England 2-3 Spain, plus Man City found guilty of 114 charges

James Richardson (0:00)

Live from downtown London, it's The Totally Football Show.

At Wembley, England 2, Spain 3, after a poor start, when Marc Gay gets charged by Yamal, normal for a Man City player, of course. England respond in style, take the lead, but without Dan Burn to throw on, taste defeat. We look back at that and the other key international stories, Zidane with France, Zidane with Italy, beaten and booed off in Mancini's first game back. Plus, panic on the streets of London and Manchester. So much to answer for. We ask, did the Smiths predict Friday's guilty verdict for Manchester City? It's The Totally Football Show. It's Saturday the 26th of September. We have Duncan Alexander here in the studio.

Duncan Alexander (0:47)

Hello James.

James Richardson (0:48)

Hi Duncan. Thanks for being with us on a Saturday night.

Duncan Alexander (0:51)

No, where else to be?

James Richardson (0:51)

It could have been anywhere in the world.

Duncan Alexander (0:53)

Technically, but yeah, this is good.

James Richardson (0:56)

But you're right here with us, as is, sort of, a bit, Daniel Storey at his place and Julien Laurens at Chez Louis.

Julien Laurens (1:04)

Hello boys. Hello everyone.

Daniel Storey (1:06)

Good evening.

James Richardson (1:07)

Good evening to you. Lovely to see you both. Daniel, you were at Oxford City, Morecambe, in the National League South earlier today.

Daniel Storey (1:17)

The National League North? Surprising, I agree, that Oxford City are in the National League North, but that is where they are.

James Richardson (1:22)

Morecambe, yeah, that would make sense. All right. Do you have a good day out?

Daniel Storey (1:26)

I had a lovely time, yes, speaking to Morecambe fans, who four years ago were playing at Switch Town in league games. And now, yes, we're at Oxford City today. So it has not gone well in the last four years.

Duncan Alexander (1:36)

Premier Football Club.

James Richardson (1:37)

Four years ago, they were playing. Now they're preparing to face Manchester City. Extraordinary scenes. Jules, thank you for being with us.

You've been busy as ever, but you had your eye on both games from England's group, but principally the one at Wembley. Did you enjoy it?

Julien Laurens (1:54)

Yeah, I thought it was great. I also watched Scotland before, which I should not have, let's be honest, because that's 90 minutes of my life that I would never get back. But I thought this England-Spain game, I was excited before the game, and I think that the two teams delivered, and there's a lot of things for us to dwell into.

James Richardson (2:12)

Right. Number one team in the world against the number three team in the world based on the summer's ranking. So of course, it was good. We're going to be talking about the England-Spain clash at Wembley. Of course, we're going to be talking about Friday's big news regarding Manchester City. Nick Hambling says, players. Actually, no, let's go with, yes.

N3WTRT says, it seems like the charges against Man City are already affecting the players involved, considering Gaye and O'Reilly's issues, but you could even argue, Rodri as well, conceding the penalty, which Kane missed. Do you think, is it too much to feel a couple of Man City players make a mistake? Their club is suddenly in confusion and doubt over their future. Daniel, what do you think?

Daniel Storey (2:57)

I think we are putting two and two together and reaching 114 probably.

No, I don't think so. They did both make mistakes, both those England players. I think that's probably a product of the system and the style in Spain being good, more than the results of Friday, I suspect.

James Richardson (3:17)

You can understand how it would be on their mind though. Having said that, another Man City player had an outstanding performance on Friday evening. Jules for Italy against Belgium, even though his side lost 2-0, Gigi Donnarumma was outstanding.

Julien Laurens (3:33)

Yeah, and Ryan Cherokee, I thought, was very good for France as well in a slightly different position for Zidane's first game away in Turkey. So clearly very, very different performances from different City players.

James Richardson (3:45)

All right, then.

Let's get a quick check on the results before we get into tonight's action at Wembley. It was a 3-2 win for Spain there in North London against England earlier in the day. As witnessed by Jules, Scotland had started life under Sebastian Poconjolu with a goalless draw away in Slovenia on Friday.

Kylian Mbappe scored the only goal as France beat Turkey. Kylian then going off with an injury which has already ended his international break. Concern for his wellness, of course, on a France and Real Madrid perspective. In that same group, Belgium took on Italy in Rome and beat them 2-0. So winning start for Marc van Bommel as the Belgium manager. On Thursday night, you had new managers for Netherlands and Germany, Xavi Hernandez and Jurgen Klopp. That game finished 1-1. Cody Gacpo with a fantastic equaliser against his old club manager, of course. In group A4, Portugal were 1-0 winners over Wales. And in probably the game of the round, at least until this Saturday, Norway beat Denmark 3-2 in Oslo with Erling Haaland scoring twice. He's now on 64 goals in 56 caps. Remarkable stuff. All right then, the game we're going to start with, though, is the one at Wembley, England's 3-2 defeat at home to Spain.