Gab and Juls: Advantage Man City in title race?

22:50Julien Laurens:Yeah, but they all believe that, Gabby, in the dressing room. That's the problem as well. It's not just about time. You know who believes it too? I haven't asked him, and he would probably deny it if I did. I bet you Rosinior believes it too. I bet you Rosinior says, I'm ambitious. I wanted to be the Chelsea manager one day. I did not want to have to come in like this. In January? Yeah, maybe. Not just in January, but in January in these conditions. They can still have the FA Cup. They might still win the FA Cup. And that might save him, by the way, any season. But yeah, right now they're not on the right path.

23:21You say it might save him. At a club where they make decisions based, supposedly, based on... If it was a club where they do it based on trophies and silverware and whatever. Oh, look, we won the FA Cup. Yeah, that might be the case. at Chelsea, where supposedly they're all about analytics and turning players into assets and this model, if they're rational, that won't save them. What will save them is actual progress. If they finish fifth with the FA Cup, so they're still Champions League next season. If the analytics nerds come out and say, look, we've made progress. Look, Garnaccio's now worth 80 million.

23:55You know, if it's stuff like that, then yes. If not, I think it's going to be really tough.

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25:19Shopify.com slash network. I like things my way. My coffee, my schedule, and my treatment. So I talked to my doctor about self-injecting with the Vivgard Hytrulo Pre-Filled Syringe, which contains F-Gartigamide Alpha and Hyaluronidase QVFC. It's injected under your skin subcutaneously. It means I can inject in my space on my time. It's my treatment, my way. Visit VivgardMyWay.com. That's V-Y-V-G-A-R-T MyWay.com. And talk to your doctor about Vivgard Hytrulo. Brought to you by Argenix. All right, enough city. How about some quick hits instead? Let's go, guys. Arsenal fall at home to Bournemouth 2-1.

26:01Julien Laurens:Jules, obvious question is, what's going wrong? Too many things, that's the problem right now. I think mentally, physically, in terms of injuries, in terms of Arteta, struggling to find sometimes the solutions within the game. Because I think, and I said it yesterday on the show, for me the worst team that Arsenal could have played this weekend was a team that was like Bournemouth, apart from City obviously. because they are the best pressing team in the league, even better than City. They clearly saw what City did in the Carabao Cup final and the League Cup final and did a similar thing with our screen of four to prevent Arsenal from playing.

26:39Julien Laurens:And when David Raya has more passes than any of your attacking players, you don't have any creativity and you're missing the likes of Odegaard and Saka and Timber, then you struggle. And if on top of that you make mistakes like Arsenal are doing at the moment, then you've got nothing for you and they got beaten and they deserve to be beaten. It was a really poor performance again and it starts to get really worrying. So I think in terms of chances, they had chances. Yeah, yeah. But they could have won this game or at least not lost it. Yeah, yeah, not lost it. But it would have just papered over cracks because a fundamental thing and look, you have to make a choice.

27:18It's what got them to the top of the Premier League table playing this way, which is not a very sort of football-y, if that's a word, type way, means you can't just turn it on when you need to because you're playing them. And, I mean, in some ways, at left back, Lewis Skelly would have been the right choice last season. This season, because he never plays, he's thrown in there. Ben White at the right, would Timber have done a better job? Probably. But, you know, there's no Timber. Would Udegaard have done a better job? Yeah. And I want to say one other thing about Kai Havertz. He's going to get his critics and he did not have a good game.

27:52But when he plays, sometimes he's a centre-forward, sometimes he's a number 10. I mean, come on. You're treating him like he's the fourth striker.

28:01Julien Laurens:No, I know. The issue I have with that, and again, we talked before about learning from your mistakes and learning from what went wrong before. Kahaves played that position in the League Cup final, and that was not working. Why are you doing it again in this game when you know exactly what Bournemouth are going to play, the way they're going to play, how they're going to hit you, and then you play Kai again in that position, which is clearly not working. maybe he needs a bit more time but he looked lost in this game on saturday and i just don't think that was the right thing to do i would just play him up alternate him and geocores up front and do something different but barcelona destroy espanyol 4-1 in the derby gabdena nine points clear at the top they are and everything kind of broke flicks way this weekend except for gerard martin's knock it looked like he's going to be back but the thing about even if gerard martin's injured and obviously kubar see suspended midweek he doesn't make a difference as long as you have a live body back there because your highlights kind of face the same threats also this is general martin we're talking about right when we're not talking about carlos puyol here um ferran torres i think getting those two goals is a big confidence boost yeah um and i think they're in i think they're they're in good shape for the uh for the atletico game and yeah they really believe i mean lamine was incredible again his 100th uh la liga game already at 18 it's just ridiculous.

29:20Let's just hope he's not being overused. And in fact, as we mentioned, now nine points clear because Real Madrid were held at home by Girona on Friday night. Albeiro needed this like he needed a hole in the head.

29:33Julien Laurens:Yeah, you're right. He tried something in midfield with Kamavinga and Bellingham because Tremini would be suspended for the second leg in Munich on Wednesday night. And I don't think they were that bad but it was clearly, again, something missing in this game. I thought it was a penalty on Mbappe. I know the elbow is an accident. 1 ,000 % a penalty. I don't understand how it's not given. Because of the vast conspiracy against a small club like Real Madrid. I don't know. I think because people make mistakes. But it wouldn't change the fact that they were bad. They were bad. And it wouldn't change the fact that they could still lose La Liga in the Clásico.

30:08So I think he's got other things to worry about than talk about that penalty. As bad as it was.

30:14Julien Laurens:Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, I agree. But still, yeah. Another poor performance. against teams like Girona and you just can't get your game going. Milan also gets boot off the pitch, Gab. They lost 3-0 at home to Udinese. Yeah, brilliant idea to change your system to a back four now, which, look, at this stage of the season, this is not the reason that they lost. What is amazing with Milan is there is so much narrative. I don't know what hold Allegri has over people, but it's like they lose 3-0. Oh, it's Rafael Leal's fault because he was bad. Gee, who decided to play him through the middle in that position, right?

30:51Who decided to switch to the back four?

30:55Julien Laurens:Pavlovich is the top goal scorer since the turn of the year. I mean, none of this is a Ligue 1 solid, right? No European football. You can work with everybody a week. You make players better, really. Have you made Pulisic and Lall better? No. Or have you just been riding Mondric's coattails? Yeah. I really fear for next season what might come up because this feels like a real house of cards here. Yeah, and they have to be careful. They might not make Champions League. Absolutely. Avoiding your unfinished home projects because you're not sure where to start? Thumbtack knows homes, so you don't have to.

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32:08And because Granger knows safety is always a priority, they're committed to being your partner and protecting both your people and your facilities. Call 1-800-GRANGER, click granger.com, or just stop by. Jules, we're not done because we have more quick hits. Bayern beat up St. Pauli 5-0 on the road. Bayern's B team, really. But still, they set a new single-season goals record, Jules.

32:34Julien Laurens:Yeah, 105 goals in the league. We told you on last Monday's show, they hit 100 in 28 games, 28 league games. So that's now 105 in 29, the record before that. They're set back in 71, 72, or 72, 73 was 101. And that was the legendary Bayern team with Gerard Moeller and Beckenbauer. They won three Champions League in a row, three European Cups in a row and all of that. Yeah, it's amazing. Five different goal scorers. You're right, the likes of Nico Jackson started, for example, and the company gave a race prior to the Real Madrid second leg, obviously, in midweek to a lot of key players. So it was just too easy for them once again.

33:16Julien Laurens:Yeah, an all-East Asian centre-back pairing of Ito and Kim. Yeah, although Ito got injured and came off in that second half. But still, it was a very good performance, which we expected to be. Just they're averaging 3.6 goals per game. I don't know how well this looks on the Bundesliga, by the way. Inter come from two goals down to defeat Como 4-3 away and extend the lead at the top of Serie A. Gab, this was one of the best games of the weekend. Very enjoyable. It really was. Como gets so much attention. We were all Fabregas, all these Spanish-y type, South American type, pretty passing players.

33:52But in the first half, they didn't just pass the ball effectively and en route to a 2-0 lead with Nico Paz scoring a phenomenal accuracy. They limited Inter to zero shots until just after they score. What happened? Nicola Barella straight up the pitch, crosses for your boy Marcus Turam. That was their first shot on goal.

34:15Julien Laurens:Yeah, and big mistake defensively again, but still. Second half starts, and you're wondering, okay, how are Como going to approach this? Again, Inter second shot on goal of any kind. Yeah, Marcus Turam again. And it's due to. I know, and then he's the Thierry Henry celebration with Thierry in the stands, in the crowds, obviously. And then you thought, because Cuomo, I think, still really had the upper hand, and then two set pieces. My man Double D, Denzel Dumfries, back from his injury, reminding us that he is the king of wingbacks. Sorry, Ashraf. When you score four goals with an expected goal of 0.88, I think it shows.

34:56Julien Laurens:and Como, their third goal is a penalty, Dacunia, but had many more chances and it's a bit cruel. It's cruel, but I think, you know, the cliche about experience, knowing how to win, stuff like that. But you could tell watching the game anyway that, you know, those mistakes were mistakes made by the lack of experience, Butez. But it would have been so easy for Inter to just fall away and take things for granted. So I think Kivu deserves a lot of credit here. No Ballon d 'Or Lautaro as well. Yeah, that's right. Got to underscore that. So, yeah. Arnest Lock gives starts to youngster Riongumur and brings back Mo Salah.

35:30Jules, they both score. Liverpool win 2-0 against Fulham and they move one stop closer to the top five finish.

35:35Julien Laurens:Yeah, they needed that win badly really after what happened against PSG a few days before and to prepare for this second leg where they're hoping to do another remontada. It was not perfect against a Fulham team that still had a bit to play for but, you know, not really that much. We always see Fulham on the beach this time of year. Yeah, but Riongumur Gomorrah was the star of the game. It's got a great goal individually. For me, it has to start on Tuesday night. It has to, in a game that Liverpool will have to win and put PSG under pressure. I know he's young. I know that means you have to get rid of one of Werds, McAllister or Gravenberg or Soboslai, obviously.

36:15Julien Laurens:But do it because whether you start Salah on the right, maybe, but for me, Rio has to start on the left. Oh, interesting. so like and you would you're open to starting Salah? I think he will start him I would not start him personally but I think he will start him you have to go for it really and even if that means you lose you end up losing I don't know 2-1 but if you score first and it's 1-0 up to you in that stadium anything can happen I really believe that so you have to put Sabaslai right back right just so he can be on the pitch if you're going to make room for Ngomua in that way well or or you keep Frimponga right back like he played in this game against Fulham because really to go for it, to maybe try to disturb that momentum from a PhD point of view of Nuno Mendes, Kvaraskelia, force Kvaraskelia to defend more than in the tags by having Frimpong really high up the pitch.

37:04Julien Laurens:So then Salah can play there and move him a bit closer to a KTK. I think there's a lot of things that Slot can do, has to do, and there's big calls to make. For example, in this game, would you play Soboslaia a bit deeper? For example, in VS as a 10, of Soboslaia as a 10, and then you get rid of it and he's on the bench and you play McAllister and Gravenberg who invested at the weekend. Can you imagine dropping your record signing in a game like this? So somebody will have to be left on the bench. One of the bigger names. By the way, Arna Slott, another one who likes saying, everybody's aligned at this club.

37:33It's like the new word that the PR people are putting people's mouths.

37:36Julien Laurens:Gab and Phil felt a bit different too in that game against Fulham as many supporters protested against the announcement of increased price tickets. Yeah, we talked about this before. It's 3 % for the first season and then it's inflation after that. It's always tricky to raise prices at Adfield. If you're going to protest, this is the most effective way to do it. They put the banners away. They only showed one banner at a certain point. Everybody applauded. No to ticket prices. I think they're going to rethink this. It's not a, to paraphrase somebody else, it's not a LACO situation, Liverpool always chicken out, is a 3 % increase plus inflation.

38:16It's such a small proportion of your overall revenue. you don't want to piss these people off. Liverpool stands for something. They have a certain ethos.

38:23Julien Laurens:Although I thought your friend Billy Hogan had a really nice letter to try to justify or explain it to the fans. He's a really nice guy. No, he is. But you know, your season ticket will stay at£600 a season. It's Liverpool. That's not much. I think there's a lot of things that could also... I know the fans are not happy and I understand. But 3 % is not that much either as an increase. Yeah, I spoke to somebody else who's kind of in that space at a smaller club and he says, you know what? If I were Liverpool, I'd increase the ticket prices 25%, take on the hate and then a year from now they'll all forget about it.

39:00I don't think he's right. I don't think Liverpool fans would forget. No, but 3 % is, you know, not that much. Our boy Roberto de Zerbi makes his debut on the Spurs bench away to Sunderland. I thought he wasn't particularly lucky. This deflected goal, but you're going to go in.

39:15Julien Laurens:I will let you do the unluckiness and I will go for the disappointment I had watching this game. And maybe I'm a bit harsh because he's only been there 10 days. But I saw nothing from him. No impact. I thought the line-up made no sense whatsoever to have Richarlison, Solanke, Colomani together in that front three. When you have Tell and Simons on the bench, I didn't understand it. I don't know what he was trying to do. But to have three number nines playing, two of them as wide players, made no sense whatsoever. and by the way, they had zero impact on the game. That midfield, I don't think worked either, particularly, really.

39:54Julien Laurens:And if you didn't know it was Roberto De Zerbi on the bench and we would be watching the game together, we thought, okay, this is another ego-to-door disaster class. Really? And I know you said 10 days is short time. I was doing a show on French Radio yesterday with Samuel Umtiti who said, like, Jules, you'll be harsh. 10 days is not that much. Sure, Thomas Tuchel had two days to prepare for his first game for Chelsea against Wolves, and you saw instantly the impact that he had in terms of intensity, the change of shape of the team. Dezebi could have done something similar, and instead, for me, he did nothing different.

40:25Yeah, I feel like they had intensity for about 15 minutes, but Sunderland were physical, Sunderland equally intense. Sunderland played with a lot of freedom. I want to address, though, where, look, in the end, they were beaten by deflected shot. In the end, I think... But they had other chances, Sunderland. If Colomwani doesn't decide to dive on that incident, I think they call a penalty

40:46Julien Laurens:Alderete gets the ball first to me Every day There's no pen The pen comes from the fact That Alderete hits the ball first I think Olamani thought To dive early And whatever Shame on him But Brian Brodby I mean honestly Like You You belong in a straight jacket Like What he did on With the Romero push Obviously he should have been sent off But that's also really dirty Right Certainly a second yellow on Romero Yeah And even before that Amporo. You go, you throw somebody to the ground? What, big man? Why don't you go pick on someone? Why don't you go do that to Mickey Van Der Veen? And then we'll see who's laughing.

41:20Brian Broby. I'm not even a Spurs fan. But that... That really wound me up, Jules.

41:26Julien Laurens:So, I mean, Bogar's goal is the only goal as Juventus win away. Atalanta, Gab, they're back and forth. They are. Look, it's good that they're in forward. It's not good that Jeremy Boga has to play center forward when you've got all these other center forwards. Onwards and upwards. But it just tells you how far you still have to do what they have to do to come back most protein drinks ask you to choose between results and taste bucked up decided that's a ridiculous trade-off bucked up makes lightly carbonated protein drinks 25 grams of protein per can clear protein not milky or thick and they taste so good that 25 grams of protein almost feels like a bonus bucked up is so confident you'll love their drinks they're giving away an island vacation just to prove it that's the kind And a brand this is.

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43:11Julien Laurens:Yes. His long-range striker gives Bayer Levy Khrusen a huge 1-0 win away to Borussia Dortmund. Jules, they're still in the Champions League hunt. Yeah, and I'm happy. I like Kasper Hulman. We said, I don't think it was, considering the start that they had with Ten Hag, etc. Just a way to throw shade on Ten Hag. I know, I know. But we love it. It's still a team that has issues, obviously, for sure. It's still a team very much in transition with a lot of youngsters. Great. But that was a big win for them to go to Dortmund and win like that. Dortmund have nothing to play. They can't catch Bayern.

43:46Julien Laurens:Nobody else will catch them. They will finish in second place. Dortmund seem to remember they were in a football match at the end. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And they created a couple chances. Yeah, yeah, yeah. When they woke up, finally. A chemical mix-up after 30 seconds limits Napoli to a draw away at Parma. I can only imagine how angry Conte must be right now. Right. So you're telling everybody, guys, this is it. We've got to put pressure on Inter. They're going to fold like a cheap house of cards. they're playing Como in a couple hours. Como are going to do them. Trust me. Look, De Bruyne is back.

44:17Zambonguisa is back. Luboka is back. This is the team I never had. Sala is ready to go. They go out there super attacking. And then what happens? Zion, Suzuki, Japan's number one. Of course. The Kong will kick up the pitch. The idiot Juan Jesus runs into the back of Buongiorno. Buongiorno is not very good. he runs into the back of him puts him off the Parma striker heads the ball on and Gabriel Strafet a nice first name goes and and scores and beats Vanya Mininkovic-Savic and then all of a sudden you're chasing and they huff and they puff Parma I think had two more shots the entire name

44:56Julien Laurens:yeah three only McTominay pulls one back comes close nice overhead kick for another one and they can't get it done and that's that's it that's got to be heartbreak and again I don't know I was going to make a joke about Conte pulling his hair out, but that would be fine because he could just replace it. But, yeah, it's a shame. It would have been nice. From a neutral perspective, it would have been nice to see a title race. Yeah, definitely. Manchester United kick off in a few hours' time against Leeds as we record this on a Monday morning. But, Jules, Michael Carrick says Kabi Menuh is close to signing an extension.

45:29Should he be the one? Does this make me slightly worried that he's the one making these decisions?

45:33Julien Laurens:I don't think that's him making the decision. He's just announcing it. He was asked a question and he said in his press conference that that was the case, right? Right, so we assume this is Jason Wilcox deciding that Kobe Munoz should get. Why is Jason Wilcox making these decisions when he doesn't know who the manager next season is going to be? Because he's an asset to the football club. He's been very good since the turn of the year, since Carrick arrived. But he might not be under a new manager. What if Ruben Amarim comes? No, but in that case, I think you protect also the value of your player, the asset that he is.

46:03Julien Laurens:I don't like this word for players, but that's what it is. And you're hoping that whoever comes next, whether it's Karik or somebody else, they want Mainu as a key part of their team. I was joking. I agree about protecting the asset, which sadly is how clubs think of players these days. What I would say, though, is they thought they were protecting the asset. They have history here in the past with Luke Shaw, with Phil Jones, and so on. Yeah, but that's Mainu we're talking about. is a much better player than those two i probably in a different role he also has different limitations um as well i i like i said if you got i don't think we have details on the extension right in terms of money or legs you have to be sure you did it in such a way that you're not tied into something long and unpleasant like you were with with some of these other guys uh because if i mean what incentive do i have i said i don't know who the manager is going to be next year.

47:01What incentive do I have to put pen to paper unless you give me a really sweet deal, right? So, it'll be interesting to see. I think the numbers are going to decide whether this deal at this time was the right deal to make.

47:11Julien Laurens:Atletico Madrid make 10 changes and lose a win. Sevilla 2-1. Gab Simone wants everybody rested and ready for the Champions League second league. Yeah, there might actually be 11 changes because Musa, of course, played, but there's a decent chance that Jan Oblak could be back. Look, Atletico Madrid, obviously, I don't want to say they didn't care. Obviously, Simeone didn't care. He played, I think, four kids from the Cantera and whatever. We saw Diaz and whatnot. The guys out there put in the effort, but I thought Sevilla, who are fighting for their lives, incidentally, I thought they did really, really well.

47:46Yeah, we did manage as well. And, yeah, I don't think you read too much into it other than maybe your B team isn't as good or as effective when they all get thrown together as you thought it was. Nottingham Forest.

48:03I'm not sure though, because I think Villa should have won this game.

48:08Julien Laurens:Watkins has this huge... I mean, Rodgers and Watkins in that second half should have scored and Villa should have won that game, really. Forrest, I don't think we're very good. It's a poor goal to concede as well from a Villa point of view without Martinez who got injured during the warm-up of the game. And I think that's a missed opportunity because I think the three points were there for the taking. They didn't. It's just one point, so it's still better than what Chelsea did, for example. So in that sense, yes. There's seven points clear of Chelsea. Yeah, you're going to point, so it should be okay.

48:38Julien Laurens:Yeah, it should be okay, but you could have been nine points clear, and that would be definitely over for the title race. So I think they would be a bit disappointed. You won't be lost. Speaking of Gianfrois, sorry, Gabi, the very wise Mr. Marinakis is going to do something nice this week when they play in the Europa League. They are. I didn't know this story, or I'd forgotten the story, actually, but they had a striker named Tony Woodcock when he won the European Cup for the first time and that is really his name. I'm not making it up. And apparently, as the story goes, he was kind of out of contract, wanted to leave, spoke to Cologne.

49:16This greatly displeased Brian Clough, who was the legendary, iconic figure in English football, blah, blah, blah, and who, I personally am not sure I get what all the fuss was about, but they love him in this country. And he said, right, that's it then. You're not getting the European Cup winner's medal. Which, you know, that season I think he played in four games, scored a couple goals. And by the way, it's not like four games out of 17 or whatever. It was like four games out of nine. I thought it was purely vindictive because back then there was no free agency at the end of your contract. You still have to negotiate a fee and whatever.

49:55there's crazy stories about it how like the Cologne like president and director of football came over and nobody at Forest like Clough forbade everybody at Forest from even talking to them and I just remind you of a different era anyway this guy deserves he was part of the team he should not he deserves his medal and Mr. Marinakis in his wisdom took them a long time though to give it back to him well you know Mr. Marinakis said other things on his mind even before Marinakis you know but yeah Yeah, well, the people before him, clearly the owners before Mr. Marinakis, not as enlightened as Mr. Marinakis.

50:29He's doing the right thing because, of course, he's a wonderful and good person, and he'll receive his medal, which I think he definitely earned, yeah, 46 years later. Yeah, exactly. Olympique Lyonnais, speaking of Marinakis adjacent types, beat Lorient 2-0 to move into fifth place. Jules, even with John Texter gone, the weirdness continues at this club. They win 13 games in a row. I get texts from my Portuguese from, Si, Paolo Fonseca's really good.

51:01Julien Laurens:Exactly. And then they failed to win nine in a row until the Lorient game this weekend. Yeah, and that was a better performance. They had to win because they obviously have this massive, massive battle to finish in a Champions League position. Just ahead of Rennes as well. Yeah, behind PSG and Lens, them and Monaco and Marseille and Rennes and Lille. So there will be some disappointment in where those teams finish. So they had to win because they played the latest. They played on Sunday night. And Hendrik was on the bench after Palo Fonseca said in midweek how disappointed he was of the performances lately of the young Brazilian.

51:36Julien Laurens:And that worked because he came on a halftime, was very good in the second half, created the first goal for Jaram Shouk. And then Lyon finally won again. And they've been so streaky. and in a way I'm glad for Paolo Fonseca that the little trick on Hendrik worked. So let's see how they fare now next weekend. And let's rewind to Friday in Italy. Gabi has Roma beat Pisa 3-0 to stay in the Champions League hunt. Three goals by Daniel Malin, by the way. Ten goals since coming over in January. There's also fireworks between Claudio Ranieri and Gian Piero Gasperini. Yeah, so Gasperini is obviously the coach.

52:11Claudio Ranieri is sort of like the special senior advisor or to the Friedkins. Okay. I have written a biography, Claudio Ranieri, but I don't think I'm giving away any secrets here that he is not a fan of Gasparini. Yeah. And, you know, he came out and he said something like, well, Gasparini was on board. Sorry, Gasparini was aligned with all the signings we made in January, some of which, like, Malin actually did really, really well. Yeah, he did really work, yeah. Because Gasparini, of course, being grumpy and weird and was complaining and muttering things and stuff because Roma had a really, really rough patch.

52:50So then the story emerges, there's a sort of confirmation of a story that had been out there for a long time. Gasparini was not Roma's first choice as manager, nor was he the second choice, nor was he the third choice. I'm going to tell you who their first three choices were. You probably already know because the story's been out. Their top choice was Cesc Fabregas, who I think we both agree would have been a better option. Absolutely. Their second choice was Unai Emery, but they couldn't get him out of Villa. That was, and some people even allege, that was some kind of, because you know Monchi's really unpopular with Roma.

53:21There might have been some kind of Monchi messing with him just before he left. Third choice would have been Ernesto Valverde, which seems to feel sort of left field to me. Yeah, I don't understand that one. On the verge of retirement. And only then do they turn to Gasparini. And people went back, and they look at some of the comments Ranieri made, and they point out that, well, we needed a coach, sometimes you need a coach who's angry all the time. so it would be a shame if this destabilizes the team because i think they've had a lot of bad luck with injuries i think they've played some good football guess but yeah sometimes he often does play good football um on the other hand i can see i'm going to stick up for for claudio because he's had to take on board so much so much bile so much random from certain pieces so many little cracks and whatever.

54:10He's not even the one making the decisions, but he's the only one who puts his face out there to go and fire back. I'm glad he did, personally. Al Nasser make it 14 consecutive wins in a row, which is a Saudi Pro League record, apparently, as they beat Al-Aqdoud 2-0. Jules, I cannot imagine, for the life of me, imagine who might have scored the opening goal, which also happened to be the 968th of his career for club and country. And I also want to ask you about Al-Halal, who they could end the season undefeated without winning the title. They must have an Italian

54:42Julien Laurens:manager. That's right. They must have and they do actually. Cristiano another goal. George Jesus on the bench doing really well for Al Nasser who have yet to win the title and since Cristiano arrived which obviously a lot of people have pointed out this could be the year and it would be I think hard to take for Al Hilal if they were not to win the title despite being unbeaten but in the key games where they had to get a win they could not get a win and that's probably why and i said we'll win the title and not al hilal for simon inzaghi title less again exactly gab i know you know a golf guy and i'm not sure why this question is in there but anyway but the masters in augusta that just finished on sunday it is a big deal and there was a thai golfer with a football connection that's right i thought this was a fantastic story no uh look apparently there was a an he's an amateur who qualified because he He won something called the Asia-Pacific Amateur Championships.

55:38And I was struck by his name. His name, not just me. His name was FIFA Laopacti. Yeah. And look, we're not just talking about it like, ah, funny, like he has an Italian name that sounds like FIFA. No, no, no, no. He was asking about his name.

55:50Julien Laurens:He's speaking like FIFA, yeah. Yeah, F-I-F-A. Reportedly, he said, my dad is a huge soccer fan, and he was choosing between FIFA from FIFA World Cup and UEFA from UEFA Champions League. and that's how he ended up with his name. Okay. I don't know where to begin. If you love football that much. Yeah. Call him Zinedine or Paolo or, you know, or Cristiano or Lionel. I don't know. Something like that. Don't call him Diego. That puts too much pressure on him. Maybe. But yes. There's so many things. Call him Rooney. For goodness sakes. But why would you choose to call him FIFA? That's probably the only FIFA in the world, right?

56:32as in like names i i would imagine i mean there may be some sort of bootlickers uh uh in zurich who've you know after naming their first son johnny their second son infantino they would probably name their third one fifa but um yeah but we agree fifa is a better choice than uefa right yeah just in terms of name just phonetically i'm saying one organization is better than the other right absolutely okay marseille bounce back on consecutive defeats to beat mets 3-1 on friday

56:59Julien Laurens:night jules there's life in them yet yes the still life uh it's good for happy bay who is the pressure a little bit but we said that race for third and fourth place is massive between all those clubs very exciting too um they were our lawns in it we consider them out of it yeah yeah yeah then after that it's lily's reine is marseille monaco and leon obviously so that would be very exciting to watch uh and they had to win this game at the velodrome against mets um not great performance made his the woodwork twice and marseille just really just revealed a new logo which the fans don't like and when the fans in marseille don't like something whether it's a logo a manager a player you're on for a bad bad ride so let's see where that leaves them but the logo doesn't even look it's just a more stylized version it's not even that it looks like a car logo so that's why they're not happy I don't think he needed changes the last one was the old one was very good so I'm not sure why they changed him UFA have entered into exclusive talks with Nike to become the official Champions League ball supplier Gab, Adidas and their ball with the stars on it have had the gig for more than 25 years are you going to miss them?

58:12so normally I could care less about this you're more about the ball's technical equipment guy yeah yeah we've got loads of Champions League football I don't know if you're UEFA, you can say, okay, Nike, you guys supply the ball, but make sure the stars are on there, right?

58:27Julien Laurens:Yeah, you think so. You would think so, right? Yeah, absolutely. But then you're the guy, Nike's like, oh, crap, I got to design this ball, but they have to put the stars in there. So it can't look like the Adidas ball, but it can't be different from the Adidas ball either. I don't know. Yeah, you have to find a way. I mean, the logo of the Champions League has the stars around anyway, so you need to incorporate that in. But you don't necessarily need to have the logo of the organization plastered on the ball, right? No, but often they do. On the Premier League board, you've got the Premier League logo.

58:56Julien Laurens:That's usually what they do. So they do the stars, but in a different way than Adidas did. I don't know. I wonder if they get the gig. I wonder what kind of creative is going to earn their bacon by coming up with something. And I guarantee you something else. Football fans are so conservative. They do not like chain. No matter what they come up with, like the Marseille fans and the logo, they're going to say, this sucks. And players are going to use the new ball. as an excuse. Just like in a few months' time, players are going to talk about the new World Cup ball and say, oh, no, the ball bounces differently.

59:24It flies differently, right? Because that's how we roll in football. Our colleague Paul Tenorio reports that Cincinnati FC are pursuing Neymar. Jules, I don't know where to begin on this one.

59:36Julien Laurens:No, I agree with you, Gabby. I mean, yeah, you would get certainly more exposure. You know, people, it's Neymar. In Cincinnati, massive media market. No, but you know what I mean? At least it'd be more than what they have now. Cracking nightlife in Cincinnati. Yeah, that's more name or sign. Near the beach? He's going to look at it. Uh-oh, from Cincinnati's perspective, yeah. So, yeah, I mean, I don't know if they've seen him play lately. For example, if they know that he's playing injured and that he might never fit again, maybe you're happy to take that risk and bring him on with all the money that you're going to spend on it.

1:00:13Julien Laurens:I don't know. I mean, I'm not even sure if this would be good for MLS. Again, it's a big name. I get that. But it's a player that is the shadow of the star that he was before. It's weird because maybe they're like, hey, you miss 100 % of the shots you don't take. Certainly publicity-wise for Cincinnati. Yeah, exactly. Cincinnati is not the type of city or the type of club that we talk about ever. Yeah, exactly. And maybe Neymar's people are happy to let this be out because, sure, we'll talk to you. because maybe then we'll start getting phone calls from other people. Yeah, or Santos themselves, including.

1:00:49But it seems odd. But by the way, the city of Cincinnati, they're famous for a particular food item. Do you know what that is? No. Chili. Something called Skyline Chili, I believe it's called. Okay, amazing. And maybe Neymar's into that.

1:01:00Julien Laurens:That might attract him, exactly. Marie-Louise Eta has made history in the Bundesliga gap. Yeah, she's been appointed to be coach of Union Berlin, which makes her the first woman in charge of men's professional league top flight team in the big five leagues. Now, look, there's always going to be a trailblazer. I wouldn't read too much into this. I think, for example, simply because it's five games till the end of the season, and then she's going to go manage the women's team. So I'm not saying it's a publicity stunt, but when you're in Berlin, obviously feel like they don't have much to play for.

1:01:35and why don't you bet in now and then go back to the women's team. More significant, for example, is what we saw in France with Claremont Corrine Diacre. Yeah. She spent three full seasons there. Yeah, 14 to 17 in the second division. I think there's a woman, we were talking about at Ingolstadt as well, the trailblazer in all this. And this genuinely shocked me. 1999, the first woman to coach a men's professional team was Carolina Morace in the Italian third division. and I was genuinely shocked that sort of 15 years passed between that and Corinne Diacre before anybody else went in that direction.

1:02:12Julien Laurens:But I thought Diacre was going to be the starting point really and I was disappointed that after that 17, almost 10 years later it's only now that you've got another similar kind of appointment than Diacre was with Clermont. What's she doing now? She's the Marseille women's team head coach. she took over the France national team the women's national team and then now she's building this project in Marseille who have a new kind of women's team women's side women's project but yeah even her she never had another chance to coach the men's yeah and I'm also guessing if you last three years at Clermont and then she was good to finish 6, 8 and 11 or something yeah exactly yeah but anyway Jules it's that time it's the champion second legs quarter final How about that?

1:03:00Yeah. So we're going to come back on Thursday, do this all over again. Until then, love the game. Love your neighbor. Love yourself.

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