On this week’s episode, Gary Neville, Wayne Rooney, Jill Scott, Roy Keane, and Ian Wright take on some of your unpopular opinions on the game today. First, the team is joined by former Manchester United goalkeeper Raimond van der Gouw, who reflects on his time at the club as a backup keeper and his later role working alongside Roy Keane on the coaching staff at Sunderland. The focus then shifts to your unpopular opinions, and it doesn’t take long for the debate to split the table, from whether Bruno Fernandes makes an all-time Manchester United XI, to the question of whether Neymar would have been the Premier League’s greatest ever player in his prime – the panel do not hold back.
00:00 – Intro
18:36 – Neymar Versus Premier League All-time
23:05 – Premier League All-Time XI
34:20 – Slowing the Game Down
44:55 – Worst World Cup Ever?
47:10 – Does Bruno Make United’s All-Time XI
1:03:00 – Roy on Pundits
Key Quotes:
Van der Gouw on how Roy was as a manager at Sunderland…
‘I loved my time there. I know him as a player, but as a manager, it’s different. I can understand where he was coming from and sometimes the players couldn’t follow him because he expected a high level and some of the players couldn’t deliver what he was asking. The whole time, he [Roy Keane] put a lot of pressure on the players. I had a good time. It was hard, it was difficult because Sunderland was at that time a yo-yo club.’
The panel discussing whether there was a better player in Premier League history than prime Neymar…
Rooney: ‘I like Neymar, but I’ve never seen Neymar as a top, top player.’
Keane: ‘Has he ever been likeable? He left Barca and I think I always got the impression that he was a bit of mischief. I know these lads can be selfish, you can be selfish in the right way, don’t get me wrong, but he was never that likeable, was he?’
Neville on claims Pep’s success is bought…
‘I think it’s a nonsense, this idea. The reason these clubs are placing that money with him is because he’s the best.’
Neville on the debate Kyle Walker vs Himself at right back…
‘I was speaking to Kyle the other day and I said to him, you’ve got 96 England caps, which is absolutely incredible. He’s won the treble, he’s got all the accolades, he’s played at the highest level. I said to him, the differentiator for me is that I think I knew the position better than you but if I was playing against a Vinicius Jr. or Mbappé one-on-one, I said, you’re the only person.’
Rooney on the problems with the current rules in the game…
‘I just think there’s too many f***ing rules. Just let the two teams play the game and see who wins.’
Rooney on whether the game’s becoming boring…
‘There are too many players, coaches, whatever, trying to cheat. They’re trying to cheat. There’s too many stop starts. When you’re telling the keepers to go down, you’re looking for anything. They’re trying to get the advantage.’
Panel on whether Bruno Fernandes makes it into an all-time United XI…
Rooney: ‘I think Bruno’s a top player. To get into Manchester United’s all-time XI, I don’t think so. Well, you think you’ve got Cantona, all of the midfielders. You’ve got all your attacking players. I just don’t think so.’
Keane: ‘I would just, on certain days, look to him going, just come back a little bit. Dig in where the team can get a result instead of you and your stats. I don’t compare him to the lads we’ve just mentioned [Scholes, Charlton, Robson] and maybe that’s because I’ve got loyalty to them lads.’
Wright on where Arsenal would be if they had stuck with Unai Emery…
‘I think we would have definitely won something…. The way he is, his attention to detail and what he’s done, he’s not a million miles off Mikel with the attention to detail so if he got that same backing and like you say the timing yeah, I think he could have done that (won the league by now).’
Roy Keane on reserve team players…
‘That’s why I always look back at our time at United, and people remember certain players going back in 1999, and Becks and Giggs and all these lads. The players I would give most credit were players like Ray (Van Der Gouw). The lads in the background are fringe players because they were amazing players, brilliant pros. The way they trained, the way they played, so, when they did get called upon, they were ready and they done a brilliant job for the team.’
Keane on Pundits…
‘Why should pundits not be allowed to speak about what other pundits say? I go back to it because us, we’re sitting here, we’ve all got different experiences. We’re entitled to our opinion. It’s not for other pundits to agree with us or not. We’re just giving an opinion on a football match and these pundits go, I don’t agree with that. I don’t give a f*** if you agree with me or not. Who are you? But other pundits seem to be getting upset. Lucky I’m not one of them. It’s bizarre”
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