All right, everybody, the global sports podcast network network. Hello and welcome to crossover Thursday with me Ian McKai. I'm joined by two guests today from my team. I've got lovely Kevin, lovely Kevin, hello lovely Kevin, I've never been called lovely Kevin. Yeah, I mean, I'm really happy to be here, but it's a bit strange. It's the wrong way around him. It should be too evident because we're playing at home. It should be. We will talk about that in a moment and I'm also joined representing the blue half of Liverpool by Mr. Ben Hawley, who I believe is popping his cherry tonight, podcast-wise. Is that right, Ben? Podcast-wise, definitely Ian. I'm glad you covered that off. Good. I see I'm just going to be shot down by a deadpan, scouse accent, just killing everything I see. In about three words, I'm used to it. I'm used to it. I mean, you're absolutely right, Kev, this is the wrong way around and in a way it mirrors our experience with AFC Wimbledon in the league cup because this is supposed to be Everton's home game and they should be hosting the podcast. However, what with Matt being ill and Kieran doing is over time, it all was going peep-tong, wasn't it? And what we've stepped in, as we did for Wimbledon and said that we'd host it. And that is where the comparisons are going to stop because we are not sending 15 grand over to help Matt by his night nurse and his paracetamol, nor to pay Kieran any overtime. But we're delighted to have you on your home podcast, Ben, to talk about New Castle or Evertonry New Castle on Saturday. This is part one. We'll have a little general summarisation if you like of how you feel the season has gone so far. Home advantage first, Ben, how are you feeling Everton have done so far this season? Better now that we're off the marking, definitely, yeah, much, much needed, big win on the weekend just gone. I'll be honest, from the first half, I was thinking to myself, I don't think we're going to get more than one point this season, really, really, it was one of the most shocking starts I've seen from many team, never mind, just Everton this season, but Mick Messy to the rescue in the second half and I've obviously pulled it back with a won the goal and a good second goal to win. So in terms of where the season's up to, I think it's been a bit of a mixed bag because we've had performances where we've been very, very good and definitely the better team, but not got the result. Whereas on the weekend, a bit of a more poor performance, but then got the results. I think I'll take the latter all day long. Yeah, well, I mean, that is, I think, Everton, we're definitely in a false position because any team that goes to up at Villa, or in fact, to up at home against Bournemouth, we've played Bournemouth, we know they're a good team. They can't be doing everything wrong, although I don't know how you managed to throw the two goals away in the last three minutes, but still don't know how that happened. They have done it against us. They gave us the whole half to score the three goals, not just the last two minutes, Kev. That's actually a really good point to just mention on that because that was the night my eldest son was born, so it was around. You can score two in the last minute. Well, we got the winner and that night, we had the home birth and I asked my missus to just hold it in for a little bit, just to see the game out because it was, you don't remember rightly, it was when the guy had chained themselves to the post and so. Yes, that's a night for five days, my son was called Alex O'Obe. I remember that game because it's on my birthday, 17th of March, isn't it? Yes, correct me. Same birthday as me, there we go. But yes, so it's interesting though that you decide to start playing poorly and that's when you can win your first game of the season. Kev, you were writing Newcastle season, I think you've got a similar tale, have you not? Very similar. Ben, I mean, Ben put it absolutely perfectly, you would much rather play poorly and get the three points all day and Newcastle did that in the first five games of the season. I think we obviously drew one, won the rest, everyone was complaining because we weren't playing well, it wasn't the fluid football. Fulham brought us back down to earth, Fulham kind of made us realise that you can't just keep playing poorly and winning because it will catch up with you. And I think it gave everyone a big boost when we played Man City, which is really strange to see, it's Newcastle fan because we haven't got a best record against them in the Premier League. But again, it's a game where I think we were slightly a better team, we probably should have won it. It was 1-1 and again, you can look at it statistically in possession with Manchester City, kind of being a dominant team, but in terms of chances and how both teams played, I think we maybe could have nicked that, but I think 1-1 was a fair result. I think our seasons actually started better than what most fans think, but it's similar to what Everton did really is we haven't really been playing as well as we know we can, we've just been getting the right results, which again, I'm in Ben's camp, I'd take it all the time, but there's some Newcastle fans who were very unhappy with performances and even though we sat in a nice position in the table, it hasn't been the best start I guess, but I'm happy with it. How do you think that sets us up for, let's say, the next five games then, how is the rest of the season going to start to unfold, are you going to take playing badly and trying to scrape odd goal wins or would you rather not play well and see if you can't win by actually dominating the ball and controlling the game? I think to be fair, the latter has never been a reflection of Everton, and unfortunately it's always been further through grit and determination, which is why I probably look at the age of 70 rather than my actual age, because that's what Everton does to you. I think right now, I think it's just key to try and get the wins, get the momentum and then build on that for the rest of the season and hope that then the performances improve with a win. I'd have thought hope would be much higher than the last two seasons when there's been points deductions flying around. Yeah. Yeah, you would think it's the hope that kills you, though Ian, and I think to be fair, the hope was there at the start of the season and the performances were good, but when you're getting beat, you're going up two-nil twice on the bounce and then getting beat in both games, one within the last eight minutes or whatever it was, I think that hope can dwindle. Was Everton fans still sell home in a way constantly? We must be absolutely bonkers to do that, so I think we've just got to stay hopeful. I think if I'm hoping you're thinking that like I am, I've a much more positive outlook for the next five games. I was going to cut in a little bit and I was going to ask you something, Ian, how similar is Everton's position to what we were pre-take over? Like it's scary, like the negative football or the defensive football, living off hope, just dreaming that something's miraculous, you're going to get better, or hoping to scrape the three points. Obviously pre-take over, that was us. Yeah, well, they have got good manager, though, that's a big difference. That's debatable, though, Ian. That's very big. I'm not convinced by a dash. I'm not convinced by a dash. What we'll come to that in a bit, I'm not going to come back, so we'll move on. In terms of hope, absolutely, the only worry for me in the upcoming game, Ian, I know you'll be similar to this, is regardless of what I think a dash, because I don't think he's a fantastic manager, but again, they would have learned so much from Wimbledon. Wimbledon's that really deep against us, and yes, it wasn't our first team. We didn't have Bruno or Isaac or Gordon, and again, Anthony Gordon's going to be an interesting topic, but we didn't have any of the big stars, so to speak. Wimbledon's that deep, and we only scored from a penalty, so they shall watch that, and they should be like, "Well, we can sit deep, but if we can be a little bit more aggressive than Wimbledon, maybe get a set piece, maybe try and catch them on a break with some pace," they'll be, I think, in camp with Evan, and I'm completely guessing, because I'm obviously a complete outsider, in camp with the players and the manager, they'll be quite confident to sit deep and in hurtless, I think, whereas it's down to us to really try and not do what we did against Wimbledon, and really go for the throw, and really not just rely on a penalty and try and blow them away. So yeah, it's going to be interesting. I don't know how you feel about that, but Ian, is it going to be a case of Evan going to sit deep, do you think? I think he'll have a couple of answers. I think you're underestimating those boys in blue. I think they're going to be confident, because we were probably their easiest home game last year, they won 3-0, and they've got a point at St. James's by doing the gritty defensive display in Pickford, Pulling One or Two Worldies out, and then getting that last-minute penalty to equalize. I think Evan will be quite looking forward to soft, and you've got to be praying that gear and trippy is playing, won't it? Anyway, moving on from that, I think it's time for our first advert. We'll come back to a little bit more detailed examination of the individual players who have formed the start of our seasons in a moment. First, he said, picking the wrong piece of paper up, but now we've got the right piece of paper, the message from Zenkasta. Do you have a story to tell that the world needs to hear? Have you struggled with reaching the audiences who are engaged with your story? It might be time for you to start a podcast. Let me tell you about a platformer use here at Global Sports Podcast Network. Zenkasta makes it easy to start high-quality podcasts built for growth from day one. With 4K video recording from your phone, an AI editing that automatically removes ums, r's, your nose, and 22 other speech patterns, Zenkasta makes it super easy to start a podcast that sounds great. Ready to tell your story? Check out the link in the show description to learn more about Zenkasta. Great job, Ian. Great job. I mean, Ben sat me on his debut thinking, "What's going on here? What?" I know I'm on Zenkasta, but what's happening? I thought you saw someone else for Zenkasta. You've been using the room with them? Yeah, you've got to do your own adverts, that's the lesson to take from that, Ben. I don't think I'll ever be that one, that's the worry, to live up to the Sonomighty Kev. Right, part two, which players on your own team have impressed you so far this season, Ben? Er, I think to be fair, I think there's been a couple of standouts, so I'm going to start with Tim Erabonam, so I don't know if you know, but we signed him from Villa, and obviously O'Nara went the other way, and we got him from an absolute steal, I think he's got nine and half million, and wow, what a player, what a player, he's everything that we want to down to O'Nara to be, a good in possession, getting up the pitch quickly, you know, picking out the right pass, he's just got so many attributes to his game, and he's still a really young lad, so I think he's been a standout, and unfortunately he's been dropped recently for up to the light, God knows why, he was like, I don't know why, but the court is coming. He's someone who, through all those poor results recently, he has been the standouts, you know, he's been that shy and light with another, he'll come on too, so baffled as to why Daisha has dropped him, but I'm sure will come on to the manager shortly, in terms of the next one is N'Dai, and he walks, in my opinion, he walks into so many teams in the Premier League, he's that player who gets her off, you see, you know, that, I liken them to a Steven P&I, if you remember him back in the day forever, and what a player is very, very similar in terms of ability, low centre of gravity, can go past a player, can keep hold of it, and what really impresses me about him is, he's got all that attack and flair, but his actual defending capabilities are really strong as well, which works very well in a Dai team, so I think he will cause new castle problems, and if, you know, is it Dan Bern at the back? Yep, sorry chaps, but I think if it's one on one, I think he'll run rings around him, and then the third, and probably the most obvious one, because of the weekend, is obviously Jarrah Branthway to come back into the fold, again I think he walks into pretty, more chevy Premier League team, without a doubt, and bear in mind the lads 21-22, so he still got his entire career, but you know, he was up against a big lad on the weekend in Matessa, and if you haven't seen him in person, Jesus Christ, he's a big, big lad, and even though Branthway to 645, he still made Branthway look a bit smaller somehow, I don't know how, I mean his shoulders alone are probably 645, but he was causing all kinds of problems in the first half, and obviously Branthway coming back, but growing into the second half, and I think he controlled them in the right way, read the game well, and grew into the game, so for those sorts of reasons alone I think walks into pretty much most teams. To be fair, Ben, when Kev said we should try and pick a combined 11, and then thought that would be harsh, but I did say that Branthway, I think, would get into my combined 11, I've got a lot of time for him. Yeah, it'd be Branthway along the side, Charles, wouldn't it? I don't think so. I don't think so. So he's from Manalfi's dish. Yeah, I don't think Tarkovsky would get in ahead of Shah to be fair for Branthway, but if you wanted to see his centre half, taking on a big unit up front, watch the masterful way that Dan Byrne had Erling Harland in his pocket throughout the game, or Saturday. Harland got one or two half sniffs that he was under such pressure, or he couldn't get any power behind. Apart from that, he never had a kick, so that's a speaking up for Dan Byrne, who probably has been one of our top players in his first five games, because so many of our superstars just haven't performed, if I'm honest, but Kev, who would you pick out of the Newcastle squad that's done well in these first five games? You've hit the nail on my head there, you know, a lot of our so-called bigger players, like the Bruno's and the Gordon's, haven't really started on fire, haven't really started the way we expected them to in previous games, obviously Gordon last season was just absolutely insane, but seems to have kind of stuttered at the start of this one, I'd have so many of our so-called bigger players. I think Harvey Barnes is an obvious one, he's our top scorer, he hasn't even started every game, and again, he's just scored some massively important goals, and we're only five games in. So Harvey Barnes is definitely one, and I think Dan Byrne is another, which again surprised it, but I think with Byrne going back in his ascent a half with Boltmann being injured, he has done really, really well, and he has kind of stood up and he's being counted when we haven't been playing well, he's been a bit of a leader, and then the other one for me, you know, I'll get lots of sticks for this because I predict that we're a player of the season, but he came back in against City and I think he made a big difference as Kieran Trippier, I was really, really happy to see him, back, staying wide, pushing high, up, hasn't got the best right all against Evan, but I thought he looked really good against, he looked really good against City, so I'm hoping he keeps his place, there's only one you want to add to that, Ian? Yes, I think it's possibly our most important man out, which is Nick Pub, who has been pretty good, I know he was at fault for one of the goals, but that's it, that's it, he's not been at fault of the various saves that got us the draw at Bournemouth, the save from Bernardo Silver in injury time against Manchester City, he kept us that point, I think he's been, I think he's earned his wages every week, and it's not a lot of the Newcastle players that you could say that of. It's a good point, just very quickly Ben, Paul Bop, or Pickford, which one would you go for, or Kyriasi? Yeah, I think, I think I'm probably the only fan that he probably just maybe chooses Pope, purely, probably just on height alone. I think to be fair, I think indefinitely on current form, I think Pickford's conceded, is it about 15 goals in the first six games, so you know, I think you're in muddy waters if that's your record for any goalkeeper in the prime. We were wondering, Ben, when he was choosing that first squad for England, whether we would leave Pickford out, because we presumed after those first three games that Pickford must be suffering from both dramatic stress syndrome, have it in your arms, thrown away two nail leads twice, my God, that just knocks your confidence. It can't help, as you go for it. He was born with little arms, he can't help it. To be fair, he was actually born with little arms, yeah, you're actually right there. The funny thing is, I've seen, it's actually that now, but I'm sure for England, he's only conceded more than one, I think it's four times in however many caps, in paraphrasing there, but it's something ridiculous. Fair play. Ridiculous that, so it shows you what happens when you've got good players in front of you as opposed. Oh, he's a good keeper. He's a good keeper. I think he kept it at Neil Neil at your place last year, for you to then destroy you in the last ten minutes, or was it Kieran Trippier who destroyed us? And he certainly, as I said before, he certainly was the man that won that point for you at St. James's Park at the end of last season. He was excellent that night, all the way through. We couldn't wind him up. Couldn't wind him up that time. Not really. I can't get in front of these performance, but not that time. Anyway, it's very briefly before we dive into our second sponsor, is there anybody you feel is stealing the shirt from somebody who's sitting on the bench that should have been playing? Forever, and definitely, I think, I've delighted the core right currently, and the man's running on quicks on unfortunately. Yeah, he's stealing the shirt for Tim at the bottom, who can't get a game at the moment, which is actually baffling. Can't even get sucked on, so indefinitely for him, I think we just touched on for a second, but I think John Pickford maybe needs a little bit of time out of the team right now, just to sort of give someone else a chance, if anything, just to put a bit of pressure on him. Yeah. And then the final one is Vitaly Michelenko, a little bit better in the second half on the weekend, but I don't really put a really poor start, and the scary thing, a 39, 4-year-old actually young actually looks better at life back quickly than the Michelenko, making that what you will. So, Regis, Kev, Kev, I would say that Joe Linton was very close to being dropped before he played so well against Manchester City, in our whole team. I agree, I think the man's city performance, the team who started against Man City have all earned a start against David Knafield, because again, it was our best performance of the season by a mile. I'm just hoping it wasn't our best performance of the season by a mile, because the attitude was city a bit of an us, and I hope going into this game, Newcastle don't just show up, think them, we're going to get three points. Goodness and incredible atmosphere, historic stadium, I know they're moving out of it, which again, absolutely blows my mind why they would leave, because it's not old, but come on, it's one of them, iconic stadiums, which just creates such a special atmosphere. It's not an easy place to go, and I think the worry so far is in some of the games these players are being played, they have looked like they've showed up and just expected the win. But like when you castle now, we're good under Eddie Howe, we can just rock up win, and that's never the case in the Premier League, we're so with Forrest and Liverpool, and I mean, even following us to an extent, I don't think anybody saw Fulham just tearing us apart like we did. Yeah. I'm a little bit wary just because it's not, I kind of want to do it every week, or teams like that, where we have that desire and that burning passion to prove something, and we used to have that all the time with how first game, but it looks like expectations have changed. Don't worry, Kev, they're into the second week of very intensive training, now the Eddie's Hallie's Way. Can you see that? We should see that pressing game that got us the five-one win ever in two seasons ago. It was all positive, which is what I was expecting last year. God, I was, I brought down to earth with a ball. Anyway, we'll touch on managers, and we'll do our predictions in part three, but first, Kev, do you have a message? Yeah, this podcast is part of a global sports podcast network. The only network bringing you exclusive, daily news and views on your Premier League team, the Premier League women's football and fantasy football. A unique listen experience puts fans first, bringing you a very latest breaking news from your team. Subscribe wherever you get your podcasts and make us your first listen every day. Global sports podcast network, every club, every day. Yeah, we're going better than the girls are. Absolutely, absolutely professional, I think, was the word you used to do. I think fans listen about that isn't just better than most girls, it's just a new castle, a daily new castle kind of job we haven't caught on. Longer getting any trouble with a female event, fans listen to this. You won't get into any trouble, don't worry. Part three, anyway, part three, we're blathering a little bit too much, so we're going to race through this, all right? Firstly, have we probably touched on who the danger men are in our side, but just give us the danger men that you're particularly worried about on the new castle side, Ben? I think the obvious one will be Anthony Gordon, I think that could be petrified of what could come from that man alone, Ian. Because he missed the game last year, that was a one game he missed through suspension. Yeah, I think he's probably done that on purpose, didn't want to face his old team, I think that's actually from there. The second thing will be Harvey Barnes, I couldn't believe that he went from Leicester to yourselves to be honest, I thought there was an absolute steal, really, really good player, and he's got so many attributes to his game. I just hope we've got enough to shut out your quality players. Mm, I haven't mentioned half a dozen of them, but there you go, they're doing it to stand out. Stick those two, let it in. I don't know. See, fab shot, day five yards, fab shot, go, Kev, who are you worried about on the other side, no one, no, I'm only joking, I'm only joking, I'm not that mean. I think, is it, is it end, end, die or end, die, he looks really like sharp and fast and pacey, and I mean, I think Ben alluded to before to be fair, if he's one on one against Bernie, he's just going to knock it and run, and I think we might struggle, we've seen Bern struggle against players like Alanga, at Forest when maybe us three ones on GMD, so I think he's looked very sharp, again, I haven't watched loads of Everton, it's mainly been through highlights, so if it's been on Sky, we are tying out the Villa game, but again, he's always looked quite, he wants to go forward, doesn't he, wants to, he wants to go with players, he's not, he doesn't look too interested in passing the ball backwards very much, and that worries me a little bit if we are going to have a lot of the ball, because if Everton do try and catch us on the counter, we aren't great at breaking teams down, which is what we've discussed on previous pods, and the other one, weirdly, and I can't believe I'm saying this myself, but Dwight McNeil, what's happened to him, like last week, like did he just have his week of bakes, I don't know, I have no idea what's going on with him, but that second goal was just unbelievable, and I guess as a opposition fan, you think, well, I've seen him do it maybe three times, and he's all crazy, he's not going to do it twice in two weeks, but this is Newcastle we're talking about, we are a team, but Aaron Lennon got one of these four goals against every season, we are a team where players play against us, and we're all of a sudden break, a duck have not scoring for 25 games, so if it is going to happen two weeks in a row for Dwight McNeil, it could be against Newcastle, so I guess them two, and I think, again, I've picked them two mainly because I know Dwight McNeil has been playing centrally a little bit more recently, but they are two wingers, where if we are going to have a lot of the ball, Everton could hurt us on the brakes, I think that's why them two are kind of in my head a little bit in terms of, in terms of just causing us some problems. What about you, Ian, who are you worried about? I think what I agree with you on those two, definitely, but I think you've got two out. The man who's back on our target list apparently, like we need another sick note centre for the board. Oh, Carvert Lewin. But Carvert Lewin, if Carvert Lewin is fit, and he's getting the service, you know that he's got a great leap, he's good with his head, he's good with both feet, it's easy to dismiss him because he's missed so much football. Whoever. It's dangerous to dismiss him because he's on the score sheet this season a couple of times already, isn't he, Ben? He's currently very, very much in form as well, and I don't think his goal ratio is doing injustice at the start of the season to be fair because he's the stuff off the ball he's been doing, so I don't think he's been out-jung by any defender, so good luck to Dan Ben. He looks fitter, he looks more sort of ready for football back to his best, almost back to his best, like what he was under until at least, so you're absolutely writing into the thing he's a threat. Dan Ben is going to have a really bad afternoon if he's going to pick up. I just keep thinking about that, Ben. Hamden, Jay, he's got both of them to do, yeah. I think, Bern, the reason I didn't see a car but Lewin, or DCL, is because, again, I think Bern kind of cancels him out, I haven't again, I haven't seen him as much as Ben, so Ben's opinion is much more valuable on car but Lewin, the season in mind, but just again, a complete outsider from everything, is Bern's tall, Lewin's only good in the air, I guess that's going to cause some issues when I'm in France, I don't know how I put that, but that's just again, a complete outsider view of, I'm more worried about the pace of, I know McNeil's not particularly pace, but he's in the form and obviously in Jay, I'm more worried about them too, guys, because of the counter-attacking emotion, and again, car but Lewin's cut his hair off, so it was a Samsung who cut his hair off and knocked all his powers, so I'm pretty confident now he's cut his hair off, he's just no good, right? Yeah, look, I was going to have a pull over the two managers, but I'm going to leave them, leave them, for the moment, because I need your predictions, Ben, is this a home win, home banker? I'm going to be positive, I think I'm going to go for a 2-1 Everton, I think we're still concede because of Jordan Pickford, but I think, but I also think that we'll, based on the first six games, we can obviously score goals, and I think that will, yeah, I think that will continue. You think it might be an Everton match that doesn't come last on match of the day? Actually, to be fair, you've had a few of them this year already, haven't you? I'm thinking of last year about that, sorry. Not this year, last year, last year we were on last all the time, but this year, we're scoring goals. I know that's what, I mean, not this year, that was, that was a, I shot myself down before Ben had a chance to do this, it'd be Ben. Beat me to the end. Kev, I'm going to go for my regular 3-1 Newcastle victory, because I think I actually get regular 3-1, they haven't won 3-1 bloody months, there we go. It's due, it's due, what's your prediction, Kev? Well, I'm glad what I was talking about, man, I just don't think you can mention Dyson, how in the same breath, it's on a completely different level, but yeah. In terms of predictions, even what I've had a lot of fun on this one, I do, I actually don't mind, Evan, I know there's a lot of Newcastle fans you call them, but I quite like Evan. I always have, I don't know if it's because I've got an affiliation with Keeren, who's part of the Evan team, we used to do a podcast together, so I've always quite like Evan. I think, I think we are going to win, I just think we'll only show for about 60% of the game, so I think it'll be a 2-1 win Newcastle, I'm going to go be opposite to Ben, I'm going to go 2-1 Newcastle win, I think we might start well, then hit a bit of a rough patch, Evan will go ahead and I think we'll come back strong and we'll make some really important subs, because our bench is finally starting to look strong after the injury, later in the last season, I think the subs might win it for us, I think we just got a little bit more depth and I think that might be, unfortunately for Evan, but fortunately for Newcastle that might be the difference I think. Right, 2-1, 2-1, 3-1, that's alright, one of us will be close, I can tell you what the result is tonight, because Jo, Jo Ann's not taking part, couldn't take part because she's at Kingston Park, watching Newcastle ladies play Evan ladies in the Group A of the Widdensley Cup and it finished 1-1 and Evan won 3-0 on penalties, and we led all the way through the first half. That's going to flip to the men, it's going to flip to the men, that might be 3-0 on the men. We'll get there. We'll get there. We'll get there. We've got to get revenge for it, we've got to get revenge for it. If Newcastle are to win though, I just hope that Anthony Gordon isn't on the score sheet and then at least it's not as bad. A brace for Anthony, a brace for Anthony. Don't do it to him, you can't do it. Anyway, that's us done, thank you very much indeed Ben, I hope you've enjoyed your first experience. Grid debut Ben, Grid debut. We did very well. Thank you for helping me pop me Jerry. Yeah. Thanks again for you Kev, my name is Ian McConley, this is Newcastle doing an Everton podcast for them. See you all on the next one. Every club. Every day. The Growny Sports Podcast Network. The Growny Sports Podcast Network. [BLANK_AUDIO]
