Gab & Juls Show: Is Moises Caicedo Chelsea's MVP?

23:11But yeah, they certainly come in on a high and with rested starters. A late wonder goal from Amadiallo gives Manchester United a 2-2 draw at Nottingham Forest. Jules Ruben Amarim says it's the sort of game they would have lost a year ago.

23:25Julien Laurens:Yeah, I disagree. I think this is, if you look at that game half full, I think it's a game that United should win against a Forest team that had been terrible since the start of the season, that only won one game. They have changed managers three times or twice. They had three managers, two changes already. And United, on a series of three Premier League wins in a row, should go to Forest and win, especially when they take the lead. So, again, I thought in that game, they were too easy to open, too easy to attack. The two goals they conceded are terrible goals to concede. and yet they salvaged a point in the end because it's a great goal by Ahmad who can try another nine times and the ball goes in the stands I think he was talking about maybe their fight back after because they were 1-0 up and in the space of two minutes they go 2-1 down I think he's maybe referring to that but they didn't really produce much No, against a bad team and it's an individual goal that wins it for you One set piece and one won the goal Speaking of set pieces, your buddy Sean Dyj complaining because he said that the ball had gone out of play, which it probably did, before the corner that led to Casamitos opener for United.

24:36And he says that they should have VAR for that too.

24:39Julien Laurens:So where I agree with him is that there is nowhere that the linesman who is on the other side of the pitch, so behind the goal, in the corner, at the corner flag on the other side, so that's 90 meters, right? From one corner flag to the other. It's impossible. and Savona is ahead or behind the ball for him. So he sees the back of Savona. He cannot see where the ball is. So for him to put his flag up to say, I saw the ball being fully all out. This is a corner. It's BS. The guy is a massive liar. It's impossible from where he was. You don't know if he actually said that, but he guessed. Well, no, he put his flag up.

25:16Julien Laurens:You can see that. Right, but... So his flag up is only for a corner. He's making a judgment, I presume. Yeah, but he put his flag up because he says it's a corner. We can't call him a massive liar. Well, yeah, but how can you say that it's a corner if he can't see it? Yeah. Because if he doesn't put his flag up, it's a goal kick. Also, the angle at which he is, he's not in line with, you know, he's kind of peeking across. He's got the two posts, the goalkeeper, Savona, and then it's just impossible. Why is he putting his flag up? I don't get it. Yeah. So you think VAR should step in? No, no, no.

25:47Julien Laurens:I don't know what the solution. Tell me what the solution is. I'm just saying that there's no way he can see it, but he put his flag up. Sean Dyke said it would take four or five seconds I don't think there's an appetite for further VAR review of this sort of thing but I agree with you they should call it if they're short match the City leapfrog Bournemouth into second place with a 3-1 victory at the head yard on Sunday two more goals for Erling Haaland who destroyed Andy Irola's high line and Messi defense I mean they were all over the place all over the place this is what we call bad high line execution and it was so obvious.

26:24I mean, in one of them, Erling Holland runs from inside his own half because the Bournemouth defenders are so far up the pitch. Now, I get it. You want to press. You want to be aggressive. But you have to know where that large, blonde monster is at all times. And you have to know that he can get a run on you. And it wasn't just these two. I mean, there was O 'Reilly scored the third goal. But there was another chance. It was very similar to this. Holland had another one too. I kind of like Pep's humility in this one. The 48 % possession at home from Manchester City.

27:03Julien Laurens:I think that kind of speaks volumes. I think they scored three goals in transition already this season, and they scored four in the whole of last season in transition. He's ready to do this. He's ready to go to that well. And shout out to Ryan Scherke too. He looked really good. Yes. Yeah, two assists, great. I mean, great baller. You just need him to change his mind and come out for Italy. Yeah, well, that's not going to happen now. Sorry, it's too late. But I think Cherky and Foden together will be a danger for whoever played against them. Paris Saint-Germain need a late, late, late goal from Gonzalo Ramos to get past Nice 1-0.

27:38Jules, I know he's been rotating and blah, blah, blah. I looked at this. This is pretty close to his best 11 available that he started with. and still you needed Fijic Varscalia with that goal line clearance and his late leg goal. Any reason to be concerned?

27:54Julien Laurens:So, no Marquinhos, no Ruiz, no Dembele, no Dwayne. No, no, no, no. Ruiz is coming back from injury, correct? Yeah, yeah. So that's four starters missing out of 11. So I'm not sure if this is like he's close to his best 11. They had a lot of changes. First half was not good. Second half... No, but it's not a weird rotation where he plays like, you know, Beraldo and Lucas Hernandez and stuff like that. Yeah, true, true, true. You had your two fullbacks. You had Pacho. The first half was poor. The second half much better. They should have scored before that. Barcola should have scored. Barcola should have scored in that first half.

28:30Julien Laurens:I won't lie. I turned the TV off within like two minutes to go saying to the children, this is it. It's another draw. It's annoying. And then obviously, Gonzalo Ramos scored. he's a great super sub to have really really amazing reaction on his goal in a way I think you deserve to win you got to wear with it this time but you also deserve to win because the second half was better but yeah it looks like they are much better in the Champions League than in the league so far this season which was the other around at the same stage last season one win in four heading into this game yeah yeah they have a lot of things to sort out certainly in the league which I think they are not really too focused on Two goals for Kylian Mbappé as Real Madrid Rolled comfortably past Valencia, Fournil Gab, Xabi Alonso, couldn't have asked Any more?

29:20No, Vini on the pitch Smiling and being helpful And kind, Kylian scoring again This was the Classico XI with one change Mastantuono for Camavinga Which I think this is going to be Pretty close to his base formation Going forward, I think Camavinga Was in addition, obviously for the Classico Because it's an usual opponent We can debate the setup a little bit, perhaps. And obviously we'll find out what happened when Trent is ready to start and when Dani Carvajal returns. And Trent, I think, was on the bench, so very close to returning.

29:53Julien Laurens:Yeah, again. But this is it. This is his group. He has found his group. And I thought everything went their way. Yeah, yeah. It was an easy one. Barcelona beat Elche 3-1 in the highline derby. Jules, it's pretty important to bounce back after the Classico, especially without Pedri, especially with a beaten up Lamine Yamal yeah and they're considered a goal but to be fair I think that was not really important in the grand scheme of things they played well when they had two Lamine scored again I love talking about the Rashford goal which is a good goal but I love right footed players who play on the left come inside onto outside onto their left foot and then finish like it did for me the most important goal was the Fermin Lopez incredible kind of like crossover first time dag.

30:44Julien Laurens:Incredible, really. Wonderful. I mean, it's Elche as well. Elche though, flying high. Rafa Mir hits the woodwork twice. It's still not the kind of opponent where I thought they would struggle the most. I thought this was big. Magic McManion saves the penalty and Milan beat Roma 1-0 on Sunday night. Max Allegri has his haters, gap, but they won points off the top. Yeah, this is a weird one. So obviously there's no Pulisic, there's no Santi Jimenez either. Some Milan fans might say that's a good thing. I think they're being mean. For 40 minutes, Roma had the ball and this looked like pretty horrific Milan.

31:27And then Rafael Leal, spark! When he touches the ball anyway and he wants to. He wants to, whatever. Sometimes when he touches it, he does otherworldly things. Incredible run, incredible. assists for Pavlovich. And then Milan should have scored more in the second half. Milan had a lot of chances. Roma getting the penalty late on, which Magic Mike saves. And they roll off into the night. There's a lot more to come for Milan. There has to be. Yeah, definitely. Who's laughing at Nuno now? West Ham come from behind to beat Newcastle United 3-1. Duel's Eddie House crew still in the bottom half of the table.

32:07Julien Laurens:Yeah, no win away from home in the league for Newcastle. I just think, and they took the lead on the Murphy kind of solo-ish goal. I just don't think this is working. I said it yesterday on the radio. This midfield three worked with Issa Gray, Joel Linton, with Tonali and Bruno. I don't think this is working for Votermade anymore. Put Ramsey in there, put more creativity, stop getting the ball wide all the time because it's too predictable now. You're blaming Voldemort now. No, no, no. I think this is not helping him. That's why he's not as influential as he should be. So, well, you and Wiesel will be fit one day.

32:42Julien Laurens:Yeah, yeah, yeah. And I don't know how you play them both together, by the way, as well. But, yeah, that was a bad performance, really, from Newcastle. And another really worrying one. Oh, oh, oh, O 'Reilly! Check engine, ABS, or maintenance light on. Take the guesswork out of your warning lights with O 'Reilly Veriscan. The service is free and provides a report with solutions verified by ASE-certified master technicians. And if you need help, we could recommend to shop for you. Ask for O 'Reilly Veriscan today. Oh, oh, oh, O 'Reilly. Auto Parts. If you've shopped online, chances are you've bought from a business powered by Shopify.

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34:39Julien Laurens:Shopify.com slash network. Luciano Spalletti makes his debut on the Juventus bench with a 2-1 win over Cremonese. Gab, what did we see? I think we saw a lot of really, really good things from Juventus. You know I'm not a Spalletti guy. He had his tweak, the biggest tweak, of course, Tim Kopp-Miners finding a spot for him as a left-sided center back, which apparently he played when he was very, very young. But stepping into midfield, playmaking, he can do that. Two strikers up front. Openda, not great, but at least there's two bodies there. There was no Camon Yielders because he was unwell. But I think we need to give a shout-out to Mr.

35:16Jamie Vaughn. He's 38 years young. He goes on the break and absolutely road grades, flattens. Federico Gatti scores a great goal. Again, it's 2-2 now. Gatti needs to do better. Ulises Garcia gets himself foolishly sent off to complicate things to our boy Roberto de Zerbi. But Marseille still get a 1-0 win at Augsburg to go back in the second place. Jules, this is a little hairy.

35:39Julien Laurens:Yeah, this was not good. The performance was not good. The red card is not good. How stupid can you... I know, I know. They got a win. It's far from the Marseille that we saw flying earlier in the season, for example. they've got a big game against Atalanta in the Champions League Atalanta who lost for the first time in the league with Juric under massive pressure let's hope that they can rectify all the things that were bad and there was a lot of bad things from Arsenal they won that's the most important especially when Monaco lost Lyon drew and dropped points so this was very important for them to win but not a good performance not convincingly at all Napoli is the top in Serie A but can only manage a 0-0 home draw to Como and Sass Fabregas So why does Conte say he's happy, Gab?

36:24I don't know, because he's playing some weird Conte mind game.

36:28Julien Laurens:He said it was like a Champions League game. So intense. Yeah, so intense. So, Colmour's so good. Their players are awesome. Yeah, and Morata missed the penalty. Yeah, and Morata missed the penalty too. I don't know, bro. Like, I don't know what you're going on about. Like, yeah, there's no Kevin De Bruyne, no Lukaku. Lubaka only just coming back and lost Billy Gilmore, so you're without a playmaker for Olsen. But you're at home. You're the defending champions. It's Como. I expect you to create more chances than you actually did, and better chances. I don't know. I don't know if this is stuff he says in public, and then behind it he starts shouting, pulling out his hair, and then replacing him with other hair.

37:07Maybe. He buys off the internet. I don't know. But yeah, I wouldn't be too happy. This was way, way back on Friday, but Sir Hugirassi scores the only goal as Borussia Dortmund win away to Augsburg. Duel is not much to celebrate here for Niko Kovac other than the three points.

37:22Julien Laurens:That's it. That's the only thing, Gab. The three points. It was a poor performance. It was a poor game overall anyway. No, really the level was bad. Maybe you think already again at the Champions League they just managed their lead and that was it. You take that, they're still staying within touch distance of Leipzig in second place. Dortmund are third. Bayern are too fine. They were never going to catch them. so you just take the win and then you move on to the Champions League in midweek. They're solid, Jules. They're solid. Yeah, they are solid. That's very true. Come on. It's not often we say this about Dortmund.

37:56Julien Laurens:To start your weekend. That's very true. That's very true. Piotr Zelensky comes up with a goal of the season contender already but he only beat Verona thanks to a lucky and late on goal but you said he was raining so, you know, like Gab, reason to be concerned? No, there's no reason to be concerned. He switches things up. He plays the reserve wingbacks. he played Zelensky in midfield, he's a bad breather, I'm not concerned about that, I think Verona went out and just purely set up to defend, I think they got a little bit lucky with the goal, I know they have this guy Giovane everybody's like, oh my god, it's a new thing yeah, but it's wet, the ball's slippery Jan Sommer certainly helps it in I expect Sommer to save that so yeah, it's not like the sky is hauling with Inter's performance, I don't get all the negativity and said we should celebrate Zelensky's goal and you're the attackers guy how does he do that I don't know to hit it with the inside of his foot like that on this volley and the ball to not go up in the air is just an incredible piece of technique that I was not sure he had in his locker but we've you know usually you see those corners played yeah and it's looping like a post scores for a volley with your laces and you hit it not with the inside of your foot incredible and he hits it so hard too incredible incredible Wolverhampton Wanderers lose 3-0 away to Fulham and that That cost Vitor Pereira his job.

39:16Jules, I thought he was really good after coming on last season. It's kind of ironic. He signed a multi-year contract extension just a month ago.

39:24Julien Laurens:Yeah, 46 days ago. Three-year extension. And this is it. No wins in 10 in the league. Two draws, eight defeats. This was probably the worst performance they've had all season. They were atrocious, really, in that game against Fulham. a Fulham team that I think had lost the last four anyway in the league. So not that they were flying before. There was no other way. Where do you go now? There's a lot of managers linked with Wolves, obviously, from Brandon Rodgers to Bruno Lages to Ole Gunnar Solskjaer to the guy in Middlesbrough that is named Edwards. All those guys, I don't know if you go in the championship and get somebody, if you get somebody with experience, if Uncle George will obviously have his word to say about it.

40:16Julien Laurens:I don't know where you go, but it's not a very good team and it's a horrendous service. Although, saying that, last season they also started with zero win in their first 10 Premier League matches and stayed up. Yeah, that's because they got Vitor Pereira. They can't get Vitor Pereira this year. But they will get another Vitor Pereira that can maybe save them. I don't know. My money out of those people would be 100 % on Bruno Laj. Yeah, me too. And I think that would be a good choice. Genoa faced a swallow on Monday evening. So tonight, as we record the show, but Patrick Vieira won't be on the bench, Gab.

40:46Julien Laurens:He's been sacked. And Mario Balotelli, sorry, he's pretty happy about it. This is so... Okay, so I think Vieira is in last place. Genoa, I think, are a well-run club. I think the fans have been really, really patient. They've... Still haven't won. They still haven't won. Yeah, they sold out their season tickets this year. It's pretty remarkable, the support that they've given him. I think they all like Patrick Vieira. I think technically, I think it was actually Patrick Vieira resigning. Again, I mean, these are subtle distinctions, but I don't think we can speak of a sacking here necessarily, but obviously they agreed that the part pays.

41:27Mario Balotelli, of course, was at Genoa. For some reason, he has this intense dislike for the people running the club now and for Patrick Vieira. Yeah, they fell out on this when they were together. goes back to that time. Yeah, okay. Mario, maybe time to let it go. What does he quote? He says, ha ha, karma's a bitch. I'm like, okay, yeah, thanks, Mario. Yeah, and then I think Patrick might pull out his medals and pull out the fact that most people who meet him actually genuinely like him. Yeah. And maybe Mario can STFU, yeah? Maybe. Leipzig beat Stuttgart 3-1 to stay in second place. Jules, I don't like to talk about them because they're yucky and skeevy.

42:08So I'll let you handle this.

42:10Julien Laurens:Yeah, they're in great form. Jomande is a hell of a talent, really. Only 19 and he was outstanding in this game. She got a very good team collectively, but Leipzig maybe not as strong yet collectively, but individually. Which is the best Jomande out there? Yeah, this one. This one? Yeah, definitely. Not the sporting one? No. No? This one for sure. Great. Seven wins and one draw now, I think, for Leipzig. We mentioned earlier, second in the table. they've forgotten that spanking they got Bayern earlier on in the season in the first game of the Bundesliga. And since then, they've been pretty impressive.

42:45Julien Laurens:I won't lie. Should we give Jurgen Klopp credit? Because this is the big conundrum, right? What would be the credit for? Well, he's Red Bull's global head of blah, blah, blah. So the thing is, so last year when they absolutely sucked backside and the pet blinders and all this nonsense, the official line was well no but Jürgen's not really involved it's really just an ambassadorial position blah blah blah and I believe that so this year they're doing better is he now involved? I don't know I don't think so either Gab we heard how Real Madrid were going to seek substantial damages after a court in Madrid upheld a ruling in the Super League case against UEFA just how substantial are we talking and what's happening?

43:30Firstly if you recall the European Court of Justice and their they came out with one of those verdicts, which is super complicated and super subtle and only the finest legal minds can understand. Yeah, yeah. But which allows both sides to say, aha, we won. Look, they said we're right. Real Madrid coming out and saying that, look, the verdict says UEFA abused their dominant position, blah, blah, blah. UEFA coming out and saying, no, because look, they only told us that we need to change a couple of rules. We changed those rules. Actually, we won, blah, blah, blah. it's a lot of posturing, it's a lot of lawyers making more money, but it did open the door to Real Madrid seeking damages, or at least Real Madrid thinks so, because they go to their favorite court, which is a commercial court in Madrid, which seems, on any European issue, seems to always side with Real Madrid.

44:24I wonder how this happens. No, seriously, it's like freaking Pyongyang, right? It's absurd.

44:33Ramadur said they'll seek damages. They haven't put a number on it, but their friends at AS have. Yeah, they've leaked a few numbers. And to be fair, AS has the Financial Times. They talk about 4.5 billion euros in damages. Now, to be clear on this, UEFA do not have 4.5 billion euros lying around. So you ask for all this money, hoping that you win some of that money, hoping that in reality you can then settle out of court. what are you settling for not a super league because that ship has sailed i think the best ramadook can hope for is something which i think is effectively already happening and that is having clubs control the commercial side of the game right so already uefa have formed um you ready right now the the entity that sells the broadcast rights and the sponsorship rights of the Champions League.

45:28It's not UEFA, strictly speaking. It's a company called UC3, which is 51 % owned by UEFA, 49 % owned by what used to be the ECA, European Football Clubs, run by our pal Nasser. Can Real Madrid somehow prod this along to change the distribution so maybe the clubs have a majority to say? I don't know. But that, I think, is the most realistic outcome. It's not going to be... I don't even see how Real Madrid can prove $4 billion in damages. For what? I like things my way. My coffee, my schedule, and my treatment. So I talked to my doctor about self-injecting with the Vivgard Hytrulo Pre-Filled Syringe, which contains F-Gartigamide Alpha and Hyaluronidase QVFC.

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46:49And because Grainger knows safety is always a priority, they're committed to being your partner in protecting both your people and your facilities. Call 1-800-GRANGER, click granger.com, or just stop by. Oliver Glasner is furious, Jules. Crystal Palace have to play Manchester City on Sunday, December 14th. Koops, Kuopio, I apologize if I am... You probably know that correctly. That's it, yeah. That is, oh, there you go. I think you say K-U-P-S, but yeah. Okay. K-U-P-S, Kuopio, who are from Finland, I would imagine, in the Conference League on December 18th. but they also have to play a quarterfinal in this thing they call the league cup, which we get tormented with every year.

47:32It's against Arsenal and they have to play that fixture before Christmas. So the question is, how do you fit that in? Because there's league football that weekend on December 21st leads crystal palace travel to face leads, Arsenal travel to face Everton. and so the date that's been suggested for Crystal Palace is like, hey, you guys are Palace. Why don't you guys play on December 16th? Which would mean that they would play Sunday, Tuesday, and Thursday. Alternative dates are the 23rd, which I believe is a Monday. But then again, that would mean that Arsenal and Palace have to play on the 21st and then again on the 23rd.

48:19the only other logical date would be Christmas Eve, December 24th but then there's an outcry from the fans because it's not done in this country why not just scrap this just get rid of this, get rid of this

48:31Julien Laurens:I don't even know why you have to play before Christmas I'm sure maybe in January you can find something before the next round of the weekend there's more nonsense in January, yeah why don't you wait for these teams to get kicked out of the, to get knocked out of the FA Cup, exactly and play in January, yeah I don't know I'm baffled by this, really. I think they want for both teams to have the same days of recovery before their game, hence why the 23rd or 24th, I guess, would be the fairest because they both play on the 21st. Whereas if you have the game on the 16th, Arsenal play on the 13th, so they would have an extra day to prepare and people are saying this is unfair.

49:13Julien Laurens:I don't know. I think it's not just that. It's also players should not be playing with two games in 48 hours. That's completely demented. Let's rule out December 16th because that's never going to happen. So then... So December 23rd is the same thing. They only get 48 hours. Yeah. No, because it's two games. Yeah. Oh, look, they're both tired and injury prone. But that's the only... That's the only... No, play Christmas Eve or better yet. Here's my suggestion in case they're listening. Mr. Kroenke, just say, hey, you know what? we're sick and tired of this garbage. We're sick and tired of the League Cup.

49:48From now on, we're going to pull out of the League Cup and we're going to play lucrative friendlies against Al Nasser.

49:55Julien Laurens:You know, if the Premier League says, if the FS says, this is the date, Arsenal can't say, no, we don't want to play on that date. They would have to say yes. Honestly, our day should get together. This is so stupid. We had to endure this nonsense last midweek when we saw all these B teams go and play. Right? I know. What is it? This is fun. This competition, by the way, for those who don't know, and I'm sorry, I really have a problem with this. This is not the FA Cup, which dates back to the Paleozoic era, right? This competition, do you know why it was created? It was created to make money. It was created because - But like in every other country.

50:32Sorry? Yeah, like in a lot of other countries. No, no. Most countries, the National Cup has been going for a long time. The National Cup of England is the FA Cup. The League Cup was created in the 1960s because a number of clubs started putting in floodlights because it would get dark early in winter, as it does in this country. And so they had to pay for the floodlights. And they said, hey, let's invent a competition, right, to go so that we can go and we can use our floodlights and we'll play in the evenings.

50:59Julien Laurens:That's why this nonsense was created. I said that loads of other countries also created a League Cup that didn't exist before. What? France and Belgium. yeah but like and france got rid of it yeah yeah well yeah belgium got rid of games it was too many games i mean this is stupid and if clubs aren't going to take it seriously why should broadcasters why should fans yeah that's true man chelsea women's coach sonia bonpastor has weighed into the rub between four million goalkeeper marie herbs and the current one anna hampton gab she had some harsh words in a biography well bonpastor on herbs who wrote about it in her biography Okay.

51:37So I think we're both, none of us are huge fans of Mary Earps. She played for PhD, so I like her. Oh, so now you like her. Okay. You didn't like her when... She played for PhD. Okay, there you go. So the story here is that basically they were both with the England women's team. Mary Earps was the starter. Hannah Hampton was the backup. and then at one point, some point after she went to Paris Saint-Germain actually, and initially didn't play that much if I'm not mistaken, Hannah Hampton essentially became the number one and then Mary Earps decided, well, I'm not going to go to the Euros as a number two, whatever.

52:20Mary Earps came out with her side of the story. She published a book and she said she had to go at the England women's national team, Serena Wiegman, and she basically said that Hannah Hampton got away with a lot of disruptive behavior, unprofessional behavior. Now, what bugs me here is, correct me if I'm wrong, I've not read the book, I've only read accounts, but she doesn't mention what exactly did Hannah Hampton do that was so disruptive. Now, I kind of feel, I appreciate Mary Earps is not a journalist, let alone a writer, but if you're going to say you have to bring specifics, bring specific examples, disruptive behavior could mean anything.

52:59Maybe Hannah Hampton was farting. Ha ha ha. But, you know, maybe she has irritable bowel syndrome. I don't know. Or maybe she actually was being difficult on the Divas. You were alleging these things, right? There's been... So, obviously, Mary Earp is unhappy with Serena Wigman and unhappy with Hannah Hampton. Sonia Van Poster, I have no issue with you sticking out for your players, but I think she's way over the top. She says it's unacceptable what Mary Earp says because she doesn't show respect to her teammate and her manager. she brings up the fact that, you know, she can't use those words talking about Wiegman because Wiegman has won the European Championship three times in a row.

53:38Respect doesn't flow. It's not like I need to speak to you more respectfully because you've won three European Championships than somebody else. I don't think Sonia Bompostor really thought about what she was saying. If she wants a defender keeper in Anahampton, that's great. I think there's a much better way to do it.

53:56Julien Laurens:yeah i mean i i've got no issue with what bon pastor said mary herbs she's got that side of the story hampton has probably another side of the story yeah that's it and you don't know what hannah hampton did that was so no no i don't know but i've got no issue with what bon pastor said i don't think she's over the top i think she's like saying mary herbs there's no class well i I think this is a bit disrespectful the way, you know, maybe she wrote it in the book, but yeah, like everybody has their opinions. I don't know. I told you bump Buster wasn't there. And I don't know this on your bump Buster needs to weigh in beyond defending our player.

54:36That's, that's my main thing. If we hear from Wigman or Hampton, fine. But it's, it's kind of an ugly thing that I think the England women's national team don't need right now. Yeah. Yeah, true, true. Will Steele is out as Southampton coach, Jules. His team are one spot above relegation in the championship, which shocked me because I paid no attention to it whatsoever. I thought he was really good. I know their relegated side and they have Rasmus Ankersen, all these smart people, blah, blah, blah. What's going on there?

55:03Julien Laurens:Just never worked out. It never clicked between him, the players. At times, they had decent performances, but they were horrendous at Preston on Saturday. They lost 2-0 against a team that isn't, you know, an average team in the championship, really, Preston. Poor, poor performances. Either his message never got through to the players, never managed to implement his ideas. Nothing like I saw from him before in France, or at last, maybe struggling to do it with the players he had or in that league. I don't know. I don't know what the problem is, but I think they've won two games in 13 or so. It's just ridiculous form.

55:42I also feel bad for him on a human level because obviously, as the story goes, he had other offers and he chose to move to England.

55:52Julien Laurens:He wanted to come back to England. But isn't it also because his partner is unwell? No, she's all good now. Oh, okay. Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, no, she's back on television. No problem at all. I think he really wanted to come back to England and to kind of make a name for himself here now where he's obviously English. So, but it was not Southampton. Maybe that was not the right project for him. I still think he's a very good coach. Just didn't happen for him there. Janine Fontino was in Saudi Arabia last week for a change where he announced the ultimate football platform. Gahab, what is the ultimate football platform?

56:29So it's a joint venture with The Zone. You remember FIFA Plus? FIFA Plus, which essentially all the football matches that FIFA have rights to that they weren't able to sell. Also, like the women's under 17, the men's under 20. Obviously, you don't sell those in those markets or an entire archive. All of this stuff, FIFA decided, hey, let's get into the streaming business. It worked great for Netflix. And so they said, let's create FIFA+. I don't think anybody actually watches FIFA +, other than you. Yeah, sometimes. Yeah, there you go. So they realized they couldn't really monetize this because they couldn't get people to pay for this.

57:07so they decide oh what's the best way to make money out of this i know let's team up with the zone the company which loses a billion or more every single year yeah and then nobody can work out why they even exist um i try it's unclear but this is a company that's lost a lot of money they certainly haven't shown that their model so far has been has turned a profit although So the nice thing about the zone is they have some Saudi friends who, of course, invested a billion in the zone just before the Club World Cup, which is one of the rights to. And then that billion happened to go back to FIFA.

57:42What makes me slightly uneasy about this, or I think should make people uneasy about this, is FIFA is a governing body. Once they start getting into production and editorial content, I mean, imagine they have to go and sell something. Do you sell it to your business partner? We already have. or do you put it out to tender where somebody else might buy it? How do you know you're getting the best possible price? How do you navigate this? If I were really unkind, is what better way for Saudi to go and channel more money into Johnny's coffers than via this thing? I don't know. I think this is... I'll be curious.

58:20I don't know what levels of approval, if it's just Johnny can just sign something and make it happen or whether it needs to be approved by the council. Like the exec committee, yeah. Because his committee has to agree or something. But it's curious. They said they're going to also have like a 24-hour rolling sports news service because, of course, those do so well.

58:37Julien Laurens:And again, are they going to... You know what? I'm going to subscribe, I think, just to be part of the family. I'm shocked you don't already have a subscription. I had one before, and obviously the Club World Cup was for free on DAZN. I have a DAZN subscription. What they do there, when they screen games, they do that well. Yeah, and Serie A is on DAZN here in the UK anyway. More importantly, the NFL. Oh, the NFL. The NFL. Come on, man. Neymar makes his return to Santos after six weeks out and turns things around against Fortaleza. He also nearly produces a highlight that I think is safe to say would have lived on forever in the internet.

59:17Julien Laurens:Yeah, absolutely, Gab. So they drew 1-1. They were 1-0 down when he came on. And then he took a free kick on the edge of the box. He skipped over the assist, which was pretty fast. Yeah, sorry, and the assist, yeah, yeah, yeah. For the equalizer. For the equalizer. So imagine if you haven't seen it, I'm going to try to describe it for you. You know when somebody takes a penalty and has the run up and then stops and then takes the penalty, right? A lot of players do that now. It's a skill in itself. Neymar takes his penalty like that. It's a paradigme. Technically, it's not legal if you come to a complete start.

59:48Julien Laurens:If you don't stop too abruptly, you can do it. He did the same on that free kick. So he starts running towards the ball to take the free kick and then he stops just as he's about to shoot in front of the ball. and then shoots without any, you know, on one step, basically. And it's a great shot. The keeper saves it. It's a really good save. Otherwise, he's going in. I don't know if this is going to be a trend now and other people are going to try. I think this is so difficult to do. I don't think anybody would even think of doing this. And it's obviously not of the same effect than the penalty because you are further up for obvious reasons.

1:00:24Julien Laurens:So then the goalkeeper has the time to steady himself again and then die for whatever name I was to put. But still, I thought it was a great piece of imagination and invention. Yeah, we both like the Swiss model Champions League format, right? A guy in Chile claims that he invented it and he's now suing UEFA for$20 million. Hang on. He invented the Swiss model Champions League format. He invented, yes. Yes, he says he invented it. It came to him in a vision in 2006. No, just kidding. So I should also point out, we call it a Swiss model. This is not, I discovered that the original Swiss model isn't this.

1:01:08The original Swiss model is after every round, you draw the next, you draw the next round of fixtures and you pair teams that both won the previous round and pair them against each other, which, I don't know, probably, I guess it could lead to a winner, but it's good for crowning, I think, a winner of a league. Yeah.

1:01:27Julien Laurens:Something like this doesn't really, wouldn't serve purpose. But this version where you had the pots and everything. So there's a gentleman named Leandro Schara. He said he presented it in 2013 to UEFA. He says he copyrighted it in Chile. He says, he has some statement from FIFA saying, yes, this is your intellectual property, Leandro Schara. and he says 14 months ago before we were about to start he told UEFA, hey guys I own this, you need to pay up and UEFA, ha ha ha ignored him, now he wants 20 million bucks for it I didn't know I might go and see if I can come up with some innovative competition formats after this Copyright them all like have 10 different ideas and one day you don't know, one league in the world somewhere might you know, use it.

1:02:23Maybe I can copyright them in North Korea or something like that where they don't ask too many questions. We're nearing the end, but we've got to mention the usual pair. Cristiano Ronaldo scores twice, including a penalty in the 14th minute of injury time. And El Nasser come from behind to beat El Faiza 2-1. That's right. The 14th minute of injury time. And don't get me started on the decision itself. Yeah.

1:02:47Julien Laurens:And let's say that some of the other big stars in Saudi League were not very impressed by that decision by the referee and put it out there on social media. Al-Ithihad players, Al-Hali's players, for example, who had a lot of laughing emojis at the decision. One, the timing of it, and like you said, the decision. I don't know who this guy is, Amri, but if, again, this is where you have to have video evidence to go and just punish people because this is cheating. It's 100 % cheating. And look, if you hadn't done it in a game, if it wasn't Cristiano Ronaldo's teammate and you hadn't done this in a game where Cristiano Ronaldo scores the winning penalty, we wouldn't be talking about it because that's the reality.

1:03:30But look at your own house. This is not the tone you want to set.

1:03:33Julien Laurens:No, that's true. And you can't have one without the other, obviously. Leo Messi also scores a late goal, but into Miami, he loses to Nashville 2-1 and that means a third game in the playoff tie. That's right. That lovely MLS playoff format. I don't know how I feel about it. It seems to be kind of designed because maybe they think they don't want to have extra time. They'd rather have an extra game so they can monetize that. I don't quite get that. Or playoffs is a bit more in the U.S. culture anyway, right? So like a kind of playoff. Best of three? Yeah, best of three. But they only do it in this round.

1:04:06So I don't know. Like, whatever. Yeah, I don't know. Yeah, Inter Miami destroyed Nashville in the first game. In the second game, they're 2-0 down. It wasn't garbage time. but man, that guy can hit a ball.

1:04:18Julien Laurens:And both Thomas Müller and Hermann Son qualifying and now facing each other in the Western Conference semifinal. In the old-timers derby. How about that? Anyway, that was his 30th goal this season for Lionel Messi in MLS bit special. All right, Jules, this brings us to an end, but we're going to come back on Thursday. You know why, right? Yes, of course. The champions! Man, I'm hyped and buying against Paris Saint-Germain. And Liverpool Real Madrid. And Liverpool Real Madrid. There you go. That'll keep us busy. Until then, love the game. Love your neighbor. Love yourself.

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