Hugh Woozencroft is joined by Gregor Robertson, Matt Dickinson and Tom Roddy. Happy New Year! Hopefully football gets back to it’s best in 2021 - and it looks like Manchester City are finding form again. Is this the turning point for Manchester City? On the receiving end of Pep Guardiola’s masterclass were Chelsea - with their poor form, should Frank Lampard be starting to get worried? After several Premier League players broke social distancing rules over the festive period - how should we react as fans and should the FA get involved? Things fail to improve for Sheffield United after another pointless weekend - are Sheffield United one of the most unique clubs in Premier League history? Hugh thinks Mauricio Pochettino joining PSG is a pointless appointment and he’s not afraid to tell you why and the team remember the best football failures after Timo Werner’s impressive corner flag routine at the weekend!

Get your digital subscription to The Times half price for 6 months: thetimes.co.uk/thegame (ends 05/01/21)

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

Hugh Woozencroft is joined by Gregor Robertson, Alyson Rudd and Tom Clarke. Liverpool once again end the calendar year on top of the Premier League, but not with the final two results they’d have hoped for. What’s causing the stutter to their season? After another cancellation in the Premier League - are we heading towards a fixture nightmare thanks to the new variant of Covid-19 and are teams being treated equally when it comes to postponements? After one of the strangest years ever, we bring you the end of year awards including a heated debate about ‘Manager of the Year’ and The Times’ stat-man Bill Edgar asks the questions with his special end-of-year quiz of 2020!

Get your digital subscription to The Times and get a month free: thetimes.co.uk/thegame

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

Hugh Woozencroft is joined by Gregor Robertson, Alyson Rudd and Matt Dickinson. Chelsea haven’t had a great festive period - are they complacent or are there other issues that need resolving? Why does Frank Lampard keep playing Timo Werner out of position when it’s clear it’s not working for the German striker? Arsenal benefitted from Chelsea’s problems but how do they build on this win? After the initial promise, Spurs’ title challenge has faltered with their style of play coming in for a lot of criticism - are the Tottenham fans right to be frustrated with Jose Mourinho’s approach? Spurs weren’t the only side to drop points this past weekend - Big Sam worked his magic at Anfield once again as West Brom took a point against Liverpool. Is this the start of their survival bid? After yet another weekend of VAR decisions, where are we at with the technology at this stage in the season and are the people operating it good enough? 

Get your digital subscription to The Times and get a month free: thetimes.co.uk/thegame

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

Hugh Woozencroft is joined by Gregor Robertson, Tom Clarke and Jonathan Northcroft. Leicester upset Jose on Sunday and everything is starting to click - but how long can their good form last? While people over-indulge - do footballers actually enjoy Christmas? Our resident former pro gives his take on what it’s like to be a player during the festival period. A year on from Carlo Ancelotti’s arrival at Goodison Park - have Everton got what it takes to be a top four side? Leeds lost 6-2 to Manchester United yet both teams were praised - is it acceptable to love something in sport unconditionally, especially in the case of Marcelo Bielsa’s side? Nuno Espirito Santo came out and made some strong claims about the quality of refereeing in their loss to Burnley - was he just deflecting his disappointment at the result? The last episode before Christmas ends on a positive note with our reasons to be cheerful - including how close the top half of the Premier League table is this year and how having sport while we’re all in this situation can’t be taken for granted.

Get your digital subscription to The Times and get a month free: thetimes.co.uk/thegame

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

Hugh Woozencroft is joined by Gregor Robertson, Tom Clarke and Jonathan Northcroft. Did the best team win as Liverpool and Tottenham swapped places after last night's match at Anfield? Slaven Bilić is out and Sam Allardyce is in - but was this the right decision for West Brom? The Times’ Chief Sports Correspondent, Matt Lawton drops in to tell us how the story broke before their game at Manchester City. Leeds United continue to be involved in thrilling matches - are they the most entertaining team promoted to the Premier League? Norwich have won their last four Championship games 2-1, so we end with the panel’s most predictable things to happen in football.

Get your digital subscription to The Times and get a month free: thetimes.co.uk/thegame

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

Hugh Woozencroft is joined by Gregor Robertson, Tom Clarke and Alyson Rudd. Fans continue to trickle back into stadiums, but has the 12th man shown any advantage to teams in Tier 2? Arsenal’s poor run continued with a loss at home to Burnley - is Mikel Arteta starting to show the signs of a manager under pressure? Fabinho’s non-penalty gets The Game VAR treatment with mixed opinions and it leads to a bigger discussion on whether this season is actually any good!? The Final Word takes a look at footballers hugging after matches - should opponents be interacting like this on the pitch!?

During the recording of this podcast, we heard the sad news that former Liverpool and Aston Villa manager, Gérard Houllier had passed away. Alyson Rudd shares her favourite memory of the man she worked with, while she reported on Liverpool during his time at the club.

Subscribe to The Times and get a month free: thetimes.co.uk/thegame

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

A bonus episode, originally appearing in the Stories of our times feed.

All this week, rainbow coloured bootlaces and armbands are being worn by football players nationwide. This is to mark the Premier League's annual 'rainbow laces' campaign in support of the LGBT+ community. As well as being a celebration of inclusion, the campaign serves as a reminder of the absence of openly gay professional male footballers in the sport. Why is this still the case?

This podcast was brought to you thanks to the support of readers of The Times and The Sunday Times. Subscribe today and get one month free at: thetimes.co.uk/storiesofourtimes.

Guest: 

Rebecca is a sports reporter and feature writer for the Times and Sunday Times.

Host: Manveen Rana. 

Clips used: Football Daily, Kick It Out, BBC Three, ITV.

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

Hugh Woozencroft is joined by Gregor Robertson, Tom Clarke and Tom Roddy. Manchester United have crashed out of the Champions League after a poor showing in Leipzig - is time finally up for Ole Gunnar Solskjær or should United fans have lower expectations? On the subject of United - is Paul Pogba worth the hassle? Sticking in Manchester and with the derby coming up - how are City getting on so far and how important is Sergio Agüero fitness to their success? With Millwall and QPR coming together in solidarity and the events in the Champions League in the week, the discussion on racism continues and Matt Dickinson joins to share his memories of Paolo Rossi after his sad passing at the age of 64. The team pick their favourite ever World Cup golden boot winners since Italy’s World Cup 1982 hero.

Subscribe to The Times and get a month free: thetimes.co.uk/thegame

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

Hugh Woozencroft is joined by Gregor Robertson, Alyson Rudd and Matt Dickinson. Mikel Arteta going back to Arsenal as manager was meant to be the romantic appointment in North London, but it’s Jose Mourinho that’s falling in love with his club. Why are Spurs players buying into his methods and are they happy in the process? How do Millwall deal with the section of fans who chose to boo players taking the knee at the weekend? And with VAR studying fouls in the box more than ever - are players encouraged to go down on contact and is that unsportsmanlike?

Subscribe to The Times and get a month free: thetimes.co.uk/thegame

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

Hugh Woozencroft is joined by Gregor Robertson, Alyson Rudd and Tom Roddy. The day after limited numbers of fans returned to select games in the EFL, Hugh and Tom share their experience of Wycombe vs Stoke. Oliver Giroud scored the perfect hattrick, then won and scored a penalty for Chelsea against Sevilla - but is he more than a good substitute? Aside from that, should a World Cup winner be happy playing a bit-part rule at Chelsea? The new rules applying to football clubs after Brexit are out - what impact will it have on the clubs? And a year on from Unai Emery’s sacking - are Arsenal in a better place heading into this weekend’s North London derby?

Subscribe to The Times and get a month free: thetimes.co.uk/thegame

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