23/10/2016 MOTD2 Extra

Coming Bridge for the first time as

The Mail on Sunday suggests that Pep Manchester United manager. That's

The Mail on Sunday suggests that Pep Guardiola will kick out City's stars

and focus on the young players. The Sun is suggesting that Silva

could be replaced by Cesc Fabregas. Let's focus first of all on the 4

o'clock game, Chelsea versus Manchester United. Would you expect

Manchester United, Peter Bardsley, to play at Chelsea like they've

played at Liverpool? Absolutely. I think it was defensive and tactical

masterclass from Mourinho at Anfield. A top class performance.

Discipline from the wide men, Young and Rashford I was really pleased

with. I think they'll take that into the Chelsea game today. Although,

can Manchester United get at Chelsea better than they got at Liverpool?

They could, but I think very much like Phil said they'll play pretty

much the same way. They'll try to press them high, try to engage with

them throughout the pitch and try to force a mistake from Chelsea and

capitalise on it. At Liverpool Ibrahimovic had a great chance in

the second half. To their credit they only limited Liverpool to two

good chances in the game, which De Gea made two fantastic saves on.

Ollie, Manchester United's game got criticism but united may have been

blamed for it than Liverpool. Phil Neville said, I may be in the

minority but I thought they were fantastic. This is a former player.

We were horrible to play against just like Chelsea a decade ago, just

like Mourinho will want them to be now. I've watched the game two or

three times. If that header had gone in we would all be talking about a

Mourinho masterclass. Yes, I have some sympathy for that view and for

what Phil and Mark just said. I can appreciate the beauty of good

defending and of destroying other teams' attacking intent. I think

some of the blame for that game on Monday goes to Liverpool for not

breaking them down. Mourinho went there to do a job and they did a

job. Having said that, I sat down on my on my sofa for that game and

appreciating the defensive excellence of Manchester United, I

was bored out of my mind. In common I think with most of the people who

were watching it. It was a very poor game. There one a lot of incidents.

It because an excellent defensive performance. Maybe it's slightly

naive of me to say I was bored, because I'm sure a lot of

professionals can enjoy the excellence of the defence that was

going on. But I think for the wider public there wasn't a lot of

excitement in that game. But Jose Mourinho's responsibility is to do

the best for Manchester United, not entertain Ollie on his sofa at home.

Or is there a bit of both in football, is there a duty to

entertain as well. No, I don't think so. The duty there is to game the

best result for Manchester United. We are spoiled at the moment because

Pep Guardiola at Manchester City is playing this total football sort of

game. Spurs are playing entertaining football as well. All of a sudden,

we want to play tactically good football. In England we haven't

adapted to being tactically superior as the other countries on the

Continent. We need to find a happy medium in this country. Is there a

responsibility on Manchester United managers to play not a certain way,

because I know Sir Alex Ferguson wasn't gung-ho. He played attacking

football, but one of the things Phil Neville's piece said was first and

foremost Manchester United were horrible to play against. But

nevertheless we've come to expect from Manchester United a certain

amount of adventure in their play which has been lacking. On a bigger

picture, not just from a United point of view, do you feel a duty to

entertain as a team? It is a results business. First and foremost you

have to get points on the board. Going away at Anfield, it is not an

easy place. Even though you are Manchester United, you are expected

to take the game to teams and entertain us on the sofa. At the end

Jose Mourinho is going there and getting a point on the board. But is

there a pressure, Mark mentioned it, you look at what Klopp did,

Guardiola and Pochettino, do you think there's a pressure within the

game, within the Premier League from media in particular, maybe fans as

well, for everybody to play a similar way, to play to try and play

total football? Everybody has a different philosophy and means how

they set up to play. If you look at throughout the league, different

styles and different types of managers, you wouldn't say a Tony

Pulis team would be like a Pep Guardiola team, but it gets results,

these managers. They set their teams up different. Guardiola's fortunate

he's got sole top players to be able to play in an expansive way. I think

you play to your strengths. I think the teams are doing that. I think

Manchester United's performance on Monday night was a very good

performance, as away performances go. They had a couple of chances

where if Ibrahimovic could have converted the header, which was

unlucky, but all-round performance it was a good away performance. You

don't want a league where every single team is trying to play out

the back and trying to play total football. It would get boring in the

end. We would all be sitting, here we go again, everything is

cancelling each other out. That backlash has started a little bit, I

think. Leicester showed how successful a bit more direct

football can be. The backlash against the stats-directiven thing,

we had 75% possession, but we lost the game. Possession doesn't, I'm

agreeing with Mark really that it takes all sorts to make a decent

league. Talking about Leicester, but they were playing to their

strengths. Their strength was Vardy, one of the quickest players in the

Premier League. Consequencive play in the high line. What she showed,

Leicester, how clinical they were in possession, they were effective when

they had it. You can have all the possession in the world, if you are

not effective with that possession, you won't win games. Day 4 in

cricket. Bangladesh 253-7. They need 33 more to win the test. Test Match

Special is on air from 4.45. One question about Jose Mourinho.

When there was a tactical plan to be enforced in a specific game, how

much of the week leading up to that game does that tactical plan

dominate training? A fair amount. I wouldn't say every session revolves

around it but it is very much built around it. So you will do various

tactical or drills in a training session that are aimed to play that

way, to set up that way. But there've been times, I remember we

went to Liverpool and we won at Liverpool where we supposedly parked

two buses in front of the goal, which I disagree with. Yes,

Liverpool had a lot of possession but not that many chances. We did it

effectively. That was quite late, that information. We had problems

with injuries, problems with the Champions League semifinal coming

up, is he going to rest players, or is he not? There wasn't that

information about who was playing or who was not, but as a squad you knew

we would set up in a certain way and frustrate them from the off. From

Facebook, if Ibrahimovic had finished that chance or Pogba passed

better, it could have ended 1-0 and everyone would be praising Jo day.

This He came away thinking, my tactics

worked and, had Ibrahimovic scored that goal. I had a quiet

conversation with Jose Mourinho and said, I thought you were going to do

a Chelsea a couple of years back and he had a laugh with me. He knew what

I meant. It almost worked. He's not happy with coming away with a point.

He'll will with it and be satisfied with it but he'll want to win. As

far as Chelsea are concerned, if they go 3, 4, 3, how they lined up

against Hull, how will that cause Manchester United problems? How does

that play to Chelsea's strengths? I'm not sure they did play with the

3. We are unsure what system they'll go with, but if they do play with a

3 I think the counterattack for Manchester United down the side with

the pace of Young, Rashford, Ibrahimovic, but in terms of

Chelsea, they are going to have a lot of possession in and around the

pitch. We are seeing Hazard playing more central than what he is used to

be playing. I think if United can stuff him out and fill them spaces

with bodies like they did against Liverpool, I'm sure it will be a

difficult afternoon for Chelsea. To me it's got, I hate to say it, it

has draw written all over it. I'm not sure that Chelsea are good

enough to break United down if United come with a similar set-up. I

think we have to remember that Chelsea are coming from quite a long

way back. There've been a lot of discussions again there week about,

you know, the new managers in the Premier League, in terms of being in

charge of new clubs, so Mourinho, Guardiola, Conte. I think continue

ownership has got the most difficult job of all of those in that Chelsea

finished mid table last season. A lot of their players did fire at one

point under Mourinho like Hazard in particular, just haven't quite got

back to that level they were at. I think United have a better chance of

beating Chelsea than of beating Liverpool, put it that way. Do you

sense Conte in starting, and we'll talk about what Pep Guardiola is

seeing in Manchester City's youth set-up, do you think Conte will be

the manager to bring Chelsea kids through? Loftus Cheek has been

involved as well. I think there is definitely that mandate to bring

more players through. They've got a lot of good players in the Academy.

A lot of good players out on loan as well. We talk about finding the

balance. That's on the pitch, off the pitch. It is the key to

everything. Everything in life is finding balance. I think he will,

there'll be that demand of success, because Chelsea won't want another

season like last season. Part of Conte's challenge is helping players

rediscover their form, giving them the confidence back after such a bad

season last season. They'll look at youth as well. Does three at the

back work for you? I spoke to players earlier in the season and

Conte said, I don't want to play three at the back. I like to play

four. He wants to continue with the four. I think today he will keep the

four. Ibrahimovic hasn't got the pace to get in behind Chelsea. I

think they'll be more than happy to play with four again. Not banging on

about the three, but Azpilicueta has been part of the three, sit easy for

a full-back to switch and be part of a three?

I've played in a 5-3-2 in the Johnstone's Paint cup and we got

beaten. The bizarre thing I find about Azpilicueta is that he's been

playing left by the majority of his time at Chelsea and now right side

centre-back. I don't understand why he doesn't play left-sided

centre-back, he's been playing left side. Maybe it's a balanced thing, I

know he's right footed but found himself on the left side. You get

the extra man, a bit more protection for the centre-half, the two centre

halves but do I prefer it? I prefer four if I was playing, I would

prefer to play and back four than 83. As Monty Man City, the 130 game,

Manchester City against Southampton. Before I come onto your column this

morning, Ollie, why is the defeat against Barcelona, why have they

been so many newspaper stories about players unhappy in Guardiola's squad

or Guardiola unhappy with players? Do you know? The honest answer is

that I don't know does it seem odd to you? I Donnal know how the

information is coming from but it doesn't seem particularly odd

because when a club goes on a bad run these kind of stories start to

seek out but the other reason it doesn't seem odd is that some of the

issues we're talking about players who are getting older. Vincent

Kompany has been a magnificent player but struggling a lot with

injury recently, not a great surprise to me that people are

talking about maybe him being moved on, that's just the way of the

world, it happens to the best players and Vincent Kompany has

struggled a lot with injuries, getting older, been a fantastic

player. I don't think there's anything necessarily sinister in it

but I think Guardiola has a history of not being a great respecter of

reputation. There's an element of that probably involved in the

stories as well. We saw it with Joe Hart. I think you can only live or

play each week for so long on reputation alone, you have to

deliver and in Vincent Kompany's case he's been extremely unfortunate

with injuries and he's obviously doing everything he possibly can to

get back fit but each time he breaks down so there comes a point where

the club has to make a decision. He is fit and he starts this afternoon.

The headline 19 news is Manchester City's Aguero on the bench in

Barcelona and Kompany not even on the bench but both start against

Southampton. Otamendi makes way for the captain. The visitors have

injury problems at full-back, so a full debut to Sam McQueen, he's on

the left Martina is on the left. Olly, your column this morning in

the Mail on Sunday with the headline, I'd rather watch one of

Pep's failures than 1000 of the empty wins by safety first flat

liners. As be discussing, beauty is in that eye of the beholder. There

are many different ways you can appreciate excellence in football

and I'm not saying that I don't appreciate the excellence some

defensive performances but personally I would rather watch,

rather route for the kind of success that Guardiola is trying to achieve

than the kind of pragmatic approach favoured by Jose Mourinho, that's

just my personal feeling, that's my Creed election. I enjoy watching the

passing football that Guardiola promotes and I'm also intrigued,

Mark and I were talking about it earlier, I'm intrigued by what he's

trying to do. I think we're getting slightly obsessed with Claudio Bravo

and intrigued by the way that he's trying to promote the passing game

out from back which I think, as a football nation, we are very

suspicious about mainly because our technique, I think, lets us down

when we try to do it. Is it technique that lets players down

when they do this? The argument from a fan's point of view, these are all

Premier League players, so if you are being coached to pass out on the

back if your manager wants you to do that, you should be able to do that?

Absolutely. Mark, being a goalkeeper you have to feel confident in the

players around you, the centre-backs, the angles that you

may, has to be somebody coming to the ball, the spare man coming to

receive the ball, deep lying midfielder always there. Everybody

has to take part, that's the thing. If the centre-backs don't get quite

enough it doesn't create enough space. When we talk about passing

out from the back, it is about being coached to make sure people are in

the right positions rather than an ability to do it. If you are offered

football player you should be able to pass the ball 15 yards. You

should be able to but without tarring everybody with the same

brush we get quite nervous under pressure, English players, our

technique, if you look at the national team, our technique does

not hold up under pressure. The English game is 100 miles an hour

and the philosophy Pep has brought in, Pochettino, the calmness and

they've brought on a different way they play stems from the goalkeeper.

They go back to the keeper, rather than shelling it up the pitch he

puts his foot on the ball, relax and you see the centre-backs get wide

and the full-backs get high and it gives them a chance to play out. For

any player, you need to have the confidence with your team-mates that

if I get the ball under pressure, I know I'm going to have two or three

options to pass the ball, if you don't have that know how more

reluctant to take the you want off the ball for that reason. England is

in a great situation, you got arguably the best centre-back that

can play with the ball at his feet in John Stones, the danger is at

City he's overplaying out of the back so to speak because of the way

they want to play and with England, how far does he go with it? Other

players around him are not used to playing that every week and feel a

little bit uneasy and a full team is not setup and willing to make

themselves available all the time. That becomes the key to it because

if he tries to do it for England, which is what he's doing for City

and it goes wrong, we in the media and fans would hammer him whereas

arguably... That's what he's used to. That's a fear for the players,

that's where I think, I got the ball everybody looks at me because I've

played the bad Bob but actually I've not been helped out and nobody is

going to take, sorry that was my mistake I should have held it out,

they might say it afterwards but I am the focus point and I've made a

big mistake and everybody jumped on that, so there is that little fear.

I think the noise in this country, we are very sceptical about playing

the ball. We pay lip service to it, the idea of playing the ball out and

playing neat football but as soon as it goes wrong, there's one mistake,

we leapt on it and say that's the problem and it's not just Claudio

Bravo, it's John Stones. He's been hammered for trying to play the ball

out. If there's a mistake. It's in our DNA, the get rid of it thing.

It's in our game. There's a time and place, John Stones will continue to

go and get the ball because that's the type of players he is. He shy

away from it. You'd want him to because he's such a good player.

That's what I want to watch. Touching on Ingram, I think we have

the players to do that,. It has to be coached all the way through,

everybody has to be willing to make those moves. Ray parlour when he

first came to Middlesbrough and the experience of being on the other

side of the fence from being at Arsenal were you on the ball and

have three options every time you have the ball to Middlesbrough at

the time for if you don't see the first option within half a second

you've only got one life and if you don't do it within a quarter of a

second it's gone and you're off the ball. There is that cultural thing

and the players you have around you that you need to have to be able to

play the system. Is a very big subject, I feel that we got the

players to do that with England, I feel that but every time it gets

important we mess it up. How do you explain that disconnect between we

have got excellent players, players with great technique but when it

comes to the crunch. Finding the best system and the best players at

his disposal. He's got the players they are to play the system and play

nice football. We want to see that. I have to laugh at people moaning

about Pep is overrated, probably the best manager out there, you can

complain about the start he's had, people talking about the winless

run, it includes going to Spurs, Barcelona and Everton at home who

are no pushovers. Then Hewitt on Facebook says his weakness is that

he would learn from his mistakes, not to be arrogant about the English

leagues because the Spanish league is miles ahead but in England it is

far more physical. On Saturday, you talk about the different options,

Southampton, not that it matters what I think, they are one of my

favourite teams to watch this season, some of the football they

play is great because we always have an option, the full-backs, but when

Oriol Romeu gets it, with Tadic and Charlie Austin they play good

football. How does it get to that place in the first place, the

midfield, they are a team that do 50-50, they play long out of the

back at times because Jose is comfortable on the ball and Virgil

van Dijk and they have the option is to do that. They have found a happy

medium and got the players in midfield and upfront that are more

than capable of taking the ball and making runs forward. I like the way

Southampton as a football club is run, was giving young players a

chance, was somebody young and new. Sam McQueen today. Debut for the lad

today and I like the style of play and the way they are and as Mark

said they can mix it up and play nice expansive football or get it

forward down the channel to Redmond and Austin and it causes problems.

Do you think they'll cause City problems? Setup for a 0-0. Really

selling Match of the Day! Should be a terrific game. It's a big game for

City now because of the run they've been on and the beating they took in

Barcelona, they're under a little bit of pressure. But I think they're

good enough to come out and even though Southampton are a good side,

it should be a good game and I think will run. Do you think Oriol Romeu

has given them a bit more passing ability than one yammer? There's a

balance to the game, the com comment each other -- Victor Wanyama. When

he was there he won a more, more physical no Oriol Romeu is the one

that will create a lot more, he will stick the boot and every now and

then but not that type of player but looking more at more playmaking side

rather than a grafter and getting the ball and winning the ball and

passing it short and let somebody else do it. Stoke and their win at

hole, how was your overlap in Shaqiri's goal yesterday? Magical.

Do you get an assist? He didn't thank me for it, I will say that it

on Monday morning. As away performances go it was top-class. We

knew it would be a difficult game coming off the back of a 6-1 defeat

at Bournemouth, so we knew they would come out of the blocks firing.

They gave us a lot of time and space on the ball in the early periods of

the game and we knew it was only a matter of time before we broke the

deadlock and magic from the little man there. Put as one of which could

have been three before half-time. His second goal, his free kick puts

the game to bed. 2-0 away win and a clean sheet, doesn't get much

better. In front of the cameras during the bad start, Mark Hughes

always appeared very calm and seemed in some ways reassuring the Stoke

fans that everything would be all right, it was a bit similar to last

season, not a great start and everything will come good. Was it

the same behind-the-scenes? Absolutely, he was calm, we knew we

weren't 1 million miles away, played really well at Everton, lost 1-0,

the penalty I gave away. I don't think we were ever 1 million miles

away, we had some difficult fixtures early on in the season but we knew

that when that wasn't far away and to get the first win on the board

last week against Sunderland was vital and to kick on from that

yesterday to get another three points on the board was fantastic.

One of the other reasons it would appear is Joe Allen may be being

played a little bit further forward? Can you tell us how he has settled

on? I've played against him for a number of years and I'll was knew he

was a decent player but now I have the chance of playing with him, he's

exceptional. Very intelligent football player, gets in some great

positions, breaks the lines and does the defensive side of the game as

well. I know he's known for his defensive role in previous clubs,

but he's been playing in the number ten role for us but he gives us that

extra bit of protection when we haven't got the ball and he's been

outstanding for us and a great signing. Tool bars, Mark Schwarzer

and Ollie Holt with us on MOTD 2 Extra. Sunderland still without a

win after the injury time defeat, here's David Moyes.

David, straight to it, maybe a bit of a contentious decision about the

league goal, what was your stay Gonnet? Offside, do you want me to

say anything else? The boy lives his foot in front of the goalkeeper,

should be given offside. Have you spoken to the officiating team about

it? They think it's onside. You disagree with that? That's what I

said to you. Is it to do with the interpretation of the rule? You can

tell by the referee's decision to walk towards the linesman he's not

sure and I think they've got something on the mind that they're

not sure on that wasn't a goal. Some goals like that are disallowed and

today this one stood. That's right, that's what happens in football.

That's one of those we are views where you want to hind behind the

cushion. One of those interviews. Last year when they were struggling

before they got Big Sam in, there is something drastically wrong behind

the scenes, up above, whether the owner wants out or what, something

needs to be done. I feel David Moyes was a good choice of manager with

the experience he's got in the Premier League, but it hasn't

happened for them. We played them last week but the game was flat. We

took the game away from them in the first half. A very flat performance

from them. I'm sure their fans will be disappointed with what they are

seeing. And their fans at Stoke, the away fans were great. But flat is

probably a good word to describe everything around Sunderland. At the

moment they look like they are just trying to get a result. It is really

tough when you are down at that end of the table. It is only nine games

into the season and they are looking like it is already... They are five

adrift already. They are looking like, their whole body language,

like there's five game to go. What is wrong there? Why is everyone so

flat in I think also the key, what was interesting was after the second

game of the season, the Derby loss at home to Middlesbrough, David

Moyes coming out and saying, we are in a relegation battle. Two games

in, that's some statement to make. It matters to the players

confidence-wise. If you were there as a player... His body language

isn't good. He looks like a goo who is thinking, what the hell have I

got myself into here. If that starts to communicate itself to the players

pretty quickly... They see it as a challenge. He spent some money. He's

brought his own players in. Six or seven of his own players, you can't

say he hasn't had the funds to bring the players that he wanted into the

squad. I know they've got a few injuries. Cattermole is a driving

force behind the team. He's a big loss for them. But at the end of the

day when players are injured, and it happens, it's football, somebody

else has to step up to the plate. At the minute it doesn't look like many

of them are doing that. Would you be sat in a dressing room and hearing

him say, we are in a relegation ballot, if you were a player, would

you think, really? I would be concerned. Later in my career I

would have gone into the manager and said, come on, we need to sort this

out. We can't after two games be thinking already we're in a

relegation battle. It is unheard of I think to think that so soon in the

season. Are you giving yourself excuses already? He's trying to

lower expectations. There's been a lot of hype about him being

appointed as manager off the bat of Sam Allardyce having a successful

period of time. On the left, on the up. Reinvigorating players you never

thought were going to perform at that level again. Jermain Defoe came

out again last week... So they've gone backwards? Apparently it was on

their own website, so it is difficult to put blame to anyone

else or say it was misinterpreted or Moyles quoted. It was an interesting

statement which shows you there is something wrong. Sam Allardyce isn't

looming in the background here, is he? He may be. I think the longer,

again a different subject, but the longer the aftermath of his England

demise goes on, the more you ask exactly what it was he was sacked

for, to be honest. I think he was sacked because none of it looked

very good, but if you get into the nuts and bolts of it, I'm not sure

he did anything wrong. I think his slate is kind of clean in terms of a

return to club management. I don't think he is in disgrace. I think

there's nothing stopping him. I think we've also got to remember,

going back to what Phil said, there is something deeper that's wrong

with David Moyes there. He wasn't happy with what was happening in the

closed season anyway. I'm not sure the problem is entirely the manager,

but stranger things have happened. We mentioned bringing in other

players, players have come in. Somebody from Sunderland said to me

last week, Phil, rather than they brought it back to wages rather than

fees, rather than bring in two players on ?25,000 or ?35,000 a

week, they might be better off bringing in one player who would

demand ?55,000 or ?60,000 a week I don't know how the wage structure

works there or what they are willing to give the manager. It's a

difficult one. He's brought a couple of young lads in, McNair and Love

from Manchester United. When you are in the position they are in, at the

bottom be, you have to have players that can go in and play straight

away at the level that's required. I'm not sure, obviously long term he

was thinking these players are good for the long-term, but these players

need to be now. They need to be experienced players coming now and

help them get out of the situation they are in. Michael says I feel for

David Moyes. One day he'll take the team to the time. This one says he

thought he could turn Sunderland back quickly but the problems run

deeper. #bbcfootball or 85058. The yesterday Burnley beat Everton 2-1.

This is a nice interview, Scott Arfield with the winner.

Scott, you've had a few minutes to come down. How do you make sense of

that? What a dramatic finish. It was, Johann comes into the

right-hand side with his foot. It found the corner. It came at you

quite quickly. Yeah, it did. You work on that in the training pitch.

The 90th minute there's a wee boy inside you that wishes that was it,

but in front of 20,000, it is more important. I will tell you why

that's nice, fans can be cynical about how much footballers care, but

he he says in his head and heart he's a wee lad, that makes football

fans smile. It was a terrific little interview that, and a fantastic

finish. Wasn't an easy finish. He reacted very well. I think when a

lot of people stood there and watched it, he was the first to

react. Came in quickly. Technically it was a great finish. They are

still quite settled Burnley, the team from a couple of years ago,

he's added a bit, Sean Dyche, but nothing that's destabilised them...

That typifies what Burnley are about. The spirit among the players.

They are heading where it hurts, tackle. Do the hard stuff. Do the

hard yards. The spirit they've got in that camp there, a great win

yesterday. There seems to be a calmness about that club. Club. In

the same way we talk about Stoke and they've been a model, we have to

call it a crisis now in the modern game, five or sakes games,

struggling. The way Stoke dealt with it and are coming out of it, that's

a model how to deal with something like that. And the way Burnley dealt

with relegation, promotion, they've stayed steady. They've got a very

good manager, a great crop of players. They are a club to admire I

think. Think.. They do look a good crop of players. They do. They've

got a real connection with the community. You go to that ground and

it is like you are coming up against a very motivated Burnley side and a

very motivated delude are fully behind their side regardless of the

result. They know that every single player will give their all. The

other thing that was key, we touched on this last night, the importance

of Tom Heaton. He is their leader, their captain. His second season

this the Premier League and he's done very well this season. He was

very busy yesterday in the game. I think they are all good saves.

Nothing outstanding, but he was calm and reassuring. Last week's save

against Southampton, a world class save. They were unlucky last week.

They didn't get the penalty, which would have changed the game. He's

the key, but it worries me if they rely so heavily on the likes of him

to perform every week over the course of a season. That's the

biggest challenge. If I flip that as a positive, Sean Dyche last night on

Match Of The Day says how he is seen as a 4, 4, 2 man but he doesn't buy

into formations. He does, and he hasn't got Andre Grey at the moment,

but when he is back he has Vokes and Grey. He is of the belief that two

strikers will cause more problems than one. But that seems in this day

and age not a popular point of view. A lot of teams are trying to

accommodate players. These nice, technically good players. They are

trying to accommodate them and forming these systems that allow

these players of the freedom of movement. Sean Dyche says he isn't

too worried about the system itself, per se. He wants two guys up front.

But every player works hard. They lose the ball and they are

backtracking and doing their work. Taking part in the defensive

responsibilities. Responsibilities. Other teams with players more

technically gifted, it is like it is not part of their responsibility. I

understand where he is coming from and it's a nice approach to see.

Yeah, old school 4, 4, 2, you can't go wrong. But centre halves would

have more problems with Vokes and Grey rather than Vokes on his own?

Yes, the Number Ten, it becomes the midfielder's problem. If I was the

manager I would like to try 4, 4, out, to give it a whirl. Obviously

Sean Dyche still believes in it. I think when Grey comes back they'll

go with two again. It will be nice. Some time ago the orthodoxy seems to

be 4, 4, 2 you risk getting over midfield. It was almost like a fear

of being in midfield. If you got one or two who can do the defensive

work, it becomes a 4, 5, 1 anyway. Last night, we talk about Leicester

as aga example, playing in a 4, 4, system but Okosak iPlayer was

deeper. He was given the cover, doing the work you could expect your

to do. I can remember Alan Hanson saying to me that Liverpool played

4, 4, 2. They didn't. Whether it was Beardsley or Dalglish, they would

drop to help. It wasn't 4, 4, 2, with those two right up there. Kenny

in particular, he was no way a conventional centre forward. Kenny

was more of a Number Ten, a sublime player. Absolutely, he would drop

in. Again the team ethic that that, the Dalglish-Rush partnership.

Dalglish was drop deeper than Rush, object. They were as good a

partnership as you would say. Liverpool beat West Brom yesterday.

Didn't quite go top on the account. Arsenal are top on goal difference.

Liverpool, are they title contenders for you They are. The only thing...

I sense there is a but coming. I've seen a couple of times with

Liverpool this season, they get into a great position. They dominate

teams. Yesterday when it was 2-0 you thought they were going to win 3 or

4-0 but they took their foot off the gas a little bit. West Brom made an

important substitution. Later on in the game, too late, when Morrison

came on. He changed the game for them and Liverpool dropped off a

bit. All of a sudden it is the set plays. West Brom have got the best

record of scoring from set plays and five from corners I think. So it is

no surprise they scored against Liverpool from a corner. That's the

concern I have with Liverpool at the moment. They still haven't got it

down to perfection. I'm not so sure the keeper looked vulnerable to me

from crosses. Defensively they don't look that solid, attacking-wise,

Coutinho, Sturridge. For me these players can win you games but you

still have to have a defensive unit. To call them title contenders, I'm

not so sure. Going overboard? No, I think they are contenders but I

don't think they'll win it. I think it will be City or Arsenal. A United

squad, even though United haven't make a great start, the depth and

quality leaves them there. Ollie and Phil and Mark, thank you. One late

text from Roddy says a duty to entertain from footballers at nearly

?100 a ticket, darn right there is! Hopefully there'll be goals in both

of today's games. See you for Match of the Day later.

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