Why Declan Rice Is The Best Midfielder In The League & How Milan Shocked Inter In The Derby | SI FC

Why did Isaac not make more of the situation? He shouldn't have to. There are cameras after. There's a million opportunities for the ref to see that there has been an infringement there and give him the decision. I thought he was going to dislocate his jaw. He was insane. All right, Gray, you wanted to come back, man. Listen, listen. Leanne's easy in love with Gray. They haven't won a derby in eight games. Click the damn soundboard, Ali. What? Welcome back, welcome back, welcome back. This is Sports Illustrated Football Club, your football show here on Sports Illustrated. What a weekend! After 73 years, an Italian to win the F1 World Championship, yes, after 73 years. The youngest ever to do it, I'm Alessandro Arrimiti, and as always, I already introduced him. Special week, special jersey. Elias Bouzidi, how are we? F1, yeah? I'm looking for new sports right now to take my mind off things. It's a good sport, F1. I mean, I'm trying to appeal to everything I can because it's like we don't qualify for World Cup, so tennis, F1, you know what? I need to find champions. I hear you, man. I'm okay, man. I'm okay. A good week of football. If you look away from my club, I think everything else was quite interesting. A lot of talk about La Liga. Serie A. I was very interested in some of the fixtures and our good friend isn't here today So we have a replacement. For the first time in the building SIFC writer, editor, what a man. Gray Wybler. Welcome my man. Thanks for having me. I can't say I'm gonna live up to Luca, but you know Hopefully you won't miss him too much. This table, you know what it is, it feels less Italian today I don't feel like an outsider today. I don't feel I'm being constrained by Sometimes they speak in Italian, I'm here, I'm thinking, what's going on here, man? I think they're really not to worry me. No, you don't want to speak to them. No, I don't want to speak to you, and I want to speak to our beautiful Dutch boys. Dan, how are we? Good, Ale. Yeah, really nice. Good weekend. Chaotic weekend, I'm getting a new kitchen. So lots of work going into that. Oh, yeah. But I enjoyed watching the football as well. Ajax are now just one point off the top of the league. We won't talk about who's top. I'm seeing that guy Tolu. Was that Wolves last year? He's killing it for you guys, huh? He's doing really well, yeah. He leaps well, he holds up play well. He's got a little bit of Robbie about him, I think, as well. But he's great in the air. Good finisher. And if you're wondering where is Luca, he went to Italy to watch, to meet, look at the screen, il gigante di Brema, alias. I met him! Haha, yes! We made it! I didn't know that. We made it. Luka is tall, you know. Exactly. Luka is tall because when I received the picture, I said, hey, know the giant next to you. Yeah, yeah, yeah. He's the Gigante de South London, man. That's what he is. Exactly. The Gigante de Sports Illustrated. Both of them though, huh? Beautifully dressed men. Honestly, this guy knows how to put on a fit. Yeah, yeah. Luka, I'm not so sure about that. I'm not gonna lie. Luka, he can work on it a little bit, on the fashion. Yeah. But... Great picture and I hope you enjoyed this time, they're men that gotta win so good for them. And this is a new segment, Drip or Skip with Elias Bounou. Drip for Volta Mata, Luca though, I'm looking at it. That's a skip for me. That's a skip. Luca, sometimes he comes in with good outfits. Today, I think Wotamade is for Wotamade. We can do definitely better, but the mission was meeting Wotamade, the giant of Bremen. Luca, we'll be back next week with us. Today, we have Gray. And let me start, guys. Let me take a little training, go up to Anfield, because Arsenal managed to win... 2-1 Anfield for the first time since 2012 and Liverpool adding a shot and a goal for the first time at Anfield. In Premier League history, what was the game, Graeme? I mean, yeah, Max Dowman was 2 the last time Arsenal won at Anfield in Premier League. But honestly, I think this wasn't like a horrible night for Liverpool either. Like, Arsenal obviously started amazing and scored with Havertz, a great move with Rice. But then they just like... Closed in on themselves and Liverpool really came into it. I thought they were brilliant after, for like the rest of that first half. Trey Neone was amazing in midfield, just like knitting everything together. And then second half, Irola takes off Neone, brings on Szoboszlai, who does his thing of like running around everywhere, but then they just lose their shape and it just fizzles out. I mean, Arsenal defended well, like, you know, they were compact and they threw their bodies in the line and stuff, Yeah, I think this wasn't a terrible day for Liverpool either. I have a question for you, Elias, because we are in the VAR era and, I mean, as an Italian, I would say, Alexander, please, fall. Fall in the box. But for me, it was penalty anyway, Yeah, because you are preventing. It's in front of you, and you are preventing him to reach the ball. So, for me, it's a clear penalty. But how do we do here? What do they have to do? Because it's like, for many, many years, watching the Premier League, you can see, okay, Premier League is good because people are against people diving. But now, what was the other option? Now you're being asked to encourage it, and then you have on the other side McAllister going down easy, and people are going at him. It's like, you can't win. I just think. You said it just now, a lot of even the pundits were saying it after. I don't understand this concept of diving in the VAR era, right? I remember Drogba was the best or maybe the worst at making it look like he got shot, right? Like, honestly, the guy, you would touch him and he's the most theatrical guy on the pitch. And we used to kill him for it, but it worked. He got penalties off of that. He bought fouls off of that. You shouldn't have to do that anymore when there's a million different camera angles for a referee to then be able to go and check after. So people asking, why did Isak not make more of the situation? He shouldn't have to. There are cameras after, there's a million opportunities for the ref to see that there has been an infringement there and give him the decision. So I almost felt like it was a deflection tactic by pundits after to say, why didn't you make more out of it? He shouldn't have to. It's the referee's job and he has the tools to do it. So I thought that was a really, really poor decision from VAR's point of view there. I think he's actually won a penalty there. He's completely pulled off by Timber. Yeah, that would have changed the whole game as well. So that was first half. I think McAllister after missed the header. Yeah, it was either before, yeah, it was shortly after. You go in at half time, 1-1. That's like a completely different game. Arsenal have to come out in the second half. But I also, Madueke should have got a second yellow. Do you think so? I don't think it's malicious enough for me. No, but it's a yellow. Was he already on a yellow? He was on a yellow already. Yeah. Timber and McAllister got yellows for the scuffle. Yeah. Madueke, it wasn't a proper headbutt. You're not going to get red. Definitely not. But he should have got a yellow. Yeah, I think the referee tried using... Yeah, I mean, to be fair, I didn't know he was on a yellow already. Yeah, because he... With that knowledge... Yeah, he maybe got away with it then. But for me, it still would have been harsh. I think McAllister doesn't do himself any favors there, right? You almost feel a bit of sympathy, rightly or wrongly, for Madueke. Because McAllister is the one who almost... He's the one who almost creates a bit of the chaos himself of his early thing and then he wants to play the victim. But with the knowledge that he already was on a yellow, yeah, Madueke is, he's potentially a little lucky there. Yeah, and then if he had got suspended, then it also would have been without Dosman and Saka the next game. Yeah, but yeah, they've gotten away with one potentially. But, I don't know, you said that Liverpool didn't have the worst game, I don't think so either. I think, especially in the first half, they reacted quite well to the goal, but... I mean, we can give Arsenal a lot of credit for the fact that there were zero shots on target. I mean, realistically, there's one. McAllister, I mean, he shoots from 40 yards out. It's technically a shot on target. I give Arsenal a lot of credit because defensively, we know they're an incredible, incredible side. And Carragher was asking after the game, where do they sit with the best defenses to ever play in the Premier League? I think they're right up there, honestly. But I think you have to look at Liverpool, too. And for how much credit we give in terms of sustaining possession and almost pinning Arsenal into their box, I think you have to give them a lot of criticism, too, in terms of. Barely really laying a glove on this Arsenal team. Yeah, there were the opportunities in the first half with the McAllister header and the potential Izak header. But I'm looking at Barcola, I'm looking at Verts, I'm looking at Isak. 300 million pounds worth of signings. Maybe even more, right? You made my mind here, man. No, come on, because we have to... As much as we can praise Arsenal's defenders for being amazing, these guys are also meant to be amazing in their own way. And they haven't asked enough questions of Arsenal's backline in this game. Liverpool right now in the Premier League have the second-lowest big chances created in the entire league, only Coventry have less. Coventry 5 and Liverpool 7. When you're talking about the amount of money that's been invested to rectify that with the profiles that they've bought, they have to be doing much more in these kinds of games. And it's not just the Arsenal game, I think if you look at the history of Liverpool over the last two seasons up against the traditional big six, Isak and Verts and now Barcola on top of it, I don't think they've done enough in these kinds of games. Yeah, I agree with you, but Arsenal are the example of this. I mean, winning is a process, and at the end of the day, just one can win. So, Arteta managed to wait seven years, if I'm not mistaken, before winning the Premier League. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So, it's like, now you're building... I agree with you, because I have Isak 125... Here's the thing, though. Sorry to interrupt you. Arteta didn't have three 100 million pound players in his first season at the club. That's the difference. And this is not even me looking at Iraola because I agree with Greg. I think Iraola individually coached a pretty solid game. I thought his lineup was good. I think the only substitute, I think he got it wrong to be fair, but also he's a young kid, you can understand why he took him out. I don't blame Iraola, and I think give him time, he will continue to build. But these guys are not the young players that Arteta had in his first season when he was coaching Smith, Rowe, and Martinelli. No, these are Champions League winners. These are league winners in their own respective leagues. These are signings, were the record signings in their league. There is a different level of expectation that comes with these players to the ones that Arteta inherited when he first came to the club. So I'm looking at those guys, and I don't think you can really just let them get away with it saying, oh, it's their first season at the club. There is this higher standard to them than, I don't know, a younger player who's coming in with less experience. Like a Nyoni or a Rio and Gomez. Those players I have more time for and in fact, I actually think they look more impressive in this game than their more expensive counterparts. I agree with you, but they grew up, they know the club already. I mean, do they? What's his name? Nyoni's been at the club for two seasons. He came from Leicester at 16 years old. Rio's been at the club for five minutes, he came from Chelsea. It's like they're their natural academy players. No, these are players that at the moment are just giving you more, well, I say in this game in particular, Then the guys who are really meant to come in and change these kinds of games. I think the players, I mean, Barkley and Wirtz and Gakpo as well. Yeah, Gakpo too. They didn't do enough. I think Isak, his whole game this season has been like so pared back. He's just a finisher. He's done really well. So he needs chances. He wasn't getting any. Agreed. But the thing that Liverpool need is the system. So it's like they've brought Areola in. For that high pressing, win the ball back and then attack in transition. You saw in between like Arsenal scoring and the halftime, they were winning the ball back. Like Nyoni was winning the ball back and they were in transition. Arsenal were, you know, muddled. Like I remember they jumped on Rice and he gave it back to Konate and Konate like completely loses himself. And Barkley gets in as a heavy touch and they missed the chance. So Klopp always said that, like, the best playmaker is a great gegenpress, like, winning the ball back quickly after you lose it. So they need to just, like, wait for Iriola to sort of coach that into them a little bit more. And you've seen it in flashes and stuff, but against a team that is so solid like Arsenal, that's what you need. And they just didn't really... they fizzled out a bit. I don't know if they were a bit tired because they played Chelsea in the week, but... The thing is, to the Chelsea point, a lot of those guys didn't play. Like, Verts, Isak, Barcola, they all came into that game. They didn't start that game. They played the last 15 minutes. The only counterpoint I would give to you, because I completely agree, Irola's whole game, we saw it at Bournemouth, is about winning the ball high up. It's about pressing. And we saw it also with Van Dijk chasing. Of course. That was amazing. Naturally. And they've shown a lot of that. But, I'm sorry, Liverpool are going to face a lot less opportunity to do so than he did at Bournemouth. Liverpool naturally are going to have more of the ball. than Bournemouth did, and Klopp, to your point, especially in his first few seasons at Liverpool, that was a staple of his game, but notice as his teams continued to progress and evolve, and teams almost started sitting deeper and deeper, the Gegenpress wasn't as affluent. An idea in his game and all of a sudden Liverpool became more of a side that had to break down deep blocks and build up From deep and they had to adapt I think with Irola naturally as well the way Liverpool set up against the team like Arsenal who once they went up 1-nil were more Than happy to just soak up pressure and hit with their own counter-attacks They have to find a way of a different way of breaking teams down I think Verts and Barcola in particular they like to play in transition But how often are you going to be able to play in transition when you're playing for Liverpool Football Club? I think less so than if you're playing at Bayer Leverkusen or if you're playing at Bournemouth. That's just my opinion. No, no, it's… Unless, for example, now you play for Jose Mourinho. Yeah, yeah, yeah, a hundred percent. Yeah, yeah, exactly. But you saw it, for example, at the Camp Nou with Cucurella and Diomande created 2-1 in transition. But with Liverpool, people are expecting you to control the game. And if we look at the Arsenal, Kai Havertz always offering a solution. Always there when it's time to. To score an opener? I mean, yeah. Not against Fleetwood, but yeah, against Liverpool, yeah. He's so funny because he became, what, top scoring German in Premier League history. Yeah. And, like, 46 goals seems a lot for someone who is not a reliable finisher. Is he at 46 Premier League goals? I think something like that, yeah. You see, like, that's surprising, but it's also, like... How long has he been in the Premier League now for? Because he came during COVID. Chelsea, 29, 20, 20. So he's been in the league for six seasons. 46 goals before he's been in he hasn't always been a starter. He's been injured at times. Yeah, it's weird He's got a lot of big important goals When you look at his entire time. That's what I mean, no No, like he's one of those players you're gonna look back at the history of Arsenal and Chelsea and his fingerprints are gonna be All over them, but I don't think either fan base will be particularly like up in arms about praising him to me He's a weird player. I know I think he will be remembered fondly if not Legendarily, because he's so important, like you said, when dragging Van Dijk out, like he was dropping deep, him and Odegaard would drop, Odegaard especially was dropping so deep and Xhaka didn't know whether to come with him or not and Van Dijk was on Havertz as well and he was, yeah, he was a great goal made by Rice, I think Rice had an amazing game. I thought Guimaraes had quite a bad game again. When he's starting, like he's been much better coming off the bench, but he started. I don't know if you remember, like, Arsenal went 1-0 up, and then it was like backs against the wall, and Gini was slides in on Barkley, and then screaming. I thought he was going to dislocate his jaw. It was insane. It's like, that's not what you need at Anfield when you're trying to defend a lead. Like, everyone's amped already. You don't, you need calmness, and that's what Rice, like Rice gets mocked for always saying calm down, but he does that. He like... He knows when to pass it. He knows when to run. He knows when to fall over and buy a foul. And he was brilliant. That was an amazing run around Madueke. Like, can you imagine even last season, Rice being on the right-hand side? He would never even go into the right saving corner. It's similar to the goal against Bayern, right? Where he almost gives the pass into Odegaard, follows it up himself, front run from deep. I even think the pass too, right? It's, in a way, it's De Bruyne-esque, right? When you think of that corridor of uncertainty pass, where the goalkeeper doesn't want to come out, Van Dijk doesn't want to stick out a leg, and it falls perfectly to the back post. That's what De Bruyne made a legacy off of, man. I think Rice, that pass was brilliant, the run was brilliant. I agree with you. I think this game, he had his fingerprints all over it. And that's the difference for me, right? I know he's a different kind of player to a Havertz or a Barcola, but when you bring players of this level for this price tag, yes, it's all well and good playing against... With all due respect, the bottom 10 teams in the league, but what are you like when you go to Anfield? What are you like when you go to Old Trafford? What's your performance like when you're traveling to the Etihad? And Declan Rice, throughout his time at Arsenal, even if you go back to West Ham, but especially throughout his time at Arsenal, he defines these games. He has his fingerprints all over these games. You can never question Declan Rice's impact in a game of this magnitude. That's why I think right now he's probably the best midfielder in the league at the moment, no? Yes, and I have a question for you, both of you. I'm going to start with you, sir. Where does he sit amongst the... Premier League all-time great midfielders. Yeah, that's a tough question. Those are really questions like, you're better off asking at the end of his career. Yeah, how old is he? Like 27? 28, I think right now. He's in the pomp of his career right now, yeah. Okay, let me reframe. Is he already in the conversation? Look, I don't think it's fair to say it yet, man, because if he breaks his leg today and you never see him again, and you can only judge what he's done, he's done a lot, but with all due respect, he's still maybe a notch below with De Bruyne and Gerrard. I think he's got to, and he will do it, right? That's not to say, I don't expect him to break his leg. I think he will have a few more years, but probably rack up a few more trophies. That sounds good, no? Yeah, of course, man. My point is, like, it's just, it's hard to stack him up and ask him, how does he compare to a David Silver? You need to let him play out the rest of his career, let him collect his honours, let him continue building on what he's done. But what I will say is, his trajectory suggests that he will go down as at least one of the great English midfielders to play in the Premier League. I think what you could say though, is that he's one of the best £100 million plus signings. Agreed. So many have been useless. Agreed. Like Griezmann at Barcelona, Joao Felix at Atletico Madrid, useless. Liverpool have got tons of them who played on Sunday. And here. It was a little less than 100 million, didn't get 100 million. No, Leo's out of this one. But he's been great, like straight from the start as well. And he's gotten so much better. Like he's now got five assists, which is the same as he got last season, all from open play, which I mean says something about Arsenal's corners. But yeah, he's just getting better. It was funny, like a couple of weeks ago, do you remember when he did that little flick for Ganaimens against Leeds? I was in the press conference after with Arteta and he was like we used to call Rice the lighthouse and now we need to find a new name for him. I was really angry about it because he called him the lighthouse because he, you know, shone a spotlight on everyone else, made everyone else look better. Now he's looking really good, the light's on him. They need like a new name. You know what it is, Mr. Do-It-All. That's what I would call him. Mr. Do-It-All, he does everything. He does everything, man. And you know what I like about Rice? You perfectly summed it up there. It feels like every year he comes back with something new to his game. He is easily the most improved player. From this point to, like, his Premier League debut, when you think about him with West Ham, what he came from. Every year that he's come back into the Premier League, whether it was with West Ham or with Arsenal, he adds something new to his game. And that's impressive, man. Like, there's a lot of players that come into the Premier League with a lot of natural ability, right? And they almost settle with what they have. And they are great players for it, but you never really see them add to their game every single year. For a player like Declan Rice, who came from relatively, similar to Harry Kane, right? Like, you wouldn't have seen him as one of the big names at academy level. Yeah, he got dropped by Chelsea. Exactly, right? He was never one of those players you looked at under 18s for England, right? He was playing for Roppongi at one point. For him to grow into the player he is today is a huge testament to his mindset and his work ethic in terms of every year coming back a better player. And now you're looking at it. As a guy, I'm literally saying, Mr. Do-It-All, you can do everything. There's not a weakness in this game. Mr. Do-It-All. That's my nickname for him. Mr. Do-It-All. Mr. Do-It-All, people. Mr. Do-It-All, man. Let us know in the comments if you like the nicknames just invented by Elias. And trademark me. Please like, subscribe, ring the bell, do it all, listen to us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify. Now Mr. Do-It-All, and since we are talking about assists from open play. 10 games, no competition, sorry, yes, I need to take our train back, go to Stamford Bridge, Morgan Rogers, Chelsea, Manchester United, you know what, you know what, at the start of the game, since he scored the opener, I say, oh, maybe, maybe the chat that he had between them. We'll bring something on the week of the Champions League against the Italian opponent. About? About Man United? Yeah. They were Mr. Do-Nothing then. That's what we are, bro. Mr. Can't-Do-Anything-At-All. It's just, it's sad, man, honestly. I think it's getting to a point with Man United now where, look, whenever your rivals don't do well, naturally you laugh at them, right? That's football tribalism in a nutshell. But it gets to a point where things almost become so incompetent and so bad that I wonder, even people at home, I'm not asking for sympathy here, but do people actually find joy in watching Man United lose every single week anymore? Like, is there actually like... At what point does almost, like, sympathy start to kick in? Because I look at Man United and it looks like a sad dog that's asking to be put down. That's what I look at when I look at the club. From top to bottom, I look at a manager that at the slightest sign of inconvenience, his head drops. I look at players who at the slightest sign of inconvenience, their heads drop. I look at a fan base that feels neutered. I look at an ownership group in the stands that look like they have no idea what to do. It's a club without a direction at the moment. And, yeah, it's very, very sad to watch as a fan. I don't know what it's like to watch as a rival or as a neutral. I mean guys, if you didn't have the chance to read what Gray writes on the website, go on our website, Sports Illustrated, you're going to find these pieces. Gray, let me ask you your opinion about the situation. What would you do if you are in charge of Manchester United? I mean, I know. Quit? I don't know. That's a terrible gig. I mean, I don't know why, like... United, yeah, it's tough. It's almost got to the point where you can't even criticise Carrick anymore. Because he's like... That's like telling off a little boy playing with matches while the house is already on fire. You know, you're going to take the matches away because you don't want him to hurt himself, but everything's burned down already. It's scorched earth. That's very good. I might have to take that one. I'm not going to laugh at that. Now, now, Gray, I recommend you to watch next year's video Manchester United. That's a very good one. I like that. Yeah, well, you heard it here first. Yeah, first. I'll reference you, don't worry. Don't worry. But, I mean, I think the fact that United played all right in the first half made it even more painful, I imagine. I don't want to speak for the guys. They, I mean, Wesley Fofana did his best to lose the game for Chelsea. He had a stinker, and they still couldn't finish the chances. Ahmad had two. Fernandes missed one early on, on the break. Cunha narrowly offside, yeah. Yeah, and then second half, they, Chelsea score, heads go down, and then the Martinez red card is just like... It's a killer, man, honestly. That's one of those moments, right? I agree with what Grace said. I think the first half... Yeah, I mean, we're watching the game. Man United, it's the best first half performance we've had all season. And I know people will say, really, that's the best you can do? But yeah, that is the best we can do. And I think we're a bit... Well, I say unlucky. We need to finish our chances better. But Man United did as much as they could without scoring a goal to go ahead 1-0 up at halftime. And you're just thinking, okay, yeah, you didn't get the rub of the green. You didn't get to finish your chances, but just stay with it. Chelsea are not a great team at the moment, right? They're going through their own little thing at the moment. Just continue going. And they go in and Morgan Rogers' goal, it's a brilliant individual goal, right? But also, they part like the Red Sea in that moment. Lisandro's not willing to take initiative to close him down. Maguire's backing off. And that's when you really see a team that is lacking leadership and lacking personality. Lisandro at his best is closing down Rogers there. Maguire at his best is taking the initiative and trying to close down the angle, forcing Rodgers into a mistake. And both of them are so low on confidence at the moment. Everybody is so unsure of themselves that they completely allow him to just run through the middle of the goal and chip the ends. But even at 1-0 down, you're not out of it, right? It's again, it's a Chelsea team that have shown cracks in the armor. And then Lisandro goes and just does the most unexpected... Shortly after just getting manhandled by Morgan Rogers, by the way, let's not forget about that. He gets manhandled in the corner. He was hanging off him like a red cape. Oh, my God. It's crazy. But it definitely got in his head. He definitely got triggered in that moment. And then shortly after on the set piece, what on earth is he doing against, was he Fofana? And again, it just goes down to in these fine margin moments where you need heads to stay calm, where you need calmer heads to prevail, where you need leadership and personality to kind of show through. They've completely been sabotaged by a moment of absolute madness. Lisandro has let the entire club down in that moment. Weeks after coming out and trying to play the martyr, right? He's lost all credit in the bank of that. And it shows when Michael Carrick doesn't, he can't even look him in the eyes as Lisandro Martinez walked off. He doesn't even have, he can't even look Lisandro in the eyes. He's that ashamed of what he's just done, man. And from there, I mean, look, 10 men against Chelsea, it could have been three or four. I think Estevão's unlucky to be offsides there. And it just sums up where United's at right now, man. Even in moments where they show you a little bit of positivity, it crumbles at a moment's notice. Yeah, it's one step forward, ten back, isn't it? Gray, you said it's not Michael Carrick's fault, and it's right, but would you wait until the international break to... Try and identifying a possible replacement for him. I mean, I think that's what they're going to do. But it's like, otherwise, unless they, you know, sack him while we're recording, then, because they got Roma, what, tomorrow? Yeah, they got Villa at the weekend. And then Villa at the weekend, I mean, that's two horrible games. And you almost don't want to give the new manager those games. You know who's coming after, though? Who's coming after? Liverpool. Sporting, Brentford, Newcastle. In fairness, any team you say could be tough. But at least at the start of the season, we had Hull, we had Ipswich, we had Everton. Those are the games we had to win. No, but exactly. And then you lose or play, you know, or draw in those. Almost it's going to be like better playing a good team because then you can play on the break. Because that's all United can do. But we don't even have that anymore. Seriously, we haven't scored a goal in how many hours now at this point? Last goal we scored was against who? Leeds, that was like four games ago, right? So, I agree with you. The time to sack him was realistically after Como, and if not Como, then it had to be after Bournemouth, right? Those results and those performances were so, so bad. I mean, it looked like he was saying goodbye after Bournemouth. Of course, man. He's literally tapping the badge. He had tears in his eyes. I'm sure he's surprised. Van Nistelrooy had tears in his eyes this time. Who's going to cry next? Me. Yeah. I'm next, man. Seriously. And that's the worrying thing for Man United, right? It's so much more now than just a performance thing. The mood around the club is so bad, like players look clocked out, players look devastated, and it's why I'm really worried. I think the next decision Man United's higher-ups make is make or break for this season, in my opinion, right? The next appointment, where they decide to go next, will define the rest of the season for Man United because Maybe there's another managerial balance that kind can inspire a run of form and United can almost salvage the season in terms of just finishing a float. Yeah. But if they hire the wrong man, or if they wait this thing out too long, what happened to Spurs last season can easily happen to Man United this year. Yeah, but my question is, who is brave enough to... Accept. Accept that you're going to start a job. I mean, there's some guys that, look, whether we like it or not, Man United is too big a job for them to turn down. So, for example, Eddie Howe. If you offer the job to Eddie Howe, I'm sorry. Eddie Howe is not bigger than Man United. He will take the job. But is Eddie Howe going to save the season for Man United? I'm not so sure about that. I look at someone like Antonio Conte, right? Conte right now is probably looking at Man United and saying, I dare you to call me. Honestly, like, drink the poison. Historically, he doesn't accept jobs. When the season starts because he wants to he wants to control the Yeah, he did a little... Spurs that one time. Yeah, yeah No, if I were Antonio Conte, I would laugh in their face and say see you in eight months if you want me like exactly And with Spurs without the respect with Spurs, But it is. It's different because the job comes with way less pressures than Manchester United and at the time too, He probably had way more resources to play with in the January transfer window, right? He was the one who brought in Kulusevski, uh Bentancur, I think there was one more who they brought in. But regardless, I look at any manager coming in now at Man United, they're probably asking, okay, who can I get in January? United will tell them the funds are dry. Yeah. Conte is what they have to do. I think so. Because, like, if you get how he's... I mean, firstly, he's Jason Wilcox's choice. Anything Jason Wilcox has chosen has not worked out. So I think that's a red flag immediately. Or you get Julian Nagelsmann, who would be amazing value, because he's like, he's such a character. And at Bayern, he was, I mean, he's clearly got a great tactical mind, but there's like some sort of personality thing there that didn't really mesh. And he didn't, he stunk it out with Germany. United can't take risks right now, man. Honestly, I'm... I need this to really get through people's heads. United are not too good this season to flirt with relegation. I genuinely believe the next managerial choice, if they mess it up, they will be down there. So for me, I completely agree with Grant. I've always been against the Conte to Man United bandwagon. Just because deep down, I've always felt, oh, if you want to build something long term, especially at a club like United, Conte probably won't be the guy to do it. But right now, United don't need a long term plan. They need a firefighter. They need someone who can just come in and stabilize everything and maybe give... a kick up the behind to some of these players who might need it. Yeah, he needs to take away the ketchup from the canteen. He loves doing that. This guy's full of references, man. I like this guy, man, seriously. Look how he comes up with movie references. This guy is giving me ketchup out of the canteen. Alright, Gray, you wanted to come back, man, Ha ha ha! Lies is in love with Gray. And guys, let us know who would be the right name to replace Carrick at Manchester United. Now we cross. We take a little tram and we cross the city. Just a simple question before we move to Italy guys, are Brighton a title contender here? I mean I think the fact that they're even in the conversation is insane considering that the budget they've got and how many players they've got who no one has heard of and I mean honestly I think this isn't a great example of them playing well Well, because they got absolutely battered by City and should definitely, But when they played them in the week, in the League Cup, they were better and they should have won. So it sort of evens out. But, you know, I think Hurzeler, you see, the difference with him. United and Brighton, you know exactly how Brighton are going to play. They want to press high, they want to win the ball back, but they can also adapt, you know? Identity. Yeah, exactly. United, you have no idea what they want to do. Well, you do. They want to counter-attack, but they're just like, no one's going to... I don't even know if they want to counter-attack, by the way. I don't think Carrick came into the season hoping to counter-attack. No, no, he wants to press. I think counter-attacking for United is always just like the fallback option because we have no idea how to play football any other way. No, but that's the thing. Carrick wants to press. And then he can't coach it. I think he killed the pre-season. I think that was the biggest issue. The fitness issues are, they stem from pre-season. But yeah, I mean, he's right. Brighton, the identity is clear. And I mean, it's great. And what are they? They're third. They look so good. They were great against Liverpool a couple of weeks ago. Absolutely destroyed Arsenal. I was at that game. It killed us, though. And it was from the... Arteta afterwards said it was from the first throw-in. He knew that Arsenal were going to lose. And that was like 20 seconds in. It's crazy. And, you know, let's just see... There's all this stuff as they don't have much depth. I don't agree with that. I feel like, okay, yeah, maybe not. But they've got like, they've got, they don't have Mitoma, they don't have Minter. They've got people to come back. I look at their team though, and every time I see who's coming onto the pitch, I'm like, I rate that guy. That guy's pretty good, like Higashiguchi, he's a pretty good left back. They do have options, like they don't have Manchester City depth in terms of the names that they can bring on. But I don't look at Brighton as a team whose replacements that come in to change a game are much worse than the starters. I think they have a pretty balanced team. Yeah, it'll be interesting. I mean, I don't think they've won a game in December, two years. That's Brighton's biggest issue, man. They need to get through the festive fixture list and they'll have Europe as well at the same time. So how they do over that, like say in January, they're still third or they're, you know, top four and they're within, I don't know, like six points or whatever. Yeah, that's amazing. And then you can see how it goes from there, but it's still too early, isn't it? You think they'll make Champions League football? I mean, that's the real question. It depends what happens with City. Because, like, City, you'd get, you know, docked 100 points, and then who have you got in Champions League? You've got Arsenal, probably Liverpool, and that's what, three extra spots to fight for? Because the top five are probably going to get it. Chelsea. Villa, you'd have to imagine. Yeah. And then Brighton. I mean, I'd back Brighton over Villa to get Champions League. Ooh, is it? I think so. I think it's tight between them. I think Brighton could easily make it. I think even with City, like even if you, let's say City bust case, right? I reckon Brighton can still finish in the top five. Yeah. I think you're right. Definitely festive period. And as the European knockout games come, that always tests a team. But I look at the momentum that they're on. I mean, they got the most goals scored in the league. Second least conceded. Like this is a, this is a formidable side then. And keep an eye on Spurs. Keep an eye on Spurs, guys. Low-key, yeah, with three wins in a row now. And the thing with Spurs, their trajectory is really promising at the moment. Exactly. And we talk about identity. Now you're going to start to see the identity of what De Zerbi wants to do for the team. And since we mentioned Roberto De Zerbi, let's take our play to Italy. What an emotional moment ahead of the derby. Ricardo Kaká crying and running towards the fans. And then number 22, Diego Moreira, two assists and one goal. Wow, football is amazing. I would say, yes, Inter, they didn't look great. Right, and then after going. 2-0 down for probably the fifth, sixth time in the season. They didn't manage to come back. Yeah, I mean, I think you have to give a lot of credit to Ruben Amorim, which I'm sure many people will be surprised when I say that, but yeah, I think he absolutely schooled Christian Kivu with his formation, with his lineup, his team selection, his in-game substitutions. I thought he coached a really, really good game. And as for Kivu... I couldn't understand, I mean, look, the absence of Lautaro Martinez made him almost switch to a one up front. But can you guys remember the last time Inter were ever playing one in attack? You've got to go pre-Antonio Conte days to really think of the last time Inter didn't line up with two. And it looked like an unnatural fit for them. And yeah, you give a lot of credit to Milan. Morera had an amazing game. And as for Inter, their defense is yet again a disaster, right? And there's only so many times, I keep saying it on this podcast. You can't keep saying mentality, mentality, mentality when you keep coming back from 2-0 down. At some point you have to question why do you go down 2-0 to even require the mentality to do it. Because eventually, I'm sorry, this mentality will run out. It's luck if you continue going down 2-0 and coming back. And they've shown now a few times this season they've been able to do it. There's been other times where they haven't. Against Madrid, for example, against Club Brugge, and now against Milan. Eventually you have to stop going down 2-0, otherwise you won't be able to bail yourself out every single time. So as for Inter, I mean, Luka keeps telling me the superior team in Serie A, I think they might be in terms of depth, in terms of consistency. There's a lot of inconsistencies with a team like Milan, for example. But it's not a surprise to me that every time Inter goes up against who you would consider a Scudetto threat, they don't look head and shoulders above them. They didn't look head and shoulders against you guys. They didn't look head and shoulders this game. Let's see what they look like against Lazio, for example. And they've got Como home in the next game. I promise you, they're going to play Como and it's going to be an even game. Because Inter are not levels to these teams. At least the way Luca is trying to tell me they are. Hey, we mentioned Luca. We have something, I guess, and then we go to Gray. Hello, Sports Illustrated, to the people watching. I'm deeply sorry that I'm not there. And to also Alessandro, Dan, Lias, the whole cast crew. I'm sorry I can't make it. I'm currently in the Allianz Stadium watching Juventus-Napoli. It's exactly the 48th minute and it's 0-0, so hopefully we win. But yeah, I send my best regards and my apologies. Ciao, guys. Ciao Luca, we'll wait for you next week. Careful, because this man, he knows his football. Gray, what did you make to the start of the season by Inter? I mean, yeah, it's been up and down, but I think what was interesting is that Milan... They, I think this is like the eighth derby they're unbeaten against Inter in. Yeah, but is it the eighth in a row or like? In a row. In a row. They haven't won an eight against Milan. And they've won the last four. That's tall. They haven't won a derby in eight games. They play a lot. Hold on, hold on, hold on. I went to a game a few years ago when they beat them 5-1 Inter. Yeah. Don't tell me that's the last time they beat them. Yes. Play the damn soundboard, man. Are you insane? Any one of them, bro. Any one of them. Sometimes may be good. Any one of them. Click the damn soundboard, Ali. What?! Sometimes may be good. I went to that game because for me it was a dream to go to the San Siro before it went down. It must have been what, 2023 when they won the league? They won 5-1 that day. Yeah. You're really telling me that's the last time they beat them? Or when they won the Scudetto under Inzaghi, they won in the derby probably. You're right, that must have been the last one. Oh my, that's still crazy. That's two, three seasons ago now. But last four years Inter have finished above Milan in the league. So it's like, they're sort of opposites in the sense that Inter wilt in the big games and then Milan turn up, but then they don't, you know, they have those slips like Bologna, like three days earlier, they get pumped 4-2. Because the team is young, they are trying to build so and Diawara, a lot of younger players, they're trying to adapt. Yeah, you saw Gonzalo Ramos is struggling. They let a lot of leads slip too, Milan. They're almost, again, the opposite of Inter. They'll have a lead and then they'll let it slip. Inter, they go down behind it, they come back. What was great was, did you see in the week before, Jerry Cardinale, the US owner, was giving all these interviews and stuff. And he's like a huge fan of Top Gun. And he said, Amarim, he's my man, he's my wingman. And then they said to Amarim after the game, they're like, oh, this is great, you know, big show of approval from the owner. And he's like, yeah, but Goose dies in the first film. That's the best film. So... All right, Ruben Amorim is up to date then, fair enough. Fair enough. You know, unless they care, like, they've got to just be consistent, you know? Yeah. And that's the hardest thing. And I think Pulisic scored the first goal and he's a great example of it. He's just, he can turn up in occasions, but then he's just not consistent. Yeah, and normally if he turns up, Milan tend to win games. When he's switched on, Milan tend to win the game. Anyway, shout out to Luka Modric, because... I think you have to give a lot of shout outs, man. Modric, Moussa was really quite good, and then... And Rabiot. Yeah, Rabiot. We talked about him on this show, man. He's really now... You talk about consistency, he's the consistent guy in that team this season under Amorim. He's really found a role for himself in that team. But yeah, as much credit as you give Milan, I'm really disappointed in Inter. I'm really disappointed in Christian Kivu, right? Because I just look at his records in the big games now. It has to click eventually for this team because you talk about all the talent that they have. It has to start translating against these bigger sides, especially in the Champions League. The Champions League is really where I think you've seen the drop-off from the Simone and Zaghi era. Obviously, in the league, they've... They've statistically gotten better, but yeah man, for me there's question marks around Kivu. Good coach, but I don't think Inter are playing at their top level potential under him. Yeah, and it's also weird making tests on your system doing an important play like the derby, playing with a single striker. That's inexplicable for me. And the fact that, what's his name, Pio and Boni, they come in for the last 10 minutes. Yeah, but I think they were ill. I think Boni was like chucking up his guts. Oh, so that's why they just weren't even there. Even there. P.O. I'm not sure about Pio. Pio. You're not sure about Pio? Pio. You're not a fan? No, no, no. I'm not sure that Pio was real. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Ah. I'm not that sure. What are you trying to say here? You've got sources. No, no, no. You can't get hit at that. In the sense, from what I understood, it was a technical decision. A tactical decision. A tactical decision. Ah. To play in this way. But it's a long season. Now, I mean, yeah, great stuff, guys. Great stuff, guys. We need to mention Lazio because they are the against. Probably all the odds against, I mean not against their fans, I mean they had a great week and they they don't have fans going to the stadium when they play home. Yeah. And Gattuso... He's finding his redemption at the Olympics. Did you see how he had to bite his tongue when he said, we have to give credit to Lazio? No, no, no, never, never. I mean, it's a joy for Italian football. Seeing all... They don't believe me. They don't believe me. They don't believe me. Next joke, man. Oh, come on. Oh yeah, yeah, they don't believe me. But great, you know, we have a little segment called Who is in the Kitchen? Well, we... Go and look for names of people doing well in the last few games. So I want to start with you. I'm going to give you a few names, but I want you to add anyone who was relevant for you. Who's been cooking, according to you? Because I had at least Diomande, Hakimi, Diego Moreira, Nicholas Jackson, Yassine Ayari, and I personally added Gustav Isaksen from Lazio, doing really, really good in Serie A. Yeah. Well, Diomande is an interesting one because Real Madrid won 3-0 this weekend. It was wrapped up by half time. They were brilliant. And he scored a great volley. I think Mourinho will be even more happy with him tracking back. And he, I mean, he gave away a couple of fouls because he was defending so diligently. It was crazy. But it just like makes you think, how is Vinicius going to get back in that team? He's not going to go there. You can't drop Guler. Because he's just immense and you can't drop Bellion because he's everywhere. You can't drop any of them. And you can't drop Mbappe because he's scoring goals and you can't drop Diomande. So it's like, where's he going to play? Next to him on the bench, man. That's where he's going to play. Stay with us, Greg, because of course in tomorrow's episode, we go around the world and we talk about La Liga, but Diomande is a great example because we were talking about Barcola and all the people of the offensive, the attacking player from Liverpool, probably feeling the price tag, Diomande. Doing what he's doing with Real Madrid after a few months with that price tag at 19, 20 years old, it's great. Like you said, we'll go talk about it next time because I have a lot to say on Diomande, but I want to save it for the Real Madrid part. For me, the guy who's cooking, you have to look at Moreira this week. Honestly, that performance against your big rivals, you talk about, again, big price tag relative to Italian football, right? 50 million pounds on a guy from Strasbourg is a big signing. That's a top performance. Two assists. I think the cross and the run past Augusto for the first one was brilliant. The one for Rabiot straight off the training ground. And then the free kick on top of that. That, to do that, especially wearing the 22 the same day that Ricardo Kaká is celebrated by the San Siro. It's just an amazing performance. And one of those that... When you think of big Milan derby moments, that's going to be one that I think of now. Moreira against Inter. And he wasn't nailed on in the team, was he? What was he? He died. And... Against Lazio, he brought on Moreira and Pulisic at half-time and changed the game. And he sort of had to work his way in, but he's a great player. I love that he's wearing 22 as well, I didn't even realize it at the time. So yeah, Kaka crying before, yeah. Oh, yeah. Yeah. They were chanting for him, weren't they? They were like, we're here to see Kaka score a goal. Siamo venuti fin qua, siamo venuti fin qua per vedere e segnare Kaka. Wow, what a chant. What a player, by the way, Kaka. It sounds better in Italian. Yeah, much better. If you love football, you love Ricardo. Of course, man. Guys, we're going to be back tomorrow, we're going to go around the world, we're going to talk about La Liga, we're going to talk about Champions League, my man. For now, thank you very much, Lies. Great, a pleasure, my man. You know, I've got something for you. What a debut. Thanks, Dan. Thanks to everyone behind cameras. And viva il football, il calcio. See you tomorrow. Ciao.