Gab & Juls Show: Is Thomas Frank the problem at Spurs?

22:37Because he's a good coach.

22:37Julien Laurens:He's a good coach. I just don't think he has made the step up yet from Brentford and what that club represents and what he did over there, all of that, to Tottenham Hotspur. And the gap between the two, we often talk about shelves in football, right? And there's different shelves and different levels for everyone in every league, in every country, blah, blah. he hasn't he hasn't got there yet he might get there by april and and and he might be able to get that rebuild done and that process and he might be the right guy for now i don't think he is personally but he might be because he's a good coach and he's a smart guy that's why i'm a bit struggling to understand what happened between july 1st when he took over and like end of december really so that's all of august september october november this is that's whole five or six months if you start July.

23:28Julien Laurens:Six months for what we saw on Saturday, which is, again, nothing. I'm just not sure what happened in those six months. What did they do every day? So, but he might get there because I think he's a good coach. I don't think he's grasped just yet the difference between where he was before and where he's at now and what he has to do to get it right. Yeah, and I think they need some smart people to look at this because honestly, if you dial back 12 months and you compare them to, are they better than Spurs in December 2024? I'm not sure you're going to like the answer.

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24:41Julien Laurens:check engine, ABS, or maintenance light with O 'Reilly Veriscan. The service is free and provides a report with solutions verified by ASE-certified master technicians. Ask for O 'Reilly Veriscan today. All right, Jules, enough Liverpool. How about some quick hits instead? Barcelona went away to Villarreal in a match that was supposed to have been played in Miami. Jules, Hansi Flick, says they're tired. I say they were a bit lucky, too, but it can't be luck when you do it time and again, can it? It's eight wins in a row now. Personally, the way I watched that game, I thought Villarreal just gave it all there.

25:16Julien Laurens:It was a Christmas gift ahead of time for Barcelona between the penalty and the mistakes and the chances missed and all of that. Probably we had the Villarreal Champions League mode in this game, which they're not very good in. More than the Villarreal outside of this game that we've seen in La Liga that took them to third before this game. Now they're behind Atletico Madrid in fourth. And I was a bit disappointed. And I don't think that Barca had to play that well anyway because the win was gifted to them by Villarreal. And by Renato Vega. Yeah, I mean, we've seen this from him before, especially in the Champions League anyway.

25:53Julien Laurens:Is this just a... I mean, I completely agree with you. Maybe if Pepe or Molero, the other one, if they had taken their chances early, we can make a different conclusion. I thought the penalty as well. I mean, you expect somebody. just stay on your feet and defend. If he beats you, he beats you. There's other people to come in. But Renato Vega, that was really, really nasty. That was like something, I don't know, you might see in prison. And that was 38 minutes into the game. Yeah, I know. Should there be additional punishment for him beyond the ban? Yeah, I think there's a good call for that. I have a serious problem.

26:38You could see Laminjama's first instinct after when he goes down. is to reach out and try to hit him with his arm.

26:44Julien Laurens:That's really dangerous. It was definitely nasty. Everybody would have reacted the same way, whatever level you play at. Victor, your carousel penalty gives Arsenal a 1-0 win away at Everton, which means they stay top one point clear of Manchester City. Two points clear, actually, sorry, of Manchester City. Gab, were you impressed? I mean, look, people can look at this and say, ah, look, Everton gifted you a penalty, which they absolutely did. I told you when I saw Jake O 'Brien in the flesh in person, I'm like, my God, the guy is enormous. On top of that, when you decide to go and you're going to defend, you know, like Joel Embiid defends against one of those little quick guys slashing in the lane with your arms up.

27:27I don't know what kind of brain fart he had. What would possibly, he's not jumping. He is literally standing with his arms straight up in the air. if I'm Moyes I'd rip him a new one it's a big mistake yeah I don't think Arsenal were necessarily brilliant but defensively I mean they held them 0.2 expected goals it's kind of like what do you want the penalty could have gone the other way certainly Saliba hits Kierno Berry and he strikes him with his foot on the other hand Saliba was also grabbing his shirt and Tierno Berry was grabbing Saliba's arms. So did the VAR say, well, they're tussling and that is the reason then that I'm going to discount Saliba kicking?

28:14I don't know. But this is one of those things where I want Howard Webb on my TV to explain what WTF happened there. Speaking of City, Pep Guardiola says they need to improve. I thought they looked pretty good in beating West Ham three-nail drills. Is this contrarian Pep again? No, no, no, because he said after the Champions League win against Real Madrid, I think he's right. but they weren't good in that game.

28:35Julien Laurens:Like, that was a messy game. I don't think they were that great against West Ham. It was just too easy from them, but they gave away almost one XG in this game, which is too much against a bad team like West Ham. And I don't think he was happy in how they defended in transition too, which is fair, which is part of the problem. I think with the ball going forward, especially even without Doku, but when you've got Scherke in that kind of form and Foden and Haaland, that even gets lucky on the goals that he scored. That's fine. It's without the ball that I think he's a bit worried than he should be.

29:04Julien Laurens:So I agree with him. I think there's work to do. Maybe he goes a bit too far when he said if we, you know, we can't win the title playing like this. Maybe that's pushing it a little bit. But they can be much better than this. I thought the Nico plus Bernardo, two guys to replace Rodri, takes two of them. I thought that worked okay in transition, but it's not a long-term solution at all. I mean, he was very vocal against Bernardo Silva. It's really rare, I think, for Pep to single out a player, especially one of his leaders. But on Berni, as he called him, because I'm not sure that's a great nickname, but on Berni, he slaughtered him, which I struggle a little bit to understand why he went so hard after Bernardo Silva after that game.

29:51Julien Laurens:But maybe you also see stuff that we don't see. I don't know. Bayern beat up Heidenheim, 4-0 away, and the lead is up to nine points. Gab, are you ready to say it's over? No, it's not over, just as it wasn't over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor. But Harry Kane is now on pace to score 48 goals this season. Do you know what the Bundesliga record for goals in a single season is? It's Gatmüller, isn't it? It's Lewandowski, 41. That's seven more. This is completely demented. And Alphonso Davies is back. They're absolutely stacked. It's not over because it's nine points, but you say it's over. Yeah, but he's been over since the start of this season.

30:30And nobody is good enough to catch them anyway or to compete with them. It would take a lot. Let's just leave it that way. And Jamal Musiala is ready to come back. Morgan Rodgers strikes twice as Aston Villa down Manchester United 2-1 to stay third in the table. Three points back.

30:43Julien Laurens:Yours, time for more Emery praise. Time for more Rodgers praise. Not Emery so much. I think Morgan Rodgers is just an incredible form, incredible player. The two goals he scored and he can try them again. And I'm not sure how many he scores. but in this game, the first one is exceptional. The second one, I think Lamens for me should save it. But the first one is out of this one. Thank you for saying that because I'm watching my television and the ex-pros on there, they're just slaughtering Lenny Euro for his defending. True, and Ronnie so as well. Okay, well, rightly so. Whatever, you're turning him inside.

31:21Okay, this is a better foot. But still, I mean, that's still an incredible finish. You don't expect anybody to, I mean. The first goal or the second one? The first goal. Yeah, yeah, the first goal. The first goal.

31:30Julien Laurens:Berlin is a bit slow. So not as slow as the second goal. But Lyman, for me, should serve the second one. But still, Rodgers carrying this team that again scored from outside of the box, again with goals that are very low expected goals. I don't know for how long this is sustainable from an Aston Villa point of view, but it's a huge win. Ten wins in a row in all competitions. They were in the relegation zone in September. Yeah, amazing. And Gabriel Fernandez came off at halftime. How big a blow this is. Look, I think this is what they tell you in the self-help books. Turn this into an opportunity, Ruben Amarim.

32:05It's obviously a big blow because he's by far your best player, still, mad as it sounds. You had to finish the game with the central midfield of James Fletcher, who is apparently Darren Fletcher's son. He is indeed. Weirdly, Darren Fletcher's other son, who's this guy's twin, is Scottish. I just thought it was funny that they represent different countries.

32:27this guy and Lissandro Martinez I mean what are you going to do with that right find out this is going to add more responsibility to other players on the team Casemiro was suspended for this game he's going to be back Ugarte you have to figure something out Kabimenu is he going to be on the naughty step forever I know supposedly he's injured from the end of the year after the t-shirt incident you have to wean yourself off Bruno at some point and I think this is where other people need to be asked to step up. You're not going to have Bruno forever. Sir Alex Ferguson says it could take Manchester United quote another 10 to 11 years to win another Premier League title.

33:09Jules, what did Ruben Amarim say in response and what do you make of it?

33:12Julien Laurens:Well, I think it's difficult to respond to that when you are the manager and you've just been told by the greatest manager, well, one of the greatest managers of all time, that clearly what you're doing is not that great because you're not going to win a title for another 10 years. And I think Amorim was right to say that Fergie knows and understands the game, especially English football, better than him. Cool. Then Amorim said, no, it won't take us that long to win it. I'm not sure about that. I think it could take that long. And then he said, and I don't know who's going to be the manager by then.

33:44Julien Laurens:Well, if it doesn't take you 10 years, you should surely back yourself to still be there at least in the next five, right? If you are more him. So not really sure what he was trying to say there. I can pretty much guarantee you that he's not going to be there another five years unless he proves Sir Alex wrong and they win the Premier League title in that time frame. In a contracting business, you're either growing or you're grinding. Success is no longer about hard work alone. It's about using AI to accelerate impact. Service Titan is the only integrated intelligence that seamlessly automates your entire workflow, from first call to final invoice.

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35:45Julien Laurens:Three wins in a row for Xabi Alonso and Real Madrid as they beat Sevilla 2-0 and Maribor-Kirin Mbappe equals Cristiano's record for goals in the calendar year for the club with 59. Yes, that's right. It's a Real Madrid record before the Messi fans get angry. And just to keep the Cristiano fans at bay, Cristiano did it in just 50 games. Yeah, let's get it. And Cristiano, despite all those mean people calling Pinaldo, only had nine penalties whereas Mbappe had 13. That's very true. I don't need these fugazi numbers telling me that Kylian Mbappe has been papering over all the cracks and he's been carrying this club on their back.

36:20It was the same crap in this game against Sevilla for long spells. They were bad. They were not good. Yeah, they were bad. And then you've got a little flicker and something happens and because they have better players, they win. This is not what Xabi Alonso was brought in for. Some of the morons who only look at results will get off his back and he'll have hopefully time to think about it until the new year. But, continuing like this, you don't need Xabi Alonso to be your manager. You can put Arbeloa there and just say, hey guys, just suck for as long as you like and then one of you good guys figure something out and then you'll beat most teams.

36:55Newcastle United let a two-goal lead slip and end up drawing with Chelsea 2-2. Jules, are you going to criticize Eddie Howe for letting the lead slip? Or do you have sympathy for some of those refereeing decisions, all of which seem to go against Newcastle?

37:06Julien Laurens:Yeah, a bit of both, really. I thought he took a long time to make his substitutions and he's in game management in the second half was not good enough. There's no doubt about that. But I also think that they were let down by the refereeing on this game from the main referee, from VAR. I think the... So Garnasso on Ramsey, I think is bad. The red card? Yeah. Ding, ding, that's one. Sorry? Ding, ding, that's one. Yeah, I agree. James on Barnes. That's the one. The Chalo-Barn-Gordon for me is 100%. I don't understand how... It's a penalty every single day. I just don't understand how you can argue that.

37:44Julien Laurens:I don't know, maybe you could say shoulder to shoulder, but it's not even that. And James from Barnes, although he doesn't really make good contact with the ball, I think the way James is coming across, I think this one, I'm okay with it. Maybe the other two is bad. And in the end, if you're Eddie Howe, I agree with you, he's not perfect, but you're annoyed. Vultimata, by the way, should have had a hat-trick in the first half. and also you're you're annoyed too because you get beaten by an individual mistake from Malik Chao and a moment of individual brilliance from Rhys James yeah that's very true Luis Openda scores his first league goal of the season finally and Juventus beat Roma 2-1 Gab is Paletti getting things right I think so I think so I told you before when they weren't getting the results and people were freaking out because now now they're getting the results to go with the performances I don't know if this is going to be a permanent solution this version of the front three with Chico Concei-Sao, who I'm not a huge fan of, but is playing well, with Openda Cananildes.

38:41But the balance is there. I love having McKinney and Cambiasso as your wingbacks. You have two guys who can play. McKinney, another huge performance. Intercontinental champions Paris Saint-Germain returned from the Gulf to beat up fifth-tier Vendée Fontenay Foot. How did I do? 4-0 in the French Cup. Jose, they missed Gigi Donnarumma so much that they needed to get another Italian keeper.

39:03Julien Laurens:They like Marine a lot. He's young. He arrived in the summer. And because Safonov broke his hand during the penalty shootout in that Intercontinental Cup final. So he saved the last two penalties with a broken hand, which in itself, even Luis Enrique was a bit like those keepers. I don't understand adrenaline and all of that. but yeah it was an easy win the 67th game of the calendar year incredible and I think three goals short of the record goals scored in the calendar year by a team which was Barca with Messi 150 or something but still to cap off an incredible year the good news with Safanov's injury is that Zabarni can continue playing yeah true that's true you know Black saves Koke and Antoine Griezmann score and actually come to the beach you run out 3-0 away Gab what year is it?

39:51Julien Laurens:yeah we've time travelled I know, when are we? 2014-15. Look at that guy dressed all in black on the bench. Yeah. Diego Simeone. Like, we were kind of joking. It's not like they haven't made progress, but I think we have to salute Koke and Antoine Griezmann because this was the year they were going to be phased out. You told us Griezmann's going to leave at the end of the year. He already has, I think, nine goals this season in all competitions, something like that, which I think is pretty good when you're the fourth striker. Koke also he was going to lose his space to Cardozo and stuff like that.

40:24Instead when Koke plays with Barrios Barrios is even better which is a big plus. Oblak of course is eternal, was always going to be part of the plan. They were better even than Oblak's big saves were a big win for them. Now this was all the way back on Friday but Dortmund beat Gladbach in the Battle of the Borussias to go back to second place in the Bundesliga. Natural order has been restored. yeah Karim Adeyemi however makes headlines for the wrong reasons

40:51Julien Laurens:again Jules I don't know what's wrong with him really but it's clearly a problem and also he wants to leave because his girlfriend wants to live in a bigger city a better city I guess than Dortmund would you say Paris is a better city at Dortmund we don't need you there I just find that so disrespectful when you're a player at that level playing for a club like Dortmund and all you're saying is that my girlfriend wants to live in a bigger city. We want to live. I don't know. I'm not sure where he's playing at on and off the field either. This was a good win. Pretty straightforward win, I think.

41:27Julien Laurens:Also for Dortmund, because second place would be Kina between Leipzig, them, Leverkusen, all of that. Hopefully I'm not too far. So it was a very big win before the winter break. You know, stuff like this and the behavior and the stuff in the girlfriend's comments, this is exactly what keeps big clubs and big cities of the sort that you would want to live in. What keeps them away? That's very true. I was joking about Paris, but it's not just Paris Saint-Germain. Maybe Red Star? Paris FC? There you go. Well, no, you think he's ready for Ligue 1? I think a year in the second flight would do him good.

42:00Yeah, more time for shopping.

42:02Julien Laurens:It's going to be Bologna against Napoli in the Italian Super Cup final in Riyadh, which kicks off in a few hours, Gab, on Monday evening. Were they finalists? Napoli, 100%. They absolutely wiped the floor with Milan. I'll get to Mr. Allegri later but Milan were awful in this game Inter they were taking the penalties by Bologna Bologna pretty much fearless some people were like oh look he's taking off his penalty takers maybe they just want to get home for Christmas I don't think that's the case but Bologna under Vincenzo Italiano are a really good side, they're not favored, the game kicks off in a few hours catch it if you can because they're a fun team to watch huge win for Bayer Leverkusen as they come from behind at Leipzig for a 3-1 victory and move into third place.

42:47Jules, if they'd had Kasper Hjulman instead of your favorite bald Dutch guy from the start of the season, might they actually be challenging?

42:54Julien Laurens:I don't know if they would be challenging with Bayern again. I think Bayern were far too strong for anybody else in Germany. But they would be even better because I still think, and we saw that in some games, including in the Champions League last week, that they are still a work in progress, which is normal. Some of those players have come into the team after they lost all their spine, basically. Florian Virch, Jeremy Frimpong, Jonathan Tah. Radesky. That is a lot. Granit Xhaka. A lot of leaders and big players. So this was always going to take a bit of time. Deleuze Mazza, for example, who went to the AFCON with Algeria.

43:31Julien Laurens:But I think Kuhlman is doing an amazing job. This was a very good game to watch. It was a very good win. Martin Terrier scored again, which is great. Not a scorpion kick this time. No, it's not spectacular. but it's two games in two for him and as we said last week comes back from for a long long way so it's great to see him in that kind of form and right now I know Dortmund are doing well and they've only lost one game in the league in a very long time but I think Bayer Leverkusen for me are probably not far from being the best second best team in the league behind Bayern so it'll be interesting to see the second half of the season so impressed with Kasper Hulman yeah got Milan and Inter semi-finals defeated in the Saudi Super Cup that we mentioned earlier I mean they would go home with 2.5, 2.4, so a million euros in prize money.

44:15Julien Laurens:Was it worth it? So I did some basic math. When they played each other in the Derby in the league in November, the box office take was 8.6 million euros. Now, obviously, that's gross. So there's costs of policing and whatever, but it's not going to be, it's going to be well less than a million, maybe 600 ,000, 700 ,000. So, yeah, based on that, they could have made more money if they just said, screw this. Let's just play each other again. The finals do split more money,$16.2 million. And people talk about, oh, look, we're bringing Serie A and the excitement of Serie A to the Saudis. The Saudis know football.

44:56They've had football for a long time. They get to see Barcelona and Real Madrid every year in the Super Club. Perseverso Ronaldo every week. Bro, what are you doing? They played in this crappy 25 ,000-seat stadium. They didn't even play in the big stadium, by the way, which they couldn't sell out. Whatever commercial deals with Saudis you were going to make while you were there, this is what, the third or fourth year that they're doing this? You've probably done them already. If they could get out of their contract early, I think they should. This is just a waste of people's time, I think. As you know, managing maintenance, repair, and operations is never easy.

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46:11It's injected under your skin subcutaneously. It means I can inject in my space on my time. It's my treatment, my way. Visit VivgardMyWay.com. That's V-Y-V-G-A-R-T MyWay.com. And talk to your doctor about Vivgard Hytrulo. Brought to you by Argenics. The Africa Cup of Nations got underway on Sunday as hosts and heavy favorites Morocco. Missed a penalty with Sufjan Rahimi, but still beat Comoros 2-0, two goals in the second half. I guess you would say they're easing into the tournament, Jules?

46:42Julien Laurens:Yeah, I don't think it's easy when you're the host as well and so heavily favorite in a way where everybody expects you to win from your own country. The rain was pouring down. I think there was a bit of nerves and tension, which is normal. they were booze at halftime and nil-nil by the way because they're a tough crowd to please in the end they won El Cabi with a wonderful goal already and they're going to get better and better you know it was just they had to win that first game and then they would be less nervous and it'd be better but I thought that was a really good start of the tournament which should be a very exciting tournament Leeds United destroyed Crystal Palace 4-1 on Saturday evening but Gab you're going to complain that they had that Crystal Palace had to play 48 hours earlier as well in Europe.

47:29Julien Laurens:Jules, you know me so well. I knew I was going to say this. Of course, it's unfair. Because of the stupid scheduling conflicts with the stupid League Cup, which should be abolished, which shouldn't exist, they're going to have to play this game against Arsenal tomorrow evening on Tuesday in the League Cup, where they'll presumably get spanked. I don't know. And even if they win, who cares? On Thursday, the game against Coupes, they were winning and then finished 2-2, which means that then they didn't even qualify directly, which means they're going to have to go through the Conference League playoffs.

48:04Two more games. And it's a big deal for Palace. This is Palace's first ever thing in Europe. I don't want to sound like Oliver Glasner. And look, I'll praise the Leeds United. Leeds United were far better and they destroyed them. You should not be playing professional football twice in three days. And how they allowed this to do it without enough people speaking up about it when they knew League Cup, you knew that they were in the conference league. It's not a surprise, right? When you schedule this nonsense and the fixture can just, it's just garbage. It's just honestly.

48:35Julien Laurens:You made 11 changes from one game to another, but still, you know, players were involved, had to travel, all of that. Well, you make 11 changes, you're not playing your best team. I mean, it's... No, but in the conference league, so then the starting lineup was... Yeah, yeah, Devaney and whatever. So it's not the same players that played two games in two days, but still. Thiago Silva is back, Jules 41 years young He leads Luminense for Porto What can he bring my boy Francesco Farioli Who's running away with the Portuguese Superliga Yeah, very good Do you think Farioli is setting himself up for another Ajax thing Where he has a massive league And he fritters it all away I don't think the teams behind from Benfica Or Sporting are good enough anyway Probably to get him You're right, maybe He would bring obviously experience He's signed until the end of the season plus another year in option.

49:24Julien Laurens:It's more important, I was going to say. More interestingly, where it all started for him at Porto, obviously, when he moved as a 19-year-old from Brazil to Porto when he only played with the B team before going to Russia when he was loaned when he had tuberculosis, which nobody knew, either in Portugal and then they only found out when he was in Moscow. So you kind of, the cycle ends now where he started, which is beautiful in a way, although he's a much better player now. And I'm super happy that this kind of thing still happens in football, you know? I love it. He's one of the good guys. I'd love it if, by the way, Porto wasn't his last former team that he went back.

50:10Do you think there's room for him at Milan next season? No, that would be special. Allegri says, let's get the gang back together. Maybe Ibra coming out of retirement.

50:17Julien Laurens:Yeah, that would be special. Fiorentina having an absolute nightmare of a season gap, but at least they won the first league game of the season, beating Udinese 5-1. And could Hebe be on his way from North London? I'll leave you somebody else's side if it's help, but certainly Fabio Paratici has been heavily linked. Fiorentina don't have a sporting director right now, basically because the fans rioted and kind of threatened everybody. So Daniele Prade quit. They had to win this game. You cannot play half a Serie A season without winning a single game. not when you're Fiorentina. They have won three games in the Conference League, by the way, where they're heading to the playoffs.

50:54Maybe they'll play Crystal Palace. Who knows? The thing with Fabio Paratici, obviously he's at Spurs. Obviously he was a Daniel Levy guy. Daniel Spurs stuck with him throughout his band. But it's not lost on anyone. Raffi Morrison, George Washington University graduate, former DC United guy. he's been at City Football Group for a bunch of years he's reportedly on his way from Spurs he and Paratici don't quite do the same job but he's been heavily involved in recruitment and negotiation and that's kind of what part of what Paratici does and they have the other guy is it Johan Lang I'm thinking there as well I know they say you could never have too many sporting directors look at Chelsea yeah working great for them But yeah, maybe Fabio Baratici is going to go back home.

51:47Whereas a former Juve guy, I'm sure Florence will greet him with open arms. FIFA make it kind of easy to pick on them these days, Jules. According to the Times, they flew 500 officials from 211 member nations to Doha last week to watch the Intercontinental Cup. Wait, who won that? Remind me. Yes, PSG. And hold a, quote, inaugural committee plenary session, unquote. Now, given they were all together in Washington, D.C. for the World Cup draw just earlier this month, what, 10 days earlier? Yeah. Couldn't you just have done it there?

52:18Julien Laurens:Yeah, you said that on Thursday's show last week already. You asked a question. It doesn't make much sense, to be fair, to move everybody to Doha when they'd been not that long ago before. All together there for the World Cup draw. It's expensive to start with, but I guess FIFA have a lot of money. We have the actual bill here. Yeah,$4 million, you said. And everybody gets$500 per diem. Yes, per diem. It's good to be a FIFA member, I think. What I really struggle with is Johnny Infantino in 2015, he and Victor Montaliani, who's now the president of CONCACAF, they put together a FIFA kind of reform plan, which kind of talked about waste.

53:09They talked about reforming everything. They talked about reducing the number of committees. They talked about doing all these things. And now they've gone completely as an organization. It's gone completely in the other direction. The number of committees went from nine to more than 30, according to the times. I just find this absolutely ridiculous, the level that it's gone to. And it's a really bad look at the same time when you've got all this ticket price stuff going on. And more FIFA gab,

53:38Julien Laurens:they've signed a deal with Netflix for their new video game, but it won't be the one we'll remember. That's right, Jules. As you know, there's a long time when people say, oh, I'm going to play FIFA, and they meant the EA Sports game. Of course, that's no more. FIFA didn't renew their license because FIFA asked for, according to EA Sports, far too much money, which of course means that the EA version of the game now sucks and nobody plays it. No, it's still there. It's called FC, I believe. Yeah, it's just as popular as ever. It's just as popular as ever. So then FIFA said, well, we're going to make our own bigger and better game.

54:11And so they've done a deal with Netflix. We'll see what it looks like. I think it's a hard act to follow. Unless it's just like a copy of the previous game. I don't know. They've also introduced something called FIFA Heroes, which is a 5v5 game offering a, quote, a multiverse of FIFA mascots, real icons, and fictional characters with special abilities moving away from the realism for fast, fun gameplay. Disappealing to you? That's the video game, right? No, no, this is the other video game that they're going to have. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

54:46Julien Laurens:Yeah, I mean, let's see. It's all about how... FIFA mascots competing against each other? Yeah, it's not bad. One of my children, the middle one, loves the FIFA mascot, like literally loves them. We've got loads of little teddies of them. So there might be some sort of appealing for some kids there. Icons of the game, I think if you can bring back, you can play Maradona, Pelé, Maldini and Platini together in a 5-5 game. Against footics, maybe. Maybe, but why not? Yeah, I'm all for new things, for sure. What's his favorite mascot? Please don't say the 2000, Germany 2006. No, no, no, he likes very much the one from Brazil in 2014.

55:27Julien Laurens:and obviously the Zabivaka in 2018 because, you know, he saw France winning the World Cup. So that's a special one. Zabivaka is right up there for me too. Jules, this brings us to an end. We will not be back on Thursday or will we? No, we will be. We will be back on Thursday. How about that? Yeah, special show. We'll have a special holiday show. Yeah, best of 2025. Best of 2025. I'm going to let you in a secret. We're going to pre-record it. So you may see me wearing the same clothes, but that's the magic of television. Because guess what? I would rather spend Christmas with my family than with all of you.

56:08Jules, until then, love the game. Love your neighbor. Love yourself.

56:17Good energy in. Good energy out.

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