Gab & Juls Show: Is VAR common sense?

7:24Gab Marcotti:Here's what we don't know, and I think Howard Webb would know, and will know because he has access to their audio communication.

7:35Because Parson

7:36Gab Marcotti:doesn't call it until he gets called to the screen. Yeah.

7:39Don Hutchison:Because there was a lot to unpack to be fair from his point of view.

7:41Gab Marcotti:Okay, but yes and no because the truck he shoots, he turns his head, he sees Holland running with Saboslav. And he's trying to catch them. Craig Parson's trying to catch two elite footballers. Craig Parson's been a professional referee for a long time. He knows that there is no way that Saboslai is beating Erling Haaland in a foot race. No, well, I'll give you that. And so if suddenly Saboslai is ahead of Haaland... Something's happened. Something's happened, right? Yeah, of course. So he does this and he doesn't whistle. And I think he says, I'm making the end of the freaking game. I'm going to whistle the full-time.

8:12Don Hutchison:But what would throw him was, what would throw Craig Paulson, the referee, on the pitch? He would have seen Saboslai yanking Haaland back. The aftermath is then Haaland yanks Saboslai back. So from the referee's point of view, and then the ball trickles over the line. There's a lot to unpack in the space of a referee ground level one and a half seconds, two seconds. So I don't blame John Brooks for doing his job. Then I don't blame the referees for calling the actual law of the game. It feels unjust because we're emotional.

8:39Gab Marcotti:Here's the thing. Here's what we don't know. What we don't know, if Brooks said, like there's an evident pull and, and this is why I think the relationship with the VR and the referee is so important. Do you know what's throwing everyone down? Yeah, yeah. He says there's an evident pull. Yeah. And then obviously Holland fouls him as well. By the way, Holland, again, we're talking about hindsight, 2020. They need to do that, right? Yeah. I think, did they have a conversation? Brooks is like, I got to call you to the screen. And if Paulson says, please don't do this. Let's just apply common sense.

9:13Gab Marcotti:And I'll back you when we have to explain it to Uncle Howard. Don't buy common sense. No, no. But I'm just saying that is a road they could have taken. Maybe it would have hurt them, right? But that is a road they could have taken. The upshot here is that we're left with people not, some people don't understand it, but this now becomes a whole discussion about VAR, which is really not a discussion about VAR. It's a discussion about a referee on the field. Who's made the call. Who's made the call. The correct call. No, no, no. Well, you said the correct call. Obviously not the correct call. Otherwise, no.

9:45Gab Marcotti:He made a clear and obvious mistake according to Brooks.

9:48Don Hutchison:He did, but Chris Foy made a fantastic point when I spoke to him this morning. He went, the referee wants to go to the monitor. that's then his decision to make the call. It's no one else's. It's not VAR. It's not Howard Webb. It's not everyone. The referee in the end, once he goes to the monitor, has got the final call and the final say. I think what's thrown everyone and why it's...

10:04Gab Marcotti:We say that in theory. No, no, that's the truth. That's the truth.

10:07Don Hutchison:But in practice, you very rarely see that. But I think what's thrown everyone because we're so emotional about the game is the laws of the game in that instant, how it's written. When originally Haaland denies a goal score an opportunity when he pulls Haaland back, which is the correct term. What's throwing everyone is the ball went in the net. So people are getting carried away with, oh, he's denied a goal-scoring opportunity, but the ball's ended up in the net. Why can't you just leave it and why can't you apply common sense? John Brooks is saying, no, I'm going to do my job. I'm sitting here and I'm doing my job to give the referee as much information as I can.

10:42Don Hutchison:They've unpacked it. I don't know why they're getting battered because they've made the right call.

10:45Gab Marcotti:I think this is, like I said, this is why I think the relationship between the two, we don't know what was said between them. I think Boston played the advantage and then I think he was going to let the goal stand but no, in the back of his mind

10:59Don Hutchison:he's got a VAR to lean on which is fine

11:01Gab Marcotti:but then once he goes to the screen when we've created this climate he felt even though occasionally we do see people disagree after they see it once he's physically once he's there, it's undeniable that Holland fouls him and whatever

11:17Don Hutchison:I know but I still lean on the fact that there were seconds left on the clock. When Ryan Cherky takes that free kick, very quickly, if Cherky takes that free kick, and it's ifs and buts, but it is, because there's still time left on the clock. No, no, no. Cherky could hit that straight into Alisson. Alisson kicks up the field. Salah scores. 2-2. You've got to apply the laws of the game. What can we go back to is the double standards on why Craig Pawson didn't send Mark Gahey off for the foul on Mo Salah.

11:41Gab Marcotti:Yeah, and that's what I wanted to get to. And by the way, but before I do, it would be hilarious if Liverpool make or miss out. If, like, this one goal, because, as you know, I don't believe in goal difference. I think goal difference is nonsense and garbage. But, sadly, that is also the rules of the Premier League. Imagine if City win or lose a title because of this goal. Yeah, but I never buy that. Or they don't qualify for Europe.

12:03Don Hutchison:I never buy that because there's a million other games that you can lean on and go, oh, we should have beat them by five instead of four. Or we should have kept a clean sheet instead of losing two or three. So I never really buy that one. Yes, the Gary Onsala. We're in agreement on this. 100 % a red card. Because if I try and paint the pitch,

12:19Gab Marcotti:Mo Salah's gotten away from Gay He's running Gay pulls up Gay who's smart And he's outside the box

12:24Don Hutchison:Pulls him back

12:25Gab Marcotti:Just outside the box

12:26Don Hutchison:So no pen Right Diaz is six yards away And the ball is two yards from Mo Salah And Jijudon Arruba Now I'm no max expert But I'm telling you If Mo Salah's two yards away And Ruben Diaz is six yards away I can tell you who's getting to the ball first And that's Salah

12:43Gab Marcotti:Arnislav agrees with you That was the right card

12:46Don Hutchison:Well, I think 99 % of people would, unless you're a Man City fan, which is fine, but Diaz ain't getting there.

12:51Gab Marcotti:All right. The Saboslay free kick. I've heard some people, not goalkeepers, questioning Donnarumma for putting the two-man wall. Let's just explain this. The reason he puts a two-man wall there is because... He wants to see it. He wants to see the ball leave. Because he knows that if he puts eight bodies in the way, he doesn't see the ball. And he knows that because Saboslay's done it before. Correct. He's hit free kicks right up in the corner. And then it's really, really hard to adjust because you only see the ball at the last minute, right? So he says, all right, what's he going to do from here?

13:22Gab Marcotti:Give me that extra second to see it. Exactly. He does get the extra second. He hits this, and I'd like you to explain to me. I'm sure you've tried, probably not in games, but you've tried this in training, right? He has to hit it exceptionally hard, but also with the outside of his foot in a certain way so that the ball, I mean, you can clearly see it, just swerves in the air. and it throws so quickly because it hits so hard. Even in slow motion, the ball flies into the net. How hard is it to do that with any kind of control?

13:52Don Hutchison:Well, I mean, without getting into the biomechanics, he doesn't even stand straight onto the ball. He stands just off the left-hand side. So technique-wise, that normally would suggest that he's going to try and whip it with the instep.

14:03Gab Marcotti:He did that to try to fold on Aroma.

14:05Don Hutchison:Yeah, but even then, though, as he runs up to it, you're thinking, well, it's an instep. Because of his body position, he's not square on. He's a yard. so in step finish top right hand corner or top left as in against Arsenal or down the middle with power so Donnarumma's thinking right I've got you covered if you in step that from 30 yards my wingspan suggests I can get there to my left hand side if you go the other way my wingspan to my right can get there if you're down the middle I can deal with it the free kick is just too good Gab he's hit it down the middle with a knuckleball Ronaldo strike with loads of fade and cut spin on it So it's cut, spinned and faded away, starting central, right into the stanchion.

14:46Don Hutchison:Sometimes you just say, forget the wall, forget the keeper. It's genius.

14:52Gab Marcotti:You've played with some ridiculous players. I'm just curious, on the training pitch, he was, what, 32, 35 yards out, something like that?

15:01Don Hutchison:Yep, yep.

15:02Gab Marcotti:No goalkeeper. Did you play with guys who could put the ball down and replicate that free kick and just put it right there, say, five out of ten times, six out of ten?

15:17Don Hutchison:There's different players with different techniques. So if you're going pure power from free kicks, Julian Dix at West Ham used to smash the ball as hard as he could. But I don't think he could fade it into the top corner. D 'Acani at West Ham, closer. Technique, he'd apply a bit of finesse.

15:32Gab Marcotti:But he'd finesse it. He wouldn't hit it like that.

15:35Don Hutchison:That's what I'm saying. so like but have you I mean like how hard is it like even like great players can't do this in training you look you look back to people who could smash the ball it's like Julian Dick Stuart Pierce Mihailovic exactly but yeah the gold standard it was just yeah but it was just off the charts good and I feel sometimes you can look a little bit deep and everyone the pundits can look a little bit deep into the wall and look into Donnarumma

15:57Gab Marcotti:it's just too good what was also too good was Donnarumma's save off of Alexis McAllister that show was deflected incidentally. It wasn't. Which actually means not only does he have to get the large body up into the air and make the strong hand, he also has to adjust mid-flight. Yeah. I thought that was unreal. And again, we talk about goals that change games, change seasons. Yeah. That was it.

16:21Don Hutchison:It's a funny one, you know, amazing save. It's a funny one and I'm a goalkeeping expert but I'm pretty sure they would say the deflection helped him in a way because it took a lot of pace off the strike. Now, obviously, that's a bit of a contradiction because the deflection and took it higher up into where it was going to go. Otherwise, it would have been a lower strike. Does that make sense? So, McAllis is hitting it sort of, I don't know, three yards off the ground, deflects then into about six, seven yards, ten yards. Amazing save, but a tad of the pace was taken off. I'm not taking anything away from the save.

16:50Don Hutchison:Just trying to apply. I think on the flip side,

16:55Gab Marcotti:the way a goalkeeper's mind works, he sees the ball go straight. Exactly. In some ways, it's easier. it's even though it comes at you much quicker, you know where it's going and you can move to get in the way. So it's 6-1, 1-1. And then he's got to react.

17:10Don Hutchison:It's amazing.

17:10Gab Marcotti:But then in this case, he had to react.

17:11Don Hutchison:That's amazing.

17:13Gab Marcotti:All right. I want to talk about the football. It looked to me, I was only watching on television, that in this game, obviously no Ryan Shirky, no Phil Foden, no Dijani Reinders. He went for a different approach. He said, Marmouche, Holland, Semenyo I'm going to have three forwards and they're all going to be pretty narrow and we're just going to clog up the middle overwhelm Gravenberch and the centre backs force Liverpool wide that worked a charm in the first half I thought

17:47Don Hutchison:amazing

17:49Gab Marcotti:and then in the second half first 15 minutes already Liverpool were back into it and were creating chances yeah how did Slott counteract that

17:58Don Hutchison:so tactically when you Again, I keep going back to being ground level. You've got to problem solve as a player. So you would have had the team line-up come in on the sheet beforehand. You would have seen Marmouche. You'd go, yep, he's playing wide left. Semenyo, yep, he's definitely playing wide right. Harland 100 % through the middle. So Pep played three up top to try and keep Liverpool's four back into their shape, keep their full-backs into their shape. So Liverpool had to try and problem solve. They clogged the middle. They got Bernardo Silva on the ball. I thought it was amazing in the game.

18:24Don Hutchison:I thought Gerhi was immaculate. It's like a Rolls-Royce. I think he's one of the best in the Prem. Even though he should have been sent off. Yeah, yeah. And then I think when you get in at half-time, you've got that 50 minutes of trying to analyse, right, like boss coaches, what's going on here? And they'll have told you, they've probably showed you one or two bits of analysis. To counteract that, the full-backs then have to be a lot braver. And I thought Sabozlai got forward more from right-back and I thought Kerkhez had an excellent game at left-back.

18:49Gab Marcotti:But they were playing narrow, though, the three. The three, yes.

18:52Don Hutchison:It allows the full-backs to go around. If you're brave, right? Because when you simplify it, you see he's three, you've always got to have one more. So you keep four at the back. You keep your two centre-backs, two full-backs in a four. Quite sort of static. Mark the three, you've got the one extra. If you're then brave to counter-attack that and you go, right, our full-backs, Sabozla, get on your bike. Kerkhez, get on your bike. One of those two ain't staying there. So you drag. It's like a poker game. So Marmouche or Semenyo is then going to go, hang on a minute, they're getting space in the wider areas.

19:20Don Hutchison:We've got to now do something. So it's all about problem-solving on the pitch. City were by far the best team in the first half. I thought they nailed Liverpool in their ability, in the approach. But then Liverpool problem-solved, as you said before. They were brilliant for probably 20, 30 minutes of the game until the chaos.

19:35Gab Marcotti:Yeah, so Ekitike had a couple really clear-cut chances. Yeah. The Virts' chance were... It's a lazy finish. I was really disappointed in Virts in this game. And it kind of reinforced my notion that Virts behind a striker with two wingers is not something you can carry this season. it just takes a ton of work but still it was an impressive second half from Liverpool bar the finishing what I want to ask you about this set up what I feel we've seen from one thing that says these two guys apart is Slott has changed things around because he's trying to find balance trying to get the team to play better

20:19Don Hutchison:and he's trying to get his individuals to play better Kerkhez is now playing a lot better than he did two months ago.

20:25Gab Marcotti:Pep, on the other hand, I don't... He has made big changes throughout the year and I know like Jules and I had... I don't think City have played consistently No, I'd agree with you. I think they look fragile. And now in this game, you drop Shirky, who may be your best, most consistent attacking players.

20:47Don Hutchison:But then you can look at it and think, can I carry a Maverick at Anfield away when I think they've won three in 52 games. So no, you can't. So it wasn't Pep's call right in the end.

20:58Gab Marcotti:I guess maybe he viewed this as a one-off game to try to get a result, but I just still don't understand what they're building towards. I don't understand, you know, if they were to play a Champions League final, like would he just come up with a bespoke line? Because I think one of the issues that's hurting them this season is chemistry. You know, Jules says, oh, with Lenders, they want to press more and blah, blah, blah. But sure, but all this stuff takes chemistry, takes coordination. time yeah and when you're consistent constantly changing the team and he's not changing the team because he's stupid he's changing the team because they're not playing well yeah and for the opposition and well for the opposition in this game but most weeks you know they're not playing Liverpool at Anfield yeah yeah um I don't know I don't I feel like we're nowhere closer certainly Gaye I mean it's going to have a monumental effect at the back the rest of the season just I think he's the best in the prem maybe uh we'll see when you know Ruben Diaz is back now Now, Kustanov's actually improved.

21:54Gab Marcotti:You know, I'm still not a fan. I don't know. He's going to be great.

21:57Don Hutchison:He is going to be with an older head on and a few years' time with experience because he is rapid. He's just too rash at the moment, but he's improving.

22:06Gab Marcotti:He's certainly very athletic. But I'm going to view this, since you like your percentages. So not that long ago, last time we did this, I think Jules said 60 % Arsenal, 30 % City 10 % Villa you threw me then 63 ,000 I think we can leave Villa out of it gone there is that head-to-head obviously at the head-to-head which is going to be huge I think it's early April yeah

22:35Don Hutchison:fixtures for City now I think into that game are very very kind on paper

22:40Gab Marcotti:alright so give me your percentages

22:42Don Hutchison:well it's funny because last week on FC I was 90-10 I thought it was all over but now it's been changing all the time it's been 60-40 it's been 70-30 my latest one was 90-10 now I think I'm back to 70-30 in Arsenal's favour because 6 points is 6 points and I don't think City explain this it was 6 points last week too

23:03Gab Marcotti:yeah I know but so wait City come out of a game they could have lost so how did they gain 20 % when there's one fewer match

23:11Don Hutchison:because they went to Anfield and won because this was all done before the game so I'm thinking like you know Arsenal Arsenal was a banker against Sunderland home banker so they'll stretch it to nine 100 % before the Arsenal fixture I knew they were going to win they're too strong then you go like would you put your mortgage on Man City going to Anfield and winning with three and 52 no would you make Liverpool favourites maybe is the likely outcome going to be a draw yeah okay so you calculated

23:36Gab Marcotti:on City dropping points in this game exactly you didn't do that and that's why you're back to 60-40 70-30 70-30 now there you go Don Hutchinson's patented percentages

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25:04Gab Marcotti:Shopify.com slash network. Save money and get a better view of the road when you replace your worn-out wiper blades at O 'Reilly Auto Parts. Right now, save$10 on a pair of Rain-X Latitude Wiper Blades. They feature beam blade technology to improve windshield contact for maximum visibility. The professional parts people will even install your new Wiper Blades for free. Choose Rain-X Latitude Wiper Blades at your local O 'Reilly Auto Parts store or online at OReillyAuto.com. All right, enough city. How about some quick hits instead? Let's do it. But Gutierre Medo gets himself sent off inside a half an hour and Manchester United rolls with 2-0 win over Tottenham Hotspur.

25:45Gab Marcotti:Don, six red cards for Colmeiro since he got to Spurs. That's who I want as my captain. Yeah. Or do you want to just rather praise United?

25:53Don Hutchison:Both. I mean, Michael Carrick, what a job he's done. Four wins on the spin. The boy on Instagram is one more win away from getting his hair chopped. I mean, he's made a mockery, really, Michael, of Ruben Amirim and the job that he'd done there.

26:05Gab Marcotti:Absolutely useless. there's a United fan who said he wouldn't cut his hair until United won five games in a row it's literally out here

26:13Don Hutchison:what's he doing? what is Romero doing? he's an absolute liability do you remember when Mo Salah come out and he criticised Arnaz Slot and he criticised Liverpool Liverpool then travelled to San Siro to play Inter Milan dropped from the squad left him behind was this back

26:27Gab Marcotti:when everybody agreed that 1000 % Mo Salah's going to Saudi everybody knew that everybody agreed

26:33Don Hutchison:I feel for Thomas Frank because if he takes him out the team and leaves them behind and Spurs lose the game, he's going to get hammered. But now he's a liability.

26:41Gab Marcotti:Did he not know that this guy, this is how he operates? He did not go know about this guy and his injuries and then he goes off and gets training and ends up in some resort somewhere. Who, Thomas Frank? No, Romero. Romero's whole history. No, I know that. You made him captain, bro.

26:58Don Hutchison:But if Thomas Frank stays in the job, he'll be playing for Atletico Madrid in the summer. He will not be at Tottenham. Guarantees a liability.

27:05Gab Marcotti:But the The fun fact about Tottenham is they've won two games in 2026, both against German oppositions. They could always apply to join the Bundesliga.

27:15Don Hutchison:What's happened to Barca Gab? They beat Mallorca 3-0 to stay top of La Liga. La Minna Mal, bit special.

27:21Gab Marcotti:Oh my God, that goal. You know they, when you make something really difficult, look easy.

27:26Don Hutchison:Yeah.

27:26Gab Marcotti:And it was important too, because they were 1-0 up. All right, they batted them in the first half. But then, you know, we've seen this in Barcelona, right? oh, just the one goal, we've wasted a lot of chances and the other team nicks a goal, and then all of a sudden everything's on fire because of the defensive issues which are still there. No, the 2-0, put it away. Happy for Bernal, too, who scored the third goal. Phenomenal, phenomenal footballer. Really unlucky, of course, with a bad injury. But I think they have a really good one there. Gotta go there, Don. I'm sorry. Dango Watara scores the late winner and Brentford win 3-2 away to Newcastle.

28:02Gab Marcotti:So, bottom half of the table now.

28:03Don Hutchison:It's painful now, Gab. I'm a massive Eddie Howe fan, and I hope Newcastle don't rush into any daft decisions by reading social media, because Newcastle fans are starting to turn, which I think it's absolutely ridiculous. It's been a poor season, on the road especially. Away form has not been great. And then the one thing I would always sit here and lean on is you can throw PSG, you can throw Real Madrid, Barcelona, Man City, Man United, Liverpool, anyone, at St. James' Park, I'll back Newcastle to win. Once they start losing now against Brentford at home, that's the worry.

28:39Gab Marcotti:How big are the transfers? Because look, in the summer, he did not have a director of football, which some people suggest he didn't want one. And did not have a chief executive, which I think is also really important in this. And you look at the signings in the summer. Aliso's injured, hasn't contributed much. Volta Mata, probably not right to be the centre forward. 55 Alanga there's a lot of fingers pointed at what happened and what the newcomers have found

29:06Don Hutchison:yeah I feel a little bit for Eddie Howe because once the whatever it was 125 million came in for Isak they had to buy and they had to buy bodies and they had to try and find quality other clubs knew that Newcastle were swilling in money so they had to overpay on a lot of the signings and on the face of it when you see the names coming in you thought actually after losing Isak that's a pretty good window on what you think the quality and what you think the names that have come in. The very ultimatum for 90 million? I mean, that's what I'm saying. It's excessive. Alanga, 55 million. That's why, anyhow,

29:41Gab Marcotti:you cannot be a coach and I had to recruit him at the same time.

29:45Don Hutchison:He was forced to do that. Exactly. So you have to feel for him when he's trying to do his job and then he's trying to deal with Isak not even training, coming away from camp. Then Isak goes and it went to the last few days and he's got to try and find replacements. He's got to try and find qualities. He's waiting on Brentford to see what Wissa's doing. I've got to say, not on Eddie Howe, but it's a bit of a mess.

30:03Gab Marcotti:Thank you, Donald Hutchison Howe.

30:05Don Hutchison:Inter beat up Sassuolo by five. Di Marco was on flames. What, he had three assists and hit the crossbar?

30:11Gab Marcotti:Yeah, Di Marco's a bit special. They're strengthening the grip at the top of the table. What I think sets Inter apart from other contenders in Serie A, or wannabe contenders, is that they understand that when you play a bad team, like Sassuolo and Sassuolo are not very good, and they get worse when Nemanja Matic gets sent off in the 54th minute. Although, to be fair, they were 4-0 down at that point. Score a goal. Then rather than just sit and wait and say, oh, we'll hit on the counter. No, no. Keep attacking. Keep taking the game to them. The best way to win after you score the goal is to go and try to score a second goal.

30:42Gab Marcotti:And Inter know that, and they know that, and that's why they don't drop points against the smaller teams. Victor Jokeres comes off the bench to score twice as Arsenal defeat Sunderland 3-0. Don, Arteta marches on.

30:54Don Hutchison:Oh, this was a test, Gab. This was a test. I thought Sunderland were absolutely brilliant in this game. They went man for man.

31:00Gab Marcotti:Even without Granit Xhaka.

31:01Don Hutchison:No, they didn't need him. Siddiqui was amazing in midfield. Broby was like a man-possessed up front. They went man for man when Arsenal were trying to play it from the back, forced them to go long. They were aggressive in their tackles. It was a great game to commentate on. But Arsenal were just too big, too strong, too fast in the end. And I'll tell you what.

31:17Gab Marcotti:Giocharis, I think he's now up to eight goals. Couple off the bench. 13, I think he's going to end up with 20 in all comps this season. I like the fact that you can start with Gabriel Jesus and Kai Havertz coming from deeper and you've got to worry about chasing little Jesus around and then this big dude comes off the bench as a defender, it's as a change of pace

31:38Don Hutchison:Do you know what Gab, I think in England we get bogged down sometimes with a manager what's his best 11, he's got to have a best 11 he must have a best 11, I don't think in this case Arteta's got a best 11 I think he'll chop and change, I think you look at the opposition

31:50Gab Marcotti:I think it's Declan Rice and the two centre-backs. And the keeper? And the keeper's ridiculously good. And then you go...

31:57Don Hutchison:Even Saka and Udegaard,

31:58Gab Marcotti:who you thought were critical to this team.

32:01Don Hutchison:And you fill in the blanks from there? Yeah, no, I agree. No Vinny, no Bellingham, no problem for Real Madrid, Gab. They stay one point behind Barca with a 2-0 win against Valencia.

32:09Gab Marcotti:Yeah, I wouldn't say no problem. I mean, in terms of result, no problem. A lot of it's to do with the fact that Valencia is in an even more toxic situation. The fans there absolutely hate Peter Lim in the ownership, their fighting and said they were ready to pull out the white hankies. We got to see Jimenez make his debut at right back. We even saw Trent Alexander Arnold appearance off the bench. But here's my takeaway. Before the Alvaro Carreras goal, which was basically him bulldozing his way into the defense. Well done. But again, total individual goal. That was minute 65. To that point, Real Madrid had a total XG of 0.33.

32:51Gab Marcotti:I'm not sure. You can't have 0.33 XG in 65 minutes of football.

32:55Don Hutchison:How have they got this much talent but you wonder and you look and you go is something just not right?

33:00Gab Marcotti:Is it individuals? His plan in this one is like alright let's have the three hard working midfielders and then I'll have Arda behind Gonzalo Garcia and Mbappe and if people don't run against a mass defence and try to get open you're not going to and you don't have patterns to play. It's just a lot of onus of Gula to invent anything. So Mbappe, by the way, 38 goals and 31 with his garbage time strike. Comes with the asterisk of two penalties, but Cole Palmer does get a hat-trick as Chelsea win 3-1 at Wolves. Don, Rosinor has defeated everybody his face since taking over other than Arsenal.

33:36Don Hutchison:I think he's done an amazing job. I think he's done a great job. I think when you look at it on paper, he's doing the job. My takeaway from the Napoli game, and I felt for him a little bit because he understood and it was understandable why he rested loads of players after the Napoli game three day turnaround into the West Ham game and they were outplayed in the first half against West Ham who battered them really then he made the changes to bring his best players on at half time and end up winning the game against West Ham 3-2 his takeaway was that some of the guys that are on the bench are not as good as his first team players so now you think?

34:09Don Hutchison:no no no no but sometimes you that was Merezka's takeaway too that's why he didn't appreciate having Jamie Giddens shoved down everybody's throat no I know When you put so much into a game in Naples, then you play West Ham, it's understandable why you'd rest three or four players. But then sometimes you realize, actually, like my first team's so strong. Like I've got to get these guys out the pitch as much as possible, which seems to the layman very, very obvious. But what you can't do is keep playing the same first 11 over and over again because then you get injuries.

34:36Gab Marcotti:That's not what Maneska did either. But I need to just move on from Maneska. I will say this. I think it's really interesting. Jules is convinced that you cannot play Enzo and Caicedo as a two in midfield. You need another guy in there, whether it's Rhys James, of course, unavailable here, or Andre Santos. That's what we saw in this game, right? Yeah, but you could play

34:55Don Hutchison:Caicedo, Enzo, and Parma 10. Yeah, Jules doesn't think you can. The Oracle says you can't do it that way, will you? Speaking of... PSG. Haven't been hitting the right notes this season, Gab, but we saw Dembele score a brilliant goal and Desiree Dwey benched. All that changed. No, no, no.

35:13Gab Marcotti:You're reading it wrong, Don't worry, I'll pick up on this. Go on. It's gotten so bad that he's benched Dembele and Dewey in recent games. Right? No, you said he scored a great goal and then Dewey was benched. Both these guys were benched. Dembele scored a great goal and they were both on the bench. In previous games, not in this game. They started in this game. It was the Paris Saint-Germain of last season that we saw here.

35:37Don Hutchison:I'm chucking Freddie under the bus, by the way, because it doesn't say that there. Yeah, Freddie needs to do a better job with these questions.

35:42Gab Marcotti:Freddie! They win the 1-5 now. They hit the woodwork a bunch of times. 4.41 expected goals. I know when Marseille are hit or miss, but when they're good, Marseille are good. They were terrible in this game. I think this makes a statement. We all remember what happened last season. They started so slowly. Look, this year they're out of the Coupe de France. They're neck and neck with Lones in the league. They weren't great in the Champions League. I think they conceded 10 goals in eight games. And this reminds you on their day what they can do. I'd be very concerned in the Champions League because if they have the second half of the season like they did last year...

36:15Don Hutchison:So is Jules' logic then they're just getting started?

36:18Gab Marcotti:Yes.

36:19Don Hutchison:That'll be the logic.

36:20Gab Marcotti:This is the lucho grand plan. Hoff and I had been on a teardrop and after dropping points in consecutive league games, some wondered if Bayern would slip up again. That's not what happened. They win 5-1 with a hat-trick from Luis Diaz. I got to ask you, would Liverpool have been better off keeping him instead of spending all that money on Alexander-Isak?

36:38Don Hutchison:100%. 100%, Gab. I mean, I sat there in the summer and I read the headlines that Luis Diaz was going to be on the move and I was thinking, am I the only one that thinks this guy is unplayable? He played as a false nine for Liverpool at times. He plays off the left-hand side. He works back. He's aggressive. He's ultra-talented when he's got the ball at his feet. He commits defenders. He scores goals. He's not even anywhere near his prime. I think it was a poor mistake from Liverpool to let Luis Diaz.

37:07Gab Marcotti:29 years old, 18 goals already this season. Frightening player. career best. I got to say, just about the game, Bayern, they were helped by the fact that Akpoguma was shown red after just 17 minutes. But then after that, until halftime, they were kind of all over the place. They did score two goals, the other Kane penalty, and then Diaz in half. But he was involved in everything, Oni, Diaz. What I'm saying is there was that massive wobble at 1-0, which lasted almost until, well, until the second penalty. So I think that is something that Vincent Kompany needs to keep an eye on.

37:39Don Hutchison:Yeah.

37:40Gab Marcotti:I don't think Bayern are where they want to be right now, despite obviously you look at a 5-1 win. There's still stuff to work on.

37:46Don Hutchison:No, but off the back of the Liverpool chat there, they've got to try and find a Luis Diaz replacement, which is nigh on, in my opinion, impossible. I think the guy's a genius. Cody Gakpo thanks you for the show of support. Cody Gakpo can play, but he's not as good as Luis Diaz. Talking of Juve, Gab, they come from two goals down. What a game against Lazio to draw 2-2 thanks to Kouloulou's injury time equaliser. did Spalletti get things wrong?

38:11Gab Marcotti:Yeah, this is what really bugs me. I've touched upon this before. In Italy, because Juve are Italy's biggest club, there's this thing called the Juve Sphere, which, a bit like United over here, you have all these ex-players, and the commentariat, they turn pundits, and plus you have a whole bunch of Juve fans who I don't even think like football, I think they just like looking at results. So they have no appreciation for when Juve actually played well. They just want to see Juve win 1-0. They hearken back to the past. And so they look at this and they say, oh, look, we dropped two points at home.

38:43Gab Marcotti:You dropped two points at home because on one goal, Locatelli makes a mistake and it's a deflected goal. On the second goal, Isakson scores a world. Why not celebrate the fact that Juve absolutely battered them? Rather than going and complaining about Jonathan David and this and that, which they always seem to do, and go and bring up Barzaghi, Borucchi, Killini, Del Piero. Dude, this is the present. This is what you're facing with. This Juve side are attacking. I did not think Spalletti was going to have them playing this well, this quickly. They should have scored sooner. And when you watch the game, they pumped them.

39:21Gab Marcotti:They absolutely pumped them. 2-2 was a fair result. In fact, Juve win, I think, would have been a fair result. Yeah. Watching someone close go through loss really changes your perspective. You see how quickly grief can turn into financial stress, and it's something no family should have to deal with during an already difficult time. Experiences like that make people think differently about planning ahead and protecting the people they love. Life insurance isn't about expecting the worst. It's about being prepared and knowing your family will be supported if something unexpected happens. That's why life insurance through Ethos is worth considering.

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41:15Gab Marcotti:Call 1-800-GRAINGER, click grainger.com, or just stop by. Sticking with you there, Kevin Yildiz has put pen to paper on an extension through 2030. Finally. Don, are you a fan? What a player.

41:29Don Hutchison:What a player. I mean, Juve protected their asset, just in case anyone thinks about sniffing on about 100 million quid. But we've seen loads of him. I mean, what a talent. I mean, what a player. We talked about Luis Diaz being direct. His kid's got loads of potential.

41:46Gab Marcotti:I think he's loads of protection. And he's so smart. He's so mature. He really is an absolute gem.

41:53Don Hutchison:Dortmund win 2-1 at Wolfsburg. Gerasi bags the winner gab. They're six points behind Bayern.

41:58Gab Marcotti:Yeah, but they still show the same Dortmund-like qualities, which makes you think that they need to get a whole lot better if they're really going to challenge. And I'll give you an example. So they score in the first half. They're 1-0 up. La-di-da. Wolfsburg aren't good. Manage the game and so on. Early in the second half, Wolfsburg, they get a free kick. All right, fine. One of those free kicks over from the side. No real threat. Defend. No. The Greek guy, I forget his name now. so the name starts with a K. He's completely unmarked. They forget he's there. It's like he dematerializes and rematerializes, and he gets a wide open-handed.

42:38Gab Marcotti:How does your concentration just go away? I mean, it's literally, and it's got to be infuriating. I'm lucky for him that he's made up with Sir Huggirasi, who I'm lucky for him that Huggirasi's scoring again, and they get it. I mean, look, they got the head-to-head with Bayern. They can win it, and then they're unpaid. They let you down. Three points, but you know.

42:56Don Hutchison:They are the best team in European football at letting you down because as soon as they play someone like Mainz, they'll get beat.

43:02Gab Marcotti:Yeah, they've taken that crown from Inter. I'll tell you that. Aston Villa held 1-1 at Bournemouth. Don, they're still third with a three-point cushion over fourth. But are they losing steam?

43:14Don Hutchison:Yeah, it's almost like they're a 100-meter sprint at Aston Villa and they're dipping for the line. They want the season to end tomorrow. They look a little bit fatigued, apart from Morgan Rodgers, who's just like a phenomenal footballer.

43:25Gab Marcotti:By the way, can we remind people that celebration that Cole Palmer does, which he trademarked, he copied it from Morgan Rodgers.

43:34Don Hutchison:So what happens then is does Rodgers get any sort of royalties from it? I think they're friends because they were obviously teammates at Manchester City. He must be thinking, hang on, you've patented that move. He should cut him in. Yeah, I think they're dipping for the line. I think the squad looks a little bit weak in terms of players being injured. Telemans is a massive miss. I think he's like a brilliant football brain high level IQ sensational player but I just think that the last couple of results suggest that they might be on they look a little bit tired Dallas-Louis not quite the same thing no Napoli needed a controversial late penalty converted by Rasmus Holland to win 3-2 against Genoa Conte running on fumes?

44:14Gab Marcotti:I yeah I mean this just aged Conte even more right now there is good news in this other than the three points the McTominay went off injured. It looks like he's going to be okay. He might even be able to play in the Coppa Italia against Gomo this week. What a goal. Scored a tremendous goal again. Conte said, all right, I'll have to put my boots on now if we lose McTominay as well, because obviously they've had 20 billion injuries. A lot of attention is paid on the fact that a lot of Napoli's problems, though, this season, apart from the injuries, are frankly self-inflicted. Alessandro Bojono to massive mistakes in this game I think he was overly hyped and you'll remember he's also the guy who made the mistake against Copenhagen which ultimately is why Napoli are not in the Champions League anymore he's having a really really rough time Juan Jesus as well what bro you forget you're on a yellow card and he gets himself stupidly sent off these things have got to really infuriate Conte even more I would make a joke about him losing his hair but obviously I won't go there and in the end the penalty that won them Maxwell Cornelius Vergara it you know obviously if you go if you step on somebody's foot it's a foul it's a penalty I'm not even sure that's what happened it looks like he brushes his foot and so they got really really lucky with that one and got lucky that Hoyland actually managed to finish

45:36Don Hutchison:Do you think with this squad that he's got Conte he's actually overachieved winning the league last year and still sitting in the top four at the minute because I look at the team stylistically and the individuals who are getting on a little bit, apart from the likes of De Bruyne and that quality and when Lukaku's fit. But it's like a workman-like side.

45:54Gab Marcotti:I don't necessarily think so. I think it's a side that executes, but I think last year's squad is different than this year because everybody's injured this year. I mean, this is the main thing. You cannot give up so many players. And if you have, I don't know, I wouldn't describe Zambanguisa and Lubaka as workman-like. No, but they're not like flamboyant.

46:13Don Hutchison:But they're not like flamboyant, sexy players. They're brilliant players In their own run No I love them I love Anguissa

46:17Gab Marcotti:I don't know I don't think so I just think it's Impossible to judge When you've got Such an injury crisis Let's go to one of Your old clubs Don Which one? Well Everton Come from behind To be Fulham 2-1 With a bit of Moisey magic In the last 15 minutes And also some help From Baron Glenow Who punches the ball Into his own net Fifth place is just Six points away Are you dreaming That Champions League dream?

46:45Don Hutchison:I mean, they're only a couple of points away from Liverpool as well. I mean, they would take finishing above Liverpool all day long. Because our coefficient is strong and it's 99.9 % done, that top five will get Champions League football. They can dream of European football. I think, in all honesty, I think they won't miss. They won't get Champions League. I think Chelsea are nailed on for that fifth position. But European football, I mean, why not? Moises has been there before. He's took Everton there before. He's took West Ham there before. I don't know why he gets a bad rap. Are you on the Conference League bus?

47:12Don Hutchison:No, that's what you play for. You play for European football. It doesn't matter which one it is. But I don't know why Mojia doesn't get a lot more love me and the job that he's done at Everton and West Ham. Take it up with Jules. Yeah. Atletico Madrid suffered their first home defeat in nearly 11 months, losing 1-0 to Betis Gab. Thought they had the equaliser. VAR said otherwise.

47:33Gab Marcotti:Yeah, so if you watch this, it's a weird one. They're 1-0 down. The cross comes in. Diego Llorente, under pressure from Griezmann, heads it into his own net. It's one of those where semi-automatic offside, like Griezmann's toe was beyond the line and obviously was interfering with play because otherwise Diego Jantz would have headed it. You couldn't whittle it down to that, but there's other reasons behind it. They did not play well at all. Jan Oblak, who never makes a mistake, certainly should have done better on the Anthony goal that he conceded. Again, I'm judging Oblak by Oblak standards. Rodri Mendoza started in midfield.

48:12Gab Marcotti:these news from Elche, he's not the real deal at all. And obviously you miss guys like Barrios, like Cardozo. They've had a lot of injuries. They're just flat. And it seems that this has been going on a while now. And they need to look over the kickoff in a few hours. They need to look over their shoulder for that third spot. Daily Telegraph reports that Tottenham Hotspur are looking to hire another director of football to sit alongside Johan Lange, especially now that Fabio Paratici has left because of course you have to have two directors of football because one's not enough. Are you a fan of having multiple ones?

48:48Gab Marcotti:I mean, look, Chelsea have five de facto ones. Look how good they're doing.

48:52Don Hutchison:Telling you, Gab, I've said this for years, right? When I get reincarnated, I'm coming back as a sporting director. But do you want to be one of two? No, but it's the easiest job in the world. Is it? Oh, of course it is, Gab. Imagine if you're a manager, right? And you say to me, right, Don, go and find me as the sporting director, three left backs. I go downstairs in the building to my scouting team, my data team. I go, right, guys, I want three left backs. They come up to me and go, here's your three left backs, Don. And I go, here you go, Gab. Here's your three left backs. Which one do you want?

49:23Don Hutchison:It's just the easiest job in the world.

49:26Gab Marcotti:I want the one that costs$100 million, Don. Do you know how to go into this? Right, you can't have him.

49:29Don Hutchison:So here's the price. So data, guys, right, let's go to the CEO. Which one can we afford? You can't have the$100 million one. We can spend$55 million. Right, so there's two left out of the three? Yeah. Right here, Gab. Here's two out of three. Which one do you want? Honestly, man, it's the easiest job in the world.

49:44Gab Marcotti:I so disagree with you. I think it's not just about recruitment. It's also about being the liaison between the coach and...

49:52Don Hutchison:But you've got CEOs that you can lean on for the finances and stuff.

49:55Gab Marcotti:I don't want the CEO giving a football opinion.

49:58Don Hutchison:No, no, no, no. I'm not saying that. I'm saying once you've done your job in finding Gab, the manager, the players, which one can we afford? Go and check it out with the CEO.

50:05Gab Marcotti:It's about knowing how to manage contracts. it's it's I think it is a big job what's interesting here is that why do they need to right I know so it's been suggested by some that you're on longer heavily invested in Thomas Frank maybe a little too close to Thomas Frank right and maybe you need somebody else in to be the ax man well that's gonna conflict

50:25Don Hutchison:when the two of them sit in a room and have an argument well do we keep them do we not do we keep them do we not who's continue like this so which one of

50:33Gab Marcotti:those two will have the power well the power ultimately is going to rest with enic right on the club but if you're on language like i am never recommending but can you imagine that can you

50:43Don Hutchison:imagine the scenario right playing devil's advocate the two sporting directors sit down with enic and they sit in a room and enic say what we're doing with thomas frank and he goes keep him and he goes get rid of him and then enic are going well which one who's got who's got to say this is the

50:58Gab Marcotti:absurdity i think you look i think it helps to have a large group of people giving you input from different perspective and different skill sets but there has to be one person making the decision definitely who is ultimately accountable and who's going to you know be that voice to the ownership to the ceo and say all right this is what as a team we've decided and ultimately i decided because i'm the one who's accountable and these people report into me and then obviously in the end it's the club that rubber stamps or not.

51:27Don Hutchison:So let's me and you come back as sporting directors. There you go. I think we'd make an excellent team. Lens stay hot on the heels of Paris Saint-Germain with a 3-1 win over Rennes. Gab, they have come from beyond to do it. A new Liverpool signing, Jadamit Jacquet, went off injured.

51:43Gab Marcotti:Yeah, so I'll deal with the game first. They went behind, I thought they had the upper half-year-old buddy, Odson Edouard, as I was very, very impressive. and then around the hour mark Alan St-Maximin came on after his nightmare in Mexico scored a ridiculous circle yeah you miss him from the night you wish he was back in Newcastle don't you he's a a little too much of language for you

52:09Don Hutchison:probably a great maverick

52:11Gab Marcotti:but the other news line here for Liverpool fans Jeremy Jacquet he went off injured we'll know more today as we record this certainly what they were reporting in France was suspected broken collarbone which is not a good injury now you're you've dislocated shoulder i've had that but not collarbone but you've had teammates who've broken their collarbone what how does this set him back i mean all liverpool fans care about it sorry long sorry ren you'll be fine you're not going to get relegated but we have more surprisingly we probably have more liverpool fans listening to us than ren fans because they're concerned yeah but will it in will he be good to go for preseason i would have thought so I would have thought

52:50Don Hutchison:does it have any

52:51Gab Marcotti:lasting effects

52:52Don Hutchison:on mobility I mean as I said I've not fractured a collarbone but I've dislocated a shoulder but you've had teammates

52:57Gab Marcotti:who've fractured a collarbone yeah yeah yeah

52:59Don Hutchison:but I mean the surgeons are so good the rehab now is so good so nothing to worry about I mean I wouldn't I mean listen I can't see it in the same for sure but I wouldn't have thought I'd be more stressed if it was a lower limb injury if it was an ACL or an ankle fracture or something where you obviously need a lower part of your your body than you do top off so touch wood he's going to be alright

53:19Gab Marcotti:yeah I and by the way you could also say bullet dodged imagine if they had if they had managed to pry him loose from Ren in January but he wouldn't injure his shoulder would he well no if he had injured his shoulder that would have been like but he wouldn't Arnest Slott at that point would say like I am cursed by Satan here yeah quick time out some breakfast intel you want to know about Kodiak frozen power waffles and flapjacks are built for busy mornings heat it eat it and you're out the door. No long prep, no complicated game plan. They're packed with 12 to 14 grams of protein per serving, a good source of fiber and crafted with 100 % whole grains, not refined white flour.

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54:51Gab Marcotti:Leicester City have been docked six points for breaching profit and sustainability rules. Don, I don't follow the championship, but I am reliably informed that they're in serious danger of slipping down to League One now.

55:03Don Hutchison:You don't like these rules at all, do you? Well, me and you have had that discussion for a long time. I mean, I don't know the nuances of what Leicester's done. they spent much more

55:14Gab Marcotti:than they were supposed to have spent but apparently pretty bad as well and yep and according to the investigators they also didn't cooperate as fully as they should have there you go they actually wanted I think an eight like a 12 point ban

55:27Don Hutchison:or something like that and I think it was so sort of messy from what I'm read as well as even if they got promoted back to the Premier League the Premier League could then hit them with it was nuts absolutely

55:38Gab Marcotti:yeah like ultimately if the rules are I just told this before with the goal that was disallowed at Anfield. If the rules are there, they have to be followed, right? Whether you agree with them or not.

55:49Don Hutchison:Nah, not for me. So should I beat LJ3-1 Gab? Your boy, Mazzarazzo?

55:56Gab Marcotti:Rino Mazzarazzo. Mazzarazzo. Put some respect on that name.

56:00Don Hutchison:Sounds like Mazzarazzi, my former teammate.

56:04Gab Marcotti:Yeah, it's pretty phenomenal. Comes in during the Christmas break. their holiday break eight games unbeaten they were two points off the drop zone when he took over he's now eighth in the table what's his story where's he from Rino Matarazzo is from New Jersey New Jersey New Jersey he took I love telling I told the story if I'll tell it again so I think there's only three American coaches who have coached in a big five league in Europe one of them of course is Jesse Marsh another one is Bob Bradley both of them went to Princeton Rino Matarazzo went to Columbia another very fancy ivy league school unlike the other two rino materazzo after colombia says all right do i want to fight my way into mls or do i want to go to europe and see what happens there goes to europe discovers not very good at playing football so he plays semi-professionally in germany gets his coaching badges works his way up literally from the very bottom of the heap in uh in germany and um obviously had stints at hoffenheim i think at stuttgart as well and now he's at Real Sociedad and he has a talented team obviously Saba, Alcubo so on and he's absolutely turned them around wow let's go to another of your former clubs which one?

57:21Gab Marcotti:West Ham win 2-0 away to Burnley now that coupled with Nottingham Forest 3-0 defeat means safety is now just 3 points away

57:30Don Hutchison:come on you're a believer are you? 100 % you're that Nuno poster over your bed

57:35Gab Marcotti:I'm not a Nuno fan but I'm a bit

57:38Don Hutchison:can I say something

57:38Gab Marcotti:yeah I think other than his immediate family I don't think there's anybody in the world who's a Nuno fan no

57:44Don Hutchison:it's just a bit weird isn't it it's just I don't know if he's like too laid back or like you want him to show a bit of passion for the job or whatever but what I would say the signings have been brilliant Castellanos Castellanos has been amazing you know only scored one goal but the way he's led the line

57:58Gab Marcotti:I was so shocked because ultimately it's Tati Castellanos and he laid a big turd at Lazio in the first six months of the year I thought what's going on

58:06Don Hutchison:yeah and you know he's led the line really well I think he's took the pressure off Jared Bowen who had to be sort of forced into playing false nine at times I think the player that's looking like a Champions League footballer in my opinion is Fernandes in midfield what a player West Ham player of the season oh 100 % what a player so the sign that they've made has galvanised them

58:27Gab Marcotti:and the big boy too the forward Jesus yeah no is it Jesus Jesus I thought it was Pedro or Pablo Pablo Pablo Jesus Pablo Jesus

58:36Don Hutchison:Yeah, yeah. He's a big unit. Oh, he's a unit, yeah. So he tends to start. And the team and the shape sort of change as well, where he plays 4-4-1-1. So he has those two boys off each other. But it's just made Jarrod Bone into a better player. Not like having to lead the line when it's not his role back to goal. It's freed him up a little bit. The system's better. They look a little bit more, I wouldn't say solid, but they look a little bit better at the back by keeping things that little bit more simpler. So, yeah, I think when you analyse the job that he's done, I think he's been pretty sound.

59:05Don Hutchison:and I am a believer now that they can stay up. 100%. Well, I can't say 100%, but I'm believing. All right, give me percentages. Well, three points ahead for a star, so a little way back. I'm going to go 60-40 West Ham's favour. Oh, you're trolling Mr. Marinakis. I am. You're trolling Mr. Marinakis. Not going to like that. What's happening in the Vietnam gab? they've announced plans to build 135 ,000 seat a stadium not a bad seat in the house yeah so okay

59:42Gab Marcotti:so i'm not an architect i'm kind of fascinated by this so i actually looked this up i asked google gemini so the biggest stadium in the world is the narendra modi stadium in india but they play cricket there and i i've never been there but i'm also the cricket pitch is also a lot bigger than a football pitch i'm assuming there's just more circumference around whatever yeah so i'm more interested in places where you play football. The May the 1st stadium, which is in Pyongyang, holds 114 ,000. But again, I don't think anybody we know has ever been there.

1:00:13Don Hutchison:May the 1st stadium? What a bad name that is.

1:00:16Gab Marcotti:What? You don't like celebrating May Day, International Workers' Day? I'm just saying, like, May the 1st stadium. Okay. What's wrong with the working man?

1:00:23Don Hutchison:No, I'm not saying that. I'm just saying it's a bad name for a stadium.

1:00:27Gab Marcotti:You didn't celebrate May Day? You didn't dance around the Maypole as a child?

1:00:31Don Hutchison:I'm not on about that. I'm just saying it seems a funny name for a stadium. It's not funny. It's a celebrate the worker in this country.

1:00:37Gab Marcotti:It's in line with their branding. And then, of course, the big house at Michigan holds 107 ,000. Now, that's college football. Manchester United have played there in preseason, and others have played other football there. There are bad seats in the house. You don't care when you're there. If you're a college student and you're watching, because you've been drinking and partying and outdoors. So it's kind of different. I'm just trying to imagine 135 ,000 I'm not an architect but like I mean the Maracanã was up there wasn't it back in the day so the Maracanã back in the day supposedly there were 200 ,000 there at the 1950 final whatever but who knows who's counting people packed in yeah I think it's hugely ambitious I'm curious about sightlines because I think there's serious diminishing returns once you go past 80 ,000 90 ,000 it's hard to keep the stadium

1:01:29Don Hutchison:Unless it's Newcastle United where you'd fill 250 ,000 standard

1:01:34Gab Marcotti:It's not a question of how much you can fill I'm sure in Newcastle you could have 250 ,000 Jordys in there but I'll tell you what if the guy who's in the top tier at best he can spot Dan Byrne because he's enormous and nothing else and see nothing at the game It's impressive, it's ambitious Let's see if it actually gets if it actually gets built but it'll be named the Trondong Stadium. Don, you're an even bigger Saudi Pro League fan than Jules. El Nasser beat El Itihad at the weekend. Cristiano Ronaldo wasn't there. Apparently he's still protesting. El Nasser's lack of signings, the fact that Al Hilal made signings.

1:02:14Gab Marcotti:The fans made it very clear who they're siding with.

1:02:16Don Hutchison:Ah, they're siding with Ronaldo, but this boils my blood. Really? Yeah, how can Ronaldo think that just because Al-Halal is spending a bit of money, that he thinks he's got the power to try and stop other teams spending money, when they've spent a bit of money, Al-Nassar, and he's on£488 ,000 a week. I think his argument would be that all these clubs are partially owned by the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia.

1:02:43Gab Marcotti:Or maybe he's even... Oh, come on.

1:02:45Don Hutchison:He didn't know this before? He got offered the new contract and signed it?

1:02:49Gab Marcotti:And that's why he's saying is why are PIF putting money or helping people make money or invest in other teams, but not in my team? That's what he's angry about. You know what? We can also kind of lift the veil on this. And Jules is here and says, oh, no, but this team's owned by Prince Waleed and Saudi Aramco owns his other team.

1:03:09Don Hutchison:Whatever the scenario is. Whatever it is.

1:03:11Gab Marcotti:It's a country with an absolute ruler who has gone and put his cousins under house detention and prosecuted people for being corrupt and stuff in the past. So in the end, it is a top-down situation. But you can't think you've got that much power.

1:03:26Don Hutchison:I don't care what he's saying. You can't think you've got that much power to say, I'm not going to play for Al-Nasar because Al-Halal is spending more money than us.

1:03:34Gab Marcotti:Look, you're right on that one. And look, they came out and they said...

1:03:38Don Hutchison:I tell you what, how about fining them two weeks wages? £1 million. You'll see Ronaldo play again.

1:03:44Gab Marcotti:I would love to actually see them just take a really hard line here and say, we're not going to push the round. You're disrespecting us. 100%. And look, the day issued, the Saudi Pro League issued statements reminding people that yes, BIF may go and fund a lot of these people directly or indirectly, but clubs have their own boards, their own executives, their own football leadership. Decisions on recruitment, spending and strategy sit within those clubs. You know, it might also be the case that if he's making all the money that you're saying he's making, hey, maybe that's what Al Nasser is spending their money on, his wages.

1:04:18Gab Marcotti:And so maybe they can't spend...

1:04:19Don Hutchison:But you know what was great though, Gav? Do you know what was great? I commented on Al Halal's game the other day when Benzema made his debut.

1:04:25Gab Marcotti:Yeah.

1:04:25Don Hutchison:Just the three goals Kareem the Dream scored. But what he is essentially... Kareem the Dream, look, it's like Jules. I know, I know. I just nicked it from Jules. But essentially he's in breach of contract for refusing to play. So fine him two weeks wages then. Take a million quid off him. Honestly, if you want to show people some personality,

1:04:41Gab Marcotti:that's what you should do.

1:04:42Don Hutchison:Exactly. Exactly. This is bizarre. Barca issued a statement saying they are officially pulling out of the Super League. I mean, that's a bit late.

1:04:50Gab Marcotti:No, well, they're talking about the Super League company, A22, where they were the second-to-last remaining club. And there's one left? Only Real Madrid are left in it. Now, I know people are going to go, oh, look, Real Madrid are going to have to play with themselves. Ha, ha, ha. Yeah. No. there's a bunch of other clubs that if A22 to be fair to them that if A22 ever get a competition off that we know there's other clubs who've already said oh yeah we'll come and play

1:05:15Don Hutchison:it's hilarious because no English team's going to play and Bayern won't play you ain't got a Super League

1:05:20Gab Marcotti:yeah probably not

1:05:24Don Hutchison:no not 100 % not

1:05:26Gab Marcotti:it's significant I think though Barcelona were along for the ride part of the detente between him and Real Madrid the fact they've come out and UEFA obviously asked them a long time ago to go and exit this I think it speaks to the fact that the rivalry between them I mean between Laporta and Florentino is now even more a thing than it was before because Florentino... So where does that leave Real Madrid? It leaves them in there like I said, Real Madrid know that if they get a legal victory if they get more legal victories and I don't think they will but they're in a position let's say they get legal victories let's say they get some of your friends in Saudi to go, oh look, here's a massive thing Any English boys want to come?

1:06:03Don Hutchison:No, we're not playing?

1:06:04Gab Marcotti:Yeah. Well, we'll see. We'll see. We'll see. Are any English clubs Saudi-owned that might want to play? If Newcastle don't qualify, would you want Newcastle to go and play in a Super League? Yeah, get Newcastle in. No, I'm joking. I'm joking. There you go. I'm joking. Don, it's been an absolute pleasure. Thank you so much for joining me. I won't be here on Thursday. But until then, love the game. Love your neighbor. Love yourself.

1:06:46Gab Marcotti:From 30 for 30 podcasts.

1:06:56Don Hutchison:Brian Pata, senior defensive lineman from Miami. Gunned down.

1:07:01Gab Marcotti:The key to this case, it's Brian. A 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. Being placed under arrest. We had a killer amongst us. Murder at the U. Listen now.