TH

The Gary Neville Podcast

Sky Sports

Arsenal's title win and Champions League

From Neville's end-of-season Premier League review | Arsenal champions, Spurs pathetic and Pep is one of the greatest!May 24, 2026

Excerpt from The Gary Neville Podcast

Neville's end-of-season Premier League review | Arsenal champions, Spurs pathetic and Pep is one of the greatest!May 24, 2026 — starts at 0:00

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I spoke to one in a taxi yesterday for about 20 minutes in the middle of London and there was none of there wasn't one Spurs fan that thought that today was going to be comfortable. They thought it was going to be a terrifying experience. I actually think that was as comfortable as they could have got in respect of I thought they played really well. They controlled the game from minute one. I thought that Connor Gallagher started that off by his first five minutes . He was really at it, running forward. I thought the midfield got a grip of the game. I'm not going to repeat this, but Everton were absolutely awful. I mean, you couldn't have actually wished for a better opponent today than Everton. They were they were dire . Um David Moyes didn't get anything out of his team, and I think he'll be unhappy about that. But for Spurs , they were dominant as a one-nil could be, and they felt really comfortable, they defended well. Everton didn't have shot on target I think till 15-20 minutes to go um their work ethic was good the compactness the shape their authority on the ball all the things that you might say wouldn't be there in a nervous, anxious ground and, a nervous, anxious team. I didn't see that. There was a lot of experience out on the pitch, and I think today they handled the occasion well. I mean it doesn't get away from how they've been and what they put this crowd through and this fan base through, but today I thought they were solid. Their third home win of the season, their first since December. It's been wretched here. The joint before today, the joint worst record with Burnley at home in the Premier League. What is it about this place? How do they start to go about putting it right? Oh, it's an absolute disgrace. I mean they were my closing words at the end of the game when you threw to me. You mentioned that obviously there was celebration and the fans were celebrating because for them it's real . For the players, I'm sure some for some of them it is real, but for some of them, I said it doesn't feel like they want to be on the bus. And that's what Roberto Deserbi is to gonna have work out in this well he's probably worked it out already. Um I mean not won a game here since Christmas uh it's absolutely shocking for a group of players that have been expensively assembled uh and for a club of such stature but they're they're flimsy they're weak they're vulnerable and the autopsy really has got to begin i'm sure it already has but they've been in fighting for their lives for the last few weeks so there's probab ly now going to be a real concentration on it whereas in the last few weeks they're probably sort of what will be toying with recruitment for next season thinking well are we going to be in the championship or are we going to be in the Premier League? Now they know for real, having escape today, they can start to basically drive a bulldozer through that dressing room because that's what they need to do. Uh it it's been a massive failing. But all through the club, you know the decisions, even the decision this week, even what's happened with R omero, watching that uh sort of emerge over the last few days, that scrub that that story. If Romero had gone back to Argentina without permission of management at the club , we would have heard about it that he'd gone rogue. He hasn't gone rogue. I think they've given him permission. I think they've said go on, get yourself back . Completely misunderstanding what What togetherness is. And I think what was that sort of that what was that sort of line they've been using in the last few weeks? Yeah, altogether always, unless you're in Argentina. Altogether, always. And do you know something? You hear some of this leadership don't you from time to time which sort of spouted out in business and spouted out in football clubs where they have signs on walls. But the problem is the actions speak a lot louder than words. The actions out on the s on the pitch speak a lot louder than words. The dare to do. Do they dare to do these players? I don't think so. Um are they always together? No, I don't think so. Is there a connection right the way through the club? No, we hear that the owners have been trying to sell this club for two or three four years now trying to get as high a park price as possible. They've done a great job in certain ways with certain things that they've built in infrastructure terms but they failed the fans on the pitch that is most important, you know, football is all all about first team performance at a football club, whether that's the women's team, the men's team. You you've got to win. You've got to win. Um, and I have to say, you know, this Spurs fans are celebrating today. And look at that sign there behind that goal. It's the perfect moment for it, Bill. Do you want to read it out? Well, there's one there that says promise success, delivering failure. Enoch out. There's another one at the other end that says love Tottenham, hate Enoch. Yeah. They need to get their act together, don't they? I mean they they they they parted company with Daniel Levy and made big promises that things were gonna be different and that they were gonna turn over a new leaf th,ings have got worse. Yeah. Well, what's happened is the always together that you mention has come from the fans because they have stayed together. There was a protest, I think, planned a few well months or so ago and they cancelled it because they recognised that the team needed them out on the pitch and Deserby needed them out on the pitch and Tudor needed them out on the pitch. They've turned up in the thousands outside the ground today, these Tottenham fans to urge their team forward and I thought that might add a little bit of anxiety to the players but it actually didn't do they handled it well but you've got players out on this pitch quite a few of them are going to be going to the world cup they've got experience they've got some quality out there um And look , is it too far to say that they've been pathetic that they should be ashamed of themselves? Probably not. You know, this is Tottenham hotspur, and I know sometimes I get mocked for saying this is Manchester Un ited. But you know, this is a football club steeped in incredible traditions. Now they've not won trophies for a long time regularly, even though they won a Europa League last year. It was fantastic and you know it was great for this fan base to to celebrate a trophy but they've been underachievers and underperforming for a long time but then this is another level of underachievement and hitting new lows you know the last two years in the Premier League and where they've been so like you say there's got to be a massive reset there's got to be an autopsy that goes really deep right the way through the club. And to be fair, when you're owners of a football club and I'm an owner of a football club sometimes you have to start by looking in the mirror yourself. You absolutely do because success sometimes doesn't come in a football club because of the decisions that you make, because of what you do, not because of what the fans do or what the players do, what the coaches do, but just right the way through here. I mean appointing Eor Tudor and having to sack him within a few weeks. Um he didn't feel right that appointment from day one, did it? It just didn't connect. Bringing the Zerbian . Yeah, what a roller coaster of a season, and uh they'll have lost a lot of credibility and trust. And you can see the signs that are up there that you've just read out at the opposite end of the ground against the owners, and I'm not surprised . Let's throw this forward a little bit. I think a lot of Spurs fans, certainly ones I've spoken to, are quite excited now that you know that if we stay up, then things could get quite exciting under Roberto De Zerbi. We've seen it probably the most stable Premier League club he, managed to fall out with the man agement then because they didn't match his ambition and that's obviously when he was at Brighton. He walked out on Marseille because things went, you know, he's explosive, he's combative and he's combustible. If they don't back him properly in the summer, you could see him walking out, couldn't you? He's obviously been made promises to come in. Oh, they'll have to back him. Oh yeah, I think he's not gonna take he's not gonna sit down lightly and sort of just sort of have his belly tickled by the ownership and believe anything that they say. I mean they must have given promises on the way in. And I said before, there's a bulldozer needs to go through that dressing room and he's the bulldozer. Um yeah, what's he gonna do with his captain ? Van der Ven, I'm sure there'll be a lot of clubs after him. Um yeah, there's big decisions to make uh at this football club and uh he'll have decided already in this first four or five weeks what he wants and what he needs uh to remain from the current dressing room and the current squad but I always actually had a fascinating session going back maybe seven eight nine years maybe ten years now with Maurizio Pochettino when they just built the training ground and we were with England and I was uh assistant coach under Roy Hodson and I always remember and I'm not going to go into the detail of it but when he first came in he shifted a load of players he had a group of players that were on the board which were his squad and he shifted a load to that side of the board and they were the players he wanted to keep and then he shifted the load to that side of the board and he said I've got to get rid of them seven or eight there and Deserbi's gonna have to do something similar be really cold, be really ruthless, really harsh. He's got instinct, he's got experience. He's not something who's gonna mess around anyway. He doesn't need me to tell him what to do, but I think he's got he's got strength now and he's got power now and he's got authority now with this uh sporting director and the ownership and they've got to go with him if they don't go with him yeah he will he's the type that won't accept it and he'll just be off he'll say do one so positivity in North London. If we turn our attentions to East London, West Ham were the ones who, although winning on the final day, fell short. The fans don't love uh a board certainly where there's a massive disconnect between the the support. You know, they moved to that stadium being promised the heights of European football. They did win a European trophy three years ago, and now they're back in the championship for the first time in 15 years. Yeah, and because of I think Tottenham and the situation and predicament that they've been in this last month, almost West Ham have been part of it, but they've not been part of it to an extent as they would have been if they'd been going for it with the Burnley or Wolves or a Sunderland, or Leeds, you know, a clublub like that. Cs love those hill. You know, those clubs have done brilliantly well two of them to stay up this year. Sunderland, when I look part way through the game, by the way, and I'll have a look again now. Sunderland was seventh. Sunderland are in Europe for the first time . What an achievement they finished seventh. We'll come on to that later. Brilliant. They finished seventh then in the air. Yeah, they finished seventh. Absolutely brilliant. Well well done to them. The one thing that I didn't want this season, amongst many things, I wanted a different champion because I felt it's good for the Premier League that you know you, get different champions that haven't won it be f for a long time and Arsenal have done that. I thought it was good last year that Crystal Palace won a trophy, that Tottenham won a trophy, and it was essential, Bill, this year, essential that the same three teams didn't go down, or else we were going to get to a point where by the parachute payments just completely and utterly doping the championship and then obviously you know coming back up again it's just you know say it's just three up, three down, same every single year. So what Sunderland Lee's done this year is really important. Um but for West Ham but they're a club West Ham are a club and there are a few more you know we've seen Villa we've seen Newcastle now Tottenham didn't that would have been the biggest story of all we've seen Leeds United we've seen Nottingham Forest, we've seen Sheffield Wednesday. These were stalwarts, in my opinion, of sort of what would be the old Division One when I was growing up. It's unconceivable that these clubs couldn't be in the Premier League. But West Ham are one of those clubs, along with the likes of Wolves, Newcastle. No, those clubs there's no clubs safe here. There's about eight of them that are probably, I think, okay. We thought these were one of them, by the way. Um, but the rest of them are all susceptible. Crystal Palace, Brentford, Bournemouth at some point , Brighton, they may not recruit as well. They may just not do it as well as they have done because they're having to fight for their lives every single year to recruit well and get good managers in and they've done that really well but for West Ham they're one of those clubs that are always susceptible to some poor decisions and they've gone down this year and they're a huge football but that that stadium to be fair Bill I mean what she liked to commentate at it's the one ground that I get sent to that I think just you know mile away from the pitch. Well it's it's it remains, although they've done what they can, it remains an athletic stadium. So you've got a great view of the finish line for the one hundred metres. You are not so good at the pitch. I know and then we're back then it's the only ground where to be fair I feel like I need to take binoculars. So you you you know it's that old sort of if you say athletic stadium there many of them exist in Europe but a football stadium in this country , they're very unique. You know, you 're on top of the touchline. The the old dugouts overhung the pitch, you know what I mean? You're right on top of each other in Upton Park, obviously famously. But you know, it was right that West Ham moved, but what they're gonna have to do is somehow adapt that stadium, and I don't know how they do that. I mean, I I have no idea. In terms of the squad, do you force I mean Jared Bowen obviously, who's been the heart and soul during the recent Premier League years . You you would he stay? I mean, last time they went down, for example, they kept her hold of a lot of players. Sam Aladice got them back up and they they they bounced straight back, even though it was Var the playoffs. That was what 14-15 years ago. Can you see the same thing happening, or is there a squad that's going to be ripped apart? Is Nuno going to stay? Well that's the first thing. You know, forget the players, the manager, I think the manager and Boeing are the two most important figures, and I think they've got to lock that in quite quickly. I'd be amazed if West Ham's ownership haven't put a huge incentive forward to Nuno to stay. And that would be announced, I think, in the next if they were going to be smart in the next forty eight hours, new no stays for next season. That's your first headline. By the end of the week, you'd want to try and lock Jared Bowen in if you could and sort of give him a big contract to stay, which is difficult because they're going to lose a lot of revenue next year. That then stabilizes the dressing room potentially and stabilizes the the the stabilizes the crowd and the fan base somewhat from where they'll be tonight, which is absolutely desperately disappointed and shocked and devastated. But you need those two are really important and lock those in. But you've also got Somerville, you've got So chek, you've got Fernandez, you've got um I like the two centre forwards, Castellano San Pablo. I think they're hand I think they're a handful. So I think there's some players there that would be sought after by other Premier League clubs. But I think if you're West Ham, you're a big enough club, you've had enough years of Premier League revenue, you've had some European success, sort of financially is beneficial for them. But yeah, it's abouty stabilising beond this. They've probably planned for it now for a number of weeks. You'd have to financially but also from the point of view of resource and personnel uh and it's important that they get some good PR messages out there quite quickl So that's the relegation issue. Today winning at Manchester City and Pat Bardiola's one game of champ. Villa 1-2-1. Ollie Watkins in good form. I think he got a couple of goals there. So they're fourth Villa, they finished fourth. Liverpool. Villa finished fourth, Liverpool fifth. So into the Europa League, go Bournemouth, who finished sixth, Sunderland who finished seventh for the first time since they won the cut back in the 70s , and uh in eighth position and into the conference league go . Let me just check here. And Chelsea's disastrous season finished with another defeat and another red card. Wesley Fafana sent off for the second time this season. Javi Alonso has a hell of a job on his hands to turn them round, doesn't he? Yeah, I mean we've just talked about what the Derby has to do here. Javi Alonso has to do with exactly the same there at Chelsea. I mean he's been made the manager. He may as well have been called sporting director, manager, owner the lot. I mean just give him the keys to the club and sort sort it out sort it out my friend if you can. We we we're struggling. Um yeah, I mean what a disastrous season for Ch uh for Chelsea. Uh incredible for Sunderland, Bournemouth again, Brighton. I mean seri al uh overachievers, Brighton and Bournemouth, year in, year out and Brentford as well, obviously. Uh Sunderland , magnificent that they've got into Europe. That's something that's not happened for quite a while where a team's come up and d come up and done so well. Villa, incredible Unay Emory. What a coach. I thought they were I thought they were sort of faltering for a period after Christmas. It felt like they were just sort of going through different things. They ended up winning the Europa League and now finishing fourth place in the league. It's a massive, massive achievement. So well done. There's a number of clubs in that, you know, Liverpool be grateful, relieved, Arnestlot that they're in the Champions League, hanging on in there at the end. But uh yeah, for Villa uh Port uh Villa Bournemouth, Brighton and Brentford, Sunderland, incredible seasons, absolutely incredible seasons. I'm for Villa to go to Manchester City on Pep Guardiola's Swansong and win there just hours after finishing their open top bus parade. That's seriously impressive. And also I stood out, Manchester United winning 3-0 at Brighton. Brighton had plenty to pay for. They could have ended up in the Europa League today, but Manchester United have gone there and won 3-0, and obviously the story there will be Bruno Fernandes as the all-time Premier League assist maker, because he got a got an assist in that game. Yeah, I did say last week actually after the United game against Forrest at home that I thought that Michael Carrick would be right into them this week. Saying to them something like this game next weekend when you're already secured in third will tell me a lot of what you're about . That you know there are three or four-five thousand United fans travelling down to Brighton four, five, six hours. And by the way, you better give a performance for them. So I think today was really important for Bruno Fernandez. It's an incredible achievement to overtake Thierry Homri and Kevin De Bruyne . Like you say, twenty one assists is i is absolutely fantastic. And a goal as well too. And a goal as well, yeah. I didn't scored to be fair. I've been watching this game here. Who scored for United? Dorgu and Bermo and Fernandez. Yeah. And Bermo scored again. So yeah, no a good really good finish for Michael Carrick. I think it was important that they didn't just go, we did it, look at we you know we got third place. That would have been the wrong message to send, I don't I I think. So a really good day for Michael Carrick, a good day for Bruno Fernandez. A bad day obviously for Manchester City, but obviously we have to in some ways just bow to Pep Guardiola in terms of what he's achie Yeah, phenomenal. He's changed so much and uh be fascinating to see who uh goes in there 'cause that's quite a job, isn't it? Uh to follow that. Enzo Moresca apparently groomed for that. Yeah that's what we hear I mean firstly on Pep Guardiola um trans formational um period in the Premier League some of the things that we've seen over this last ten years. We won't probably quite see again in terms of the points tallies that were being achieved over a sort of two or three, four year period . Four titles on the run, incredible treble achievement, a double this year, you know, a domestic cup double, not quite the double he would have wanted, but still winning trophies, a serial winner on the brink of building another good team, very good team. I thought he might just stay another year to see it through. You know, there's just a bit of work to do on them, isn't there? They've just fallen short at the end this year and will come on to Arsenal, I'm sure, shortly . But the front four, Haaland, Doku , Cherkey , Semeno, obviously you've got Foden in there as well, you've got others. So I think something really to go at. The centre back partnership in between Kas anoff and uh Gei with O'Reilly and Nunes looks like it's starting to turn into a really good back four . And then they just need to sort that midfield out. I mean the midfield Rodri and Bernardo Silva are incredible players, but Bernardo Silva leaves and Rodri's just getting to sort of what would be the point whereby you're gonna have to start to look at replacing if not already. So the two or three midfield players and Manchester City are gonna be a formidable force. But Pep Guardiola is worth well we'll find out next season so many points a season. So Alex Ferguson was worth five, six, seven points a season. How many points is Pep Guardiola worth? We know he's worth some. Yeah. We just don't know how many, but we're gonna find out pretty quickly. But it's been an exceptional ride that they've had Manchester City fans with him. A guarantee, as close as you can get as a guarantee. Gold when it comes to management. The uh equivalent of Sir Alex Ferguson, the two greatest managers I think in Premier League history. Um and I don't want to separate them because like you say they've both won trebles they I think Alex Ferguson um definitely shades it on longevity uh in the Premier League but then you build in Pep's moments with Bayern Munich and Barcelona, but you put in then Svalix Ferguson's time at Aberdeen. You're going to start this age-long debate of who's the best, but I can't separate them. They're both phenomenal managers and absolutely the best. And it was good to see the other day that Pep Guardiola said that Stralix Ferguson had messaged him. It would be amazing to see them having a conversation together about football. Yeah, it would be that would be quite an interview, wouldn't it? Yeah, it would. Didn't he also say he would go out for a beer with you and Cara? Wasn't he asked? Pep Guardiola? Well, of course he's asked as many times during the last ten years to come for a bit . Look, I mean to be fair, we've Yeah, we've been uh I think we've eulogised over Pep Guardiola and Manchester City in their achievements in the last ten years because you can't not because what we've seen is excellence. We've seen elite football, elite sport, elite achievements. I don't like it because I'm a Manchester United fan, but what you have to do is respect it enormously because it's hard to do what he's done and he's done it from a base that look Manchester City uh were have spent a lot of money we've still got the hundred and fifteen charges which I think should be mentioned but not under Pep Guardiola. I think it was just slightly a before him, was it maybe? Most of them, yes. Most of them were before him, so it's not really sort of to land on him. But what what he's achieved at Manchester City is absolutely breathtaking. And yeah, he'll be missed. You miss characters like that. Because managers make this league a lot. Fans make this league. The electricity of the stadiums make this league. But managers are the next most set of important people because what the managers do is really give the players the ability to grow into superstars and give them that sort of what will be that that power that they have on the pitch. The managers make that a lot. I think managers to be fair contribute enormously to this league. Yeah, we saw with Jurgen Klopp, didn't we, how much he's missed in terms of his personality, his duels with Bar with um Pep Guardiola since he arrived and so on so on and so forth. And we will come on to Michelart , but you know you're right, Klopp, Mourinho, Conti , Sir Alex Ferguson, Arson Wenger, obviously Pep Guardiola, these managers are giants, and they have something, they have an aura, they have something special about them. And their presence is incredi ble for the game and and so you miss them when they when they do go. Uh and Pep Guagliola will be missed as a personality and a character across the Premier League. You can probably hear the celebrations about 15 miles south of here as Arsenal parade the Premier League trophy at Sellhurst Park. Obviously they've got the uh the um Champions League final to focus on next weekend. But just a word on them getting across the line, the way they've done it, the celebrations and uh y your overall thoughts on Mikkel Artetra and the job he's done. Yeah this is the first time I've actually uh been on television since uh Arsenal won the league obviously by City not winning at Bournemouth on Tuesday evening. A huge congratulations to Arsenal. What a journey they've been on. And they've got over the line. And that is so bloody difficult to do. You know, they've been knocking on that door now for four or five years. Credit to the Arsenal hierarchy for building a plan, for sticking with a plan. Credit to Mikel Arteta . A game changer for him. He's a champion. He's a champion manager. And it's great for him that he's won it in a season where Pep Pep Guardiola is still here. That means so much more. People, I'm sure, would agree with that because you know if he'd won it next season when Pep Guardi ola had left there'd always be a butt wouldn't there? Yeah but but you didn't you didn't do it when Pep wasn't here when Pep was here. It's massive for these Arsenal players it really really is. You know when Declan Rice signed for Arsenal you thought that was a final piece of the jigsaw and he's had to wait two or three seasons. But they've adjusted each summer to plug the gap that was missing the previous season and this season they've just articulated the squad. I've got the the style question I don't even want to go into it. You win that Premier League, I don't care how you win it. I didn't care how Leicester won it. I didn't care how Blackburn won it, I didn't care how Chelsea won it under Mourinho sometimes, which was deemed as being a little bit dour. Um, or how we won it, or how Pep Guardiola wins it. If you get over the line in the Premier League, you over 38 games have stood that sort of what would be ultimate test of endurance. You've been able to get there and fight and be on that roller coaster when it's in that huge dip, and then it comes up again, and you just it's that constant of not knowing what's going to happen, and when you've not done it before, which Mikael Arteta and those players hadn't done apart from Jesus , it's the not knowing, it's the lack of experience. But now they've experienced everything. They've experienced everything. They've experienced the devastation of losing a Premier League running once, twice, three times, but they've now experienced coming out on top. So they've they've been through it over the last three or four players, those Arsenal players, the manager and the fans. And well done to them for getting over the line. I think it needed it this season. It would have been desperate if they hadn't have won it. The questions would have been enormous and it would have been a a sorry story. But they did it. And uh I say I I've got enormous respect and enormous uh admiration for them in terms of how they've done it and how they've gone about it because there was a thing that was said six, seven, eight, ten years ago: you can't have a Sir Alex Ferguson anymore, you can't have an Arson Wenger anymore. And what people meant by that was that managers were going to get sacked after one, two, three seasons. No, that's not happened. Klopp five, six years before he got a Premier League title, Mikel Arteta five, six years before a Premier League title, Pep Guardiola been at Manchester City for ten years. You know, they' re massively long periods. They're long stretches. There's patience there where you can see progression and a journey towards something that's good. Uh and I think that to be fair you've seen that patience still pays off in football, and have to say, I thought in the first couple of seasons Mikalatetta would do very well to finish higher than third or fourth with this Arsenal. Just the way they're built, he's got them to the very pinnacle, the top of the mountain. Well done. And I'm I actually really happy for him. I'm happy for the players because I think that ultimately it takes a lot to get there. Takes a lot to get there, takes even more, as you know, to stay there. Is this Arsenal side set up to be able to do that going forward . Is it the the right sort of mix? Do they need to add again? What do you what do you see? They will need to add to it. But I mean look at this point right now today where they've got a Champions League final next Saturday which is an incredible opportunity to be to stretch beyond anything you could ever imagine as an Arsenal fan because they never won that trophy, and that's the next step after winning the league. But I don't want to give the headline tonight, Neville says that Arsenal have got to go win it again to be really recognized as champions. No, I'm not I'm not in that mood. I'm really happy for them for what they've achieved this week. They should celebr ate it and they have. But now they've got a Champions League final and if they can go win that next weekend pay at Paris Saint-Germain. They'll have beat the best. They'll have beat a Louis Enrique Paris Saint-Germain team and they'll beat a Pep Guardiola Manchester City team. That's the way to do it. If you're gonna go and win your first Premier League title for twenty-two years, go and beat the greatest of all time. If you're gonna go and win the um champions league go and beat the current holders and one of the greatest managers that you know Europe has seen in this last ten fifteen years so yeah this is massive for that for Arsenal this week w,ish the them all very best in the final. Um , but it's not a time to start talking about are they built, I don't think, for a second title run next year. They have to be, let's be clear. But what that means, I've not given it too much consider ation. There's going to be a Champions League, a World Cup that we're all going to go to, and then we'll start to think about, you know, do they need another centre forward to back up Jocharez? Do they need another central midfield player just in case Declan Rice or Zuba Mendy aren't quite there. So there's probably a couple of positions that you'd still want to think about, but they've got a lot of strength in that squad . You mentioned the Champions League final. Can they do it? I mean Paris Saint-Germain seem to have everything in their favour. But but Ars Arsenal having won the title you feel that equips them so much better than had they let it slip away. Do you know what was so good for Arsenal? Them winning it four or five days early. To allow them that extra, to allow them that fifteen days preparation , no twelve, thirteen days preparation for this game against Paris Saint-Germain. So that I sa I d uh what's their team that they picked? Did they win today, Arsenal, by the way? Yeah, they won two . And what team did you pick? What team did you pick? Nine changes, I think. Nine changes. Okay, perfect. Max Dowman started and you know I think uh Declan Rice might have come off the bench. Yeah, so absolutely perfect. Let them celebrate on Tuesday night, let them have a couple of days off, which is obviously what happened, and then let them have a long, long, long, long, long, long build-up into this. No, and it's more recovery than training to be fair, but tactical thought, important . I'm sure they won't start looking at that until Monday morning. But what they'll have on Monday morning is a group of players who've had five or six days rest and that's really important. So they'll get the trophy tonight right now but I suspect they'll go to bed. They should be going to bed quite early. They had a celebration five days ago. Now's t no celebration tonight. They were in bed quite early then I think it's about six o'clock. No well done Sir Manuel when I saw them out f I thought times had gone when t players were out till five six in the morning. If you win a Premier League title, you don't go to bed . Fact. You do not go to bed, you stay up all night. Uh and and and but that would have been tonight. And that it's it's important for them that they've got that extra four or five days. Gives them a free week now, it gives them four or five days of recovery for all the players that are going to start next Saturday and it gives them now five or six days of real good quality build up they're not in recovery mode now those players for Monday morning that are going to start against Paris and German next Saturday so yeah, it's going to be tough for them, I'll be honest with you, Bill, because I think that Paris Angela are a different level and they've got what I call one of those obsessive and this is I say this with real complimentary one of those maniac type managers that are just w inners, serial winners. They've got that horribleness about them inside them that they do anything to win and they go and win. And Luis Enrique is one of the greatest, probably the greatest manager in the world right now. You know, with Pep Guardiola, but Pep Guardiola, you know, he's not in the league for two years. What Enrique is doing at Paris Angerman winning, getting to back to back Europe, this is his moment. So Arsenal are gonna be right up against it. Because if you can win back to back champions leagues, you put yourself into a different sort of planet, and that's what he's up for. He wants that. He wants to beat all the records. So it's gonna be very difficult for Arsenal because they're up against a team that are special and know how to do it, but they're in there and they know how to defend. They've got some match winners themselves. Um, it's gonna be physically a really great game because both teams are physically fantastic. I'm really looking forward to it. I built my next Saturday early evening a round it. Uh I'm gonna go and watch Dermot Kennedy in the evening in Manchester in a concert. But first I'm gonna watch this Champions League final because I'm really fascinated by it. But I think PSG, if are the best team in Europe right now, Arsenal are gonna uh going in there as underdogs and gonna have to scrap and fight and get over the line somehow if they're gonna win it. Fabulous clash of stars, won't it be a bit? It should be a brilliant watch. Well I think we've covered most things, Gary. That's it. That is the end of the season. Mike Drop. I want to actually to be fair, uh, at the end of the season, I want to thank everybody who listens to this podcast. There's quite a few people what listen to it every single week or watch it every single week on YouTube. And thank you to you, Bill, to Peter , for to Rob and to Seb who we've hosted it throughout the season. You never put on camera. That's a good reason for that. There he is. Yeah, yeah, it always amazes me every single week when the cameraman gets behind the camera and just says to Peter or you or Seb or Rob, just get out of the way, will you just shift to that side? I'm just sat here as if like I'm sort of got no one with me, but yeah. Yeah, the Bill Leslie and Gary Level Podcast. Yeah, I really appreciate it and to everybody who listens to this podcast every single week I love doing it. It's it's a quite unique this podcast in the sense that it's me just absolutely

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