Amorim’s Big Calls Pay Off, Chelsea March On & More Managers Getting The Sack Than Santa
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Hello and welcome to The Rest Is Football with Alan Shearer, Micah Richards and me, Gary Lineker. It's been a typically dramatic weekend of domestic football. We've seen shocks, late turnarounds and more managers getting the sack than Santa Claus. Plenty for us to discuss and we're going to jump straight in with the Manchester derby. Micah, you were at the Etihad. Yes, I was at the Etihad. Are you okay at this difficult time? No, I'm okay.

I thought, well, it was going to be a bad day because what happened yesterday, I was traveling to Manchester. It took me three and a half hours to get from Harrogate to Manchester. So that was one. So that's when I knew it was going to be a bad day. Were you walking? Should have done. Secondly...

I couldn't get a trim. So if you see me yesterday, my trim was very baggy. Bless her, the makeup lady, Leila, had to do a little bit of, you know, makeup around my hairline and all that.

And then thirdly, you know when Man United scored to make it 1-1, something said to me, something's not right here. I've seen this story before in the Champions League, the 3-0 up, and it was just crumbled. And I couldn't believe it.

what I was seeing. I mean, you've got to give a bit of credit to Man United because I thought even though the game was so dull, they stuck to the task. They knew exactly what they wanted to do. And in the second half, they upped the tempo, they stuck to the tactics and ultimately they got the rewards for that. But I just knew it was going to be a shocking day. Micah, why don't you come over to my side?

Hey, no boldism. No boldism, Alan, please. Come on. Come over to my side. Just try it. It's a lot easier. It's a lot better. It's only 200 quid, so I'll take it. I'll take it. I'll take it. Oh. Oh.

Oh, goodness me. I couldn't believe it either. It was like... I mean, the standard of football for both teams was pretty poor, wasn't it? It was really poor. Most of the game, yeah. Yeah, it was a tough watch. Yeah, as soon as Man United got one, I thought, here we go. Yeah.

something daft is going to happen here. And then, I mean, Ahmad was amazing, wasn't he? What a player he is. And he's without doubt, he's been the standout player under the new manager. And I was thinking, God, I mean, yeah. And you can listen to Pep after the game when he said it's his fault. He's got no answers. He's got to try and find solutions. It's a tough, lonely place when it's gone horribly wrong as it is at Man City at the minute. Do you think it shows...

How tough it is to manage and coach, perhaps, when you've not got the talent that he's always been blessed with, whether it be Barcelona or Bayern Munich or Manchester City. I mean, he's still got a lot of good players in there, but...

When a number of players are off form and a number of his key players are injured. It's like the lights have gone out though, isn't it? It's like all of a sudden you've got... We've been talking in glowing terms for so long about so many of these players. Yeah, it seems as if like all of a sudden it's just...

Switch had gone out, the lights had gone out for so many of them. It's incredible. They look absolutely knackered though, don't they? They do, they look shocked, don't they? They look absolutely, I was watching it and I was at the game and I was thinking, where's the urgency? Where's the press? Where's the organisation? And of course, you've got Ake out and Akanji out and Rico Lewis was out and Guardiola moved into the centre-back. Mateus Nunes played left-back. So,

But they have got, he gave them a little bit of grace for that and Kovacic didn't start and Rodri's out. So yeah, in answer to your question, Gary, yeah, it's difficult, but I think it's more an energy thing more than just the players thing, you know? I just feel like they've run out. And I don't like going back to old players, but I think the drop-off in the new players coming in, like Doku,

like a Savino, you know? I feel though, Amares and Alvarez were sort of ready-made and Amares had done his hard work, won a league at Leicester, being a top player, is in the height of his...

sort of career in terms of form in that little period where he's in the best form of his life. He comes to Man City, he can replicate that form. Whereas Doku and Savino, they're just still young players learning their trade, aren't they? Yeah, I think that's a fair assessment of where they are. I think Manchester United, it's a, you know, their fans have had it tough for a while.

for a little while now. So they would have certainly enjoyed that late turnaround yesterday. I mean, they weren't great either for much of the game. Would this give them that necessary lift to jump or do you think perhaps they've not got enough quality to, to,

really kick on at the moment they could do something in the Carabao or the FA Cup or whatever but no it's going to take a while I think yes that will give them a little bit more belief but he's got a really big job on his hands and I think he knows he has that it's going to take and I don't think he thought outside of the club it was as bad as it was when he got in there and I think he realises that and understands that and all the messages he's sending out are

ones that are saying this is a massive job I've got on here and it's going to take a long time to get right and they need major surgery. Don't you think they need to improve massively on the ball? You talk about them off the ball, we've talked about them a lot, but just...

It's almost like they're in a rush to get from A to B, from back to front. It's like they're looking for that killer ball every single time. Okay, they're coming up against Man City, who normally dominate the ball, but the possession stats weren't too dissimilar yesterday. But I just think they're always looking for that ball where, after running for so long, it's just...

They don't seem to have players who can just be calm on the ball, give himself a little bit of a breather at times. A little bit in the game was they had a bit of possession because of the work rate of Man City, but just...

since Amarim's come in, they always look like they're trying to force it too quick. I think that's the next step for them. I think also, I think it's really good to see that he's able to put his stamp on the football club and he ain't going to carry any passengers. And I think that was a good result for him yesterday because of who he's left out. What did you make of that, the way the Garnaccio and Rashford thing and what Amarim said?

I think that's what needs to happen at that club. If he's going to get them back ultimately to where they want to be, he's going to have to ship players out and they're either going to have to do it his way or it's the highway. And that's not been the case for too long at Man United now. And I think he understands and realises that. And if they're not going to go with him, he'll get rid of them or he'll leave them out and he'll embarrass them. It's up to them whether they want to go along with a manager or not. And it's pretty simple. And I think it's a refreshing attitude and it's the right thing for him to do.

Yeah, I agree with that. I was having a bit of a debate with Gary Neville on Sky yesterday. My point is not leaving Rashford out. I think the manager has to do that because if he wants to set a standard, they've all got to buy into what he's trying to do.

My point was the fact that Rashford, who scored 30 goals two years ago, is a shadow of the player that he was. It's a sad story that it's come to this, you know? He scored against Ipswich in the first couple of minutes. He thought, okay, new manager, new bounce, he's on it.

But after that, midweek, he played in the Europa League. He was a shadow of the player. And I thought with a new manager coming in, it would give him that lift, that confidence. I just feel there has to be something untoward going on off the field because it doesn't look like he's there. You know, we've all been in that place in our careers where something's bothering you. And it looks like...

watching him mid-week that there's something bothering me. He's not in the right frame of mind. I think you're probably right there, Micah. I mean, who knows what the underlying issue is. It seems a little bit of a lost soul. I interviewed him, I don't know what, nearly two years ago or 18 months ago before this.

I think he was four, Mike, the cup final. It was the season when he was doing really well, you know, and he scored all those goals that Mike had just mentioned. But even when I interviewed him, you could see he's very deep, you know. You could tell that his mood could go from being euphoric to probably quite low. So, you know, we sometimes make judgments, but you don't quite know what's going on.

elsewhere in someone's life, or it might not be just that. It might just be lack of confidence, lack of form. Who knows? But it is sad to see. Yeah, but I just, you know what I don't like though, Gary? And I'm sorry to cut you off. It's the fact that we talk about what clothes he's wearing. We talk about how much he's earning. For Man United to give him that money at the time, whether he's on 250 a week, whether he's on 350 a week, at that moment, they thought he was worth that much.

What he's showing is not at the level of what he's earning at this moment in time. But I don't like the way he's sort of always perceived as, oh, well, he acts this way or he doesn't do this or he doesn't do that. If you're talking about football and he's not running hard enough and he's not scoring goals, perfectly fine. But when it spills over to his personal life, what has that got to do with what someone wears now?

how they play. Do you not think that happens when things are not working for you as they should do on a football pitch? If you're winning, if you're scoring goals, if you're playing well, no one mentions what you're wearing, what you're spending, how much you're worth, what salary you're on and everything else. It's when you're spending

you're seen to be to not giving everything when you know there's more in the tank then everything else gets scrutinised what I would say about him is whoever is looking after him whether it's family members whether it's agents whatever it is they need to help him they need to sit him down and say this is the position you're now in do you want to get back to Marcus Rashford like what he was two years ago he could

pick up a phone and get in front of a prime minister, man. He was such a powerful individual, both on the pitch and off the pitch. Now, if you consider that now, and I know you're always going to have trying times in your career, but this is one of those times where someone just needs to have a chat with him and say, it's either going to be this way or it's the highway. It's up to you. What choice? Ultimately, it has to come from Ox himself. Yeah, he needs a helping hand and someone to... You can tell.

I don't know whether someone's doing that or not. I've asked you guys this before. Marcus has been a top player, not up to the level of consistency of you guys. Maybe you guys have played for England in big tournaments. That pressure, what could he do to just sort of put that aside and

and focus solely on football. Well, we don't know what that pressure is, Micah, do we? Whether it's coming from football, whether it's coming from something else outside, whether he's just in a rut and he might be struggling to deal with

with things mentally. So it's very difficult to offer any advice and, and unless you know what's actually going on on the inside, um, and we don't. So I think you have to be slightly cautious under these, um, circumstances. Um,

But I wish him well and I very much hope that, you know, he just has... There comes a point where he has a word with himself and he thinks, right, go for it and remember how good you were, remember how hard you worked. And, you know, there are lots of videos going around in the summer, aren't there, where he's constantly training and all that sort of thing. So...

So I don't know. I don't think it's probably a fitness thing. It's easy to judge, but it's not fair to judge too much unless you know all the circumstances. So we'll tread slightly cautiously on that one. But a good win for Manchester United. Nevertheless, always a big game and that will give their fans probably a much needed lift because they've not had too much to shout about over the last few months. Let's go to a team that does have a bit to shout about. Chelsea, two points off the top now.

One question here, because the game wasn't televised, I hadn't seen it, I just saw the brief highlights, but can Chelsea win the league? LAUGHTER

Not a cold notice three. None of us tipped them before the ball was kicked but I don't think many people thought exactly. Don't think any Chelsea fans tipped them at the start of the season to win the league. Well, in the position they're in it's very difficult to turn around and say a definite no they can't. I still think they'll have a little blip and I don't expect

them to win it no but they're having an unbelievable season well Maresca said they can't win the league didn't he because of defensive errors I don't know if he's played a mind game here he said the same thing when he was at Leicester yeah

We just want to get to 40 points. Yeah. I just, I think something's going on. Is he using reverse psychology here? I like what he's doing. The team are performing, but I've got to bring up Cole Palmer because...

I've not put him captain for about five weeks. Me and Harry had a word. We had a word, a private conversation. Here we go back to fantasy. Yeah, it's always related to fantasy. What have we done? 16 minutes of silence. We haven't even mentioned it. It's taken, well done, it's taken you that long.

And we made the executive decision to put Cole Palmer captain. I was all right. He had a clean sheet. So for those who don't know, you get a clean sheet, you get three points. I captained him. It's double it. You get six points. The goal and concede a goal. Honestly, I threw my phone. I've had to change the phone. I've had to change the phone. I'm done with it. I'm done with it. I can't. I'm done with the game. It's stressing me out.

It's ruining my life and I've had enough. I've had enough. I don't think you're a quitter. Well... That's not the stuff that's going to turn Manchester City round, is it, as an ambassador? Because if Pep can't step up, then they need you, Micah. We sent a message in a group yesterday saying Pep's got to go on the ambassador. Who sent it? No, he hasn't sent that one. One of you has got to go. Pep or the ambassador. Pep or the ambassador. LAUGHTER

Things can only get better, guys. Come on. Onwards and upwards. So, obviously, Cole Palmer didn't get a goal or an assist yesterday. What was the alternative? Mo Salah? The alternative was Mo Salah. He got one assist, didn't he? So, I mean, come on. That's not going to change your life, Mike. No, but a lot of people had ESAC. Yes. Let's talk about the big game. Come on. That's what I've been waiting for.

I can't believe you didn't have Isak in there. Why didn't you? Because... He's playing against a dodgy back four at St. James' Park. You should have had him in first on the list, Micah. He should be in my team, you're right, Al. But big Chris Wood's been doing well, hasn't he? And he's a little bit cheaper, so I stuck with Wood. Oh, the offside goal was tight, Micah. Oh, wasn't it? Oh, it was ridiculous.

Honestly, you know what? When that happened, I turned the TV off, you know that? I couldn't watch it anymore. Couldn't watch it. You've had a stressful weekend, you have. Oh, man. I'm low. I'm very low in the morning, guys. I'm getting up at five to go to the gym. Something's not right. Yeah.

Right, we've discussed the Newcastle-Ester game, so we'll finish that. We'll move on to the other Sunday game last night, which we have to cover, obviously, because Spurs came out of the blocks and they hammered Southampton five goals to nil at St Mary's, which has resulted...

Russell Martin losing his job he's not the only manager this weekend Gary O'Neill also did testing times I hate seeing the managers lose their job it's horrible for them but you know don't you it doesn't take a genius to work out that you can't have a result like that particularly at home when you're struggling you're bottom of the league and they have been all season struggling and that just can't happen so

It was inevitable, I think, unfortunately for him. I think going 3-0 down in, what was it, 13 minutes and then having to take someone off and change the system. But, I mean, ultimately, have they got the players? Is there a manager that could keep them up? Probably not. Probably not, no. I mean, whoever goes in there is probably realising or will realise pretty quickly that...

I guess they're going to go back down and their plan would be to come back up again. It's not impossible because we've seen it so many times but when we've been watching them play we're all saying the same thing. They're not ready for the Premier League are they? Yeah the team that goes up via the playoffs as well is difficult. Surprisingly I've got a lot of Southampton mates who

who are fans. And they didn't want Russell Martin to go. They enjoyed the football. They said he could be a little bit more flexible. They enjoyed the football, but ultimately it was just down to, it didn't think they had good enough players. So they didn't really stand a chance in the Premier League. But I think the manager was naive. I liked him. I liked him in the championship. They kept making the same mistakes, playing out. The goals yesterday weren't playing out from the back though. It was just,

They looked like they weren't good enough. I don't know if it was confidence. I don't know if it was just Spurs were too good for him on the day. But yeah, it's sad to see him lose his job because I thought it was building something. It was both. Newcastle played them, didn't they? I think it was the first game of the season. And I said straight away, I could see. I mean, Newcastle went down to 10 men.

if I remember rightly, and they just couldn't score. And I could tell then that that was going to be a big, big issue for them this season. Yeah, if you've not got the players at both ends of the pitch, I mean, they're good players, obviously, but Premier League is a different, I mean, it's tough. While we're on the subject, Gary O'Neill as well. I mean, I saw his interview after the game on Saturday where it all kicked off at the end and

and they lost again, you thought the way he was talking, you could see the stress and everything and the pressure got to him. And he was very critical, really, of the players. It was almost a resignation speech in some ways or an invitation to get the sack back.

But it's always the coach's fault, isn't it? It's always the manager's fault. And we sort of bring up Leicester again here. You can change managers and different things, but ultimately you've got to have things run well from the top and you need the support and you need that bringing the right players in, etc. So it's not just down to the coach, but...

Because, you know, six, well, a year ago, when Gary O'Neill came in and he was doing really, really well and we're all saying he's a really good coach and this, this and that. And I'm sure he's still a really good coach and Russell Martin's still a really good coach. But suddenly there comes a little spell or a time where you're out of your depth and you're

It's difficult. Yeah, you could see the attitude of the players for the second weekend on spin, wasn't it? That they had a right pop at the end of the game. Then you're right about his interview, I thought. I mean, he didn't want to criticise you so you could see the players, but he was trying to get a message across to say that the players are basically not good enough that he's been given.

They've sold so many good players there that eventually it comes back to bite you if you don't replace them with better or equal players. And that's been the case at Wolves, no doubt. The one thing I would always try and resist as a coach or a manager is you can be as critical as your players as you like in the dressing room, but when you do it in public...

you're going to lose them. It's always been the case. Yeah, but I think Wolves, of all the teams that are down there, I actually think the individual players that they have are better than the rest down there. So I was asked a question a couple of weeks on Match of the Day. I thought they'd be

all right. They had a difficult run of games. It looked better for them going forward, but ultimately they've just not been good enough. I think with the players that he had at his disposal, they should have been doing better than that. I think he's a good manager. I think tactically he knows what he's doing, but yeah, he just couldn't get the message across in the end. And I think because I went on such a bad run, the confidence,

more than anything hindered them. It could well be. Another coach that was probably under a little bit of pressure has bounced back with Crystal Palace after, you know, the way they ended last season, which was terrific. Obviously, they'll still lease it. But what a win that was for Palace yesterday. 3-1 at Brighton. And he's playing the sort of football now that he was playing at the end of the season. They've had a couple of really good results, haven't they? Scored goals, looked a real threat.

Because you're right, he was under huge pressure a couple of weeks ago. Some of the results were really poor, but they've had a really good bounce back. Looked impressive, didn't they? Yeah, I picked out, I was watching some clips before I was doing the game because when you do the Manchester derby, you know, it's all focused on that game. But I just, I wanted to look at a few players who, like Lacroix, who's coming from Wolfsburg. I think he's settling into the team really well.

Obviously, Chalabert had his little knock. He seems like he's found his groove now. And then Gehi as well. Mark Gehi, who was rumoured to go to Newcastle. He started the season a bit off it, off the pace, but he's sort of gone back to the Mark Gehi of last season. And I really like the wing-backs. I think Mitchell and Munoz really give them the balance. When they're defending, sort of going into that...

back five shape and then when they go forward they go forward with conviction and you know sometimes you see fullbacks or wingbacks go forward now and they're just sort of there to make up numbers they really believe in their ability going forward and Monaz is

He can score a goal. Mitchell, great cross for the goal as well. And then you've got the likes of Eze, Saar doing really well. And Mateta's back in the team. So yeah, it's looking a lot better for Palace. It's just about that consistency now, isn't it? Absolutely. Before we go to a break, it's time for the next instalment of our segment, Raise Your Guinness Glass, brought to you by our friends at Guinness, official beer of the Premier League. Every month, we're going to be talking about

Hmm.

For me, it has to be called Palmer. Before I go any further, Micah, what have you done to that paint? I've butchered it. I've butchered it. You have? I've butchered it. You've made a complete and utter mess of Paul on that.

Anyway, Cole Palmer, wow. What about his penalty? Oh, the penalty. How good. Doesn't that just sum him up? His attitude and everything about him is just chilled and relaxed and playing as if he's playing in a park with his pals. For him to go and do that is such an important time. Incredible. You know what I like so much about Palmer is...

Last season we thought, not a one hit wonder because I didn't want to disrespect. I know how good it was from a youngster, but to replicate it in a second season. What's he got, 11 Premier League goals in 16 or something like that? He's just, he's phenomenal. I love the way he plays. Like you said, Alan, I love the way he's so relaxed and chilled.

The way he gets on the ball, goals, assists. He's just got everything. No one's got a more appropriate nickname, have they really? Because that's how he plays, isn't it? Are you going to do it? Do it, Gus!

Are you alright? I was just sitting with someone checking him. He's having a heart attack. It's alright. I'm okay, don't worry. Nothing that a little sip of Guinness won't sort out. Oh!

There you go. That concludes this month's festive edition of Raise Your Guinness Glass brought to you by Guinness, official beer of the Premier League. 18 plus, please drink responsibly. For the facts, visit drinkaware.co.uk. Time for a quick break now. We'll be back in a moment. We have one more act for you this evening.

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Welcome back to The Rest Is Football with Alan Shearer, Michael Richards and me, Gary Lineker. Let's turn our attention to Saturday's games and Liverpool and Arsenal. Stop smiling, Alan. Liverpool and Arsenal both dropped points. But let's start with Liverpool. Sending off. It was wrong, wasn't it? It was wrong. Do you know what? We explained it on...

on Saturday night. It was an odd one in many ways. And you're trying to make the point that it didn't really deny a goal scoring opportunity because Jimenez had a goal scoring opportunity and the referee let it go on. Now, under the nuances of the law, once they didn't gain an advantage or the referee decided he didn't gain an advantage,

They have to go back to the original foul. For me, his touch was heavy and sideways and across the box. And there's no way, no way that that was going to be a one-on-one or an opportunity. Agreed. But actually he wasn't convinced, was he? Whether he sat next to you on Match of the Day, he wasn't that convinced, was he? He was 90% convinced.

Because we had the conversation before and because I said 100% he wasn't getting it and he went, well, I'm not sure it's quite 100%. But he did actually agree. So it was a really odd one for VAR not to get right. I thought it was ridiculous. I was the same, Gaz, yeah. Why do you think, because he didn't score? Is that why maybe because Jimenez, if he would have scored, would he have scored? If he would have scored, they'd have allowed the goal because the referee played the advantage.

So then having played the advantage and he missed, then he comes back and they actually, this is just a silly nuance of the rule. He has to go back to this tap challenge. I'm not blaming the referee for that aspect of it. I'm blaming the referee and the VAR for not realising that it denied a goal scoring opportunity on that thing. But the irony here is that he let play on and

because he had a goal scoring opportunity. I mean, it was a very unusual one. I can't remember circumstances like that in a game before, but it just showed sometimes that the rules are fairly absurd. Yeah, you're right. And his touch, his touch was going away. It was sideways. It wasn't right in front of him towards the goal. It was actually going away the other way. It was, yeah, poor decision, I thought. Yeah. One of my sons, not Harry, I'm Angus, I think he said he brought in Robertson that morning. Minus three you got. Yeah.

If you get red card, I'm learning the rules of this game. I'll tell you what, that was a really good point for Liverpool. It just shows that their strength they've got and the players they're able to bring in and it didn't really affect them. I think they still, they would have absolutely taken that in the circumstances, but I think it actually sent a message out.

they were so dominant even with 10 men. I mean, Fulham, I thought, you know, did well and they've had a really good season. But I mean, with 10 men, very impressive. Yeah.

I think Slott said after the game, you could see he was really happy with his team's performance. And he was saying, we played like we got 11 men on the pitch. And I think that was a... Yeah, they were really good. It was a really good performance in the circumstances, yeah. Good spirit, aren't they? Arsenal. Do you ever see that Arsenal TV thing? I thought it's... Sometimes I get clips come up on my own, you know, on your Instagram. And it's so... Good.

goodness me, some of the fans were laying into their players and you think, yeah, oh, honestly, but like,

I mean, it was horrible. I don't know how they think that's going to help if you slaughter your own players to that degree when obviously they give everything week in, week out. And it's not easy playing against a team that sit for the entirety of the game. 10 men didn't really have any ambitions to attack in that game and just to eke out a point. I don't blame them for that going to Arsenal. And they did a really good job of it defensively.

Pickford had a good game didn't he? Pickford was really excellent he's had a great season actually yeah he's had one or two really good saves really good point for Everton to get a draw there it's a massive result not many people I don't think at the start of the season would have thought that going into Christmas the top two were going to be Liverpool and Chelsea Arsenal is quite a bit off now Manchester City and Mars off now I think it's quite good for the league that it turns around different teams are competing but

you know because you look elsewhere don't you look in Spain it's nearly always Real Madrid and Barcelona you look at Germany it's apart from last season it's always Bayern Munich you look at France and it's always PSG I think it bodes well for the Premier League in that sense I mean obviously it's restricted to a certain amount of clubs although we did have the mad exception of Leicester a

a few years ago but I think it's good especially if you're a Liverpool or a Chelsea fan I was just about to say that I mean Chelsea and Liverpool I don't think that their fans would have thought that they'd be top of the league because I think they thought that with Klopp going and the circumstances and all of that yeah I don't mind it so

So who wins the league now then? Nottingham Forest, Michael. A TV tip to be relegated. Yeah. Who? Who's that gas? No! I've owned it. I've owned it. I only do it for a laugh. He lied. To be fair, I had Bournemouth as well and they're seven foot. So,

it's not easy this tipping thing it's as though we don't know what we're talking about I mean Forrest Blimey again what a turnaround yeah they've got I mean they're

They're a really tough nut to crack, aren't they? Because they've got Chris Wood who's having the season of his life and they're decent defensively. They're really solid. Their recruitment's been excellent. Midfield, defenders, I think, yeah, and they've done really well. I think what's good about Forest is that they can change it up. I think, you know, when you talk about style of play, it's...

They can play with pace with the wingers, but also can hit the big man, Chris Wood, and he can hold it up brilliantly well. Like you said, Al, I think defensively, really good. But there seems to be a big lad. What's his name? I don't even know how to pronounce his name.

Milankovic? Milankovic, that's the one. I always struggle with those big names, but he's a good signing. We've talked about Murillo many times before. One sort of the big one, one the small one, one really aggressive, one sort of just holding up the back line and then set pieces really good as well. I like your former player, Anderson. Yeah, he's done well. He's done really well. Good energy.

good on the ball, give them something different in midfield as well. So yeah, it's all looking good for Forest. Can they sustain it though? Well, that remains to be seen, but I think it's a possibility. Top four, surely, but maybe Europe, possibly. I don't think that's probably beyond them. It'd be quite a terrific achievement to do that. You don't want to talk about Newcastle, do you, Al? No. When are we getting on to that?

next week what do you want to say your team were hopeless or do you want to say Newcastle were very good I want to congratulate you Alan on a fine success you're fortunate then remind you our entire midfield was out with Umbini injured Samari suspended Harry Winks injured Buonannotti coming back

off the bench. So therefore we were crap to be honest. And you were really, really, really good. So it was a combination of, of the two, but I was very, very happy you weren't in on Saturday. I'm very,

very happy I was thinking oh it was this would have been an interminable day was that the game Al a few Guinnesses I was there I had a couple of pints and it was so one-sided from start to finish 4-0 I did you a favour by the way it should have been 7 or 8

Because the chances they missed as well. I really worry about Leicester. Ruud van Nistelrooy's got one hell of a job on his hands. I mean, we need to get everyone fit. We've obviously got a few injuries at the moment and it's difficult. And even the goalkeeper went off at half-time and he's really good. So that's... Yeah. Yeah. Concerns again. There's still a few points above the drop zone, but...

I fear the worst. Who's your biggest miss? Who's your biggest miss? Is it Fataoui or was it just NBD, Winks, Pereira? Fataoui's out for the season. Pereira's been out. He's still out. So...

We're struggling defensively. I mean, Connor Cody and Vestergaard are not particularly mobile at the back, to put it mildly. So you could get behind quite easily. In midfield, we had the, as I said before, all of them missing. So that's, it was difficult. And when I saw the teams, I thought, I've got no chance. And I was right for once. Yeah.

Well, on the other side, Micah, the Toon were right at it. They were back to, you know, I said the previous week about the lack of energy and the lack of press and all of those things were back on Saturday. You need to sustain that and keep it up. What was different? Energy levels. Just energy, tactically anything would

Not really, no. Now Gordon was on that left-hand side. They were back to being horrible teams to play against. The way they pressed and they played really, really well. It was a really good all-round performance. They need to keep it up. They've got two important games.

I'm absolutely thrilled for you, Alan. Sound it, Gaz. You sound it. And what a lovely way to finish this episode. That's all. We'll be back on Wednesday with our question and answer episode. As usual, a quick reminder, if you want to get your questions into us, just go to therestysfootball.com. Have a great week, everyone. Goodbye from me. Goodbye from me. Goodbye from me. Have a great week.