Gab & Juls Show: Why Italy must replace Gattuso now

22:56Julien Laurens:That's maybe the only defense for Bellingham. Maybe he wanted to send him a message or see how he would react and actually... Now he knows. Well, yeah, not happy. And then that's why after the game in his press conference and post-match interviews, he had a go at Bellingham that he should not react like this. I can understand that. And again, if you're Bellingham and you know the situation and what has been happening before, don't react like this. No Cristiano Ronaldo who suspended after his break out of the asylum. But Portugal still beat up Armenia 9-1 with hat-tricks from Bruno Fernandes and Joanev.

23:27Julien Laurens:Gab, my boy's on fire. Second hat-trick of the season already. No, just Hadric, but it's the way he scored those goals. It is the way, the free kick, the other one where he's falling and he still manages to coordinate himself. I don't know what vitamins this guy is taking, but, man, like, and I wonder the way that things are going with Ramos and Nuno Mendes and, of course, Vitinha, like, soon you'll be Portugal, says your man? Well, I'll take that. I think Portugal will take that, for sure. Speaking of Cristiano, he was sent off for the elbow on Derroche when Portugal lost 2-0 to the Republic of Ireland.

24:01That was on Thursday. Jules, usually you get a three-match ban for a straight red. That would mean you'd miss Portugal's first two group games at the World Cup. Are you okay with that?

24:10Julien Laurens:Yeah, that's true. I think you would get two games, so you would only miss the first one. I think especially because it was yellow, that was then upgraded to a red after VAR intervened, blah, blah, blah, all of that. So I don't think you would get the three-match ban. Two, I think, is probably the right for something like this. for his elbow on the back of somebody like he did I think two is fair three would be a bit harsh it's Cristiano can we make an exception that's why he's going to go from three to two and I say Gabby but he will still miss the first game of the World Cup and you know if Portugal score nine goals again in that game I wonder if he will even start the second game Ukraine are headed to the playoff guard they needed a late late late goal against Iceland for it this is tremendous drama because you know I had this game on on one of my screens and essentially Ukraine needed to win this game.

25:02And it was still a draw against Iceland. It would have been a tremendous story as well if they made the playoffs. And they got the goal. They were just pushing and pushing. By the end, everybody was like a striker and a winger, it seemed, on this Ukraine side. Zubkov, seven minutes from time, then Hutsulyak added another one in garbage time. It was drama. It is what I think these last days of qualifying are all about, I should say. So well done to them. See them in the playoffs. And again, that's another country, by the way, to play all their games away from home.

25:38Brazil beat Senegal 2-0 with goals from Casemiro and the magnificent Esteval Willian. And a friendly in London, Jules Ancelotti sticking with a front four set up. Fearless!

25:49Julien Laurens:Yeah, fearless. It was very interesting to see Esteval, Rodrigo, Vini, Cunha playing all together, especially in the first half doing really well. The second half was not as good in terms of quality, but they were 2-0 up already. They got a little bit lucky on the way they set up the Estevão goal, but the way they took it and finished it was beautiful. And then they scored on a set piece, but there was movement. There was a lot of rhythm with the ball, which is good against the Senegal team that just missed completely the first half. Second half was better. They probably deserved to score at least one goal.

26:20Julien Laurens:So it was good for a friendly at the Emirates. The only thing really is that there's not much, again, friendly that you could take away from if you're on Celote in this game. But I think it was good again. Yeah, I think where he gets the benefit is from having the team together in the training camps that goes with it more than the game itself. Yes, that's very true. But the bad news in this game, Gabi, for Arsenal fans especially, is that Gabriel Magalhães picked up a muscular injury and he had to come off before the end of the game. How big blow is this? Yes, I think the early reports, normally this kind of stuff is four to six weeks.

26:54I don't know if that's been concerned. I mean, as we record this on a Monday, I'm assuming Arsenal will go and test him. He doesn't have very far to go. Yeah, he hasn't done the scan yet. Look, it's never good because I think especially on set pieces, not just when he scores, but he's just so disruptive and he's so good at getting to the ball. It's a blow. But on the other hand, you signed Calafiori, you signed Hincapia as well. your whole kind of left-footed center-back type concept, right? I wish so. You have options there. So I think you can absorb this much better than you could maybe a year ago.

27:33Mikel Oyarzabal even bags two goals in Spain, roll past Georgia on the road 4-0. Jules, we keep talking about how deep they are, and rightly so. I went to player-back player. This is, what, like almost a second 11?

27:46Julien Laurens:Yeah, when you think about it, there was no Lamine, obviously, no Nico Williams, no Pedri, no Carvajal. You know, even defensively in the centre-backs position, you had players missing. It was just, it feels like this team is so well-structured that you can take out one component of it and replace it by another player that is maybe not as good. And then the production will still be the same and the level will still be the same. Okay, Lamine is irreplaceable. Of course, Ferran Torres can do a decent job, as much as I don't really like him. In midfield, you can still find the right balance, even if Pedri is not there, or Dani Olmo, or somebody else, like it was the case in this game.

28:24Julien Laurens:So, well done. And Oya Zabal has a... Poor Rodri, by the way. Yeah, we keep forgetting about that guy. We keep forgetting about Rodri, you're right. And Oya Zabal, as a false nine or a real nine, it doesn't matter so much, really, but he benefits this team so, so much. Raphson there for you, Gav. It was just not Italy's humiliation that we mentioned earlier already. But Nigeria going out on penalties to the Congo in the calf playoff final. Yeah, so this is a blow. Look, Nigeria, obviously, rough time in qualifying up and down. They were in that. Well, it turned out to be a very tough group, obviously, with Rwanda and South Africa.

29:02But they took the lead in this game and conceded an equalizer almost straight away. and then I thought the rest of the way Congo had the upper hand. They were the better team. They were the better team and it's hard to deal with. And when I went to penalties I said, okay, look, let's just move on, live to fight another day. And instead they just started missing all their penalties. And even my boy Calvin Bassi, born in Italy, by the way.

29:27Julien Laurens:That's why he misses penalties. That was clearly, that was clearly the issue. Shout out to Congo for replacing the goalkeeper just before the penalty shooter and Timothy Faiulu, who you've never heard of, who plays for FC Noah in Armenia, who is not even the first choice. He's the backup goalkeeper for his club. The guy never plays. Comes on for the shooter, saves two penalties, Bassey misses one over the bar. Then that's it. I assumed the goalkeeper was injured when that happened. No, no, no. I know we've seen it happen before. The specialist. Yeah, it's Tim Krul. But, I mean, you're not going to coach to know that this guy is the super specialist.

30:01Yeah, I know. However, the Nigeria coach, who I believe is from Mali, and is French. Eric Shaw had a different theory, Jules. He talked about, he said they were doing some voodoo. During the shootout

30:14Julien Laurens:or just before the shootout, yeah. Okay. I didn't see anything. I don't know. I don't know if you believe in voodoo or not, but it's probably another excuse to find than that. Yeah, I think this is a, you missed a good opportunity to keep your mouth shut. If you want to fuel like more of stupid, lazy stereotypes about people and maybe you believe in voodoo, Maybe, I don't know, whatever works in your mind, but this is not the time to bring up voodoo as an excuse. I'm assuming Nigeria will move on to him. Hey, maybe we can swap him with Gattuso. Oh, my God. You wouldn't want Gattuso for Nigeria either, would you?

30:52No, I wouldn't. We would have to hurt both countries. You would not want Eric Schell for it. You would want Eric Schell. Didier Duchamp mixes it up with both Hernandez brothers, magnificent Magnus Aklius and Bumbu Mateta up front, and France come from behind to beat Azerbaijan 3-1. You know, Kylian Mbappe's injured, obviously,

31:09Julien Laurens:but there's depth here too. Yeah, that's what I think Deschamps wanted to see and what we wanted to see, who could step up. And, okay, it's only Azerbaijan away. There's nothing too special about the opposition, but Akliouche was outstanding, I thought, and Kunku looked good. Mateta scored again. So two goals in his first two starts for the national team. That doesn't happen that often. The last time was Luis Saha, I think, in 04. So that's how long ago he was. Not even Kylian scored two in his first two starts. So really good in that sense. Defensively, not so much. Konate. I don't need this many Hernandezes on the team.

31:44Julien Laurens:But going forward, certainly, and the problem is, some will be disappointed because not all the talent going forward can go to the World Cup. Akhliush has to go, yeah? Yeah, I think he will go, for sure. This was way back on Friday, but Germany needed two Nick Votermata goals to get past Luxembourg. That's right, Gabi. And they could yet end up in the playoff, too. Should I go hang out with Volta Mata? And then he scores two goals. How about that? No coincidence. Yeah, not a great performance. The real little Baku all of a sudden resurfaces. And actually played well. Served up, I think, both assists.

32:18The interesting thing is, they play in a few hours. Germany hosts Slovakia. And they have to avoid defeat. Otherwise, they're joining Italy in the playoffs. This would be the absolute who, Slovakia, by the way, scoring late, late, late against Northern Ireland to force the situation. But a lot of absentees for Germany, a lot to think about. Belgium are held 1-1 by Kazakhstan, who go down to 10 men. Jules, tough time for Rudy Garcia. The good news is they play Liechtenstein next, so they should be okay, right?

32:50Julien Laurens:Yeah, they will be okay. There's no way they don't beat Liechtenstein. But that first half against Kazakhstan was a disgrace from a Belgian point of view. okay, there's no Lukaku, there's no De Bruyne, there's a few other missings, but still, how bad they were playing in that first half was embarrassing, I really thought. And then they should have won the game in the second half, they had enough chances, and hit the woodworks, etc., blah, blah, blah. But then it was still not good enough. And what you can say, which is the first time that we see his team, since he took over, not being consistent over more than 45 minutes or so, really.

33:20Julien Laurens:And that's a worry, really a worry. The other game is Wales against North Macedonia. Wales are already through the playoff, potentially through the Nations League. but if they beat North Macedonia in Cardiff on Monday or Tuesday, then they will qualify to the playoff through those qualifiers, which would be very good for them. I think I should give a shout-out as well to Belgium's goal scorer, who, of course, was Mr. Champions League, Hans Onaken. And by the way, I didn't mention this before. Mr. Qualifier, that works. Yeah, Mr. Qualifier. By the way, I should have mentioned this before, but of course, Victor Oseeman having to come off at halftime in the Nigeria game.

33:55You want voodoo? That's the voodoo, Eric Schell. Don't come up with stupid excuses.

34:00Julien Laurens:Leo Messi scores a goal and bags an assist as well as Argentina. We're in two nil in a friendly in Angola. Why Angola, are you asking? Well, I will tell you. I mean, come on. This doesn't come up as weird, right? When it came up on the... So it's the 50th anniversary of Angola as a nation. Of course, they're a Portuguese colony before that. and they decided to, what better way to celebrate this than a friendly against the world champions? Why not? Well, apparently they got paid$13 million for this, which is the number that's out there. Now I know everybody needs money and stuff like that. Just for context, that is just a mind-blowing enormous sum.

34:45Like Real Madrid get half that, you know, when they go to Saudi. Maximum, yeah. And so anyway, well done. Lionel Messi looking good. Angola didn't play badly. I watched extended highlights. It took the game seriously.

34:58Julien Laurens:Is this what I would have spent my money on? Probably not. And obviously also in this game, we saw Kevin McAllister. You know, not the Kevin McAllister, but the other one, the brother of Alexis McAllister. Union Saint-Gilois. Union Saint-Gilois, defender, making his debut for Argentina, coming on in the second half, playing 25 minutes with his brother before Alexis got subbed off as well towards the end. And so it must be pretty special when you play with your brother for your country, for your national team. Imagine how proud his dad must be. Yeah, exactly. I mean, there's a third brother who's not good enough, clearly, than the other two.

35:31Julien Laurens:So that would never happen to have three. But two is already pretty good. Two out of three is amazing. Well, the dad, some of us who are old remember, the dad has horrible hair. Yeah. And he was all kind of like ginger and like it was like balding. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But he was a hard man. Of course, yeah. in Diego's team, so, you know, of course. If you've shopped online, chances are you've bought from a business powered by Shopify. You know that purple ShopPay button you see at checkout? The one that makes buying so incredibly easy? That's Shopify. And there's a reason so many businesses sell with it.

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37:50Julien Laurens:Yeah, really back, you know, backdoor. With one point in this group of qualifiers, they still somehow find themselves in the playoffs because of the Nations League, which is mind-blowing. But anyway, that's one for another time. I guess they came back from 1-1 down to 1-1. And then, as Graham Potter's teams do recently, they just collapsed completely. Switzerland are good, to be fair. I think they're really good. They've got a mix of everything. in the squad, experience and youth, and they were the winners in this game. By the way, all these teams that have to go through the playoffs, I don't think this needs to be highlighted.

38:26So the World Cup draws on December 5th, of course, and well before the playoffs. So it'll just say like, playoff route one, playoff route two. They're all going into part four in World Cup qualifying. And I think that's really relevant because some of these, I mean, Italy would have been a top seed in a group instead. You know, you could end up, we could get some very tasty groups depending who comes through, who comes through the playoffs. Imagine if Germany end up in the playoffs, right? Yeah, absolutely, yeah. You know, Germany, these could be fourth seeds. That's way down there. Yeah, it's way down there.

39:00Julien Laurens:Joe Reyna with a goal and assist at the U.S. men's national team. Biparaguay 2-1 in a friendly for Balogun scoring as well. Gav, how big is this for Pochettino? So it's four results in a row now for Pochettino, all against World Cup teams. I know it sounds like a press release from the USSF. Look, I think Gio Reyna, I know there's a lot of people who don't like him and obviously hasn't produced at club level and at national level. There's a whole history there, which is ugly. But he's still young. He puts behind him. And I think in terms of technical ability, correct me if I'm wrong, until, and I'm blanking on his name, but until the kid at the Philadelphia Union becomes of age.

39:40Yeah, Kevin Sullivan. Until Kevin Sullivan comes of age, this is the most technically gifted American player not named Christian. Yeah, I agree. So if you can get him to contribute in whatever form, it doesn't mean you build your team, the team around him, the way maybe Berhalter was hoping to do last time around because he hasn't earned it. Yeah. But to have a guy like that who's productive, he gives you something different. Also Flo Balogun scoring again, which is good. Maybe, you know, after his injury and stuff, maybe he has a center forward. Sure.

40:10Julien Laurens:But Reyna would have to play a bit more with Gladbach to be informed for the World Cup. I just need to... No, but I would bring him... I'd just bring him in the squad. Yeah, yeah, sure. 23 players, one out toward 26 even, however many it is. 26, yeah. Let him play himself into shape. He'll be well-rested. Yeah, I guess so. You know, if that's his time. And nice brawl at the end, by the way. Arguing over the ball. Of course, yeah. Poland and Holland share the spoils in a 1-1 draw as my boy Memphis Depay scores again. Jules, some love. For the Dutch guy, Ronald Koeman? I wouldn't. No, I don't think so, Gabi.

40:46Julien Laurens:No, no, no. This time, it's not just me not liking him, although, you know, I don't like him. But they were just not very good. I thought Poland actually were the better team in this game. And it was actually a really good game to watch. I just, it was a poor goal to concede by the Dutch and Virgil van Dijk as well. And I was not convinced, but was so good for Dubai to score again. Good to see Emmanuel Omega, the Strasbourg striker and Chelsea. bound, making his debut for the national team. He deserves it. He's an outstanding talent. I didn't mention earlier, but Joaquin Panichelli also making his debut for Argentina.

41:21Julien Laurens:Two good strikers from Ligue 1 making the international debut, I think was very good for the league. But yeah, I was a little bit disappointed by Holland. But again, the Netherlands, you know, they're through. It's just like, there's probably not much motivation in a game like this. By the way, since we're keeping a running tab of the Louis van Gaal Cup, Frank De Boer out of the running he said that he's never coaching again it's the worst thing he's ever done nobody would want to give him a job anyway so is it still the 1-2-3 of Tin Haag Koeman and Bosch in third place so De Boer is not in anymore I know but like he's still Jose Mourinho's best first line ever heartbreak for Hungary Troy Parrott scores for Ireland in the sixth minute of injury time as they win 3-2 in Budapest to clinch a place in the playoff ahead of Hungary.

42:17So I hope Troy Parrott goes on and has an incredible career and this will be number 10 or number 50 in his highlights. I genuinely hope so. But if he were to retire tomorrow, this international break where he scores against Portugal, both goals, right? Knocking, well, not knocking Portugal out, but making life very difficult for them ahead of their games, the 1-9-1. Getting Ireland back into contention. And then going to Hungary where Hungary take the lead, then it's 1-1, then Vargas scores an amazing goal. And then 10 minutes from time, he pulls one back to make it 2-2. And then he scores in the sixth minute of injury time.

42:57Such a great...

42:57Julien Laurens:Five goals in two games. Such a great striker goal as well in the third one. It is absolutely tremendous. There's... I mean, he's a national hero right now. He's not even been playing. If you and Ferguson have been fit, I'm Ferguson. Although he's having a great start of the season with Eze Dijkmaar, much better than Evan Ferguson or any other Irish strikers. Dublin Airport being renamed the Troy Power Airport. Yes, it's out there on social media. Long may it continue. It's a tremendous story. Again, this is part of the reason. I know, like, I'm in a world conflicted about international break because, oh, look, you know, it can be boring and so on.

43:33But it also throws up these incredible stories. I mean, these qualifiers have been, look at the finale that we have. It's amazing. It's been tremendous. something called the Premier League's key match incidents panel has determined that Virgil van Dijk's goal for Liverpool against Manchester City should have stood. But equally, they also determined that VAR was right not to overturn the decision. Does this make sense to you, Jules?

43:57Julien Laurens:Not when you phrase it like this, because I thought VAR was here to help us correct the bad decisions. So if you rule out the goal in the first place, that's the bad decision, right? Because the goal should have been allowed straight away by the referee in that game? You would have thought so. Apparently, the reason VR couldn't overturn it is that there was no material error. It's just a judgment thing. I mean, the guy saw Robertson there. It's not like he saw it clearly. So the idea is that even if you show him the replay again, it's not like, oh, look, that's not, oh, Robertson's offside. I didn't realize that.

44:32Or Robertson's standing where it wasn't. And so you're not giving him any more information. He called it. He judged it in that way. And so that's why VAR couldn't intervene. What I find interesting here is all those people who talk about when it's usually ex-pros, and sometimes coaches who talk about, oh, no, referees aren't football men. They haven't played the game at the highest level. We should have more exposure referees. So this panel, by the way, the key match incidents panel, we should get a gig on this. There's five people on it. One is a representative from the Premier League. I have no idea why.

45:08One is a guy from the PGMOL, the Referees Association. The other three are former players and coaches. Do we know who they are? Oh, you want to do some naming and shaming? No, no, I'm just wondering. I don't know. People get signed up, get a free meal voucher and a ticket to go and watch the video. By the way, this game was what, like 10 days ago?

45:30Julien Laurens:It was the Sunday before the international break. I mean, all right, whatever. So this was a report in the Times. I don't know. And they had it as an exclusive. So I'm not even sure if they were supposed to make this public. Like, they explained it. That's fine. I get, if you're Liverpool, you're still annoyed. But you still deserve to lose the game. Yeah, exactly. Huge news of Major League of Suka Gab as they're changing the calendar. That's right. From 2027, they'll be playing July to May. Oh, I like in Europe. They're going to have to have a little mini league in early 2027. I can they hope that this will help them it will align international breaks and so on I am slightly skeptical I mean I want to see what this looks like but part of the reason it was too hot or the summer would be too difficult to well they play in the summer now so that's not so much the issue well the issue is are you going to have you know there's a lot of outdoor stadiums I mean Toronto, Chicago oh sorry yeah yeah if you're playing in winter they will have the longer longer winter break yeah like germany yeah although the german winter break is shrinking by the way yeah true every year but i think the difficulty is yeah you can say i think they said all right no we'll play like sort of early december to to mid-february we'll take a break that's great but you can have a blizzard in march no no true you know what i'm saying yeah yeah it's just so inhospitable that That's kind of the argument there.

47:06I don't know. Maybe you can... I'm not being funny here, and they're not going to do this, but I would also consider, could you somehow skew the schedule so that teams from the inhospitable places...

47:18Julien Laurens:Yeah, don't play in February or March. Or, yeah, they play away games. It depends what you want to do, but if you really want to go and make these games that people want to watch and are meaningful, I don't enjoy those games when it's like minus five. I enjoy the ones. No, no, no. Firefly. You know, I remember Chelsea playing. But look at the NFL. You know, it's a bit similar. Why are they playing sometimes in the blizzard, the snow, everything? So, yeah, what I would say to that is there's all the NFL season ends in. Yeah, true. It doesn't go all the way through. No, no, no. That's very true.

47:50But the other thing with the NFL is, you know, it's not a continuous game. You're impacted by the elements in a different way. You get breaks and stuff. I don't know. It's really alien, I think, to football playing in those conditions. Yeah, yeah. In today's world, planning ahead isn't always top of mind, but not having life insurance can leave families facing difficult financial uncertainty during already emotional times. In many cases, loved ones are left managing expenses, debts, or long-term obligations without a clear plan in place. Life insurance is one of those ways to help provide financial security and support when it's needed most.

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49:47Manchester City destroy Manchester United in the Women's Super League Jewels, winning 3-0. But Manchester United boss Mark Skinner isn't happy about having to do in-game interviews.

49:59Julien Laurens:Yeah, because the first goal came on a corner scored by Rebecca Knack, which is a good, well-taken corner. And it's the moment where the broadcaster here in the UK, which since this season is allowed to ask I think there's a rule I think you can ask the

50:24Julien Laurens:the away manager or the home manager if the home team is wrong anyway some managers can be asked during the game a question about the game so as you're watching the game he's got an earpiece and the broadcaster can say to him so what have you made the game anyway it happened that the question was asked to him as the as the corner was being taken his team conceded a goal then afterwards he was a bit bitter and said well I could not give my team and my players instructions on how to defend the corner because I was listening to the question that somebody was asking me blah blah blah I don't think those interviews bring anything to the viewers anyway in the first place but they're trying something different good for the WSL for trying but for him to find this as an excuse of why his team got battered like that is ridiculous so he came out and he said like I don't want to use it as an excuse but the fact that you're mentioning it.

51:16Exactly. People are going to take it that way. Also, what are you going to communicate? You're in your own technical area. There's, there's a corner kick. What? You've got a really loud voice and you can shout. Well,

51:26Julien Laurens:they do usually, but still like the girls know what to do. Cover the center floor. Yeah, I know. Mark up everyone. That's why I tell my kids before a corner. More MLS, Gab. All their games will now be available for free on Apple TV and without the subscription that you had to pay until now. But reportedly that's$2.5 billion deal. we learned nearly four years early yeah so what is that okay yeah so they're spinning this is like this is a real positive look you know of course so until now you had to subscribe to apple tv and then you paid x amount more to watch uh the mls games i'm guessing that not that many people did that and they decided you know what this isn't worth it um they don't release any numbers we We do know Apple TV is believed to be, but they have about 50 million subscribers.

52:19Those 50 million people, presumably around the world, which is why it doesn't sound like that many, will have access to these games for free. But according to Sportico, who are reporting that big television deal, $2.5 billion, it's going to end four years early. It's going to end in 2029, nearly four years, about three and a half years early. And I think...

52:44Julien Laurens:So it won't be$2.5 billion in the end, right? Because they're not going to pay the whole amount if it's not the whole length of the... Exactly. So they're going to give up about a billion there. Part of the argument, though, is that, you know, it's$250 million a year because it was a 10-year deal. $250 million, obviously, in 2023, is worth more than$250 million in 2032 or whatever, right? So I guess they're going to try to find a better deal. And Apple TV also spending money on Formula One and stuff like that. This is always just like not a very good distribution model. Some games were still available in local markets or whatever.

53:20But yeah, to put your eggs in Apple TV's basket when this is not Apple TV's core business, not a good idea. Joan Laporta announced Barcelona will erect a statue to Lionel Messi at the camp now. Make sense, Jules?

53:35Julien Laurens:Yeah, I mean, finally. It seems to be the period where Joan Laporta and people at the club are finally recognizing what club legend Lionel Messi is by inviting him to maybe play a game at the new cup now and now maybe this statue and we saw obviously his photo inside the stadium the other day. I don't know why this is now and not when he left, why were they waiting for him to retire but now that he's going to stick around for a bit longer into Miami, they finally wake up. Is it because they are... elections coming up soon for joan laporta and he's already thinking oh i can't put um you know i can't have messi against me so he's this is part of his presidential campaign in a way of making sure that he's re-elected and to be fair i don't know who is you know it's not um i don't think anybody can contest him really uh in this but to me it sounds very much like pr than anything else really it was first suggested i think in 2021 when he left and stuff and then i kind of felt bro like you're building a stadium since you got all the construction dust there yeah you might want to consider it's kind of weird doing it for a guy who's still playing yeah i guess um what i disagree with though is their decision to get the same guy who did the cristiano ronaldo statue to do the messy statue yeah definitely that was a joke by the way they would never do that that guy's been arrested he can't build anything anymore as we mentioned before a huge vote coming up on Friday in the Premier League gap.

55:10Julien Laurens:It's a de facto salary cap, basically. And after the players union agents are also threatening to sue, too, if it passes. Yeah, so there's two elements. One is the squad cost ratio, which is basically, they're setting it at 85%, which means that the money you spend on amortization for players, wages, and all this other jazz can't be more than 85 % of your revenue. I think that will pass. The UEFA limit is 70%, so it's even lower. Most teams are generally kind of within that anyway. The other one is the anchoring, which we mentioned, the maximum that you can spend, again, on amortization, players, blah, blah, blah, can't be more than five and a half times the television income owned by the bottom team.

55:56So right now it would be about 550 million pounds. Players, the players' union have already said we're going to sue if this happens. and agents are also saying that they're threatening. So I don't think agents really... The three of the biggest agencies have come out and said this, but I don't think anybody has much sympathy for any of these people.

56:19Julien Laurens:Jules, where do you stand on this? I think it's probably something that has to be done to make this league more competitive again and not having too much difference between the top four, top six now if you want probably even top seven and the teams coming up from the championship or teams that have been in the second half of the table for many years now so I think there's probably something to do there to also have a healthy league with clubs that don't lose money year after year after year we mention a lot regularly only three clubs out of the 20 in the Premier League make a profit every year right?

56:57Julien Laurens:Or break even or break even sorry yeah that's not good people have to understand this is not good. It's not a good way of running your business, your league, your football clubs, anything like that. So I think something had to be done. Is this the answer? I'm not sure, but there's something that has to be done. I think what's interesting and I want to hear more from the PFA if they do file a lawsuit because they say that, well, if you do it in the Premier League, then they're going to use it as an excuse to introduce this lower down the table, right, in the Championship League 1 and League 2. And there it really does make a difference because, you know, there's a lot of those guys who do not make anywhere near what the Premier League people do.

57:34So we'll see how they react. I think the squad cost ratio will pass, but the anchoring, I'm not so sure. And it's the kind of thing that they do. You know, politicians always do this. If it's not going to pass, they say, oh no, we won't vote on it today. We'll have more discussion. Around 50 ,000 spectators watched Palestine face the Basque country in a charity-friendly, Jules.

57:56Julien Laurens:Yeah, doctors with borders, making sure that this game happens. Are there some mess? Doctors without borders even. What did I say? Doctors with borders. Without borders. Better than with borders. I mean, you have doctors with borders. In this case, it's better, and they do an amazing job as well. I mean, what a wonderful occasion, really. It was very emotional. You know, when the Palestine players came onto the pitch, they had a white rose with them. There was just a lot around the game to make sure that this was a very special occasion. So I think well done. And they're playing Catalunya, a selection of Catalan players as well.

58:34Julien Laurens:Yeah, Pep Guardiola has been supporting too, which again, I think those games are very, very important. We should add too, like most of these players haven't even set foot in Gaza. They're kind of spread out all over. It's like a diaspora here situation with them. And I think that adds more meaning. And you're right, Metsens-Saint-Frontier, which I think is what it was originally called. I think it's a Francophone organization. Tremendous job. No questions asked everywhere around the world. Roberto Mancini is back, Gab. Yes. Wow. Through the back door? Look, I know. Somebody asked me, like, how much money has he earned as a coach?

59:21And they figured out there was well over 200 million. He's now joining El Saad. in Qatar. Nice project. Yes, clearly it's a long-term project. Worked great for Xavi. Got Xavi the Barcelona job. I don't even know what to say anymore. Bro, at some point it was suggested by people close to him, hey, look, you could have gotten the comeback to coach Italy. Would you say you missed so much? Cut us a deal. Just wait a few more days. You could have come back.

59:57I don't want to judge what people do. It makes me sad that he said El Sad. Because I think he's a tremendous coach. I think there's so much to give. I could see the Saudi thing to some degree. I could justify. I mean, I don't agree with the way he walked out in Italy. But the Saudi thing, you know, World Cup. Yeah, yeah. But this what? You want to win the Qatar Stars League? I mean, come on, bro. You really need this? I don't know. He's also, by the way, he's made some tremendous investments outside. Obviously, he made a lot of money as a player, too, outside of football, which one person even told me he's made more money from that than he has in his coaching and playing career.

1:00:38And if that's the case, I don't know. I wonder, could it be the... He doesn't need money, then. That's what you mean. Why are you going there? I'm wondering if we, like, okay, nobody's going to do this, but if you made, like, a rich list and you had access to people outside it, you know, kind of financial situation outside it, Like, you know, yeah, obviously you'd have Cristiano and Messi up there. Yeah. And Matici Flamini, obviously. Of course. You know, you know. But Mancini would definitely, definitely be in the mix. Eric Cantona may have been Jim Ratcliffe's favorite player during his many years as a Manchester United fan.

1:01:08But, Jules, I don't think the feeling is mutual.

1:01:12Julien Laurens:No, he was talking to an audience. He had those, like, kind of evenings in conversation with Eric Cantona the other day. and he basically said that the new owner, Jim Ratcliffe, and the Ineos people have killed the spirit of Sir Alex Ferguson and that they've obviously made a lot of damage to the club, all of that. And there was not much of any positive that Cantona could find to say about Ratcliffe and what he's been doing for a year or so now. But yeah, it was quite negative. He also said, after Ratcliffe took over, the football side when he acquired his minority stake he said oh I offered to come and help but they weren't interested I'm seriously like would you have I mean leaving aside his greatness as a player and all this other stuff would you want Cantona's help in running your club at a time when you are making cuts left right and center then they might not have wanted any money for it to start with you don't know we don't know could he be an inspiration for some of the young players, maybe for the first team, can he help in a way?

1:02:19Julien Laurens:I think those kind of players are always potentially helpful for your club, for your team. But this specific one with his track record and stuff and some of the things he said when he was telling people to take all the money out of the banks and call it, you know, like, I mean, it's not because he says silly things in his life that you can't trust him now to do a decent job. Again, if you give him a job to do, not just like go around the offices and say hello to people, give him a proper job and he might be able to do something. I don't know. I'm just saying, I think those experiences of people like him can help.

1:02:51I do think when you come out and you say, oh, I offered to help, but they didn't want me. And then you go and you crap all over him. It leads people to conclude that that may have been part of the reason why. Fair enough.

1:03:04Julien Laurens:Cameron Deyemi missed out on Germany's game with Luxembourg. Gab, according to Bills, it has to do with a taser and a knuckle duster. Yeah, this is such a weird story. according to his lawyer it has to do with a mystery box on tiktok now i don't know i don't i'm not on tiktok and neither am i so i'm not familiar with what it is i don't know if somebody sends them a buys at a thing when you somebody and by the way nobody could find this video at least in my google search so i don't know what he's talking about yeah but the point is you're not allowed to own a taser okay uh it's considered an offensive uh weapon in germany in most places yeah um i don't know about the knuckle duster i think that might be illegal uh as well um And what's interesting is he's been fined, and the way they do this in Germany, and I think they should do this everywhere.

1:03:50Because I say he's been fined 450 ,000 euros, which, you know, is nearly half a million dollars. That is a lot of money to own because you legally own a taser, right? But apparently in Germany, they do that based on your daily net wage. So the fine is not fixed. The fine is not fixed. It's not the same for everyone. he's fined 60 days net wages and because he's a professional footballer he makes a lot of money he gets fined a ton of money you know a homeless man with a knuckle duster probably wouldn't have been fined that producer Freddy 10 pounds something like that so yes well done German legal system I really like this this brings us to an end but we've got to come back on Thursday we're going to have the final verdicts on qualifying, well, until the playoffs anyway, from all around the world.

1:04:43Until then, love the game, love your neighbor, love yourself.

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