City Beat Arsenal, Wrighty Loses Faith & Roy’s Advice for Arteta | Stick to Football EP 125

Are we in record?

Here we go.

This is Arne's new golf range.

It's quite cool, actually. I'm going to take some of this. I'm going to do that, eh? Are we having a little putting comp here?

Go on, then. Come on. I've had a pat already. Show me what you've got, Gal, because I know you've played.

No, no, you're a hand... I say what? What are we doing? Three each? Three each? We're all having three each. Let's wait for Roy.

Scozy, have a practice.

Let's wait for Roy.

Should have brought my putter.

It's not a bad putter, this one.

Scozy, if you want some gear, by the way.

It's a very shallow hole, isn't it?

How nice is that? City, though, that, isn't it? City? No. You see him, Scolesy. Yeah. I think I'm a large though.

Oh, Scolesy. I missed. How unlucky was that? He's missed on the other side. No.

Oh, good one.

Well done, Paul.

Want to do a little practice? Adjusted well.

You did adjust well there. Rory's done, just putting was brilliant.

He saved himself. I say not. Imagine if he played well. He'd have won that by 10 shots.

Oh, gosh. He looks uncomfortable. You look weird.

Do we look proper golfer, guys?

Your body... You don't look like you're over. You look like you're on your heels. Oh, that's brilliant, guys.

I used to be a good putter, Ian.

Seriously?

Yeah, back in the day, yeah. Straight arms. Really good sort of like...

Ooh. Not bad. Pulled the arse off it. Ian, you going to practice?

Have we got a competition on when we start or something?

We have, yeah.

And then Roy's going to say, oh I didn't practice or anything. I like the little green actually. It's good, isn't it?

It's nice, isn't it? I could have this. I like the little green actually, it's good isn't it? It's nice isn't it? I could have this, I like this. How good do you think of Zubi Mendy? Say again?

How good was the... What do you think of Zubi Mendy? What about him?

Remember that fan debate we had? What about Zubi Mendy? I told you, I'm not sure he's the right person for Arsenal. He's gone, hasn't he? I remember when they were signing him. You argued with me. I think he's a good player. Who, Zubi Mendy? What, Zubi Mendy?

Yeah. Let's just sit on there. Let's not waste our best stuff on the golf. Do you know what I mean? If we've got a problem with Zubi Mendy, let's discuss Zubi Mendy properly.

I haven't got some nice tight lists. It's like the Saiyans. Yes. Roy, here. Come on, Roy, man. Jesus.

Not a chance.

It's easy. Just put it in that hole there from there. Come on, Roy. Three each. Three each. Go on, Roy. You go first. You're the best handicapper. Roy, you go first. You're the best handicapper. No, I want Roy to go first. Roy, you go first then. Look at him, look. Look at his face, look. This is the four-foot putt that you said to him.

It's just like crazy golf.

That you said to Rory was quite easy.

If Roy wins this, I'm going to be gutted.

A bit more than four-foot, that.

Fancying himself. Too hard. Ooh! Going one out.

It's not bad, one out of two. If he gets this one in, it's real pressure. No, I don't think one will win it. Imagine if I practiced how easy that would be.

Was that easy, Roy?

Was it easy?

Right, let me see.

And I didn't even walk it, I was supposed to check it.

Do all that? Aim point. There's no way Roy is getting any of these.

Shut your mouth! You've got your hands the wrong way round, haven't you?

Oh, yeah. He's gone cock-handed.

I'll do it.

Oh, righty. Lovely. He's righty. Lovely. Oh, righty, wow.

He's got a good technique.

Wow.

Target. He knows it before this. We're done. We're done.

Don't finish.

You're not meant to be talking when people are playing.

Don't bottle it though.

Yes!

Go on, Scoles.

Are you Alaska?

Do you want to know what you've got to beat? Of course, Gary's got to know what he's got to beat.

You're the best golfer, though.

Scolesy's easily the best golfer.

I'm not the best golfer.

Yes, you are, Scolesy.

I don't like putting them.

What's your handicap, Scolesy, now?

Two.

Jeez! Exactly. Everyone says that who plays golf. You were near, you brought yours right near. I might have balled by here.

Nope.

Oh, Scolzi for the win.

Oh no.

Go on, Scolzi. Scolzi's going to win it. That's what champions do. Scolzi's going to win it.

He was a lot nearer than me.

No, he's not in that.

Oh, Scozzi. He was a lot nearer than me. Right, 2-2, so right Ian, you could have a sudden death playoff. Thank you.

I don't think I'll get...

It's the golf gear.

Oh, the golf, all right.

Oh, is that golf gear? Gary, take your time because like, Gary, take your time.

You can take some Roy if you want. I hate that Gary won this. This would be unbelievable because I've not played for years.

Go!

Oh no, I've pulled it.

Pulled the arse off it, Gaz. Oh no, he's pulled it again.

Righty-in, righty-in, Scolesy.

Sudden death here. Sudden death. You were first, Ian.

One shot.

One shot each.

Scolesy's.

Oh, you can take that.

It's a consolation prize.

It's nice.

I didn't realise it was golf.

There's no practice.

Yeah, you can take it.

Nice, isn't it?

Yeah.

Oh!

Symptomatic of Arsenal's problems.

See, I was just gonna kick the chair in for a second. This is it, Arsenal's problems. See, I was just going to kick the chair in for a second. This is it. It's over.

This is it.

And you know, I'd never give you another chance.

No. Never.

This is unflappable.

Oh, yes.

Wow.

I may go first this time.

You're first this time, Scolesy.

No, you won't lose.

You can't just keep going. Yes, you can. You've got to win, what are you talking about? You have to share it. Oh no, righty, chance to win it, this is it.

This is the arse hole.

This is it, this is the arse hole, this is the chance that you need. Show them how it's done, righty. Righty.

Thank you very much, guys.

Well done. Well played, Ian. He's won the Arnne golf competition. He's won. Right. Some girth. Stick to Football is brought to you by Arnne Clothing.

You know what, it hurts, Gal. It's a pain that's hurting me. It's like, it's killing me, but I can't feel it. I'm not seeing anything from our team, and even the way we play, I'm just taking the way we play

because I want us to get over the line. You've got to look at the facts though. The facts is April Roy, we hardly win a football match in April. Are you going to be a hostage to the past? You can't be a hostage to the past.

I'm not going to be a hostage to the past.

Forget the past.

We're the home team, we're ours.

Let's get it forward.

We press on. It's not Birmingham, it's not Reimadud. Erm... When... Yeah. You can't just sit there and think... You have to beat your rivals at some point.

Exactly.

And they don't do that. So this is the moment. This is the best week of their lives. This is the week they're going to become legends. This is the week they're going to do it. Roadrunners match without sometimes scoring a goal.

I'm talking about just getting a grip of a football match. it's got to be easier. Oh Roy. No it has to be, it's just different challenges for different players. I'm surprised at you Roy, I'm surprised at you. You didn't think it was a red card on Monday did you? That Martin has won? No, no, no. I could see why he gave it, but this idea of violent conduct, it's harsh.

But if they'd done it to Keane missing off at Everton a couple of months ago, and that was the same type of scenario, he didn't really grab him, but he got red-capped for it.

I thought he just slid his bobble off rather than pull his hair.

I think when they call it violent conduct, that sounds a bit bizarre.

When you pull somebody's hair, your hair goes back,

that never happened, did it? But I'm amazed after the game, you know, that everyone's angry about the sending off. You should be angry about the performance.

The first half, especially.

Do you know what it is? It's like a distraction to send them off. No, you were 2-0 down at the time. Be angry with the first half or you can turn up for a game so slowly. And Michael concentrated on it, whether it's a sending off. No, I can see why you sent him off, but I think this violent conduct seems a bit strange.

Do you think it was a sending off?

The question is, we know the rule says you have to send them off. It's not the rule, it's the law. As a professional, though, I kept thinking about it after the game, I kept thinking, you know something, you used to have long hair, like longish hair, remember right?

Rude had longish hair. I reckon if someone in training pulled their hair, I reckon they'd be on the floor inside five minutes. It's the women's innit, it's sitting for the women's football.

You have a day with Katie McKay.

I saw that, yeah.

There was uproar because she wasn't sent off neither. And even with that one, she was pulling the shirt,

but the hair's at the back there.

And obviously, she's caught the hair as well, but it's page one. You don't pull hair.

Did he have a grip of his shirt a little bit as well?

It felt like his shirt and his hair were together a little bit.

I think that it should be instant sending off. I was adamant it was a sending off. Yeah, yeah. What about Robby with Tottenham?

He's touched for them in a sending off the way he pushed them into Romero.

Yeah, because that's dangerous.

Absolutely crazy.

That is more so dangerous.

To be fair, some of the decisions you think, but that one to me, I thought it was definitely... The other thing that was strange, if you're pulling someone back as a defender, I played defence for 20 years and pulled and grabbed, you never grab someone...

Not that high.

If he's got... Scoles, he's got a skinhead like that, I'd say, as an example. You can't... You don't grab someone's head. I've never grabbed someone's head to pull them back, to go like this. He used to do that because of his size, doesn't he? He's almost reaching like that. No, if I'm playing against Duncan Ferguson, right, who's got longer hair back in the day, I'd go like that.

I wouldn't go like that and grab his head like that.

It's a bad example. You don't do that to Duncan. He's a smooth person.

I know, but the point is, I thought it was quite a strange thing to see.

Liverpool, yeah. But it was a good distraction for United to talk about that after the game. I see the manager getting angry, he goes, no get angry with the team. Starting a game like that against Leeds,

how can you start a game with no energy? But Justin Leroy, look, you're going to say I'm making excuses, now you know what I'm going to say don't you? Right, there's two things. One, I do think when they've played one game in like 30 odd days. Whose fault is that? That's their own fault for being so bad last year

and being out of all the cup competitions.

I know but...

That's self-inflicted.

It wasn't 30 odd days.

No, it was 24 days without a game. But then they had a big period before...

I didn't say 30 odd days.

No, but they had a big period.

There's no big score.

I said, what? I can ask you something. Is that better for rest or something? I think it was too far right. But what's intriguing here, we talk about constantly how many games a player needs to play.

He's not played for a month or two. Same for teams. Leeds played last Sunday. West Ham was it? Extra time to hold Shebang. So where do you ever go?

That's perfect.

What's the perfect scenario for how many games you're going to be playing? The second thing, Roy... But if you've not played... We obviously said Old Trafford before a game. Just say you haven't played for that long. Start quick. At least start quick. If you start slowly, it's hard to get going. I think there's two more things. One is I think they definitely probably looked at Chelsea on Sunday and thought we're OK here and a bit complacent.

There's definitely a bit of that which is wrong. The third thing was, when you lose Maguire and Mainu, it just, to me, highlighted how weak it looked all of a sudden. You saw the team and you thought, oh, Garton, Casemiro, there's going to be nothing through midfield. You then see the centre-backs and you think, Calvert-Lewin's going to fancy that a little bit. So all of a sudden you're looking at it and thinking...

But anyway, man. They were all of a sudden taking too many touches.

They couldn't keep the ball.

They sent off effectively more than Man United. Leeds confused them.

I thought Michael took a bit long to change it, if I'm honest with you.

To be fair, at half-time I was amazed that there weren't one or two substitutions. I thought Bruno should have dropped back. I thought Bruno should have dropped back into midfield with Agati going. He had two right. They couldn't get a hold of him. Well the one thing I'd say, you're on about football. Do you know what you want to see with a team? I'm on about Liverpool, PSG. The first thing I look for in a football match or a team is energy.

So you're on about United with all these. Monday night, there was a decent atmosphere. At least play with energy. Whatever about lack of quality. So if you've no energy, and I'm talking about every level of football, if I watch Sofra I go, I want to see him just running around. You've got to run Gary. It's like Pep at half-time against Chelsea. The one thing he'd say about United against Man Utd, lads at least start quick. At least start quick.

The Leeds got it right and they played right into their hands really. The keeper kept trying to play it out, they turned it around. But you know what Leeds are good at?

They're passing forward and you know what?

Just getting crosses in.

Oh they're aggressive.

Just putting crosses in.

Why won't people just keep crossing? No one wants crosses in all the time.

No one wants to, the defender first goal, he attacked it well. He was brilliant but showed why he's probably not at the top. Of course. He should have finished the game for him really.

Yeah and he had a couple of chances.

But he done well in defence. That chance is the one he had with England. They brought him in so they just brought him to, let me just have a final look and just see and then that header. You're thinking... Oh yeah, the chance he slid in the first half.

Yeah, I was devastated for him.

I thought he'd bollied both of the halves.

Yeah, but he's good at that. He's good at that.

But like I said, he's amazing at that, but to get to that...

Yeah, because if you play in the World Cup and you're bollied, you're getting pulled up all the time. I felt for him in that moment because for him to get himself back to a stage where he'd get back into the England squad and then get that chance, which is a header for him, honestly that was gutted for him.

And he missed that, he missed a good header against United. Yeah, he had to handle it. No, he's got to score that. I'd maybe forgive the other one where he slid in to keep it middle really good save. But the header, was the header the one where he sort of like... You said there was enough pace in it, but he's done a lot of...

Yeah, but it just...

Those are the hardest ones.

It's the curve shots.

Yeah. I know he's a top player, but... When you have to put something on it, then you...

He had to go like it, haven't you? Full head. He did throw his head at it. He did throw his head at it. Do you know what, it's not righty-butty, I don't think he had to throw it that much at it. He's done all the action, instead of going,

no, just focus on getting your...

Just go bang, bang.

It was quite a soft pass, wasn't it?

I don't know. Anyway, Champions League last night, Liverpool. Are we a little bit worried? We've had six teams in the Champions League this season, have we? Yeah. And all of them are out apart from Arsenal. Is it a bit of a concern that all of our teams are out in terms of the quality? Because when you watch Real Madrid and you watch PSG, you watch Bayern Munich,

is it a bit concerning in terms of the Premier League? Or do you think it's just a moment in time? Well, when you're putting, and that could be next year, it could be six teams, when you're putting that many teams in, one or two would be found out come quarter-finals or semi-finals, aren't they? Even Liverpool, their pace to to be fair, but it just obviously came up short. I think you're looking too deeply into it.

Yeah, do you know what?

No, I think it is a bit worrying.

Why?

Because I think them two or three teams are so far ahead of the English teams. It's ridiculous. Even last night watching PSG against Liverpool, I just thought,

technically watching them...

But worrying for who? The Premier League? Or for clubs themselves? themselves for the Premier League. We spend hundreds of millions of pounds more in this league, we know that. We know it's probably more exciting, we know we get more games that are exciting. So I think there's definitely an element of that. But in terms of the technical ability of the very top teams... Surely PSG and Bayern are spending as much as the top teams.

Do you not reckon? I know on average the Premier League there's lots of money,

but maybe not necessarily with all the... Bayern must be spending big money, big wages. PSG have huge players. Real obviously, we know what Real Madrid do so they must be spending silly money. This is probably a stupid question but PSG and Bayern, do you think they'd come and win our league? They'd be in the mix definitely. I think they could win it quite easily. Yeah, but then it's the physical.

It's a hypothetical question, but...

The competitive nature of the Premier League.

They were on the ropes last night in the second... Liverpool obviously were being...

20 minutes to second half.

Yeah, they were on the ropes, weren't they? But obviously, as you do, they stuck at it

and eventually showed their quality.

I think both of them would struggle with the amount of games they have to play that are so intense. I still think both of them would need as good as the quality is.

It did be in the mix of course.

I think that's another thing we have to look after our teams a bit better, don't you think?

The games.

It's a big example. United have no game for three weeks and they couldn't turn up.

So what's your... Sorry, I meant with PSG having no game at the weekend. Having no game, concentrating on this. The league just taking, yeah, the league just... That fancies that, don't you think?

Yeah, it must be, yeah.

Like having that one weekend, yeah.

Oh look, I think PSG would have still beaten them, but I'm just saying...

Because it's something for Liverpool, over the two games... I always think when you... knocked out last year by PSG, they scored a one goal. So if you look and they've played them four times, that's one goal. They beat them away last year, didn't they? Did they beat them away last year? Yeah, and then PSG won their one in the counties. But if they've got one goal in the four games against them,

yeah, that's obviously a challenge.

That's why I'm saying technically PSG are miles better than them. at this stage of the season when it's on the line, when things are on the line and the pressure's on the line, the quality players come to the fore and you start to see quality football, quality play. Like even that goal with Dembele.

I thought it was the difference between the teams,

the lack of quality, well, the quality, the turn.

That's why when we see him, he does different stuff, he's got a brilliant goal, but then he scuffs a lot of chances. Who's that? Yeah, when you see Pembele, he scores a beautiful finish.

Great technique and then, you know, when he misses his chances, it's like, bleh.

But they haven't got a centre forward, have they? They've just got three or four players that are just brilliantly talented.

They've pace, they're running behind you.

They're not natural strikers though, are they? No. But again, you look back, they've got a bit of energy bore them, they're like... What was Arne Slott's... There's a quote after the game, which I watched his interview this morning, and he's talking about the club has sold eight or ten players to make money to sign five or so very talented players, but we have to sell to buy. And we're now losing some players on a free transfer.

I just thought last night, I don't know if I'm reading too much into it and whether it's out of context, but this idea that in the summer they'll have to sell to buy and I'm thinking, who could you sell? And by the way, Ekotika is a bad one, eh? He's out for eight months. I mean that's a shocker that one for him, for the young lad.

I mean that's a brilliantly for himself. Yeah, yeah.

You're on about the finances now, put on all clubs, like United surely in the summer. You can't just keep bringing players into your football club. And I'm including obviously, you can't keep piling players. At some stage you have to sell players of course. And United must be in the same boat. Just talk to me, who would Liverpool sell to be able to buy the strength and what they need? You've got McAllister who's obviously coming towards the end, you've got Van Dijk who's coming towards the end, you've got Salomon Robertson leaving.

And he's still freeing up wages.

Subozlai.

Yeah, Debi.

Subozlai.

You sell Subozlai? I'm not saying I'm selling, but you're saying who could they sell? 70 million, who would you bring in for that? Curtis Jones. That's their problem isn't it? That's your recruitment side of it. I just thought it was a bit strange.

Are you talking about to make money? Because to make money, you're talking Sir Boz Light. You mentioned Curtis Jones. I don't think Curtis Jones, if they're talking about selling to get money,

you're not going to get as much as you're going to get into the Champions League. Will that be enough, you think, to keep him there and keep the stability? Yeah, you can't be sat in a manager a year after winning the league.

Fans sound like there's a lot of...

Yeah, they're restless, of course.

They're very restless. You know...

But aren't most fans ready? I think a lot will depend on the next few weeks, won't they? They'll finish the season badly. They've got United in a couple of weeks.

They're big games emotionally for the fans, isn't it?

Everything's turned on the head for Liverpool. With everything that was going on, how well they'd done, they won the league. With Salah, with Virgil staying and obviously Trent Lee. But the way they played through it, it felt like... This season, it's not even a season, and it seems like it's just turned on his head.

Yeah, yeah.

Easett was a straight man, when I was starting him last night, I just didn't look anywhere near ready, was I?

He said that he's got 45 minutes in, why didn't he give him the second?

Second maybe, yeah, I know what, in that way though, if you bring him on second half and you're getting what you got out of him in the first half, what else could you do then? You're stuck aren't you? So it might have been better playing for the first half.

But why wouldn't you just start with a player who can play the full 70, 80 minutes like Salah or Gakpo?

That's a hard question, yeah, I don't know. I thought Salah would have started simply because, not just to appease anyone, but it's the kind of game, big game, big moment, that you think, he's that player, he's the moment player, and we need some moments right now. I think sometimes you just got to go with that instinct, and just play Salah. I would have played Salah.

It felt like I was watching a team last night and that second half, and they thought if they get one here, which to be fair... The penalty, when they're... I don't know why that was overturned, by the way. Look, it was a bit soft, but do you know something?

You're just catching, doesn't it?

Yeah.

You're just catching a little bit. I couldn't believe it was overturned, but it was. But you thought, do you know something? because he knows next one's going to knock me out. Yeah. That's how it felt, right? It felt to me like I was watching a team that have got that, you know, that sort of, they remember what good looks like, they know what winning a Champions League looks like, but it felt to me like they just,

it was like a last push and they couldn't get there. That's how it felt. But that's what we love watching, this top level football. you eventually do get found out. And over the two legs again, Liverpool good effort last time but...

Not good enough. There was a lot of energy there but the quality just wasn't there. In them last bits, it's not that real proper. And you could see what was happening. It was that hard to take a touch and bang it. And then when the goal came, you kind of put them out of their misery.

They had a bit of false hope that if we get one back they might do it. I did that goalie one. What about the chance Barcelona had the last year? The header! I was kicking the big lad! Arrow!

Arrow was really good.

Are you like me? You know when you're watching sport at home or even the golf, I get so angry with people.

I know, I do.

I'm kicking chairs at home.

I can't watch, yeah.

People missing headers or missing putts.

Missing putts and that. 20 years, how easy is that? It's hard, it's hard. Are you happy for Rory? Yeah, brilliant. You're writing for him, eh? No, absolutely brilliant. Do you know, I watched most of it. I really enjoyed it, yeah.

I told Rory on Friday...

You said to Rory, it's over.

It's over on Friday.

Honestly, he's starting all that bollocks with me again. Was I right? No. I'm not going to comment on that, we're alright. Because obviously Friday, he just went to another level.

I said he'd win it.

I mean we all openly win it to be one of the, was it only four players of that?

Back to back.

Back to back.

But you're on about sport. I can imagine golfers, you're on about where I am at the moment, in sports psychology, you know. The golfers' emotional rollercoaster on a course. He went through a whole Premier League season in one round.

Is it Justin Rose? Justin Rose missing a few shots.

It's not a big, huge moment.

He didn't play that well either, did he?

Rory? No, but if Rory played... He was in the trees, he was scrambling, it was unbelievable. But he's putting into his chipping and putting.

He's winning about 10 shots. Did he go two or three behind Cameron Young at one point early on?

He was two, wasn't he?

And he was losing shots. You think to yourself, he's not coming back from that. To come back from that, I think, to be fair, takes something.

But again, at that level...

A couple of them made mistakes as well.

Yeah, of course, he gave me a helping hand. He bogged you three on the trot didn't he? Cameron Young. Yes. He went from 12 to 9.

I think he's got that presence about him though Rory.

Everyone loves him. Spot on. If you're playing against Steve Scalf for example. Rory knows he's got them.

Of course he does.

If I just get my act together I'll do him.

It's like a soccer team. just intimidates you, but then with his short game, which has really kicked in because there's times when he used to be putting for par from like seven feet and that and you know, you wouldn't fancy him.

His short game's unbelievable. I know a lot of people talk about his driving and stuff because he's smashing that far, but that's what they say,

the only short game wins it.

He sunk some putts, Gal, which we're saying, okay, he dropped, went down to nine, but he sung some putts at nine and ten in that way thinking that would be it. Those putts, you miss those and you're starting to lose too much ground. Are we going to get another flag off him? We should get another, we should get 25 and 26, Ros. I actually want one, just one, I just want one. You just want one, honestly.

We'll get one for you, Scolesy. Rory, can you get one for... I put it in the club shop. He doesn't like golf, he's got a fucking master.

I do like golf, I don't play it, but I like watching golf. I do like watching golf.

It's pride of place in the golf shop now.

Stick to Football is brought to you by Arm Clothing. This episode is sponsored by Heineken. Welcome to Heineken's Fan of the Match. Heineken is all about celebrating the fan connections made through sport. So we've got a fan in the studio with me, but who do they support? Hi mate, what's your name?

Eric, Steve.

Steve. Right.

Ready?

60 seconds starting now.

South of England?

No.

North of England? No.

Midlands?

Yes. Premier League?

Yes. Oh, that narrows it down, we're here aren't we? Unai Emery the manager?

Yes.

Your accent's good as well, I can tell you. He either has to be a Villa or a Birmingham fan of my love and you're going to be not a Birmingham fan, are you?

No.

Villa fan? Yes. And my favourite ground in the world, Villa Park. What's your greatest experience as a Villa fan? Yes. And my favourite ground in the world, Villa Park. What's your greatest experience as a Villa fan?

I mean, this whole Unai Emery era has been amazing, but it'll probably be coming out of them Dark Ages, getting promoted, final, final, Derby County. Out of the Championship? Yeah, coming back.

Yeah, I mean Villa can't be the Champions, I mean I love the Championship, I love all the leagues, but Villa cannot quicker, aren't I? I'm getting into my groove. Stock up with Heineken or enjoy in your local for match day. Enjoy Heineken responsibly and for the facts about alcohol, visit bedrinkaware.co.uk.

Stick to Football is brought to you by Armed Clothing. Roy, you just said if you get your act together, you know you're going to win it. Is that what is happening with City and Arsenal right now? Are we seeing a team getting their act together that are just going to go and win it?

Can you smack the microphone?

I just saw you sit back, ready to go.

It's a funny language. You've got a chirpy name. You're like me now. No, exactly Gal. We're seeing a stage of the season again, you know, where I haven't said nothing on this, obviously after the Bournemouth game.

That's because you weren't walking. No, no, no, I could have been.

You watching the goal?

I could have been. But the thing is, is that I didn't, you know what I mean, I haven't said anything on it, so there's a lot of fake stuff out there, me and Thierry, but honestly, Gal, we're in a position, which we've come to again, we obviously started the season brilliantly, that's not the time to count it, it's obviously after Christmas and now, and we've now gone to a place where we are once again faltering at a time where Man City are finding their form. I'm not going to go into the mental side of it and that because like we just spoke about Rory

and being able to get himself into a place where you're comfortable in the uncomfortable situation. Like we have been the last three years, which we haven't done it. And we now find ourselves back there. People stopping me in the street, Roy,

saying, right, are we going to do it? Right, are we going to do it? Right, are we going to do it? And I said, well, I don't know what I'm going to call, like I'm going to pull on to say, yeah, we're going to do it because of this. We're not playing good football.

But they're in a great position, though, in terms of they've got that little bit of a cushion. Yeah, but I don't... Or put it this way, which dressing room would you rather be in right this moment? Honestly, Man City, Roy. No, I'd still be with Arsenal.

I still think that gap...

No, I'm telling you...

Can I be honest? When you look at the... Like, you know, watching the games as well, Gal. You know what? It hurts, Gal. It's a pain that's hurting me. It's like, it's killing me, but I can't feel it. invested so much into the manager, the team, the players and everything. And they got to a place again and you're just seeing it fall away. You're seeing players making mistakes.

It's not falling away yet, Roy. It is falling away. They're top of the table, man.

Roy, what I'm trying to say is that from Arsenal fans point of view...

They're nervous. They're not cagey, but you have to get through that.

How do you expect... As the athlete in me, of course... They've been nervous for six months. I didn't expect it to be plain sailing, Roy, because it's never plain sailing. Because even a team that's got momentum, you have to get it done. But when you are at the top of the league and you've got to beat the teams, I'm not seeing anything from our team.

And even the way we play, listen to me saying, by any means necessary, it's like you're frightened. That's a Hail Mary. I'll take anything to win. And we shouldn't be doing that right now. We should be in a place where we can experience.

The way you play.

I think I saw Pep's quote talking about, it doesn't come down to tactics, it comes down to mentality. And like we just mentioned, Rory, and being in a place, we've been in that place. We should know what this is going to take. And then you're watching the boys,

you're watching the way we play, which honestly, I don't like the way we play. I'm just taking the way we play because I want us to get over the line. And we're in a position that we've been in three times before.

Why should I say to people that come up to me, no, don't worry, have faith. Because we're't played any kind of football, Roy, to beat a team in a way where I can say, oh I remember, or for the back of that.

But, Rydie, when you go back to the games, loads of games this season, even at home in big games, Arsenal have got that nervousness about them. But that's part of sport, I think you have to get through that nervousness. Now, Scolesy asked a good question. You said you can't get through the top of the team. What I've just heard from you, to be fair, feels to me what every Arsenal fan is feeling. You're talking with that level of emotion as an Arsenal fan. But I want you to go back to Ian Wright, the player, because Ian Wright, the player, did win a title once for the first time.

You got over the line. Pull yourself out your seat. So you have won a title, you've done the same, Roy, you've done the same scores. You're bloody tough to get over the line that first time. Take yourself back 25, 30 years. You're a bit sort of what would be apprehensive. You want to win your first title, you're a desperate, emotional football player. You're not an Arsenal fan.

What were you doing back then that could help the Arsenal players now? What is the sort of message that you would give them right now that would help them?

Well, I think, well, it's a good question, Gavin.

You're acting as a... Here, you're emotional, you're acting as a fan.

Because I'm a fan at the moment. You know what I mean? I've got to go way back to be a fan. Become a coach, become a player. However we're playing now and however the manager wants you to play, once you get on there you have to take a certain responsibility for yourself because it's failing right now. Stop doing your face. Are you doing that face on purpose?

Oh, that's how it looks.

Yeah, he looks like that.

I was listening and thinking.

But like, you've got to, when you go you're asking, Gary, you're asking Roy all these questions. Emotions is part of your reaction. But you're not looking at the facts. You're on about Arsene having a dodgy spell there. They've only dropped a few points in the last five or six games. At a critical time, right?

I know.

April, they have bad April's, aren't they?

Honestly, look at our April Royals. when we hardly win a football match in eight. Are you going to be a hostage to the past? You can't be a hostage to the past. I'm not going to be a hostage to the past.

Forget the past.

Yeah, but what I'm talking about is like, when people ask me, right, are we going to do it?

Do you know what, can I give you some advice? Can I give you some advice? Can I give you some advice? see them again, just go, we're going to win this. Just lie to them. I'm not going to lie to them because that's why...

I'm not saying you're going to lie to them, but have that belief, fake it to make it something.

No, I'm not going to fake it to make it because...

No, you're right, of course emotions are part of the game, but look at the FACs.

They're in a great position. They've won the most games, they've scored the most goals. There's going to be a nervousness about you. Winning all of your... And that's when you look at the players around you. Sometimes the match winners will then step up and do what they do. Or scores you. But with this Arsenal team, I'm struggling to see where that's going to come from. The only thing I'd say about the Bournemouth game, for all these stuff we're trying out there,

you've got to use a bit of common sense. And they didn't. nervous tension and again remember Arsenal on the back of a difficult European game. When you go and play Lisbon and all these games, they're tough games at this stage of the competition. They're not easy games. And you know something, you're just off it a little bit. I know you're at home and you're thinking, come on, suss the game out. I don't think this is on the manager, the fans. As players you go... Win it ugly. There's a nervous tension. We've got a big target man. The last few years, Arsene Donovan, the big target man. They're dissing, they're not mentally...

Get up to the big man. And I always say, let's be nervous up there. Let's not be nervous on the edge of a box with little players.

So you're saying, just get it forward in play for you.

Well, obviously get the balance right, of course. But there's times where you go, stats and again they haven't played for two or three weeks. You're saying Man United didn't play for three weeks Gary. Bournemouth didn't play for three weeks.

But they were on the front foot. There you go.

They were unbelievable.

They were really fit and strong. They obviously trained properly when they were off. Whatever. So if your team's pressing you, like we've all been playing, teams are pressing me and I come to you and go, it's just not happening today. I don't believe that Arsenal, under this manager, you can do that. You can say you can't.

No, you don't listen to the manager. This is what a player's got to do.

That's what I was trying to say.

That's his point, though.

Take it out of the manager's house. Forget the manager.

Why are you listening to the manager sometimes? He's not won a manager like that. Alright, well, let's put someone like Mikel. Well, that's fair, I've said my bit. I think that he's lovely. I tell you, my experience has come from nothing as a manager.

I'm listening to what you're saying, I'm just saying I don't think that it would happen on Mikel for these guys to totally ignore what he wants. You've seen him, he manages every single second.

You sit here a lot of times, you know what, I'll do it, I'll score the winner, don't worry. That's when I was playing, I was a different guy. Of course you don't always listen to the manager. You smell what's going on in a football match. We thought we'd be able to do this, but you know what, today the game's not panned out that way. Everyone's got a plan before the game, but you're so sure it am a fan, Roy. This is why it hurts to...

Gary said don't be a fan. Be a proper professional ex-player. He asked you if you were an addresser.

Yeah, but I just told you what I would have done. I would have gone and I would have been myself. I would have been, you know, that person who does what I wanted to do when I'm in the last third. I don't think they've got the capability or the balls to do that with this manager. They haven't got to do it, because why hasn't anyone done it yet?

How come they've won so many games, by the way? How come they've got the best record?

There are no mugs.

So why doesn't it happen at this stage?

They were never playing the best football though.

But if you look at the last six matches, if you want to keep living in the past. Yeah, but you have to because you have to call on something. That's what they're not doing at the moment. They're not calling on the fact that we've been through that. Rory McIlroy was sitting here not long ago and he was saying sometimes on the course, his legs would go and his head was spinning. And the other day he had that experience. So I think them experiences I asked about the last three,

will stand them in good stead. It's not as if they've come off the rails and lost three or four games. Yeah, but you're not as invested as I am. You've got to keep them. I'm looking at the facts.

Look at the facts.

Look at the league table. Look at the league table. Someone get us a copy of the league table. We've got 500 bottles of Heineken but we can't get the league table. LAUGHTER is through the facts of what we've done up to this point. And Deleon, would you like the table? And the glasses.

What did you say, Brian?

But like, I hear you, Roy, but can you just, can you, can you, can you, can you like, just from my point of view, how I'm feeling right now, because this is the best squad that we've assembled up to this point to do it. Everybody, like Gary's saying at the start of the season, nice arseholes to these guys. It's the best 11 players though.

The thing is, we've talked about it on here.

We were nervous when we were going for titles.

We've talked about it on here.

We used to be nervous when we were 10 points clear. Right, but Roy, that's the point I'm going to ask you. So just, if we just, for a minute, You've won titles from this position. You've won and lost titles from this position. But you're now Mikel Arteta. You're going into that dressing room this week. How do you play it? What are you saying? What are you doing before this game against Manchester City?

Just doing what you've been doing all season.

Just simple messaging.

What we were doing all season, it's early on in the season.

I'd love us to go back and do it. So on one hand you're happy to look at the past, saying two years ago, obviously April's not a good month, but now you're saying you can't look at it,

that was the start of the season. So what parts do you want to look back and not look back?

The last three seasons we obviously have a problem looking back on the earlier part of the season because at every juncture when it's come to the point of finishing it off, you look back and they've not learned from it because the start of the season is not where the pressure is.

But sometimes they're one down the back of tough European games.

There's different challenges coming their way.

It's up to Mikel and Andrea Berta to put the team together, put the squad together. They've done that. But they've now got the same frailties.

Whatever the teams they've put together... But what the manager does, if, again I put myself in Rice's position for example, and the manager will have instructions about playing through the, playing off from the back and blah blah blah. So the game starts, and what we would do, we've done it all, that's not happening. We're not feeling, we're on the back of a European game, we're playing somebody who's not playing our way. It's an early kick off. Or, yeah, put it this way, if you'reournemouth's shoes, you'll go down nice and fresh and we'll try and punx on them. And we know Bournemouth's stats, even though they'd only won nine games before the game against Arsenal. When they're pressing, they're decent. And if they're winning, they can pick you off, right? That's one of their strengths.

So if you're Bournemouth, you're pressing, and Arsenal are going long for the first 10 or 15 minutes. I'm out in about 90 minutes. back to her own goal. So you flip it back and Bournemouth are going, no we're the ones pressing you today, we're not going to do it our own. So that's where the experience comes. Even Rice when the keepers, in the first few minutes I saw the keeper putting his foot in the ball and was kind of going backwards with it. You'd be like, cut that crap out. We're the home team, we're asked to run about Leeds starting quickly, let's And then when the game settles down we'd pick them off. Because Bournemouth won't be able to press for... You know, no team can press for 19 minutes. And we bide our time to pick them off.

We're asked, and we're top of the team. It's not Bayern Munich, it's not Reimadu, it's Bournemouth. Who'd only won nine games. And all the other bottom teams have won seven or eight. And they beat us. take them off instead of going, I told you to listen to me. I don't think our players... Let's forget the manager, the players.

Yeah, but we can't forget the manager because this manager is on you for every single second of the game.

Do you not think our manager was on us? Yeah, of course he is. But do you know what, I'm not listening to the manager today.

That's what I'm saying, it's a different calibre of player like that for 10 minutes. So I know that he's... That's just common sense in here. But like, I don't believe that the way that the players are in this dressing room, Arsenal dressing room, they've got that confidence to just say, I'm not listening to what he's saying.

So you're talking very, very, I would say quite negatively about what you think you're going to experience. As a fan, I would this in the next few weeks. Are you saying you think that they've lost it here in terms of sort of like the way they are mentally right now?

Um, well, yeah. I think that in this moment, you know, obviously, no-one's more positive about Arsenal than me to the point where I'm on here and Roy says, you never say anything about Arsenal.

I've never seen you as deflated.

No, because it feels again like the Bournemouth loss, when I watched that one, you were saying about when you're watching it, you get angry. I couldn't see that. I was like, I could feel it coming and I could feel it coming before. So you're thinking, this is something that's happening. So what is it my fault that I feel like that? It's not my fault.

But the players should feel that right? Well, this is what I want. This is what the experience should come in. You saw the game, what you feel. Look, going to the Manchester United, you're on about Pep and what the manager does. I guarantee you, when City were playing Chelsea on Sunday and they were dominating the game obviously at the start, and you're saying, what can a manager do? I guarantee you Pep said at half-time,

lads, start running behind. Start running forward. You don't need to be a tactical genius to suss out what's going on in a game. They were more direct after half-time. Of course they were, because he's hard at getting behind them.

Because that's what champions do, they find a way to win a game.

But we're not champions. We're not champions, we're trying to be champions.

Righty, to be fair, there always times definitely towards the end, you said that we were nervous with telling them, so you've just said it. That is natural, that's going to happen by the way, even if you've actually been there before. But I just, I have to think about the fact, they've got to try and normalise this situation and put it into perspective. And I do remember our manager used to say one thing,

if you could get win one game to win the league. So my mindset this week if I was Arteta would be thinking guys if at the start of the season I'd have said you could basically go and win a football match to win the league which is what Sunday is by the way if you win on Sunday you win the league, fact. That is something, if you got offered it at the start of the season, would you take a game, one football match to win the league every single year? You would say yes.

But Gary, they don't have to win on Sunday.

No, no, I get that, but my point is if they do win...

I'd choose an easier game though, wouldn't you?

No, my point is... Come on, I'll fucking sit you away. you win the league and you think stuff, all of a sudden it becomes a positive thinking rather than a, actually if we get beat on Sunday. I think at the moment the Arsenal fan base is representative of you, they're thinking if we get beat on Sunday, City go to Burnley on the Wednesday, I'm doing the game, they'll level with us, we're dead. That's what they're thinking. What were you thinking?

No.

I was like, that's how I'm thinking. years when I've been in this position doing the podcast about Arsenal, I've been willing them to step up and win this fucking match every year, this Manchester City game that comes around at the end of the season and say, lads, are you at some point going to step up and do it? Will Todd at Old Trafford, Overmars at Old Trafford, you've got to do something different to win a league, you can't just sit there and think. You have to beat your rivals at some point. Exactly. And they don't do that. So this is the moment, this is the best week of their lives, this is the week they're going to become legends, this is the week they're going to do it.

So this is what you once said in the dressing room.

I'm not saying that Arteta goes in with that level of animation that I've just done, but say guys, is this not the game that you've been waiting for all your lives when you started playing football at the age of five. It feels like this is what they need because it just needs someone to shake them out. But then, right, there's one more thing. Mikel has to put the right players on the pitch on Sunday because the biggest thing the manager can do is tell his players he believes in them is to go and pick an attacking team.

Is to go and pick Madhu Aki, when we get the ball, you believe. You watched Cherki last Sunday.

There's no evidence to show he's going to do that though, is there?

No, no, but I think Mikel maybe gets to that point where he believes in him on Sunday by the message he sends him with the team. But thinking about Cherki last Sunday, Cherki's become a little, doing little flick-ups and things. He looks like the most relaxed player in the world. And he's going for his first title. Cherky's going for his first title in this country.

Remember, we're talking about Man City's side, that people were writing off for some reason early on in the season because Arsenal were doing well. When you know that at some stage, they're coming back. Of course Cherky's built his confidence and trying to catch Arsenal and getting closer. And now they're getting really close. And then we play them on Sunday

and they have all the momentum and we don't. I don't want to sit here with a doom and gloom, but the fact is, it's how I feel.

There's a few of them, since you two haven't won the league, right?

Yeah.

Don't set peppers, don't get me wrong.

But write it. Kuznetsov, O'Reilly, Cherki, Semenyo, Gai, the City have got half a team that haven't won a league in this country.

Yeah but look at the players you just named.

I know, but they've got players who haven't won a league but they don't look... I know they've got people around them and it helps and I've said this for a long time. It's easier coming from behind. Thank you. and people said, oh, we won the league with kids. Let's be clear, we did not win the league with kids that season. We won the league with a group of six or seven unbelievable, experienced players and a manager who knew how to get over the line.

So we were helped. My biggest fear for Arsenal is, who is in that dressing room and in that coaching staff right now that has been there before? That's the big question. None of them have been there before. Mikel last week had obviously sort of the big... Gabby's been there before, hasn't he? Gabby.

Gabriel Hines. Yeah, Gabriel Hines. Maybe Gabriel Jesus has been there.

He's not playing, though, is he?

But maybe...

He said staff as well, though, didn't he?

But maybe Gabriel Hines is the person who has more of an influence this week.

Maybe, you know, as much as, you know, I want to be the positive guy like I normally am.

Do you not think this is Declan's moment? Do you not think this is... Declan? No, no. Right, hear me out. I do think Declan Rice is someone, when he went to Arsenal for 100 million, I was gutted. I think he's that Manchester United would have always signed back in the day. You don't let Declan Rice go to any other club. He is a player who will win you the league, right?

To me on Sunday, he is the player I am looking at. This is not me putting pressure on him by the way. This is me expecting that this is the Roy Keane moment, the Gerrard moment. He's too nice.

Who?

Declan?

Yeah. He's too nice. But I think he's good at any Roy. Look, do you not think he has? I think he has Roy. I think all I ever hear is he's a really nice guy and he's a good guy in Arles. But on the pitch though...

No, but on the pitch his performances are always...

He's a force on the pitch.

...an eight nines Roy.

What more can he do?

Do you want to let me finish? I'm not sure. I know he's a good player but I don't think he gets a grip of people. He's best players for everyone. I mean falling out with people, challenging the lads in the dressing room. You remember Bormut, you're criticising the manager at Arteta. Listen, after 50 odd minutes he made three substitutions against Bormut. He didn't sit on his hands until about the last 10 minutes.

He did make changes. So you see with Bournemouth, there's other games where it's not going well. I don't see Declan Rice pulling up anybody.

You're on a book.

Look, I've seen... His performances are fine, don't get me wrong.

But that's not enough.

But he's a force. And I'm looking at him and thinking that he's the one player that I think could grip a game, get a grip of it from an attacking and a defensive point of view, be up and down like you wouldn't believe, and can be a difference maker. He does get up and down, doesn't he? On Sunday, for me, that is where I'd like to see him. I'd like to see him grip this game by the scruff of the neck, as you would back in the day, Roy,

as other players, like Patrick Vieira would. These players who I think... Did he do it smash Bournemouth players, they're all having a lovely day at Arsenal. You don't say you're not coming to Old Groningen having a lovely day. If you're going to win

then I'll tell you what you're going to do.

Yeah but he's not the only one who should be doing that.

Of course not, but we're just using him as an experienced international footballer. There's other lads, I get it right, but he never brought rice up. I don't see that in him. Declan? Declan. When I say match, you... I don't see like a De Bruyne doing something brilliant,

taking the game or a Christian.

I'm talking about...

Yeah, he can.

He can.

Rami Dre, he can do...

Roy would help us with matches.

By the scruff of the neck, yeah. But Roy wouldn't... Roy would win his match without sometimes scoring a goal. I think I've got some faith in him. Yeah, I do too. No, look, I think he's a brilliant player. I'm just not sure.

I'm not following that right key.

You're talking about that side of it, but like, I do think...

I'd love to know what he's like in the dressing room. Does he follow, does he challenge people?

Is he best pals with everybody? I'm always worried when people are best pals with everybody. Because you're going into a period where it does need that situation where, you know what, he was out of order to me but I needed that at that time.

You know the goalkeeper, the other ball, you get asked the keeper after a few minutes, he's got his foot in the ball and he's going backwards. You're straight away, one of your players go, listen, God, Dad, what are you doing? And then he's trying to flick balls with the outside of his foot, remember? Listen, these are big moments. Is there any player who goes, I'll call Kier, but you keep that up, I'll tell you there'll be trouble after.

All that does is it gives the other team impetus.

And do you know what it does really? It gives you a chance to put a marker down, where Boringwood players are going,

you're angry today, you're setting a marker for the other team. I do think that's important, to be fair, send a message to the other team. I think we would, at times, we would shout at each other or we'd demand from each other, or you'd say, give me the ball, just so that the opposition opponent thinks that you're confident and things like that. You would try and do things like, just quickly, on his mate who's playing alongside him,

right, he's Ubermany, I want to hear from you two on this one, really. There was a really strange situation were coming up to him, almost like it was some form of counselling session. Honestly, it was one of those...

Because we know the calibre of player and how good he's been, but we've seen recently, especially I'd go back to the United game, and give him away there. But he's had a confidence loss like I've not seen for a long time in a player of that calibre. He's won Euros, he's got great experience.

Yeah, he's got great experience. Yeah, he's got great experience. Listen, the thing is, I think it's only Zubozlai. I think Zubozlai is the only person who's played more minutes than Zubemendi. And Zubemendi's coming into the Premier League and I feel like as good as he is and the level he's at, yes, but like, he's played 34 games for Brentford last season. The captain.

I told you he would've played more.

He's played 50...

He's still the same style of player.

No, no, no, what I'm saying is... Just on him.

Go on, go on.

In respect to him, he's played 56 minutes, so why have you bought a player who's playing whose confidence is gone and you've not put this guy in who is experienced playing in the midfield in the Premier League.

I don't think it changes with Norga. Yeah, but it's not a case of changes. We need something.

You talk about style of football and negativity and they don't play great football. It comes from you.

Two central midfield players sometimes. Scorzy, you've got to try something but it's not going to make him a great football team all of a sudden.

He's got that player for a reason, what's the reason he's got him for? Because at least you've got to say, I'm going to throw him in then because this guy's confident. Even if it's two games Roy.

I'm not saying he shouldn't do it, I'm just saying if he does come in, it's not going to make him a great football team all of a sudden. Solid or sculled. Solid, they are quite solid anyway. They're solid too. It's the other way where you're not very good. They weren't solid against Bournemouth or in the cup game against City a few weeks ago. We're talking about a player who's capable of playing against the higher ends of the Premier League, the lower ends, he's played in all those games with them, he knows how to play in that midfield. He should have at least, for me, got a couple of games. Possibly them two stop you playing good football because they can't get the ball into Aldergard.

They can't get it into Herbert's. They can't get it into SA.

Yeah, but our game is going wide continually anyway. You know when City done the 4-2-4? They'll probably do that again on Sunday. Especially if we're not going to do it like Roy said with Boulman. Just get it up there because then Pep, they're not expecting it. Get it up there, get Martinelli chasing it, get Nolik, whoever it is. It doesn't look like the Trust has done it for me, central midfield players especially. I'm not giving Joker as any stick.

No, I'm not going to give him any stick, but and they kept the keeper, Arsenal presser, remember they kept hitting Haaland. They didn't want to frighten this dude out, let's hit the big man and that's Man City.

Pep did it this year, remember? Liverpool. Remember Liverpool and Donnarumma? Donnarumma getting caught.

You saw Pep shut on, just get it up. Stick to Football is brought to you by Armed Clothing. This segment is brought to you by Microsoft Co-Pilot as part of their partnership with the Premier League. So, Igo Thiago has scored 21 goals, by the way, this season. He's one behind Haaland, which is unbelievable, by the way. Does he get a move this summer, righty?

I think he'll...

The World Cup? I think he'll...

I think he's got to do it again next season, surely.

If he's got 21, you...

What, in first season?

Let's ask our Premier League companion, brought to you by Microsoft Co-Pilot. I want the top five Brazilian goal scorers in Premier League history.

Firmino?

Firmino's number one. 82 goals in 256 appearances.

Jesus, Gabriel or Jesus?

Jesus.

Yeah, of course.

Number two. What's the fella at Chelsea?

Oh, it was the little lad who first went to Newcastle years ago. Remember him?

Ramirez?

No, the little lad.

Where's the fella from Brazil?

These are three, yeah, he's on it. Or the midfielder, the light midfielder with the China. He's Brazilian, isn't he?

Oscar.

Oscar.

No, not him.

Ramir.

No, did he go to China, this one? I think he might have done.

I'm confused. I'm going to have to go with two or three.

One's from Chelsea.

Did I say Ramir?

Number five's from Chelsea. These are players who have obviously played for Brazil. They're Brazilian.

Yeah, let's concentrate here.

These are three famous players. As in, you know, well-known players.

Ramirez isn't one of them, is he?

One of them's a £100 million player. And that's a big clue, by the way. It's a massive, monstrous clue.

Playing now, then?

He will be somewhere, I think. That's a massive clueous clue. Play it now then? He will be somewhere I think. That's a massive clue that. I mean they're only probably about 7 of them in the world. There's only 7 £100 million players, or 8. How many £100 million players are there in the world by the way?

That's gonna...

Jeez. Give us a something.

Right, okay. So one plays for Chelsea, one's a £100 million player. Richarlison didn't win, is he? Richarlison.

Of course.

I was going to give you a clue on him. So Richarlison is number three.

Yeah, good one, Scorsese.

Richarlison is number three on the list. So you need the bottom two, fourth and fifth. And he's on strikers, is there any midfielders in there? They're not strikers. One's a £100 million player and one played for Chelsea. I think one won a league for Chelsea or maybe two leagues.

I don't know. How many £100 million players are there?

William. I was thinking a wide player.

Went to China, didn't he?

Went to China, yeah.

Exactly.

William, yeah. Okay, and William didn't go to China, I've just been told.

That's William though, isn't it? He did on holidays.

But it is William though.

Pre-season.

He went to Shanghai in pre-season once. It is William.

Is Oscar not in there?

Not Oscar.

No, Oscar's not in there. How many hundred million pound players are there? Because that's the one you're missing. Well, we kick ourselves. I think it's... Remind me the question. Top five Brazilian players who've scored goals in the Premier League. Top five goal scorers in the Premier League that are Brazilian. And this guy is 135 million quid.

Oh, Coutinho.

Coutinho!

You're kicking yourself, aren't you?

Yes.

Coutinho.

That price.

146 he went for.

Did he go 146?

Yeah. Let's ask our companion. Let's ask our companion. I'd say it was 146. Tough question.

That was tough.

Tough question.

Guess you didn't.

Price.

I thought we got the answer.

William, I'm looking at you.

Look at the tag.

William.

If you don't get them...

There we go.

It's hard, isn't it?

£142 million. £142? club history to your favourite players, go to the Premier League Companion, powered by Co-Pilot, in the Premier League app. We've talked a lot in the last half an hour about the mentality of Arsenal. We've brought today a sports psychologist. Yeah, me? Or no, somebody else? Dan, over you come.

Dan, come in.

Dan Abrahams, in you come. Oh, you brought your book with you, Dan.

Hi, Dan. Give him a in. Dan Abrahams, in you come. Oh, you brought your book with you, Dan. Hi, Dan.

Give him a chair.

Where's his chair?

I'll promote your book.

We'll go for it.

Everyone else, boys.

Dan, we thought it'd be a good idea this week, obviously a lot of the talk, a lot of the narrative is around sort of Arsenal and the title race, Just talk to us firstly a little bit about who you've worked with in the past. You've worked with some fantastic managers and players.

Yeah, I've been blessed to work in high-performance sport for about 30 years. I was originally a professional golfer. Not a good one. Didn't win any money. That's why I'm a psychologist now. I moved on, got all my qualifications and I've spent 20 years, I've worked at six Premier League clubs, spent three years at AFC Bournemouth, spent two years with Arne Slott at Feyenoord, just listening to you guys got some interesting stories from

that one in terms of dealing with pressure and not dealing so well with pressure. England, golf, Aston Martin, Formula One, a whole array of sports people so it's been really interesting listening to what you've been saying.

Yeah Dan, just to start with because I've talked sometimes about heavy legs, players getting stiff and rigid in big moments of pressure in football matches towards the end of a season because it gets... What is that that's happening? Just psychologically or scientifically explain to us, what is that?

Because it's a real thing. We've all experienced it as players.

Yeah, two words, performance anxiety. Performance anxiety. Performance anxiety, it's just classic performance anxiety. And that, it hits your body first. So the heavy legs, you know, you feel heavy, you feel sticky, you feel slow, you feel lethargic, your anticipation slows, your awareness becomes less, you're not seeing the 360 or the 180,

your decision-making slows and your technical coordination goes. And that's just performance anxiety. And it makes really good players look quite average. And average players look very, very poor, you know, over a long period of time or in the moment. You know, so you have to be able to deal with performance anxiety.

And it doesn't matter how much skill you've got in your feet, it can absolutely kill anybody. What is that? When I say that, performance anxiety,

is that happening most when you've not lived through that experience before and you don't know how to cope with it?

This is the bizarre thing about performance anxiety. I mean you were talking about the golf at the weekend. I mean I grew up at a time when Justin Rose was a couple of years younger than me so we were playing in some amateur tournaments together. He's a fantastic performer under pressure. He's won the US Open, he's won countless times around the world, but you never know when this is going to hit you. And I felt, and I hope Justin doesn't mind me saying this, because he admitted afterwards, he didn't commit to a few shots. 10th and 11th. 10th, 11th hole, classic performance, he left it, the ball out right. So I'm answering you

like this Gary, because it doesn't matter who you are. You may have achieved it before. It doesn't mean you're going to achieve it now. Is there a trigger to know when it's coming and when it's happening? Yeah. Thoughts, emotions, feelings. OK? I have this term. When I walk into a football organisation, a football team, I bring in this thing, it's a bit of fun, but it's also serious. Ants. Ants are the biggest killers in sport. Ants being the A stands for automatic, as in they happen to you.

N stands for negative, T stands for thoughts. Okay. And the way this works, okay, right. There's 8 billion, it's like being at school, right? There's 8 billion people on planet Earth and there's something,

there's a lot of geopolitical divide right now, but there's something we all have in common and that's that we all experience thoughts, emotions, feelings. That's common throughout humanity, right? We have thoughts, emotions, feelings. You strip back psychology, we think, we emote, we have emotions, and we feel.

These happen to us under pressure when there's high importance. So it's really, really important to us, and there's high uncertainty. We don't know how we're gonna play. We don't know how we're going to play. We don't know how the opposition are going to play. We don't know what's going to happen.

High importance, high uncertainty skews those thoughts, emotions, feelings towards the negative. So at the moment, you could argue the players that you're talking about in this context are experiencing a lot of ants. And it's ants, the thoughts, emotions, feelings, the negative ones that are impacting these players physically.

Their awareness, their anticipation, their decision making, their ability to execute tactically, their ability to execute technically.

So what do they do? Just asking for a friend or asking for a couple of friends. What do you do in that moment? Because especially if it's happened to you,

I don't know,

it makes it more unpredictable. is people like me come along and we say, you've got to do this from the first day of pre-season. You know, this is what we did at final back in September, 2022. My remit was, hey, we've got a good team. We could win the Dutch over Divisi. That's what Arne said. And we want to have a good crack at the Europa League. So from the first day of pre-season, we're putting the frameworks, the approaches, systems in place within the organisation to create a shared language. Ideally you have

a shared language. We created high performance mindset and low performance mindset and we made the language around the building. The final training ground is called 1908, the year it was established. Around 1908 it became all about we compete in high performance mindset. If we want to beat Ajax away from home for the first time in 17 years, to make sure you talked about winning one critical game, we knew it was going to be Ajax away from home for the first time in 17 years, to make sure you talked about winning one critical game, we knew it was going to be Ajax in April away from home.

And so everything led to that. So we had the shared language of when we go play Ajax,

it's got to be HPM, high performance mindset. What is that? Because to be fair, that's... If you said to a football player, we were all football players and a psychologist sits in front of us. I've had psychologists present to us in the past where I've thought that's just gimmicky, it's a bit fucking, don't want that, it's bullshit. And then you have obviously, sometimes psychologists put things in and think, oh that makes sense, that helps me. What is that inlanguage?

If you say high performance mindset to Arsenal's players now, they're just going to go, what do you mean?

What do you mean by that? What is that in reality in terms of execution? I'll give you the surface and I'll give you the deep dive. Can I give you the deep dive as well?

Give us the deep dive.

Okay, the surface level is simply think about you at your best. Okay, memory, imagination, perception. There's three things you house with you all the time. Memory is in you at your best. Success leaves clues, that. Imagination, think about you in your dream game. We're gonna go and play Manchester City on Saturday.

What does your dream performance look like? And you start talking with players and you get players talking with each other so we can have that player-led changing room, talking with each other to break that down. That's the surface level stuff in terms of HPM.

High performance mindset is basically you at your best. However, here's the deeper dive, okay? This is what I wrote about in my book. So let's go back to performance anxiety. There are three mental skills happening on the pitch every single second that influence performance. Performance is just actions,

technical, tactical, physical actions. There are three mental skills that are constantly influencing actions. Attention, intensity, intent. Attention, intensity, intent. Attention, intensity, intent. When you break this down to first principles,

to me, this is an absolute truism. Number one, attention, a focus of attention. When players are experiencing performance anxiety, and I know you gents didn't necessarily succumb to performance anxiety, but when you do, your attention turns inwards onto the feeling of anxiety.

And that's where players become distracted because football is a game of you've got to read the game, you've got to see the cues, you've got to anticipate quickly. When your attention goes inwards rather than outwards onto where's my teammates, where's the ball, where's the space, where's the opposition, then everything slows down. So you can guarantee at the moment when you talk about players succumbing to anxiety and not performing to their best,

their focus of attention, they're distracted, okay? They're not seeing things clearly. The intensity piece, not physical intensity, but mental intensity. In football, you've got to play with alertness and readiness.

Alert, you've got to be alert to the danger, ready to deal with it. You've got to be alert to the danger, ready to deal with it. You've got to be alert to the opportunities, ready to exploit the opportunities. Anxiety kills that mental intensity. And then the final word, this is the word we don't talk about enough, although we use this word. And Roy, I've heard you use this word a lot in, you know, post-games. Intent. Intent is a mental skill, although it has a physical

presence. And intent is energy forward. It's aggressiveness, assertiveness. Intent is a mental skill, although it has a physical presence. And intent is energy forward. It's aggressiveness, assertiveness. Intent is that. That's a high intent, energy forward. I don't care what's going to happen, I am executing my actions with conviction,

positive, purposeful, proactive.

And so intent can supersede all of those, then, if you've got the intent that you're saying?

That's a great point, yeah. I think it can, you can enter that way.

Now...

Is that, just taking that into Sunday, I said before I think Mikel's got to pick a team that tells his players it looks like he's got the intent to win the match. Is that what you're... because that's the biggest message that Mikel can send his players, that he believes in them and trusts them. Is that what you're talking about here? You don't want to, we need to differentiate, although they are linked, between tactics and intent because you can set up defensively but play with intent. This is what people get wrong a lot but if you set up offensively you can be delivering that message of intent, absolutely. But with low intent, these are the three biggest killers

in football for me. Hesitancy, inhibition and passiveness. And that's where you're seeing players slightly slower in the challenge, slightly weaker in the challenge, slightly slower to find space, cover space, slightly slower to see things. And you guys know better than me, this is almost imperceptible at the highest level of the game you can hardly see it players slightly hiding they're just a little bit scared to get on the ball and this comes back to why we experience anxiety what it's what if I make a mistake hmm what if it's me

that's gonna linger for the rest of my career I did see a sports psychologist during my career and actually he referred to it slightly differently than you in terms of these negative thoughts he said you've got a positive parrot on one shoulder and you've got a negative parrot on the other and as soon as the negative parrot speaks, shut it up with that positive parrot on this shoulder. I keep fucking laughing. By the way, I should have said at the start of this section, there's a guy in here who doesn't believe in any of this shit. I'm jealous you had only two parrots. You've had them for 20 years. I know. Basically, you have this negative and positive parrot on your shoulder

and you tell yourself a negative thought. As soon as that goes in, shut it up straight away with that one. And that was one of my mechanisms in terms of if a negative thought did come into my head, which it sometimes did. Yeah.

And I think there's two schools of thought is you fight against it, okay. But then there's a psychological phenomenon, you're gonna love this Paul, especially, it's called ironic processing theory. Ironic processing theory is the classic don't think of a pink elephant.

What do you say?

You think about it, right? So when you fight against the voice that's coming, when you fight against the thoughts that are emerging inside of you, actually it heightens those things. It was more for me a case of, have I got a negative thought, it was more a case of actually saying I'm going to be okay,

rather than sort of say I'm going to be okay, everything's fine. Of course I'm going to have a bad day, of course I'm going to have a bad day, of course I'm going to give a goal away, of course I'm going to lose a football match. It's perspective really. Final question to you, we've just asked mainly Roy and Ian before, you're in that Arsenal dressing room leading up to this game this week, what is the one thing that Arsenal could do collectively as a group before this game on Sunday that would potentially help them get over the line

and what would be the individual players, because I think individual players when they go home at night, irrespective of what's happened during the day, if they're basically beating themselves up here in the evening when they go home and they're watching Sky Sports sort of promo the game and they're becoming overwhelmed by it, you've gone too far. I've been there on a title running where every sort of advert you see, every fan you walk into in the street is asking you about a title running and it becomes a bit much

and you want to get away from that. So how do the players individually deal with this for Arsenal mainly? Because the City players have been there before, the managers have been there before, and how do they deal with it as a collective?

I come back, the simplest, most stripped out version of this, I come back to get every player in a room, get the main coaching staff in a room, play some highlights and footage from the best games of the season, put some action-based words in front of them, strip this back to three action-based words, this is what we're going to do against Manchester City and we are going to love every second of doing this, we're going to do this together and we are going to do this with intent, we're going to be outstanding at this and you know what, if the scoreboard doesn't fit what we want at the end of it, so what, we go again next week and we go again and we go again those words and that's where you have to align every player you know and then it's my job to do the nitty-gritty if somebody's still lying awake at night

then I've just got to help them improve a little bit on that one but we come back to the same simple shared messages that we can embody on the pitch no matter who we play, where we play, when we play.

If you enjoyed that little section with Dan he does have a book out if you haven't already seen and it's called Compete, developing a mental playbook for performance under pressure in sport. Dan, thank you so much, well done. Stick to Football is brought to you by Arm Clothing. What we're going to do here now, we normally do Super 6 at this point in the show, but we're actually going to do a title prediction for points for the rest of the season. It's Ian and Roy, that'll be interesting, watching you two this morning.

And then we'll do Super 6, yeah.

Righty, according to you, Righty, you won't get another point. And me and Scolesy.

But we'll then do Super 6.

So, okay, we are doing Super 6 as well, of course. Of course we are, Gal. We just thought, let's do a title prediction. Right then. Right, Scolzi.

This is our super computer, isn't it?

This is what?

This is our super computer.

Scolzi, me and you will go first and we've got the big game on Sunday.

Is it me or is it just you?

It's me and you. I mean, I think it's going to be a draw on Sunday

and I think it'll be 1-1. What do you think? I think City will win easily. Why do you have to say easily though, Scalzi? Just comfortable, I think it'll be comfortable. Unless they get someone sent over, someone stupid.

I don't think it's going to be easy. I don't think it's going to be easy.

Scalzi, what score do you think it'll be Sunday?

2-3.

2-3-0? Yeah. You're not giving us a goal? Wow. Wow. I mean, he can't... Scholes, he can't lose 2-0 or 3-0 on Sunday. If he goes 2-0 or 3-0...

Go Jordan.

I told you he's at me.

Where you going, mate?

Where you going with?

Come on, guys. Go 2-2.

No, I mean, I think a draw, but I do think Scoles is more confident. Go 2-1 then, if you think they're going to score. 2-1 City. 2-1 City.

2-1.

2-1, he's gone.

I think draw, Roy.

Does that give you a boost? Absolutely. I wish he was in there dressing. You can't do day in day out, in a culture and environment you build at your club. You can actually convince yourself to be positive and go out and do positive things. It turns the big word, innit? But if you're getting bogged down by supporters...

But you can still get beat.

Yeah, but then you get bogged down by support. Of course the supporters are going to say what they say.

They've been going through it for the last few years. But Ian, the lessons of that, to be fair, are sort of for everybody in everyday life, of having the intent to be positive and do things, you know, even if it doesn't happen, do it again the next day.

We could all be more Gary Neville.

What's the score?

We've got 1-1, we've got 1-1.

1-1.

Come on, Arsenal.

You're a knob.

So what's going on here then?

What's this side then? Newcastle-Arsenal, isn't it? Hang on. So that's, you've done...

Yeah, it's Arsenal's games.

Oh, dear. But you're...

No, City's games.

OK. You're home against Newcastle-Scolesy. Makes sense. I think they're winning that, do you? I think it'll a draw but go on I'm happy to go with your one You think they're going to blow up? Hang on, you think they're going to blow up there?

You think they're probably going to, they have blown up

You think they have blown up? They're top of the table

Right, yeah, we'll do that

They could have been 12 points

I'm going 2-1 Arsenal on that one. I was going to say it's 2-1. You can have the next two, right?

How poor have Newcastle been, by the way? Yeah, they have been poor. Neither has all of us. The planet is Arsenal and everybody wants to beat us.

And that's… If Arsenal get through to the semis, you know, them semi-final games could take a little bit out of us. How do you think we'll 5-5 kick off that game? No idea. Acacia makes it a bit easier, doesn't it?

Better atmosphere, doesn't it?

Go on, then.

I'm going to go 2-0 to Arsenal. You know, this is all...

Sorry, the Arsenal-Newcastle game is at 5.30 on Saturday. I'm doing that game. Yeah, it is. It's a bit easier, game. They have 12 ones. Yeah, it's sticky. Warm day, it's horrible. And it's sunny. Remember all travel, it's sunny in the morning.

Horrible.

Fulham.

Wow. This is us.

Yep.

I actually beat Fulham, surely.

Did Fulham get a draw there last year?

Yeah, Fulham caused us problems last year.

In the year before I think.

Right. They've got Fulham at home. If I'm trying to cheer you. If you don't beat Fulham at home, you're struggling.

Yeah, but what... So, if we hadn't played Bournemouth, you'd say that. Yeah, two-nil. No, but you, before the Bournemouth game, what would you say, if you don't beat Bournemouth at home, you're struggling.

Would you say that?

Probably. Two. A couple more. Come on, West Ham. That's a tough one.

That is a tough one. I'm going to draw.

That's a draw.

I'll take a draw, especially if we win them two.

That's 1-1. What's the date of the Champions League semi-finals? That'll affect that. That can take something out of Arsenal.

That's a killer of a game, that one.

With where West Ham are at right now? You don't fancy it? No, I'm just saying the clash is on the back of a Champions League semi-final game. I just think it could take its toll.

What's the record at West Ham? Yeah, so they'll be playing Atletico Madrid on the 5th of May.

I'm going to go with us beating them.

The first leg is on the 28th of April, straight after Newcastle before Fulham. So they've got 28th of April and they've got the fifth of May.

That's a bad letter, couldn't have sent it to get through.

Yeah. It's not bad is it? It's not bad.

It's not bad at all.

Go on, what are you doing again?

I think we're going to beat West Ham.

Yeah, idea.

And the score is? 3-1. We're not sure about that. Yeah, but Gary, it's my thing. I know, I know. Well done.

I'm sorry.

Burnley at home. Get mixed up now. I can't change it.

We'll watch the...

3-0 Burnley at home.

Don't you worry.

Ben, 3-0 at home, Ben. Yep, 3-0.

Alright.

You go first again. I wanted to do City first, I wanted the next two. Okay, we can do this one. You can do the same.

Do the same.

Two in a row. Really nervous.

I'm coming across though.

Palace. Palace way. Palace way last game, that's a win. They'll be like, are Palace in Europe?

The Ian Wright.

Are Palace in Europe still? 2-1 to Arsenal. To Arsenal winning that.

Guys, you've got Aspen up the last four fucking...

As they could win it in Palace.

No, no, no, no, no.

Just assume that Arsenal...

Do you disagree with anything I've done in the last three?

Yeah, Palace, yeah, I think they'll fuck up at Palace.

What are you saying? At home.

They're away. Is there a way? Horrible Palace. It's a way, isn't it? It's a way, yeah.

It's that game to win the league.

I'm very positive on Arsenal.

Good.

Shut your fucking parrot up.

A parrot's in your game. OK, City, you're on, Roy. You're first. Put the ones in. Put the top ones in.

Yeah, we got that.

Alright. Can't change them. Put the ones in, put the top ones in. Yeah, we got that. Alright. Not changing.

City away, bro.

Two results each, coming at them, two results.

You've got your City watch.

That should be 1-2, shouldn't it, on that?

I know, I know, I know, I know, right? Okay. But let's just assume that Arsenal scores are always on the left, alright?

Okay.

3-0. Arsenal scores aren't on the left, City scores on the left on that one. He'll sort it out, he'll just get on the board.

Don't worry, you've got the record.

We'll all in post.

Thanks, bro. We give them two, because if we go 2-0 up, they might start coasting and resting a few.

In City?

Yeah. No, if they go 2-0 up, then Schalke starts keeping up.

3-0.

3-0. Is that Burnley that won? Yeah. No, no, the other side. Ian. Yeah, Jesus Christ. Ian and Roy, yeah. They're winning at Burnley, Scolesy. I'll go 2-0. They've got a great record, yeah. 2-0, yeah. They're winning.

2-0.

I've done this without speaking so far.

Go on, you can do the Everton one. Everton away could draw at that? I think it's a draw.

2-2.

I think it's a tough one.

If City win, City beat us.

But City, that team... There'd be no stopping it. Go on, win the league.

City?

City. 2-1.

2-1 City. I wouldn't even say 2-0 City. It's alright, I think they'll draw. They look pretty good. Fucking Peter. Yeah. You're worried about City, aren't you? I'm so scared of City.

Every City game looks like a win, doesn't it? It does, yeah.

That's the problem.

I tell you now, Ian.

3-1.

In my opinion, for Arsenal to win the league, they have to do something on Sunday against the team that are going to win it or else they can't expect anybody else to do it.

A draw?

They've got to go on Sunday and do something.

Yeah, like I said, if we can get a draw we're still in the league.

Yeah, got to do something.

But it's going to take a special performance.

Joe, it's one thing that you said, if we can't be expected to beat them, how can we expect other teams to do us a favour and beat them? Exactly. Exactly. So they've got to go on Sunday and do something.

That United dressing room must have been amazing. Your parrots out today, innit?

Good positivity though, guys.

Yeah.

You've all just said, wait a minute, now.

One year ago, it was us.

4-0.

Brentford. Yeah, that's... Brentford, yeah, 3-0 4-0. Oh, chance lad! Brentford, not that many. Brentford could get in the Champions League.

You said 3-1.

Bournemouth.

4-0, is it 4?

Oh, that's a tough one. That's a tough one for City.

Bournemouth away.

Bournemouth are a bang average.

That's a tough one.

Bournemouth are average. They're tough. Is she a goal? That's a goal, isn't it? 3-1. Do you think City win 3-1 there? Yeah. After on a run.

Howard said draw, but 3-1.

I don't think...

Fucking hell.

Bournemouth are on, yeah.

It's fun, isn't it?

You know, Bournemouth have always been good. I've always liked Bournemouth, I'd rather they'd have gone off them. But I think they'll make it difficult for City. City will win.

You think City will beat them?

I think City...

1-0?

F***ing hell.

2-1, 1-0?

No way.

It's going to be tight. I think Bournemouth are rolling over.

2-1. We'll go with 2-1.

A lot of 2-1s there. We've got City winning the last two games. Palace at home is 3-0 and Villa at home is probably 3-0.

I have 3-1, Villa will score.

Yeah, Villa 3-1 them. They're comfortable victories.

It might be the European.

We'll do 3-1.

Will it be in that European final? Palace at home, City... 2-0 against Palace. Mm-hm. I? 2-0 against Palace. I think 2-0 against Villar. Villar might be involved in it.

Can you work out the points for us, Ben?

You do that now?

Yeah, of course I can.

Do you want a bit of time?

Do you want to go away for five minutes and come back?

Yeah, we'll just take a little.

Yeah, and make an announcement.

Someone must have been in the back. Yes, exactly. Yes. How many points has he got, please, for City and for Arsenal?

Come on, Pat.

And goal difference.

Pat?

Arsenal?

Come back in a fight.

And then what's it called?

We think they'll get 83 points. Arsenal?

83? Dignified?

86 points.

OK.

What's that one said?

City?

What am I doing down here?

City?

We think City will get 83 points. Wow. Tied. And what does Ian and Roy think they'll get? 83. 83.

Wow.

Gold difference.

Wow.

No. 86, did you say, or 83?

Oh, Jesus, Gary.

Wow.

How many people are on your shoulders, bro? Can you hear or not?

No, so basically, Ian and Roy think Arsenal are going to win the league. Wow. How many people are you on your shoulders, bro? Can you hear or not? No, so basically, Ian and Roy think that Arsenal are going to win the league, and we think it's going to be a tie.

Right, quickly.

You can't tie the league.

You can, yeah, but who do you think's going to win?

We think it's going to be a goal difference. Yeah, but, on this basis, if we think our results are correct, Sunday is the game where if Arsenal do get a draw or a win, we accept they win the league, don't they?

No, not really.

If they win on Sunday.

Oh, if they win, yeah. Yeah. Not draw.

You said win or draw.

Well, it's tight. You've just got Arsenal winning the league, we've got it as a draw. Nice one. I'm glad we got them winning the league. Well done.

You can't expect me to feel any different.

The Super 6 jackpot has been won. Mark from Hertfordshire managed to get all six scores at the weekend and is now £250,000 richer, which is unbelievable. There's another quarter of a million pounds up for grabs this weekend and you could be the next winner. It's completely free to play and we know it's possible.

Don't forget to join the Stick to Football Mini League using the code S6-STF. S6-STF. 18 plus T&Cs apply. So, by the way, we've got a gentleman here today on Super 6 who won a quarter of a million quid.

Wow.

Mark Harris. Mark, in you come. He's an Arsenal fan. Arsenal, come and lift Ian, please, will you?

See, with winning stuff, I'm so happy. At least Arsenal are winning something. Well done, Mark.

Here we go. Thank you, mate.

Mark, we get this wrong every single week.

Right.

Right?

We're useless.

Well done, Mark.

Invest it wisely.

Well done, Mark.

So I'm going to ask you, what are you going to do with the money soon, Mark? So these were Mark's six correct results. Turn it round, Gal. Round go. Alright, Brentford against Everton. He had 2-2. Last minute.

Last minute, man.

Yeah.

Which one came in last for you? When you went, yes, I've done it.

Look at this one. Matetas, 90 plus 4 minutes. Crystal Palace beating Newcastle 2-1.

The last game was Chelsea City, obviously.

Oh my God, that's a't know any of the results. I'm on a syndicate at work and they put, Mark, you're going to be first place if your score's come in at 3-0 for Man City game. That's all I know. So I didn't know any of the other results that came in at all.

Wow.

Look at that one as well. Look at Sunderland. One nil.

Yeah.

Even Vip. Look at Vip. It looks so easy when you see it done.

It does. City won's a big one, hasn't it?

City's brilliant.

But even the Daff penalty Palace got, wasn't it? It was a silly penalty for Newcastle. I haven't seen it. I haven't seen it, mate. It's just a little shove. So Mark, what are you going to do with the money? It's going to be the mortgage first.

You know what I mean? Get that sorted out. I've got a hefty mortgage. So yeah, if I can break that down, then it's obviously going to be holidays.

Look after my children.

Nice.

Good.

Brilliant.

Well done. Well done, Mark. Thank you, Mark. Thank you. Thank you, fellas.

Cheers.

Do win stuff.

Yeah, we do still, Mark.

We deserve that.

God bless you and the family.

Come around here, mate. We need some help.

Come on.

Come around here. Stay with us for a couple of minutes.

We just need it.

You're on our team today. Yeah. We were terrible. You look into it properly. You know what, it's all guesswork. I'm not doing it.

A lot of people have studied it, don't they? Yeah, so what usually happens is I put down the result and then I usually run it through my children afterwards. I just say to boys, I'll have a look at that, see what you think. And I forgot to do that because we were flying out to Madrid

and I forgot put this down. I bet they would have changed something. They would have changed everything. Yeah, they don't believe in anything I do. Brilliant.

We done badly last week.

Let's go.

Right, last week's scores.

Gary and Jamie, 8.

We must have got 2 or something.

You're on 113.

But again, we got mixed up with a couple of people.

Roy, Jill and Ian, you got 4.

Oh, Jill Jill. 110. No, we're not there.

So, ooh, here we go.

We're back in front. We're back in front. Where first?

Leeds Wolves.

Leeds.

Sat at 3pm.

You first or we first?

I home to Wolves.

When I say slip up, a draw.

No, no. I home, don't run.

They're beating Wolves. 2-0, weren't they? Yeah.

They're beating 2-0.

I was going to say 2-0.

That kind of summarises it.

3-0. 3-0 Wolves. He said it, he said Wolves.

He said Wolves.

3-0 Leeds.

He's listening to voices still. Okay, this is a big one, eh? Tottenham and Brighton. I haven't even listened to it. I told him, I asked him. I asked him. I asked him.

Tottenham and Brighton, come on Mark.

2-1, 2-1 Brighton.

You think Tottenham?

Is it him?

Yeah, I think so.

2-2.

You think Brighton are winning?

Yeah, I think so.

Yeah.

You think Spurs are going to win? I've got to watch that a little bit. That's a little bit of... You can't say a top team can win, can you? No, not in our blood, man. Spurs are winning this all day, man.

Emotional top number.

No, no, it's not.

Emotional top number.

You think Leeds beat Man United all night? There's a funny old result.

Ex-Brighton manager.

I think it's going to be like one of those... Yeah, go for it then. That's your heart speaking. 3-1.

Chelsea, Manchester United.

It's gameless now.

No, no, no. You fancy Chelsea? Please.

2-1.

Do you think so? Intense. Is Maguire suspended? No, the problem they've got is I think it's both centre-halves are out, Martínez and Maguire suspended? Is he back? No, the problem they've got is they've got, I think it's both centre-halves are out, Arnley-Martinez and Maguire. That is a problem.

He's not been decided yet, has he? He's going to miss another game for kicking someone out, won't he?

Is he?

He should do as well.

I think I'm going to do it. I think it's going to? Yep. We think draw. Hold on a second. Hang on a minute.

You got the fellow who's won it there. He just said to us, he's a Blenker.

He won it.

I'm not sure, I'm not sure how they're going to win.

I think they'll draw though.

Big scoring, three, oh. Okay, we're going to go for a draw.

We're going to go 3-3. 3-3? 3-3? Wow, I love it, gals. Are you mad?

Really?

Is that your parrot?

3-3.

Is that your parrot?

Everton, Liverpool, Sunday.

Oh, EM.

Sturgeon.

Yeah.

1-0.

1-1. Yeah, we'll go 1-1. We've got three draws on the bounce there. Can't go draw. No Liverpool.

Win it or win it.

Liverpool season's done, isn't it?

Yeah, but this is the game that can give the... Desmond, 2-2? Yeah, go on then.

2-2.

See, I would have gone Liverpool to win, no.

So I'll go Hanover.

Villa, Sunderland.

I'm going to go Sunderland. To beat Villa down? No, I don't know. You don't think? Villa. I think that might be one of them as well. I think Villa, but I think you're...

I'm backing up time.

On you, Mark. We'll go with yours on this one.

Go on, Mark. We're doing two more. Actually, we're being really, like, negative and fancy.

No intent.

We should go for one of them. If you think Villa, I think Sunderland. No, Sunderland away from home.

Sunderland's beat Villa.

Yeah, but it might not.

Villa home. Who did Villa play tonight? Thursday?

They're a line yet, they're already 2-1 up aren't they?

Yeah.

Surely Villa home would have changed.

What do you want to do?

2-1 Villa, we've got 2-1 Villa. Sunderland, I went for you. You went for Sunderland, to be fair. I went for you. He said draw, didn't you? 1-1.

Yeah, I'll go 1-1.

1-1.

Might well be wrong.

Draws.

Look at that. Draw, draw, draw.

Boring.

That never happened. Where's your intent here? We've not got-1, yeah.

Come on, Arsenal, please.

Lovely. Gary, there is a shirt down there, by the way, for...

For... Just in case you didn't realise.

For who?

It's a Super 6 one, you see.

Which one is it?

What's this? City was the last team and then obviously marked an Arsenal fan. So why'd you give him a City shirt? There you go. That's a Super 6 City shirt. I don't know why you're being given that, Mark. But we'll give it to you. But this, I don't know why Super 6 have given you that. But I can understand why they're giving you this.

Have a choice.

Have a choice.

There you go.

Can you put the City one down?

He doesn't want the city one, that'll become a unique object. I need to wash my car. There you go, the Arsenal 2 for 6 shirt.

There you go.

Thank you very much.

Well done, mate. You get Ian to sign your Arsenal shirt.

You sign it as well. All of us will sign it.

Go on, we'll all sign it. Go on.

Go on. You get Ian to sign your arsehole shirt. You sign it. All of you sign it.

Go on, we'll all sign it. Do you want to chat about Tottenham or do a couple of questions?

Whatever you want, Gal.

What do we think on Tottenham?