Hello,

Hello, everybody, and welcome to The Total Soccer Show.

My name is Taylor Rockwell, and on today's episode, what a weekend it was.

Tyler Adams played and didn't get hurt.

Giorina played and didn't get hurt, and according to Graham, did okay.

Cats and dogs are living together, lots to discuss.

But with Ryan Bailey enjoying some well-earned vacation, it's left to me to take up its weekend review station.

Here we go.

Man City and Arsenal played out a goldless draw.

Neither side was able to capitalize on any particular flaw.

Manuel O'Conji criticized Arsenal for resorting to tactical fouls, a fascinating accusation that made karma enthusiasts howl. In a match that answered the age-old question, how many centerbacks can there be? A nil-nil result had Liverpool and its supporters feeling a great amount of glee. The Reds got all three points against Brighton at Anfield. Danny Wellbeck's opening volley gave Brighton a lead to shield. But then Liverpool's attackers reminded us that they're all quite able and got a critical win that takes them to the top of the table. Newcastle and West Ham combined for a seven-goal thriller, while Tottenham's win over Luton was a bit more vanilla. Burnley had a player sent off, followed by their manager Vincent Company, but failed to keep the lead twice in a result, Pochititina would describe as unlovely.

On the continent, Dortmund bested Byron on the road, Adiemi scored, and then almost went into celebration mode. The guy does not celebrate. Ryerson added a later, added other later in the second half. It was a win that made Adiemi, start to maybe almost kind of laugh. Levergustin got a win at a 13-point Bundesliga lead,

but Chobie Alonzo sticking around is the best news they'll read. In La Liga, Real Madrid kept on winning this time against Athletic Club, while in Italy, another Uve loss could have Ultras calling for a managerial sub, but most notably, a 1-0 loss for Phoenix made things in Arizona less flowery. New Mexico United are the desert champions. Isn't that right? Joe Lowry. Oh, man, I was enjoying so much of that introduction, Taylor, which was genuinely very, very good. I'm stoked to be back on the show after the weekend. That game against New Mexico United for Phoenix Rising, somehow worse than the Manchester City Arsenal game, excuse me. We'll talk more about that later. We don't need to talk more about the Phoenix Rising game, but I was on the color commentary for that one, which was fun, even if the game was not. Yeah, I was hoping one of you would get a win, but over in Scotland, a 4-2 loss means the B-Nos are still under construction, a fact that no doubt, annoys the one, the only Graham Ruthfin. Hi, Graham. Hello, Taylor.

Wow, did you just rhyme my surname with something? Almost rhyme it with something. That has never been done before in my life. Well done. I enjoyed that intro. You pretty much covered everything. Is there any need for us to embellish in this episode? Like, that's the episode. It's like a scene from 8 Mile. All right, cool. We're out. It's been a very quick week and review. I don't know how I'm going to insert ad breaks into this. Maybe in my pauses to breathe. But no, we've got plenty to discuss lots more detail to get to, including could there be nine or ten centerbacks in a game?

We'll find out the next time Man City and Arsenal play each other.

Graham, I'm leading with the number of centerbacks because it is an interesting point that I think

Joe has some thoughts on. But overall, I think we had all predicted that this game would have lots

of goals. There would be at least a few. There were none. Are you surprised?

Not surprised because I said on Friday that I did think Arsenal would limit City and they did that.

I wasn't surprised that it was a tight game.

But this was the most disappointing match that I've watched in a while.

The number of centrebacks is not a tactical board that I am. And this is a guy who watches Sterling Albion and Scotland regularly. See, I got it in for you, Ryan. I got it in. Don't worry about it. Those games are entertaining, just not from a Sterling Albion point of view. It's the other team doing the entertaining. This centrebacks thing is not a tactical quirk I think I'm enjoying, not least because Scotland in this generation

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