Gab & Juls Show: Is this Real Madrid's worst week in recent history?

27:07That's what he used to do. Maybe there is a system coach that can make the transition. And maybe they thought Xabi Alonso could make a comparable transition to what Ancelotti did. And maybe he still can. It's just going to be somewhere else. And that raises the point. if you're Arne Slott, I hate to do this Arne you know I love you but anywhere else, all of a sudden we've had three managers sacked in 12 days by big clubs in Amarim, Mareska and Xabi Alonso no question, nobody has the cred and the pedigree that Xabi Alonso does all of a sudden he's out there

27:48particularly for Liverpool right if you're if you're the Liverpool front office here you've got to be stroking your beard in contemplation because and if you don't if Manchester United were to call I know he's got a pass at Liverpool and whatever yeah sure um is this would he do well at United I think so yeah I think he would be I don't know if you want to do it because because of the history obviously but and also like it's not it's not the best job in the in the world anymore if if there's if If there's three or four jobs coming up in the summer and let's say United is there, fine. Let's say Liverpool might be there.

28:24I don't think Pep Guardiola will leave Manchester City this summer coming. I don't think that will happen. I think it's at least a year away. But let's say he did and they decided they wanted Vincent Kompany. And Bayern Munich suddenly needed a manager. I think they'd go straight to Alonso. And if Alonso was there in 12 months or 18 months, I think that's what they'd do. So United might end up getting ousted from this conversation completely by just quite frankly a better offer. But Liverpool need to be across this. This is a potentially golden opportunity, not necessarily in the next couple of weeks, but over the course of this year.

28:59Avoiding your unfinished home projects because you're not sure where to start? Thumbtack knows homes, so you don't have to. Don't know the difference between matte paint finish and satin? Or what that clunking sound from your dryer is? With Thumbtack, you don't have to be a home pro. You just have to hire one. You can hire top-rated pros, see price estimates, and read reviews all on the Thumbtack app. Download today. As you know, managing maintenance, repair, and operations is never easy. But for the ones who always rise to the challenge, Grainger has your back. From professional-grade products you can count on to fast, dependable delivery, they're there to help you keep things running smoothly.

29:39Plus, their technical product specialists are here to help answer your toughest questions. And because Granger knows safety is always a priority, they're committed to being your partner in protecting both your people and your facilities. Call 1-800-GRANGER, click granger.com, or just stop by. All right, enough Real Madrid. How about some quick hits instead? Manchester United have their interim manager through the end of the season. I'm excited. I'm hyped. I'm amped. Sam, Jules and I have weighed in on Carrick time and again I want to hear your take You have strong takes about Michael Carrick because I really don't I mean, the person stood in Manchester United's dugout could be any one of 16 different former players and to me, they're all the same In fact, they might as well just line all 16 up at this point, right?

30:27I don't think they had to choose between Carrick and Solskjaer You don't think Olegunar Solskjaer would be substantially worse than Michael Carrick? I think Carrick, Solskjaer, Ruud van Nistelrooy, Paul Scholes they should all be stood on the sideline and they should all be shouting at the players, just do better, because that is probably what they're going to take from this. I'm personally excited to see a slightly different formation and maybe some of those midfielders come to life. I think Kobi Maynou will enjoy this, but ultimately I don't think this is going to move the needle for them and I don't think it's going to make them substantially better or substantially worse.

30:53I have no idea. I don't follow the championship. All I can do is look at the table and know that he went from, he took over a team that were doing really badly in Middlesbrough, got them into the playoffs, then he finished eighth, then he finished tense and then they sacked him uh that's all i know um it's a tough landscape down there it's a tough landscape what i do know though is that what you cannot have have a plan and stick with it do not let the commentary not tell you no no give him the job give him the job yeah and don't let us tell you to change formation yes and don't tell us directly that you're not doing something because of what we said exactly right arsenal beat chelsea away 3-2 in the league cup semi-final first leg gab this was liam rosinia another chance to look at him what did you take away i a bit like the fa cup i took very little because is it still chelsea when there's no moises caicedo and there's no um there's no cole palmer and there's no center for i mean when it was quite understrength wasn't it when i see margie out there and then on top of that robert sanchez makes two massive mistakes on the goals now this is not taking anything away from arsenal arsenal I thought were good.

32:05But you don't learn anything because surely this isn't going to be what the team looks like when they're ready. I thought Estavao looked willing. Gu, again, reminds you why I don't think he's at this level, even though he's a conference league top scorer. From Arsenal's perspective, every time I see Kai Havertz play, I get a little bit happier. But it's going to be tough to turn around. But no away goals in the League Cup, so stay tuned for the return leg. Yeah, fair enough. Not getting much from Rosinha right now, but I thought it was a good night for Jocherez, if we can just give him a little bit of credit, because he's had a tough year.

32:37Oh, yeah, it was really hard to put that one away. Yes, I'm being sarcastic. Garnacho, that's what you meant, Garnacho, two goals. Sticking with Chelsea, l 'équipe en France report that Paris Saint-Germain are plotting a massive summer bid for Enzo Fernandes, who's supposedly upset at the sacking of his fellow Enzo Maresca. Sam, would this make sense? Are you happy to be asking me this question rather than Jules, or sad, would you like to see Jules' reaction? Jules would absolutely, Jules is not an Enzo guy at all. Okay. I think I'm an Enzo guy. I think he's a talented player. I think if I was PSG and I was looking to zhuzh up the midfield and maybe change things up a little bit, and bear in mind, it's an amazing midfield, but at some point you're going to have to change a little bit of it.

33:20Why, because they're old? No, because they're not. No, no, because... Fabian Rees is getting a little bit older. There's nothing wrong with Jao. No, no, no, but you need to freshen things up every now and then, right? even a good position group needs, it needs new stimulus and needs new freshness. There's no bad assets. There's only incorrectly priced assets, as my friend who works at a hedge fund says. However, Enzo Fernandez, you have to assume, given what they paid for him, even with the amortization and his billion-year contract, is going to cost you north of 80 million. Yes, for sure. Why would you spend that on a guy like that when you can get somebody else?

33:56What is the logic here? I would be worried about it. Now, the reason we're talking about this, by the way, is Le 'Keefe, very well-sourced. What it tells me is that maybe somebody within the club is turning the screws a little bit because they said, oh, Giao's not playing great this year. Fabian Ruiz is getting a little older. He's just getting a new contract. I mean, it's not like they're lacking faith. I don't think they're lacking faith in their current crop. And I wouldn't want to roadblock Warren Zaire Emery either because while he hasn't - He's been roadblocked enough. Yeah, I mean, and he has to play right back quite a lot of the time.

34:26to get his minutes. And, okay, his development hasn't been linear, but I don't know. I guess the short list to improve PSG's midfield is quite a short list. Right. Francesco Pio Esposito scores late for Inter. It's another late goal in Serie A in what has been a really incredible title race. But Inter have now pulled a bit clear, Gab. Six points. Are they pulling away for sure? No, because Milan win their game in hand tonight. They'll be three points back. But, look, I didn't think they played badly against Lecce, Lecce, despite the late goal, Lecce came out there, parked the bus. They do that very well.

34:59He mixed things up. Zelensky is not Chalonoglu in midfield, and he showed it again. Lautaro got the night off. Hey, I'm good with that. Three points. They could have scored earlier. They ended up scoring late. Manchester City win the League Cup semifinal, beating Newcastle away 2-0. Sam Pepp is furious about that endless VAR check over the disallowed Zemenyo goal, which ultimately wasn't that relevant. But hey, can you cheer him up? Yeah, I'll cheer him up by saying that it wasn't relevant. for a start they won 2-0 regardless so I understand that that six minute wait was really irritating but City came through this game regardless this is one of the hardest games in the English calendar Newcastle away it's really difficult to play against this team in that stadium and they did have to ride their luck a little bit in terms of chances created but they came through it the most important part for me is the nature of the team that came through it oh you're gonna go all Kusinov, Ake Alain, I mean.

35:52For sure, because the last time Pep changed the entire team, do you remember the Leverkusen fiasco in the Champions League? When he glitched. And we basically got to the point where he has 14 players he can trust to use his new system, and no one else. Well, now we get a second bite at the cherry, and there's a bunch of players here. Semenya, to start with, there's only been a Man City player for like a week, but Max Alain, Kusinov, James Trafford in goal played really well. There's a bunch of players here, Nico O 'Reilly, who have not been through this journey of winning trophies with Man City, but have now stepped up on a really important occasion and shown that Pep has a bit of depth.

36:23So if I was him, I'd be delighted. Not just any important occasion, but League Cup semifinal. For sure. Absolutely. Right. Well, guess who will not be winning the treble this year, Gab? Paris Saint-Germain. They are out of the Coupe de France. They lost 1-0 at home to Paris FC of all teams. Yes. It's their second Parisian derby in just a few weeks. They won the first one. this would be a day for Jules to be here but instead you'll have to do obviously Paris FC for a while and I love mentioning this I probably won't mention it again because people get bored with it but they were they and Paris Saint-Germain were the same club they merged and then they split all happened in the 1970s because they have a ton of history were they formed about 100 years after the club you support if I'm not mistaken?

37:10yeah 1874 is Villa close enough nearly 100 year head start but Paris Saint-Germain I thought dominated this game they were undone by Jonathan Icone who started his professional career where? PSG he was one of many academy products but well done to Paris FC they hung in there to defend and I thought their game plan worked and makes for a little change in the Coupe de France now let's go to the Africa Cup of Nations Sadio Mane scores the only goal as Senegal get past Egypt Sam when you have Mo Salah and Omar Marmouche up front, and you don't actually make any attempt on goal against minute 84, it's not a good sign.

37:51It's not a good sign, but Gab, I wasn't remotely surprised. I've been watching Egypt at the Africa Cup of Nations for at least a decade, and I feel like every single game I ever watch is the exact same. They have always been very reactive. We don't want the ball. We'll just punt the ball into the channel. We'll give it to Salah. We'll give it to Marmouche. Previously, it was we'll give it to Trezeguet. They were strong center backs, hardworking midfielders. and let's counterattack. It's always been the way they've played. In the last game, I thought they were more expansive. But nowadays, I mean, Salah's powers are waning.

38:24He can do less with those balls. He can do less with those half opportunities. And if you're relying on that, then obviously the game plan is going to fall apart a little bit. Okay, they might have been a bit better. But when they play against a team like Senegal, with the quality and with their play style, because they are more on-the-ball focused, this is how Egypt are going to play. Unfortunately for them, as Salah has hit the decline, Egypt's game plan has also fallen down a little bit. And this was just one step too far for them. I think he's still probably the most, or one of the two most technically gifted players on the pitch.

38:54I don't want Sadio Mane to come to my house. So I would want him to get the ball in the final third more often so he can do something. And that didn't happen. For sure. Right. Well, Senegal will face Morocco in the final. They overcame Nigeria on penalties. There weren't many goals in these semis, were there? No, not many shots either. look people know I am a Nigeria fan when it comes to teams in Africa so disappointed they had two shots in the space of 120 minutes there was more of a flurry in extra time I thought Osiman came close to having a chance and then they took him off he was clearly carrying an injury weird you go into penalties it was like minute 119 would you go into penalties without your penalty taker wait two minutes yeah maybe had an injury well done morocco this was not easy because nigeria are a good team i am sad i'm not gonna hide it because i won't get to see them at the world cup either obviously um they've had a really good tournament haven't they really they have and it but it just makes it worse because you're reminded of what happened in world cup qualifying uh but morocco again the class of the tournament patient picked their spots and i am hyped and amped for the final morocco against senegal back to the fa cup liverpool i threw after beating barnesley 4-1 but sam this game felt a lot closer until the final minutes thanks to dominic's office lie yeah yeah barnesley's best forward i mean what a night for him he scored an absolute screamer early on like what a strike the commentator said you can't hit a ball better than that and usually when they say that they're wrong but this time they might have been right it was an exquisite strike and then this back heel that he tries that tees up the Barnsley goal I mean I just don't understand what he's thinking it doesn't matter that he got it wrong the problem is he tried it in the first place so yes it looked a bit tight and bear in mind Barnsley hit the post in the first 30 seconds of this game too so this was tighter than the scoreline suggests at least Mo Salah's coming back maybe yeah well maybe it'll help I don't know we'll see who knows right over to Serie A, Napoli are held at home by Parma.

41:04Eesh, nil-nil. Gab, three straight draws. They are slipping behind, clearly. Yeah, they had a goal that's allowed, Hoyland, a little tight. Parma set out to defend Carlos Cuesta. Even though he's Spanish, it's what he does really well. He just sits there and defends. He's like a little extreme Arteta clone, except without the attacking part. some would say Arteta likes the attacking part too they miss so many players right now I'm not going to fault them but yeah it does mean they need a big run and they need Inter to drop off a big run when De Bruyne and Zambanguisa and all those guys come back and Antoine Griezmann free kick gives Atletico Madrid a 1-0 win away at Deportivo La Coruña in the Copa del Rey Sam so much for the old guy being phased out I just feel like they need him especially Alvarez doesn't do anything away from home.

41:55Yes, the Alvarez away from home yips are very strange, aren't they? It took me a while to pick up on this, but in place of that, you are going to need someone to come in and assert the standard. And if it's not the only living sore lot in captivity, it's got to be him, right? It's got to be Antoine Griezmann. I'm sure he's not happy with the sort of bit part role that he's playing these days, but at the end of the day for Diego Simeone, what a player to be able to call upon. And getting through in the Copa del Rey, not as easy as it looks apparently, Real Madrid. and what an opportunity for everybody still left in.

42:23Well, especially, yeah, with Real Madrid out of the competition, you imagine this is going to be Barcelona's third priority at this stage. I think you're in a really good place. Yeah, absolutely right. Sticking with Atleti, they've sold Conor Gallagher to Tottenham for£35 million, reportedly. Is this the player that unlocks Thomas Frank's midfield? So, for me, the single biggest thing this tells me is that Spurs are likely not to sack the man with two first names for the foreseeable future. Because Conor Gallagher seems to be the epitome of a Thomas Frank player. He's a guy who brings so much energy.

43:03He runs around. Jules, not a Conor Gallagher fan at all. On the ball, not as a person. You just listed his strengths and you said energy runs around. He's got to have more than that. He has more than that. But, I mean, you really have Bergvall who does. that you have Bentoncourt who supposedly does that uh Palina doesn't run as much but he he's got more of a physical presence I to me it seems like what this team needed was more quality and creativity and because Xavi Simons isn't offering it and I know Kulusevsky's going to be back sooner than Madison and whatever that doesn't fix the issue either what they need is a ball progressor from deep they need someone that can feed the ball through to get the ball to the attackers surely Gallagher's not that player neither is Palina neither is Bentoncourt neither is Bergvot neither is Archie Gray.

43:50What are they doing? Why are they buying loads of midfielders and are not fixing the position brief, the role that they need? Yeah. I don't know. Fabio Paratici's gone. I think Thomas Frank views football in a different way. And I'm not saying he's a Thomas Frank guy because he's not a Sterling passer or a ball progresser. But I think it does show that he fits that mix. He'd do great at Brentford. Hey, sports fans. The ESPN app has all of ESPN all in one place. The ESPN app is your home to thousands of live events, ESPN shows, and originals across every ESPN network in service. And now you can check if you already have ESPN Unlimited as part of your TV package for no additional cost.

44:33Visit activate.espn.com to learn how to access your account or sign up, then start streaming in the ESPN app. It's all of ESPN all in one place. Sign up or activate now. From 30 for 30 podcasts.

44:56Brian Pata, senior defensive lineman for Miami. Gunned down. The key to this case, it's Brian. Boy, he's ripped him. An hour before he died, he was on the phone arguing with somebody. This might be a hit. You want the truth. They just want a conviction. They're placing the arrest. We had a killer amongst us. Murder at the U. Listen now. Bayern stop Köln. The goats. How about that? Away 3-1 to go 11 points clear at the halfway mark after going a goal down. Sam, are you ready to crown them? Yes, I am. Are you ready? I mean... Yeah, I'm good with it. Let's get the trophy out now. I mean, this Bayern Munich team is so much better than everything else in the Bundesliga, despite the fact that we've seen Leverkusen take some good steps under Kasper Ullmann, despite the fact that we've seen some promising signs from RB Leipzig.

45:45There's nothing close, nothing close to this Bayern team. You know what? Speaking, Jabal Busiala and Alfonso Davis are coming back. I know. This is the absurdity in it. I know. It's incredible. Getting Lennart Karl to come in and score a few goals here and there, just a perfect icing on a great cake so far. I mean, company has done an amazing job. But you know what's funny? I'm sorry. I get a sense of a little rant here. Jules has heard us a million times. I'm going to expose you to it too. If you go back through history and there have been some dominant teams in the past it wasn't normal for teams to rack up you know 90 points in a 38 game season 85 points in a 34 game season it just let alone win it win the league 11 years in a row it just didn't happen right and now we take it as normal now it's entirely normal like this is normal that one team should go out and be so much better and have so many more resources than everybody else and then we celebrate look aren't they great well that's why the leverkusen title we had a couple of years ago was so special because it was a break from the established norm and that's why we celebrated it so much despite the fact that deep down we don't care right yeah it reminded you that song your ancestors probably gonna probably used to sing it i'm gonna stereotype you as uh being of irish descent you know the song about like you know when they sing how bravely you faced one with your 16 pounder gun it's kind of like that right um but whatever i am of irish dissent well done you bet oh sorry it's you no that's it juventus beat up cremenese 5-0 this this was an absolute slapping wasn't it jonathan david on the score sheet once again is this vindication for luciano spalletti he believed in david he didn't sign david david was signed by damian camali on a free transfer they made it seem as if jonathan david was just some some sort of active stinking turd canadian turd landed there and like the worst signing in history and now all All of a sudden, no, no, no.

47:41And then like, yeah, the guy takes a penalty, misses the penalty. Then again, he's bad for taking it, for missing the penalty. Spalletti's stupid for making him take the penalty. And now you've seen Jonathan David can actually play. And more encouragingly for Juve, they're playing some nice football. Juve fans are learning, hey, look, I can play attacking football and actually win. It's a slow burn. There's so many things that can go wrong. I think they're probably still behind others. But this is an important win for Spalletti also because so many Juve fans, all they care about is results. They don't look beyond 12 months down the road.

48:16They don't care about performances. So if you can get the two together, and I say this as somebody who does not naturally like Spalletti. He's a bit like the Italian Unai Emery. He's brilliant, but I don't quite like him. But I got to admit, he's really good. Borussia Dortmund spank Werder Bremen 3-0 as Serhu Girassi comes off the bench to score his first Bundesliga goal since Halloween. Sam, did it take dropping him for Sir Who to get his mojo back? And it took a colossal defensive error, I think. I mean, that's one of the easiest goals he will ever score. So what a way to get back on the score sheet.

48:52And everyone needs a confidence booster every now and then, Gab. Very, very, very nice. Very nice. Seeing Fabio Silva and his giant hair play ahead of you, I think that would have also been a big motivator here. For sure, yeah. It's been a tough time for Gerasi. But hey, you take them as they come. Hopefully a few more now. Okay, back to Italy. Torino get a last-minute winner from Emeran Ilcan and beat Roma away 3-2 to knock them out of the Coppa Italia. Gab, Gasparini, this is a blow. I don't know that it is. I don't know that he cares. Gasparini is such a weirdo that, like, I don't... I think he's so focused on getting them back up the league.

49:30You look at the lineup, you know, he put out there, you know, El Shirawi at age 40, freaking Leon Bailey up front at center forward. You had other players who were on the bench. And you wonder, did he think he could easily beat Torino? Does he not think that he has a squad to compete in Europe and in Serie A at the same time? Because obviously he still hopes to get them in the Champions League, right? They're one point behind, one point out of third place, right? So I'm not saying he planned the defeat, but he said, let me chuck some of my reserves in, see what happens. And we also have to point out, big shout out to somebody named Antonio Arena, who is Australian of Italian descent, 16 years young, coming off the bench, scoring a header.

50:20And if you watch the highlight on YouTube, you know, normally when you get the 16 year olds out there, OK, either they're sort of freakish man child giants. And so when they score headers, you kind of expect it like a young Erling Haaland. This guy's not that. most of the time when they score it's like you know the little quick guy runs away into space and scores no no this guy is not a he's not a giant but the authority with which he took that header um that bodes well i have no idea if we'll see him again yeah because of course sticking with roma they brought in another striker don't yell malin on his way sam you're a villa fan what kind of a player are they getting uh and also are villa gonna get somebody in as a result of malin's departure yeah uh it's interesting you refer to donio marlon as a striker that's how he refers to himself he's a forward that is not how i would just i would not call donio marlon a a pure number nine or at least not in premier league terms um he is a strange player he has some very distinct skill sets i talk about him in the same way like i talk about brennan johnson you know when we talk about brennan johnson we say he's quick and he gets to the back post and he scores and then you run out of strengths because there aren't that many others marlon is quick promise Frank feels the same way.

51:32Yeah, he's quick. Marlon is quick. He is a ruthless and instinctive finisher with good shot power and nothing else, basically. He doesn't have a position. Like, he's not a striker. He's not a right winger. He's not a supporter. Like, he's just someone that kind of, like, exists and puts the ball in the back of the net. So my question... 3-4-2-1. Well, my question to you there would be, would that work for Gasparini's system? Because, presumably, he'd be a bit better supported and maybe just tucking off the striker and play... So, okay, remember, this is when you wonder about, you know, what they used to call joined up thinking here.

52:07Oh, yeah. Because obviously Roma were heavily linked with Joshua Zerkzey, who, when you were describing Marlon there, I was thinking to myself, hmm, who's the opposite of that? Oh, look, it's Joshua Zerkzey, right? In the sense that, you know, he doesn't score many goals, but he is very technical and a very good passer. So I'm like, which dude? Marlon would ideally be involved in the game as little as possible. Just the final action is fine. Yeah. So I'm curious to see. I would assume it makes more sense. The way this would make sense to me, if I'm a Roma fan, is in the 3-4-2-1, if he's not your one, but if maybe you've decided that Dovbic and Ferguson, one of the two is allowed off the naughty step and you keep him as your center forward and maybe he plays behind with Matthias Sule on those nights that Paulo Dybala takes off, of course, which are many.

52:59maybe that's the logic here his scoring record's good it's good he's done a lot with a little but the reason it's been little for him I mean we're talking about seven Premier League starts here in a year after a£20 million move he got left out of the Champions League squad for Villa last season he's never been an integral part of this team he doesn't play any of the positions in Unai Emery's system and it's a year to the day basically one day past that he joined Villa so it's been a very short stay he has never fit I hope it goes better for him at Roma. Although I will say the Villa fan base, they actually did take a little shine to him for some reason.

53:34I'm not totally sure why. The second part of your question, will Villa act now? They have to, because they have inadvertently found themselves in a glorious position of whether or not you think it's a title challenge or not, I don't care. The point is they're like 11 to 13 points ahead of all of their challenges. 11 to 13 is kind of the number of players they actually have, right? Precisely. Yeah, it's actually just gone down to 12. Tammy Abraham. They've got a great buffer now. They've got an amazing opportunity to go and potentially win the Europa League and sustain a top four, top five challenge, a successful one.

54:06But it only works if you have more than one striker. Tammy Abraham, I think, and I say I think because I haven't seen him play for at least six months because I don't watch Turkish football. I think he'd be a good fit for Emery's system because his ability to run the line, his ability to play back to goal. These are the most important focal point skills that a nine needs to have. the ones that Oli Watkins has, the ones that Marlon does not. So theoretically, this makes sense. However, you will have seen him a little bit more recently than me, and I hope he can still score goals. I watch a lot of Besiktas.

54:37No, he's done well at Besiktas. If he's fit, he gives you a physical presence. He gives you a lot of energy. He's an intelligent player, I think, and he's a hungry player. So in that sense, I think it can definitely make sense. You need to make the numbers work, because obviously, as you know, Villa are in big trouble with UEFA. It's a one-year... They're working in a settlement agreement, yeah. They're working under cost controls. Right, if you don't hit your cost control, you are banned from Europe. For sure, yeah. Simple as, yeah. But there is pressure on Villa to churn players here and recycle players because you need to start pumping the balance sheet.

55:14That's the magic. That's how you make money. So they're really, they're just like moving mile and long because they're like, yeah, someone bid for him, let's do it. Because it just puts a positive number on the balance sheet. So that's clearly part of this equation. but um gotta love the magic of amortization oh for sure it's a shame isn't it um okay italy boss arena gattuso wanted a mini training camp in february to prepare for the world cup playoffs in march gab he is not going to get it no he's not going to get it uh because oh no too many fixtures and for tv commitments we need to play friday and monday and whatever else I wish the Italian League had been a little bit more conciliatory towards the FA I think this really matters I don't think they understand how much it matters that there is a serious risk that Italy will miss out on the World Cup on its third consecutive World Cup I should say despite having won the World Cup more times than any other nation in the history of the universe with the exception of Brazil of course or sorry I should turn around because Germany, of course, also pretend, also say that they've won four.

56:19So I should say only Brazil have won more World Cups. This stat is falling to pieces as you talk. No, but look, says the man from the country that has won one more World Cup than Albania. And that was, according to Germans, by cheating. So I'm going to leave that to one side, but I didn't hear that, right? And now you have a German running you. So, no, I find it disappointing that they couldn't make this work for the TV companies and come together with the league and find a way to do this. Would it have moved the needle? We'll never know. I just hope he doesn't use it as an excuse. Larsen Wenger wants to introduce a, quote, daylight rule, which means players only offside if he's entirely beyond the defender.

57:02DFA and UEFA oppose this, and so does former assistant referee Darren Kan, who, again, unless you're a refereeing nerd, hi, Dale Johnson, or, um, or worse, an assistant referee nerd. You might not know who this man is. Who are those assistant referee nerds? People are really into that. People have a fetish. No, he is. He's probably the only assistant referee anybody's ever heard of in this country. Definitely, yeah. And, you know, he's been at World Cups, highly respected. And he gave a very good take, Sam, about why this is a really bad idea. Yes, I'm going to quote him. From an assistant referee's point of view.

57:40Which is all that matters here, because these are the people who hold the flag up. For sure. If you are looking across the line, it is much easier to see a bit of an attacker's torso or leg sticking beyond the defender rather than looking for a tiny sliver of daylight between them. I believe it would mean more VAR decisions, more delays, and it would make it much harder for an assistant referee to judge if a player is offside. I would also say it is probably the death of the high line. Like, how would a high defensive line work in this scenario? I'm sure you've all seen the screenshots of what would constitute onside in this scenario.

58:11And it's two men running in opposite directions, but their heels are touching. So it's, you know, I don't really get how football would recover from this. I fear how it would change the game tactically. I fear it would introduce a ton of low blocks. I think it would take out a lot of the innovation in pressing. And I think it would be absolutely terrible. It would be the end of Hansi Flick as well. The end of me watching football. No, it would make for bad football. You know what I mean. But also like, and look, Wenger says, oh, this way we get more goals. none of us is six years old like yeah some people might be but um six-year-olds obviously are but it's not exciting i need the ball over the top man running onto it to keep her beating the keeper if it starts happening all the time and there's a real risk that it would happen all the time with this if people keep a high line which is why they won't and they'll go back um this isn't entertaining this is stupid also i'm i'm perfectly happy with the number of goals on average in games perfectly happy and i'm perfectly happy when that number goes from let's say about it's called it a two and a half average perfectly happy when we get a bit of a barn burner occasionally and someone wins four three because that's a delight i don't want four three four three four three six five i'm happy with where we are right now i i hate this proposal and sounds like you're not involved with it no uh i i hate it too and i'll say this since you mentioned the average number goes in the match but i'm still waiting for some big brain mathematical data science science guy to explain to me why this is the case.

59:37So the average number of goals in a game in just about every league in the world for the last 40 years has been between 2.5 and 3. Sometimes it goes a little lower. Sometimes in some leagues, it's a little bit higher. Like in Holland, historically, it's been higher. But if it's higher, it's like 3.1, 3.2. Why is that the case? It's just that 22 players running around on a pitch that size over a large period of time it's always going to be between 2.5 and 3. I mean is it physics is the ball moving around nobody can seem to explain this to me in a mathematical way if you are out there please come to me find me on twitter I genuinely want to know I mean the game has been the same for a long time if the pitch dimensions are roughly similar it's the same number of people it's the same amount of time in a game if you change 90 minutes to 80 this would all change to 60 it would all change so the fact that it's been such a consistent sport in terms of how long it's played for and by how many people will naturally influence the fact that that number of goals per game is roughly similar.

1:00:37I'm not the boffin you're asking for. I'm just giving my, my attempt, but there's my take. Get in the game with the college branded Venmo debit card. Wreck your team with every tap and earn up to 5 % cash back with Venmo stash, a new rewards program from Venmo. No monthly fee, no minimum balance, just school pride and spending power. Get in the game and sign up for the Venmo debit card at Venmo.com slash college card. The Venmo MasterCard is issued by the Bancorp Bank NA. Select schools available. Venmo stash terms and exclusions apply at Venmo.me slash stash terms. Max$100 cash back per month.

1:01:12My day kicks off with a refreshing Celsius energy drink. Then straight to the gym. Pre-K pickup, back home to meal prep. Time for my fire station shift. One more Celsius, gotta keep the lights on. When the three alarm hits, I'm ready. Celsius, live, fit, go. Grab a cold refreshing Celsius at your local retailer or locate now at Celsius.com Gab, Josh Cavaglio was one of a handful of professional footballers to come out as gay a few years ago and is now in non-league football here in England In an Instagram post he says homophobia drove him out of Adelaide United back in Australia So look, I'm in no position to judge whether this is the case Adelaide United, they deny this I think what is undeniable, he went from his first couple seasons where he was playing regularly, and then the last couple seasons, he wasn't.

1:02:07That's undeniable. Equally undeniable is that after those last two seasons when he wasn't playing as much, it's not like he found another club in Australia. He came over here. He found non-league clubs. He's at a non-league club called Stanford right now. He was at some other non-league club that I'd never heard of in the Northern Premier League before that, where he made a couple appearances. So it's also possible that part of the reason he's gone is his football declined, his quality of his football. I don't know. Did it decline because he found an unwelcoming environment? I don't know. Certainly Australia, I think you had out gay rugby league players in Australia 40 years ago.

1:02:51Australia would seem to me one of the more welcoming environments towards it. In the men's game, obviously women's game is a different, very different story. It's sad if somebody feels that he's in that position. Maybe there is a lesson to learn. I hope he gets to play football and I hope he's happy. With Jakub Bionto retiring, as far as I know, there are no, well, there certainly are no out gay men in active professional football, in top league, in top flight football. Anyway, there was a guy, I think, who was in MLS, who's now not in MLS or whatever. And you just want to have an inclusive, welcoming environment where people who love the game, regardless of their sexuality.

1:03:38I mean, the world has moved on. It does not, if this is, these are the standards in men's football, they do not reflect the standards in the world, in the workplace in general. Not saying homophobia is eradicated, it isn't, but it should reflect what is happening in real life in that specific country. And clearly it doesn't. Sam, it's your debut on the show, and you're a Villa fan. So I can't pass up the opportunity to ask you about Harvey Elliott. I'm a big fan. He's one of my favorite players. Arnish Slott, who I also like, doesn't seem to like him very much, which is why he sent him on loan to Aston Villa.

1:04:12Unai Emery, who I have massive respect for professionally, but I think he's a bit of an oddball as a person, shares Slott's view because he never plays the guy. and he's on loan at Villa. Where do you stand? What happened? Yeah, bad news for us because you like him, I like him, but the men in charge don't seem to. Although we will caveat that with regards to Unai Emery because from what I've taken from the situation, there wasn't total agreement between manager and recruitment staff and Emery and Monchi on whether or not Harvey Elliott should be signed. At the time, it was right late at the window.

1:04:52Villa hadn't done much business. They were kind of shopping around in the last couple of days. There were big links to Lucas Paqueta. And we know that Emery likes to, he does tend to, I know it was not a good idea, but you look at me like. It's more the fact that y 'all don't have any money. You're under a settlement agreement with Villa. And what, like, and you think you're going to go sign Lucas Paqueta for 60 million as opposed to Harvey Elliott for zero? Yeah, I think this may have been the message passed back down to Emery. But Emery likes experienced players. He thinks they're more trustworthy.

1:05:23He thinks they're more consistent. Obviously, Villa financially are not in that position. And hey, look at the business so far in January. It proves the point because they're signing 17 and 19-year-olds for lower sums. So we know where the situation is there. But it seems like Elliott came regardless of whether or not Unai Emery wanted him. But we know that if he hits 10 appearances, they have to pay about£35 million for him. And Emery has decided that that money could be better spent elsewhere. wear. So Harvey Elliott is stuck on five, I think six appearances in all competitions, and he hasn't been seen for months.

1:05:55He's trapped. And what should have happened is on the 1st of January, these two clubs should have got their heads together and decided whatever financial penalty is applicable between them, canceled this loan or taken the obligation out and allow Harvey Elliott to play 15 minutes at least off the bench multiple times and play some football because he must add some value to the team this is what i struggle with because olabe and michael edwards and richard hughes two of those three i know personally are very smart people very smart people so i'm sure they did sit down and said is there some kind of solution here my solution would be bring him back he's not allowed to play for anybody other than liverpool or villa this season or calendar year league like mls or he could go to japan technically yes okay yeah he could go and Mauritius on holiday too.

1:06:41But the reality is there is a solution here. I think Liverpool need him. And you had Arne Slott and say, hey, big boy Arne, you had this guy around. It's not like you locked him in the toilet while you were here. You just didn't start him. Especially if you're going to start playing this diamond or whatever you're going to do going forward with Isakau and Unsure of Salah, Elliott can cover multiple positions for you. We need him. And he's free. And he's our player. Yeah, because he's definitely free. as we already have him. That's the whole point. Yeah, for sure. I mean, look, I think there's a case for Liverpool to utilise him as a squad member.

1:07:14I think there's a case to take the obligation out of the loan and for him to become a squad member, a proper squad member for Villa. I see two ways out. I'm just surprised that we're halfway through the window and neither of those routes have been taken. But I guess we'll see. We've got 15 or so more days left. I'm sure it's complicated, more complicated than I could imagine. Gab, according to reports, Saudi Pro League's Al-Halal could soon be sold to Al-Walid bin Talal. Tell me why this is important, please. So Al-Walid bin Talal, of course, is a Saudi billionaire. The reason this is important is that the whole boom in Saudi came about because the public investment fund of Saudi Arabia, which is the country's sovereign wealth fund, they essentially took over four big clubs, Al-Halal, Al-Atihad, Al-Akhli, and...

1:08:03Al-Nasser. And Al-Nasser, of course, with Cristiano. and they pumped a lot of money in there. And as part of the effort, the thinking was, okay, we're going to make the Saudi Pro League really big. We're going to kickstart it with essentially the government's money because that's what a sovereign wealth fund is, the people's money. But hey, all you other billionaires, big companies, you guys go and buy in and you guys buy other clubs and so we can have a proper league. Has it really happened to the degree that they wanted to? I feel like three or four have been picked up. That's right. Neom has been picked up.

1:08:38Neom, you've had Aram, but Neom again is very much a PIF project, I think, indirectly. Saudi Aramco. Al-Khazia? They're splashing money. Yeah, that guy. I don't know how rich that guy is, but they are spending money. So it is happening a little bit, but you want it to continue. You can also be very cynical about this and say, hey, if I'm Al-Walid bin Talal, I'm a very rich guy from Saudi. but in the end MBS is the absolute ruler de facto absolute ruler of Saudi so if he asks me to do something probably a good idea for me and my business is to go and do it otherwise I end up I might I don't want to end up at the Ritz-Carlton where all his cousins ended up a few years ago right so it's still not like to me this model will work and I'll be convinced when you start getting people who have no ties with the Saudi government saying, hey, this is a great business opportunity for me.

1:09:35I'm going to go and spend half a billion or whatever it is to buy this club. But it is interesting that there's movement at this stage. Sam, I have to ask you about the seven match ban Swindon Towns Ollie Clark got for, quote, highly invasive, unquote, and quote, violating, unquote, acts against two Cardiff City players on the pitch. This was a while back. I don't want to let my imagination go to some really dark places, but it already has. Yeah. And you're making my imagination go to... Yes. I want you to... Look, I'm not English. I don't understand what you guys do. So... This is my debut show.

1:10:11You know that. I know. I know. So explain to me. What highly invasive things do you do on the football pitch to each other? As a culture. What has he done? I don't know. What do you think he's done? I don't know. I suspect he may have used his fingers. One or two. Put his finger in the other guy's ear? Mouth? Lower, lower, lower. Okay. What do you think? I maybe played amateur proctologist. I don't know. But what I find hilarious, and by the way, there is a case of this before, I think it was in the Copa America, involving a Chilean player. I don't want to name him because I'm not 100%. I'm 99 % sure I know who it was.

1:10:48This rings a bell for sure. I find it hilarious that they can't just, that they're so stuffy and like, oh no, we have to say highly invasive and violating rather than saying what actually happened. Funny thing is this guy said it was accidental. How do you accidentally twice invade somebody's private parts? That's really difficult to do. It is, especially given presumably this was like at a corner or something and you get quite close to people. There's a lot of pushing and shoving and maybe some other things that are happening too. I mean, this guy's 33 years of age and I assume that he has played more than one football game at this point.

1:11:28So I think he knew what he was doing. I would not say it was potentially accidental. And before you speculate and wonder, as I have, maybe these guys were actually into it. They were not into it because they went, both of them complained to the referee. One of them said he was so upset he couldn't talk. Which makes you wonder how he actually said it. But anyway, I'm done reading FA disciplinary reports. Yeah, fair enough. Well, look, you may or may not have noticed that Microsoft have signed a back-of-shirt sponsorship deal with Manchester United for all of their cup games. Unfortunately for them, that is not looking like great value for money, is it?

1:11:59No, it's Microsoft's AI product, CoPilot. And of course, they ended up only getting two games out of it because they lost in the League Cup and then they lost to the FA Cup. Incidentally, CoPilot in the news again, recently in your neck of the woods as a Villa fan, remember the whole story about Maccabi Tel Aviv were supposed to play Villa. The police recommended that they should be banned. There was something to do about it. They used some false information. Apparently they did because they relied on CoPilot to find the history. This is reportedly, by the way, to find the history of Tel Aviv fans away.

1:12:37The chief of police has confirmed this is what has happened. They used CoPilot to look at recent Maccabee Tel Aviv European games for evidence of crowd trouble or not. And they found, well, I say they found, co-pilot found a game that west ham played against mecca with mccabe tel aviv how did west ham do well the problem is the jared bone score it did not happen this game was hallucinated by ai and was used in an official police report that's the problem this year when people talk about the disconnect between police and football fans um in this country uh here is evidence you would have thought in the whole Birmingham or what is it the Midlands Police Department yeah uh West Midlands Police West Midlands Police to be one guy that might have a passing interest interest in football and might say hey I don't remember West Ham playing them it's got to be a West Ham fan in there I just went wait what a more likely West Ham fan than a Maccabi Tel Aviv fan yeah but uh anyway uh Sam this brings us to an end many big ups on your debut um on your home debut unlike Shea Lacey, you did not get sent off, which is a start.

1:13:46Jules is going to be back on Monday. There is so much to talk about from this upcoming weekend. So until then, love the game. Love your neighbor. Love yourself.