of a different page at the moment bernardo saying they're in a dark place pep say saying there isn't and they're playing well and

Yeah, it's a massive game against Brighton before the international break. If they can go into even a draw to arrest that slump and just get through, it's better. If they go on a four-game losing streak, as you say, first time it's ever happened to Guardiola, then they've got two weeks to chew on it. And Tottenham and Liverpool coming up after that, it risks turning into something even bigger. So I think this is potentially one of the most important games of the season.

Yeah, and for all, you can look at three defeats in a row or not if you're Pep, but if they do win on Saturday, they'll be top for a couple of hours at least ahead of Liverpool's game. So for all the kind of what's happened in the last seven, ten days, they're two points off top spot, they're five clear of Arsenal, they're well set in the Champions League. I know it wasn't a result anybody expected, wanted, saw coming, but

They could easily have been out of sight in that first half against Sporting. Probably isn't going to have too much of an impact because of the new format in terms of qualification. You'd expect them to get two home wins, if nothing else, from their last four fixtures in Europe. And we've seen this before with City, haven't we, there?

Sometimes there is a little bit of a blip in the autumn. And yet, six months down the line, we're talking about one trophy, two trophies, three trophies, four trophies. Yeah, I mean, like I said last season, they lost three out of four without Rodri. And everyone's thinking, oh my goodness, what's going to happen? And I think later in the, it might have been in the new year, was it four draws or one winning five or something like that with the drew against Chelsea and Liverpool and lost the game. I can't remember the exact numbers.

sort of order of it but I remember going to Luton and thinking they've not won in a few couple of weeks here they need to do something I think they blew them out of the park and it was it was uh it was all comfortable again I might be getting my Luton trips mixed up because the two Luton trips last season did merge into one sort of grey grey drive down and grey drive back but yeah we see these

these patterns happen every autumn and then they'll go in a winning run when City get all the players back you would never bet against them winning the majority of games that they play I think in the Champions League I saw that the like 99.5% chance of qualifying for the knockout stages even if they've got to go through the playoff that's got to be the main aim if they can get the top eight great if they don't get it fair enough I think but Bernardo said yeah we want to win in the Carabao Cup but if the bigger than the Carabao Cup now it's

I've never seen a team as happy as the team that finished against Tottenham having just lost the first game of the season. There's a bit of a relief about going out of that competition. Like you say, sporting, if they get through this eight-game group stage and lose one game, they've done very, very well and they will qualify for the next stage. And I think that's the first defeat in Europe since 2022, April 2022 against Real Madrid. So when you put it into the context,

As much as I think it's right that we say what's going on, how has it gone wrong at the moment? The bigger context is they're doing all right. Yeah, absolutely. And obviously you've been there today and amongst Pep and I guess getting a little bit of a feel for the mood. Just how would you sort of assess firstly Pep and secondly kind of the mood about the place in terms of looking ahead to Brighton, as you say, a massive game?

it was it was a little bit odd that we sort of all sat down for the press conference and then we were told actually no pep's going to be another half an hour which doesn't often happen it could be many many reasons but when he finally did come he was absolutely fuming i think his first question was a one-word answer are you going to abu dhabi this break no i think over the course of the the open section on the embargo sections about five one-word answers that he gave and it was he did not want to be there and even the answers he gave he did not want to be given he was

very angry at Lee Carsley and over the Jack Grealish situation for calling him up disputed everything that Carsley said about justifying calling Grealish up and saying no he hasn't trained for the last two days he's been in the gym he didn't call me Carsley said he did he didn't he doesn't really want those players to be called up when they're not fully fit but he will never stand in the way of a player who is called up to the country and wants to play so it was a

You could read a lot in what Guardiola said from the very few words that he did say. And I think it was striking how grumpy he was, really, which, you know, he's got to do these three, four times a week. He doesn't want to do them. You can forgive him when everything's getting really busy to...

to sort of forget it and just do a quick job and just get in and out of there but yeah it did feel today like he was uh very keen to get on that plane or train to to brighton and just get a win and not take any more questions about jack realish from from people like us yeah we'll come on to jack realish and what is a somewhat bizarre situation really when you consider the almost not quite polar opposite but not far off um opposing views of the club and country camps but

Pep been a little bit spiky and a little bit moody in a press conference. That's happened several times before. In terms of how he is with the players, I think he's sort of been pretty complimentary of the squad in general.

He was speaking on Tuesday night, wasn't he, about his desire and his determination to sort of turn this around. It might be a bit overdramatic, but to come out the other side of this little pitch. He said he loves to be here. He loves the challenge. He wants to fight. And I suppose if, I mean, at the start of the season, he said he wants to see how his players are going to approach the season. If they've still got the fight and the desire. He's never been in this situation. He's not seen these players yet.

lose these three games where everything's going against them this is something new for him and if he can look at those players and say okay i see something that they're still committed and still want to fight and half the team's not there loads of players are playing through injury and with fitness problems it's it's one of them where i think he will learn a lot even if the results aren't going and that's probably why he didn't really want to be with us because he just wanted to uh

to get back and just get to it. But yeah, no, he's, he made it clear that the players are playing well and he supports them and he backs them and all of that sort of thing. So he's never going to have a go at them when they're losing. That's not his style. So he just had to go at Lee Carsley instead. And you can guarantee he's channeling any frustration, anger, whichever adjective you want to

you want to use he he is channeling that into let's get a result on saturday tea time isn't it won't be going any other way i did say i think at bournemouth i was like i can imagine the documentary of of this week is going to be quite a short feature of the uh the end of season the episode that covers this little blip it's going to be just blushed aside so he lost three games in a row and then they went on this massive run and look what happened and look how great all the players and manager are i don't i don't think we're going to see a lot of the uh

the behind the scenes talks because yeah it feels like a lot's going on and there's a lot of things being said and different people trying to say the right things to get

get out of this slump but I'm not sure we'll see it at the end of the season Yeah, yeah, let's move on to Mr Grealish then obviously called up into the England squad when others weren't from a City persuasion, it hasn't played in the last few weeks since before the start of Prague was it I think It was the Wolves game, he played against Wolves and then the next day in training he got injured and hasn't played since

And Lee Carsley seemed to suggest that he was back in training and while they wouldn't take any risks, there was no sort of issue with calling him up. Well, that flew in the face of what Pep had to say this afternoon, where I think, did he say train for 20 minutes or something? And he wasn't fit to play, or he's not going to be fit to play at Brighton. And it didn't take a body language expert to read that he wasn't overly thrilled with the decision of Lee Carsley there, but...

ultimately I guess there's not a great deal you can do about it but this is a club and country row from back in the day when they used to be commonplace isn't it it's a throwback club and country row this one yeah it feels like proper bread and butter all the back pages I can guarantee tomorrow will be Guardiola versus Carsley because he said what he said and what he was thinking were different he was saying yeah I'm delighted that he's gone up and it's his choice and never stand in the way but also he's making the point that

if he's not fit, if he's not fit for City, then how can he be fit for England? And a lot of that, he doesn't need to say it because he's just been so blunt with his answers. And just the dispute between, you know, Carsley said that he called, that their team, that England set up, was in contact with all the teams about all the players. Guardiola says they weren't, and he hasn't had a call, and his medical team hasn't had a call. And

uh yeah sorry Kelsey says that greeley's trained for two days Guardiola says he hasn't so there's a somewhere along the line there's a lack of communication maybe it's cause he just thought let's see what happens let's see what condition he he comes to maybe he was talking more generally

rather than just specifically about Grealish. Maybe he was thinking, I've only got two games left, I don't have to deal with this man anymore. Who knows? But, I mean, he's going to go back to the under-21s where there are a handful of City players in there as well. But, I mean, Guardiola and international managers have that spiky relationship anyway. And Guardiola is annoyed when players are played when they're not fit or they're not in a competitive game. I would imagine...

I mean, my guess would be Grealish is going to turn up to England and they take one look at him and say, no, off you go. And we'll get a statement saying Grealish has withdrawn. And that'll be that maybe more so after today's press conference. But it does feel like with very few words, Guardiola was making quite a strong point to England and to Carsley. Yeah, unfortunate for Jack Grealish as well, because he was left out of the England squad in the summer. He's obviously, Lee Carsley, he's obviously,

really, really valued him, really rates him. He's sort of come back with a bang a little bit for England and now, almost through no fault of his own, he's suddenly found himself at the attention of a tug of war between City and England. And I'm sure all he wants to do is get back to playing football and try and, you know, sort of rediscover his best. I mean, on the one hand, it could help City if he's close to fitness, get him training for these two weeks. He might play 20 minutes here and there for England and

get a bit of fitness back and he can in theory come back to City and and hit the ground running or he's not fit and then he's forced to play when he's he's not as in the best condition as City would like him and and we're sort of back to square one it's it it could go either way as like I said I would imagine that I think as he said they'll assess all the players when they arrive and and we've got players on standby I would guess that Grealish will be uh

He will get his two weeks off after all, but something has got lost in translation along the way and Guardiola is not very happy about it. I think that's what we can definitely take from his short but sweet answers.

We have one more act for you this evening.

I don't even need to say his name. Mr. Bob Dylan! A complete unknown is now a Golden Globe and Critics' Choice nominee for Best Picture. Bobby, what do you want to be? Whatever it is, they don't want me to be. Timothee Chalamet astonishes as Bob Dylan in one of the best performances of the year. And critics rave Edward Norton is absolutely fantastic. 70,000 people are here and Bobby is the reason for it. This Christmas...

They just want me singing Blowing in the Wind for the rest of my life. Don't miss the movie critics are hailing. Five stars. It's pure cinematic magic. Turn it down! Play it loud! And named to AFI and the National Board of Review's Top Ten Films of the Year. Make some noise, BD. Track some mud on the carpet. A Complete Unknown. Only in theaters Christmas Day. Rated R. Under $17.99 without parent.

Whether you're ordering wings for the game, whipping up a seven-layer dip, or ordering pizza, there's something about football that makes you want to eat. And this football season, Uber Eats has the best deals on game day food. No matter what you're craving, from two-for-one pizza to buy one, get one wings, Uber Eats will be dropping new deals each week, all season long. Uber Eats, official on-demand delivery partner of the NFL. Order now. Terms and conditions apply. See app for details. And obviously the internationals now...

jack greenish being one but there's a few city players not traveling and then there'll be a few city players who are traveling and are involved for their countries and i can imagine people are going to not look maybe not watching from behind the sofa but the last thing guardiola and city need is someone to come back with a problem given it doesn't feel like they've had well they haven't had a fully fit squad

And it feels like they've always got five or six players just on the cusp of you sort of just about being available or almost ready to play. The last thing they need is any more, what City would say, unnecessary international injury.

yeah especially with the fixture list after the after the break when they've got like say tottenham and liverpool and a couple of other tricky games as well and champions league trips to juventus and games that they need to be winning really it's i mean there's no nathan ake he's he was on the bench at sporting guardiola sort of hinted he's had an issue he's not in the netherlands squad

We've sort of got to assume that if he's not properly injured, then that could just be a good thing for him and a precaution. Diaz is out until after the international break, so is Stones. If they can have some time just to get over their issues and come back, then that could benefit City. You've got players like Gundogan who don't play for the countries anymore and Kevin De Bruyne's asked to be left out. So there's probably going to be a decent number of players left

even if they're not training, back at City and around the place and stepping up the recoveries without a game and that could help them. But also you've got players like, he says Rico Lewis needs a break. He says, you know, Kyle Walker got an issue and hasn't played too well. And, you know, you just don't want him injured again, for example. And all the players that have been overplayed because of the injuries.

aren't going to rest Erling Haaland, are they? Guardiola said, or maybe he'll get a rest in the international break, tongue firmly in cheek because he is their star player and they need to try as much as they can to qualify in the Nations League. So it's, as ever, it's going to be a wait, but normally they're not a wait, a tense time in terms of injuries, but normally that's with the majority of a fully fit squad and then if you pick up one or two, then

you can deal with it. They've got a lot of players out. They can't afford any more players. Yeah, absolutely. And I don't think it would be the November international break if we didn't discuss Pep Guardiola's future and Pep Guardiola's contract. What's happening with Pep Guardiola? Will he be here next season? Won't he be here next season? Is he going to go and swan off into the sunset and maybe even turn up into international football himself and be on the other side of this club v country discussion? But yeah,

he was asked I think you mentioned it earlier he he was asked a question about it first up today um which he he clearly had no real interest in entertaining because his answer was just one word but no what yeah exactly what is the um I guess what is the lay of the land how how do you um from sort of being inside the camp a little bit see this playing out over the next couple of weeks based on sort of past history of contract extensions

Well, the past history is his last two have been signed in either the November international break or in November when the season sort of took a break for the World Cup and he took that opportunity. He's had 15 or so games in the season. He's learned what he needs to learn about his players and he can go and sign that contract. And the logical assumption would be that at least let's wait and see and

if he's done it for the last two contract extensions and he's got a decision to make then this is the time that he has made it in the past and he's felt like he's had all that information so you can understand where that question is coming from and there will be a lot of eyes on I'm sure flight trackers will be sort of being watched from City fans from Manchester or or Catalonia to Abu Dhabi because it it would make sense if if he did that it wouldn't be a surprise at all but equally

He said he will take his time and as soon as he thinks that waiting too long is affecting the club, then he'll make his decision. But as long as he's got that time, he's going to make it. So I would not sit here and say he's definitely going to sign the contract or make a decision or make an announcement because I think the only person who knows when that's going to come is Guardiola. But again, it's sort of a two plus two equals 4.5, isn't it? Because if he's done it twice already...

It's probably one that we've got to watch out for and think maybe he'll do it again. I genuinely don't know how this season would impact his thinking. Like I say, if he's happy with how the players are motivated and fighting for everything, that's what he said in the summer is what he's looking for. He said, if you love the job, why would you stop? He didn't look like he loved it today, but that's just talking to us, isn't it?

I do think this sort of period and how his players react will play a part and he'll see a different side to the players. He'll see which leaders step up, who comes back from injury ahead of schedule. We saw Kyle Walker probably come back earlier than he should have done against Bournemouth, but he said he felt he needed to. He's going to be looking for all of that and making his decision. But I'd imagine after the last couple of weeks, he'll just want a bit of a holiday as well during the break and just switch off from the football. But no,

I would never sit here and say he's definitely going to do it or definitely not because only Guardiola knows. Yeah, and even he might not know just yet. There seems to be, looking from the outside in, a little bit more of a lean towards maybe he will give it one more year than perhaps earlier on in the season. It felt like

oh, this will be it. This will be the last season. Whereas now, rightly or wrongly, the mood seems from the outside to have shifted a little bit more towards...

he might give it another year I don't know if that's sort of what you're picking up as well or it's changing isn't it like there was a story during the the title parade that he was that was it this is gonna be his last season and then things are changing there's some sort of that is the expectation that he's decided that but he's not shut the door on on staying and he's he's nice dropping those hints and

like those things I just said that he said in the States, if you love it, why would you stop? And they understandably raise hope. And he said he loves being here and he would like to stay if it's right for everybody. So you cling on to those as a City fan. But yeah, I think potentially no news is good news. But at some point he's going to have to say either way and City would have to find a replacement and

yeah, whether that planning is underway or not, I could sit here and say, who knows what's going to happen? Nothing's going to happen. And then tomorrow we get the news and I think it will be like, I think it is going to come out of nowhere if he is to sign an extension. I don't think there's going to be any buildup.

Yeah, yeah. And it wouldn't... Well, it depends which way it goes. But when the decision about Chiqui was made and then suddenly Hugo Viana was in, and that kind of sums up how City have been so successful over the past decade and a bit because they forward plan. And even you look at it now with Arsenal and with Edu departing, and they've sort of said, we're happy to take our time on finding a replacement. But that...

creates a lot of uncertainty, a lot of rumour, a lot of questions for Mikel Arteta, no doubt, over the next however long it is that they're without Eddie for. Whereas at City, it was job done. And you do get the feeling that if and when Pep does go, whether that's this season or next, there'll be a statement saying he's leaving on July or whatever it is. And then there'll be another statement saying 24 hours after Pep leaves, X will be the new manager. It's hard to believe that City will find themselves in a position where they are

looking for a manager so to speak while not having pep in charge if that makes sense i mean that's that happened with pellegrini didn't it they finished his press conference and there was a statement on the desk but as they came out and it was pellegrini's leaving at the end of the season pep guardiola is is taking over and it was very efficient and uh i would yeah i think i would agree with you on that but also you look and think

who could be that replacement, which is the age-old question that always follows his Pep Winners day. It would be who replaces him and there's the 115 charges that we're expecting at some point, a verdict on that. There's the Club World Cup, which he says he wants to take charge of. That takes place midway through when his contract expires.

So he may sign a two-week extension just to get that over the line. But then whoever comes in, if he was to bow out at the Club World Cup, would have no pre-season and a couple of weeks to go into the new season. So,

it isn't an ideal situation. He's talking about next season. He's mentioned how the Club World Cup and the fact that the Premier League aren't helping sort of delay the first game of the season for City. And he's talking about the schedule and how it affects as if he's going to be in charge. But you also get the sense that that's just, he's always looking ahead and he's not talking about his own personal situation. So every time you think you get in his head, he shuts you down and he's...

you can never be inside Guardiola's head because it's layers of deadlocks and lots of stuff going on. Yeah, I'm not quite sure I've managed to talk so long about something that we evidently don't know a huge amount about in terms of what will happen next. But do you get any kind of, you're often in the mix zone after games, do you get any kind of sense that the players would just like a bit of clarity on

the manager situation or that it's having any impact whatsoever on how they go about their daily business? I don't think so. I think they all keep quite sort of straight and narrow with their answers. If they're ever handed that, they sort of say that, yeah, they'd love to work with him, but it's his decision and what he's done for the club and that sort of thing. No one's come out and said, we need a decision because I think they trust the club. I think there is an inherent trust from the squad that

in the club and whether that's the charges or even they'll look at like you say replacing Bagiristan with Viana it happened like that so I think they will see that the club have a plan and and know what they're doing and I mean you can't not look at the success that they've had and and come to that conclusion as well maybe they're saying that behind the scenes and they'd like to know but I think the relationship he Guardiola has with his players and they have of course they'd want him to stay

but it's entirely up to him and he's earned the right, I think, with everything he's done over the last eight or nine seasons to go on his terms. And I think even the most senior players would agree with that as well. Yeah, and last one before we wrap it up and let you get on with the last bit of work before the long trip south. But to bring it full circle, Bernardo Silva, always good value, I think.

really good character for someone for quotes after a game. Never an easy situation either to speak directly after a game, especially when you've lost. He describes City as being in a dark place, I think, were the words he used after Tuesday night. Pep, again, went against that in his press conference. What's the sort of mood, do you think, within the camp in terms of the City players? They've been here before in terms of

I don't even want to call it a slump really, but little sort of mini patches of a season where they don't get the win-win-win that we almost expect from City. They're not in a dark place, are they? Second in the Premier League and well placed in the Champions League, surely? Well, this is it. So every time there's...

an injury crisis and that's how we're describing it you can look at the bench the next time they've got all these players coming back and there's an inevitable post on twitter look at city's injury crisis they've got kyle walker and kevin de bruyne and sabino and doku and and all these players on the bench and look how much they cost and it's like these none of these players are fit if you look at the squad at the starting 11 none of those players are fit either and if if you look below the photo you've just taken you've got five academy players on the bench as well so it's it's the combination of

Players who aren't there, players who are not fully fit and are probably putting squads before they should do. And also just going through that and players like Lewis and Haaland and Kovacic and Gundogan, they've been forced to play. Bernardo as well, they've been forced to play so many games. Even the last three games, the plan surely would have been get a few goals, take Haaland off 160 minutes. You can't do that because...

because you need a goal yourself and I was looking at Ireland stats actually he's over he's underperformed on expected goals by four and a half goals uh in the last three games he's since his um so the three games have lost he's not no not the three games he's lost because he didn't play against Tottenham but since his uh goal against Southampton where he had all those chances and then didn't score in the only one one nil rested against Tottenham and then uh sporting in Bournemouth he could

by the XG, whatever they decide. He could have scored four and a half more goals and suddenly City are not in a slump anymore. They might have lost against Sporting or drawn one or whatever, but they're just getting through. And then you look at Haaland's goals over the course of the season and he's got 14 goals and he's been expected to score 14 XG. So he is performing as normal. It's just at the moment he's not hitting those goals and it's just sort of symptomatic of just not everything's going right.

But in the long term, the bigger picture is they're actually doing okay. So I think, yeah, I think it's fair to call it a slump at the moment. If they lose against Brighton, it will be definitely sort of crisis mode for the international break. But I don't think the players and Guardiola will be too concerned because they know what they can do and they know that when they get those players back,

they'll be good enough. Guardiola was asked last week, are you going to sign anyone in January without all these players? He said, we'll have all the players back in January. There'll be new signings and we'll be good to go. I think that's the move. They just need to get through this injury crisis and slump or blip or whatever you want to call it and come back and not get any more injuries over the international break and then attack the next run of fixtures.

yeah Q Q Holland hat trick on there on Saturday and is that what you're saying so that's what we can take that's what I took from that answer Jake well I'm not putting this captain on my fantasy team and I did when he only scored one against Southampton so yeah he's guaranteed to score a hat full of goals because I've walked away from that Captain button good stuff good stuff

Right, I think we'll leave it there for today's episode of the podcast. Obviously, we can keep up to speed with everything before, during, after the game and plenty of content as well across the international break on all the usual platforms from the Manchester Evening News. Safe travels to yourself, Joe, heading down tomorrow. And we will speak to you again next week. Thanks very much for listening.