The Game

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Gregor Robertson is joined by Jonathan Northcroft, James Restall and Martin Samuel in The Times office.

Chelsea are close to signing Cole Palmer from Manchester City for a fee of around £45m. Should City have found a way for him to fit into their side and is a move to Stamford Bridge the best option for someone who wants minutes? (00:00)

Ansu Fati looks like he’s on his way from Barcelona to Brighton on loan. Is this a sign that Brighton are about to step up their spending? (11:00)

Harry Maguire looks like he’ll be staying at Old Trafford after a move to West Ham failed to materialise. Given his projected lack of minutes, should he still be in the England team? The same question could be asked of Jordan Henderson after his move to Saudi Arabia (16:52)

Luis Rubiales is still in a job as the president of the Royal Spanish Football Federation, despite calls from all corners to resign over his conduct at the Women’s World Cup final. How will this situation conclude and how damaging has this saga been for women's football? (34:26)

We’ve seen some Premier League teams slip up in the League Cup second round. Sheffield United went out against Lincoln City and Tottenham dropped out thanks to Fulham. We round up the latest results and ponder whether pundits should work on games where the team they support are playing (45:40)

Get more of The Times and The Sunday Times for less than £1 a day. Start your free trial: thetimes.co.uk/thegame

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Gregor Robertson is joined by Alyson Rudd, Tony Cascarino and Martin Hardy in The Times office in London.

Liverpool’s Darwin Núñez came off the bench to score twice late on for ten-man Liverpool against Newcastle United in a modern classic at St James’s Park. The Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp ranked the victory among the most special of his career, but just how big a missed opportunity was this for Newcastle?

Manchester United also produced a stirring comeback, after going 2-0 down in the opening four minutes against Nottingham Forest at Old Trafford. But has Old Trafford lost its fear factor?

Following a series of high-profile stories involving the mistreatment of women by men working in football, including the recent suspension by Fifa of the Spanish Football Federation’s President Luis Rubiales, we ask: is football, as an industry, failing women?

There was more late drama at the Emirates as Arsenal conceded an 87th minute equaliser against ten-man Fulham. The Arsenal manager, Mikel Arteta, is trying to evolve last season’s title challengers, but does he need to? And Manchester City took advantage to go top of the table with a late winner at Sheffield United, much to the relief of Erling Haaland — and Kyle Walker.

Following impressive wins for West Ham United and Tottenham Hotspur, inspired by two new recruits familiar to the Premier League, could the relatively unheralded signings of James Ward-Prowse and James Maddison respectively be the summer’s most inspired transfers?

Finally, after Joachim Andersen equalised for Crystal Palace with what can only be described as a slide tackle through the legs of the Brentford goalkeeper Mark Flekken, Tony Cascarino talks us through a goal he scored for Aston Villa that was so bad it won an award.

Get more of The Times and The Sunday Times for less than £1 a day. Start your free trial: themes.co.uk/thegame

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Tom Clarke is joined by Gregor Robertson, Jonathan Northcroft and Martin Samuel in The Times office.

Mason Greenwood will leave Manchester United imminently, but how easily will he find a new club and where in the world could that club be? (00:00)

Manchester City are being forced back into the transfer window later than they usually would. Are they starting to panic or just simply reacting to the injury to Kevin De Bruyne? (06:38)

Aston Villa are practically through to the group stages of the Europa Conference League after a 5-0 first leg win at Hibernian. How much does this European involvement mean to the club and why do Scottish clubs struggle to compete at this level? (18:22)

Everton have started the season badly and look like they’ll struggle for goals. Is this the season they finally go down and how important is moving to their new stadium in the search for fresh investment? (27:15)

Martin Samuel has written in The Times about Bruno Fernandes’ captaincy at Manchester United and why managers choose certain players to lead the team. As a former pro, Gregor has some thoughts on his favourite skippers he’s played under (38:31)

A mention of Ben Foster’s second retirement leads to a conversation about the difficulty players have getting into elite sides and how the quality of the football pyramid is improving as a result (49:31)

Get more of The Times and The Sunday Times for less than £1 a day. Start your free trial: thetimes.co.uk/thegame

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Tom Clarke is joined by Gregor Robertson, Alyson Rudd and Tom Roddy in The Times office in London, with Molly Hudson in Australia.

The Lionesses came up just short in the World Cup final on Sunday - Molly Hudson joins us from Sydney to look back on a close game against Spain and look ahead to a future with or without Sarina Wiegman in charge. (00:00)

In the Premier League, it was a disastrous weekend for Everton who won’t forget their visit to Villa Park in a hurry and Chelsea won’t be overly keen on the London Stadium after a 3-1 defeat to West Ham. How long will it take Mauricio Pochettino’s side to fully gel and what can realistically be expected of them this season? (11:40)

Tom Roddy gives us an insight into his exclusive conversation with former Chelsea midfielder Ruben Loftus-Cheek, who left the club for AC Milan in the summer. You can read the full conversation on The Times website (25:24)

Tottenham began life after Harry Kane with a 2-0 win over Manchester United. Have the club finally found the right manager to give them a clear identity and vision? As for United, are they still quite a way off where they need to be or was it just one of those days? (29:44)

Manchester City overcame Newcastle without Kevin De Bruyne, who is out for several months through injury. Phil Foden stepped up to fill in, but did he impress? (46:00)

We round up the rest of the weekend results as Fulham and Brentford share a similar problem in attack, while Brighton end the weekend top of the table despite their summer outgoings (52:05)

Get more of The Times and The Sunday Times for less than £1 a day. Start your free trial: thetimes.co.uk/thegame

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Spain are tough opponents with a lot of quality, but behind the scenes they're a team in turmoil. Molly shares tales of striking players, a coach that doesn't connect with the squad and how the team are looking to write their own history on Sunday.

Get more of The Times and The Sunday Times for less than £1 a day. Start your free trial: thetimes.co.uk/thegame

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Tom Clarke is joined by Jonny Northcroft, Gregor Robertson and Martin Samuel.

In today’s pod Manchester United beat Wolves but how did they look? Wolves lost, but how did they look.

Manchester United have more than on field issues to worry about as they are poised to make a decision about the future of Mason Greenwood.

A London derby as West Ham face Chelsea, which team has a plan and which one doesn’t?

Jonny Northcroft has been to meet the premier leagues first black official in fifteen years, Akil Howson.

Could there really be a title decider this early in the season?

And some funny stories about scary managers.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week Tom Clarke is joined by Alyson Rudd, Tony Cascarino and Gregor Robertson.

On the agenda is a scintillating start for Newcastle and a tough start for the three promoted clubs Luton, Sheffield United and Burnley.

The team hear from Molly Hudson who is following England as they prepare for a semi-final against the Matilda’s at the Women’s World Cup.

They then move on to address Spurs without Kane and Gregor finishes the pod with a fascinating take on the other impending one hundred million pound transfer, that of Moises Caicedo. Gregor recently visited Caicedo’s first club in the mountains of Ecuador, he describes what life is like for many young footballers in a country deeply affected by poverty. 

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Premier League season is back and The Game podcast previews the new season with a special two-part show. 

In Part 2 Tom Clarke, Alyson Rudd, Gregor Robertson and Tom Roddy discuss the rest of the teams in the Premier League. 

They are joined by Paul Hirst to discuss the Community Shield, debating the title hopes for Manchester City and Arsenal as well as discussing Manchester United's pre-season preparations. 

They assess whether Brighton and Brentford can hit the same heights and share some concerns over Everton, Fulham, Bournemouth, Wolves, Nottingham Forest and Crystal Palace. 

Aston Villa, Newcastle and Liverpool are the big clubs with big talking points to conclude the show. 

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Game: Season preview - part one 

The Premier League season is back and The Game podcast previews the new season with a special two-part show. 

In Part 1 Tom Clarke is joined by Alyson Rudd, Gregor Robertson and Tom Roddy to talk Luton, Sheffield United and Burnley and their hopes of survival as the League's new arrivals. 

The team also tackle some London clubs going through change this summer: West Ham, Chelsea and Tottenham. 

Finally they react to England's penalty shootout victory against Nigeria in the Women's World Cup. 

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.