Have you been on Esri, Konzer and Gabriel to score in every game? Or was there something about this game and Everton that made you want to back it for this fixture? Yeah.

Concert, I've been looking, just looking at his positions during corners, and I noticed that Gabriel, when I was at Forest, I was just behind the goal, which is a position I don't usually take up during our matches, but I noticed that Gabriel was sort of using him as a bit of a decoy, so I thought maybe they'll start aiming for him.

That's not how he scored, actually, so I'm not going to claim credit that...

I knew exactly the way that he would score, but I thought he was a little bit overpriced.

Gabriel, I do a bet where if he scores later on in the game, it's better for me because his odds to score now are obviously ruined.

So a second half Gabriel goal is always much better for me.

So no, it was good, but obviously just from purely supporting, which is the main point, I just thought that...

But just the players vying for a midfield slot, it's a particularly strong area.

But is it because he's not a wide player really? You know, the goal he scored in Europe was more when he was playing more central, wasn't it? How do you feel about him at the moment?

I mean, I think he did have, obviously, the games against Tottenham as well as ditching them on the transfer deadline day.

But the thing is, today, I do praise Arteta for making a swift decision there because he was having a shocker.

And as you say, you either forgot he was there and then...

He did this a couple of times.

I'm not sure why he did it, but he went to trap the ball today and he's trapped it like about four foot in front of him and got dispossessed.

But that happened two times in 10 minutes.

absolutely yeah um no but it's exciting to be playing by munich isn't it it's um and they're playing really well at the moment that'll be a real test but these are only someone pointed this out i think it might have been chappers actually mark chapman who was doing i watched it um look talking about the champions league saying these early stages are they like semi-pointless you know because if you just have to do well enough so you don't have to play the extra round but and yet there were loads of goals weren't they incredible number of goals and kind of really good games so i'm kind of still pretty much pretty much pro champions league

Mm

...

in the Premier League, which is, is pretty crazy.

Uh, obviously Chelsea took the lead, um, with Leeds taking the lead as well.

Um, I... [sighs] I mean, I, I thought the first hour was terrible and, and I was very, very worried, and I'm still worried that the blueprint of Brighton's success against us i- is gonna be used by other managers.

Um, and depending on the fitness and, um, I suppose stamina of, of the teams that we take on, it, it might take a while to, to, to actually break beyond that.

And I think Arteta's got to come up with a- another set of plans, because I, I think we're being scouted in such a way now.

Oh, yeah.

Is it just a blip? Or did this first defeat, this first game in which we haven't won every game until this point, does it expose underlying issues with our team and our squad, even though we've got one of the biggest and best squads, obviously, if not the biggest and best, and the way we play sometimes? Or is it just a

blip? I think...

as you see from my tweets, I've probably sat on the fence a little bit with this one.

I think it could become more than a blip.

There are lots of reasons to say it could become more than a blip.

There are lots of reasons to say it's a blip.

And in a weird way, I know we are the podcasts that like to do predictions and like to look into the future, I can't call it either way.

Not

Anyway, Alan, what did you make of the whole incident and Arteta's response?

Yeah, I mean, live in the stadium, it was impossible to tell.

And I think the weird thing is with VAR is that when you see something not overturned and you're in the stadium, I mean, as people will know, stadium-alike, you are stuck up in the gods, a bit like their friends up the road in Newcastle.

So you don't get a great view.

And it was at the other end.

And so what you tend to do when that happens is if it is VAR checked and it still goes against you, you think, well, there's enough in it there that they haven't turned it over.

And it was only when I got back in the car that I put on TalkSport as we got back to the car park.

Right.

I think it's, I mean, fair enough.

One trip to the boardroom, everything I say about the club will be great.

No, no, I genuinely believe that.

No, no, it's fair.

If you go back and watch it, there are two touches that he makes that are split-second decisions.

One gets Solis on the run.

The next one makes us give an overload on the far side because he intelligently spots that two players are making a run.

I feel like we should take that positivity and that free-flowing football that we play today into the next, you know, carry on playing that way, whether we concede an early goal or not.

Yeah.

No, we often get caught between two stalls with Havertz because if he has a good game, when he drops into the 10, everyone says, oh, well, that's perfect.

That's his position.

But then he never really backs that up.

And then, obviously, when he's chosen as a striker and gets a run of games as a striker, you start to see his limitations as a striker as well.

It's almost like when you don't see him, his stock tends to rise.

I'll give him a little excuse.

It felt like that, you know, like it was just, it wouldn't have helped anyone, so I didn't bother.

Mm

... had to sort of suffer the game with his family suffering the game because obviously they weren't playing very well, but it was very kind.

So I'll just thank Jarrod Bowen, but obviously he's not listening in.

Um, no, they, they...

See, this, the problem with West Ham, and it's, it's a weird thing and, and obviously we haven't experienced it for well over, well, 100 years, and I hope we never have to experience it.

But the thing is the, the, the sides in the championship in the Football League are really cute to there being no VAR.

And West Ham were almost too kind to, to Charlton yesterday, and it just backfired on them.

Yeah

Who, who, um, who k- kind of fouled or didn't foul him? Anyway, what did you think about that, Al, at that moment?

Um, look, I, I think it falls exactly into that category of seeing them given, but at probably the lowest end.

And when you look again, I think they are grappling with arms, and there's just one little movement that Madueke makes, which goes under the arm of the PSG defender.

And because of that, I think that's why from the ref's view that he hasn't given it on field.

And once he hasn't, I don't think you've got any chance.

So look, I'm, uh, it...

It's, you know, it's completely subjective, but I would have that as, like, a 15% penalty, and you're gonna be unlucky as a defending team to give that away.

Almost-