Gab & Juls Show: Why Nico O'Reilly is vital to Manchester City

13:20Julien Laurens:No, no. And Donnarumma, we saw if you like your Bundesliga and Leipzig, Romelu Kruz scored exactly the same goal at the weekend. Before missing his penalty. Yeah, yeah. We see them scoring because if you're that kind of technical player, it's something that you know you can do. Thierry Henry obviously scored a very famous one too for the last game of Highbury. You know, it's like it's a special skill, but it's a skill that is not too difficult to do either. But to think about it there when he's just run 70 yards on the counter attack in transition is remarkable. And he had a chance in the first half that he squandered, he didn't hit the ball like he should have, he didn't make the right contact.

14:03Julien Laurens:So it was a really good moment for him.

14:06Gab Marcotti:Yeah, I think it's all about the timing of where the defender is to be able to think of it, to do it. Yeah, you're a bit lucky too.

14:15Julien Laurens:Yeah, maybe there's an element of luck. Yeah, because the defender behind, even without knowing what you're going to do, can block the ball or Donnarumma can save it on him. But this one was perfect.

14:24Gab Marcotti:Okay, normally I'm not that excited about the relegation scrap. But I like the fact that we have a legit one on now. Yeah. I assumed it was Forrest and West Ham head to head. But now I don't know because Wolves have put together. If those 12 games in a row hadn't existed. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Wolves are creeping up. Yeah. Spurs are tumbling. They play this evening as we court on Thursday morning. Dare I ask you your three to go down?

14:54Julien Laurens:Yeah, I mean, I think even Leeds. Leeds are for me in it. I've said Leeds all along, so I stay with Leeds because I think they can collapse now between now and the end of the season. they were not good at all this midweek in their game they've got I think a lot of kind of little red flags just little and they might well stay up and you know I'd be happy for Leeds I don't really mind I just think that it's the negative momentum that could come on very quickly when the others apart from Spurs I guess seem to be better West Ham are better forest are better wolves are better burnley will go um so i think it'd be yeah it'd be super super

15:33Michael Carrick:interesting uh are we gonna do make a prediction or are we gonna i don't know my operation is leads are going down with wolves and burnley with wolves and burnley yeah that's what i want so no shot from yeah yeah no no i think the other three would be okay but you know i might be wrong i um yeah i have burnley wolves and uh right now i i have west ham although i genuinely don't know and

15:57Gab Marcotti:You know what? After a couple hours time, Spurs lose again. Who knows? Anything can happen.

16:09Nico O'Reilly:Partner with Amazon Hub Delivery to earn extra income for your business with your business. Assist with local Amazon deliveries and get paid for each package you deliver. When you become a partner, you and your staff will deliver packages to customers in your area on a schedule that works for you. Gain extra income, increase exposure for your business, and connect with neighbors. It's easy to get started with no delivery experience, long-term contracts, or startup costs required. Interested in learning more? Visit Amazon.com slash hub delivery. That's Amazon.com slash H-U-B delivery. As you know, managing maintenance, repair, and operations is never easy.

16:42Nico O'Reilly:But for the ones who always rise to the challenge, Grainger has your back. From professional-grade products you can count on to fast, dependable delivery, they're there to help you keep things running smoothly. Plus, their technical product specialists are here to help answer your toughest questions. And because Grainger knows safety is always a priority, they're committed to being your partner in protecting both your people and your facilities. Call 1-800-GRAINGER, click grainger.com, or just stop by.

17:10Ho Chun:All right, enough city. How about some quick hits instead? Let's go, God. Arsenal return from Brighton with three points, seven clear. I guess that's all that matters, Jules, right?

17:22Julien Laurens:Yeah, it was not pretty, certainly with the ball. But like we say all the time, and it's not for the first time, not just this season. Out of possession, there's just the best team in the world. There's no team better than them in terms of defensive structure, in the way they can press, in the way they can drop deeper, in the work ethic that they have, the organisation, everything. They're so solid when they want to be. And even when Brighton had a lot of the ball and clearly more dynamic, better play, better football, everything you want, they actually didn't create that much really over the whole game.

17:56Julien Laurens:So not great with the ball from an Arsenal point of view, certainly in the last third of the pitch attacking-wise. But everything else I thought was really impressive, bar the Ryan mistake and the Gabriel clearance early. And they scored early, Saka, and they got lucky even with that goal, the deflection from Balibar. and after that they could have shot

18:16Gab Marcotti:yeah I thought maybe Verbruggen could have done better even with the deflection because I thought the deflection took a lot out of him yeah I don't know I think we disagree on this one I don't think they can play like this you know as good as the defensive structure is and I'd be slightly concerned because it's kind of what we've seen in the last two games I think that shot against Chelsea as well that shot from from Saka that was deflected that was their only shot until minute 52 yeah and look i'm italian we made a whole culture out of being strong defensively we won world cups with it but the problem is your margins become very very slim when you don't do enough with the ball attacking wise i would have liked to see havert's come on earlier for example um i don't maybe it'll change when rudigards fit again i don't I don't think Eze had the greatest game either.

19:12Gab Marcotti:But the three points in the psychological boost is massive. And I kind of feel like it turns things around a little bit. And I'll be curious to see what they look like in the Champions League.

19:24Julien Laurens:Chelsea go from a goal down to winning 4-1 away at Vela with a hat-trick from Joe Pedro.

19:29Gab Marcotti:Yeah, Joe Pedro is pretty good, isn't he? Amazing. Signed to play as an alternative 10, signed to play as an alternative 9. I actually, I spoke to somebody who said that, well, the plan longer term is going to be Palmer at 10 and the lap at 9. Well, we're seeing how that worked out. I thought Villa in some ways made things easier for them in the sense that the way they exploited the high line, when you've got Garnaccio in there and you have that constant threat of pace, I do think if you're going to play with Palmer wide, it's critical that the guy on the other flank be somebody who's really, really fast.

20:07Gab Marcotti:i.e. not netto not the netto slow but netto's not garnacho with the ball or esteval um and when they can do stuff like that they're devastating and i think it's a it's a big big boost for them now let's see if they can keep it up uh conversely jewels villa one win in five at home um they're slipping they were battered um it felt like a battering it felt like chelsea could have scored many more than four.

20:37Julien Laurens:Yeah, yeah, yeah. It was, yeah. One win in seven in all competitions. The collapse is brutal, really. But we said it before, it was not sustainable, the form that they had earlier in the season. They're lucky they got already those 51 points, to be fair. And now we have four teams within three points of each other with a better goal difference for Chelsea, massively better than United in second and then Liverpool Liverpool and Villa. But obviously, as we've been saying, one of those four will miss out on Champions League football, which would be massive for them, whoever that is, for different reasons.

21:17Julien Laurens:But right now, your money has to be on Villa being that team because their form is so poor. And if you're Lille and you're playing them next week in the Europa League, I think you're quite happy about the way they performed again yesterday at home because that was not good enough.

21:32Gab Marcotti:I do think we could be talking a different game if that, you know, the Watkins goal that was ruled for offside. When they are fine margins, maybe Emery would have switched things around. But this squad looks really tired as well.

21:50Julien Laurens:A 0-0 draw between Como and Inter in the Coppa Italia semifinal first leg. 0.07 xG for the league leaders is a bit embarrassing.

21:57Gab Marcotti:Yeah, I don't think they'll care because we're looking at this over two legs. the second leg by the way isn't for like five weeks because of Inter's commitments elsewhere I thought Cesc-Habriks made an interesting call in dropping Duvacus for this game effectively not playing a center forward a lot of possession but I still think Cuomo should have taken their opportunities and I would expect them to create a little more Inter of course I don't think it's any surprise they're looking past this to the derby against milan if you win that you're 13

22:32Ho Chun:clear and i'm ready to crown you champions real madrid fall at home to getafe 1-0 jewels plenty of absentees most notably uh that kilian mbappe yeah but is it fair to say they got border last

22:44Michael Carrick:and how lucky is antonio rudiger yeah let's start with rudiger very lucky uh disgraceful really what

22:51Julien Laurens:he did on diego rico in the second half just describe what he did for those rico's on the He's on the floor by the touchline and he goes in, knee first. I mean, the body, I think the body falls over.

23:00Gab Marcotti:He pretends to fall over.

23:01Julien Laurens:Yeah, the body's already out, I think. And he clearly goes for the player. Rico said after, I think he got really scared. He said he came for me to hurt me really badly. I can't understand that retrospectively. I mean, he should have been a Red Cat on the pitch anyway. I don't know what happened.

23:17Gab Marcotti:No VAR intervention.

23:18Julien Laurens:Yeah, I don't know what happened there. And it looks like he's not going to get banned retrospectively, which I don't understand either.

23:24Michael Carrick:I thought that was really, really bad. He's going to say it was accidental, right? That he's falling over.

23:29Julien Laurens:If you look at his face while he's doing it, it's definitely not accidental. Because you see the anger. They were going down. They were not playing well. They just could not do it. It was one of the worst performances that they've had under Arbeloa, and they've had bad ones. But that's already his fourth defeat against a team that they should never lose again. So Sassuna, Getafe, Albacete, Benfica, teams like that. When you run Madrid, it's embarrassing. The fans saw the boot, whistle. ask for Florentino's resignation. I mean, you don't even need to mention Arbeloa. He's out of his depth completely.

24:03Julien Laurens:They can't win anything with him, I think, this season or suddenly it's going to be very difficult.

24:07Michael Carrick:Yeah, and I don't think the other thing in Arbeloa

24:09Gab Marcotti:is he threw Pitar in there, who's not a bad player, but it's a typical thing managers under pressure do because nobody's going to dare, you know, go and boo a kid from the academy. And if he goes back to this nonsense,

24:20Ho Chun:like, oh, look, we had Gonzalo Garcia and Pitar. No, that's not your defense. Get your team playing properly. Yeah, the players on the bench. They did have chances, but that's because you're playing Getafe. But still, not a good performance.

24:32Julien Laurens:And more bad news for Real Madrid and Brazil, too, in that game, as Rodrigo suffered a crucial injury.

24:38Gab Marcotti:Yeah, you could be cynical about this and say, well, first of all, our best wishes to Rodrigo. Like every player is going to be out a long time. From a strictly footballing perspective, you could be cynical about this and say Rodrigo is peripheral for Real Madrid. and you could say that, you know, Brazil are so loaded up front, it's not a guarantee that he was going to get significant minutes at the World Cup. But I think, actually, this is a big loss because Vini's going to have his ups and downs. If you need to change your pace from Gonzalo Garcia when Mbappe's out, Rodrigo is your guy to do that.

25:12Gab Marcotti:I think this is a big blow

25:14Ho Chun:and not something I'm below and needed at all. Wolves somehow do not actually have a single attempt on goal until minute 78 when Rodrigo Gomez puts them ahead and they get a deflected winner in injury time later. The upshot here is that Liverpool lose 2-1. It's the fifth time this season that Arnaz Lotzay have conceded an injury time winner

25:35Michael Carrick:and he's not happy. No, he's not happy. This is the worst in Premier League history, I think.

25:39Julien Laurens:And the season is not even over. There's issues in this team massively. We've said that for a long time now, defensively, offensively. this was a really poor performance overall. I know Vietz wasn't there and you see the lack of creativity when he's not there, but just nothing really worked. And Salah scored. I thought he was really lucky to score and didn't do much else. But you know what I think right now about Mo Salah anyway. Be nice. This is the start of his return. I'm not a fan. I don't think it is at all. And defensively, again, they were all over the place. And yes, they've got injuries, but from Alisson to Van Dijk to Konate to Gomez, Jones, it's just not good enough.

26:17Gab Marcotti:You'd almost think that when you have two centre-backs who have to play just about every single game all the time, they might make mistakes later on. And look, they were unlucky.

26:28Ho Chun:It was a ridiculously good finish, I saw from Rodrigo Holmes, after Van Dijk's mistake. And of course, the other shot from Wolves was deflected. But it doesn't change the performance, like you noted.

26:42Julien Laurens:No remontada for Barcelona in a Copa del Rey semifinal gap, though your boy Marc Bernal scores twice as the beat Atletico Madrid 3-0 and go out 4-3 on aggregate.

26:52Ho Chun:He's pretty good, Marc Bernal, isn't he? He's so good. And you know who else is good? Pedri's really good. But we knew this already. Look, they tried. They went for it. They could have scored more. They could have conceded a couple goals. Atleti, I feel like, were well-rested. I never thought that they'd be going, well, your dad told me in the summer, hey, it's going to be Hanchko and Pubil in a game like this. And they'll be 4-0 up from the first leg. I would have never believed it. What we have learned about Atleti is they cannot, the Atleti of the past is dead, gone forever, right?

27:26Gab Marcotti:If they win, it's going to be with the ball. From Barcelona's perspective, they came close.

27:32Ho Chun:But it was always going to be uphill. Jacob Ramsey gets sent off after getting a second yellow for diving in the first half. but despite playing the rest of the game, a man down, Newcastle beat Manchester United 2-1. It's the first defeat of the Michael Carrick era.

27:47Julien Laurens:Yeah, it was. I thought it was a harsh second yellow, by the way, for Jacob Ramsey, who I think lost his balance more than anything else, really, and shouldn't have been sent off. But after that, United should have played better and won. If Bruno Fernandes is not in this game, he just can't do everything. He can't just create and score and be at the start and at the end of the moves. Work harder, Bruno, work harder. Outside of him, there was nothing, there was not good enough from Sisko, from Mbomo, from Cunha, from everybody else. Really amazing goal by Ursula to finish, who funnily enough, 10 years ago or so, got the Best Player Award from Manchester United Soccer School, which is a great full circle kind of story.

28:30Julien Laurens:I think he's got huge potential, still very raw, but that goal showed what he can achieve, I guess.

28:35Gab Marcotti:Yeah, it's funny how United struggle when they have to play midweek games.

28:40Julien Laurens:You can see that this team is not built for it. Yeah, they haven't been good for the last three games either, so it's not either a massive surprise. Atletico Madrid will face Real Sociedad in the Copa del Rey final gap after they beat Atletic Club de Bilbao in the second leg of their semifinal as well. More love for Rino Matarazzo? Of course!

28:59Ho Chun:More love for Rino Matarazzo. The man just keeps going. He's turned them around in the league. I thought they were pretty much in control of this game. They were 1-0 up obviously from the first leg. Penalty came late. They have really good players who weren't working and that's what a good coach does. He gets really good players working again. Just when you thought some normality had returned to Marseille, they allowed Toulouse to twice come from behind and then knocked them out of the Coupe de France on penalties, Jules.

29:28Julien Laurens:Yeah, Toulouse turning the AC on at the Velodrome massively at the end. A lot of tensions then. Ethan Ranieri missed the final pen for Marseille. I'm not really sure why an 18-year-old is taking the fifth penalty in such a big game like that. Quarter-final, the objective was to win this. Somebody else bottled it, maybe? To save their season, maybe. I don't know, but that's really bad for Mavi Bey, who becomes the first manager in French football history to be knocked out of the French Cup twice in the same season with two different clubs, obviously. Yunus Moussa scores in the last-minute equaliser for Atalanta, who drew 2-2 Aladzio in their Coppa Italia semi-final.

30:03Julien Laurens:but this game maybe remembers most for being played in a near empty stadium.

30:07Gab Marcotti:Yeah, it was kind of surreal. The Lazio fans, of course, angry at Lotito, who's been there. Claudio Lotito, the president, who's been there forever. And finally doing a fan protest. I thought it was very effective. Less than 5 ,000 people there, more than half of them Atalanta fans. Lazio said, well, if we'd had our usual 40 ,000, 45 ,000, we might have won this game. Yeah, maybe, but ifs and buts. Well done to Atalanta. I think it's going to, I think Atlanta is through to the final.

30:34Nico O'Reilly:Rich Eisen here. You know that feeling of handing off your taxes and then hearing nothing? Total radio silence. Well, not anymore. Now your taxes are done for you by a TurboTax full service expert who checks for every deduction and keeps you in the loop with real-time updates on your phone. Just match with your dedicated expert. Upload your docs and go live your life. Confident you're getting every dollar you deserve. This is how taxes should be. Visit TurboTax.com today to learn more. Real-time updates only in iOS mobile app. Only available with TurboTax full-service experts. Quick timeout. Some breakfast intel you want to know about.

31:13Nico O'Reilly: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,

31:30Nico O'Reilly:Whole grains, not refined white flour. So you're getting something that actually fuels you. And there's depth on the roster. Buttermilk and vanilla. Blueberry. Chocolate chip. Even gluten-free options. Breakfast that delivers. Snack that delivers. Find Kodiak frozen waffles and flapjacks in the frozen aisle at your local grocery store. They're the ones with the bear on the box.

31:53Ho Chun:Paris Saint-Germain's game against Nantes in between the two Champions League legs against Chelsea has been moved to April. Jules, this means they will have five clear days to prepare, whereas Chelsea, whose game against Newcastle that weekend, will go ahead as scheduled. That game is Saturday evening, late kickoff. And that means they're just going to have two clear days. Some people, especially in other countries, aren't happy with this. Yeah, yeah. What is your riposte?

32:18Julien Laurens:Yeah, no, I completely understand. It's something that the French League has done. There's other leagues that do it sometimes too, to favor your teams in Europe. I mean, yeah, we could put a rule that it's either everybody does it or nobody does it. Maybe. I don't know. I don't know how it works. I don't know if Chelsea, for example, feel like they could ask the Premier League and see what happens. I'm not sure if that's even possible. Personally, PSG asked. They've asked in the past and sometimes it was rejected. They've asked in the past and sometimes it was agreed. It's been agreed this time by Nantes and by the league.

32:55Julien Laurens:So, yeah.

32:56Gab Marcotti:What I find curious is that I know they're obviously out of the Coupe de France as well So they have more free days But you can only do this so many times Between now and the end of the season So because This game is obviously going to be moved So this game may pop up

33:14Ho Chun:In a midweek Between Champions League games later on Do you see what I'm saying? So there is a flip side to it

33:21Gab Marcotti:It does feel a little bit like There should be a level playing field

33:25Julien Laurens:Tottenham hosts Crystal Palace on Thursday in the Premier League but in the meantime they've returned to the PGMOL and referee's boss our friend Howard Webb to complain about refereeing consistency they're still angry about that Raul Jimenez push on Dragut Dragutin incident last weekend

33:42Gab Marcotti:Alright, so having been scarred by the Calciopoli scandal in my country, Italy many years ago I'm definitely in two minds about this I don't think clubs should should speak to the referees committee during the season. I think there's situations when you can do that. Howard Webb's not a moron. He knows what happened. He's assessed it. Maybe he'll tell us later about this guy got it wrong, this guy got it right. When you come out, I'm in two minds about this,

34:16Ho Chun:whether they should do it privately or publicly. Because when they do it publicly, it's going to put more pressure on whoever referees them next right yes yeah which is the idea behind it yeah um if they do it privately it's behind closed doors do they know if howard webb's then going to send the message out um that's kind of what led to calciopoli incidentally so i i don't know i don't think this is something that was necessary um i know there's obviously a channel and i don't know if they made it public that they wrote to them or the pgmol um judging

34:51Gab Marcotti:by i could be totally wrong about this but i will speculate um judging by how the everybody made it a point to say pg pgmol was approached or declined to comment i have a pretty clear idea about who uh who sent this out but anyway um i don't think this does anything i don't think it's it's a useful thing to do. We know you're upset. We know you're annoyed. Take it up in the summer. Rip Howard a new one in the summer. But to do this, it just puts more pressure on whoever

35:21Ho Chun:officiates them next, which is probably their goal. Waleed Rigrogli is going to step down as coach of Morocco. This was initially reported and confirmed by L 'Equipe. It's only three months to the World Cup. They obviously did so well in the last World Cup. They reached the Cup of Nations final. We know there was tension but I find this kind of surprising.

35:43Julien Laurens:Yeah no it's not really surprising. I think he thought even before AFCON things had become quite difficult, the criticism, the lack of support from the federation and especially the president of the federation who's a very powerful man in African football. I think that was heavy on Walid and he didn't enjoy really I think AFCON and the whole tournament let alone the fact that they obviously lost in that way in the final. But overall, so I'm not surprised. He's highly rated. He will get a good job now. They thought about Xavi to replace him, could not really find an agreement with Xavi. I think he was probably a little bit too rushed.

36:21Julien Laurens:So Mohamed Houwadi, who won the under 20 World Cup with his great next generation of Moroccan talent, will take over. He's half Belgian, half Moroccan. So He's got a bit like Walid, who is part of his born and bred, the kind of two European and North African dual culture, if you want, which I think is quite beneficial in this case. So let's see. They're still a very good team, as we said, and should have a good World Cup. But he's had a great time, really, apart from obviously the final at home a few months ago.

36:58Michael Carrick:He's been out of club management now for several years. Do we put him in the mixer of,

37:03Gab Marcotti:because we know there's going to be a whole bunch of coaching chances. Yeah, yeah, I think so.

37:07Michael Carrick:He won a lot. He won a lot. Do we put him in that mix? Like what level should he be interviewing at?

37:15Julien Laurens:Yeah, I think maybe not for top, top clubs in the big five leagues. Yeah, maybe not. Although if I was him, I would certainly apply for it. But I don't think he's too far. he just probably needs something in between to show even more of what he can do because I think he's a really really good coach Harry Maguire has been found guilty on appeal of assaulting police officers while on vacation in Cyprus in 2020 Gab is getting a 15 month suspended sentence

37:42Gab Marcotti:in 2020 that's six years ago that's how quickly justice moves and I thought he was in Greece

37:49Ho Chun:anywhere i thought he was in lyconos um but he uh uh maybe it was in ms cyprus no no no like i

37:56Gab Marcotti:bad forgotten wherever it was he went on vacation there was an altercation i think involving his his brother and some other people his first cleared remember back then this takes you back

38:08Ho Chun:from the whole thing about they wouldn't let him leave the country and stuff like that

38:12Gab Marcotti:like 15 months suspended sentence i'm happy the police officer no police officers should not be assaulted um so i'm happy they get justice uh from maguire's point of view really makes no difference it's a suspended sentence unless he plans on going back there and committing a crime um it's not going to affect him hopefully we can move on but i just find it pretty remarkable this has been hanging over him without a resolution for six years because i don't know if he'd been found if he'd been sentenced to prison term i don't even know if they could have extradited him I don't know what the extradition rules are.

38:46Gab Marcotti:Just know more lawyers would have made more money.

39:13Nico O'Reilly:exclusively at Nespresso.com. LinkedIn is pretty great at a lot of things, like helping you tap into the latest trends and insights in your field. We cannot stop your coworker from tapping her pencil. LinkedIn can help you find new jobs that align with your career goals. We cannot help you find the source of that weird smell in the office fridge. And while we can't stop your coworkers from bringing their hobbies into the office, LinkedIn can help you bring your career to the next level. LinkedIn is the network that works for you.

39:47Ho Chun:Jules, you get all the weird coaching departure stories. Felipe Luis is no longer coach of Flamengo. Now, everybody said, oh, look, he was sacked after an 8-0 win. I should point out, yes, it is an 8-0 win. It was in the Tazaguanabara semifinal, which is the cup competition of the league competition that they played in the state of Rio de Janeiro. And, you know, it would be a little bit as if Arteta beat Mansfield 8-0 and then got sacked. It's a little bit like that, right? But it's pretty extraordinary

40:19Michael Carrick:given what he's achieved at the club. Yeah, absolutely.

40:22Julien Laurens:Because he won the Copa de Libertadores obviously not that long ago. Remember the Club World Cup? They played the final of the Intercontinental Cup obviously against PSG as well. But they started the league poorly.

40:33Ho Chun:They also won the league in Brazil. They won the Brazil Cup. All this in less than 18 months.

40:38Julien Laurens:And not just that, but they've played really good football too with a very strong squad. Let's be honest. They pumped a lot of money in their squads to bring back some players from Europe as well to Brazil. Like Paqueta, obviously. But still, not happy with the start of the league. They're only 11th. More importantly, maybe, they lost that Coppa against Lanús over the two legs, which I think was a massive blow to them. He doesn't have any worry to have. He will find another top club. Probably it's time for him to even come to Europe. There's nothing I think he can still achieve in South America.

41:11Julien Laurens:So I'm curious to see where he goes next, because I think he's very talented.

41:15Gab Marcotti:Yeah, they lost the opening week to Sao Paulo in the Brasile round. I think that kind of sent him on his way. Yeah, the 11th in the table, yeah. And a win since then. Obvious question, he can come in and pitch higher than Rick Raoui, right?

41:30Julien Laurens:Yeah, I think so, yeah. Leonardo Jardim, by the way, has been named as his replacement. Such a pleasant man. Mengo, yeah I know.

41:38Michael Carrick:But yeah, I think he would aim high because I think he's got that potential and also the reputation too. Okay, so it's not just going to be Xavi, Maresca and the usual suspects of Samaray. No, I think so. And I think people should consider him. And his English is obviously very good. As is his Spanish. So is Rugragge.

41:55Julien Laurens:Media here in England are angry that FIFA's international break next season was moved and now for during Easter, which means the traditional fixtures won't be played. they know the Premier League wasn't consulted.

42:06Gab Marcotti:All right. So I wouldn't have normally put the story in because the story is nonsense. But there's been... Our producer, Freddie, insisted that he put it on his list of things. And I want to, in case you're influenced by some of the outlets who've put the story out there, let me give you the reality of the tale here. So first and foremost, the international calendar, it's not like FIFA decided to move the window now to interfere with Eastern. and Easter, but the reason this is relevant is traditionally there's extra holiday fixtures in the Premier League over Easter. So first and foremost, this calendar was made on March 14th, 2023.

42:46Gab Marcotti:It was agreed upon, I think it was at the FIFA Congress in Rwanda, in Kigali, right? When the Football Association, which represents English Football, was represented there.

42:58Ho Chun:so what after nearly three years you're like oh look at next season's fixtures right so this had been decided yeah and you know when easter falls right uh the broadcasters most importantly already knew this because they bid for the rights so they're not the ones who are raising a stink here i don't know who's raising a stink second of all um it's not their job to consult the premier league um the premier league talks to the fa and the fa represents the premier league's interest third of all it's not all about you there's 210 member nations in fifa and you have to go and balance everything out for everyone and finally they didn't move the international break the international break is in march the way it's always been in march or certainly has been for a very very long time hey look it's in march against you you know what moved easter moved because they use a calendar so if you want to go and blame this blame this on christianity blame this on God, right?

43:57Ho Chun:Do whatever you like. But I'm very happy to blame FIFA for 99 billion different things. This is not one of them. Sorry if I got heated on this one, Jules. It bugs the crap out of me. Pace Eindhoven are out of the Dutch Cup after they let a 2-1 lead slip to lose 3-2 at Nijmegen. Jules, Peter Bosch has a 17-point lead in the Eredivisie, which I think makes this pretty surprising. now since we no longer mock him the way we used to do we have some sympathy for him now?

44:29Julien Laurens:Well not really I mean now I'm having a really good season to be fair so that was never going to be an easy game but when you two run up and considering how dominant they've been in their league not just this season but last season as well and have the better squad too it's disappointing because the domestic double was there for the taking for the taking or whatever you say and they're missing on it they will be champions they will still be happy it's still not a bad season but it could have been much better.

44:56Ho Chun:We know the league is the real measure. When you win the league by so much, should we be, I know we've praised him a little bit. Should he have some ambitions beyond PSV? Peter Bosch, realistic ones? I think he's good there.

45:09Julien Laurens:Yeah, he tried other things and it didn't really work out. As war continues in Iran, there's still uncertainty over something far less important, Gab. But what happens if they withdraw from the World Cup? FIFA must have a contingency plan?

45:23Gab Marcotti:They do. It's not official yet. There is a logical pathway. Iraq, of course, are from the same... You want to bring a team from the same region. Iraq are playing in the Inter-Confederation playoffs. They'll play the winner of Bolivia against Suriname later this month. I would expect Iraq to win. But if they don't win, if they don't qualify via the playoff, and Iran can't make it to the World Cup, which I think would be a real shame because I've said this before, but Team Melly, the Iranian national team, is something that goes far beyond politics and has significance for all Iranians everywhere around the world, including the diaspora, including people who moved abroad long ago who hate this regime, and including the ones who are in Iran right now with bombs falling on them.

46:10Gab Marcotti:But if they pull out and Iraq somehow doesn't get past Bolivia or Suriname, then Iraq would get the slot. If Iraq does qualify by the playoffs, the thinking is, and you can be cynical about this, they will go with the next team down who missed out on the Asian playoffs, and that would be the United Arab Emirates, who could find themselves being pulled back in. It's an ugly situation. It's not important in the grander scheme of things, but in a footballing sphere, it's pretty darn important. more iran many players from the national team did not uh sing the anthem when they faced south korea at the asian women's cup uh in australia um jules this was a really moving moment when i watched the video hey it just can't be business as usual in these conditions no you're right and

47:01Julien Laurens:we knew they were playing obviously while their country was at war and we kind of expected a a reaction in a way or some sort of protest or something which they gave. The men had given one like a few years ago I think too so it's not new but I think he's very powerful very good. I know we said that football and politics can't always mix or should not mix whatever you've used on it but I think sometimes using your sport and your platform whatever you do or whatever sport you do could also be very powerful.

47:33Gab Marcotti:Well said.

47:34Julien Laurens:Tottenham have banned three supporters who've made Nazi salutes gab when they faced and frankfurt in the champions league last month and ufr fined the club 30 000

47:43Gab Marcotti:euros does that make sense to you uh yeah i mean i don't know how long they banned them for who these people are um i think it's especially egregious in the case of tottenham given the club's historic links to the jewish community in north london um maybe they thought it was funny haha we're in germany look they used to be nazis let's make a nazi salute um i don't know that's what happened um i'm assuming it's more likely to be that than these guys are some kind of neo-nazis yeah um especially also because the nazi salute is a crime in germany it's it's not it's not covered by uh in the same ways uh having like a swastika it's not covered by the same free speech laws that you or free expression laws that you may have uh in other countries so these guys i think risk are They risk prosecution here, frankly, as I understand it.

48:36Gab Marcotti:Now, you may ask, why have UEFA fined the club? Obviously, because clubs ultimately, under the legislation, are responsible for the behavior of their supporters. And this is also, I think, why Spurs may appeal it. But I think they'll want to show, look, we've identified these guys. We've banned them. They should not be associated with the club ever again.

48:55Ho Chun:Burnley lose 2-0 at Everton, making it back-to-back wins for my boy Davey Moyes and dreams of European football for the blue half of Merseyside in their new ground. But Jules, I want to ask you about something else. So Burnley, like most clubs,

49:08Gab Marcotti:they have an official social media account. This is specifically the X account we're talking about here.

49:14Ho Chun:And they decided after the game, as many clubs do,

49:16Gab Marcotti:they posted a clip of Scott Parker, the Burnley manager, talking after the game. And I feel, I mean, what's Scott Parker supposed to say that's particularly enlightening or whatever, right? So they do it. obviously a bunch of Burnley fans are angry with Parker. They blame him. They insult him, ask him to resign. But the club used a feature

49:39Ho Chun:to go so that all those negative comments would not be visible.

49:43Julien Laurens:Okay.

49:44Ho Chun:Not knowing evidently that there's a feature that allows you to unhide negative comments so other people could see them. So they end up embarrassed.

49:54Julien Laurens:Yeah.

49:55Ho Chun:I didn't I hadn't seen it to be fair you don't follow Burnley's social media account maybe I do

50:01Julien Laurens:I not yesterday I had other things to do uh then go on social media to be fair I didn't know you could hide things and then unhide things and things like that I guess uh maybe they wanted to I don't think this was a poor performance from Burnley after some better ones even if they were not always uh paid with points but i don't know maybe they wanted to get people together fans manager players the whole team squad i don't know yeah i think it's best after something like this

50:32Gab Marcotti:unless he comes up with some sort of rallying or you just face it scott parker's a grown-up he knows that people are calling for his for his resignation people are blaming him rightly or wrongly and he's just doing the best he can gab who is ho chun and why are we talking about him

50:45Ho Chun:So Ho-Chun is a guy who lives in British Columbia, which is where Vancouver is. And during Lionel Messi's first season in Major League Soccer, he got very excited because Inter-Miami were coming to town with Lionel Messi. And he went out and he spent$404 to watch the Vancouver Whitecaps against Inter-Miami, except the joke was on him because Lionel Messi didn't travel, didn't play anyway. and so he got angry and he said wait a minute you Vancouver and you MLS are advertising Lionel Messi and so therefore I'm going to find some lawyer you know my thoughts on lawyers and sue you and he somehow won he won$350 ,000 in compensation I have strong thoughts on this but I want to hear

51:35Julien Laurens:your views first yeah I mean good for him to have tried it and he worked I think when you promote your season you have to show I think potentially who you could face and make an incentive for your own fans outside of your own team so I can understand I think it's a bit harsh maybe on the club and on MLS because maybe at the time he bought the tickets you didn't know if somebody everybody can get injured at some point so I think it's yeah I think I absolutely

52:05Gab Marcotti:hate this. I hate the lawyers who took him up for it and are going to make money off this, as you can imagine. I'm going to always blame them first. This runs counter to everything. And I think we need to get back. People can like football

52:14Ho Chun:for many different reasons and you can do whatever you like and whatever. Yeah, okay, but there is a culture here to football. And you pay to watch a team. Right? And you know that you're watching the team. Your guarantee is Inter-Miami. Lionel Messi is an Inter-Miami player. If I want to show Lionel Messi an Inter-Miami shirt to promote the game, that's fine. I'm not saying the guy's definitely going to be there. Secondly, if you go to watch a specific player like this, you're not a football fan. You're not going to grow. If Lionel Messi goes and plays for some prison team somewhere, what are you going to do?

52:46Ho Chun:Go watch him there? This just runs counter to how you build a brand. It's not what MLS wanted. And I think this is all completely ass backwards. I'm really sorry. it's kind of the antithesis of sports which is a team game and it's about teams Inter-Miami are under no obligation to bring you Lionel Messi they have to do what's best for Inter-Miami because it's Inter-Miami it's not Inter-Messi so I don't know I'm really disappointed I hope they go back and they win on appeal Jules this brings us to an end but this time we do have the magic of the FA Cup this weekend that's true City against Newcastle I believe the marquee game alright All right.

53:28Ho Chun:And, of course, the mainland Darby under the Madonina on Sunday night. Until then, love the game. Love your neighbor. Love yourself.

53:42Nico O'Reilly:From 30 for 30 Podcasts. I need everyone. He's on fire. Did you say tell my dad? Brian Pata, senior defensive lineman for Miami. Gunned down. The key to this case, it's Brian. Boy, he's ripping. An hour before he died, he was on the phone arguing with somebody. This might be a hit. You want the truth. They just want a conviction being placed under arrest. We had a killer amongst us. Murder at the U. Listen now.