Gab & Juls Show: Can De Zerbi rebuild Tottenham?

28:03Julien Laurens:That's a great story of Como, and we know they spend a lot of money before you start shouting. We know they have the richest owner, one of the richest owners in football. But still, Cesc Fabregas has done a really, really good job by investing on the right players, on youth, on the way they play, etc. They beat Cremonese on Sunday to get that spot also, because obviously Milan and Juve, as we said, and we'll talk later, didn't have a great off-season. And for Roma, I'm happy for Daniel Malen, who arrived in January and maybe some Roma fans would have been a bit underwhelmed about Malen. But really, he scored a goal in this game as well to take them to Champions League.

28:43Julien Laurens:It was outstanding for them. And I'm glad for, I'm happy for Gasperini. And in a way, those two successes compared to the two failures that we will talk about after is also, look like to me, Gab, you know more than me on that, but like a plan and you had a direction and you employed a coach that knew exactly where he was going to go and maybe it's a bit early for Como and Roma in that kind of project, but at least there was some coherence to it. Yeah. A hundred or all, rather than just signing a bunch of old guys and saying, yeah. the way yeah uh the other thing too about como's money that they spent yes they spent a lot of money this is a club with a 12 000 seat decrepit stadium however their wage bill is only the 10th highest in city yeah so it's not like this is not a manchester city situation and gab the flip side of it obviously of it all is that juventus who drew who only drew 2-2 against torino in the derby and milan who were beaten at home by cagliari already saved cagliari by the way both miss both MESA on Champions League places.

29:38Julien Laurens:How big is this? It's huge by the way. Big shout out to Cagliari for actually playing this game in the past. You know, we have nothing to play for. Let's let them, you need the points, take the points. That didn't happen. There's a terrible performance from Milan. They actually took the lead in this game. The fact that Leal was his fifth change, the fact that he didn't come out until much, much later to go and talk to people afterwards. It's a mess. I can't believe he could stay after this game. I know you think he will stay, but I would not keep him if I was there. silver well there's obviously gonna be more fan protests Jerry Cardinales he likes to do flies in and flies back out for like he's there for like eight hours yeah that's really gonna change something um I I think this could be a blessing because it means that if he had qualified for the Champions League he would have had an automatic renewal and a pay rise and all the people who love to kiss his backside and make excuses for him in the media says like oh look Jerry you have go and give him more money so he can bring in more goretskas more old people more old players goretskin levandowski yeah let's go for it and then while you play this turd of football that you've been playing all season long that you know i'm not joking this is what would happen now he only has the one year left it's easier to sack him i think he should be sacked personally at this stage give somebody else a chance i agree but you know so many heads supposedly will roll in milan jerry's got a lot of decisions to make i don't know how qualified he is to to make them He's got this guy who was with the ATP Tour before Calvary, who supposedly is like, he's like, oh, I don't like football.

31:06Okay, that's fine. I mean, he deals with other stuff for him. I suppose he's a very smart guy. Maybe this whole don't like football. Maybe that's what you need, is a fresh set of eyes, and maybe this guy can guide him, because you have to get this right. As for Juve, I said this before, they lost this when they failed to beat, when they lost to Fiorentina at home last week. It was a game that I thought they were a bit unlucky in. They're on the right track with Spalletti, Spalletti. And I think they're in better shape that way. Barcelona win their third Women's Champions League in the last five years, beating Lyon 4-0.

31:38Jules, you were there. I thought this game was actually very tight for a long time.

31:43Julien Laurens:Yeah, the game plan worked really well for Lyon. Their current manager is obviously the former Barcelona manager. Giraldez. Giraldez, who knows that team really, really well. The problem is it's hard to do that when you man-mark Alexia Puteas and Clara Serra Jordi in midfield is very difficult and the first mistake, they pay for it and once you concede that first goal just before the hour mark, after that, it's even harder and it's a wonderful Barcelona team even with less depth and a shorter squad. They've got a young kid from the academy that are really, really good and they've got a star like Eva Payo who scored two goals and gave an assist to Salma Parrauelo who was outstanding as well in this game.

32:22Julien Laurens:So, they deserve to win it in the end. Four nil is a bit harsh on the score but Lyon will come back and Michel Kang will come back stronger I think it's remarkable Barcelona and I read this in my music column today this is their third in five years four years in four years this team may probably not as good as the previous ones that won it but they've been caught up in the Bartomeu mess let's not forget they've had to cut back you look at the amount of talent that's left this club over the last couple years to be able to to reload from La Masia and so on that's really impressive Sunderland-Bet-Chelsea 2-1 to qualify for Europe for the first time since 1973.

33:00Julien Laurens:Meanwhile, could missing out be a blessing in this guy for Chelsea and incoming coach Xabi Alonso? I think it is. I think it is because it's going to force you to reduce the squad. It's going to force you to balance the books. It's going to give you another year breathing time, breathing space. And then obviously you've got to qualify next season. It's going to give Xabi Alonso more time to work. Look, they're in this horrible situation for a bunch of reasons. They're under this five-year agreement. They've settled an agreement with UEFA. I think it's better off this way. Let's build slowly. Let's have a plan and let's see where we are in two years' time.

33:37This was way back on Friday, but Laurence won the Coupe de France beating Nice in the final. Jules, this was a special season and Nice now have another de facto final

33:46Julien Laurens:coming up. Yeah, incredible. First ever Coupe de France for Laurence after three defeats in finals before. Well done to them. To Pierre Sage, obviously, Stonewall is our friend and Joseph Gourlian the owner of course and Florian Thauvin who is the the big guy this season for them incredible they pushed PSG almost all the way in the league qualified for the Champions League not won this trophy the scenes if you haven't seen them in Lens but also in the Stade de France where out of the 80 ,000 fans in the Stade de France 60 ,000 they reckon were from Lens incredible and then when they went back home at 2am at the ground it was amazing what a season wide team Barcelona lose 3-1 at Valencia though Lovar Lewandowski scores in his final game for the Catalans it doesn't really matter they were already on the beach but they have some important decisions to make yeah and of course one of the big ones is what they can do in the transfer window this summer it looks like from a Spanish credit salary cap perspective that they hope they can get to a one-to-one which basically means for every dollar they save they can spend a dollar on new players which is a good position to be in relative to the mess they were in before all the talk is about rousher all the talk is about center forward i think they definitely need another central defender big question for me is do you have to sacrifice one of your attacking midfielders to do it i think they might have to and i don't think that's necessarily um a bad thing but obviously hansie flick gets the last call here ian fitz simmons here and i'm going to be brutally honest with you i was skeptical about ordering plants online like this is actually going to show up alive at my house.

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36:44Yeah. uh now if las palmas hadn't i'm fascinated by mcburney i'm fascinated by his skin tone i'm fascinated by his size i'm fascinated by the fact that if las palmas hadn't been relegated uh last season he wouldn't be there i'm fascinated by the fact he scored his first goal for las palmas i think in may or april last season um but i know nothing else about hole other than the fact that the owner likes to take his girlfriend places and she wears a t-shirt at wembley

37:14Julien Laurens:fill me in yeah I mean yeah an incredible story again I don't know if they're ready for the Premier League doesn't look like that but we wish them the best next year back in the top flight after nine years I think or eight years and McBurn is the story because he scored this last minute winner in a playoff final that was really not good and more disappointing from a middle school point of view because they don't play like that usually Hull City that's what they do they finish sixth in the championship with the third worst XG total of the whole league so they like defending and not creating chances only Mike Bernardo scored 17 goals so without him in the league they would have never been there I think he gave 8 or 7 assists 7 or 8 assists too and you're right he's there because they were under transfer embargo last summer Hull City because of the way the club was financially so they could only sign players on loan or out of contract and there was a close in Mike Bernardo's contract at Las Palmas I said that if Las Palmas went down then he became a free agent so they were celebrating every defeat by Las Palmas did he have to or did he have the option of becoming a free agent because I'll tell you what the Canary Islands are a lovely place yeah if I'm only McBurnie and I get relegated with Las Palmas and I get to live there instead of Holt no disrespect for another year it's Scottish don't forget it's true so there was a lot of sun there Maybe he couldn't afford the Sunscape.

38:38Julien Laurens:It's just that Ruben Sayers, who was at the time the manager for Sheffield United, didn't want him there. He played five years before. He doesn't seem like a Ruben Sayers type player. True, but then that's how Hull City basically, after all those incidents, got him in and then he's been the key player for them to go back to the Premier League. Incredible story. Anybody else they should know about in Hull City? Is there just no future Andy Robertson type? No. Okay. Sorry. Sorry. Sorry to disappoint. Rasmus Hojland scored the only goal to cap a phenomenal season for Napoli. Hubi Udinese 1-0 and finished second.

39:13Julien Laurens:But, God, there are two other stories here. Rumors of a sell to U.S. investors and a big bid, potentially. And Antonio Conte leaving the club. Yeah, I think the first went first. This was reported in The Athletic. I was in touch with one of the people who were kind of leading this group. Wasn't able to give me details, although hopefully I'll speak to him again soon. They're talking 2 billion euros. Now, I know people get desensitized and you talk billions and stuff like that. But€2 billion for Napoli, and I say this with the greatest of respect for Napoli, is just an insane number. It's nearly twice what people paid for Milan, who are a bigger club, a more successful club in a wealthier city with a much larger fan base.

39:59€2 billion is almost the insane price that was paid for Chelsea. I mean, so if this ever happens, and from Napoli they're saying, oh, no, we're not for sale, sorry, it's not going to be anywhere near$2 billion. But the idea behind it is interesting. Jules, I know you're a big NBA fan. You know there's talk of this whole plan for NBA Europe. One of these people involved is also the president of the basketball team in Naples, and the idea is to do kind of a roll-up. I'm surprised given that France has produced some pretty good basketball players of late no plan for Paris Saint-Germain yeah absolutely

40:38Julien Laurens:but they're already in touch with the NBA for that like Munich and Bayern and all those kind of cities so they're all going to become multi-sport teams I don't know I don't think it's quite clear but Paris they're not there yet yeah yeah and how much those football clubs will have a say in the basketball team but yeah the idea is to have that kind of little conglomerate do we like this or are we kind of like EuroLeague nostalgic? I think the price to enter, I don't know how you say it in English. The franchise fee, basically. Yeah, the franchise fee is really high, said by the NBA at the moment.

41:08Julien Laurens:It's really high, which I think is putting people off a little bit, but let's see. As for Antonio Conte leaving... And just before, that press conference with De Laurentiis and Antonio Conte, when De Laurentiis said, if we didn't have all those injuries, we probably would have won the title, and Conte saying, I don't think so. Inter were very good, you know? it was a pretty extreme press conference uh like it's a person to keep talking about how they you know they're all still friends um i what i struggle with is antonio conta came out when he said he was leaving he said like oh it's my fault i wanted i wanted to create unity i wanted to make everything more compact you know people getting together around the team i wasn't able to do that i am a bro you finish first and then you finish second now maybe your standards are so high that if you don't achieve your footballing utopia uh then you go out but the lorintes is right without those injuries they would have certainly been neck and neck with inked i don't think there any question uh about that if you want to be really really really cynical could it be that there's a job opening with the italian fa and antonio conte knows he's kind of the the front runner in there to the point that even said well if i were the italian fa i would consider me which by the way i love because yeah you know like kid rock says it ain't bragging if you say it then you back it up yeah and he certainly backed it up um i know i would feel better about i'm not the biggest conte guy my choice would be a return of mancini fairly but i'm totally fine with conte as well although i gotta mention him again pep guardiola is the other day that's out there yeah it could happen.

42:51Villarreal demolished Atletico Madrid 5-1 in what is basically a final to determine third place in La Liga. And let's face it, this kind of matters because it's always, obviously the top two are generally always the top two. They're so far ahead in terms of budget, but then Atletico are so far ahead of everybody else in terms of budget as well. So this is a really big achievement for Villarreal when you consider what they're up against. And I think we need to show some love for Marcelino, who's also leaving the club.

43:22Julien Laurens:Yeah, absolutely. I mean, he's not my kind of football. He's not my kind of guy, that 4-4-2. And we saw him in Marseille. But he did an amazing job, the Champions League apart. But again, I think maybe it was very difficult for them to be good in the two competitions. Or it's just not another very good La Liga season. and they did well but they may be not that good we see but for you know some of the players like Nicolas Pepe and the work that he did with him or Babge or Mikotadze I think you see how much a bit like an Unai Emery type he improves those players individually collectively he's very solid very coherent and that worked wonders for them well done to him I don't know where he's going to go but again you know him he will do exactly the same thing summarized with another project we've said this also all season long there's so many coaches out there good coaches out on the market such a summer of flux one guy who won't be on the market but we need to give him a shout out El Cholo Diego Simeone 800 games now managed for Atletico Madrid Inter cap their season with a 3-3 comeback draw with Bologna but gab each of their goal scorers tell a story absolutely and look this is the only reason I mention it it's obviously a dead rubber ha ha ha who cares we won the league but Fede Di Marco Serie A player of the season for me opening the scoring for Inter with a stunning free kick Pio Esposito scoring again there is the future see we can produce young centre forwards in Italy and finally Andy Jufo gets a shout out just because he's Paris born and bred thank you he's from New Yisersen I think right yeah I think so you got right by the Portmaiot not far yeah New Yisersen but yeah a bit further south That's where the American school in Paris is.

45:11I thought it would be a pretty shishy area.

45:13Julien Laurens:Yeah, yeah, it is, it is. So Andy Jeff is posh? Nah. He didn't go up in the bus? There's another side of it. Okay. All right, just checking. Save money on your next oil change with O 'Reilly Auto Parts. Get a$15 O 'Reilly gift card after rebate when you buy five quarts of Mobile One full synthetic motor oil for just$35.95. Stop by your local O 'Reilly Auto Parts. Buster Olney here for La Quinta by Wyndham. When you're on the road this summer traveling for work, your routine can fall behind faster than a 3-0 count, especially if your hotel gym is non-existent. But at La Quinta by Wyndham, every location features a full-size, fully-equipped fitness center.

45:53So whether it's cardio, weights, or a quick workout before a long day, you can stay on top of your game. No excuses, no shortcuts, just your full routine, ready when you are. And when you book at LaQuinta.com, you can earn Wyndham Rewards points with every qualified stay. Tonight, LaQuinta. Tomorrow you shine. Terms and conditions apply. Thomas Trujillo's England squad for the World Cup is out, Jules. No Cole Palmer, no Phil Foden, no Morgan Gibbs-White, no Adam Worson, no Trent Alexander-Arnold, and no Harry Maguire, whose family did not take it particularly well.

46:31Julien Laurens:Yeah, I mean, I could not care less about Harry Maguire and his family. I don't think he deserves to be there for me we're a big damn burn guy but I'm not a big damn burn but I would have picked exactly the same defense that that Tuchel did so no Maguire for me no Trent either but I mean it's Thomas Tuchel big cojones squad though something that I don't think England was ready for I don't think people in this country realize but we know Thomas Tuchel we've known him for a very long time we knew this is exactly what he was going to do even if that upset people he could not care less wait wait sorry just not to call that well he's this is still out on the internet when he was young and coming through the right just making a name for himself at minds he comes out he does this video where he's like interviewed and he's like you know he's like so awkward now he even looks weird with his hair and he and it's called title like thomas tuchel like that's rule breaker and he really is like exactly um for koharman foden outside of the individual talent that is huge for both of them not not good seasons personally with their clubs gibbs white is the one that i think could feel harshly done here because especially in 2026 he's been incredible i would not have taken jet spence in this squad like to hold it i don't this one he's very fast he's very fast okay and i understand they're running away from people the stones uh injury worries and then you double up you've got burn you've got another fullback okay i understand why i would not have done it ivan tony same and don't give me the line yeah but he's so good on penalties for all we know england might not have to take any penalties at the world cup so taking a player just for that i think i think remember what was the last tournament with southgate when like he brought calvert lewin and then like never even put him in like the match right he was to be like harry kane's backup i think he realizes and i think he's right in this that there's something to be said for many teams around the world, especially middling teams.

48:29Say England, it's nil-nil. They need a goal. And you just send a big burly guy off the bench. I remember when they used to bring Peter Crouch in off the bench and everybody would just freak out. Like what happens now? So I think he likes that optionality. Obviously, Watkins is a different profile. Can either of these guys carry Harry Kane's jock? No, they can't. neither one can I think that's the idea there but I'm surprised you haven't brought up the one which I think would offend you the most for Wharton yes for Jordan Henderson

49:01Julien Laurens:yeah yeah definitely I mean Henderson but Henderson has to be there for is he a nice guy no for LGBTQ relations no for team building kind of I can't really say too much here but because I don't want to be in trouble with anybody but Henderson has to be there almost to babysit some in this squad if you see what I mean ah I wonder if it's somebody with four letters in his name I would have taken Wharton ahead of Henderson and said like you know screw the babysitters but yeah like that's why jordan henderson is there i think the tough one just going back to gibbs white for a second um i love the energy with which he plays i love the quality which he plays i think you i think he was done dirty at wolves you know when he broke broken the first team and then nuno didn't seem to like him and whatever but the question is if you bring gibbs white who do you leave out that that is really where you struggle So one of the three, not Kane, but one of the other two nines, maybe Eze.

49:54Julien Laurens:So it was Eze or Gibbs-White. But I've got nothing against Eze. I think Eze deserves to be there. But if you don't take Jett Spence, you can take Morgan's Gibbs-White. You can have eight defenders. He has nine defenders right now. He could have eight. Yeah. And then another. And I think eight would be enough. Yeah, eight. A lot of squads have only eight. I just think maybe he feels that like, because I don't think the center backs are particularly good, that he may have to make picks based more on form and maybe he wants an extra, I don't know. There's worry on Stone's fitness. That's why the ninth defender is there.

50:27Yeah, and also like, it's one thing if I have, you know, Franco Barese or prime Virgil van Dijk back there and he has a bad week of training, I'll still play him.

50:40Julien Laurens:Yeah. But am I going to do that with Esri Consa or Marguerite? Probably not. Let's see. I think they would play a lot of the game. But yeah, building a squad is never easy, trust me. What relegation scrap in La Liga gap? Mallorca and Girona both go down, along with Oviedo. I mean, Girona only a year after making it into the Champions League. It's an incredible collapse from them. I bet you feel a bit more sorry for one of them than the other. Yeah, I feel sorry for Mallorca, even though Mallorca did spend money. We should point this out, you know, relative to their station. But seeing Vidal Maurici, what a season he's had, 23 goals this year in La Liga.

51:14I think he scored, is it second most, right? He only has two goals less than Killian.

51:19Julien Laurens:Two or three, yeah. I don't even want to count the goals from open play because I think it might be close. Yeah, yeah.

51:28It makes me sad to see him go down because he's such a likable guy and gave him the whole story of what he went through. I'm not sad for Girona. You had all the resources. You had all the money. I don't like multi-club ownership groups. I think unless you're the club at the top of the multi-club ownership uh pile yeah you inevitably get screwed over and yeah you get some cast offs for a season oh look isn't this fun but i don't i think they should have rules on this i don't think they belong and you know maybe make it so that you can't be promoted to top flight and by the way obviously you don't have part of city football group i am not picking on city but guys um the teams i i saw i will be forgetting somebody i'm sure somebody will point out some city football group uh affiliated team that's that's actually doing well but i think i'm right in saying that new york city fc won one mls cup since they took over uh torquem bella blanca seem to exist only as like pass-throughs for players not doing anything um lomo were relegated so they had a really good season they've gone up but then they were also relegated right okay so like it's another yo-yo right but edmo thought like oh look now that they're here we're gonna go straight into champions like yeah all you've done so far is make some nice artist mock-up of a new stadium that because it's italy will probably never be built um i don't know i guess melbourne won some stuff i don't know about yokohama marina but like it seems like oh and by the way all these teams around the world any one of these guys make it to manchester city savinho they've signed but Savino was obviously bought by Manchester City sent to Gironi but I'm saying have the academies of these teams produced anything

53:16Julien Laurens:they've signed a really promising young do you know what I mean like 15 years of this nonsense going on yeah no I'm not sad for that point of view it must work otherwise they would stop it it depends how you define work let's just leave it at that who says there's no more upsets Torrense upset sporting in the Portuguese Cup final a second division club in the Europa League I know it's happened before but this is still pretty cool it's an incredible story for me one of the stories of the weekend in the whole of the world Torrense who finished third in the second division so they will have to play a playoff to go up against Casapilla in the promotion relegation playoff in in Portugal and there was no better way for them, they drew in the first leg of the playoff, to approach the second leg after this incredible, really incredible Portuguese Cup win, sporting the holders as well, it's a bit of a Lisbon derby because Torrente is the north of Lisbon winning 2-1 in extra time.

54:25I don't think sporting fans appreciate you saying that it's a derby.

54:28Julien Laurens:Well, it is, they're two from the same city. yeah so is Estrella Amador they say it's only with Benfica and nobody else I know still and the way they did it okay they had to defend I mean they had 20 % of the ball and they considered 33 shots or something crazy like that but they found a way with a penalty that's Topira who you would see at the World Cup for Cap Verde it's called I was really fascinated with this story that was part of my weekend preview for you if you read it because the last time they were so it's a long time since they were in the top flight the last time they were in the cup final the only other cup final was 60 years ago when they lost to Porto so for them to win and qualify for the Europa League and now I guarantee you they will go up and beat Casapilla to go to the top flyer in Porto is just incredible the Stoppilla scored he's not related to the Stoppilla who played for France it's not his son no because he's high and the French one is high and they also look rather different but to be like for those players you wonder if maybe Stoppilla's dad would just love this French mid 80s squad with Yannick Stopperaini.

55:30Julien Laurens:So he legally changes his last name to that? I'll have to name the name that we will give him. But yeah, incredibly. By the way, anybody. Oh, sorry, go ahead. No, just a minute. Eight players in this Torrance team that are French speakers. I'm just saying. How many of them pair, Sport and Bread? I'm sure there's at least one. Only one, yeah, I think. Yeah, okay. I figured. The US men's national team was supposed to be unveiled. The squad for the World Cup was supposed to be unveiled on Tuesday, Gab. But we already know a lot of the things because Tanner Tesman and Diego Luna won't be there while Joe Reina will be there because it was leaked.

56:03Yeah. This is really bad. You try to create this whole exciting event.

56:09Julien Laurens:It's the same for Tuchel in England, remember? On Friday night, on Thursday night for Friday morning. Yeah, but I think that one was more people piecing it together. Here, like they were going to do a whole, I think they were going to do a television event or something.

56:23I don't understand why this happens. If you're Pochettino, you can call people. And if you want to call people who are left out, maybe, or you can do it afterwards. Yeah, that's what they do usually. But let's be grown up about this. Who needs to see this? So, I mean, it's great reporting. I think it was Pablo Meyer who originally broke it. It's just stupid. It's counterproductive. It shouldn't happen at a serious federation. you don't need to call people up and tell them that you're taking them right no um I don't yeah I think I think Pochettino feels I I'm gonna I'm gonna stick up for Pochettino here I'm 100 % certain it's not Pochettino who leaked it so I'm gonna stick up for him whoever somebody around there let let him down and I would be angry if I were Pochettino to the point that I'd almost be tempted to make a different list just to say haha you're wrong um and then there's Joe Reina Yeah, and maybe you have an explanation here.

57:24We know what happened four years ago when, you know, he was such a baby that he was nearly sent home. It's four starts for Borussia Mönchengladbach this season, 19 appearances overall, one goal, last started a game in 2026. Is he just there because in terms of technical ability, he is by far the most technically gifted American player, not named Christian? is that why he's there is it because he and Pochettino both have Argentine roots I don't know

57:56Julien Laurens:I don't get this no I think it's because you kind of hope like he can you know we can make him into a good environment so that he can do well and better like he was in a good environment last time but then maybe if there was more depth in their squad a bit like the Cole Palmer Phil Foden argument for England he would have been left out and then somebody I was going to say as good but do you see what I mean and you think because you said okay I would love to take Jorrena because he's really good but he hasn't played enough so I'm going to leave him at home and instead I take Gab Marcotti who's maybe not just as talented but has played a lot I don't know but played do you see what I mean so maybe that kind of argument I don't know but I'm glad he's there because I want people to realise their dream and this must be a dream for any American but you feel but you had his dream four years ago in Qatar and then you sent him home I'm sorry oh okay I'm sorry so you had a good season with Lyon not an amazing season but he had a good season you would feel like you feel so gutted.

58:51Well, also, like, the people who follow the U.S. men's national team much more closely than I do said there was a strong chance that Tanner Tessman was going to start alongside Tyler Adams, right, in midfield. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

59:02Julien Laurens:That would look a good double pivot to me. I mean, and so all of a sudden he's not there. Like, I think with 26... Poch will explain as well. Don't forget. We haven't heard from him yet, but he will explain why. A bit like Tuchel did and I thought Tuchel did a good job and I'm hoping Poch does a good job as well on, okay, this is why I took him, why I didn't take him and I think I think the fans and us too in the media but the fans deserve to know why you made those choices with 26 players I think you can allow yourself a wild card yeah yeah and maybe Gio maybe the reason Gio didn't play much for Glapak is because my coach had other ideas or whatever but actually he's been fully fit all along yeah yeah he's been great in training maybe it's all that and maybe he's gonna come in with the right mindset I I hope Pochettino did his did his homework on Gio and, you know, isn't just like basing this on highlights or whatever or what he sees in training sessions.

59:55Oh, look, this guy is so talented. You know, there's more than that. Paris Saint-Germain are playing in a pretty important game next Saturday. So they had a warm-up inter-squad friendly, which made news for the wrong reasons.

1:00:08Julien Laurens:And yes, but then if people had searched for it they would have understood why that happened. But basically, Zabani and Safonov so one Ukrainian, one Russian, as you know, were in different teams. And I don't know why they did this, but they wanted to make it like a real game, although it was twice 20 minutes or 25, two halves of 25 minutes or 20 minutes. So they made the players still shake hands and the referee's hands like a normal game. To replicate. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Because obviously, you know, none of these people have ever played in the Champions League final. Yeah, I know, I don't know why.

1:00:40So they wouldn't know what it's like.

1:00:41Julien Laurens:Exactly. Which was a bit weird because there were obviously teammates, all of them. so you see them walking past each other and obviously shaking hands except that Safonov and Zabani didn't shake hands or didn't you know face bump or high five or whatever was this on television or was it somebody in the stands filming the video yeah there was a recording of it I think just to show to send to broadcasters to see some of the footage it was not behind closed doors ultras were there some young fans of the club were there things like that but the word is definitely that it's not that they don't they don't like each other personally it's just that this would have been badly received both in russia and in ukraine and they didn't want that to happen so they agreed before not to say so it's not like one try to go for it by the other both of them knew exactly as soon as they crossed paths not to go for it yeah okay i'm going to first of all i i am never going to blame anybody who has experienced the the tragedy of war um whichever way you think of it for for making this kind of decision right i do have to question you knew the situation was going to happen maybe if you are filming to send to broadcasters maybe you cut that part out right because it's not like it was being broadcast live right that's a that's an obvious thing maybe i wonder how much louis enrique knew about this uh ahead of time maybe somebody tells him hey lucho do we want to tweak this a little bit like maybe put them on the same team and then maybe you make a substitution or whatever.

1:02:14Don't make them shake each other's hands

1:02:14Julien Laurens:before like a friendly intra-squad game as well. You know, I don't know, is team psychologists deciding this nonsense? I don't know. It's just stupid that it kind of forces you to talk about this with a week before when there's so much more to probably censure men than that. Rafa Benitez has been sacked, Gav. He leaves Panathinaikos in fourth place in the end after the playoffs. Yeah, and they don't think they won a single game in the playoffs and you know he took over in october and basically didn't really make them better it's funny he's had a rough ride in his two previous spots too at celta of course and also before that at everton before that he was in china and covet caught up with him like the man won two league titles and a champions league so he'll be just fine he also gave us one of my favorite quotes because it can mean anything to anyone which is all of football is a lie always which you know it's a very rafa thing to say yeah he's one of the good guys these circumstances there may be not super easy for him to work in would you need panathinaikos in your life for eight months i'm not sure you're when you rafa benitez rafa benitez is one of those people who has this addiction yeah no i think all managers have you know i watched that film have you seen you might give your film buffy have you seen that film with demy more the substance yeah i've watched that recently yeah okay rafa been the the substance football is the substance for rafa benitez and the managers you know i get it that's the reality sometimes you know i think he still has stuff he can contribute and we hope to see you soon rafa it has finally come to pass to cristiano ronaldo finally wins his saudi pro league title with Al Nasser.

1:04:04I mean, we say finally. He said, what, like three attempts? I mean, it's not that many. But the MVP for the season goes to Jean-Felix.

1:04:11Julien Laurens:Yeah, and deservedly so as well. I don't think there's any argument on that for Joe Felix. Well done to Jean-Jesus too, who will leave now after winning this title. The next Portugal manager, some people think. Yeah, who knows, maybe. And for Cristiano, another trophy. Yeah, he scored in the final. in his final game for them against Dimash It sucks he didn't win the MVP too I mean Joe Felix I mean come on don't be gritty bro Joe Felix has been incredible I know I'm joking I'm joking I think because we discussed that off air when we were preparing for this segment he kind of has the trophy before lifting it and he kind of points at it and says almost like some people I think have read on social media I don't know what it's worth to say that well Messi never won this one kind of thing he looks like he points at it and says like kind of no no no as in i don't know i thought he was i thought he actually meant but maybe i'm being too gullible he kind of pointing out it's like it's not about the trophy it's about the team and everybody being together oh maybe as well maybe it's only what i read but yeah but artists you have to be kind of a tool to think that that he would do that that's really that's why i don't really believe it but i don't know exactly what he meant maybe he would explain yeah yes but messi's never won the saudi pro league no and he has never won mls yeah cristiano either so um we see but yeah at least before the world cup that's exactly why once you remember how gutted it was when they could have won it before this time he's done league boss says that ai would be used to help evaluate referees and determine assignments are you okay what's this about i i died look you have to be open to technology and the future the idea is that it's going to be more objective um I don't know I think like I don't see how AI is going to evaluate refereeing errors and and stuff like that even in three dimensions it's just the nature of the game right yeah all right the obvious ones that AI will pick up are ones that humans will pick up too referee assignments can we root out bias sure we can root out bias but a big part of determining which referees officiate which games is speaking the referees knowing their current state of mind um are they prepared to go and you know and do the big bitty sevilla grand derby right now are they in worse form right it seems like it's something like oh look and it'll be about 40 oh and by the way we're taking bids from ai companies that want to sponsor us hey sorry but i don't have yet i'm joking of course jules this brings us to an end but when we next come back to you we're going to be in full-on champions league final preview uh form uh until then that's gonna be on thursday of course until then love the game love your neighbor love yourself

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