01/10/2016 Football Focus

Good afternoon. It has been quite a week. In the studio we have plenty

of experience in the shape of Danny Mills and Mark Schwarzer. And Alan

Shearer is joining us for the early part of the programme. We start with

the big story of the last few days. Sam Allardyce's reign came to an end

after one game and 67 days doing his dream job. The new England football

manager will be Sam Allardyce. This is the job I've been waiting for for

many years and I'm absolutely delighted. I think I can make the

team better and I think I'm tough enough to take it. Bring it on.

It's in! What a finish first Sam Allardyce's first match as the

England manager. The football Association is investigating

allegations concerning Sam Allardyce. The Daily Telegraph says

he offered advice on how to get around rules on player transfers.

One of his colleagues talks about paying colleagues or managers to

arrange a transfer. For him to be standing on the brink

of losing that job for a thing that has nothing to do with football is a

crying shame. Some breaking news. The FA is

confirming Sam Allardyce is leaving his position as England manager.

We've concluded, and Sam has agreed, that his behaviour was inappropriate

and frankly, not what is expected of an England manager. On reflection,

silly thing to do, just to let everybody know I helped out somebody

I've known for 30 years. It was an error of judgment on my behalf and

I've paid the consequences. But entrapment has won on this occasion

and I've got to accept that. Earlier this week you said it was a

new low for England, that they were a laughing stock. Has your mood

brightened? I am still angry, still sad, still looking at the whole

situation thinking it is very embarrassing. For Sam, for England,

for the whole the sugar bowl. I thought we could not go any lower

after the Iceland defeat -- for the Hall of English football. I'm

positive we can only go one way now. He was not everybody's first choice

but with his press conference at his first game he turned everyone

around. For him to lose the job which he wanted for years, it was

his dream job, for him to lose it in that way, he will look at himself

and say, you stupid idiot, how could I lose a job that way. There are

other ways to lose it, by performance, if that happens then it

happens but to lose it in that way is embarrassing for him and English

football. It was a massive error of judgment. He uses entrapment, OK,

the Telegraph took the lead off the job but he put his hand in the

cookie jar. There are two big issues, one about getting round FA

rules, and also greed, chasing ?400,000 when he's just been given a

massive contract. The FA were in an impossible situation. If they'd not

got rid of him, everyone would say they were weak. There are new guys

in charge. After the week in which a player was suspended for a tweet

from four years ago, what option that they have? Part of me feels a

little bit sorry for him and another part says, you fool. Do you think

they had any option? I think he left them with no option. He has used the

word entrapment, I don't think so, he made the mistake himself. He

cannot blame anyone but himself. The actual fact of being offered money

to speak as a guest speaker was one part of it but being offered advice

on how to get round a rule in the league that is illegal was another

thing. That was what ended it for him. Do we need a complete

restructuring of the way that we do things with regards player

transfers? Do we need more scrutiny? Yes, you need to look into

everything, there needs to be clarity, transparency, and in some

cases there is a problem from top to bottom. The question is, does

everyone want the rules to change? I don't think so. There's money to be

made and I'm pretty sure people have made a hell of a lot of money. I

think it's a chance for the FA and the Premier League to get together

and really clamped down. It's better than it used to be with agents and

it is more transparent, but it's not crystal clear. There is an

opportunity to flout the law. Now it's an opportunity to get together

and stop it once and for all, to make it completely open about who is

getting paid what. Why not publish it? Have it in the public domain. I

know in some cases players don't even know what the agents are

charging them. There needs to be away for the PFA and the Premier

League to educate players to look at the system and say, come on, that

can't be right. There is so much money around that it does attract

greed. You've got the issue of finding another England manager. We

interviewed Gudjohnsen for next week and this is what he said they were

talking about when they played England. We all sensed that the

world expects England to beat Iceland but one thing our manager

pointed out, in recent years, we are playing against the most overrated

national team saved. He said that to you? He said that, and it got us

thinking looking back, it is true, the expectations are always so high

for England, there is so much pressure for England to do well.

That is a pretty brutal assessment for a team which had a great

tournament, Iceland, but they are Iceland, and for them to look at the

team and say that there is no more a team overrated in the world and then

they beat them? And? I did not expect us to go into the tournament

and win it. I certainly expected us to beat Iceland. But I think we are

at a psychological low in the country.

Germany went for Mac years and they thought they were getting low. We

have gone 20 years since 1996. Something drastic needs to be done.

We need to improve things. I'm pleased Gareth Wright been given the

opportunity, he's got the best interview out of anyone -- Gareth

Southgate. He's got an opportunity, gives everyone a bit of breathing

space. Germany got it right when they appointed Jurgen Klinsmann.

They gave him control to overhaul everything. To bring in football

people, not people in suits, football people. They made drastic

decisions. They did not quite when it but look what happened after he

put that in place. Not done badly. You know Gareth Southgate well, will

he be looking at this as a huge opportunity to prove he can control

the dressing room and hopefully take England in a different direction? It

was interesting to see his interview when he was announced as caretaker

manager, there was a sense he was willing and wanting to take up this

opportunity. He's got four games to show what he can do. It will be

difficult for him, he's lost managers who have given him time and

help them along the way. He's got this opportunity to taking on

forward. If he gets the right result, because he knows the people,

and he's a top pro. Have a look at the odds for the next England

manager. We'll hear from Arsene Wenger in a moment. He is third on

that list. He was first choice last time round, would you like to see

someone like that? He's never been a huge fan of the English media and

press. We've seen how intrusive they can be. At his age, is this really

an easier life? Do you want that scrutiny? Gareth has got a great

opportunity. He's engaged and taken on a new younger team. He buys into

social media. His understanding the younger players and what they want.

That's where he has an advantage. It has to be an English men. We are

England and we have to be managed by an English person. We need to find a

way to incentivise our former international players to stay in the

game. A lot of them are multimillionaires. There's no

incentive to keep them in the game. We've got to find a way to keep

Frank Lampard, Steven Gerrard, Rio Ferdinand in the game. When I did my

coaching badges I had to go to Scotland to do them. Other players

used to go to Ireland and Wales. That cannot be right. There needs to

be away for our FA who have played at the highest level, know what has

gone wrong, to look at them and speak to them and get their advice.

Not just the guys in the media like what happened three or four months

ago. Get these guys to stay in the game because they know what's gone

wrong. I think that's a great point. Players in the Dutch system that

have come back into it, they are all there and around it now. Plus the

legend Viv had before. They are not going back for money. Why can we do

that? You need the environment. Someone like Gareth, you are able to

bring in and show the generation of players that there is a path and if

Gareth had the job full time he will have time. He's worked hard with the

players. Thanks for that. Alan, I think you need to go and have a lie

down. But I'm sure you will be interested in some of this that we

have coming up. Some of the old boys are back to grill Arsene Wenger as

he celebrates 20 years at Arsenal. I try to be honest, committed and

loyal through my career here. Sunderland may be bottom of the

table but David Moyes is full of fight. It's got 45,000 people who

come to the games every week. Even when the team is not doing well but

supporters stick with it. He's a World Cup winner with titles to his

name. Can Llorente be the man to save Swansea? And we have our Jaap

with Stam. We will talk about Spurs against man city later but it is 20

years to the day since Arsene Wenger became manager of Arsenal. His first

match was a 2-0 win away at Blackburn as he began a marathon

which has included three Premier League titles and six FA cups. A few

of his former players have been grilling the gaffer.

My main ambition is to bring success to the team and satisfy the people

of Arsenal. Welcome to our new coach Arsene

Wenger, we wish him a very long stay. And they were right. Did you

think it would last this long? No, because you know, it is exactly the

same when playing football. You think about the next game, the next

game, the next game, and when you look back, you think suddenly it is

over and you have played is a year, you don't know how it has gone but

it has gone. The big advantage in our job is you go to the future and

not back. We can say they were quite literally

unbeatenable. In 2003, we lost the Championship and I asked the players

in preseason why did we lose the Championship? They told me because

of you. I said oh yes, why? They said because yout us under too much

pressure, they said we want to win the Championship without losing a

game. Then I said look, believe really we can do that, it would be

great. You can become, do something special. Let's go for it at least, I

don't know how it happened, but game after game, we didn't lose and we

won the Championship with five games to go, so I said usually you lose

the next game, everybody switches off. So I told them, who wanted to

have a breather. Now you can become immortal.

When I joined in 2006, it was almost only young players who were around,

and I didn't understand why Arsenal wanted to buy experienced player.

But a they had not the money. Not the money and I just made an

interview with Henry, at some stage he said look, boss, it is nice to

have young players but I am 30 years old, I have no time to wait until, I

am ready to win, I want to go now. What I could understand, because

when the guy gets to 30, the clock tick, and you think, it is not much

time left for me, I have to win now. That is why Patrick, Henry, they

left because of that reason. Did they lose patience? Of course, you

can never cheat a dressing room. We decided to move in the new stadium

in 2006. And the same time, we had less finances available, and we had

to slowly sell all our best players. It became much more difficult to

compete financially, and this was a difficult years, 2006, to 2012,

because we had still good players. Top players, but maybe not the

maturity. Club starts life in the Emirates, stadium after 93 years and

2010 games at high borough. Borough:? When I started to play we

needed a better pitch. It was nice to play at Highbury, it is our home

and it was fantastic, but the players, probably prefer a bigger

pitch. If Henry had a bigger pitch, do you think we would have fared

better? Ewe spoke about Highbury, Highbury in my heart is special, but

of course, the team, they would have done as well, if not better at the

Emirates. It takes you a while to feel really at home. West Ham is

facing... Absolutely. A bit now. Wasn't there a time when somebody

from the board or someone could say that we might as a club have some

barren times because of the fact we will have to pay for this, so it

won't be the kind of players that you might be expecting to be at club

any more, we will have to, why didn't someone are the club say

something? I don't know, because I am responsible for the result, and

what happened at the time, Ian, is that the first five, six years were

very delicate, because we had to pay back our debt. We didn't know if we

would fill the stadium. Weed that to be three years out of five in the

Champions League. So, I signed for that, knowing that the five years

would suffer, maybe seven or eight or nine.

You have had to put the teams in the Emirates, had to qualify for the

Champions League continuously, and you in the way you have become the

great manager you are and what you have won before, sacrificed a lot of

that for the Emirates,s, has that been worth it? It is a very good

question, Ian. I will face that question, that question one day, you

know. But, I failed as well, but of course there is thes a expect of

winning premise -- the aspect of winning the Premiership that is not

replacement. -- replaceable. There is loyalty as well, I think it is

important, because the only thing quality I give myself, I say no to

many club, to conduct this project. To survive, with the important

expenses you made, and at the end of the day, is it right or wrong? I

don't know. But I am happy for having done it, because now is the

club is in the different area, and hopefully -- era and hopefully we

will continue to play at the o and win Championships again.

Do you think if it ended tomorrow, for some reason because a comet hit

the world, and you know, it smashed the world up like amageddon the

film. How would you feel your legacy... I try to be honest,

committed and loyal, during my career here, and that I was not

ashamed for this club, and that I leave the club in the position where

it can move on, and today i Arsenal, I don't know how many fans we have

all over the world but it is a respected and loved club, and I hope

that it will become even bigger in the future. That is what I would

love to see. From hopefully from paradise.

LAUGHTER .

I wonder what the view will be. Your career Mark, started in England, a

month after Wenger began at Arsenal. He has had such an influence on the

game. It has been incredible really. People talk a lot about you know, he

should go and when is he going to go, when will his time be up. There

will be a time where he will move on, will he be able to replace him?

That is the big question. What is interesting in seeing that what a

gamble they must have taken, you know, and Danny mentioned it before

off air, leads were in a similar situation where they had to qualify

for the Champions League and didn't. -- Leeds, you think how fine that

line was. Does hearing some of the

explanation, does it temper some of the criticism to you think? I don't

know about you, I have not heard him be so open and honest about the

mistakes he has made and the reasons behind t youth culture, the policy

and why thater were play buying the players they were. You can see the

intensity of the interview and you can see the respect the players have

for him, and maybe he was more open with the player, rather than a

general journalist, that were probing him. He seemed nor relaxed.

But that honesty is incredible talking about when Henry said I want

to leave because you are bringing through young players and I don't

have years to wait for them to be great. I want to win. That is all

players wanted. Maybe he has been more honest with the players behind

closed doors than he has with the media, so that is... That is why

they still respect him. Maybe the players have understood the process,

the fans and the rest of us have maybe asked those questions. He

talks about honesty and loyalty which are key for him, the one thing

maybe he did aren't he will look back and say I may have done this

differently is let the fans know more information about why we are

doing what we are doing, I think people sort of expected it or in the

back of their minds could see that was the reason, it would have been

nice to hear it from the manager or the club. OK, shall we have some

action? The instalment of Friday night football was last night, which

kicked off this round of Premier League fixtures. Everton were at

home to Crystal Palace chasing a fourth win in a row.

Everton with the intention of getting back to winning ways,

picking up the form they previously shown under Koeman. Barry looking

for Lukaku. Might fall to the Belgian again, it was a high foot as

well. Everton free-kick, right on the edge

of the penalty area. Lukaku with it. And they have made the most of that

opportunity. Lukaku with his fifth goal in six Premier League games. To

give Everton the lead. Up and over the wall and the goalkeeper

indicating he wanted the wall to jump. They didn't and and Everton

are in front. Ledley. Trying to inject more pace into the

game. Benteke jumping and jumping especially. What a header.

From Christian Benteke. Something out of nothing. He had so much to do

there. What a leap! An inch perfect header.

That is why Crystal Palace brought him to the club. Everton 1, Palace

1. That has changed the atmosphere

round Goodison Park. Benteke back on Merseyside with a goal. Here comes

Bolasie against his former club. He has got free. What a challenge

from Kelly. He was the save your there, Martin

Kelly. -- saviour there. Punch.

-- Puncheon. Bolasie. Straight back in from Ward.

Another good header, it is Delaney this time. And Palace lead but the

flag is up. Watch McArthur, he is offside, does the official think

that he is active? One thing they have been talking about, is that

Delaney disallowed goal. Pardew said it was a difficult decision but

maybe right one, you want to clarify it was the right decision. At first

look you think the player doesn't touch the ball, it is not a problem.

Here, Delaney is on pied o side. That is the issue there. And row

don't see it from this angle. That is interfering with play. The

goalkeeper is looking at the player. He thinks she going to head it. He

is in an interim position. This is the angle that is perfect.

Linesman's flag goes up now. He knows that player is in the offside

position, he is interfering with play, he putses his flag up. I don't

know he is sure she interfering. That is why the discussion takes

place, I don't think he realise, he sees the player is offside, puts the

flag up, calls the referee over and they have that discussion, John moss

says yes he was interfering. That is how it should happen. The linesman

thinks he is offside. Puts the flag up. They agree yes he was, no he

wasn't, they get the decision right. For once, well done the official.

From a goalkeeper's perspective Stekelenburg is reacting to

McArthur. It is career it is interfering with the goalkeeper.

It's a spot on decision. It was great working by the two of them.

Glad we cleared that up. On Monday night Burnley were in action against

Watford. The goals from that one. The hosts took the lead in the 38th

minute when Defour picked out Hendrick in the box, and the Shaggy

haired man managed to do the business. The record signing

notching his first goal for the club. Watford had a chance to level

it shortly after the break. Deeney's effort was well saved by Heaton. It

is in the 50th minute Defour was at it again. Another good cross, this

time on the end of that delivery was Keane. I bond no wonder he was

happy. The defender first ever Premier League goal for Keane,

helping his side to three points and they are up to 13th place in the

table. Arsenal are next for Burnley

tomorrow. Here are the rest of the fixtures for you. The top two meet

tomorrow as well. Stoke looking for their first win against Manchester

United. David Moyes talking to Kevin Kilbane

adds Sunderland play West Brom. To the early kick off at Swansea where

the head coach said this week he may need to beat Liverpool to keep his

job. Or this fellow could be important in the coming months.

Llorente has been talking to us. You've played in La Liga, Italy, and

the Premier League. What other differences?

How would you describe your time in Italy with Juventus?

Guidolin is under a lot of pressure and receiving a lot of criticism. Do

you think it is fair? He said the Premier League was a

physical one. Two physical because he is injured and not in the squad.

Let's not talk about him. Let's talk about the manager. He is put more

pressure on himself by saying they likely to win this game. Is it a

difficult situation? I think so. The last half of last season, turned

things around, this season has not started well for him. They've had

the takeover as well so they've got American owners, there's been a lot

of speculation about a new manager. This game could be his last game in

charge if he does not win. I think he is quite realistic. Going

forward, we show you the team. Dejan Lovren and returned to the team.

Are they the best attacking team we've seen so far? They are

outstanding. They are so fluid. The front five, Jason Henderson sets and

allows them to express themselves. Adam Lallana might start on the left

wing then he's on the right. Defenders will be thinking, or by

Mark? I think it will be similar to when they were so close under

Brendan Rodgers. Wing forward, they will be so good to watch. My query

is whether they are strong enough defensively throughout the season to

win the title. I think they might run it close but they will be so

entertaining to watch. We will keep an eye on them. If you've just

turned on, welcome to football focus. We've got 20 more to come. --

plenty more to come. You might remember Jaap Stam as one

of the greatest defenders in the Premier League. He is finding his

managerial feat at Reading. No to a man who finds himself at Sunderland.

It has not been easy so far, without a win since taking over in the

summer. David Moyes sat down with a man he and we know well. Back at my

old club, hugely passionate, but recent battles with relegation. I'm

here to speak to my old gaffer, David Moyes, to see if he can buck

the trend. 20 years since we came across each other. You've been a

huge influence on my career. Hope Road are you of what you've achieved

over 20 in management? -- how proud you. I was going to introduce you, I

said I remembered you coming out as a then boy, it is amazing how

quickly time changes. What was your question? Do you still tell the

players how good you are? That stood in my mind. It used to slip my

mind... You've always got to talk yourself up because very few people

do. Huge club, you've been linked and offered the job a few times, why

did you take it now? I wanted to get back into football, I had a great

love of it, and I turned down a few jobs. I had other opportunities in

different places. The biggest thing is it has got 40,000 people who keep

coming to the game. You've come smack bang in the middle of transfer

window, how difficult was that? I did not have a long enough period to

see all the players who were not getting used. I would never have

signed any players without watching them before. This summer was not the

same, so we've tried to bring players on shorter term contracts.

How do you judge the criticism of the players? The rule is to not

criticise your players in public. Generally, I try to do that. But I

think the managers often get the blame for bad performances and

sometimes they need to say, we are the ones getting it every week. Can

you say what you want to see in the same way you used to do? You mellow

as you get older but you're not sure how they will react. That is part of

your development. It will change as you get older. It is the ultimate

heartbreaker. That was great because we got the lead and we've been

trying to get that. We've had some difficult, resolute performance away

from home. There's point when you need to take responsibility. This

week, West Brom, Tony Pulis has had 1000 games in club management and we

worked out you are on 843. Not too far behind him. I'd love to get to

1000 games which he has done, a great achievement, something which a

lot of managers see as a target. I hope I can rebuild Sunderland to a

level where the people here will see improvement, the excited by the

club. We need to get it more attractive than it does. The main

thing is to win games and get away from the bottom of the league.

Swansea have taken the lead against Liverpool. Let's talk about

Sunderland. He's got a big job there. Recruitment has been a big

issue. Looking at what they've spent, nowhere near the top

spenders, he's not had a chance to look at the players. It has not been

the perfect preparation. He had almost a month to get in and look at

the players. That is the key. He said he did not have enough time to

see the players, hope they could add anything to the team. Then you've

got to jump into the transfer system later than everybody else, it

becomes a bit like panic buying. Unfortunately it is going to be a

hard season for Sunderland. He knows that he is under pressure and if he

does not get those results soon then he might not get the opportunity to

spend money in January. That is the permanent problem of managers in

clubs like this. Very much so. They've been a number of seasons in

the same predicament, in the sense that they're down the bottom of the

table, another dreadful start of the season. When you're down there, luck

goes against you more often than not. The little things lead to

goals, players are in a different space, you can carry on, but when

you're down there, struggling, you concede a goal like that in the late

stages of the game and it really affects confidence. Bottom of the

table. Let's go to the Stadium of light and speak to Guy Mowbray.

Sunderland have not won a game in August or September four years. It's

incredible. It's down to stability. There's not been the right level of

that at the club. Steve Bruce was the last manager to go a full season

as Sunderland manager. Even David Moyes still feels because he's not

been at the club for a long, a little bit short term. Last season

you had previous manager who did not think he was going to be staying for

longer and history tells us that was correct. They need stability. I hope

they get it. I've got a real affection for this club. If this

place takes off it will really take off but they cannot get everything

in order for it to do so. What broke West Brom. You talk about Sunderland

being reliant on Jermain Defoe. But at West Brom, Gudjohnsen is becoming

one that they are reliant on. -- Rondon. Yes, he reminds me of John

Carew. It took a season to settle in but now that he has, he is a huge

player for them in every sense of the word. Sunderland have got to

watch for. What this game right the way through to the end. Sunderland

need a victory because they have four weeks without a home game after

this one. If they win there will be a whole different feel. Coverage of

this is that 4pm. Alan Shearer will be back tonight after his lie down.

Straight after that you can watch the NFL show. That will work rather

nicely for the NFL match on BBC Two. Former Manchester United defender

Jaap Stam is in his first job, at Reading.

15 year playing career, substantial trophy haul, linchpin of Manchester

United's team, major tournament is, the question I ask, how have you

enjoyed your first few months of management? I have enjoyed it. It is

totally different, there are a lot of new things coming up when you're

a manager over here, but it's very enjoyable. I want to work for a club

with a lot of potential, and this one has ambition. That's what we've

got here. The people at the training ground, in the stadium, everybody is

willing to work together to get results. Up until now things are

going well. Argue ambitious? If I was not I would be here. You want to

get as high as you can, the top level of football it would be nice

to work with the absolute top. I start here. Not for myself, to have

a look, I start here to work with the club to get results and

hopefully within a couple of seasons we can make a step to the Premier

League. How much vetting did you have to do

of Reading? When I spoke to the owners when there was interest, the

conversation was very good. I told them I don't want to be a manager

that comes within the club because of his name, what he has achieved as

a player. Of course they have done their homework as well. I haven't

been working with the first team in Holland, they knew what I did, where

I was coaching, what my qualities were, so that was very important for

me as well. Of course for myself it was important, can I express myself

as a manager in the sense of can I play in the style of playing that I

want to do, with the group, with the team? And they were very happy with

that in me doing that. You do, I think you are modest, you have an

aura, a reputation, is that something you can take into the

dressing room? I don't want to like use my name or what I have done in

my career, to like, impress players or whatever, I want to impress the

players or the team in what I can do as a manager. Of course I can use my

experience as a player on the group, and I am doing that as well, I am

not constantly referring to when I was a player, we did this and when I

played there, we did that, sometimes I have certain things you are using,

you pick it out and explain to players in what you can do in

certain time, moments and to the team, but not constantly. Will have

do you keep in touch with the United people? No, not much, to be fair. Do

you not? Not much. The years I have played football, the different teams

I have played with, maybe I only have one friend left, they are all

colleagues and if they go somewhere else, everything fades a bit. You

only have one friend. From football. I wasn't in football to make

friends, I was in football to, you know, to win trophy, to win prizes

and to do well myself, so you get a lot of colleagues, but real friends

are very hard to find as well. There was the sort of sour ending of your

time at United, have you thought about what you will do when in

diplomacy skills are needed, when respect is needed? There is lessons

to be learned in how you deal with people who are no longer part of the

jigsaw. Of course you are referring to the moment what happened at

United with myself. If they came up to me and said, this and this is

going on within the club there is a club came in and they put an offer

in for you, we can sell you, we are thinking about doing this, OK, then

I can make my decision as well, and what I want to do and it makes it

easier than they have already made that decision for me, and you just

hear it after that. For me at the time it was very hard, of course,

you know but I still love United, I still love the people over there,

the fan, the club, there is no like really bad feelings towards them.

Are you still in quite good physical nick, if I tried to push you would

you be able the stand firm. I am not suggesting I am going to try.

Depends what state I am in, but it will thunderstorm his be hard. Thank

you very much. Safe to say there is only one winner there, there are the

career stats of Stam. He has a presence, and he is the guy when you

say get your medals out he has something you listen to what he says

because of what he has achieved. You do, like you say he has a lot of

experience, he has won just about everything you can win, and he was

an incredible defender, when he left United Sir Alex Ferguson said it was

probably one of the mistakes he made while he was a manager to let him

go, or to sell him because he was so formidable and important to the

side. It took him a long time to replace him after that. You talked

about that Ajax academy, that is where he learned the ropes, along

with those many players you listed earlier. A lot of the Dutch players

are prepared to go back and start at the bottom. Jimmy Hasselbaink went

to Burton, other players do it round Europe, they are happy to start at

the lower leagues and work their way up. He is intimidating, you know.

Too right! A couple of glares at Clem and Clem shrunk about four or

five inches. There are a few things to clear up. We do not want to say

that he has his name tattooed on his knuckles, we put that on. He doesn't

need to go... How scary does he look! Look at this. Our producer

asked him if he wanted make up. Look how tenderly he is touching the

scalp. He did a very good job. It is Reading who take on Darby today and

Nigel Pearson has been suspended. Clem will be back on final score to

talk about that and a few other managerial issues in the EFL. I

wanted to talk to you both about a club you used to play for

Middlesbrough who find themselves down in 16th place, in the Premier

League at the moment. And they started the season OK, but last

three games have been defeats. If you look at their next six matches,

this could be a season defining time, couldn't it for Karanka and

co-? It was going to be tough for them, no matter who they come up

against, the first three games they were happy, I was at the game when

they played West Brom away, it was a terrible game to watch but in the

end Middlesbrough were the happier of the two getting a draw. You look

at the next couple of game, they have struggled, and every game is a

tough game. It doesn't matter who you are playing West Ham away or

Manchester United -- Manchester City away, they are incredible tough. Let

us go to West Ham. JP is at the London stadium for us today. We talk

about Middlesbrough there with Mark, again, we most weeks we are saying

they are a club with issues on and off the field. Certainly yes the

manager said they needed to approach this game as calmly and

professionally as they could do. It hasn't really happened for him this

week. Allegations the player were misbehaving on a night out. Totally

knocked down. They went out on those evenings last year, the Captain said

it was a very good exercise to, for the players to vent their feelings

about things that are going wrong on the field of play. Let us look at

the one about Valencia, was that deal a kosheria deal? The club say

yes, it was, allegations here that the stadium has teething problem,

always bound to have teething problem, allegations here the

stadium can't be atmospheric, I disagree. When it is noisy it is

absolutely raucous, there will be problem, they will be erased in

coming months but the fans of course will react when the form turns

round, as it needs to be. They know that, this is their worst start

since 2002. When they went down, they are attacking like thes offy

Ardiles Tottenham attacking style. Very gung-ho, they need to learn to

defend as an 11 to get things back on track. Great to talk to you,

plenty more from JP on final score. I want to take you back to the

table, because you were watching Watford against Burnley. Again, it

is strange for Watford, because there has been times this season

where they have been brilliant, like against Manchester United, what was

the word used to December crime their performance at Burnley? They

didn't turn up. They were pathetic almost. You expect certain things

from Watford to be organised, to be strong, dynamic, I think we saw

earlier, Deeney had their only real shot on target from outside the box.

Ighalo never troubled the goalkeeper. We watched the game, it

was like, where are Watford? What has happened? They must have got

lost coming up the M1, or the M6. It was so unWatford-like it was untrue.

They had no passion about them. That is a huge worry. Last season, you

know, they got through on being calf leer, being aggressive, -- cavalier,

that pace, power, they had none of it. It was a very easy evening for

Burnley. They could have gone... You mentioned Steve Wilson, he is

watching them take on Bournemouth. Eddie Howe has had one of those

week, probably what is happening at England. Almost every other question

was about potentially being the next England manager at some stage. Yes,

of course it was, he dealt with it very well over the summer, when he

was in contention and Sam Allardyce got the job, and he is having to

deal with it all again, now, you know, I think if you look at it you

probably would say at the ept o that Southgate is ahead of him in the

pecking order because he has the four games to impress, and if he

does well, then, clearly, he would be perhaps in poll position,

certainly in a very good position, Arsene Wenger, of course, we don't

know whether he is going to stay on at Arsenal beyond this season, if he

doesn't he would be a very rat tracktive prospect for the FA. How

things don't work out. You may remember that Steve McLaren got the

job. If Wenger decides to stay at Arsenal, suddy Eddie Howe becomes a

serious contender. People say he might be too young, he is older than

Glenn Hoddle was when he got the job. I think there would be a tide

of good feeling about Eddie how if he were to end up in that position,

but there is a lot of football to be played between now and the end of

the season and the FA are in no hurry. Much more pressing concern

for Eddie Howe today, is to try and get the first away win for six

months. Good point. Enjoy Vicarage Road, plenty more from Steve

throughout the day. One game is the big one tomorrow as well. So let us

look at the teams for the two unbeaten sides in the Premier

League, so if Spurs taking on Manchester City. These are two sides

they like a high press, this could be frenetic. It could be, you are

right. They like to have a lot of possession, they like to press the

opposition, so it is going to be an interesting game. Aguero is back, he

was back last week, back to scoring goals, they can still win games

without him, and for Tottenham, they have gone about their business, they

have been under the radar for the fact the two Manchester clubs

received a lot of the publicity and Tottenham are slowly coming into

received a lot of the publicity and Tottenham are slowly coming into

form. We talked about the fact that Manchester City have been impressive

of late. Do you think against Celtic, that we saw a little bit,

maybe of vulnerability. They were undone by a simple free-kick. We

have to get it in perspective. It is not a disaster. Pep has drawn a

game. Simple as that. I don't think it is sackable just yet. Going

forward they are exceptional. They have had defensive frailties for a

number of years, it will take time to address that, because they press

very high up the pitch and they dominate possession, Celtic were the

first team to not be in awe of them. They raised their gape, it was at

home, at Celtic Park, they had a disastrous Champions League match.

Celtic had to perform better they went out and threw caution to the

wind. Maybe they caught Manchester City unaware. City, it would be a

fantastic game, it could easily go either way. I have been impressed by

City. I thought it might take pep longer to settle in, but what a

started he has has. If the only criticism is he has drawn one game,

in ten match, it is not too bad. Gentlemen, thank you very much. That

is about it from us, we are back at midday next Saturday, with England

due play Malta that afternoon, it would have been Sam Allardyce's

first home game, instead we are left to reflect on one of the briefer

managerial Raynes although not the briefest. From all of us, thanks for

watching. I want theening cadge and I think I

am tough enough. Bring it on lads. -- reigns.

It is a very sad day for Leeds. It is lightly sad for football.

You think you are going to go through your managerial career

without getting sacked, then don't come in.