Bale and Man City – struggling to be loved
The Game
The Times
3.2 • 1.5K Ratings
🗓️ 20 May 2019
⏱️ 45 minutes
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Summary
Gab Marcotti and Natalie Sawyer are joined by Matt Dickinson and Alan Smith after a historic weekend in English football.
Manchester City equal the biggest FA Cup final win ever with a 6-0 victory over Watford at Wembley, becoming the first English men’s team to complete the domestic treble. But Pep Guardiola is forced to answer some difficult questions about finances while certain fans feel City aren’t getting the credit they deserve. Will City ever truly be embraced, even with the wonderful football they play?
On the pitch, we discuss Vincent Kompany’s legacy at City after his decision to become player-manager at Anderlecht and the role of City assistant Mikel Arteta, a pivotal figure as revealed by Paul Hirst’s behind the scenes story of the season in The Times.
Gareth Bale appears to have played his last game for Real Madrid after failing to acknowledge the fans after the final match of the season. Who could possibly afford him? Is the narrative of Bale being mistreated a bit wide of the mark? Does Bale need to act like Arjen Robben?
And there are managerial movers in the form of Allegri, Potter and Pulis.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | May I have your attention please you can now book your train tickets on Uber and get |
| 0:08.0 | 10% back in credits to spend on your next Uber ride so you don't have to walk home in the brain again. |
| 0:15.0 | Trains, now on Uber. T's and C's apply. Check the Uber app. |
| 0:20.0 | Imagine sweeping through green fields, floating five feet above ground, sun on your face as you slide by, on track to your |
| 0:35.0 | there. |
| 0:40.0 | there. to your own own own train. and before you know it, you're there. This is how travels should feel and on our trains it does. |
| 0:45.0 | Avanti West Coast feel good travel. Hello and welcome to the game podcast from The Times. I'm Natalie Sawyer. |
| 1:06.0 | And I'm Gabriel Marcochi and we thank you for joining us on a rather sunny |
| 1:11.5 | albeit a bit brisk Monday morning in London. With us in the studio, it's |
| 1:15.3 | Alan Smith and down the line it is the chief sports writer of the Times. That's right, the guy who gets to order all the other |
| 1:25.1 | sports writers around because he is the chief it's Matt Dickinson later on we'll |
| 1:31.0 | be looking at Gareth Bale as his time as a |
| 1:33.3 | vernabail, perhaps possibly reaches a conclusion. |
| 1:36.0 | But we start with an historic day at Wembley. |
| 1:39.0 | Manchester City became the first English men's team ever to complete the domestic treble. |
| 1:44.7 | Not only that, but Pep Guadiola's men equalled the biggest ever FA Cup final victory, |
| 1:49.2 | a 6-0 win, matching the same scoreline that saw Barry beat Darby in 1903. |
| 1:54.8 | Matt, how big a demonstration of dominance was this final then? |
| 1:58.0 | Pretty colossal I guess. |
| 2:01.0 | I mean, yeah, when you're're watching an FAA final and you're wondering |
| 2:04.0 | blime this this could be seven or all eight perhaps even nine I mean obviously |
| 2:09.6 | that you're often had a couple of key early chances you felt like they had to |
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