The Game

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? 

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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?

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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?

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Hugh Woozencroft is joined by Gregor Robertson, Alyson Rudd and James Restall. Edinson Cavani came off the bench to turn Manchester United’s day around, but now faces potential FA action over and ill-judged social media post - do clubs have a duty of care to educate their players on cultural differences? As Raul Jimenez suffers a fractured skull in Wolves’ win at Arsenal - why is football lagging behind other sports when it comes to head injury protocol? Sheffield United are breaking all of the wrong records in a disastrous start to the season - should they stick with Chris Wilder? Was Jurgen Klopp bringing the game into disrepute with his outburst following Liverpool’s game at Brighton, or was he just using his profile to highlight the frustration with fixture scheduling? 

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Hugh Woozencroft is joined by Jonathan Northcroft and Matt Dickinson to pay tribute to Diego Maradona, who died on Wednesday at the age of 60. An infamous World Cup winner in 1986, who inspired Napoli to become a double title-winners against all the odds before publicly struggling with his demons off the pitch - we celebrate The Golden Kid.

We also get the mood in South America with The Times’ Latin America Correspondent, Stephen Gibbs and in Naples, with the Times’ Italy Correspondent, Tom Kington.

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