Gab & Juls Show: Is there a title race in the Premier League?

22:45Julien Laurens:no I would agree to that I mean the first half until it was pretty boring I thought and he needed Vini to do something a little bit special to cross the ball for Kylian and then the penalty at the end to win 2-0 he didn't concede I guess and they're very strong defence this season maybe stronger than some people think they are probably most likely due to Courtois having, again, another very good season. The most important thing is, I guess, to win and keep winning. They're winning against Monaco. This win, even without being too convincing. I'll say this. We can say it wasn't too convincing. They're still playing a very good team, a team that had rested.

23:22A team that never win big games, though.

23:23Julien Laurens:In the Champions League, they lose to everybody. Balsa did that go around. That's been the history, but Pau's performance is a necessary indicator of future results. And they had left nine guys out in midweek, right? So they were keyed in on this game. They'd rested everybody. Obviously, in the Champions League, they're useless. And even then, Gerard Moreno, two good chances. One of them especially. I don't know. I don't like Danny Parejo, but man, that guy can pass the ball. Also, on the goal, I don't know. Pap Gay doesn't. I mean, yeah, great run for Vini. Pap Gay doesn't sort his feet out. No, and then the ball just sits there for Killian.

24:01The second one is obviously a brain fart from Pedraza, and that was in garbage time anyway. But what I liked about Real Madrid is I saw, maybe just the Arbeloa effect, shouting him. I saw people working hard. Not everybody, but Bellingham as well. Bellingham, I thought, really, really ran and ran and ran in this game. And I think that's what they need right now. Love the Panenka from Kylian. Obviously with Brahim Diaz of him.

24:24Julien Laurens:Come on for the last minute. You had to troll him. No, it's a tribute. No troll. Gabi, it has happened. Bayern Munich have lost their first Bundesliga game in 10 months. First one this season, fighting at home in the derby against Augsburg 2-1. Yeah, so I'm glad you got this out of the way and now you can move on and rattle off another 15-20. Yeah. I thought they were very good in the first half. And then chickens came home to roost. I don't think it helps when I think four of your back five were people who have hardly played this season because you had Davies, you had a rookie so you had Jonas Urbig who was obviously at fault for the goal that didn't help Leonard Karl coming down to earth I thought he did nothing which is fine you're 17 years old you know Musiala's back like that yeah um you know you're not going to have the same intensity now they have a Champions League gimme in midweek yeah and just take a week but a week off rest get Musiala stronger get Davies stronger and then come back and uh worry about the rest of the season And sorry for bringing up all those goals records you could have broken and can still break.

25:32They were still a bit disappointing

25:34Julien Laurens:to see how poor they were in the second half, though. Yeah, but don't read too much into it. Starby magic. Erling Haaland, Will Foden and Jeremy Doku start on the bench in Manchester City. Roll to a 2-0 win over Wolves. A pole within four points, Jules. Yeah, I have to be honest. I didn't think it was that great of a performance from City point of view. They scored super early with Marmouche on the cross by Mateus Nunes. and then there was a lovely goal by Semenu. I like his first touch a lot. Right foot, left foot finish. That worked. He hit the crossbar later on his own again. But collectively, against a team that is obviously not very good, I was just not really that enthusiastic about.

26:15Julien Laurens:I think they were good in the first half and probably should have had that penalty as well. Yeah, but yeah, after the break, we didn't see too much. Gab, let's celebrate the other team within four points of the leader. Unai Amriza-Stone-Villa A huge win away at Newcastle. Okay. So, as you know, I don't understand Uday Emery, how he can keep doing this again and again, and what his voodoo is. I've had very smart people telling me that Budweiler Comrade is essential. He's a secret to this team. And the guy gets injured, and they keep winning. Oh, no, it's John McGinn. John McGinn's a secret to this team.

26:45He gets injured. I mean, they didn't win without them last weekend, though. It's fine, but this weekend they did. They did away to Newcastle. This game could have gone the other way. San Jose Manley scores, blah, blah, blah. Yeah, yeah, we saw. But, come on, to keep going like this. And I think part of what he did was he brings his wingers inside, so he's got more people in midfield, and Eddie Howe doesn't adjust. And it seems simple after the fact. Yeah. You have to teach your guys to do it while keeping your balance. And he obviously does that very, very well. And a shout-out again. Okay, Emi Buendia scored his great goal, whatever.

27:20Morgan Rodgers is absolutely ridiculous. Like, he's not going to win player of the year. because I don't have a vote. Not yet. But, man. Like, honestly, in terms of difference makers, there's not,

27:35Julien Laurens:you can count on one hand. Because you know the cross for the second goal, I mean, the second goal in the end didn't make a difference. But the cross is Ding to Watkins. But the ball from Rodgers to Ding, for me, makes that goal. It's a wonderful ball after a game where he's run so much and worked so hard to still have the lucidity to find Ding like he did. it's just brilliant. I love him. Tremendous, tremendous footballer. It was tough for England in the World Cup, I'm telling you right now. Tommy T, make it happen. Amin Adli condemns Liverpool to a 3-2 defeat at Bournemouth with the last touch of the game.

28:10That's what you call it. A buzzer-beating three-pointer, even though it was from about, what, three inches away. Charles, this is not a good performance for Liverpool.

28:18Julien Laurens:With the ball, attacking-wise, again, the same kind of boxing midfield, if you want. This time it was Gakpo and Salah and not Ikitike and Salah as we saw in Marseille in the Champions League not working out for Mo Salah I mean we said it on Monday we repeated on Thursday we repeated today not good with the ball really two goals on set pieces Van Dijk with his back so both lie on a free kick yeah two shots on target I'll tell you and then defensively a horror show from Virgil van Dijk himself involved in all three goals the mistake on the first one covering on the second when they were with 10 men because they didn't think, hey, we've got one player injured, that's one player less.

28:59Julien Laurens:Let's kick the ball out into the sea, make the substitution, and they're coming on, and then we'll be back to 11 again. Do you know how long they played with 10 minutes? 10 minutes. Seven minutes. It's ridiculous. I'm sorry, that is onslaught. Yeah, yeah, absolutely. And I guess maybe on leaders, leadership players on the page who could also see it and do it. And then Van Dijk on the third goal, I don't know what he's doing. I don't know what Curtis Jones is doing by blocking his own captain. It's a mess, absolute mess of a third goal. Alisson, I know it was raining and windy, but the boy sleeping, it was such a bad game and a bad goal to concede.

29:37Julien Laurens:You have five days left in the transfer window. Do Liverpool need to do something? Of course they do. Of course they do. And look, I'm hoping, given that we both know the people in charge of their recruitment, we both, I certainly have a lot of time for Michael Edwards and Richard Hughes. I'm assuming they're plotting something brilliant in the last five days and i'm assuming being the benefit of the doubt that there is a very good reason why whatever they're plotting hasn't happened on january 1st and why they've waited and had all played all these games in the middle but let me make this very very very simple um they were a defender down in the summer we know this because they tried to sign mark gay on the last day of the transfer window and halfway through his mri the deal collapsed yeah so clearly they thought they needed a guy then.

30:21And after that, their defender, Leone, gets injured, misses the whole season. So now you're two defenders down. Then, Connor Bradley gets injured. Now you're three defenders down. What's the solution? Oh, I know. Let's send Robertson away. No, unfortunately now it looks like he's staying. You're three defenders down. And Gomez got injured in that board. Gomez got injured. That guy always gets injured. But whatever. I'm not saying you should panic. Maybe you got something brilliant. And there's a good reason why to wait till the end.

30:50Julien Laurens:I can't believe they haven't signed anybody yet. I won't lie. I can't believe. So you think they've signed somebody and then... I can't believe they haven't signed anybody right now. We are January 26th there, right? If nobody comes in, they need to sit there and again, they need to re-evaluate everything. What went wrong? And let your money left, maybe. The money doesn't just disappear like that. That's not how football works. I know, I know. Top versus bottom in La Liga in Barcelona beat Oviedo 3-0. Jules, one shot on target in the first half. two Oviedo gifts and a Lamin wonder strike in the second half Hansi Flick's not going to be pleased with this this is Barcelona I know but it's a Champions League week you've played a lot it's a game where the first half was poor very poor I mean credit to Oviedo because they made it difficult they had a couple of shots from long like a long range nothing really to worry the Barcelona defence but it was there and then you're right two absolute gifts where Oviedo tried to play from the back and I was thinking you're in the game well just don't make any mistakes now and then you make a mistake and it's still a good finish but Daniel Olmo on the first one like to the millimetre and then it's a gift that you give to Rafinha 1-1 with the keeper he's never going to miss that but I guess again maybe you just take the win if you're an Siflick and you move on to the next one alright you're playing on fire Can I need this this is the show now we talk about a good performance as Juventus Ham and Napoli 3-0 gas palliative therapy is working in the one point out of third place.

32:20Yep, and a lot of people have egg on their face right now. Oh, where are all these people who are destroying Jonathan David? Oh, David's not good enough. A stunning ovation when he came. So he should. And so said Weston McKinney was a monster in this game. Oh, Kefren Turam too, he ran like that. Kefren Turam in midfield. Look at that little assist. The guy who supposedly can't pass water. And, by the way, at the back, in the defence, since Bremer's been back, this has been the best defence in Serie A. Now, all that said, we have to grade on a curve. Napoli, six starters out. They give up that.

32:55Juan Jesus makes that stupid mistake just that there's a 1-0 down there. Looks like they might somehow be getting back into the game. I feel for them. You have to feel for them. Coutinho Romero scores a late equalizer for Spurs, and they escape with a point at Burnley. Jules, they're still getting booed.

33:11Julien Laurens:Yeah. Stevie Nichol and I did a grade on the FC show on Saturday night. they had chances and the Grafgang had a really good game for Burnley in goal I get that I felt a lot of it was just individual brilliance a lot of it from Odober who I thought was outstanding in what he did with the ball I didn't think it was particularly good performance from Spurs who were 30 seconds away from losing to a team that haven't won since October and are one of the worst teams that we've seen in recent years in the Premier League so I understand the frustration again from 3 ,000 Spurs fans who travel from London or from wherever they live all the way to Burnley.

33:48Julien Laurens:I'm sorry, this was not good enough. Overall, performance results, the way the game went, the way you defended. The second goal from Burnley is such a bad sequence of defensive football from Tottenham and from Romero, Danso, Van der Ven, the wingbacks, the defensive, everybody. It was horrendous. The other Burnley goal, I think it was Foster. when Jaden Anthony, he does the little end breaker and puts Mickey Van Der Veen on his butt. These guys, like a combination of Neymar and Allen Iverson rolled into one. Are you kidding me? I don't think the back five works for them. I'll tell you what. We know Van Der Veen and Romero.

34:26Romero's a world champion. Van Der Veen, whatever, he's big, tall, athletic and runs. These are not bad defenders. These are people who are defending badly. And that, I think, goes back to the system. And that goes back to the man with two first names.

34:40Julien Laurens:Yeah, I agree. Chelsea beat Crystal Palace 3-1 away as Esteval shines and referee Darren England confuses everyone. Yeah, so that's a reference to the third goal. He's getting Chelsea's performance out of the game. Out of the way, first, it was good. Esteval was really good. I don't see how Esteval, with the ball, can outrun Tyreek Mitchell, who is extremely fast without the ball. I mean, the guy's got maturity, he's got talent, he's got athleticism. Esteval's fantastic. I don't think you want to get too carried away from Chelsea because you were dicing already with certain things, like Moises Caicedo, I thought was lucky to stay on the pitch.

35:13Yeah. And he is your other best player. You had the Cole Palmer, on the other hand, again, MIA. Is he injured? Is he not there? A lot of questions for Rosinia. The Darren England one, this was the penalty he awarded, which Enzo Fernandez converted. The ball hits the defender in the arm, but the arm is right by his side. That is not, I don't understand And YVAR called him. Because he didn't give it in the first place. I didn't give it. No. Bro, just stick to your decision. I know. Like, what is this nonsense? And then he says like, oh, it was a handball, but it was accidental. So you're only getting a yellow card.

35:50I mean, if you're a Palace fan, you feel like you're...

35:52Julien Laurens:What did she do when you said, yes, in tangential. So, and then everybody thought, okay, no penalty. It feels like I was never a penalty, in my view. Me too. Marseille, bro, pass, lance, 3-1, which is good news for Paris Saint-Germain. Jules, Ethan, Noir, Noirnieri, even. thrown in straight away, right? This is Marseille. It's an intense game, big game. You're coming off a humiliation at home. He gets thrown in the deep end with Quinton Timber and he scores a phenomenal goal. Yeah, he could only play 55 minutes, which is why he played. Scored after 13. A pure noineary goal if you haven't seen it.

36:29Julien Laurens:Because if you don't know his team, you would know his team if you see what I mean. Outstanding he was. I'd picked him up massively in the French media in the days before this game, since he signed. So I was hoping for a big performance. He gave it. There's much more to come because he's clearly short of much fitness as well. But a big win for them. And a big win for Marseille too, who rotated. Obviously, because they got to play a game against Bruges coming up in midweek. Green with the Stars. He's playing very much in the title race too. Roma and Milan battle to a 1-1 draw on Sunday night. Allegri looked pleased.

36:58Julien Laurens:Should he be, Gap? No, he should not be. I mean, he is pleased because, oh, look, I got a draw against Roma, which means they only got one record. So I move ahead. they were atrocious in the first half. Magic Mike had to save the ball a million times. Daniel Mullen could have had two hat tricks, not one. Whatever. You take the lead, then concede a penalty, and you can sit and argue about the penalty, but I thought it was legit. I mean, the penalties that I got called. This is not a good performance. You need to go. You don't play. You play once a week. I expect more from you. And you can't go on like this.

37:34When was the last time you felt in control

38:04Transcription by CastingWords Amazon Hub Delivery is looking for ambitious business owners to assist with local deliveries. When you become a partner, you and your staff will deliver packages to customers in your area on a schedule that works for you. With each package delivered, you'll gain extra income and exposure for your business. Plus, Amazon Hub Delivery makes it easy to get started. There's no upfront costs, delivery experience, or long-term contracts required. Sign up to learn more at Amazon.com slash Hub Delivery. That's Amazon.com slash H-U-B Delivery. This was way, way back on Friday, but how about Paris Saint-Germain going back to the top of the table thanks to that man, Speedy Barcola.

38:42Julien Laurens:Yeah, I mean, it was about time he finally scored a goal, but anyway. Oh, come on. No, no, no, no. Come on, there's competition. There's the way. No, no, no. And then there, they cross here. Trust me. And he's still Speedy. No, trust me. He hadn't been good, but good for him to score, and he got even a bit lucky. Now a good performance from PSG with a few players rested as well the game against Newcastle in the Champions League. Even Luis Enrique saying a bit of confidence, which is true. I think the most important was to win and they did. And then Marseille did them a favor as we saw earlier.

39:14So how do you get, you're literally the current Champions League champions. We find it fascinating how the mind of an athlete works. How do you suddenly get, how do you get short of confidence? In terms of,

39:26Julien Laurens:he meant in front of goals. So there's enough chances. To the forward, what you mean? Yeah, yeah. And there's not enough quality probably in front of goal. they've signed or they're about to announce. We're going to get to that. Yeah. So I guess that's a good thing for them, for sure. Also on Friday, Inter go five clear at the top as they come from two goals down to Hamer Pisa 6-2, Gab. Jan Sommer under fire. Yeah, which is easy. Let's go and pick on the old guy whose contract is expiring, blah, blah, blah. And let's nitpick about the two goals. One of them, I thought, was a tremendous goal. Yeah, yeah.

39:59Incidentally. But yeah, look, they come back. They do exactly what they're supposed to do. I don't know. We've seen them. We've seen them. There's a difference to coming back to 2-2 or 3-2 and coming back and saying, no, no, no, screw this. We're going to score six. Yeah, yeah, true. All over the place. By the end, Pisa melted away. Di Marco phenomenal. Ballon d 'Or Lautaro scoring. Exposito scoring. And again, they do all this without Sean Oglu, which I think makes a difference, especially in a game like this against a defender. Because the team's two goals up, they're going to go and, you know, they're going to sit tight, right?

40:32so it's good it builds confidence and now let's see what they can do against Borussia Dortmund in midweek Atletico de Madrid beat Mallorca 3-0 at home as the only living Sorlot in captivity gets on the score sheet once more Jules back into third place but again this game was in the balance until the last 15 minutes

40:52Julien Laurens:yeah when the last two goals came I didn't think the first half was too bad to be faced another goal by Sorlot Griezmann injury that he picked up at training on Friday I think it's a bit of a blow because he just gives you something else off the bench if you need to or for the first hour, especially with... But Raspadori now gone. Fulina Varel, especially the ones who's misfiring right now massively. Nine games, I think, without a goal for Fulina Varel. And like we said, I think on Thursday, it's not just so much the fight that he doesn't score. There's just nothing else really in his game right now, which has to be a worry.

41:23Julien Laurens:Borussia Dortmund roll back from Champions League defeat at Spurs with a 3-0 win against Union Berlin, Gab. Again, maturity, right? Please tell me if I'm giving Niko Kovac too much credit, right? But like, Dorman, we're a team in need of serious therapy, right? So you go to Spurs, you're like, ha ha, yeah, Spurs, they're terrible. Tomas Fran, we're going to destroy them. And then Daniel Swenson gets sent off in the first half a bit unlucky and you lose. And then you've got this problem because you have to go and get a result against Inter. And so what does he do? He rests Brandt and Adiemi, who are his starters, right?

41:56It's not like he's bringing in Muppets off the bench, but he's bringing in Fabio Silva, whose hair makes him look a little bit... Yeah, and Gerasi playing together. And Bayer. And Bayer, yeah, Gregor. So they're a goal up, but it's nervy. And in the end, they not just pull it out, but they add to it. Union Berlin, I think, in those circumstances, that was not a straightforward game. It showed maturity. I think this builds confidence going into the intergame. It's a hat-trick for Hendrik, as Lyon stomps Mets away 5-2. Jules, quite the start to his Ligue 1 career. They'll be happy from Madrid to Sao Paulo.

42:32Julien Laurens:Yeah, incredible. And he's the... So it's not the first time that a player on his second game scored a hat-trick. I mean, there was you and Odell, not that you remember, Gabby, but scored a hat-trick on his debut for Lille when he was quite young. However... It's probably the first time an 18-year-old does it. Hendrik is the second youngest player to score a hard-trick in Ligue 1. And to be fair, he's in great company. It's only Jeremy Menez, Ousmane Dembele and Kylian Mbappé who scored a hard-trick at a younger age than Hendrik in the French top flight ever. That is ever. Even, you know, go back to the Platini time or the Copa time.

43:09Julien Laurens:Or the Zidane time. So, outstanding performance. This is probably too easy for him. And, you know, watching that, it made me think that I know you would want to go straight to Real Madrid if you're a young Hendrik, right? I get that. I completely understand that. But I think there's a case again, and this shows it, that not everybody might be ready for it straight away. And that sometimes a league like Ligue 1 is perfect to still learn about European culture, European football, and then a year there, maybe sometimes even six months will probably be enough. And then you're ready to go to Real Madrid or Barcelona or Bayern or Liverpool, Arsenal, City or wherever.

43:47Julien Laurens:And I think that step up sometimes. And we see, I talked about somebody the other about Echeverria City prime example oh when he was wasn't he thrown in like in FA Cup semi-final or something you know and now he's going from loan to loan and I do think that it's and I can understand why you would want to go straight to Romadri of course I do and we all do but I think these shows as well as sometimes it's not a bad idea to have even if it's just you sign for Romadri but you go on loan somewhere else and then go to Romadri but that kind of midway platform is often very important in your own development, especially as a young player.

44:20I completely agree. And I think Real Madrid have their own examples of this. Rodrigo and Vinicius were not Rodrigo and Vinicius at 18 years old. Like, they simply weren't. Yeah. They made a big leap forward later. So they were brought along more slowly. And yeah, I agree. I love that after the game when he said, when he dedicated his hat-trick to John Texter, he said, everything I do, I do it for you, JT. I thought that was, that was really sweet, Hendrik. I'm just kidding. It didn't happen. Might have happened in JT's head, but not in the way.

44:49Julien Laurens:Daffer injuries his head. Como destroyed Torino, 6-0, and Gab, Nico Paz, didn't have much to do with it even. No, my favorite part, because obviously, look guys, unless you were a Serie A fan or a relative of Cesc Fabriac, and he has many, you probably noticed every time we talk about Como, we mention Nico Paz. Because simply put, with Yildiz and Ballon d 'Or Lautaro, he's maybe the most exciting player in Serie A. However, I love that they got goal, they absolutely destroyed Torino. like absurd XG play them off the park and Gazeta give Gazeta Lospot give ratings after the game and they you know highlight the highest rating and the lowest rating Nikopat's got the lowest rating that must be the first that must be a first yeah he didn't score I don't know if he ended this season it was fantastic there's so many other players who are doing so well but Durino of course who you remember from Dinamo Zagreb I think it was he's definitely stepping up Dacuña's reliable and they found Duvikas as well you know doing fine as like an eccentric Greek guy in La Liga comes over and you know and with all those guys passing him the ball he does get a lot of service he's scoring goals so Kaké as well I thought had a good performance when he came on tremendous goal as well yeah now help me figure this out Jules Liverpool have blocked Andy Robertson's transfer to Spurs now I know that our friend Ben Davies has suffered a long term injury but they still have Jed Spence and destiny Udoge.

46:17Julien Laurens:Yeah. And they just signed Sousa from Santos, who's, you know, yes, he's young, but he's 19. He's a full season. How many left backs do they need? Maybe your friend with the, you know, the two first names thought I could play with, you know, a left back and then a left wing back and then a left winger who are all left backs or something. I can maybe understand the need for the experience of Robertson from a Robertson point of view, if he's guaranteed to play for Spurs and he's not going to play much for Liverpool on a World Cup year with four months left to go in the season. Maybe you understand him wanting to leave to go to Spurs, maybe.

46:56Julien Laurens:But you're right. Right now, Spurs need some, like much more than just Andy Robertson as another left back. And yet, that's not, they're just not, and Conor Galaga has arrived. But apart from that, you think that he would be far more active on the transfer window and suddenly he's looking for something else and another left back. this whole thing was just absurd. Talk about like something that I think would have hurt both teams. You're Liverpool, you're doing this, what, to save yourself 5 million and 6 months wages? Which, by the way, you have to bring in another body. Curtis has no... So as you bring back Simicas from Rome, oh, okay, here comes Roberto Carlos.

47:32I mean, come on, man. Like, this makes no sense. But from the perspective, and the worst thing is, you saw the explanation in the papers about why they wanted Robertson. and when this happens you know you get these the itk transfer market guys they get briefings from the club and it's all like you know but they don't put their name to it but somebody at the club it's literally their job to speak and say this is our reasoning i think it's good that clubs do this the problem is when the reasoning is so stupid the reasoning in this case was well we only really have destiny because susan's too young to contribute anything first of all why are you signing this guy who's too young to contribute anything for the future when you don't know who your manager's going to be.

48:15Julien Laurens:I know, but you don't want to let him go to another club if you believe in him. Okay, sure. Yes, I believe in ghosts and goblins too. And then he's like, oh, he wants to use Jed Spence to push Pedro Poro on the other flank. So Jed Spence has played left-hand ahead of Destiny who's had his fitness issues. Oh yeah, let's have him go and play right back. you have two right backs the competition there and then you'll have two left back with Oji and Robertson as a competition there well but I think that would be fine if that's all they needed but there's so many other priorities exactly that's where he doesn't add up Chelsea have recalled Aaron Anselmino from his loan spell at Borussia Dortmund Gab what does that tell you?

48:58nothing it doesn't mean he couldn't get a game at Borussia Dortmund is this even in the quick hits? because Aaron Anselmino there was a moment when wait you have money for Aaron Anselmino No, and because from a Chelsea perspective, this to me suggests, I could be wrong, no M. Jacquet's son. What was it? Is it Jeremy Jacquet? Are they related? Because I see a physical resemblance. A little bit, yeah? Just decide the height maybe. That's about it. M. Jacquet was a centre-back, right? It was, yeah.

49:34Julien Laurens:He's tall and a bit lanky, but you know. because otherwise why are you bringing this guy you really have this plastic taking up space I'm just and I guess he couldn't have gone to Strasbourg probably for some other reason again I don't understand why they make this so enough loanies maybe at Strasbourg why make this so complicated send this guy to Strasbourg and bring Sars from Strasbourg and don't worry about Jacquet in the future but yeah Benoit Badiachiot by the way the news might have unsettled him a little bit because he did not have a good No, no, no. We're getting it against bodies. I like things my way.

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50:48But your outdated software just isn't cutting it. If that's the case, it's time to upgrade to Service Titan, the all-in-one solution built for long-term growth. Find out how the most successful specialty contractors are fueling their business today. Visit servicetitan.com to learn more. That's servicetitan.com. Fulham beat Brighton 2-1 and are up to seventh in the table. Wow. Can we say this? Okay. Marco Silva, you know, okay. Yes, we like Andoni Laola because his datings are fun. Marco Silva's not as much fun. Nope. But he's been really, really good for a really long time. Very good. Jules, they've made$32 million for Ricardo Pepe.

51:29Julien Laurens:Yeah, I mean, at some point they were always going to go and get the next Raul Jimenez. He can't keep going on, even if it's not a bad season from his point of view. But Muniz is injured, so it makes sense for them. Would I have offered that for Ricardo Pepi? Who's having a good season, by the way, at PSV, but more of an off-the-bench kind of impact. And on a team that plays a very different brand of football. In a league, as we know, that is quite difficult to transport or translate or transport or whatever. you're forming the area division into the Premier League, whether you're a coach or a player.

52:03Julien Laurens:I don't know. And he broke his arm not that long ago. Now that he makes a difference, you know, he's going to come back soon. So let's see. If I was PSV, I would say a massive yes. Right now on that amount, they might get a little bit more if they reject this bit. But for Ricardo Pepi, if you have the chance to come and play in England, in a team that is doing well and working well and creating chances for the number nines and issue the Jimenez, you'd fancy your chance, I think. Yeah, I think that's probably how they're selling him. And there's a wonderful subplot, like, oh, Mexican center forward versus U.S.

52:36center forward. No, no, we like that, ESPN, for sure. I do kind of think, if you're Pepe, you're still, you're going to go to the World Cup. Whether you start, I think Flo probably would start ahead of it, I would imagine. I'm not in charge. There's other players, Hodge Wright, Sargent in the mix. But you know, Pepe, you're going to go, right? Yeah, yeah. Are you better off, not saying taking it easy, still a young man, but like building up confidence, scoring goals against, you know, Dutch teams with funny names and stuff, coming off the bench, playing Champions League football, than going to a team where the football is going to be very different, where, I mean, Bogeymanis is good.

53:16You could be stuck on the bench behind him.

53:18Julien Laurens:You could, but then also, and it's probably me, the forever positive guy if you start playing well and scoring for Fulham and have a very good next three months or so, then imagine the bruise that it gives you going to the World Cup. And after this large flow. Maybe. Big win for West Ham who defeated Sunderland 3-1 at the London Stadium Gab. They've also rejected a£36 million bid for Lucas Paqueta from Flamengo. Yeah, so here's the thing. These bids don't come in unless Lucas Paqueta wants to leave. And we know he wants to leave. Yeah, and they do too. Okay, fine. They're battling to avoid relegation.

53:58They're right down there, right? You have to be super confident. For you to keep saying no, you have to be super confident that Flamengo can go higher. And I don't know that Flamengo can go higher and super confident that you're going to reinvest the Paqueta money in people who are going to keep you up. Because that's by no means a foregone conclusion.

54:19Julien Laurens:No, no, that's true. So I'm really surprised that they've turned them down because clearly he's not in a situation where he wants to be there. Also, I think, I mean, I've been told that Carlo Ancelotti has a list of nearly 100 names that are still in play for the World Cup. And I am 100 % certain that Paqueta's in there. And I can tell you Ancelotti's the kind of guy where if Paqueta stays fit, even if he doesn't play very much or whatever between now and the end of the season, he's going to take it. He's going to go, yeah. And then in training camp, he's going to have, you know, he's going to give him a chance to win his starting job.

54:53Yeah. So if you're Paqueta, I mean, careful. Like you said, I want to go. Fine. But if you stay, it's not the end of the world for you either.

55:04Barcelona starlet, Joe Fernandez. Yeah. We'll soon be learning French, Jules.

55:09Julien Laurens:It will be, Gabi. The two clubs, PSG and Barcelona, have agreed a final feast. this is interesting because he had a release clause of 6 million euros. So anybody could have come in, given him the money because it's the player himself that has to bring the check. It's a weird rule, but anyway, bring the check to the Spanish league. And in that case, Barcelona felt this is too low for a player of his quality. I know he's only 18, but he's shown so many promises. They didn't want him to go. I don't know why then the release clause was so low. is just because they thought he was going to extend his contract and he could have had a release clause of 100 million or something.

55:50Julien Laurens:The fact that he didn't feel that the pathway for him was very clear with the first team, he decided to go. I think he helped that his agent is De La Pena, who's also Luis Enrique's agent, and not just agent, but also best friend. The little Buddha. Little Buddha, exactly. PSG didn't want Barca to be cross, so they added, I think, 2 or 3 million euros to the release close already. And that kind of gesture, I think, went a long way at Barcelona. So it will be announced soon. I think it looks on paper a great coup from PSG to get such a talented, promising young player. But again, he's still only 18.

56:27Julien Laurens:We haven't seen much of him. He played five games. He's seen nothing of four games. So we need to see a bit more. But just thinking about what Luis Enrique could do with a talent like this in the midfield that PSG have, I'm kind of excited already. This is where the pathway is so important. we talked about Ethan Ronieri before you know even if they had locked him up to a long contract I can understand Drew looking around and saying okay well in terms of where I play on the pitch I've got Rafinha I've got Fermin Lopez I've got Gavi's gonna be bad at some point like where do I where am I gonna fit in and your thinking is that they see him as an alternative maybe to Fabian Ruiz something like that yeah completely Yeah, that's the idea.

57:13Julien Laurens:And that's certainly what Rusan Riqui, who had a big meeting with him at Christmas in Barcelona, I said to him, you know, in that rotation, there will be some space and game time for you with, you know, Zaire Emery, Neves, Vitinha and Ruiz. And if you think, there's probably more options now with him, if he adapts quickly, which I think he will, to what PSG are going to do. The Champions Cup begins on Wednesday. Remember we mentioned it, on Monday's show as well as Arsenal face Morocco's AS Far and Corinthians take on Gotham FC. Sorry, Gab. Among the FIFA sponsors of this new competition is Michel Kang's company, Kinizka, and some are unhappy with it.

57:58So they're unhappy with it because Michel Kang owns three football clubs. But none of them are in this competition, right? Right now? No, but they play in FIFA competitions. They will play. And this is a weird one. And I think if you own, I mean, if you own a football club and you're affected by it, and FIFA are in a position to say Conflict of Interest, FIFA will roll on issues related to the Washington Spirit or Lyon or what's it called, London City. And they're getting money from you for their showpiece club. It's a weird one. On top of that, I don't know that there's any kind of, I mean, this is not a consumer-facing sponsor in a sense.

58:43You can't go and buy some Kinesis. It's like PIF, right? The Public Investment Fund. I can't go and buy stuff. So this is just her saying, let me give you some money so that we can grow this competition. With nothing in return, really, right?

58:58Julien Laurens:In terms of publicity. Yeah, in terms of that. So I think this stuff should be reviewed. And you see this a lot. You see, like, nonsense. You know, remember when Usmanov's, I think it was Usmanov's family office sponsored, like, Everton's training down back in the day? Like, guys, there's got to be a way of clarifying. I know in the end, like, oh, the end of us, bring more money, give more money, support women's football. Yeah. There's got to be better ways of doing it than this. I'm sure it's not a lot of money because in the end, it's just a couple games. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But you want this to be successful.

59:32You want this to be credible. And you don't want other, other clubs being upset or annoyed. Yeah, I agree. More women's football. The inaugural FIFA Women's Club World Cup will likely be held in January 2028. Some European clubs are angry that it's disrupting the European club season.

59:50Julien Laurens:Yeah, I think you can understand it. I mean, the men were not too happy, really, about the one in the summer, even if it was in the off-season for the European leagues. But still, it kind of disturbed the balance of what your summer would be and your pre-season and your preparation and then the start of the season. This is worse in a way because it's not in the off-season, it's during. So it's that balance again of your schedule list and fixtures and calendar and all of that, which is never easy to manage. There was probably a better option shortly than January, you know? So let's be honest here.

1:00:25I mean, yeah, you could do it in the summer during the men's Euros. Gee, isn't that great?

1:00:31Julien Laurens:But even that, in terms of exposure, January is busy for men's football with Champions League not happening in January as well it's less busy though because the Buddhist League is not playing and I think I think some of this is people like club game versus this is the kind of club versus country debate because frankly I think it's January 5th through January 28th I mean Women's Super League right most important most competitive women's league in the world probably right they play what, 22 games? Yeah. So you can't organize your schedule in such a way that you don't play games in January, by the way, and it's cold.

1:01:14The Bundesliga managed where the highest attendance in men's football, they managed to not play at all, right? For like six weeks. I don't, this is the part that like when people talk about, oh, too much football, fix your congestion, blah, blah, blah. Hey, look, take a freaking break halfway through the season. Like in exchange for what? in exchange for something that can really grow the women's game on a global level. Because, like, the reality is the Club World Cup, the Men's Club World Cup, with all the controversy or whatever around it, Men's Football has a 100-year head start over Women's Football, right?

1:01:45The one competition you think everybody agreed made sense was Women's Club World Cup because you have legitimately competitive teams from North America. So how about you get behind this for the good of Women's Football as a whole rather than like now, oh no, how's it going to impact the Women's Super League? You only play 22 games. I know, I know, I know.

1:02:06Julien Laurens:A study by accounting firm BDO reveals that a surprisingly high number of English clubs make an operating loss every year, Gab. Yeah, not surprising to me. I've been saying this. We've been saying it. You're a regular listener. This is not surprising, BDO. The problem is people keep forgetting about this. 90 % of clubs, professional clubs they found in England make an operating loss. Now, it's not a paper loss because then what happens is you go and through the magic of amortization and player trading, you show a paper profit. But often that's all it is, a paper profit. But this tells you that 90 % of clubs effectively at the end of the season have to either have their owners put their hands in their pocket and put it into the club.

1:02:47Julien Laurens:Yeah. Or they have to take on more debt on the club. This is not healthy. This is not sustainable. Yeah. And guess what? But the situation is probably worse in other European leagues and in South America and wherever else. Right. So and some things need to be done. Please work on it. Trinity Rodman has signed a new contract with the Washington Spirit in NWSL. Jules, this is pretty huge for a league that was losing stars to Europe. Yeah, I think on the ESPN website, we said is the one that could not get away. Really, that they had to keep almost at all costs, not because she's very good to start with, because, as you said, a few stars were coming to Europe.

1:03:30Julien Laurens:She was out of contract, so anything could have happened. She's become the second highest earner in women's football in the whole world or even the top, if you believe, Barcelona or No, saying that Itana is still the best, the highest earner. It doesn't really make a difference. She's amazing. She deserves a big contract. She got it by staying in her club where things have worked well for her. So this is good. I think it's good for the U.S. men, U.S. women national team as well. Let's explain why this is relevant, though, because this was at NWSL, like a lot of American sports, they have a salary cap.

1:04:05Washington Spirit said, well, we can't go over it. Or the league said to the Spirit, we're willing to pair this. They came up with some very complicated formula. Yeah, Arrangement. HIP, the high-impact player, where you need to meet certain criteria. What I find hilarious about this is to be a high-impact player, you have to meet these criteria. Some of these criteria include being named to ESPN's top 100 women soccer players in the world, which you help. You're on the panel for that. The Bible of women's football, you know? Exactly. Or the Guardian's top 50, or Sports Pro Media's top 150 most marketable.

1:04:43Yeah. All those criteria. Yeah. But I don't know. It just feels so stupid that it's done on this. If you want to have this, say, all right you can have one player on like do a dp yeah and you just like yeah as much to pay as much as you want like make it simpler yeah i know sustainability blah blah blah yeah but i

1:05:01Julien Laurens:don't know it might come to that fifa president janine infantino's a long time since we have spoken about him was in davos where u.s president donald trump unveiled his board of peace gap uh janney was not the only familiar football figure there name yeah in fact janney was in the front row, again, he would say FIFA can play an important part in bringing peace to the world, blah, blah, blah. And the guy he gave the FIFA Peace Prize to, of course, is in charge of the Board of Peace. But Khaldun al-Mubarak was up on stage and according to the documents, he's representing the United Arab Emirates, which is interesting because, of course, he's also the chairman of Manchester City.

1:05:44Yeah. And the club has gone out of their way to say, no, no, no. We're just owned by the royal family of Abu Dhabi. We're not part of the Emirati government. Yeah. And yet wearing his other hat, he does this. I don't know. FIFA can play a role for peace, blah, blah, blah. Probably best you don't sit there in the front row when something like this happens. Yeah, I see what I mean. And FIFA also has a lot of initiatives historically with the United Nations. A lot of people are seeing this as, oh, the United Nations stinks and we don't like it. So let's make a board of peace. So, again, he's clearly believes he needs to or wants to go and take certain positions just by being there.

1:06:33And I think that rubs a lot of people the wrong way, whether it's justified or not. I guess we'll find out. Jules, this brings us to an end but we gotta come back on Thursday final verdicts in the group stage of the Champions League gonna be a big one until then, love the game, love your neighbor love yourself

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