Can Man City handle the fury at Anfield as the Premier League returns?

Duncan Alexander (0:06)

It's the Totally Football Show.

James Richardson (0:14)

Today, not going to lie, we're going to talk some Nations League. Tommy Tuco gets credit as England blank checks, while Spain and Portugal earn quarters. Then it's asterisk and the Premier League table. After Man City had the gall to fall in the potion, is this now a 19-team league on what awaits on Sunday as City travel to Liverpool? All that and the rest of the weekend in store in this Totally Football Show. Thursday 8th October, welcome to the Totally Football Show. Here in the studio we have Duncan Alexander.

Duncan Alexander (0:42)

Hello, James.

James Richardson (0:43)

Hi, Duncan. Hello, Julien Laurens. Hello, little boys. Hello there. Lovely to see you. We've also got Simon Hughes along a little bit later on. Who's going to be talking about the game Sunday?

Liverpool, Man City, because the Premier League is back.

Julien Laurens (0:59)

Finally.

James Richardson (1:00)

And I've got to say. Did you miss it?

Julien Laurens (1:02)

Did you miss it?

James Richardson (1:03)

Well, just the whole, the way the script writers did it, magnificent. You have this big cliffhanger just as the league is taking a break.

Julien Laurens (1:10)

Yeah.

James Richardson (1:11)

And then when the show returns, you have the villain, we just had the big reveal, the villain takes on head to head, goes face to face with arguably their biggest victim. Outstanding work.

Julien Laurens (1:23)

It is.

James Richardson (1:24)

Yeah, you couldn't have scooped him.

Duncan Alexander (1:26)

It's always two steps ahead of us.

James Richardson (1:28)

It really, really is. Yes, so I'm looking forward to the return of the Premier League. Jules, how about you?

Julien Laurens (1:33)

Yeah, although maybe slightly different in Europe than in England because the Premier League is so big here, so strong, and everybody loves the Premier League more than anything else. I think the rest of Europe has enjoyed the international break, even if it was a bit longer, even if there was quite a lot of games to be played, there was a lot of great stories obviously from Cristiano to Messi, to all those new head coaches making debut, Klopp, Charlie, Zidane, George Jesus, all of that. So I thought it was a great hiatus in between this crazy Premier League, start of the season with the Champions League coming back with big games as already as next week too.

James Richardson (2:07)

Of course big games in the Champions League next week as well. What about you Duncan? Nations League has been good, but Premier League, eh?

Duncan Alexander (2:14)

I mean, I live for the Premier League, cut me open and I bleed.

James Richardson (2:17)

Do you still bleed Premier League or are you now like, I don't know what to do with this?

Duncan Alexander (2:21)

Well, yeah, it's a bit uneasy. I think my years as a cycling fan is kind of a new meter, you know, quite knowing if something is true or not, or whether you can fully celebrate stuff.

James Richardson (2:33)

Schrodinger's Premier League.

Duncan Alexander (2:35)

Yeah, I think you kind of just have to focus on the hyper local reality of match day six and and maybe not think too far ahead because, like you say, we don't know what's going to happen with City and sanctions, but...

James Richardson (2:48)

Well, even beyond that.

Duncan Alexander (2:50)

Well, true, but away Anfield is a good way to, you know, lance those wounds briefly.

James Richardson (2:56)

I think there's the question for me of what's going to happen to them off field, but there's also the question of how do we now regard anything they do on the field, given how they came about that team? But that's a question we can maybe get on to later on as a matter for all of us and our individual consciences perhaps. You mentioned Hyper.

This week also brought Christian Ronaldo's letter.

Julien Laurens (3:16)

Yeah. Or Instagram.

James Richardson (3:18)

How many pages?

Julien Laurens (3:20)

I don't know. It was 1,740 words.

James Richardson (3:23)

I think it's about 16 pages.

Duncan Alexander (3:25)

Okay.

James Richardson (3:26)

It doesn't finish with thank you for your attention to this matter, which it really should have.

Julien Laurens (3:30)

It should have.

James Richardson (3:31)

Yeah.

Julien Laurens (3:31)

Thank you for the time you spent reading this.

James Richardson (3:33)

But I don't know whether even begin with that.

Julien Laurens (3:39)

Me neither, although it's probably not surprising if you know Cristiano a bit. And narcissist is probably right or maybe strong, but maybe not too strong either. The ego is the biggest ego I've ever met in football to start with. Right. So in a way.