Max Rushden and guests Barry Glendenning, Nicky Bandini and Mark Langdon discuss Manchester United's dramatic comeback to beat Roma 3-2 in the Champions League at Old Trafford, after they trailed 2-0. The panel debates whether the result can save under-pressure manager Michael Carrick, with Glendenning arguing he should go regardless.
They also review Barcelona's 3-0 win over Aston Villa, PSG's six-goal rout of Villarreal, the wins for Bayern and Inter, Everton's victory at Newcastle, and West Ham's reported move to appoint Scott Parker. Listeners get tactical analysis across European and English football.
In this episode Max Rushden, Barry Glendenning, Mark Langdon, Nicky Bandini
The transcript of this Football Weekly episode on Manchester United's Roma comeback was made with HappyScribe technology, the same technology behind notes for Google Meet calls.
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Hello, and welcome to The Guardian Football Weekly. A stunning turnaround at Old Trafford giving all podcast panelists the opportunity to say something positive about Manchester United. Will any of them remember how to do it? Not even the most optimistic United fan, if that still exists anymore, could have predicted a win at halftime. They got a stroke of luck, a dodgy pen, which had to be retaken, a wild missed kick, but still nice to see Michael Carrick not having to deal with another humiliation. Elsewhere, is it even legal for Barcelona to at least temporarily stop Aston Villa's ascension in European football? Villa with some Cavaliers playing out from the back, although not quite as Cavaliers as Villarreal, who gifted PSG goal after goal after goal after goal after goal after goal.
We'll round up the rest of the Champions League, including good wins for Bayern and Inter. There's Everton's win at Newcastle, Tiano Barry scoring a goal even though real Barry could have comfortably tucked away. And is Nuno about to be replaced by Scott Parker at West Ham? Surely I'm not the only one surprised to learn that Scott Parker hasn't managed West Ham before. All that plus your questions, and that's today's Guardian Football Weekly. On the panel today, Barry Glen Denning, welcome.
Hi, Max.
Hello, Nicky Bandini.
Morning.
And from The Racing Post, Mark Langdon. Hey, Mark.
I was going to do that Barry joke a bit later, so I'll scribble with that one or two notes.
All right.
Strip it from the intro. People have forgotten by then, Mark. I look forward to you doing it again in part three. Let's start at Old Trafford then. Manchester United 3, Roma 2. I mean, comebacks do happen, Barry, but I presume at halftime we were all on control C, control V, our answers from any of the last, I don't know, six weeks of podcasts. It was so unexpected.
Yeah, because Manchester United were absolutely hopeless for the first half. They gifted, I think, Roma two goals. They showed no reaction from their defeat at the weekend, and it looked done and dusted. And I'd imagine Roma will be kicking themselves that they let this one get away from them, not only to drop points but to lose all three points. But the United that came out for the second half was completely unrecognizable from that, which had labored so much in the first.
They played on the front foot, which they hadn't done in the first half. It seemed to occur to them that if we try to play high up the pitch, far away from our own goal, then that will reduce Roma's chances of scoring more goals. And yeah, they only went and bloody won the game. And all the talk now is whether or not this will save Carrick's job. I don't think it will. It would only go anywhere near enough to save his job.
But were they to go and beat Aston Villa on Saturday ahead of the international break, then it would certainly give the United hierarchy something to think about. I still think Carrick should go. I don't think he's up to this job, and he probably will go. But yeah, if they were to go and beat Villa at the weekend, that would be interesting. I suspect they won't.
No. I mean, judging by how sad Jason Wilcox and Omar Barrada looked when they were applauding at the end, I wondered if they thought, "Oh no, we just sacked him about to sack him, and now we can't." Mark, how did Buzz explain it pretty well, but what did United do? Because it can't be as simple as just be better, just be on the front foot. Did they do anything else? Why haven't they done this for weeks?
I think there was more aggression. Once they get the first goal, and I mean, Carrick said after the Chelsea game, luck, and in the first half against Chelsea, there was a really marginal offside. There were missed chances. They get a moment with a it was a penalty, but it was a bit soft giveaway, really, from Roma. Then Bruno misses the penalty. They score on the retake, and the mood and atmosphere changes. I don't want to get into the dangerous two nils, the dangerous lead territory, but when a goal goes in that like—
Then you're in it, Mark. I hate to say, but you're in it.
But I think when you're inside a stadium, you do feel that when there's a goal, that kind of energy just comes flooding back to the team. And Roma chucked away probably an even more improbable kind of result against Real Madrid in the Champions League earlier. I don't know if that played potentially on their mind that they'd already done this once, but I think it was just some belief back in the stadium on the pitch. And then, as Barry said, playing more aggressively, quicker, and on the front foot, which I felt like they did at times last season under Carrick, and they just really lost their way this season.
I do agree. I don't think that they should suddenly make, as Barry was saying, I don't think you can make too many long-term decisions on the back of one result, but at least there is a feel-good factor back at United. And I actually think this is how far they've fallen, that I was happy that they won. And a 13-year-old me could never imagine feeling sorry for Manchester United. But I did at halftime. I felt sorry for Carrick, and I felt just sorry for United.
You had on the UK TV Rooney, Ashley Young, Nicky Butt, going through what it was like in the old days and what the current team are doing wrong. And it was nice, I think, to just see them put in a performance in that second half.
And actually, Nicky, you could see the Cunha's winner, I think, is a great hit, isn't it? I mean, you're allowed to be beaten at your near post, but he strikes it so well. The absolute desperation for everyone in that ground to have a moment to enjoy after all of this, it was just like this absolute release.
Yeah, I think in some ways it was the perfect result for fans, weirdly, because it was a result that didn't actually say, "Oh, all those problems we've been complaining about, that we've been throwing our tennis balls on the pitch, you can forget about those," because frankly, United in the first half were abominable. But you get to have that moment of, "Oh yeah, this is what it feels like to be at Old Trafford," frankly. I mean, even as known on this podcast, Arsenal fan, Old Trafford was always that stadium you'd go to and just feel like it was so intimidating to go there.
It felt like a place where you just knew you weren't going to get a result because it's Old Trafford for such a long time. And I think that it's lost so much of that mystique to have one of those real swashbuckling Manchester United nights with Alex Ferguson in the stands as well. And to remember what it feels like, probably for fans, was really important and powerful. I mean, I think there's so many I'm sorry to be the person, but there's so many things you have to tack onto it, including the fact that Ole Gunnar Solskjær had a comeback from 2-0 down against a Gasperini-managed team about a month before he got fired.
So it doesn't necessarily, in the grand scheme of things, mean a lot. And so there's still that in my mind. I was listening to Baz say Roma would be kicking themselves. I think on the other side of it, I have to say, maybe Roma aren't kicking themselves because they took a swing at it and missed it as an airball.
Yeah, I mean, that was unbelievable, Nicky, actually. That moment, I mean, we talked about luck from either Man United or Roma perspective. Roma have so many chances to go 3-0 up in that first half. And then you think the first goal might be a penalty, the missed kick as well. You think Man United have had all this luck in this moment. But I don't know, from a Roma perspective, are they how do they leave this? After that game, which was it, Real Madrid, where they just completely messed it up with not being able to defend a corner?
What's the vibe from them?
It's bad for their Champions League prospects of going through, honestly, because the next game is away to PSG, and they've only got four points so far. So it's going to be a very tight end to the group now for them even to make it into the knockout stages. Gasperini at full time was saying, "Well, this is one we can learn from," unlike the Real Madrid game. And I think, oddly, they were much better against Real Madrid. And the Real Madrid game really did come down to this bizarre just set piece scenario at the end of the game where they just suddenly couldn't defend a corner at all. But I thought they were better in that game for 80-odd minutes of it.
This game, they were markedly better than United in the first half and then absolutely terrible in the second half, which is hard to explain. And I kind of agree with what Mark was saying. We talk about tactics, we talk about players, we talk about talent, we talk about technique. In the end, football is a very emotional game. And I really feel like the emotion of the retake and penalty shifted this entire game on its axis because even up to the point of that retake, it didn't feel like United were going to come back into it.
And actually, when Fernandes was standing over that first penalty, the camera went to him. And I don't know if it was just me. He's got that sort of slightly sad face sometimes. I thought he looked like he was going to cry. I thought he looked like he was about to break down in tears. I've never seen someone look more like they are definitely going to miss a penalty. And then he did. And at that point, you just think, "Well, that's definitely it, isn't it? The game is over." And the retake was just this, I don't know, this slice in time where everything gets cut and the whole thing turns around.
And yeah, from the Roma side, listen, from the Roma side, it's actually not new. They obviously blew the game against Real Madrid. They also were 2-0 up in their biggest league game this season against Inter. They wound up drawing that game 2-2 from 2-0 up. So they have a problem of not necessarily knowing how to protect a lead. I think if you wanted to be harsh on it, you could point even to past Gasperini situations at Atalanta, like the one when he came to United before at Old Trafford, and ask if it's a question about him as a manager and whether he doesn't know how to manage these situations.
I thought he didn't probably get the substitutions right last night. So there's certainly soul-searching on the Roma side. And it's just a very hard game to analyze, Max, on both sides because both teams were really dreadful for one half. I thought as bad as United were in the first half, Roma were that bad in the second half. And each of them come away with some things that you think, "Oh, that was really good, and that was really bad." But United, of course, get the win, get that moment of emotion, get Cunha's look, it's bad goalkeeping to let the ball in, but it's a brilliant moment for Cunha and a brilliant moment for United when he scores that goal.
It's so well hit. Yeah, it's a hard one to analyze, I think, but it was certainly an entertaining watch.
I mean, I guess, Barry, on Carrick, I think we all agree that this shouldn't save him, but because the club is so badly run, you do wonder if that, and especially depending on what happens against Villa, I don't know if there's a desperation to keep, to not sack him, to not do this again and sack another manager and get another person in. Maybe the people they're trying to get don't want to come in. You could see a world where, because there's no real planning here, that this could be a turning point.
I can't, to be honest.
Fair enough.
Look, we have seen from Bournemouth how quickly a bad start to the season can be turned around. In a matter of a fortnight, they won, what is it?
6-0 or something.
6-0 by an average score of 16-0, having thrown away loads of points at the start of the season, just been pretty getting bad results. But the difference, I think I've said before, with Bournemouth is they were playing well and getting beaten, whereas United, they've produced one good half of football against a team who it seems have quite the habit of throwing away leads.
I would be very reluctant to read too much into that. And I have literally no idea what's going on in the minds of Ratcliffe, Wilcox, Barrada, and the other guy who.
Might just be the theme might just be the theme to the magic roundabout, mightn't it, for the three of them?
Who escapes, yeah. Look, all I am, I'm just fairly confident that whatever decision they do eventually arrive at will be the wrong one.
And it is. And actually, Mark, it is worth remembering, as we've touched on, the amount of space, actually, for both the opening goals, is mad. Watching that and going, "How is Soulé in acres for that first?"
Yeah, I mean, Dalo gets caught way up the pitch. And if you go back to the Chelsea game, which was only on Saturday, Lenny Yoro, who was playing right back, and Dalo was playing left back on this occasion, the Rogers goal comes from exactly the same thing where he makes a massive run forward when they haven't got full control of possession. And then that space is exploited. So they're not learning the lessons and they don't look like an organised team.
And that chaos is probably the best way for a game to be at the moment for United because it feels like if they come up against a team with real structure and patience, you can just find a way to just outplay them. So yeah, look, they're dead long-term. Like I said earlier, I would be surprised if Carrick survived beyond the international break. And I think that they do need to make a change.
He's not the only thing that's wrong at the club, but he is the quickest thing you can change now. But this was a nice moment. And at least against Villa, I think they can now go into that game and try to play in the same kind of way. So it could be a really fun match because I'm sure Villa will enjoy playing in a game like that as well. But I don't see this tactical masterclass coming anytime soon. I think they do have to just play and try and get on the front foot.
Well, I suppose Man City gave us a lot of content in the last international break. So it would be nice if Manchester United could do the same in the next one. And perhaps Aston Villa will enjoy playing Manchester United more than they enjoyed playing Barcelona. They lost 3-0, Lamine Yamal scoring early and 2 from Raphinha in the second half. It was Soulé Emre's 55th birthday, his 15th defeat in 16 visits to the new camp. He was in charge of PSG on the night of that 6-1 comeback in 2017. What did you make of it, Baz?
I actually thought Villa played quite well, but they didn't help themselves by repeatedly giving the ball away while trying to play it out from the back. They couldn't handle Barcelona's press. It cost them the first goal when João Gomes played a silly, unnecessary pass across his own area, only for Lamine Yamal to pounce and curl the ball around. Siyan Suzuki, that was their opener.
They did this repeatedly and got away with it a couple of more times when Suzuki gave the ball away and then saved from Fermin Lopez and somebody else. I can't remember who. I thought Villa did all right. They got forward. They were not ruthless enough up front. But they did create quite a few chances. The 3-0 scoreline possibly flatters Barcelona a lot because Aston Villa created a lot of chances when it was only 1-0.
Matty Cash, João Gomes, Johan van Zambie had two presentable chances. All those chances came when they were only 1-0 down. And then when the game was beyond them at 3-0, they had another couple of chances. Goretzka and Ross Barkley missed. I think Goretzka hit the post with a flick on at a corner and Barkley blazed over the bar when he had the goal at his mercy. So they were okay, but they started badly by giving away that stupid goal.
And with better finishing then, they could at least have got a goal or two. But I mean, Barcelona also missed chances as well.
Yeah. I guess there's a question, Nicky, is should you change your game if you are playing a team whose press is so high and is so good?
Yeah, I think watching how it played out, it's really easy to point to that and go, "This was naive." And the first goal coming so evidently from a mistake caused by trying to play out from the back. And it's tricky because this comes back to the question of what is this group stage for? Because Villa, unlike what I was just saying with Roma, Villa have won their first three games, right? So actually, this kind of you can go to Barcelona and do what you want as long as you don't think it's going to somehow scar you in a way to get beaten badly if it goes that way.
So in some ways, I think it's okay to go there and say, "Let's play our game. Let's have the confidence to go and do that against a team that are one of the favourites for this competition." And maybe it'll either go well and we can take something from that, or it'll go badly and we can learn some lessons from it. If this was a must-win game on a night when the pitch looked skiddy as well with the rain, yeah, I would be thinking clearly you've got a better chance in this game if you just go route one, right? Put the ball over the top. You've got fast players. You've got Nico Jackson.
Get him behind. Don't mess around on the edge of your area and give that chance to Yamal after, whatever it was, 10 minutes. But in the context of a group stage, a game that you don't really have to win, I think it's maybe not a big drama to try and play your way and see if it works.
Cancelo's ball for Raphinha's second was so nice. I don't know if you have any other hot takes from this game, Mark?
Well, I have got a hot take, actually. I think that the playing out was perfectly fine for an Aston Villa because that was how they got their chances, right? In the first half, it was beating the press that enabled them to get into positions where if Nicholas Jackson, I suppose, had better footballing IQ, he just seemed to make the wrong decision every time he had the ball. And Van Zambie was making some great runs off the back of Rodri. And Villa were, I felt, unlucky.
When they went 2-0, they were really unlucky. And they played out from the back well most of the game. And I just think that's just a bad mistake from João Gomes. I don't think it's that difficult a ball for a central midfielder these days to take and to pass it out to a fullback. And he just got it completely wrong. But I think if Villa would have smashed it forward and just played long, I think Barcelona would have just been wave after wave of attack, and they would have probably just lost a different way. And I don't think that they would have been able to it looks easy to chip the ball over that Barcelona defense, but if it was that easy, they'd concede even more goals than they do.
And I think you need to get into better positions to do those through balls. I don't think you can just do it from deep. So Villa lost 3-0. I think that was harsh. And I don't believe it was because of the playing out from the back that they lost.
I just want to acknowledge as well, I mean, you mentioned the Cancelo pass, Max, which for me was the highlight of the night in Champions League wise, was that rageous pass. But I think also it's just worth reminding ourselves sometimes with Lamine Yamal, the finish is so good after that mistake. He is 19 years old. That is not a chance that everyone is taking with that level of composure and putting into the corner. I feel like it almost gets taken in stride now that he does these things. He'll do more extraordinary things. But I was watching that and thinking, as a contrast to because I'd mainly been watching the United-Roma game that night.
I mean, Roma, if Roma had had that composure in the first half, they would have been 4-0 up instead of 2-0 up. Having that absolute ruthlessness in that situation is part of what makes Barcelona so good as well.
Yeah, I think that made him the highest-scoring teenager in Champions League history. I heard that somewhere, but I haven't written it down. So forgive me if I'm wrong. After the game, Raphinha spoke about the death of the Tenerife striker, Jesus de Miguel, who died following a collision with the Andorra goalkeeper, Jesus Owano, during a game in the second division in Spain. The collision occurred in added time at the end of the game. The score was 2-2. It's the 96th minute. A long ball is played away from the Tenerife area up the pitch.
And De Miguel is chasing it into space. Owano came out a long way out and crashed into him. I haven't seen the challenge, and I don't want to watch it. And maybe one of you has. But the keeper was sent off. De Miguel was left unconscious with the players on both sides appealing for medical assistance. And what an incredible tragedy. A statement from the club said they were broken by pain with a lump in the throat, unable to believe that it's true. There are no words of comfort. There's absolutely nothing that can lessen this overwhelming sadness. We stand with his grieving family, with his loved ones, with all of Tenerife who mourn this cruel loss today.
So yeah, our thoughts, obviously, with everyone who loved him. And we'll be back in a second. Welcome to part two of the Guardian Football Weekly. Now the Football Supporters Association Award nominations are open for 2026. Lots of Football Weekly representation. We are nominated for Podcast of the Year. We cannot be complacent, people. So vote for us immediately. Vote often.
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Yeah, it did. I only saw the highlights as well as focusing on the two English teams. But very few chances created, really, by Atletico. And usually, that's the thing with Bayern. They'll offer up opportunities because of the way they play. But Atletico are unable to really get at that Bayern defence too often apart from one Alvarez shot. And by halftime and then into the second half, they gained complete control of the match. And it was a comfortable 2-0 win for a Bayern side that's still playing without manager Vincent Kompany in the dugout.
So yeah, it does bring back the point, though, about what is the point of this group stage. And I know that a lot of people have criticised certain aspects of it, but this feels like one of their matches. It's two big teams, but they both know that they're going to be okay. And there wasn't that much tension on the game.
Yeah. Conrad Laimer's hit. I mean, there was quite a lot of tension on the ball as it was struck by that one, Baz. I mean, it's sort of like the John Smith sad bit of havoc, wasn't it? I really enjoyed that.
Yeah, and this was a shot. He received a lovely, delightful pass from Harry Kane. Took the ball down in space on the right. Didn't rush his effort. Took his time and then lashed the ball into the roof of the net. Now, he beat Jan Oblak at his near post, but when he hit the ball that high and with such precision into the roof of the net, I don't think there's anything the goalkeeper can do. So I'm going to give Oblak a pass on that one. But it was definitely a really, really good goal.
And then the first one was a bit of a comedy of errors where the Normand and Pubil, I think his name is, got just a mix-up with them and the ball near the penalty spot. Neither of them cleared it. And it broke to Leonard Karl, who finished past Oblak. But yeah, a thoroughly deserved win for Bayern.
Apparently, Leonard Karl's sort of all the talk celebration. I presume I can't remember it. The crab claw mouth thing or whatever is because he's getting criticism in Germany because him and his influencer girlfriend are seen as a bit flashed by some. But I mean, I don't follow any German influencers. So I'm afraid I can't give or Leonard Karl for that matter. So I can't tell you what they're doing. But if anyone can furnish us with that information, I'd be very kind. Into 1-3-0 at Feyenoord.
Nicky had nine on this one. A couple of brilliant goals. I mean, Zielinski's hit is such a pure strike of a football, isn't it?
Yeah, really, really good strike. And a nice result for Inter. Obviously, they came off their first defeat of the season at the weekend. No longer top of Serie A. They're a little unconvincing for me at the moment. I think they are not quite, despite only losing their first game of the season at the weekend, they're not quite at the heights they were under Simone Inzaghi. And obviously, last season in the Champions League, they had that exit to Bordeaux Glimt, which was not what they aspired to. So good for them to bounce back again from the weekend's result with a convincing win, as you said, some really nice goals.
There was quite a weird moment in this game, which I feel like I should highlight because if anyone else would have heard about it, where there were flares being shot from outside the stadium after that Zielinski goal that were coming over the top of the stadium from fans, which caused the game to be delayed for a minute. But yeah, that's obviously off pitch stuff on the pitch. Good result for Inter.
Nicky, Jude Spence was involved in a couple of the goals. Is he sort of back to full fitness now and starting to make his way into the team?
Yeah, so it's a bit of a curious situation for him because obviously, he's signed to play at right wingback. And so far this season, Dufe, who was really coming up through youth football, viewed as more of a midfielder, has been starting at right wingback and has been playing really, really well. And at the weekend, because they've been short of attackers, because they didn't have Pio Esposito at the weekend, they didn't have Boni, they moved Dufe forward to this behind the attack roles. They're playing a 3-4-2-1. And that created a space for Spence to start. Obviously, that was not a good game for Inter.
They didn't win. But Spence actually didn't have a bad game. Very nearly scored in that game in Equaliser. And this game, they are back to a front two. They let him start again on the right wingback position. No Dufe in the side. And he played well. But I do not know yet if he's going to be starting for them because Dufe has been so good there. So I think it might become still a contested position for who's a regular right wingback.
Actually, there was a lot of love, Nicky, for the Milan Derby being live on the BBC, hosted by someone called James Richardson, who I wasn't aware of his work before this. I don't know if you were part of the coverage, Nicky. I would have certainly got you to be part of the coverage.
They know where I am, but no, I wasn't. It was just as far as I could tell, their coverage was just James. He was at a top for the show. And he spoke during halftime, spoke to Marcel Desai as well. But the commentary, I believe, was the World Feed, which was very great. Patrick Kendrick leads that very well. But it was fun. It was fun seeing it on the BBC. It was fun that they did a bit of a callback to Football Italia on Channel 4 with the intro and stuff. But yeah, it was nice seeing it on the BBC.
But quite interesting that I don't know if that is a plan that Serie A has to do more games. I think there's some games shown in Scotland, aren't they, because of the number of Scottish players on the BBC, BBC Albert, isn't it? But this idea that actually it could be quite a sensible thing for some foreign leagues to put it free-to-air in the UK and just see how many viewers you get and see if that, I don't know how that helps grow the league in some way.
I think it would be hugely good for Serie A to get more games free-to-air in the UK because, first of all, eyeballs on the league are good. And by the way, there are going to be more games on the UK. Exactly as you've said, I couldn't tell you the exact number off the top of my head. There's more games going on BBC Albert, then there are going to be on the mainline BBC, but there are games going on both. I think the other thing that the Milan Derby was so perfect for, actually, with the way it played out, is I think international audiences could do with being shown that Serie A is not really the league people think of this season.
I think the Roma United game is actually quite indicative of where Serie A is this season. There's been two 0-0 draws in the entire season across 10 rounds, every team. There's been some absolutely horrific displays of defending, but there's been a lot of good attacking football. And the intent, it feels like, of a lot of the teams at the top of Serie A right now is much more open, much more willing to take chances, much more willing to engage in those man-to-man situations, which has always been Gasperini's model at Roma and Atlanta before, but it's been taken on much more by some of the other big teams.
And I think the league is I think it's wildly entertaining this season personally. I think it's not quality-wise. If you're wanting it to be quality-wise where it was in the late '90s, in the early 2000s, it's not that. It's not going to be that anytime soon because the finances of European football dictate that it isn't. It's nowhere near as wealthy as the Premier League now. But I think the football's been really good and the top of the table situation where you've got Lazio, who nobody in the world, even Lazio supporters, saw coming being the best team in Italy this season, then top of the league right now, where you've got Cormo, who are this fascinating I mean, that is one very richly funded project, but fascinating project nevertheless with young footballers, where you've got Roma, who are flawed but do play this second football.
You've got Milan and Juventus trying to work out who they are. I think it's a very entertaining league right now. And more games on free-to-air is going to show more people that. So yes, I hope for lots more.
Villa Al Nil PSG 6. And Barry, if you thought Villa played out a bit too much, just sort of hold my beer territory from Villa Real.
I'm going to jump in and say I'm not sure Villa Real were doing it quite as well as Villa. Sorry, Barry.
This was comedy. I mean, Paris Saint-Germain opened the scoring when the ball broke to João Neves at a corner. He fired home. And then the next three. And all these goals were scored inside the first 16 minutes. It was basically just Peter Goulassi, the Villa Real keeper, gifting possession to Paris Saint-Germain, or one of his defenders. He seemed to be very much an integral part of this fiasco.
And yeah, so within 16 minutes, PSG were 4-0 up. Game over. Their fifth goal was the pick of the bunch, a long ball from deep to Fabio Ruiz, who sent Renato Veiga for like really skittering yards across the pitch with his first touch, lovely bit of control, and then stabbed a little nut peg through Goulassi's legs.
That was 5-0. The pass was from Vitina, second best pass of the night, I would say. And then David Bali, who I've never heard of, I must confess, he introduced himself to people like me by coming off the bench to score his first Champions League goal for PSG to make it 6-0. But yeah, Villa Real really did not do themselves any favours in a game. They probably would have lost anyway without all that self-sabotage in the opening 15 minutes or so.
Yeah, I think that's the fastest any team has got to 4-0. That was completely, just totally ridiculous. David Bali, by the way, not the son of Basel.
Or Willie.
Not the son of Willie either. I checked. Same spelling as Willie Bali. But yes, I can't tell you who David Bali's dad is. Once again, if that's a reason not to vote for us, I understand. Elsewhere, last week, Slovan Bratislava 4-0. Galatasaray beat Stuttgart 2-0.
That game was really good, Galatasaray. Stuttgart game. I watched that in its entirety. It was one of the yearly ones. I thoroughly enjoyed it. I wasn't sure what to expect, but it was terrific. Stuttgart, if you remember the Manchester United game, Brian Mwemo took a shot in the second half where he hit ball posts and the ball didn't go in. And the same thing happened to Stuttgart here when the score was still in the Lille. Jamie Llewelyn volley across their face, a goal.
Agonizing.
Hit the far post, rolled across the line, hit the near post and came out. And then Galatasaray went 2-0 up through Alexei Badrakov. So they were 2-0 up after 17 minutes. And it was pretty much one-way traffic after that, but the traffic was going in Stuttgart's direction, who had chance after chance after chance after chance, largely kept at bay by Oğurcan Çakır, who's in goal for Galatasaray.
But really, really entertaining game. I thoroughly enjoyed it.
Yeah. And David Sanchez's assist for the second goal was lovely. I don't remember him doing those defence-splitting passes too often in a Tottenham shirt. Sporting 1-1 then at Shakhtar. And Bodo glimped 0-0, even the five-minute highlights were deathly boring of that game. I don't know, Nicky, if you have any other thoughts on those games before we move on?
Just that Galatasaray is Villa's next opponent away from home. And they're a fun attacking team again. Not sure they're a balanced team at all, but a battery call because they're quite a talent. Osimhen, obviously, I've always been singing his praises. So I think that could be a fun game next round, Galatasaray-Villa.
And Sporting doing very well at the moment in the Champions League. So a big win for them at Stamford Bridge. I did think Shakhtar should have had a penalty in the second half, but they were really unlucky to and maybe not to have equalised. So that was a game that could have gone either way. But Sporting doing very well in the Champions League.
All right, that'll do for part two. Part three, we'll begin with Everton's win at Newcastle on Monday night. Welcome to part three of the Guardian Football Weekly. So Newcastle and Everton won. Tiane Barry's goal after 49 minutes. Mark, do you reckon do you want to do the joke again?
Yeah, I mean, I think Gail Barry might have scored that one.
Oh, yeah, good. I was thinking that.
Yeah, he didn't have many touches in the first half, did he? I think he hadn't touched the ball for the UK coverage flashed up that he just hadn't been in the game the first half an hour. And he wasn't in the game for much of the second half either. But yeah, you can't miss that.
No. And he didn't. And I suppose, Baz, the fact that he is the only centre forward just means he gets so many chances to play. And I mean, I should know how many goals he's scored this season, but.
Seven or eight, I think.
Yeah. Like he's clearly got something. And it'll be really interesting to see how he develops as a how this season will help his career.
Yeah, he's scoring goals, but he's also missing a lot of chances. And I think Everton fans kind of like him, but don't particularly race him. And he's a limited player when he's doing his best, but he is getting more opportunities than he probably would have if the transfer window had gone better for Everton. He scored a winner here. I mean, I think I'd have scored that.
And my name is Barry Max. It was a bit of a David Nugent, wasn't it?
It was.
But fair play to Everton. Go to Newcastle. They've won. But I think, without wanting to annoy Evertonians, the focus on this game should be just how staggeringly bad Newcastle were. And they were horrendous. Like so bad. And their manager, Matthias Jaissle, said after the game that just playing aimless long balls out from the back wasn't the game plan, but it's what his players elected to do anyway, which is a state of affairs that suggests they're not listening to him.
At one stage, he sent a note onto the pitch that was handed to Fabien Schar with some tactical instruction on it. Fabien Schar sort of glanced at it through on the ground and proceeded to not divulge the contents of the plan to anyone else. And yeah, I think Newcastle, they had chances to equalise here, but they didn't take them. And they're in a bit of bother, I would say.
This was a terrible performance by them.
What does that note say? I am a traitor.
It literally just had the formation that he wanted them to play. So there was a like it was a back I think it was a complicated system, like a 3-3-2-2 or something. So maybe there wasn't any kind of a net put the ball on the wings. And so I don't think it needed to pass it on too much. But yeah, it didn't look good. It was on a massive sheet of paper as well.
A3. An A3 piece of paper.
Paul Fabian shares a tuck into his sock.
Yeah, it was like the sort of thing my mum or dad would print out. Yeah, it was just like enormous. Yeah.
Because Newcastle did have chances, Baz said, Mark. I don't know how worried Jaissle should be in this situation where a lot of Premier League managers are under a bit of pressure and sort of he comes very highly rated, but the Premier League is difficult.
Yeah, I think he should be very worried. A lot of Newcastle fans, he's an easy person to blame us, but he's definitely picking up a large percentage of the criticism. For most of that game, they did not progress the ball up the pitch well at all. There looked to be no plan until was it Stoia that came on and knitted things together. But they were dreadful, and they don't look like they're going to be keeping many clean sheets either.
And I think that does you can't give all managers time. There's this thing that you've got to give every manager time. But if he's the wrong one, the last thing you should be doing is giving him loads of time because it can be difficult to then unpick that. So I would be worried for him. I'd be worried for Newcastle. I mean, they've lost a lot of talent in the summer, and they've gone down a different route in terms of trying to bring in young players that I don't know if it's just not ready or not being coached well, but there's a disconnect all over the place, it looks like, between the coach and the players and then the team and the fans as well because the fans are on the turn already, yeah.
But in this game, so Nico Gonzalez in midfield, he was playing really deep and just hoofing balls forward. Then he was replaced by Sean Stewart, who played much higher up the pitch. So that made a bit of a difference. But it's a regular lament from Newcastle fans that they're not allowed to spend as much money as they would like. But when you look at the money they have spent, boy oh boy. Like Anthea Langer, he's done little or nothing as a Newcastle player.
Johan Rissa, same. Jacob Ramsey, the same. He was bad in this game, got sent off after coming on. Amaro Dedic, Nico Gonzalez, they've only come in this summer, but they haven't done much yet. Nick Valdemar is obviously on loan at Juventus because he's signing for 75 million euro, turned out to be a complete disaster despite early signs of promise. And yeah, the money they have spent, they've spent really, really badly.
How is Valdemar doing at UVE, Nicky? Because I miss him.
Not great, to be honest. Juventus is not a happy camp at the moment in general, but I would say mixed bag at best for Valdemar up front. And yeah, hasn't had the impact that I think a lot of people were hoping for from him.
Before we move on from this game, Baz, on Everton, who are doing really well, actually. And a lot of people thought before their window or after the transfer window that they'd be in a lot of trouble. So we should congratulate David Moyes for doing David Moyes' things. Jack Grealish wasn't in the squad. When asked about it, David Moyes just said he was unavailable. And so we don't have all the information. There's sort of lots of tabloid rumours about what's happening with Jack Grealish. But it is a shame he is not on the pitch and enjoying football.
Yeah, it is. It seems to have been confirmed. He had a couple of nights out on the beer, missed training. He was officially, inverted commas, not match fit for this game. It was, I think, the second game in a row he's missed for Everton. I do remember saying back when City won the treble and Jack was front and centre of all their celebrations afterwards and spotted partying in Ibiza and being helped out to a team bus or whatever, that those images would come back to bite him.
And that seems to be the case. He's fond of a night out. He puts himself in positions where he has photos taken of him when he's a bit to worse for wear. I have no idea whether he has a drink problem or not. Loads of people on social media seem to have decided he has. That's not really for them to decide, I don't think. But he doesn't help himself, certainly. But if he is in trouble, I hope Everton give him any help he needs.
Yeah, no, I completely agree. Jacob Steinberg writing in the paper about West Ham that they're poised to appoint Scott Parker as their manager after sacking Nuno Espírito Santo. The club have acted after a disappointing start to the championship season and have moved for Parker in the bid to push for automatic promotion, get it back on track. I was looking around. Has he definitely been sacked? Has that definitely happened?
He has definitely been sacked, but Scott Parker definitely hasn't been appointed yet. But they were apparently hoping to have him in place for tonight's game against Cardiff City in Cardiff, I think. So if he is in place, I noticed yesterday West Ham have scored 33 goals in the first 13 games of the championship. So that means they have 33 games left. So if Scott Parker takes charge and they go full Scott Parker and win each of those games 1-0, that will be their next 33 goals.
There is no question.
And they'll probably win the promotion, then he'll struggle, and he'll be the first manager to be sacked in the Premier League next season.
There's talk of him and Mark Noble. Mark Noble is there at the Sporting Director. Of Noble going alongside him, which is it is scoring very highly in the knowing the club scale. And also of looking like Winkelmann. I mean, it looks like the cast of Memphis Bell, doesn't it? You have Scott Parker and Mark Noble there. Are you surprised Nuno is gone? They lost two in a row. They were sort of doing okay before then.
I was surprised he stayed beyond the relegation, first of all, because I think when you're a club that's not expected to be relegated and the manager that takes you down is still there for the start of the next season, that doesn't give you the clean break. And they're always vulnerable. I was at the game where they lost to Southampton. The defending was disastrous in that game. They actually still had a lot of opportunities, but then Nuno just started chucking on loads of forwards.
You know when managers just do that and completely lose their shape and actually sort of make the team worse. And there was negative vibes after that game. And then I spoke to somebody who was at the West Brom game who just said the stadium, the atmosphere around the place was just not going to help, I think. So I think there was negativity towards Nuno that just getting rid of him might just perk them up in the short term. They've got the players that should be fighting.
But I think if you remember George Elick when he from Not the Top 20 when he was on for your sort of championship season.
Don't vote for him in whatever you do.
In the championship season preview, he referenced the fact that Nuno's style of play was not suited to a team that was like favourites to win the league. And I'm not sure that Scott Parker is going to drastically improve that, but he might just be able to I think Nuno is such a doesn't bring the vibes, does he? And I think that West Ham need a bit of vibes at the moment. And it might not be tactical genius and the Noble Parker thing like you wouldn't imagine it would work, say, in the Premier League.
But I think they've got such a strong squad that they maybe don't need to overcomplicate it at the moment.
Elsewhere in the championship, Derby will be in four nil at home by Norwich. Derby's second four-goal beating in a row after they lost to Millwall on Saturday. Norwich have won three in a row. Birmingham going to the top two after beating Millwall three nil at home. To the top two, God, they're on a good run, aren't they? I'd noticed that happening. They've won five of their last six. Stoke beat Blackburn two-one. That's their fourth away win on the spin. They're up to third. Five goals in Preston. Sheffield United won three-two away. They're two late goals for Portsmouth. They beat Swansea three-one.
And producer Joel went to see Charlton take on Bolton. Charlton lost one nil, and he sent a one-word review, awful. And if you thought Brighton were going to win the league, think again. As Cambridge United beat them six-nil. Well, they're under 21, six-nil in the Jolly Good Times Cup. I'm not sure it's called something like that now. It's something. And they had a player sent off at nil-nil for a deliberate handball. It was absolutely fantastic where the ball's just bouncing through, and he just like just a big arm just goes boof and just hits it along.
And then, yeah, that's Mark. Even you thought it was handball, Max. So that's how much of a handball it was. Yeah.
Yeah, wild.
Yeah. I mean, you can still imagine some commentators going, the game's gone. If that's how I don't know what handball is anymore.
Yeah, it was a definite it was balls ahead, I reckon. Anyway, that'll do for today. Thanks, everybody. Thank you, Nicky.
Thanks.
Thanks, Mark.
Thank you, Max.
Cheers, Baz.
Thank you.
Football Weekly is produced by Matt Bentley-Viney and Tyler Pupula. The executive producer is Joel Grove, and we'll be back tomorrow.
This is The Guardian.
Max Rushden is joined by Barry Glendenning, Nicky Bandini and Mark Langdon as Manchester United comeback from 2-0 down to beat Roma in the Champions League. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/footballweeklypod. Watch us on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@FootballWeeklyPodcast