Episode 162 - Haaland Gets Man City Back in the Title Race + Who’s Getting Relegated

On this episode of The Transfer Flow, Patrick and Ted break down a chaotic, high-quality clash at Anfield as Manchester City beat Liverpool in a game that felt like a season’s worth of drama packed into 90 minutes. We dig into what City got right, why Liverpool struggled to solve the press, and how a single moment of brilliance nearly changed the story again. From there, we zoom out to the title race and ask whether City are really back, what Arsenal should be focusing on down the stretch, and why controlling games in the Premier League feels harder than ever right now. Along the way, we talk Erling Haaland’s underrated all-around impact, elite goalkeeping across the league, and why nobody ever looks comfortable anymore. In the second half, we get into Newcastle’s worrying drop-off, Eddie Howe’s growing list of problems, and how squad depth (or the lack of it) is shaping seasons at both ends of the table. We also look at the relegation battle, West Ham’s faint hopes of a late escape, and why Forest fans should still be nervous. We wrap things up with listener questions, including a deep dive into “hot hand” theory in football, sweet spots for shooting, and what analytics can (and can’t) tell us about form, finishing streaks, and player development. Tickets for The Transfer Flow Conference (May 22, London) are available now for a 10% discount: http://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/1981005227964/?discount=earlybird10 Join our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/TheTransferFlow Subscribe to our FREE newsletter: https://www.thetransferflow.com/subscribe Join Variance Betting: https://www.thetransferflow.com/upgrade Follow us on our Socials: YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCe1WTKOt7byrELQcGRSzu1Q X: https://x.com/TheTransferFlow Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/thetransferflow.bsky.social Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thetransferflow/ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@transferflowpodcast Timestamps: 00:00 - Intro 01:33 - Dominik Szoboszlai’s free kick 02:44 - The drama of Liverpool/Man City 04:04 - City’s first half 04:55 - Liverpool on their back foot 05:32 - The quality of players in this match 07:42 - You can’t go hard for 180 minutes every week 08:18 - Sideism for Liverpool? 08:45 - The impact of Haaland 10:53 - Gakpo and Ekitike for Liverpool 11:30 - Pep’s weirdness + Rayan Cherki 12:57 - Late game red card + Is the TItle Race on? 13:44 - City were much stronger in past seasons 14:02 - Eddie Howe and Newcastle 15:15 - Uncalled penalties 16:00 - Newcastle fan’s frustrations 17:10 - Managers need to do less, not more 18:46 - Howe overseeing transfers? 20:01 - Arsenal’s overpayment for depth to win a title 21:02 - Should Arsenal fans be concerned? 22:00 - The other end of the table + faith in Leeds? 23:20 - West Ham’s improvement 24:00 - Will West Ham save themselves? 25:20 - Paco Jemez + Comparing schedules 26:58 - Brentford are flying 27:47 - The Fulham vs Everton game 28:22 - Samuel Chukwueze 29:52 - The crazy goalkeeping in this game 31:22 - Impressive saves across the league 32:18 - Hot Hand Theory 33:45 - Sequencing 34:59 - Tracking shooting training data 36:06 - Creating better players 36:45 - Sweet Spots exist, Hot Hand isn’t provable for us 37:52 - When the streaky players fall off what do we change? 39:34 - Smaller margins across the league now 40:27 - Juventus are evil 41:24 - Will there be a goalkeeper bubble? 42:04 - TTF Conference tickets and a £25,000 talk? #manchestercity #liverpool #premierleague #arsenal #football #epl #soccer #eplnews #manchestercity #haaland #szoboszlai #salah #wirtz #pepguardiola #newcastle #westham #relegationbattle #foryou #fyp Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices