Gab & Juls Show: Can Semenyo save Man City’s title hopes?

20:42Julien Laurens:More resilient, you're gab. Chelsea and Cisdepe de Michael Wright to secure his release. Why is this important? It's hugely important because this is going to be scrutinized by UEFA in their financial sustainability situations. And they need to show that they paid the proper compensation. I think you mentioned 15 million. Yeah, between 10 and 15, I was told, yeah. That is an absolutely extraordinary number. but it also begs the question. It might be less, but that's what I was told. You own both clubs. Would you not have whoever you hire at Strasburg as your coach sign a contract where there's some kind of break where he can cancel his contract for X amount to go to, you know what I'm saying?

21:20Yeah, but you can write all these things in 10 to 50 million is, is just an enormous fee. I think. Quick timeout. Some breakfast Intel you want to know about Kodiak frozen power waffles and flapjacks are built for busy mornings. Heat it, eat it, and you're out the door. No long prep, no complicated game plan. They're packed with 12 to 14 grams of protein per serving, a good source of fiber, and crafted with 100 % whole grains, not refined white flour. So you're getting something that actually fuels you. And there's depth on the roster. Buttermilk and vanilla, blueberry, chocolate chip, even gluten-free options.

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22:43Julien Laurens:Yes. Burnley and Manchester United with caretaker boss Darren Fletcher at the helm battle to a 2-2 draw as Benjamin Sesko bags two goals. Chills, I thought they were better in this game. Is it just a coincidence that Bruno Fernandes is back? Not just that he's back, but back in number 10, his best position in the 4-2-3-1. That made more sense, obviously, than what we saw in the armour aim. Arthur United were really good. Yes, it's a disappointing result in the end because you drop two points when it's very tight at the top, I was going to say, between fourth and 14th, as we always say. And that was disappointing, but it's good for Cescou.

23:19Julien Laurens:Bruno played an hour and was excellent. We even saw Mahon coming back. Dogu with another assist. Fletcher would be in charge of the game against Brighton at the weekend in the FA Cup and after that we're not sure but I thought for him and for the team that was a decent performance a good react I thought they were good in the second half especially and that was a good reaction in the end they equalized a 2-2 that's a worldie I'm not going to blame anybody for that and according to reports Gabi United's plan is to turn to an interim boss until the summer to give them time to pick the guy they want Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and Michael Carrick have been mentioned Fletcher too obviously do you like this strategy so uh i think the strategy makes sense because in the summer that you'll obviously have more time to plan more time to go and approach people but you have to remember what happened not the last time but the time before that you did that when you brought brought in oligone or solchard yeah and then he started winning some games and then the whole united commentariat punditocracy of ex-players coming out and saying go on give him the job Give him the job.

24:22Give Ole the job, right? And then you give Ole the job. And hey, look, there's a reason you didn't give him the job on a permanent basis to begin with. I would not appoint Ole Gunnar Solskjaer. Michael Carrick seems more reasonable. But if you appoint Michael Carrick, who's already had success at club level, you have to go to him and say, listen, Michael, this is not going to lead to a permanent job. I think you cannot be under any illusions here if this is your strategy. You have to pick one path and go with it. Otherwise, just give the job to Michael Carrick. Aston Villa also draw points as they're held to a 0-0 draw at Aston Villa sorry, at Aston Villa at Crystal Palace which means that if Arsenal beat Liverpool when they square off in a few hours they'll be 8 points clear Unai Emery is going to be disappointed because this time I thought they were actually unlucky

25:06Julien Laurens:Yeah, although Palace in the second half had a really, really strong period where they could have scored 2 the draw is probably fair in the end but if you're Villa in the form that you've been bar the defeat of Arsenal. It's a game that you should have won, really, because Palace haven't been good. We say how tired they are, all of them. They've played far too many games on a very small squad. So it would feel like two points drop for sure. It is slightly ironic that Villa start playing better, like they did in the first half against Arsenal, which I thought Villa were really good, and in this game.

25:39And this is when they drop points.

25:41Julien Laurens:Inter mix things up. Goals from Federico Marco and Marcus Turam very late. give them a two-nil win away at Parma. Pretty straightforward. Yeah, much more straightforward than the scoreline suggests. Parma saw we're never in it. Might have had something to do with the big rolling fog all over the Tardinari, the foggiest part of Italy in winter. But no, I thought they were good. He, you know, we got to see Carlos Augusto plays a third center back. Other little tweaks. Suchic in midfield, I thought did well. And yeah, roll on next week. Well, on this weekend, in fact, sorry. Massive game against Napoli.

26:18Big, big game coming up against Napoli. Heartbreak for the man with two first names, Jules. Antoine Semenyo scores in the fifth minute of injury time and Tottenham lose away to Bournemouth 3-2.

26:28Julien Laurens:Yeah, the draw would have been a fair result because Spurs, for once, were actually not too bad. But why is Jens Spence? It's the 95th minute. He's 2-2 away from home. Just keep that result. And Jens Spence going forward, losing the ball so cheaply and so naively. and then two passes later, Semenyo scores a great goal. To win it's another defeat for Spurs. It's bad for Thomas Frank again. It's bad for this team. Palinja with the Worldi. He only scores Worldi. We've said that before. But even when you have, or it looks like you're going to make a step forward, then it's two step backs, and it can't continue like this.

27:04Julien Laurens:Would you make a Mickey Van Der Veen's dive? I thought there was an early foul anyway, and then it goes so quickly that I don't think he's looking for the foul. But I think, no, I don't think so. I think it's not a pain, but I just don't think the referee should have given it. It was pretty obvious that it was a kind of got together thing. I do agree that there probably was an early foul. Once you stay on your feet, you cannot throw yourself into the air like that and then swing your leg out to make sure you hit the opponent. That is called diving and cheating. And I put people, oh, well, he's a defender.

27:40No, he makes enough forward runs. he's been a professional footballer for what 15 well not 15 for 15 years but he's played football competitively for probably 15 years at this age he should know how to handle those situations

27:52Julien Laurens:speaking of frank he thinks he's sad that he was asked why he was drinking his espresso out of an arsenal coffee cup all right so if you have if you somehow missed the story because it went viral everywhere uh there's pictures in the first we both thought this is some kind of ai generated slop nonsense but no they're real because the pictures are from getty who of course are a big photo agency um of him walking out onto the pitch and he's got his little espresso or espressino in thomas frank's case and it has an arsenal logo on it um so he was asked about people said what what's he doing is he trolling what did and they asked him about it and he said oh it's so sad that you're asking me about this so pathetic my no it's interesting i don't think it's pathetic at all and he came up with this explanation which to me makes no sense basically and i'm going to try to summarize it but essentially brentford played it um sorry hartson played at the vitality at the weekend that's not today yeah uh and i'm guessing they maybe brought their own cups

29:02make his coffee for him the servant didn't notice and reached for the cups which maybe arsenal aren't tidy they don't clean up after themselves maybe i don't know uh and he didn't look at the cup and he also says his entire staff drank out of the arsenal cups which i find i haven't seen pictures of the rest of his staff this is so stupid and so avoidable but it does speak volume and i think if things go bad they get sacked this is one of the things you're going to be remembered for yeah but thomas you have to understand you're in the entertainment business you cannot go and the narrative business for better words that's why you make so much money you cannot go and walk around with an arsenal cup and say oh it's stupid of you to ask me about it's entirely normal no it's not freaking normal well it's time atst james mark just as you'd expect jules two goals in injury time with harvey barnes coming uh harvey barnes's goal coming in the 12th minute of injury time and the equalizer of course coming I think just into injury time and they beat Leeds United 4-3

29:59Julien Laurens:Yeah incredible, I mean Harvey Barnes always scores against Leeds so there's maybe no surprises there that he scored 2, Bruno Guimaraes with a penalty given away by Aronson who should have known better, who had a great game too before that, like Calvert-Lewin the draw again probably would have been the fair result there because I thought Leeds were good but it's a huge win for Newcastle in that race for 5th place fourth and fifth and by the way people like talking about aaron they get penalty aaron's and gives away come enough of this nonsense like whoa he has to use his arms to jump like there is a way for you to jump especially when you're that far away and you're like in the far corner there is a way for you to do it without having your arms swing out he was just uncoordinated uh when he did that and and that's it and just move on quite a turnaround for jonathan david Gab as Juventus win three to the wet Sassuolo.

30:47Julien Laurens:You might call it redemption day, then. I'm happy for him. He got absolutely slaughtered in a really, really vicious way for his penalty miss at the weekend. Well done. Luchano. But you know, I am not a Spalletti fan. I've been so critical of him, but he got this one, right? He said, I'm going to put David right back out there and he's going to show me what he can do. And he did. I thought he played really well. Like I mentioned a goal and an assist. Is he a superstar? Does this mean to turn around? No, but it also doesn't mean that he deserves all the bile that he got for missing that penalty at the weekend.

31:20Don't look now, but Brentford are fifth in the table, Jules, after smacking Sunderland 3-0. And Igor Thiago, who I didn't even think was the best guy named Igor in the Premier League. I had him at third going into the season. He's up to 16 league goals this season. The three guys ahead of him in Europe's Big Five Leagues, their names are Erling, Harry, and Killian.

31:42Julien Laurens:Incredible. before the two goals of last night and the hat-trick at the weekend against Everton. He scored zero in six Premier League matches. He had even zero expected goals in his two previous games. And then somehow scored just five in two. He's got more goals in the Premier League season than any other Brazilian that ever played in the Premier League. Including Mirandinha, folks. Yeah, that tells you what an incredible season he's having. Like Brentford, who, as you said, are fifth. Right now they're playing in the Champions League next season. Keith Edwards, incredible job. They got a little bit lucky in this game because they were the better team and they deserve to.

32:19Julien Laurens:But the penalty missed by Lefeu is scandalous in a way. So well done to them. Roma back into fourth place in Serie A with a 2-0 win away Alecce. For now. But the irony here is that Gasparini complaining about his center forwards all the time. He doesn't like the big guys. Well, who scores? His big guys. Ewan Ferguson and Artem Dahlbic. Both guys that supposedly Roma were going to try to get rid of. He had a big summit meeting with the Friedkins. It's kind of where they come out of and they say, oh, yes, we're all clear. We're all on the same page. Let's see what happens. In the meantime, it's three points.

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33:21Julien Laurens:Brought to you by Argenics. If you're ready for an oil change, trust the professional parts people at O 'Reilly Auto Parts to recommend the best products for your vehicle. Right now, get five quarts of Valvoline full synthetic motor oil and a Wix filter for$35.99 and receive a$15 O 'Reilly gift card after rebate. upgrade to a wicks xp oil filter for just two dollars more limits apply see store for details stop by your local o'reilly auto parts store or shop online at o'reillyauto.com nottingham forest went away to west ham who are now uh very far from safety and the legendary harry redknapp offers to come coach a club for free jules would you rather pay for nuno or have harry uncle harry redknapp for free right let's let you know let's be serious here i think one who needs is better defenders.

34:10Julien Laurens:To be fair, his whole philosophy is based on strong defense and solid defense. It's not the case. I've got nothing against my Vropanos, but I can't continue like this. So why are they spending money on forwards? Because he needs forwards too, right? Well, probably, for me, less than defenders, but clearly they don't think so. So that's probably part of the problem as well. The African Cup of Nations has reached the quarterfinal stage. Gab, who do we like? All right, let's both go through this together. They're both good predictions. It's Mali against Senegal on Friday. I've been really impressed with Senegal.

34:45They have different levels to go to and a goalkeeper in form. So I'm going Senegal. Yes. Cameroon against Morocco. Do we pick against the home side? Is that a bad decision? Brian Diaz on fire? I'll just say this. This is the toughest test that they faced.

35:02Julien Laurens:Yeah, yeah. The last time Morocco hosted an AFCON, Who did they lose to in the semifinal? Was it Cameroon? Exactly. Algeria against Nigeria. That Algeria goalkeeper, by the way, in case you don't really follow the Cup of Nations, he may look a little bit familiar. Yes, definitely. He may have a famous dad. And he'll be his dad in the stands, who you will recognize if you don't recognize them. The son, the Zidane family, is there in Morocco. For me, this is the game. Algeria and Nigeria, the two best teams so far in the competition. Outstanding. Algeria would have won the goal to beat Congo in extra time like they did.

35:40Julien Laurens:And I just can't wait for this one. Yeah, and Congo and Nigeria. For Algeria, by the way. I'm going to go with my Super Eagles, but I will say this. That was a real test. Congo played them really, really tough. Don't be put off by the fact that the goal came late. Yeah. And finally, Egypt against Cote d 'Ivoire. Yes. I mean, you're going to say that I'm only picking countries that speak French. And I do, so I'll go for our request. I'm obviously going to go with Egypt. What's not to like? Mohamed Salah. Although, if they get knocked out on the plus side, I think he has a much better chance of getting into the Liverpool side now.

36:17Yeah. Now, speaking of that Nigeria game, there are reports that the Super Eagles could boycott that match due to a row over bonus points. Jules, this feels frustratingly familiar.

36:27Julien Laurens:Yeah, very familiar. We have that all the time in every competition, or very often, let's say. it's a problem that hopefully will be resolved and they play, but it's just not ideal when you're getting ready to play a quarterfinal of AFCON against a team like Algeria. We saw the Ozyman-Lukman argument on the pitch the other night, by the way, which was already not a good look. They made peace and they're all friends and brothers again. Great. But this with the federation is never a good thing. And let's be clear, the argument though, isn't that suddenly they want bigger bonus or they didn't negotiate.

36:58This is over bonus payments that they say that they agreed that haven't been paid yet. Exactly.

37:03Julien Laurens:Liverpool boss Arnus Lowe said that most teams play differently against his side and that's why they're not as entertaining this season. Yeah, so he went on this whole thing. He said his favourite team to play against was Paris Saint-Germain. Yes. Even though they lost when they played them in the Champions League, he says it was ebb and flow, it was entertaining, we attacked and he obviously doesn't like playing against low blocks. Yeah, and back fives. Okay, that is part of the game if you coach a top team and maybe when you were at Feyenoord and you played in Europe. Maybe you didn't have that problem because you were Feyenoord.

37:35But now you're Liverpool and people will do that. What I didn't like and what I would love for somebody to ask him again and go a little bit further is he had a bit of a pop against Fulham, which sounds like something an Italian coach might say. And I don't say this in a good way. He said, Fulham, even against Arsenal and City, played 4-3-3. And the question is, why did they play five at the back against us? I can answer that question, but it would not be smart of me to do so. Listen, I call out Italian coaches when they do this. Conte used to do this all the time. Arnie Slott, it's not a good look.

38:06Don't go there. Like, either speak clearly, don't leave stuff that's open to interpretation and little jibes. Rumors arrive that Magic Mike Mignon will extend his contract at Milan after all, Jules. What's changed?

38:20Julien Laurens:Yeah, I didn't see this one coming. He wanted to leave last season. He wanted to come to Chelsea. They could not agree a fee. One and a half million euros difference. Yeah. Or he'd be a Chelsea player. I know. Big pay rise in this case. New contract. He's clearly happy with what's happening at Milan. Good for him. Good for them. Because I think he's back to his best this season. He is. Five years is so long. I mean, he's 30 years old. But it is a long contract that you're tying yourself into. Plasone has been ordered to honour the reminder of their TV deal with Belgium's Pro League after they tried to unilaterally terminate the contract.

38:58Yeah, so this is, we've been here before. We saw this happen in France, of course. The weird thing with DAZN is they had only signed the deal in the summer. So they signed the deal. It's like a three-year deal or a five-year deal even. And now all of a sudden they say, no, no, we don't want this anymore. We don't want to show the Belgian League. And they just stopped paying for it. And they're going to have to pay something like 80 million. If they don't comply, they're being fined 50 ,000 euros a day. So it adds up to real money. And weirdly, they're still showing the games right now without paying for them because they haven't been able to agree a deal to subcontract them to other operators.

39:38I've said this before. There are serious issues for broadcasters out there. And I think clubs know this. And the TV money is not going to continue going up ad infinitum. And it will actually come down in real terms. Twente, I have a new technical director, Jules.

39:54Julien Laurens:And it's one of our favorite ball of Dutch guys. Of course, Eric Ten Hag is back, not on the bench, but I guess behind the bench or he could be on the bench. Some technical directors, sports directors are. Sometimes they're in the director's box, 20s, obviously. You know, where's he from? He supported them as a kid. He went to watch them, played for them, all of that. So it's a nice little circle, if you want. Maybe that means he's done as a coach. I don't know. He's not that old, bro. Yeah, I know, but I wouldn't be, you know, I wouldn't be too sad. My boy says Fabregas makes it three in a row as Como win away to Pisa 3-0.

40:26Yeah, and Colmar are still up there. And guess what? Nico Paz does not score. Yeah. Although Dubicas does. This game was a lot closer than the scoreline suggests. Colmar only really broke through in the second half. Massive contrast and styles between the two. But yeah, they're up there. See if it lasts. Arnaud Collier Mwendo is on his way to Eintracht Frankfurt on loan with the option to make the move permanent. Good choice to revive his career. He doesn't seem to be getting any love where he is now.

40:55Julien Laurens:what disaster move to Nottingham Forest it was in the summer just never worked with first manager the second or the third anyway so he had to leave Frankfurt obviously loaned Wahey to Nice they needed another striker I just I just hope for him that this is a better choice different profile than Wahey though yeah a little bit although both Paris-Borne and Brad obviously that makes them very special and he's a good finisher he was really good in Ligue 1 the last two seasons Matteo Gentus is leaving Lazio for Fenerbahce. God, does that make sense to you? 30 million euros. You can't turn that money down, right?

41:31For the former Arsenal, former French international, Matteo Guendouzi. Or still even. Still even. There you go. 30 million, yeah. Paris Bonne-Brette. That's right. The thing for Lazio is, however the season, they're unhappy, and then they just start the wheel and deal. And to do that, you need to raise money. So you let Guendouzi go, you let Castellanos go. For some reason, they seem to be getting these enormous fees for these players. which I don't fully understand, and then they can reinvest them. I don't know. They've decided Saturdays, obviously, oh, let's rip up the score sheet, and the club are going along with it.

42:03Or the blueprint, I should say. Wilfred Nonsi, just as you predicted, has been sacked by Celtic with Martin O 'Neill back at the helm for a second interruption of the season. Joes, I want to ask you also, Rod Stewart celebrating his departure the way he did? I know Nonsi had bad results, but did he really irritate everybody?

42:26Julien Laurens:Yeah, there seemed to be more happy people in the Celtic fan base than not, including the big stars. Seven defeats in nine is hard to see past that. And I feel a bit of sympathy for him, as we've explained before, because there was no time for him to really work. He came in straight away into a game against Hearts and then a Europa League game. So it was difficult, but that defeating the old firm against Rangers was just one too many. FIFA said that they have had 150 million tickets requests for this summer's World Cup in the USA, Canada and Mexico. To put that into context, Gav, if you had every World Cup so far in history, they have only sold 44 million tickets, which according to Gianni Fantino shows what a success this is already.

43:11Yeah, so to put it in context, Gianni, you know I love you. This is apples and oranges. You cannot compare 44 million tickets sold with 150 million ticket requests. You compare ticket requests with ticket requests. Secondly, this is not a good benchmark. We know this is going to be the biggest World Cup ever because there's more teams, because there's more games. I think a better indicator is a total number of tickets that are going to be sold. That is a better comparison. There's 150 million also, but the fact that in the U.S. you can legally resell your tickets. I wonder how many of those requests are just Billy Bob, right?

43:49You know, some nerd writes a program and then the bot just keeps applying for tickets. And so, you know, there's a lot of things. We have$4 billion in the bank. You're going to make a ton of money off this World Cup. You'll be able to redistribute the money. He even went so far. This is back at the Globe Soccer speech. I'm going back a while. But he came out and he said that there's about 150 nations in the world that wouldn't be playing football if it wasn't for FIFA support. Now, I will say there's 150 nations in the world where FIFA plays an integral part in giving them money and funding the game and helping the women's team, youth football, and so on.

44:21I'm pretty sure they would still be playing football, even without FIFA. So I don't know why he needs to lay it on so thick. Well, under-promise and over-deliver. That's all you have to do. Jules, you like awards for individual players much more than I do. Are you sad that FIFA's coveted the best award will now be run not by FIFA, but by the Dubai Sports Council?

44:45Julien Laurens:I mean, sad is a strong word, Gabby. I won't lie. I like awards. I like the Ballon d 'Or especially more than anything else. Not so much the best award. You like the Bravo more than anything. Yeah, true. Because you get to vote in the Bravo. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. I vote for the Golden Boy, but not yet for the Ballon d 'Or. Maybe one day. Who knows? I certainly don't vote for the best. and FIFA sold it to the Dubai Sports Council. Yeah, I think it's like a licensing deal for a certain amount of time. They're going to run it. You got the sense that maybe FIFA were just too busy, but the last FIFA the Best Award, which was held in Doha around the Club World Cup, there were no media there.

45:25It almost got almost no attention. Oh, look, it's kind of like a press release. Oh, by the way, Bomati and Dembele won the award. This should be something that you can monetize. but I've said all along you should make it different from the Ballon d 'Or. Maybe this is something you only win once, whatever. Can the guys in Dubai do better? We'll see.

45:45Julien Laurens:Lionel Messi gave an interview with Luzu TV in which he said he likes to drink red wine mixed with Sprite. Gab, I don't drink any alcohol, so I'll leave this with you. Yeah, if you are going to start drinking alcohol, I do not recommend you start drinking red wine and Sprite. It's not my taste. Never heard that before either. I'm guessing it's kind of like you've got the... You say it hits quicker. So what, the alcohol hits you quicker? It doesn't make any sense because it wouldn't because Sprite doesn't have alcohol, so it would be diluted. I'm assuming it's kind of like red wine. The Sprite makes it sweeter.

46:20Maybe it's some weird alternate take on sangria. I think drinks like this are popular in some parts of South America, not necessarily with Sprite. But look, you know, Messi, you can drink whatever you want. exactly all I want to say

46:33Julien Laurens:just as a public service it's a great interview by the way check it out because he's very open very very you never see him like this no when I was on TikTok he said I was like what the other thing though that he said is like oh he says like I'm a weird guy and I'm like no you're a unique guy I wouldn't say you're weird yeah but then the things that he said I'm like these don't make you weird because if I were in your shoes I'd be exactly like you he says he's obsessive about routine which is what every like star professional athlete He's OCD, I think, in terms of discipline. But you hear this so much.

47:04You hear the same thing about Christiano and his training, LeBron James, whatever, right? And then he says he'd rather be an owner than a coach of a football club. I'm like, of course, why not? As an owner, you can kind of do both. So whatever. He seems very human in this. Yeah, yeah. I think it's fair to say. Joe, this brings us to an end, but we've got to come back on Monday. Yeah, of course. So much going on. The magic of the FA Cup. And I believe ESPN are rights holders, if I'm not mistaken. in many territories around the world. So, until then, love the game, love your neighbor, love yourself.

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