Last-gasp Liverpool take a point, after shock defeats for Villa + Man Utd

**James Richardson** (0:00)
Opening weekend of the new season on Already, with more rash assessments than a skin clinic when the plagues hit town, it's The Totally Football Show. Hello, if you're one of those joining us for the live experience, us tonight being myself, Colin Millar, here in the studio. Lovely to see you, Colin.

**Colin Millar** (0:25)
Lovely to be here, James.

**James Richardson** (0:27)
Talk us through the shirt, Colin.

**Colin Millar** (0:30)
Yeah. So I'm wearing what can be described as a Technicolor shirt which has been inspired by, I should say, the early to mid-90s Premier League goalkeeper tops, which as many people of certain vintage will remember, were slightly more experimental than they are today. But this is a tribute to them, a tribute for the Premier League being back, and yeah, I thought it was a good time to bring it on.

**James Richardson** (0:53)
It's a magnificent tribute. Brilliant. Thank you so much, Colin. In a rather more understated, but no less pleasing, Italia top, here's Duncan Alexander. All right, Duncan.

**Duncan Alexander** (1:03)
Hello, you all right?

**James Richardson** (1:04)
I'm very well. Lovely to see you again. And we've got our headphones on because joining us from the world of football is Daniel Storey. All right, Daniel.

**Daniel Storey** (1:15)
Plain white t-shirt for me. All very boring, I'm afraid. But good evening, and all the same.

**James Richardson** (1:19)
Well, you're going to bring so many highlights from what's been a busy weekend for you in particular. You were for West Ham yesterday for what was the biggest crowd in the championship? Talk us through the staff.

**Daniel Storey** (1:33)
Yeah, they really pushed that before kickoff.
Sixty thousand people there to watch West Ham lose their opening championship game, home game of the season to Charlton. By the end, it did feel like maybe they'd prefer fifteen thousand people in there to see it because everybody was incredibly angry in that sort of way that only West Ham fans can really do five minutes before the end, screaming the C word at anyone who has the ball. So very enjoyable stuff.

**James Richardson** (2:01)
Plenty of angry fans, of course, of big sides because it was a remarkable opening weekend. Does this happen every season, Colin? Or do I just forget the number of big sides coming out of Cropper?

**Colin Millar** (2:13)
It feels very pronounced this weekend, doesn't it James? I think that we saw Manchester United obviously in the early Saturday game, and you kind of say, they look really undercooked. Then you see Tottenham later in the day, and that takes it to the next level of they're really not ready.
Then Aston Villa thought, well, we've been inspired by that, so our performance at Brighton being four goals down in half an hour. I think there's just a lot of teams who aren't ready for a variety of reasons. A lot of teams are short in terms of their squad, short in terms of players who aren't there. But I think with the managerial upheaval this summer, I think a lot of clubs just maybe aren't anywhere near hitting their stride. I think a lot of them still look like they're in pre-season. But it certainly led to a lot of really interesting outcomes, I think, throughout the games and a lot of, I guess, surprising results. But I don't think any that were really surprising based on the actual games themselves. I think Hull's win was deserved and Brentford and Brighton were excellent to the New Orleans.

**James Richardson** (3:06)
None of us want, oh sorry Duncan, you go.

**Duncan Alexander** (3:08)
Well, if you want to put a raw number on it, which who wouldn't? It's the first time since 21-22 that two of the big six have lost on the opening weekend.

**James Richardson** (3:17)
Is that right?

**Duncan Alexander** (3:18)
And we've still got Chelsea to play tomorrow. Yeah, it is relatively unusual.

**James Richardson** (3:23)
Nobody wants to make pronouncements about teams form until at least, I don't know what, 90 minutes of football will be in play. But it's really tempting when you see games like the Hull, Man United one, or Spurs away at Brentford. Daniel, is it not tempting to make some sweeping pronouncements?

**Daniel Storey** (3:45)
Yeah, it absolutely is. Like, what's the point in doing this, right? If you can't make yourself look stupid in nine months' time. And yeah, particularly in the case of Man United and Spurs, they are clubs who, in our pre-season preview pod, said really need to start quickly for different reasons, to kind of show that the rot has been removed with all the new signings, in the case of Spurs, which didn't look like it had, and to show that Michael Carrick can work as a permanent boss, rather than just an interim, I'm not Ruben Amerim, but I am wearing a t-shirt saying, I'm just not Ruben Amerim, and that seems to have worked for the first four months.