Brighton Burst Arsenal's Bubble

26:13I thought he played very well. Inter do look a step ahead from everybody else. But you know what? The table doesn't line. The others are right there with them, and I think they'll be ready to pounce. Gab, you mentioned it at the start. We're seeing games with goals in Italy this season. What's happened? Why has the handbrake come off? You seem surprised. I think there's a number of reasons. One, what you're also seeing is a lot fewer penalties and a lot fewer VAR interventions and fouls. Some of the data, ball and play time in Serie A was the highest in Europe. This is a conscious decision by the new head of referees, Daniel Orsato, who's basically said, no, no, no, VAR only steps in for serious stuff.

27:00We don't like the little cheap penalties. We don't like the penaltitos, as they call them in La Liga. We're going to let more stuff run. We're going to be more physical. I only think we had the first 0-0, I think, in match day four in Serie A. And I think also, as a result, more teams, and you're seeing this, maybe not so much the big teams, although there are some examples, like Cisse at Milan, for example. But mid-table and lower down, they're saying, you know what? Let's give the kids a grow. Let's take the handbrake off. It is three points for a win. and I think that's certainly filtering through in what we've seen.

27:35I mean, cracking entertainment thus far. I can't promise that it's going to be like this all season long. So, you know, don't take it up with me. Yeah, Gab, I imagine this has been received well. As you say, the penalty, Shaq was talking about it when we were watching the Barcelona game. Obviously, every league is official differently, but where you get less interference, it seems to be more entertaining.

27:59I think there's a sense that this season, you know, they're saying, well, this is maybe what fans want. And as long as we're consistent with it. I mean, remember, you know, there was that incident with the De Bruyne goal earlier this season when against Genoa. And when, you know, he seemed to put it to shove the Genoa defender, Johan Vazquez. That was match day one. And people are like, wait, why wasn't that a call? Was it just what they call a coming together here in the Premier League? Why isn't that a foul? and basically the vibe's like, no, no, we're going to be consistent in not calling those.

28:30We are going to allow more physicality and see how people respond. And I think so far, people like it. I mean, I think we've gone so far down the VAR rabbit hole and, you know, sort of 99 different camera angles and replays and whatever else that the whole message has been put the referee, let the referee decide, and VAR only steps in in certain situations. and as a baseline, we accept it's a physical game and we're going to allow more physicality. And so far, people have responded well. Yeah, it's certainly been very entertaining for the neutral. Gav, thank you very much. Gav will be back with us on Extra Time.

29:08We'll take it to Udinese against Calgary as Daniel Mardini with the interesting defender. Well, that's one way to put it. But you could credit any number of players with being interesting or disinterested, multi-point. I like to have a little chat. Yeah, I like to. Oh, is that me? What's that fool doing here? What are you doing for dinner later? Maldini then with the goal. And that was the only goal of the game as well. Lazio, as I mentioned, level on points now with Inter and Roma after that 2-0 win away against Vinicius. Barca win again beating Sevilla by three goals to one Rafinha the man of the match with the hat-trick for more let's hear from Gemma who caught up with Hansi Flick after the game Yes you are with Rodri after probably the most complicated victory of Barcelona so far this season how do you evaluate the whole game?

30:09Well as you said the most difficult one by far they we struggled a little bit in the first half I think I think we didn't read well where the game was. I think we lost a lot of easy balls and that's what they want. You know, the pitch was a bit difficult to play, so you have to play more safe, these kind of games, and we try to pass quick pass and the last pass and the last pass and the last pass. At the end, they recover lots of balls and they punish us first with a goal and with another chance. I remember one I take out also very, very close. We have to pay attention to these details. I think with Hansi, with the words of him in the half-time, we changed and we did a great second half.

30:53Did you say to the players in the midfield after the first 45 minutes? Because it was a very intensive game in that period. Yes, of course, we have to keep the ball better. The passes were not good and, as I said before, it was easy ball loss. It was not the level we normally want to play, and the second half was much better. To ask you about Rafinha, it's impressive, almost unbelievable, that he never played as a number nine. You met him on the Premier League, of course, at Leeds. What do you think about him and this transformation? Well, it talks about how this player has developed through the years, in his mindset, in his leadership, in the way he understands football.

31:36I think right now he's the guy who's scoring, the guy who's pressing, the guy who's doing kind of everything. And he's a bit the soul of the team in this way. Nobody is surprised that the good player is Rafinha. But as a very good striker, have you surprised? No, I'm not surprised. I see him every training. So he's unbelievable. His dynamic is top and when he can attack the space they give us, it's amazing. So that impressive victory puts Barcelona six clear of Real Madrid at the top of La Liga table. They're in action on Sunday at the Metropolitano against Atletico Madrid. Kay Murray will be there for us.

32:24She's just born a couple of people off the street, she's found. Kay? Yeah, just a couple of people that I pulled in off the street here. You know, legends at Real Madrid, Claude McAlealy and Steve McManaman. Claude, we're delighted to have you on with us. Sorry that you've got to sit next to Steve. Oi. Oi. What was it like playing with him? Amazing. Amazing. Amazing. Good player. All the time I say in England, how nobody talk about this guy. He's the best English player ever. Love that. Isn't it nice, isn't it? It is nice. It is nice when people say nice things. So we've just seen there, Claude, six points ahead.

33:05Barcelona have gone. Real Madrid really need to win this game against Atleti tomorrow. How do you see Real Madrid in this clash? I think we are the beginning. I think the more important for Real Madrid is not losing this game because it's a derby first of all. and I think for win the Liga you have time, you have time. But I think for the fans, for the club, for the players, it's very important Real Madrid win this game. Also for sure, they won't be there for this competition. It's very important for Mourinho, first of all. First of all, for the players and the club because the decision the president make for being more here in this club is very important and many people talk about it but I think it's been a good decision I think the thing is Kay is that when you see Barcelona starting the season so well and you see them this evening on six points clear and you almost look ahead and you think who's going to actually beat them so Madrid have already lost sorry Real Madrid have already lost to Betis this year.

34:19They've got a difficult game where they normally struggle. In the last couple of years they normally struggle at the Metropolitano. Are they going to lose more points? And then that brings it forward after the International Betis, the Classico. And if they struggle then they could be six, they could be nine points behind. And then what happens to Mourinho? What happens then? Because Florentino of course brought Mourinho in to do one job and it's to finish above Barcelona. But Barcelona have started this year like a team you know, twice, three times better than they were last year with Rodri coming and Adi Amy and Anthony Gordon.

34:54Everybody sort of, you know, excels when they come onto the pitch. So the pressure is on Los Blancos tomorrow. I mean, a huge amount of pressure on Jose Mourinho and the team. They need to go out tomorrow and win. But what approach will they need to take then? Does it matter? Like, can they be defensive against this Atleti side? No, normally you would say no. Normally you'd say they have to go on the attack. But this year, what we've seen of Real Madrid is 45 minutes good, 45 minutes bad. Do we start defensive? Do we start attack minded? You know, I saw them in the Champions League and they were 30 % possession to Inter Milan.

35:30They won the game, but they won the game quite fortunate. I saw them against Elche. They were great in the first off, poor in the second off. I saw them against Betis where they struggled to get a victory in the end. I saw them get last minute winners. You know, how long can this persist? they have to be very positive. They have to show a real performance for 90 minutes of quality of we're going to take over the game, we're going to show you as boss, exactly like Barcelona have done in every single game, even the away games, and show their excellence. They brought in five players last year, they brought in six players this year.

36:04Show us what you need to do now. And that's the big question. We're all waiting. Yes, we know there's a transformation. We know they all have to gel together. We understand that completely. We've done it all ourselves. But it has to happen sooner rather than later because Barcelona are brought, as I said before, Rodri, are they aiming, aren't they, Gordon, etc., etc., etc. And they seem to have just excelled straight away. Claude, who are you looking out for to have a good game for Real Madrid? What would you like to see from the likes of Mbappe and the attack here? I think it's a good team. I think this kind of player, the way Maka said, there is no one possibility to win this game.

36:46It's very important. The way he said, Barcelona is five years. They have working in a good way, system. They bring all the time the player key. Like Rodriques, they put him there because they need this kind of player for win against the Liga. I think this team, Mourinho need to have, what do you say, take his chance, put the best player attacking for winning this game. For starting a show, Barcelona will be there. Claude, would you play Ardegula right midfield or would you play Yandy Amandi? He's only young, he hasn't played a lot. Against Atletico Madrid or would you be a bit more defensive? I would be offensive, I would put Yandy.

37:32Yes, you'll be offensive. No, offensive. Because for me, it's very important. For sure, your opponent, you will be there. You need to demonstrate the way you're attacking and you destroy the defence. The way Barcelona, they do, Madi need to start a show now. Because it will be too late. Because the way you say Barcelona, you can't have 20 points. And do you think, do you think Chouameni, who's French, like, well, when you play for the French national team, and Valverde. Do you think that's enough defensively? No, because for me, the system is not yet. Tactically, for Swamini, takes a decision to stay there because Swamini have capacity to stay.

38:20Valverde needs to go. He needs to go. Yeah, yeah. It's going to be interesting. We're going to hear from you tomorrow, so I don't need to get your prediction tonight. But I do need to get Claude's prediction for the Derby. Athlete against Real Madrid. What's your score prediction, Claude? I'm from Madrid. For me, it's very important Madrid win because I like the way Moino walk now, the way he can't help this team, he can't help this club because it's like two years of struggling, they know in La Liga. It's very important for Real Madrid win tomorrow. I would say 3-2. 3-2? I love that. Anyway, we'll let these guys get back to the street now, Dan.

39:04Yeah, cheers, Dan. Thank you, mate. Thank you. Straight to bed, Maka. Get your nice early rest for tomorrow. Save your voice. As always, mate. Yeah, yeah, yeah. God, I can't believe we got him on at this time. Fair enough. It's Madrid. Real Madrid then against Atletico Madrid tomorrow. Maka on the call along with Ian Dahl. K will be pitch side with Luis Garcia. Our coverage starts 10 a.m. Eastern on ESPN2. Harry Douglas here. Game day brings the excitement. Your stay should feel just as memorable. With Marriott Bonvoy, official hotel partner of the NCAA and U.S. soccer, you're connected to a portfolio of brands designed for how you travel.

39:47Some offer complimentary breakfasts, others give you room to spread out, space to stay productive, or extended stay comforts. So whether you're a traveling fan or part of the team, Marriott Bonvoy celebrates the moments that live on before and after the game. Marriott Bonvoy, where game day checks in. This is Buster Olney for La Quinta by Wyndham. When work puts you on the road during baseball's postseason, mornings matter. At La Quinta by Wyndham, fuel up with a free breakfast featuring hot waffles and other favorites before your workday begins. Then, when the day's wrapped up, sit back and enjoy October baseball in your spacious suite.

40:23Earn Wyndham Rewards points with every qualified stay. Tonight La Quinta, tomorrow you shine. Book your next trip at LaQuinta.com. Terms and conditions apply. That is it. That brings us to the end of today's show. We welcome Gav Marcotti back for Extra Time to answer your questions alongside Casey and Shaka.

40:49Welcome to the latest edition of Extra Time. Gab Mark Cotty joins us along with Shaka Hisslop and Casey. Why have you got the old skull and crossbones on today on the tie? Any particular reason? No. No? Just a bit of a pirate-y move? There we go. There it is. Thank you. Casey, if you're in charge of the VAR system, what is the first thing you've changed in the Premier League? I would make it extremely apparent that clear and obvious is clear and obvious. Nothing drives me more crazy when that is supposed to be the initiative. and then they spend five minutes looking at a call. How can it be clear and obvious if you're spending five minutes looking at a call?

41:25It should be exactly that. And, you know, Gab talked about it earlier about Italy kind of making sure that VAR is a necessity, not micromanaging the referee. So to me, if it's clear and obvious, it's clear and obvious. Go have a look. Nope. Okay, done. Go. And I'd also love to see the referee not be afraid to say to VAR, I'm good, thank you. As opposed to almost like, well, they've called me and then I don't want to make them look bad, so I don't want to say no. No, say I'm the ref. No, no, go away. Kind of gave us two there, Casey. Minus one. You're welcome. Casey's very fish on top, Casey. Gab, how good has Manu Kone been for Roma?

42:10Of course, he scored a brace today in that great 2-2 draw against Inter. Will it be difficult for Roma to keep him the whole season and not lose him during the January transfer window? Well, I mean, as you know, he was linked with a number of moves. Roma held out for a higher price and he stuck around. So he's obviously somebody, he was super highly rated, I think, when he was like 19 or 20 years old. And then maybe had a couple of years where he didn't grow as quickly as people thought he was when he was still in Germany. But then since he's been at Roma really for the last sort of nine months, I'd say, he's been tremendous.

42:50Obviously, we saw him with France at the World Cup. The free kids have a lot of money and they're not afraid to throw that money around. Roma right now are compliant with financial stability rules. So I actually don't think he's going to go anywhere in January unless they get a ridiculous offer. provided, of course, Roma are still in the mix for the title in Serie A, which I would imagine they will be. USMN team calling up youth for international matches, KC. Which youngster excites you the most ever too early to bring in youth to the camp? Sullivan, Hall? No, Sullivan, Gozo. I mean, I think, like anything, I think if you're succeeding, then you, and that's the next step up.

43:33The thing that disappoints me, and we talked about a little bit of this on Football America the other day, is I don't want to see the youth guys come up and then not have the standard of the rest of the team with them. Because what had kind of happened is you have some call-ups that aren't there. You know, there's no Pulisic. If you have a young player and you have a young player who has to be, I want him to go up against the standard bearer in that position and say, let's see how you match up here. Not just kind of called in and have a bunch of other kids your same age. And that's what I'm a little worried about, that this camp is kind of half veteran, half kids.

44:13I would have rather seen 80 % veteran, 90 % veteran, 10 kids to be able to then go, okay, we now get a really good gauge of how they match up against the senior players. But it's some tough games, this window. Yes. Well, on paper. On paper, yeah. Granted, it's... Because the other team could do the same thing and bring a bunch of kids in as well. or four-year cycle, but they've got some tests in there. I think it'll be interesting. The most goals scored in any European top five seasons is Messi's 50 back in 2012. How many games before Rafinha breaks that record? So what's he got? 12 goals at the moment.

44:52And two and... So 12 goals divided by seven, that's 1.7. 1.7 times 38. So what's that? 65 goals he would get if he continues at this rate? Is that right? 50 more? Come on, Gab. Yeah, the 50 the most in La Liga. Get your calculator out. Yeah, I think 65 goals he's averaging if he continues this. I think the record's not 50. In La Liga, let's just say La Liga goal is... Didn't Cristiano also hit 50? He got 48, I believe. Gab. All right. Okay. Well, anyway, let's go to the question. I broke it down beautifully with my mathematical skills that people seem to have completely ignored. Gab, how many goals will Rafinha get in La Liga this season?

45:42Well, I don't think he's going to get 50. I think he'll still be really important if he gets... I mean, he's obviously been phenomenal, but I don't think Flick's plan is to play him up front all season long. Why not? Why would you not play him up front all season long, Gab, when he's doing that? Who's the other striker? Because you have other players. I mean, and I think the way they're going, who can play up front? No, who can score the goals at the same rate that Rafinha is? Well, you don't need one guy to score the same goals at the same rate as Rafinha. What you need is a team that wins. And I think if Barcelona go deep in the Champions League, if they've developed, especially if they have a decent lead in La Liga, which I would expect they might be, I don't think we're going to see Rafinha play center forward and get kicked as much as he is now.

46:39Certainly not in the league games. I think at that point, we might see room for Hamza. We might see Anthony Gordon through the middle. We might see Adeyemi through the middle. We might see Fermin through the middle. We might see other solutions. If Rafinha has to play center forward all season long, that's definitely suboptimal. I don't think he's getting 50 goals. 50 goals is pretty superhuman. And that's why very few people have done it. I didn't know you didn't like Rafinha, Gab. What's your beef with him? I like Rafinha a lot. But if you put him in the same standard, if your measuring stick is Lionel Messi versus Rafinha playing a position he hasn't really played until this year, I think it's kind of absurd to suggest that Rafinha is going to outscore Lionel Messi's finest goal-scoring season in La Liga.

47:28I'm sorry if I think Lionel Messi has been better at scoring goals throughout his career than Rafinha. I don't believe that's a controversial decision, Dan. You got a perfect hat-trick today, Gab. Messi never did that at Barca. Take that. Oh, boy. Oh, boy. Come on, yeah. So, did you give me a number, Gab, in the end? A number for what? How many goals is he going to get this season? How many goals? What is this nonsense? I don't know how many goals are there. he was going to get. Oh, right. I would imagine he'll get 25 goals. And I thought, oh, what a nice show we're going to have. And then you bring your Burley hat in.

48:07And they go, you're dropping Rafinha. Bro, it's September. Yes, it's a nice one. He projects these things out. We've got three weeks of international break coming up. This is the tip of the iceberg when it comes to two questions, I promise you. Right, Gaz refusing to answer. Can you give me a nice... Only La Liga goals. 42. 42. 42. Yeah. I think he'll be around 40. Do you know what a producer just said? He's on the course of 65. I said that at the start of the question. Because Ardan is very good at math. Oh, God. He's grumpy because of Spurs. Yeah. Yeah. True. He was grumpy because the Zerb said he didn't speak to the players after the loss.

48:49What's he going to say to them? See you in three weeks.

48:55Casey, do you feel the best part... Oh, no, we're talking about Rafinha. Don't worry, Gab, I won't go to you on it. Oh, God. Casey, do you feel that the best part of Rafinha's career has been wasted by coaches deploying him as a wide player, seeing how ridiculously good he is as a number nine? I think he's a wide player. I think what's different is this is a very unique setup with Barcelona. There's such fluidity within the team of being able to move positions. and when Barcelona kind of did not get Júlain Alvarez it kind of left this little hole like who was going to play the number nine role and I think Rafinha has matured so well you know as a leader as a pro as the guy he said yeah okay I'll do that role he wouldn't say it was like a 30 second conversation with Hansi Flick Hansi Flick said look you're alright playing for the centre or do you want to play wide and he goes I'll play for the centre yeah I'll play centre cool but it's not played like a typical number nine.

49:59He'll be wide, he'll come in, someone will cover for him, he'll track back. And so I think it's been a perfect storm and he's been tremendous. Gab, why are you covering your face? No, it's this idea, even this idea that Casey Dale, the way he's playing up front, it's obviously the system has a lot to do with it. And it's not like he's sitting there and being Robert Lewandowski and sitting in the box and waiting for service. You know, he's moving around. He's doing different things. I would imagine at some point Laminya Ma goes on a scoring streak and Rafinha drops off. Or maybe it's for me. Why do you want to see it drop off?

50:40Maybe it's somebody else. What's wrong? Because I love Messi so much. He can't break Messi's record, Dan. Woo-hoo, Messi. Final question. What are you guys doing for the year-long international break? It's going to feel like it. Chaka. I'm going to be here, Dan. You've planned that badly, considering a man who likes a trip.

51:10I've got no trips planned, Dan. What's the matter here? But now, Dan. Casey? You might see me pop on the show from an Idaho location. Very nice. Very good. Casey's going to a posh wedding as well. We can't talk about that. NDAs galore. Oh, boy. Forget the Swifty Kelsey one. It's bigger. Thanks, Dan. That's Gav. Gav, what are you doing for the international break? I'll be watching football. It's what I get paid to do. What's wrong with you? I actually like... He does have his burly hat off. He does. He's like, you know what? That is longer... I thought as Messi's retired from international football, you wouldn't bother at a protest.

51:57I'm sure MLS will just keep playing because that's what they do, play through the money. I mean, they played through the World Cup just about a couple of years ago, didn't they? So, no, and you know what? I'm going to be watching the under-20 Women's World Cup where Italy, having beaten the United States earlier in the competition, the group stage, in fact, they're through to the semifinal. Oh, wow. So I'm kind of excited for that. So there, I'll kick that off and then move on to the men's senior internationals. Well, we know he's not going to be watching Rafinha with Brazil. No, definitely not.

52:31What have you been doing, Daniel? I'm here. I'm here. With me, Dan. Lucky you. For some reason, Burley hasn't taken a vacation. Can you imagine Craig doing an extended international break? Well, we're going to find out, Shaq, what a wonderful moment it is. I just punched myself in the liver. Right, thank you very much, everyone. I appreciate it. ESPN FC returns tomorrow. The Derby, of course, very much the focus. Atletico Madrid against Real Madrid.

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