02/09/2017 Football Focus

Afternoon. Welcome to Football Focus. We are in the middle of an

international weekend and recovering from the transfer window. We have

John Hartson and Leon Osman fit company and all this on the way.

Nearly 1.5 billion Premier League pounds were splashed before the

deadline. We'll assess the movers and the stayers. Reflections on a

winning night for the home nations with England, Scotland and Northern

Ireland all taking a step closer to the World Cup finals. And Clem has

gone green at Forest Green, the Football League's newest and

greenest club. I remember sitting in the sweet and seeing the chef

serving players with a beef lasagne. I thought we can't be doing that.

We'll talk about the World Cup qualifiers shortly, but we'll begin

with the drama of Thursday. In the end the final day of the transfer

window was about the deals that didn't go through. The final

spending figure of ?1.43 billion could have been a lot higher.

Deadline day today. Transfer window shuts at 11. Lunacy. It's going to

be a very, very busy day. Liverpool have signed Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain

from Arsenal, the biggest deal of deadline day so far at 35mm. I'm

very delighted to have signed for Liverpool. Earlier today Riyad

Mahrez was given position by the Algerian national side to leave

their training camp. Where is he? Spurs have signed full-back Serge

Aurier a from PSG for around 23 million and have agreed a fee. See

striker Fernando Llorente. Replacing the Rentech at Swansea is likely to

be Wilfried Bony and they have just signed Renato Sanches honour a

season-long loan from Bayern Munich. Bit disappointed -- bitter

disappointment at Manchester City that they didn't get Sanchez. There

was a conditional agreement between the clubs. Arsenal wanted to sign

Thomas Lemar of Monaco. Arsenal had a bid of around ?92 million accepted

by Monaco but Lemar decided against the move. This is unofficial and I

don't want to be the bearer of more bad news but Ross Barkley has turned

down a move to Chelsea. The agent contacted Everton to say he'd

changed his mind. England midfielder Danny Drinkwater has signed for

Chelsea for 35mm rounds from Leicester. Hold on. It's closed!

This transfer window, has it been player power or club power? Club

power. The clubs have been able to resist pretty much everything. There

is a full list of transfers on the BBC sport website. Restore Palace

very happy with the signing of Mamadou Sakho. -- Crystal Palace. It

was about the players that didn't move. Do you think clubs are a bit

more powerful. Sanchez staying put, Coutinho, Virgil van Dijk, Mahrez. I

think they are and it's a great thing. We are now getting to a point

where clubs feel they can hold onto players if they want to. They

realise people will have to play -- pay top dollar for their players and

if they want to keep them they will. You're now getting to the point

where players need to honour the contract. If they sign of four of

five-year contract they need to bring prepared to honour that

contract and up until this point players haven't been. Every person

who's played for Arsenal in recent years has not been particularly

pleased with the last couple of weeks for Arsenal. What is your

perspective on that generally and on Sanchez's future at the club?

Arsenal were woeful last weekend at Anfield. 4-0, it could have been six

or seven. With regards to Sanchez, two things. If Arsenal get into the

Champions League they could recoup some money and not what they turned

down. They need him for that? Yes, it depends where his mind is. Will

he get his head down and work and fight like we know he can and play

to his abilities? Or will he be sulking and upset because his move

has fallen through? A couple of things for me. Maybe they should

have just sold him and took the 60 million. I can't see Arsenal, for

the first time in a long time, making the top four. I don't see

that. I think Arsenal are wounded and there's so much uncertainty.

They are selling players, players want to leave and are losing games.

They look really wounded. You worry for them. Why do they go for Virgil

van Dijk? Southampton aren't keen on selling him. They might have sold

him to Arsenal but not Liverpool. Ross Barkley, what do you know about

that and the Chelsea transfer? From what I can gather he was really

badly advised. I think the clubs had agreed a fee, the clubs wanted it to

happen. He didn't fancy that move. For it to get so far, you've got to

look at his agent and the people advising him. If that wasn't the

move for him, it should never have got that far. He didn't go, Sanchez

didn't go. Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain left Arsenal. Could have gone

elsewhere, but went to Liverpool. He went there because of Jurgen Klopp,

who will try to play him in central midfielder. What do you make of that

for him as a move as a player and for Liverpool as a club? I think

it's a good move. Oxlade-Chamberlain chose Liverpool over Chelsea because

he wanted to play in a more central role. He's got great quality from a

central position. He's played there for Arsenal a few times, he can

spread a pass, he can drive forward, they can make assists from the

middle of the park and be involved more. Do you see him getting in the

Liverpool midfield? Chan, Wijnaldum, Lallana, Henderson, Coutinho. Is he

going to get regular games in the middle? I don't see it. I think he

will. In front of food? Wijnaldum plays there, he's doing what

Oxlade-Chamberlain can do and he's the only one. Who would you play him

instead of? It gives Liverpool options. At the moment they play two

holding midfielder 's and sometimes the only need one and that would be

another junior team for Oxlade-Chamberlain to play in the

middle. There will be games when he will play wide. I want to mention

Swansea as well. These days clubs are always announcing their news and

signings fire their own social media platforms. Did you see this? The

announcement of Wilfried Bony signing for Swansea. Come on

Wilfried Bony. Score some goals for Swansea. We go wild, wild, wild.

Wild, wild, wild. Come on Wilfried Bony. Score some goals for Swansea.

We go wild, wild, wild. Wild, wild, wild. I was I was there singing that

myself! On Swansea's business, lamented to Spurs, Boni comes back

and Renato Sanches is a great loan signing. Paul Clement has used his

contacts, his relationship with Ancelotti at Bayern Munich. He used

to be his assistant. Renato Sanches is young, you'll get games.

Disappointed to see Llorente move on, he finished the season really

well last season in terms of Swansea staying in the Premier League. Great

to get Wilfried Bony. He's not played a lot of football in the last

two years. Did very little at City, even less at Stoke. Swansea have

lost two top players that kept them in the league last season and

brought in players who aren't Premier League ready. How quickly

can they adapt? On to the World Cup qualifiers and a 4-0 scoreline

looked decent for England against Malta. Three goals came late and it

was largely in convincing. Harry Kane scored twice, Ryan Bertrand and

Danny Welbeck. The others. It was a good test for us. Clearly the crowd

were getting a bit anxious. The players had to stick to the game

plan and I'm really pleased did. Goals come late because you've

dominated possession, the opposition tire and our substitutes had a great

impact and gave a sexier energy. As a striker you sometimes go through

spells and mind is always in the same month. -- gave us extra energy.

I've had a few off the post, a few good saves. September one day, I

knew I would put them away and that's what happened. Of course we

would have liked to score earlier. If we had scored earlier, it could

have been different. For me that's the benefit of having played for

England. I've been involved in nights like this, I've seen other

managers go through it. Are some fans right when the English players

don't have enough pride? That's very unfair. Every player here is very

proud to represent their country. We've put a lot of hard work and

effort in to get where we are. It started from a young age.

Dedication. You have to be a top professional to play for your

country. I don't think people who say that understand what it takes

and it's probably why they are sitting at home watching it and we

are playing. Paper hats and rightly miffed Harry Kane. Let's have a look

at some of the statistics. -- a perhaps rightly miffed. England

dominant. Can you understand the frustration of fans watching that

performance? Yeah, at the end of the game it was job done. If I had hair

I would have been pulling it out. We were playing malt and we want to

dominate the game. We play two holding midfielder 's and I don't

think we needed to. We played largely behind the ball. We are

talking about international football and we've got a 4-0 results you

can't complain. This is the way small team set up against the likes

of England. Malta were very defensive. These are the average

positions of the starting 11. Until Rashford came on, why were England

struggling to break down Malta? They put ten men behind the ball, they

are more professional nowadays. They know England man's a man so much

better. You've got to go in defence of leaf. Some of the comments are

ridiculous about the England performance. They won 4-0. If you're

Gareth Southgate, you think what can we do? If it had been 7-0, they

still would have picked holes. They get to clean sheet, they haven't

been beaten in the qualifiers, they conceded three. But it was Malta.

But they won 4-0. You are in the Harry Kane camp. He also talked

about him not scoring in August. The stats are quite incredible. In four

seasons, 42 shots in the Premier League and not scored. But when he

gets to September, the burden has gone and he feels he can do it. It's

incredible. It's not like he hasn't been sharp, he's hit the post. 100%

shots on target last night and got two goals. He just comes alive once

August is gone. He makes up through it in the rest of the season. The

top goal-scorer in the last two seasons. This is the league table.

England on top. Look at that, goals against, two, and people moaning

ridiculous. Fighting back, good. Scotland in third and that's why

England against Slovakia is important. In. They are trying to

get into second spot. Scotland kept alive their hopes of qualifying with

an impressive 3-0 win in Lithuania. Stuart Armstrong, Andrew Robertson

and James McArthur scored the goals. Let's hear from Gordon Strachan. The

technical side was good, but the energy, I think, Booth Lithuania

away. You have the technical ability plus the energy and it gave them a

hard night. It had to be a lot of hard work to use that technical

energy. At the end they still had energy. You were far more impressed

with Scotland than in recent games. They really needed to win. Hampton

Park, Monday night, Slovakia have to still go to Hampden Park. England

can do Scotland a favour and beat Slovakia next week. I thought

Scotland were excellent. If you look at Gordon Strachan now, he's bought

into the Celtic influence. Celtic had six starters in that Scotland

line-up last night and they were all tremendous. Andrew Robertson of

Liverpool is highly rated and scored by far the best goal of the game.

He's getting a lot of plaudits at the moment in domestic and

international football. Gordon Strachan spoke about energy

and he has it in abundance. He charges down the left-hand side, he

helps in the attacking sense with his crossing and his delivery into

the box. I thought he was terrific. What I like about him is when he

gets forward, he gets the ball in the box. You like the lad playing on

the other side, Kieran Tierney. Even more touches than Andrew Robertson.

We spoke about his options, Kieran Tierney is a naturally left-sided

player, but he can play on the right. Outstanding. Massive future.

Do you think Scotland will regret the points they dropped against

Lithuania? It might cost them. The early games in the group. But they

are finishing very strong. Who knows? If results go in their

favour, they might finish in the second spot behind England. An

important win for Northern Ireland. They got a 3-0 victory in San

Marino. It led to a rather satisfied my Colonial. -- Michael O'Neill.

They played with great assurance and calmness. Could have done more in

the first half in terms of the ball that came into the box, could have

made more opportunities and more attempts on goals. By half-time, we

were calm, we eventually got the breakthrough. When we did it was a

case of how many. Northern Ireland take on the Czech Republic on

Monday. One point and they are definitely in the play-offs. What a

great position they are in. Fantastic. They've done great

against all the other teams in the group. Michael O'Neill deserves

credit. The 16 points would probably top quite a few other groups in the

qualifying. They've done terrific. 16 points would get you to the top

of five of the nine groups. They've got Germany to come after the Czech

Republic and then Norway away. Four games to go in Group D. They could

go a long way to deciding whether Republic of Ireland qualify. First

they are playing in Georgia. Kevin Kilbane has been speaking to Jon

Walters. What does it mean to play for Ireland? A hell of a lot. You

get a lot of stick for being English. I can understand it from

some of the boys in the team. But they don't. When I was growing up we

spent every minute we were not in school over in Ireland. Loved it.

Brilliant. My family over there, my mum was one of 11. You can imagine

the size of them. How have you assessed your international career?

Some of the big days you had playing have come playing for Ireland. It

has helped me immensely. I did not start the season at Stoke, was on

the bench, I would have a laugh with Championship lads. How many games

have you played? I had played one cup game. I have played more games

for Ireland and I have for Stoke. The trust the manager has put in me,

I keep myself in good shape. It is tough getting through those games

because you're not as match sharp. What does it mean to play in a World

Cup? It would be amazing, the pinnacle of everyone's career. You

want to play Premier League and you watch it on TV. I'm no different

than every single boy growing up. Four huge games to finish the group.

A massive one next, Georgia, very difficult place to go. Hope that we

will have it wrapped up by then. You never know. You enjoy it. Jon

Walters has been declared fit. This is the group, level on points with

Serbia and a really good chance to top this group. Yes, but I'm more

concerned about whales in the same group. We will come onto them! The

Republic of Ireland under Martin O'Neill are doing fantastically well

with a group of players that they've got. I will come onto Wales. Ireland

will be very pleased with the position they put themselves in.

Joint top with a couple of games to go. A few points clear of John's

country. They will be pleased. He is going to cover the game later. He's

off to Cardiff. Let's hear from Chris Coleman. The draw does not do

any good for any of us, something will have to give. If it is a drop

you've got to see what happens elsewhere, of course. It was always

going to be a tight group. The teams are very similar. 34 is a very

strong. It will go to the wire. One of us could be dropping out. It will

be exciting because both teams will go for it. You cannot draw five of

your six matches and expect to be in a great position. You cannot. They

have led in four of those games but been pegged back. The fixtures are

in their favour. In October, we play the Republic of Ireland at home. For

me, the weaker teams are away from home and the strongest are at home.

The fixtures are in our favour. Where is Gareth Bale in his

headspace? He has been jeered by fans. I remember Ronaldo scored some

goals for Madrid and he was jeered. Unless you're at it, there is a

massive price tag on his head. He is loving his life in Spain. Are you

confident that Wales will get to Russia? I am reasonably confident.

Are you concerned they will miss out? Yes, we spoke about Scotland,

dropping points and regretting it, I think that the point that Scotland

have found themselves in. You worry me know. Wales against Austria is on

tonight. You can watch action from the FA Cup qualifying round.

The Premier League show is back on Thursday at 10pm. Very special match

taking place at Loftus Road, it is the Game4Grenfell. You may remember

that Trevor Sinclair went to see training just below Grenfell Tower.

Alan Shearer is managing one team and Les Ferdinand another. Jose

Mourinho will be playing for the other team. There are tickets still

available. To support it if you can. Forest Green Rovers are a new club

in the Football League following promotion from the National League

but they are far from conventional. The picturesque Cotswold village. A

population of 5000, the smallest community ever to host league

football. Home to a club who have lived by the motto Green by name,

green by nature. The stadium is powered by solar panels, the organic

pitch is cut by a robot and the catering for both players and

supporters is strictly vegan. It started with a rescue mission,

coming here to see the club in 2010, they were on the verge of

bankruptcy. It is a lovely place and they are lovely people. It is the

choice between walking round and seeing them or getting involved. I

thought, if we're going to do this, we need to do it our way. I remember

sitting up there and seeing the chef serving our players with beef

lasagne, and thinking, wow, we cannot do that. We agreed rate there

to take red meat off the menu. It took three seasons to go completely

vegan. Does it ever irk you that the story of the ethos of the club

overshadows the football? Not really. It is what it is. We are a

progressive football club, trying to do things in a good way. We

understand what goes with it. We embrace that. We buy into it. The

most important thing is the football. Your plans are huge. The

eco-park built entirely out of wood. That is right, even the stands. You

see concrete steps. In this stadium they will be wooed. 75% of it comes

from the materials of its construction. Wood is a very stable

materials about doing that we will have the greenest football stadium

in the world. Your dad was a Leeds legend. You played for him, and now

your son is playing for you. He deserved his place on merit. Is

grandad still involved? He keeps a keen eye. When I speak to him he

gives me a lot of advice, probably in a nicer way than the manager. The

profile your football club gets is quite extraordinary. Since the

Wembley when -- Wembley victory millions of people have seen us. We

have reached improbable places, are story has been everywhere, which is

amazing. It is great because as an environmentalist it is not just the

story of a football club but the story of the environment, things

that we will need to change. Forest Green Rovers will play in the

Football League for the first time, beating Tranmere Rovers in the

play-off final. It is nice to be known as the person that got them in

the Football League but the challenge will be to stay there. We

will progress and go as far as we can. If the chairman is anything to

do with will be an awful long way. Where will Forest Green Rovers be in

ten years? The Championship, and the eco-park. That would be the pinnacle

of your dreams. The thing about dreams is when you reach the

pinnacle of them, you often see the pinnacle of another. It is great to

see that insight. It is fascinating. Isn't it good to challenge the

conventional wisdom surrounding football? Fair play to them.

Interesting to see if it catches on. I would like to know what the

pre-match meal is, it would certainly restrict what I would eat

when I was a player. I hope it works. I've got to say, the food is

delicious. Is it true that Craig Bellamy when feeding for a while?

Yes, he said he was enjoying it but he lost a lot of weight and he was

quite worried in the end. It is something he tried for a couple of

months. He lost three kilos within three months which was worrying. You

could not give up your check on Saturday skewers. I could not give

that up. You are a simple man, he loves his family and he loves Wales

and he loves meat. We are back for a full hour when the Premiership

returns. All seven of last year's top seven are in action. Should be a

good Match of the Day. Goodbye. Dele Alli is off the mark! That is a

brilliant finish from Saudi money.