In short
The episode is a football roundup led by the Gab & Jules Show’s main focus: Real Madrid’s El Clásico win over Barcelona. Guests/hosts: Gab (host) and Stewart Robson (“Robbo”) (co-host); Jules is mentioned as absent on holiday.
Key claims
Real Madrid’s first-half performance “crushed” Barcelona by breaking down Barca’s high line with quicker ball progression and better forward energy; Barcelona’s possession was “sterile” and lacked creativity beyond Fermin López’s goal, with Yamal half-fit and Rafinha/Lewandowski-style link play missing.
Notable examples
disallowed chances for Real; Fermin’s goal created by Guller’s giveaway; Real’s tactical midfield reshuffle featuring Bellingham and Kamavinga to counter Balde. Additional guest discussion: Yamal’s pre-match/press comments are criticized as club mismanagement, stressing physical and mental protection for young stars. Other segments: Liverpool’s poor run; Arsenal’s title momentum via set-piece strength; Napoli’s comeback vs Inter amid a controversial penalty; Manchester United’s improvement; Bayern’s winning streak; Man City’s loss to Aston Villa.
Written by AI. May contain mistakes. Listen to the episode to check what was said.
Chapters
Tap a time to open that second in VOAnalysis of El Clasico Victory
0:40 to 4:25
Discussion on Real Madrid's comprehensive win over Barcelona and game dynamics.
“But, Robbo, there's so much else going on.”
The Yamal Situation
4:27 to 5:39
Examines the implications of Laminya Mal's comments before the match.
“We saw what happened at the end, the melee, the intensity.”
Vinicius and the Pressure of Expectations
6:16 to 14:00
A discussion on Vinicius Jr.'s performance under pressure and comparisons with Mbappe.
“But for the ones who always rise to the challenge, Granger has your back.”
Analyzing Vinny Jr. and Bellingham's Performance
14:00 to 26:28
Learn how player emotions and fitness levels impact their game play.
“plays at his best when he's wound up, being abused, being kicked.”
Analyzing Vinny Jr. and Bellingham's Performance
26:36 to 27:44
Learn how player emotions and fitness levels impact their game play.
“motorcycle from a 50-page restoration block or finally break down that long article you've had open for weeks.”
Liverpool's Struggles and Tactical Adjustments
27:44 to 28:00
Explore Liverpool's recent performance issues and potential tactical changes.
“Defensively, they're not anywhere near as, what's the right word, committed to go and close the ball down as they were.”
Analyzing Tactical Changes in Football
28:00 to 29:50
Discusses the need for tactical consistency and potential formations in football.
“Their key players aren't playing particularly well.”
Coyote's Impact on the Italian Team
29:50 to 30:40
Evaluates the performance of player Coyote and his omission from the national team.
“I mean, you know, was named man of the match gab.”
Arsenal's Defensive Strategy
30:40 to 31:56
Considers Arsenal's strengths and weaknesses in their approach to games this season.
“Arsenal extend their lead at the top of the table as Eberici Eze scores against his old club.”
Manchester United's Recent Performance
31:56 to 32:35
Examines Manchester United's recent victories and improvements in their gameplay.
“Desiree Douai came on to score in garbage time.”
Show all 21 chapters
Napoli's Controversial Win Over Inter
32:35 to 34:26
Discusses the controversial refereeing decisions during Napoli's match against Inter.
“Legions of Manchester United fans, including our stand-in producer today, Mark, who is Irish and therefore a United fan.”
Juventus and Igor Tudor's Challenges
34:26 to 36:56
Analyzes Juventus' struggles under coach Igor Tudor and their recent performance.
“Di Lorenzo goes, extends his leg across.”
Bayern's Historic Start and Dortmund's Progress
36:56 to 41:31
Highlights Bayern's impressive start to the season and Dortmund's newfound consistency.
“Now, Bayern make it 13 wins in a row to start the season as they crush Borussia Mönchengladbach 3-0.”
Bayern's Historic Start and Dortmund's Progress
41:52 to 42:02
Highlights Bayern's impressive start to the season and Dortmund's newfound consistency.
“This summer, serve up the cookout classics.”
Borussia Dortmund's Recent Performance
42:16 to 44:44
Discussion on Borussia Dortmund's tactics and player performances under Kovac.
“Gab, finally some consistency in Kovac's team?”
Bournemouth's Rise in the League
44:44 to 46:04
Analysis of Bournemouth's performance and their coaching strategy this season.
“Bournemouth ruined Sean Dyche's debut on the Nottingham Forest bench and win 2-0.”
Roma's Current Standing and Strategy
46:04 to 48:52
Examination of Roma's position in the league and Gasparini's coaching choices.
“Irola was working during preseason rather than watching Ibaianos' live stream.”
Milan's Challenges and Ultras' Protests
48:52 to 52:18
Discussion on AC Milan's struggles, player absences, and fan reactions to off-pitch decisions.
“This was way back on Friday, but Milan needed a last-ditch goal to avoid defeat at home to Pisa.”
Lionel Messi's Continued Success
52:18 to 55:22
Insight into Messi's impact on Major League Soccer and his contract extension.
“In Milan's defense, they can say, well, but we have a problem here.”
Sheffield Wednesday's Administration Situation
55:22 to 56:00
Overview of Sheffield Wednesday entering administration and fan reactions.
“Most 38-year-olds, I would say absolutely not.”
Sheffield Wednesday Goes into Administration
56:00 to 58:25
Discussing the implications of Sheffield Wednesday's administration status and fan reactions.
“Now we go to the other end of the spectrum.”
Transcript
Automatic transcript. May contain errors.0:00Legally, we can't say drinking Storm makes you smarter and more focused. But with zero sugar, 200 milligrams of caffeine, and immunity support, you're smarter and more focused for drinking Storm. Storm. Good energy in, good energy out. Energy for life.
0:20I'm Gab, he's Stewart Robson! That's right, Jules, on a well-earned holiday. Another holiday. Well, you know what? The guy grinds. He's entitled to his time off. It's blue skies over West London. It's blue skies over Madrid because that was a resounding victory in the Clasico. That's going to be our main item. But, Robbo, there's so much else going on. There's Napoli bouncing back with a big win over Inter. Definitely needed to. And what happens in the Premiership? Liverpool, lose. Manchester City, lose. Chelsea, lose. Is it Arsenal's title already? I kind of, that would excite you. That would excite you.
1:01And Manchester United win, almost as remarkable than anymore. I'm in the title as well. But let's get into the classical here, because I thought this was a statement win from Real Madrid. It was a comprehensive win. There is so much, so many of the negatives I thought that we saw in the win over Juventus in midweek in terms of people working, people running. It all went out the window. So, boom, Bellingham with Kamavinga in midfield, Angulo too. And I thought they absolutely, not with saying the fact it was 2-1 at halftime, I thought they absolutely crushed Barcelona in the first half. Yeah, because every time they won the ball back in good areas, every time they broke forward, they'd obviously done a lot of work on how to break down Barcelona's high line.
1:46And they did it on numerous occasions. They also had a couple of situations that were disallowed. But overall, they had the energy, They don't always have. They had the drive going forward, which they don't always have. And they got the ball forward quicker, which they don't always do. So it was a good performance. And you have to give credit to Xavi Alonso, but you also have to give credit to the players that were out there. On the Barcelona side, what was lacking for me most notably, and in that first half, obviously, they actually had like 64 % possession. It's a lot of sterile possession. Fermín López's goal comes because Guller gives the ball away.
2:21you know that certainly wasn't part of the part of the shtick and I looked at it and you always associate Barcelona with creativity other than Pedri there was almost none because Laminya Mal half fit Rafinha and Dani Olmo and even Gavi who often gets forgotten unavailable was that the difference was that the what stopped them they could have played through Real Madrid much better Yeah, I see nearly every Barcelona game over the last couple of years. And when they're playing at their very best, they play with pace. They've got, you mean, Lamal who can go past people, can create opportunities out of nothing.
3:03He didn't do that. I think Guerreras did quite well, but he was also doubled up. Goulet got out with Guerreras and stopped him going past his man on numerous occasions. Rashford, for all people who say he's having a good season and he's rebuilt himself at Barcelona, he hasn't got the same movement as Rafinha has. Rafinha when Barcelona were playing well makes run after run after run from outside to in and causes problems for the opposition's back line so the back line then after drop off and it leaves more space for De Jong and Pedri to pick their passes and Dani Almo when he's playing that role Firmin does okay and he did quite well on a couple of occasions but overall they were too slow in their build up yeah and that's because you don't have the creative high technique players because I love Firmin Lopez but he's not that sort of player neither is Marcus Rashford for that matter.
3:51And Ferran Torres, for all his pace and movement at times off the ball, he hasn't quite got the cleverness that Lewandowski has shown over the last year. Lewandowski's linked up a lot of the play for Barcelona, which people don't talk about. They talk about his goals, but there's lots of times the ball's played into him and he's playing little one-twos with the players coming on, Dani Olmo or Rafinha or Lamal. So yes, I was a bit disappointed in Barcelona all over the pitch. Barcelona disappointed too because for the first time and Real Madrid's win breaks a streak of four Barcelona victories in the classical.
4:24That is a big deal in the context of Spain. We saw what happened at the end, the melee, the intensity. This felt like a throwback, not quite to the same level, to the great Mourinho versus Pep battles of the kind of early 2010s in terms of not the same level of venom, but we're close to it. some of this was instigated, I think, by Dani Carvajal and Laminya Mal and Vinicius as well, responding to comments Laminya Mal made with Iba Llanos before the game, saying Real Madrid cheat and will continue and complain. That's what they do. Laminya Mal is a wonderful player, but he's got to be more sensible.
5:07Somebody's got to guide him with what he's saying before games and after games. Because this has been a case for a little while. He said some things that aren't going to endear himself to the opposition. Aren't you endearing himself to it? He's a great player. Be a great player. Don't get yourself involved in all these other antics. Messaging, I think, really, really matters. I blame the club here as much as Yamal. You have to be able to control it. There are ways, if you want to get this point across because you believe it and you decide you want to get across, I'm okay with it, kind of Machiavellian.
5:34But this was not the messenger. This was not the context. This was not the time to do it. But we're going to break all of this down further on the Gavin Joels podcast. A bandwagon fan. The biggest insult in sports. But this summer, during the FIFA World Cup, it's an invitation, America. Never watched soccer before? Perfect. Think a corner kick is a karate move? Sure, why not? Prefer sports where players can use their hands? Me too. Just here for the snacks? Now we're talking. So grab a bag of Lay's and jump on the bandwagon. We're undefeated. Defeated. Lays, the official sponsor of the FIFA World Cup 2026.
6:13As you know, managing maintenance, repair, and operations is never easy. But for the ones who always rise to the challenge, Granger has your back. From professional-grade products you can count on to fast, dependable delivery, they're there to help you keep things running smoothly. Plus, their technical product specialists are here to help answer your toughest questions. And 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 okay so this yamal situation i'm not blaming him no but about obviously no he's actually you know what i am blaming him because he's 18 like you're an adult but above all i think there has to be a club that looks after the club assets.
7:04I've had this conversation before, first on the physical side. I've had it before with Don Hutchinson and the fact that, you know, surely they have club doctors, sports scientists. At 18, he's played a ton of football. Everybody remembers what happened with Ansu Fati. This idea, and you were in the first team at 18 yourself, right? I was just 17 when I got in the team Just 17 Yamal had you beat by year There you go Yeah by year But this idea that like too much too soon Growing bodies blah blah blah Now he's carried everything in stride But When I look at His groin issues I look at the way This Ibaianos interview And I'm wondering I mean, should Barcelona be taking better care of him?
8:00Like, could they pay a hefty price for this? They could do. I mean, young players have to be monitored. They have to be monitored physically, but also mentally. You know, one of the biggest issues about playing week in, week out at such a young age is the mental strain it takes on you. You know, you've got to prepare yourself every week or twice a week to play massive games. And now you're the star of the team. So everybody expects you to play well. When you don't play well, you're going to get criticism. They're going to come to you for the interviews. and that's where I think they should also be protecting him.
8:28You want him to be like Lionel Messi was at Barcelona where he didn't really come out with too much in the press. He was just thought of as a great player. He's a mute Messi. But he also didn't play anywhere near as much at the same age. Neither did Cristiano. Yeah. So they've got to try and monitor what he says to the press. They've got to try and protect him. They know that people now know they can get things out of him that can cause problems and it'd be big news. So, yeah, I just think the club needs to protect him both physically but even more so mentally. So on the mental side and his comments, here you have a young man who's a superstar for Spain as well, arguably Spain's most important player until Rodri returns or certainly up there.
9:11Now you have a situation where he's come out publicly and he said, oh, I'm assuming like 30%, 35%, if not 40 % of fans in Spain, of fans of Spain, are Real Madrid fans too. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So you're already setting yourself up. There's a World Cup coming in the summer and you've just told 35, 40 % that their team that they support are cheaters. That's got to be a strain and it's not purely Barcelona issue, right? Again, you're on, as a young player, probably the world's, could go on to become the world's greatest player. you're putting yourself under enough pressure being in that position that you've got to perform week in, week out for your club.
9:56Don't put yourself or don't let yourself be put under even more pressure and under more scrutiny by saying the wrong things in the press. And that again comes down to the club. Just have someone with him to say, come on, let's just move away from this one. Or we can offer another player to you this week, but he wants to get involved. This is the context, right? Ybarianos is a huge star in Spain. He's one of the biggest streamers in the world. I don't think he buys a bad guy. You know, journalistically, maybe that's a question that's worth asking. But you can't, if you're Barcelona, you can't let him go and answer it in the way he did.
10:31And even if you think it's true, right? If you think it's true, if you want to get into the Machiavellian world that we saw with Mourinho, Guardiola, I can live with that because your goal is to win the league. But this is not the messenger, right? You do it with a senior player. You do it in a certain way. You do it at a certain time. you don't go and troll them troll the opposition just before just before Classico in this way you know it's one thing when Mourinho says you know before a big game like oh this referee doesn't like us let's hope he's fair you're trying to get into his head whatever there's a strategy behind it which you can agree with or disagree with I mean Real Madrid Real Madrid TV they do the same thing week in week out right but there's a plan there this seemed totally unplanned it seemed totally unnecessary and I think the upshot is however strong mentally he is and obviously mentally he's a beast he's still 18 years old and this is a completely unnecessary situation to be in and he had his national team teammate, Dani Carvajal going and giving it to him at the end not to mention Vini but Vini is his own a little while ago when he was playing away from home Lamin-Yemal the crowd applauded him stood up and applauded him because they were shocked by how good he was if you keep saying things in the press being derogatory about the opposition you're not going to be applauded anymore you're not going to be seen as this wonder kid you're going to be seen as the enemy and they're going to have more and more pressure around him they're going to be more booing and whistling the opposition will then start to start kicking more and all that sort of thing just stay away from it just show what a great player you are while we're on the issue of the enemy let's go from one guy who should have could have won the Ballon d 'Or last year to the person who thought he'd won the Ballon d 'Or two years ago, Vinicius.
12:22Now, it's not so much that he says derogatory things, but obviously a lot of people take issue with the way he plays. And obviously he has also suffered. He gets singled out for racist abuse. It hasn't happened in public this year, but obviously it's happened in the past. He's obviously a guy who's a bundle of nerves, and he has I don't want to say he has issues, but when I saw him get angry, and I thought he played really well, and I think he has shown, and I'm hoping if if I find me an issue, if I'm a good fan I'm going to look at this and say, you know what? You're responding very, very well to this situation on the pitch, in the sense that let's face it, over the summer issues with Mbappe perception, but not just a perception It's a reality that it's really difficult to carry Vini and Mbappe because you have two guys who don't work defensively.
13:18Or that was what we said last season. Not as central to the project as he was, as they like to say. Maybe if Saudi comes along, we'd consider it. He's taken all this on board and he has responded on the pitch. He's responded with some really big performances. And so I can understand when he came off and he was, we act that way to being substituted. I can see where that comes from. We'd be talking about that if Real Madrid had dropped points. Yeah. Again, I've watched most of Real Madrid's games over the last three years. And if I was the opposition, I'd approach Vinny Jr. totally differently to how some of them do it.
14:00When does he play at his best? Vinny Jr. plays at his best when he's wound up, being abused, being kicked. That's when he has more effects on the game. It stirs him up. If I was playing against Vinny Jr. You just dial it down. I said dial it right down. I'd almost say to the crowd, don't get onto his back. Ignore him. And if you found him, pick him up. And I'm really sorry. A great bit of skill that was. You're beaten by a bit of skill. Because he actually tones everything right down and doesn't play with anywhere near the same fire and ability that he does when he's angry. So sometimes being angry makes him play better.
14:35Yeah, and I wonder if he didn't feel a little bit slighted because Real Madrid this season, It's been about Mbappe. It's been about the new signings. It's been about Arda Gouler. And maybe this has helped motivate him. But yeah, I thought he deserves credit. I thought he made a huge contribution to this game. Real Madrid also, we could move on to Bellingham and make a call here. Because as you know, I've been championing Bellingham in midfield for a long time. I think I had no issue whatsoever with Xabi Alonso kind of redrawing the team to accommodate Bellingham and, you know, dropping Mastanto for a more solid approach in this game.
15:25I thought Bellingham responded really well and made the position known, but you feel Bellingham's still not fit. No, he's not fit and not fully fit. You know, when I saw him, I went to Dortmund two and a half years ago. Yeah, there was a different Bellingham. Oh, two and a half years ago. Two and a half years ago. I went to watch him play, and I hadn't seen him live very often. I seen him on the TV, highlights, obviously. And it was the perfect midfield performance. He was playing central midfield alongside Emre Jeanne. Right. And he ran up and down. He got on the ball, picked passes out. He went past people.
15:56He scored a goal. I came away saying, that is the all-round midfield performance. And that's what he was. When he was playing for England at the World Cup, he played in central midfield. And he was just one or two with another player alongside him. and that's what his job was. He's a midfield player. That's what he did at Birmingham. Because he played as the number 10 and almost sometimes a withdrawn centre forward in his first season, scored all those goals for Real Madrid. By necessity. By necessity. He suddenly says, well, that's what I am. No, you're still a midfield player. You're a midfield player that's been forced into playing the attacking role.
16:27Really, you're a central midfield player. And when I see him play at the moment, that player I saw at Dortmund, that player I saw in the first season, he had, I said, he's got great energy, but he's also got a burst of pace. He's strong. I'm seeing him as a one-paced player at the moment. Yes, he did brilliantly for the goal. Yes, he scored a goal as well. But he looks at everything's a struggle. He's chasing balls at half pace, and he just about gets there. Then it takes him an age to get back up. He doesn't always run back. So you're saying it's a fitness issue. It's not a willingness issue.
16:55I think it's a fitness issue. I'd love to know what the sports scientists are doing with him and if they run tests on him and say, this is where you were two years ago, when you first came to the club. This is where you are now. We've got to get back to that fitness level there. Well, if it's a fitness issue rather than a willingness issue, I think that's a huge step forward. That's a real breakthrough for Xavi Alonso. Because I'm not playing in midfield. Because I think it's pretty obvious that in Carlo Ancelotti's last season, last year, I think Bellingham was not looking forward to playing in midfield.
17:33Did not want to play there. you had to kind of beg him to go and play. Oh, you go wide, showing tapes of Zidane, saying, oh, look, this is what Zidane did off the ball. And you could be like him. So if he's willing to embrace that role, then suddenly I think this Real Madrid midfield, you still might have a bit of a numbers issue in the sense that Schrameni has to be there or Camavinga Valveted at some point is going to want to be back in midfield when the right backs are fit, if they're ever fit. And then obviously you've got Arda Gouler. So maybe then you have to look at playing 4-4-2 or whatever.
18:11But, I mean, that is a huge plus if you get him fit. What I'd like to know in this game, you know, I'm obviously watching the game and he starts out and I think, oh, Bellingham's playing on the right-hand side of a midfield four. Fairly narrow, but he's the furthest player on the right-hand side. He then creates the goal for Mbappe. And I'm looking at the game. I think, why is Mbappe now coming to the middle and Kamavinga, a left-footed player, has gone to the right-hand side. Maybe it was to stop Baudet getting forward. I don't know. But who made that decision? The coach or did Bellingham say, I'm not playing out there?
18:43And said to Kamavinga, you get out there. I'm going to be more central. That would be the question I was... You're being extremely naughty there, Robbo, alleging that Bellingham just decided. I said I would like to know who made the decision. I am fairly confident that it's a call Chablonso made. I am very confident in this. I'd be very surprised. And the only reason I can think he did it was to have Camavinga, their most athletic player in midfield in terms of pace and energy, was to stop Balde getting forward down the left-hand side. Stop Balde getting forward and you've got him coming inside on his left foot.
19:15So I'm assuming it's that. Yes, I'm hoping that's the case. If you want to talk about Barcelona's defence, we talked about the struggles. Look, but I want to talk about the penalty first because I don't understand how this is even a discussion. about the handball. If you watch La Liga in the last two years, yes, it ricochets off the Real Madrid player. It makes no difference. His arm isn't where it needs to be. Had it ricocheted, had he gone and just slide it, had he gotten the ball and it had come off, had it ricocheted off his leg onto his arm, then you may have a case. But in this case, Eric Garcia, your arm's not supposed to be there.
19:59These penalties get called, especially in Spain. The trouble is, the more you talk about the laws of the game and interpreting the laws of the game, it becomes more and more what the referee thinks. Because we all look at penalties differently. We all look at handballs differently. If you listen to commentary, everybody will say different things. I look at it, could it be avoided? Has it stopped an advantage? It might have stopped an advantage. I could see both sides of the argument. So I'm going to sit on the fence on this one. But I can certainly see your argument. I can certainly see the ESPN commentators on what they were saying about it.
20:32Yeah, I disagree with them. Because this is the way it's been officiated in Spain. What you want above all is consistency. You will never, ever get consistency with the laws of football. Yeah, you almost said English. Of football. Because there's certain, you know, when I see, they say, oh, there's a touch on him there. It's up to you what you think. and there's too many laws that can be interpreted in totally different ways. All right. So about the Barcelona defence, actually, before we do the discipline thing, let's remind everybody, Flick wasn't there. He was up in the stands. I think it's harder to lay down the law with discipline when you yourself are picking up second yellows for no apparent reason.
21:19So that's just something, that's on Flick. When it comes to defence, people, when Barcelona can see drop points, like clockwork. Oh, it's a high line. Oh, a stupid high line. I'm sick of this. He plays this way. He's won a travel plane this way. They've had a lot of success. He doesn't do it because he wants to lose or make things difficult for the opposition. He does it because it's his credo and it's brought him a ton of success. And as long as the front men are putting pressure on the ball, then the high line gives you results. However, there's going to be times when the front men aren't putting pressure on the ball, possibly because one of them is Marcus Rashford and another one, I mean, Yamal is half fit or whatever.
22:02And then at some point, because the other element is you play the high line is how you execute. And I think there's a quality issue there. If I have an outstanding, if I have outstanding center back for freak athletes and read the game perfectly well, then I can get away with not executing it perfectly. Right. Yep. Eric Garcia is not that. Certainly not. Pau Kubarsi, maybe he can become one of the great Barcelona defenders. He certainly was outstanding when he was very young. I don't think he's having the best of seasons. No. And I think it's a ton of pressure piled on him. Losing Inigo Martinez and not replacing him and devoting those resources to Marcus Rashard was just an absolutely demented decision by the club.
22:51And if I were Hansi Flick, I would go and knock heads about this. there's no way out and what happens one of these guys gets hurt i how do you solve this well the hansy i was in germany last week and we were talking about hansy flick to some of the german people the people that played under him and they said the one problem he's got is that he's stubborn he wants to play this way and it's got to be that way or no way at all now if you play a high line there's still times when you have to read the danger and think i can't play the high line now, I've got to drop off. And that's where the players are making mistakes.
23:26And that's where Hansi Flick's making mistakes. And I'll give you an example. The goal. You talk about pressure on the ball. Bellingham was going back towards his own goal, or going towards the touchline. The player tries to close him down and Bellingham produces a good turn and now buys himself space. Now as soon as he buys himself space, Kabasi should be thinking I can't squeeze up now because he's got time on the ball and Bappe is a couple of yards short and he's going to run in behind and there's space in there. I've got to back off and say, you can't play that ball. But it seems to me as though even when it's obvious they have to drop off, they still try and squeeze.
24:01Yeah, and I'm sure Hansi Flick doesn't say, hey guys. I think he does. That's what the people, they say he's stubborn. He'll say, do it more and more. All right, then if you want to do that, I go back to what I said. You need, you can do it if you have monster centre-backs who, despite this, are so fast that they're going to recover or they'll make decisions independently or they're going to handle the run. In other words, they're better than these two guys. I mean, I'm sorry, with all the love in the world for Eric Garcia, he's a good professional, whatever. He's not good enough. I've always said he's not good enough.
24:32The other guy's 18 years old. And look who's on the bench. Christensen, who's always injured, always got issues and nothing to write home about. Araujo, who they've been trying to ditch for the last 18 months and now is their backup emergency center forward. How do you go into a season like this? I just don't understand. The problem is, Gab, and Hansi Flick has had this issue, he had it with the German team as well. For the first year, and when he was at Bayern Munich, he won the treble, the first year, other teams aren't surprised by it, and they don't know quite how to cope with it, and they keep running offside.
25:07Now, in the second year, as it was with the German national team, I tell you what, they're going to squeeze up. And it's so easy to play against them, to get balls in behind them, and to make runs. So teams, I think you heard it in the commentary, whoever was talking, obviously knew Xavi Alonso, all week they've been working at ways of breaking down the offside line. So teams are working at it. Even the worst teams in La Liga are in 1v1s against the goalkeeper. That cannot be the case if you're a top team. So do you ditch your high line or do you spend some money on defenders in January? And you work harder at the right time.
25:41It's flawed. The system is flawed because they're coming up at the wrong times now. They've got to make sure that they work harder. But when nobody's in contact with the ball, you can still be coming up. So if the ball's played from there to there, while that ball's travelling, you can come up. As soon as that bloke is about to get on the ball, because he might play that ball first time in behind you, you drop. It only has to be two yards. You're ready for the ball played over the top. The forwards are coming back to get onside as you all go up, and that looks easy. They're getting the timing completely wrong, and that's because they obviously aren't working hard enough at it in the training sessions.
26:14And, of course, it's hard to work on anything on training sessions during the season because you've got two games a week or three games a week and you maybe have one or two full training sessions during the week there you go so um yeah plenty for flake to think about this episode is brought to you by google chrome you think you know a browser but gemini and chrome that's new it can help you with practically anything on the web like restoring a vintage motorcycle from a 50-page restoration block or finally break down that long article you've had open for weeks. Gemini and Chrome is here for it.
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26:47Ready to make anything online make sense? There's no place like Chrome. Check responses set up required compatibility and availability varies 18 plus. Are all batteries the same? That's like asking if all soccer players are the same. Take Messi, the most decorated player ever. Is there any other player who has achieved that? No, just him. Now take Duracell. Is there any other battery with power-boost ingredients inside? No, just Duracell. Remember, goats only trust goats because they're built different. And Messi only trusts Duracell. All right, enough, Classico. How about some quick hits instead?
27:29Let's go. Liverpool fall away to Brentford. 3-2, Robbo, four defeats on the bounce in the Premier League. Five in the last six. The only win was against Eintracht Frankfurt, who had conceded after the game, I think, 23 goals conceded in six games. Not good. Slott says there are many things wrong. What say you? Absolutely. There's lots of things wrong. Defensively, they're not anywhere near as, what's the right word, committed to go and close the ball down as they were. Defenders are making poorer decisions. They're not defending set plays particularly well. In attack, there's no cohesion. Their key players aren't playing particularly well.
28:05there's lots of things that Slott's got to sort out and you can tell by the changes he's making and the sort of changes sometimes with the formation the changes of the personnel if you keep doing that you're never going to get that consistency he's got to stick with something and say right okay this is the way I'm going to go and try and stick with it yeah I disagree sorry I think I would take that to a point so centre backs you got to stick with them because you have no other centre backs and you know that these guys are good it's just they've been playing horrendously right where I would push back a little bit is you already made a big change when you go to 4-2-3-1 with Wurtz in the hole.
28:39You saw I think you have to explore the 4-4-2 more. Not based on the Frankfurt game because Frankfurt are horrendous and some of the goals I scored were set pieces anyway. But a scenario with Wurtz and Jules disagrees with me strongly on this Wurtz wide and then coming inside on possession to create is a much better option for me than Verts in the middle and getting overrun in midfield. And the other advantage of 4-4-2 is Salah, who defensively doesn't do the work that he used to do, play him in a front two. He's done it before. Play him in a front two. You can choose Isak, Akitike, whoever you want alongside him.
29:22Try that. See if you have mileage there. Yeah, because although Verts probably would say, I don't really fancy playing out wide, as you said, in possession, he wouldn't actually go out wide. he'd make that run slightly infield. If it worked for Zinedine Zidane, it can work for you for him. And if the right back was Fringpong, it's not going to be at the moment because he's injured, he can get Fringpong down or Connor Bradley going down the outside of him. It works because most teams change their formation from defensive to attacking situation. And less pressure for Salah as well. Now, Kawhi Dey.
29:51Kawhi Dey. Kawhi Dey, sorry. I mean, you know, was named man of the match gab. And, you know, yes, he's nowhere near the Italian team. What's going to go on? So, yes, So I got a text from Mark Ogden saying, he's like, why isn't he on the Italy side? Right? Is that how Mark Ogden speaks? Oh, yeah. Yeah. You know, he does it in a much grimmer tone. Northern accent. So, all right. Coyote's only 21 years old. In Italy, we think that, you know, you're a child until you're in your mid-20s. He had a bad season last year. He had a bad season at club level. He had a bad season after moving to Brentford.
30:24He wasn't playing. This season, he's playing a lot. I think he's going to be in contention. Now, on the right, Italy, we've got DeLorene. So we've got Cambiasso. We have other options. Yeah. And we haven't yet discovered the power of the throwing. But guess what? He was man of the match in this game, not just because he can throw the ball really long. Arsenal extend their lead at the top of the table as Eberici Eze scores against his old club. Robbo, stout defending and set pieces. This is the way forward. And some good attacking players as well. You've got to be an all-round. We didn't see it in this game.
30:56Not particularly. No, Arsenal didn't play at their very best. But if you want to win lots of things, you have to have a bit of everything. You can't just be one-dimensional. But they have a lot of very good defenders. They've conceded three goals this season. They have a lot of set pieces. Not just their defense. They've scored five goals from open play in the league all season. That's not a lot. So, yeah, set plays have been a big part of their armory. Defending not just the back four, but all around the pitch, they're quite good at doing that. Declan Rice, I think, is absolutely superb in midfield for them at the defensive side of the game.
31:27and they've got strong, quick back players. I mean, Timber has been excellent for a couple of years now. So those things are right. But I also think they, on their day with Saka and maybe the centre forward, they've got players that can go past. Yeah, they do. But I think right now they don't have Saka at his best and they don't have Uri Gard at all. No. They'll go up and knock if the windows guys come back. They'll still have enough to win most games at the moment as they showed against Atletico Madrid and they showed against Crystal Palace this week, in one week. The little gooder comes out again.
31:56Hakimi and PSG beat up Brest 3-0. Gab, pretty straightforward, wasn't it? Extremely straightforward. He mixed it up. He left a bunch of guys on the bench. Nuno Mendes, Dembele, Desiree Douai. You know, it helps. You can bring on the Ballon d 'Or. Desiree Douai came on to score in garbage time. He's really biding his time. And look, Asher Hakimi, Joel says he'd give him the African Ballon d 'Or. I would give him because the seaman is African. but he's right up there. Robert, we're not done because we have more quick hits. Absolutely. Don't look now, but Manchester United have won three league games in a row as they beat Brighton 4-2.
32:37Are they turning a corner? Legions of Manchester United fans, including our stand-in producer today, Mark, who is Irish and therefore a United fan. They all want to know. I think they are turning a corner slightly. Ah, Rupert Amarim proven right. Well, I'm going to say he's proven right. He didn't listen to the haters. Cheers. But what he's done, or what the club have done, they've got two players in there that are now having an effect on their attacking quality. And Bermot looks to be a really good player at the moment. We saw it at Brentford, but now he's playing in that slightly inside right position.
33:09He's getting himself turned. He's showing pace with his runs. He's scoring goals. And Kunja, you know, I know he can be a bit temperamental, but he's now beginning to open up defences. He's scoring good goals. He's seeing a pass. So if you've got attacking qualities and you look as though you're going to score goals. That makes everybody else more confident defensively. They have a better goalkeeper now as well. Maybe have a better goalkeeper. We even had a Sesco sighting on the third goal. That was a nice little turn. And he's got a more settled back through. I know Maguire didn't play at the weekend, but De Ligt, we're now seeing the De Ligt that we thought we might see several years ago.
33:42What I think is encouraging at 3-0, when Brighton get it back to 3-2, you're thinking to yourself, uh-oh, squeaky bum time, as Sir Alex might say. Are they going to implode? No, no, no. Mentally, they're still there. And I think that you have to give credit to Amarim for that. I still don't like Bruno Fernandes in front of the... And Casemiro, two central midfield players who can't run. But there we go. Now, Napoli bounced back from a humiliation against PSV and beat Inter 3-1. Yeah, what about that? There's a lot of controversy around this game. I'm sure there was. Especially the penalty 30 minutes in.
34:18I'm just going to deal with that first because this was a bizarro situation. Do I need to remind the listeners that you are an Inter fan? Mkhitaryan on Di Lorenzo. Di Lorenzo goes, extends his leg across. Mkhitaryan goes into the back of the leg. Referee sees it correctly. Waves play on. Eight seconds past. The ball is at the other end of the pitch. All of a sudden, the referee turns and signals for the penalty. Now, it's emerged since then that most likely it was the assistant referee who tells the match official, hey, you got this wrong. It should have been a penalty. VAR does not intervene because VAR has been given instructions in Italy, you know, high bar, blah, blah, blah, not too many ticky-tacky penalties.
35:05All right, this is all wrong. It's completely wrong. You referee, you're better placed than your assistant. You give it. If you're not sure, ask VAR to let you see it again. And if they had, they wouldn't have given it. Now that said, had Beppe Marotta, the Inter-Chief Executive, coming out and said, oh, we were playing so well, and they were playing well before the penalty. That penalty completely derailed us, blah, blah, blah, attacking the referees. This is lame excuse-making here, Beppe. So much respect for what you're doing for the club, but here you're wrong. Listen to your coach, Christian Kivu, who says, like, the refereeing decision cannot be an alibi, nor should it be.
35:41I should also point out, Napoli, again, really impressive how they came back. David Neres is the emergency center forward. Anything not to play Luka? Conte, of course, wound up tighter than the drum, getting into it with Lautaro Martinez, his former player, at the end. But a big, big win for Napoli. And yeah, top of the table. Inter can do better. Yes. And need to do better. Newly promoted Sunderland are up to third in the table. Shemzine Telvi bags an injury time winner away to Chelsea, and they win 2-1. Robbo, turns out Mark Yu isn't the answer up front, but is it still the usual Palmer dependency that's hurting my boy, Anto Maneska?
36:20A little bit, because they had a lot of possession and they just needed a bit more creativity around the box. You know, when you look at the stats, they dominated the ball. They dominated territory. But they didn't quite have enough guile and creativity. Joe Pedro had a bad game. Estevão needs to start otherwise. He only came on as a sub. Garnaccio, I don't think, is hit and miss out on the left-hand side. Garnaccio scores a goal and then kind of stops playing. Yeah, and he's taken off. He's the first player they take off. So, yes, there's certain things that were wrong with Chelsea, but Parma, at his best, he picks those passes, he scores goals.
36:54They're a different team. He papers over cracks. He certainly does. Now, Bayern make it 13 wins in a row to start the season as they crush Borussia Mönchengladbach 3-0. Gab, they're in the history books. They are. The only other team in a European Big Five League to win their first three games in all competitions were Fabio Capello's Milan back in 1992-93. That is setting the bar pretty high. They were a good thing. They were, yeah. Yeah, I think you could say that. It took them a while to score. Jos Raek-Kimmick only coming up in the second half, but that's because Gladbach parked the bus. And, you know, when you've got a lot of bodies there, it's hard to get through.
37:30But still, comprehensive victory. Great goal from this exciting youngster, Leonard Karl, towards the end. Roll on 14. Erling Haaland does not score for the first time in 13 games at club and country, and Manchester City fall away to Aston Villa 1-0. Robbo, some love for Unai Emery here, or are you going to blame Pep? No, a bit of love for Unai Emery. Remember, he was getting a stick at the start of the season. They couldn't score goals. They didn't look threatening enough. Their passing was too slow. I'd only watched the highlights, but extended highlights, and they created more of the opportunities.
38:04They were good on the counter-attack. There was a lot of movement. They played at a good pace. Luka Dini down the left-hand side was getting forward, getting crosses into the box. Watkins was playing much better and linking up the play. So, yes, I give a lot of credit to Unai Emery, who was under a lot of stick earlier on in the season. He's turned them around. In the end, his tremendous goal from Matty Cash. Unlikely goal, I think, from Matty Cash. I think Pep is seeing that they're one-dimensional with Erling Haaland, because he's the only one scoring. And he tried to address it. Obviously, there's no Rodri.
38:33Could have played Nico Gonzalez. Could have played... Could have dusted off... Reinders played as the whole... He played Reinders. Not his position, but I can see what he's doing. He's trying to put more creative people on there so that they can find different ways of scoring. But it's not working yet. No. Juventus lose away to an injury-riddled Letzio. Igor Tudor under a bit of stick? Under a lot of stick. And guess what? I'm not piling on. I'm not piling on. Igor Tudor is part of the problem, right? But he is changing things up. He's done it. He wanted him to play a front two. He played Jonathan David, who was terrible.
39:10Again, had a really bad game. with Dusan Vlaovic up front. Igor Trudor is part of the problem, right? But he is changing things up. He's done it. He wanted him to play a front two. He played Jonathan David, who was terrible. And now it shouldn't come at the expense of cannon yielders. I'd like to see more bravery. They took on Lazio the way they took on Real Madrid almost, except for the two strikers in midweek, which was sort of defending counter, defending counter. All that said, they created more chances. They created better chances than Lazio. Lazio scored early and could kind of manage it.
39:46And he should have had a penalty because of the Gila on Chico Conceição. He steps on his foot. That's a foul, right? I mean, step on foot. We're used to this now, right? So I don't know. I mean, Tudor isn't doing what he's part of the problem, but you're not going to solve it by sending him away. And also, you can't have this crazy knee-jerk reaction to results all the time. you have to look at performances because, yeah, now it sucks. Now it's three defeats in a row, no wins in eight. Earlier in the season, he was getting results. Like, oh, look, Tudor sorted them out. You have to figure this out.
40:20Tottenham are road warriors beating Everton away 3-0 as Mickey van der Veen bags another two goals. But Robbo, I personally think Thomas Frank should again thank lanky St. Vic because this was closer than the score. Yeah, again, saw the highlights, and Everton had quite a few chances. I mean, early on in the game. We can call them big saves from my man, Vicario. Yeah, they had big chances, and he made big saves. There's a couple of exceptional saves, one that he almost clawed back from. And some people, like Don Hutchinson, still don't like him. Because he doesn't win every ball that comes in from a corner.
40:52You know, he flaps at one or two, but he's a good goalkeeper. There's no question about it. He's a good goalkeeper. He makes good saves. And at the moment, he's one of Tottenham's best players. And they relied on a couple of set plays. They scored a decent third. But overall, as you said, the game was much closer than the 3-0 scoreline would suggest. There is an issue with the front guys. Mohamed Koudous, Randall Kolomwani and Chavi Simons. Zero goals, one shot and three touches in the opposition box combined. Yeah, and now they're also talking about getting rid of Solanke as well. They might get him up for sale.
41:24So it's not a forward line. Poor man's injured. Leave him alone. Yes. So good, so good, so good. New summer arrivals are at Nordstrom Rack Stores now. Get ready to save big with up to 60 % off brands like Rag & Bone, Levi's, Adidas, and Free People. Join the Nordiclub to unlock exclusive discounts, shop new arrivals first, and more. Plus, buy online and pick up at your favorite rack store for free. Great brands, great prices. That's why you rack.
41:59This summer, serve up the cookout classics. Craft mayo and dressing. Toss green salads with delicious ranch dressing or zesty Italian. Serve smooth, craveably creamy potato salads with mayo. We all know it's not a cookout without craft. Maxi Bayer gets the injury time three-pointer for Borussia Dortmund, who win at home against Köln. Gab, finally some consistency in Kovac's team? I like the way you said that, channeling your inner Derek Ray. Absolutely. I might have said Cologne since we're speaking English, but no, I guess S-F-T. F-T-Cologne. Yes. Yes. I've been saying this for a while, and I hesitate to say it because it's dormant and Dormant going to Dormant, and few clubs have shown more capacity for self-harm than Dormant.
42:48But the reality is, Kovac, again, not my favorite guy in the world, but he's made them solid. He's built up their confidence. It's a back three. It's fullbacks or wingbacks who play like wingbacks. Felix Nemecha, another one, a guy I didn't really like. I think he's been tremendous. He's had the courage to drop the so-called skill players, whether it's Julian Brunt or whatever, to go more solid with Adeyemi and Gerasi up front. This is impressive. And you can look at this and say, oh, but they only scored late against FC. Sure, but the other team parked the bus. They still dominated them. And they got their just desert.
43:32So in terms of performance, we were there. So they were impressive in midweek as well. He had a bit of a rude awakening against Bayern because he went to Bayern and he said to Derek Ray before the game in an interview, he said, I'm not going to park the bus. We're going to play Bayern at their own game. Yeah, and his nose got longer when he said that. So they ended up with five at the back rather than three at the back. And in the second half, he said, OK, we've got to change the system. We're going to play three at the back. But the two wide centre halves are going to go and mark Bayern's wingers.
43:59We're going to be more open. We're going to be more attacking. We're going to play on the front foot more. And the game completely changed. So that would have just confused his mind slightly. When we were solid, we didn't play particularly well. when we were more open and we were more cavalier, we looked a good team against Bayern. So he's got his work cut out. He can play different ways. He's impressing me this season. I'm in the start of the record because people who, I'm not huge fans, unlike Kovacs, like Peter Bosch. Who do you do? What about his brother? Credit for his brother as well. I mean, the lookalikes on the bench.
44:32Kovacs and his brother. Clever. Clever. Now they're second on the table, and we haven't spoken about them yet, Robbo, which I think is unfair. Yes. And we should lodge a complaint. Bournemouth ruined Sean Dyche's debut on the Nottingham Forest bench and win 2-0. Got to ask, are they for real? Yes. They've got, as you keep telling me, a very good coach who plays some wonderful football. They've got some good individual players against Nottingham Forest for a good 70 minutes. They were outstanding. They created lots of opportunities. They played a pace. They were creative. Olympic goal from Tavernier?
45:11How about that? Even though the ball did go out of play, but whatever. When they pass people with the ball in individual situations, they passed it well, they look a very good team at the moment and they're going to be a tough side to play against, particularly at home at Bournemouth. Robbo, compared to last season, Heysen gone, Zabarni gone. Kerkic gone. Kerkic gone. The other guy, I don't even think is a real right back. And he rebuilds the back four just like that. You coached. is that is this a big deal or is it like no it's not a big deal you know to to so you can you can certainly coach a new back four but it usually takes a little bit of time for them to get understanding and get a gel but they've done it in the first eight nine games how hard is that it's very hard but he must have worked during the pre-season he must have worked throughout the opening weeks of the season because that doesn't doesn't happen by luck you have to work at a defensive structure and they look very very good defensively i'm fairly confident saying andoni Irola was working during preseason rather than watching Ibaianos' live stream.
46:12Yes. So Roma are top of the table, Gab. Paolo Dybala scores the only goal, and they win away to Sassuolo. Gasparini is getting it done, isn't he? Yeah. Dybala's first goal since February, apparently, and they're paying him an enormous amount of money. Like, whatever. No questioning his quality, but he inherited Dybala anyway. they're not necessarily playing like a Gasparini team and he surprises you, he pulls things out of the hand maybe because they have a game in midweek he decided, you know, he likes that front three Mattias Sule has been outstanding for them this season nope, starts him on the bench Dolby also on the bench, Peliglini also on the bench he played Leon Bailey with Dybala and sort of Brian Cristante at times was like the very false center forward.
47:05But guess what? He gets it done. And in the second half, they really take the game to them. They create chances. Not a Gasparini guy, but I have to respect his achievements again. Because you've never been a Gasparini fan particularly. No, I'm a fan of his work as a coach. I'm not a fan of him as a person from what I've seen. I just don't like the way he behaves. But this is really impressive. And I'll tell you what, if you look at their metrics, they're underperforming expected goals quite a bit. So presumably if you believe in regression to the mean they'll be looking pretty good later. So don't count.
47:41Roll my out. Newcastle make it four wins in five as Bruno Guimaraes bags the late winner against Fulham and they went 2-1. Now between the Isaac saga or Isaac saga even and having to play in Europe I thought they'd struggle Robbo but Eddie Howe has navigated around their rough start. Yeah, I saw them in midweek. I mean, they're 12th on the table. I'm excited. It's a good win against them after their midweek game against Benfica. They had to put a lot of effort against Benfica. They played at high intensity. They made one or two changes to the team. Tonali didn't play against Benfica and that was a bit of a shock.
48:19But overall, I think they look quite a good side. Gordon's doing really well down the left-hand side. The centre-forward, Vultimada. Voldemort. I saw him a lot in the under-21s for Germany. He's good with his back to goal. He links up the play. He's good in the air, as you would need to be if you're 6 '7". You say that, but apparently he had only scored one headed goal before this season. And you know what? It's not that many more because it seems like a lot of his headed goals actually come off his shoulder. But he's been heading them down to other people and all sorts of things. So he's making things happen.
48:49So I think Eddie Howell needs to have a little bit of credit for what he's achieved so far at Newcastle this season. And hopefully they do well in Europe. This was way back on Friday, but Milan needed a last-ditch goal to avoid defeat at home to Pisa. Gab, it cost them top spot in the league. I notice you don't mention the goal score. You don't want to put some respect on Zachary Atacama's name. Yeah, look, they have a lot of guys out, so presumably it's an excuse, I guess. You know, there's no Rabiot, no Polisic, no Purvis, this stupid man on the left. You have Salamakers having to play as a second striker, but guys, it's Pisa at home.
49:37I think you expect them to do better. Schemper, who had made a lot of good saves in the Pisa goal, I think he was responsible for the Atacama strike at the end, the way it wiggles in at the post. some horrendous defending on Enzola's goal to make a 2-1 and put Pisa up. I don't think Milan should be gutting out victories. You have all week to work. I know this is kind of like Allegri's football, but you have all week to work on this. You're well-rested. You should be going at home against a newly promoted side and you should be dominating, even with your second string, because those are better players.
50:17So I'll just remind the listeners that you are an Inter supporter. Stop it, stop it. Sticking with Milan, there were protests from their ultras against a proposed game in Perth against Colmoy in February. They prepared banners. As you know, they have to get banners approved going into the stadium. Banners apparently, reportedly not approved, so they just displayed them outside the stadium instead. Now look, everybody and their mother has weighed in on this. We saw what happened with the Liga game, where ultimately they pulled the plug. There was a player protest about it too. And I should also make it clear that before this game in Perth can go ahead, they still need to get approval from the Asian Football Confederation, from Football Australia, and FIFA could also change their minds over this, although we don't expect that they will because it's the subject of a lawsuit.
51:09But how do you feel philosophically about league games? Gab, you're now talking to somebody that thinks all kickoffs should be at three o 'clock on a Saturday afternoon. So you're talking to somebody very old-fashioned when it comes to... Probably not a fan of Wimbledon moving to Milton Keynes. No, all those things. You know, I like a bit of tradition. I can see it going. I was upset that the game in Miami was cancelled because I was due to go out there and commentate on it. So that was a bit disappointing. That was a pre-possess. That's a selfish personal thing. I don't think it's the right thing to do.
51:40I just don't. I think that it upsets the fans who have been going for... Some fans have been going for many, many years to their team to watch them play, and then suddenly they're taking one of their games over to another country. And I do understand when people say it can impact on the credibility of the league when somebody's playing a home game somewhere else. Well, in Barcelona's case, definitely. This is not so much here because... But if you start doing those things, eventually that's going to happen. So I'm against it, and hopefully I think it doesn't go ahead. I don't even think it makes that much sense from a business perspective, to be honest.
52:17In Australia, a country that doesn't play that much football? Yeah. In Milan's defense, they can say, well, but we have a problem here. We don't have a choice because, you know, we lose our stadium, unlike Villarreal. We lose our stadium because of the opening ceremonies of the Olympics. We can't just reverse the fixture because we share a stadium with Inter. We can't really go play somewhere else in Italy without taking it abroad because we have 60, you know, we draw 70 ,000 a game. There's no other stadium in Italy that can accommodate us. Or rather, the only other stadiums that could accommodate us or come close to it are Rome, but they have two teams, so we can't play there either.
53:04Or Naples, but that's not really fair. We might as well go abroad then. But the thing is, you don't need to go to the other ends of the earth. Jules made the point, very logical. you're not playing European football this year Milan and guess what neither como find a midweek and play it then now Leipzig are second in the Bundesliga after their 6-0 win at Augsburg Gab their rebuild seems to be going okay doesn't it yeah amazing when you have more money than almost anybody else and you spend it and you get results and last season was just a horrendous aberration they they blew up this team the SOS Lois Apenda gone Gone.
53:41Benjamin Sesko, gone. Xavi Simons, gone. Lucharel Gertruida, gone. So they're pushing Yusuf Poulsen even. Oh, they did. I mean, that's a bit of a heartbreaker, right? I mean, yeah. Gone as well. He must have made more substitutes' appearance than anybody else. I know. He's at Hamburg now. So, yeah, they need to get the results. I don't think the identity is necessarily still there. They still have some disciplinary issues. They did make an emotional decision bringing back Timo Werner, who, by the way, is not related to Olive Werner, guys. They just have the same last name. Weirdly, I don't think they like each other very much, but they're up there.
54:23I think given that they don't play in Europe, given that they do have some very good players, Antonio Nusa is a driving force. They got his new Brazilian center forward. Baumgartner is still there. Five goals already this season. I think they could be the biggest challengers to Bayern this season. More than Dortmund. Possibly more than Dortmund. You said earlier on they were consistent, and now you were happy with Kovac. They're consistent, but Dortmund have Champions League football too. I mean, let's not underestimate, especially for a big side, not playing European football in the league is a massive advantage.
55:01So, yeah, Roland Leipzig. I mean, I don't want to say I want to see them well, because I don't, because I hate everything they stand for. But yeah, no, it is going better. It couldn't go any worse than last season anyway. The playoffs are underway in Major League Soccer and Lionel Messi is picking up where he left things off in the regular season. Robbo, I assume you agree with giving him a three-year contract extension? With him, probably yes. Most 38-year-olds, I would say absolutely not. You'd go by year by year. But even if he's not the same player in three years' time, which it's impossible to be the same player in three years' time, The amount of money and adulation it brings to the club and all the other money that they bring in from him, I suppose I can see why they...
55:43It's not just the adulation. They beat Nashville 3-1. He scores two goals. One of them, a diving header. How many diving headers did you score? Lots. You said about a three-year contract. Would I be in agreement with a three-year contract? And I said most players... He's not going to be the same player in three years. But there we go. Goal a game at 38. Now we go to the other end of the spectrum. Shepherd Wednesday have gone into administration and their fans are happy about it, Gab. What's going on? Yeah, I'm going into administration, of course, means that you're going to be deducted 12 points for those who are not accountants.
56:19Essentially, it means... Relegated. Well, the 12 points, probably. I don't follow whatever league they're in, so I wouldn't know. Thank you. For the championship. But what administration means is, essentially, your club is insolvent. And so the court appoints an administrator to come in to try to pay off whatever debts they can pay off. And that's usually very minimal. Which is usually very minimal. And they take over the club and they're going to look for a new owner. Now, the reason the fans are celebrating is it means that Deshaun Chan-Ciri, the previous owner, who they absolutely loathe, is gone.
57:07And did they boycott one or two of the games? They boycotted games and stuff. So now what's going to happen is the administrators are urging them like, guys, we need to get cash in to keep the club ticking over and probably prepare for next season if they get relegated as they expect. So they're buying things in the club shop. They're going to bounce and turn up in their thousands, unfortunately, for a 2-0 defeat by Oxford. Yeah, okay. But he's gone. What I don't understand about this guy, Chan Siri, and I had some of the same questions and I hope it's not the same answer as Mr. Lee, Lee Yong-hong when he was in Milan.
57:40Bro, you're not putting any more money into the club. You lost money in the club. You have offers. Why not sell and get whatever you can out of it? Because there were people who were willing to buy, not just John Texter and this other nonsense. Not that he cares. So what do you suggest is happening there, Cam? It seems very, very unusual. I will not suggest anything more because I am. I saw on Friday they were taking, his name is written in the chairs on the opposite side of the stand. And they're removing it. And they're removing the white chairs. I know. To get the name gone. That's awesome.
58:14That's awesome. One day I want to own a stadium and I want to write my name in big letters. Mocotti or Gabriela? Just Gab. Just Gab. Gab. This brings us to an end. Yes. But Robbo, thank you for joining us. It's been an absolute pleasure as always, Gab. Jules is still out in partying it up in Spain. He will be on Thursday. So Don Hutchinson, a.k.a. Future Jules, Hutch, will be joining me. Until then, love the game. Love you, neighbor. Love yourself.
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From the publisher
Gab Marcotti is joined by Stewart Robson to discuss all the fallout from El Clásico, where Real Madrid defeated Barcelona 2-1 at the Santiago Bernabéu. The pair also discuss the latest round of Premier League fixtures, which saw Man United win their third-straight league game under Ruben Amorim, while Liverpool lose their fourth league game on the spin. The duo also talk through the action from Serie A and the Bundesliga and everything else going on in the world of football.
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