12/01/2014 MOTD2 Extra

Hello, welcome to Match Of The Day 2 Extra. We are on BBC One, BBC Radio

5live and on the BBC Sport website as well, to discuss the weekend's

football. Coming up this lunchtime, we will look back on yesterday's

games, and focus particularly on the boss -- on the battle at the

bottom, which includes practically the lower half of the table. We will

also look at Newcastle vs Manchester City and Stoke vs Liverpool. With me

in the studio this afternoon is a former Burnley, Bolton and Wigan

manager, Adam Coyle, and Rory Smith from the times. We want your views,

as ever. Text us, or get in touch via the BBC Sport website as well.

We've got an awful lot to get through, but any side, from ten

down, must be worried about dropping out of the Premier League. Very much

so. It is starting to compact at the bottom, and a lot of clubs will be

looking over their shoulders. But that is the Premier League. There is

constant pressure from week to week. Many will have seen it before, and

it will stand them in good stead. I think we are in for the most

exciting relegation battle we have ever seen. Possible. We often have

seasons where we get the big finale on the last day, at the bottom or at

the top. We may even get both this season. Normally you have three or

four teams. That is not the case at the moment. I don't really see that

changing, because if you play against each other week to week, a

lot of teams, going into the business end of the season, have

real fears of relegation. The cliche is there was always one team that

dropped like a stone. That's true. A lot of teams are used to playing

under pressure. It tends to be a team like Hull or filler, in the

position they are in now - not that I am saying it will be them! -- Hull

or Aston Villa. The other thing that is crucial now is the way the

fixtures fall, who you played in the first half of the season and who you

play and where you play in the second half. One club that will be

properly affected by that will be Sunderland. They went to Fulham

yesterday and beat them 4-1. Let's get the views of the manager. I

think we started well. We were in control of the game. We were

dominating. We had some really good chances. One was for Berbatov, and

you want chances to fall -- to fall for a calibre player like that, but

it didn't come across. From the free kick, we saw ourselves 1-0 behind.

We had a massive mountain to climb, and that mountain grew bigger when

we conceded another just before half-time. Every time we put a few

results together, we couldn't make the last one to go off the bottom.

We did well. We did it in style. A very, very good performance today.

The interesting clip from Renny Meulensteen there was that he

highlighted chances that Fulham missed. But you look at goals

against. They have conceded 46, 11 more than anyone else in the Premier

League. So they are going to have to have parity with the back four, and

not miss those chances. They are always very strong at the back, and

if they get back to that, I do think they have matchwinners and

goal-scorers at the top of the pitch. But they have to stop

conceding goals. If you are going to concede one two, three goals every

week, that is a lot. I think Hangeland is key for them

defensively. He has been and awful mess for them. He has been missing

for a while now. I would expect them to tighten up defensively when he is

back. You worry for them. They have made a managerial change. They can't

do it again. They are now losing heavily, and that is a bad

combination. It is a managerial change they have made without

seeming to believe it. They brought in Meulensteen. They then brought in

Curbishley as technical director, which I wasn't aware was a role that

he wanted. You then bring in an assistant head coach. It looks like

they are putting a patchwork staff together without having a cogent

plan. That has been the case for so long at Fulham. It is an ageing

side. There is very little pace and very little useful exuberance. There

was a lot of material players there. You wonder if they have the balance

in place. Like any team at the bottom, you need your best players

available. West Ham have been decimated. Hangeland is a huge mess.

Sometimes it takes that one key player to make a difference. --

Hangeland is a huge mess. Do you think that Martin Jol is culpable to

allow that squad to age in the way it did? He is looking for people who

are a decent value for money with lots of Premier League experience,

and as a consequence, he had or has a really old squad. They made the

change, with players coming in, and that eventually happens. For me,

Martin Jol would have seen that three. To me, it is a great

opportunity for Meulensteen and his staff to see the situation through.

I'm not sure what Martin Jol could've done. There wasn't the

money there. That's true. We live in a blame culture now. For any

football club, it is always a collective effort.

For Sunderland, not getting any blame at the moment. He went into

yesterday's game saying, we have to treat this as a Cup semifinal. Every

game now ought to be a Cup semifinal for Gus Poyet, because it worked!

Every game is a cup semifinal! It was good for Sunderland. They are

restrained side. They do have some good players. They have a lot of

players on more money than they may be deserved. Again, it is a

patchwork squad, but there are two or three matchwinners there. I have

watched them since Gus came in, and I think they have played very good

football. They have never looked at that cutting edge in the final

third, but they looked it yesterday. They looked as though they could

score more goals, and that will stand them in good stead. The other

thing, prior to yesterday, Sunderland wanted four points from

the bottom teams in the table. If you can win those games against the

teams at the bottom end of the table, those other games that keep

you the league. If he keeps them up, it will be one of the achievements

of the season. That's right. I think he has given them performance. The

Cup wins have helped as well. There's been a lot of speculation

about Fletcher leaving. For me, he is an outstanding player. Those are

the type of players you need to keep at your football club. The point you

made about the amount of points they have picked up in that mini league

at the bottom, most of those sides still have to go to the Stadium of

Light, because, as everybody knows, they had this difficult fixture list

at the start. The way it has fallen, they should have a stronger finish

than they did start. They have all of their rivals to come. You win six

or seven games at the Stadium of Light, and you should probably stay

up. The other thing, as well as being a blame game at the moment in

this country, as soon as somebody puts two good games together, they

then ought to be going to the World Cup! We have had tweets about Adam

Johnson and whether he could make a late run for the World Cup squad. I

would be surprised. When he was at Man City, playing 20 minutes, he

looked an England player. Then when he went to Sunderland and you were

looking for 90 minutes from him, week by league, he looks less of a

long -- less of an England player. If you can get Adam Johnson doing

what he did yesterday for 90 minutes, week in, week out, then

maybe. That is a key. Particularly for winners. There is no doubt he

has talent and pace. But you have to do that week in, week out. No

question about his talent. He is one of the best technical England

players about. But he is quite predictable in terms of what he is

going to do. He will cut in and shoot. But he is very two footed. He

needs to realise that he needs more than one string to his bow to mix

that up. But he is a strong player. Mentally, he is focused. Gas has him

in the right place at the moment. For me, Gareth Barry has been

outstanding. He scored a great goal yesterday. If you are looking for

players to force their way into the England squad, he is a contender. He

looks like he has a new lease of life at Everton. So if you sent your

full back up to allow Alan Johnson to go down -- Adam Johnson to go

down the outside, he would rip you up! He tends to play on the right.

He does come in a lot. He is better as a sort of impact sub, for half an

hour at the end. That's not an insult. But as a World Cup player,

him and Townsend could do the same thing. I think you will be getting a

few full -- a few phone calls from the full backs he has been playing

against! He loves feedback! Robert Wilson, a Fulham fan, says that it

is a dark day when Adam Johnson scores a hat-trick against you.

Michael Brown said that Fulham made an abysmal start under Martin Jol.

But we have had had sparks of improvement. Another, we find it

pretty disappointing how we are playing at the moment. If you look

at our squad compared to the others around us, I would generally have

thought we would be ahead. But the players are still struggling under

Rene Muelensteen. The other big game yesterday was Cardiff against West

Ham. West Ham won by two - zero. Mark Noble got the second of those

goals, and we spoke to him. It was tough, but the lads stood together.

To get the goal and hang on, because Cardiff put us under some pressure

in the second half. Obviously, Thomas got sent off. It became a tax

versus defence. But then I managed to get the point, getting in the box

on my own, and slotting it away. I have been on my NatWest Time for

years now, and I am used to it! -- on my own at West Ham. We have stuck

together as a club. It was big that the chairman came out and stuck by

the boss and backed him. We have come here today at a tough place,

with a new manager, and managed to get three points. There was such a

contrast in the West Ham that played at Cardiff yesterday to the one that

played at Man City during the week. Some have said that that is down to

the opponents. That is no disrespect to Cardiff, more praise to Man City.

But it is more than that, surely. I know they put out a young team at

Nottingham Forest, but they have scored a lot of goals against

everybody this season, especially at the Etihad. But you should not be

conceding six goals to anyone. Sam Allardyce has always seemed to be

well organised, disciplined and intelligently set up, so that will

have full and infuriated him. But it doesn't say a lot about Cardiff. In

their defence, you have to say that, in their defence, they are very

short of players. Manchester City, in full flight, can do that to

anybody. They have opened teams up, cut them, and everything else. Sam

Allardyce, even maybe the players mentally don't want to go to

Manchester City and lose heavily. Knowing that Saturday's game at

Cardiff was huge, so mentally, physically, that was the game they

were prepared for. I completely agree. He didn't exactly sacrifice

the cup. You know you have a big game coming up, and that can affect

you. For West Ham, that was probably the biggest game of the season.

Going into that, Sam was under duress. With West Ham, the owners

came out with the letters to the fans, which was brilliant. That

performance from the players and the staff yesterday showed that West Ham

were united. Guy Demel is out of hospital this

morning, which we should say. Andy Carroll is the gamble that Sam took

this season. He has not played for the first five months of the season.

He came on yesterday and set up Noble for the goal. That is an

enormous boon for them going into the rest of the season. If they get

Collins back as well, they look too solid to really be sucked into it.

You would have thought they would get out of it if those players get

back. Andy Carroll never started, but he was in the squad and that

gives the squad left. Good players like to play with good players. They

recognise a top talent is back in their squad, the body-line which

changes, they think they can win the games and that is how it proved.

Nolan is an interesting one, that is a major decision for Sam Allardyce.

Getting sent off once for a silly tackle, you can accept, doing it

twice... There is a source of frustration as well. He's desperate

to do well for his team. He's a real team player. But the fans have been

on his back. He made a bad decision, that is what happened. If you

watched last night, he was at the side of the pitch and when West Ham

scored you could see his face, as a captain, the celebration and

everything else. I think you still got an important role to play. Let's

move onto side that were beaten by West Ham, Cardiff. Here is Oleg

Solskjaer's thoughts. We never got going in the second half. The energy

and enthusiasm we saw was not there. Obviously we wanted to win here

today, but it wasn't to be. We had about double the possession of them.

Twice the shots. Sometimes, for all is that way, you don't get what you

deserve. Five points of Number 10, so there are two leaks. It is so

tight, from ten down. We will be competitive, don't worry. Let's do

the possession and shots stats first. We love stats, obviously. But

West Ham allowed Cardiff to have the ball in front of them, they allowed

it to get it wide and put a cross in because they knew they would beat

Fraizer Campbell in the air, for most of it. Stats can be misleading?

Of course, teams can dominate games, 70% possession, but they don't turn

it into real goal-scoring opportunities. Whereas the team with

35% have a cutting edge. I think Sam realised what Cardiff's threat was,

they let themselves more wide open, they allowed across is to come in.

Talking to a lot of West Ham fans this week, on phonings, if they did

not have a manager and were in the situation that they were in, Sam

Allardyce would probably be the man they would turn to to get them out

of that. Which is a huge tick for Sam Allardyce. How may people would

have gone for Solskjaer to get them out of it? I think it's quite an

exciting appointment. He is a young guy. People say he has no expedience

of the Premier League as a manager, but he did work at Manchester

United. You know, he has worked in England, done well in Norway. It's

exciting, but it's a gamble at the same time. Appointing any manager is

a gamble. In fairness, he cut his teeth, he went to Molde, and he has

ten down opportunities before. If he feels this is the right opportunity

for him, there is no getting away from it, it is a tough job. Joachim

K did fantastic, we are all surprised by the events when he

left. Now Solskjaer comes into a real dogfight, relegation battle. It

will certainly mean knowing what the Premier League is about from a

managerial point of view, it is a tough job. I asked the Cardiff

chairman yesterday, if you look at the programme notes, a lot of his

backroom staff have got Manchester United connections, was that

deliberate? He looked at me like I was an idiot and said, well, would

you not want to tap into that expertise? He introduced the

Glazers to Manchester United as well, which I'm sure everybody at

Old Trafford is grateful for! Some of the people from Molde have gone

with him, they are well thought of as coaches. I think it's an exciting

appointment in terms of being a young manager. He has as much

pedigree as you could hope for, he has won two titles. We tend to look

at Norway as a lesser league, but it is not an amateur league. There are

some decent sides. He took a side that hadn't won a title in 100 years

and did it twice, then won the cup. The issue is if the timing of him

arriving in a land or Wales is a right one, if he is the man that you

want in the thick of a relegation battle. I think he understands how

football works, he's been a terrific player, he's using it as an avenue

to get a terrific job. If it was a Championship club, went to Molde

grow and did well, then to have got that job in the Premier League, does

it help that you have been a fantastic player Manchester United?

Of course it does, I think we understand that is how it works.

Another Premier League manager, an ex-player managing in Norway, Brian

Deane, who saved them from relegation. He's a great goal-scorer

for Leeds, but would a Premier League club be wanting to bring

Brian Deane in? It's not to be dismissive, I think you can do a

fantastic job, it's just some have easier routes than others. One of

the reasonss we want to talk managers is that the Sunday Times

has done an interview with Richard Bevan, Jonathan North Croft has

spoken to him and the interview says we want clubs to obey the law. With

all of the sackings that have gone on, the Observer today as well, they

do a double page spread of all of the managers that have been sacked

in the Premier League since it started. There was no football

before the Premier League, as we all know, of course(!) But his point is

that clubs don't necessarily obey employment law because their first

way of thinking is, we want to minimise the amount of money we paid

to a manager? First and foremost, Richard Bevan and the LMA do a

fantastic job, protecting managers and everything else. That goes

without saying. From my own experience, all I can say is that

any club I have been at they have always dealt with it the way that

they showed. But, like any business, people will want to cut costs and

everything else. For me, it's important when any manager goes to a

foot or club that, contractually, everything is there for them and

they know it will be honoured. If it is, that should be done right. I

think it is when grey areas crop up in contracts that can happen. 23

managers sacked in this season, 2013-14. Should we be worried about

that, Steve Wilson? I am not desperately concerned about it, I

have had to say. Because you are not a manager! So managers get sacked

and it leaves you scratching your head and you can't understand it.

Sometimes they get sacked and you scratching your head and it works

out to have been the correct decision. Nigel Adkins is the

obvious example. I don't think there are ever right or wrong decisions,

it is just the decision, it is what happens after. The other thing I

have said before, as long as we understand the nature of the beast,

we enter into it with our eyes wide open, as long as you are always

treated fairly, that is the key evident Richard Bevan said, as long

as people are treated fairly, they understand the nature of the game

and how it works. There are some downsides in football management.

But the good side outweighs that. It's the best game in the world and

that is why we enter into it. The managers where you hope the LMA

provide back-up, legal advice and the rest of it, people managing for

six months in League Two, the rotors pulled out, short contract, no

payoff and it's hard to get another job. Those are the managers you

should be concerned about, with all due respect to the people in the

newspaper that have been sacked with Premier League clubs, they have all

left, you would expect, with a good payoff because there should be grey

areas in the contract. Nigel Adkins, 40 public sympathy there was when he

lost his Southampton job, he will have got eight good payoff from the

job and will take over at Reading? And then West Brom will think about

appointing Nigel Adkins. There is a huge issue further down the league

were the managers have no security, often the contract are not paid up

and they are living hand to mouth. That is why it is important that

everything is seen by the LMA, and those contracts are honoured to the

letter of the law. There is a flip side, you might argue there are

managers that are still in the job because the club can't afford to

sack them, lower down the division. It might even extend their life?

They might get a board saying, we can't afford to get rid of them? If

that's the case, you might give them the opportunity to do the job that

they came to do in the first place. Exactly, it might work out well.

Andy in Southampton, speaking as a Southampton supporter and

yesterday's match, I think West Brom are in trouble. They were abysmal, a

waste of time from the first minute and put everybody behind the ball.

Martin says Martin Jol must take the blame for the mess Fulham are in.

Players brought in on an ad hoc basis, with no plan on how they

would work together. He was sold short by the board on transfer

fees, but fitness and organisation cost nothing. The most popular

question on Twitter this afternoon was asking you three who you think

are the three that will get really get it. I know people and for all

our lowest to point out the three-day think will go down? -- I

know that people in football are loath to point out the three that

they think will go down. It is probably three from ten teams at the

moment. That is not wriggling out of the question? If I genuinely felt

there was one team guaranteed to drop, I would tell you. Steve

quickly agreed with you. Steve and Rory are in a better position to do

it. He's BBC, he has to be in impartial. Sunni I asked Michael

Laudrup if he thought he could get sucked into it. He said, the fact it

is so tight, if you can put together back-to-back wins, you can shoot

from 17th to 11th. He thinks his team is good enough to put together

back-to-back wins if push comes to shove at the end of the season and I

agree. You heard Solskjaer say five points from 10th, they will all feel

what they need to do is make sure they park that and that they are

capable of winning those games. The other thing is, it will change from

week to week. When your team wins, fans think you are the next

Barcelona. You lose the game and they think it is the worst scenario

ever. That is the beauty, why we love football. For full disclosure,

in the paper last week, we had to predict who would go out of the FA

Cup, a stupid thing to do, because it is a random draw. I predicted the

castle, I am probably not well-qualified. -- that Newcastle

would win. I think Swansea, Stoke, they are too good to be sucked into

it. I think the bottom six as they stand will be where the bottom three

come from. We are getting a lot of Villa fans saying they will be in a

relegation battle. I am surprised they are where they are. I have seen

them play three or four times this season and they have difficult

matches. I haven't seen very much from Villa this season. Craig

Walker, I am at a Villa on Monday night, I don't want to take response

ability for your comments, he says, I have been a Villa season ticket

holder for many years, I personally think we are that big team that will

be relegated this year. Let's focus on today's games with Owen Coyle,

Steve Wilson and Rory Smith. The four o'clock game, which you will be

able to listen to one BBC five live, Stoke against Liverpool. We have had

some excellent results, very good performances. We know it is going to

be a tough game. We respect them, we still have a lot of the players that

were there, they are strong and committed. It is a difficult place

to get a result. We will be prepared and ready for that. Given their

form, given what they are trying to achieve this season, if they are

ever going to win and Stoke they've got to do it today? They have won

very heavily at Stoke in the past, a League Cup tie, about 7-0 a few

years ago. What is the weather? If it is raining, the wind is blowing

at the Britannia Stadium, it is very hard to play football there. Stoke

are a decent side. What Liverpool are going to turn up? They look

great at home, not too clever away from home sometimes. The performance

at Hull, who would have happened down to lose there? The one thing I

would say is that Stoke can't play Assaidi. Even when they lost against

quality sides, they were terrific. Do you feel that they just have that

little banana skin in them, in a way that Chelsea debut don't? I think

people are saying that because what happened in previous years. Chelsea

have certainly looked more solid at the back. Liverpool are pleasing to

the eye, they look at the top end, they looked explosive. I think

Liverpool can go and win it at Stoke. A tough game, but I think

they can win that match. They really have to. They have lost their once

and drawn four times, it's not the fact that Chelsea won yesterday, it

is not the fact that Manchester City might beat Newcastle, Liverpool need

to think about Manchester, Spurs and Manchester United and they won

yesterday. They have to win to keep that slender advantage. Top at

Christmas, Liverpool, and if it goes against them today, they could be

seventh. I know they normally get points, but they perform really

well. Coming out of those two defeats, it was really important to

get that win, and they did. Is Brendan Rogers a good example, when

we go back to talk about managers being got rid of after six months or

year, that actually - and I hate word project - but when there is a

project, it takes time. Both in coaching the players you want to

play and bringing in the personnel. Brendan had a coaching history of

working at Chelsea. Then he had a managerial job at Watson -- at

Watford. Then he went to Reading. No doubt up to that point. I think it

was six, seven months. Then Reading made the change. But to be fair,

Jenkins at Swansea recognise the ability he has. He has a great lad.

Outside of football, he is a terrific man, and I am delighted to

see him enjoying the success he has. I think he can take Liverpool from

strength to strength. It was difficult for them last season.

There is no pressure for him inside the club. The owners have always

been very supportive. They made it clear that Brendan Rodgers was their

guy, and they wanted to see the project through. You can't avoid

that word now! I think they sat that -- sat down collectively, and said,

we are going to get young, talented players through the side who can

grow and get better. That's what they are doing, and they are getting

better. They hit the point that was more or less rock bottom for

Liverpool, in that context of how bad it gets for them. Under the

previous owners, really. The club was shattered. Roy Hodgson was the

manager at the time. They had a home game where there was about 13,000

empty seats. The lowest crowd at Anfield for donkeys years. Then they

went to Blackburn and got heavily beaten midweek. Roy lost his job

after that. You are not going to bounce back from that quickly, and

the new owners have to... I think they are going to have to get a

Champions League place this year, otherwise your top players are going

to crave Champions League football. Suarez will be playing in the

Champions League next year, for somebody. Let's hope it's for

Liverpool. In Carlisle, someone says they have just watched Norwich. He

says, just watched Norwich to slip into trouble big style. Hope you are

back soon, Owen. And on Johnson, Phil says, he is playing at a

struggling club, and that makes it difficult to play well week in, week

out. How will we know if Johnson is up to international standard and

less we give him a chance? Do contact us. The early game at 2pm,

Newcastle vs Manchester City. We will talk about that after we hear

from both managers. It is very important when you come up against

teams of this quality, that the consistency of performance goes

through 90 minutes. You can't start poorly or end poorly, like we did

against Cardiff. That's something weenie to work hard on. We have lost

the last three games on set plays, something else we have touched on.

Manchester City have got a real flair from set plays. It is very

important for me to be an attractive team to see. I think that, for the

moment, we just scored one goal less than the complete last year of this

team, so that is very important, not only to win a trophy for me or for

the team, but the way that we must play. The former Newcastle keeper,

Steve Harper, is covering this game for 5live this afternoon. How are

you? Newcastle's recent form, after going so well, they have lost the

last two in the league, and the defeat in the Cup as well, which is

a concern for Alan Pardew. It is. They had a good run before that,

winning seven out of nine. But this crowd soon forget that. It's a very

important game here, but certainly one the can go into and get a very

positive result. How'd you think they can take on Man City? Can they

match them how wise, at least? I am not sure power wise, but they need

to do what they did against Chelsea, which was stay in the game

for an hour. Turn them round, get a bit of pressure on them in the

second half, and hopefully come on top that way. It is a very

powerful, frightening Manchester City. As far as Newcastle are

concerned squad-wise, the starting 11, they are fine there. They could

do with some reinforcements, couldn't they? Of course. As a fan,

you would want that. Manchester City and Chelsea are mega clubs with

almost infinite budgets, and Newcastle are not like that. As a

fan, Alan Pardew would like one or two options at the top end of the

pitch, because they have been pretty good defensively. Man City tore them

apart first game of the season, so they will be looking for some

revenge. As a fan, you would be looking for one or two additions.

You look at the likes of the players Manchester City will have on the

bench, and it just shows you the difference between the two clubs,

the gap that has appeared between them. As far as the budget is

concerned, that is. Alan Pardew has said that a successful season for

Newcastle would be to finish sixth, if they don't qualify for the

Champions League, because he would not want to finish fifth and qualify

for the Europa League. We have seen the effect that qualifying for the

Europa League does have on you. The teams in the top three seem to be

away, and the next four teams are in there. The bottom 11 clubs are going

to be in for a scrap. It will be very tough for Newcastle to get into

the top six this year, but as long as they are comfortably in the top

ten and can build on the squad going forward, everybody will be happy.

Good to talk to you. Steve Harper covering the game for five line this

afternoon. -- 5live. Aside from winning the FA Cup, what would be a

successful season for Newcastle? I think finishing sixth will be

fantastic. They will have let me down personally! I think finishing

sixth will be a dream come true for Newcastle. In terms of reality, as

it stands now, possibly eight. They might get seventh if one of the

teams above them falls away, but as Steve says, that is the perfect

analysis of the league. The top three have gone. There are four

teams behind them. Then the bottom 11 fighting it out. That is how it

will pan out. I wouldn't disagree. It is a priority for Alan Pardew, in

this transfer window, to keep what he's got. That is maybe his first

priority, because there's a that someone might come in and bid for

Cabaye or Ben Arfa. He needs to keep what he has. He has a good 12 or 13.

He needs to have them in February as well. Alan Pardew was the first

manager to come under pressure this year, when people were gunning for

them, and he has stayed. He will be looking to get them back to that

quality, because if they do, they have shown they are capable of

winning games. It has shown, the Europa League - you have experienced

that that season. I think Tottenham is an example of that, who compete

on the Thursday, and then play on Sunday. How did it affect you? The

Thursday-Sunday thing is trotted out a lot. A lot of fans will say, why

does Thursday - Sunday differ to Wednesday-Saturday? The whole club,

especially the fans, loved the adventure for Wigan Athletic. It was

the first time they had been in Wigan -- in Europe. In terms of the

answer to the question, when we were playing the games and sometimes we

were three -- three games behind, and there were games we couldn't

play because we were playing in Europe. I think it's psychological.

We now play Mondays and every other day in the Premier League, but I

think it is psychological. It is more catch up thing for you. Your

players could be looking at the and saying... For Wigan Athletic, we

went to play a game on a Sunday, and we were three games behind the rest

of the league. If you win games, you will be here, but you have to go and

win them. So there was a little bit more in terms of football pressure

on you to win that game. I think it is about and mental rather than a

physical aspect. I agree entirely, but one of the things I find most

baffling about modern football is the way that clubs talk themselves

out of competitions, like the Europa League or the League Cup. Everyone

says, it doesn't matter, it is a distraction from the league. Look at

Sunderland. They beat Manchester United, and then they went and

smashed Fulham. With any cold addition you go into, you want to do

the best -- with any competition. For Russ, it was a catalyst for us

to get promoted, because of how well we did. I love competition as a

player, and I love them as a manager. It is fantastic. You look

at Michael Laudrup, and his position is that their league position will

suffer. If you talk to yourself like that, it is going to happen. You can

use it to your advantage. We can actually do very well. Swansea are

going all the way in the Europa League because of the quality

players they have. Man City are not going to talk their way out of any

competition. They are up for a quadruple. Many people say it is

understandable because of the players they have. You can't be up

for a quadruple in January! Newcastle are not. I think a

quadruple would be great for Manchester City, but extremely

unlikely. They are playing Barcelona. Even though they have the

strongest squad in the Premier League, their big-name players are

still playing, for example, in a capital one semifinal. -- Capital

one Cup semifinal. They have that quality. They have strength and

depth. I think they are looking the team, for me, who are on track for a

quadruple. If I had said treble, would that have been better! It

would have been more realistic, but no. Even that is a big ask! The

Champions League is what they all crave, but it is a fantastic draw. I

think they are in for a real game against Barcelona. We are out of

time. We could keep arguing all afternoon. Thank you to Harry in

Southampton... Sorry, from Warwickshire. He says West Ham,

Fulham and restore Palace to go down. -- Crystal Palace. The live

football on the BBC in the game this afternoon, Stoke against Liverpool.

That is on 5 Live. And Aston Villa against Arsenal is tomorrow night on

5 Live. Thanks to all of you. We will see you on Match Of The Day to

for all of today's games. Goodbye.