Outstanding Olise

26:36I remember when Joseph Venglos came into Celtic, he was a very experienced Czech Republic manager. In training, he used to say, right boys, one for 15 seconds, but hold your breath. Wow. And we were all like... When do you hold your breath? For the 15 seconds? I said to all the boys, did you hold your breath? We were like, no. You're stupid. Arsenal won. We're being very negative. I'm sure they'll be a lot more positive on the Gavin Jules podcast that drops on Thursday Jules very much with his Arsenal hat on I've got to get rid of this cough

27:10you're sitting at a red light or stuck in traffic and your phone lights up maybe it's a text a video call a new post or a quick notification you think you can check in a second it feels harmless but the truth is once your eyes leave the road you're not really driving anymore. And traffic doesn't pause just because you do. That split second of distraction can throw off everything. Your reaction time, your awareness, your ability to avoid someone else's mistake. You could damage your car, injure yourself, or hurt someone you care about. Or you could get pulled over for a reminder that your phone isn't worth the risk.

27:53So before you start driving, make it easy on yourself. Put your phone on silent. Toss it in the glove box. Set it to do not disturb. Put the phone away or pay. Paid for by NHTSA. If you've ever wanted real energy without choking down something that tastes like regret, Bucked Up is the answer. The flavor is the thing people keep coming back for. Insanely delicious, which is not a phrase usually associated with energy drinks, and they're built on real science-backed ingredients. It's clean energy that actually works without the garbage you don't want. Bucked Up is so confident you'll love their drinks, they're giving away an island vacation just to prove it.

28:37That's the kind of brand this is. No purchase necessary. Giveaway ends May 30th. Enter and find your closest Bucked Up at buckedupenergy.com. Grab a Bucked Up and fuel like a million bucks. Right then, we discussed this at the weekend, and it was divided, wasn't it? Ali and Stevie thought that this was right. The red card should have been rescinded. Meanwhile, Shaka and Frank said, no, it is a red card. Well, the Spanish refereeing committee came out today and they agree with Shaka and Frank. They said this was a mistake. This shouldn't have been turned. It is a serious foul play regardless of who touches the ball first.

29:19The correct disciplinary sanction should be a red card. The CTA considers that the VAR should not have intervened. As the correct decision was made by the referee on the pitch, the referee should have stuck with his initial decision. Ali, they've gone against you. Absolutely they have, and I suppose they think they're right. I think they're wrong. And I would go back to my initial assessment, and that is it's a natural movement of the leg. It's not a follow-through up high. It's a follow-through down low. that again is a natural movement of the left when you're coming in for a challenge the other thing that i would say is that we're punishing the guy who's willing to go into a 50 50 challenge while we are actually trying to somehow reward the fact that got the guy that got there late so look he went he did not go over the top of the ball he goes through the ball in what is a natural movement down low, it just so happens that Almada's leg was right there.

30:25And I'm not quite sure as to what you're supposed to do if you're Gerard Martin with your leg once you touch the ball. Do you cut it off so that it doesn't touch Almada? I don't think so. I don't think it's a... When you look at the movement of Gerard Martin, I don't think there's any sort of intent to do what ends up happening. And I know that that's not an excuse and that's not in the laws, but to me it's a natural movement of the game. I was surprised at the time that VAR did get involved because I did think it was a red. But I felt that, and I've seen this before with players, I felt that Gerard Martin left his leg in there after playing the ball.

31:05And you saw the slow-mo, which sometimes usually makes it worse. But it then turned into almost an ankle-breaking challenge. And there is something about momentum, him but I do feel I felt the referee made a really good initial decision and then see I just feel he leaves the leg in there I yeah I don't I think they got that wrong and Frank you haven't changed your mind obviously no of course not of course not that for me it doesn't matter if he's just plays the ball and how he plays the ball uh the the the other player the the Madrid player I don't We were countering the ball. And yes, there is an action where at a certain point, if you go over what you have to go, where you have to go, you have to be punished for that.

31:54And it's only the result of it. Of course, Martin doesn't want to injure anybody. He just wants to kick the ball away. But it doesn't matter. Remember, I said that the last show with Stevie, when Griezmann tried to get the ball and he was very high with his foot and hit the head of the players. He was red carded. No way he wanted to break the head of the player. It's just what happened. It's just the result of the action. And the result of the action, if it's too much, has to be punished. And he could have been crazy. He could have broken his leg. I mean, yeah. I mean, that's why I still think that's a red card.

32:29The thing that I can be convinced about, and we can have the discussion, is, look, once you've given the red card, there is not enough evidence there to make that unclear and obvious error. and so therefore that's why VAR perhaps doesn't get involved. That's part of a conversation that I can have. In terms of the play of the ball, honestly, I still believe that it's a natural movement and I don't think it should have been a red card to begin with. Well, the two will, of course, go up against each other again on Wednesday, this time in Catalunya. Everyone's going for a Barcelona victory with the exception of Frank.

33:01You think it's going to be a goal? We've all gone for 3-1. Wow. That's exciting. Does that make you feel good? It makes me feel like I want to change. Frank, you've gone for a draw, why? I don't know, I think it can be because we know with the high line with Barcelona, I want to think that maybe they're going to make an error, a mistake and Atleti will take the opportunity to maybe score a goal. I have no doubt that Barcelona is going to go through because of the second leg, you know, Atleti will have to open up and it's going to be maybe even a disaster for Atleti. But I want to give the suspense, and I think it's possible.

33:36With the way I see Barcelona playing at home, I think it's possible to have a surprise. Who was the left-back that screwed up in the game, got sent off eventually? That's Nico Gonzalez, who's not a left-back. Yeah.

33:53Simeone left him out there to dry, didn't he? Hung him. Yes. He can't make those kind of mistakes again. It was an entertaining game, actually. But, you know, obviously they went down to 10 men, so that made it more of backs against the wall in the second half. But you just feel over the two games, although they did do it in the Copa del Rey, Atletico Madrid, that I don't see them doing it over the two legs in the Champions League. And the difference here is that the first game is indeed at the camp now. Yes, which is different to the Copa del Rey, obviously. Yes, where in that first Copa del Rey match, then it's 4-0 at halftime, and you're thinking, my goodness, could this happen again?

34:31Well, Barcelona at home, and more importantly, Atletico Madrid away from home, is a different personality altogether. Now, I do think that Diego Simeone was encouraged by his team performance over the weekend. Underreported, I think. But Diego Simeone actually, subliminally so, conceded the match to Barcelona when the red card happened. Because there were substitutions to be made. Juliano Álvarez was sitting there. Lukman was sitting there. And he's like, no, I'm saving these guys for Champions League. So I'm going to put in Taufik and Morcillo. And you're like, who is this guy? And who's that guy?

35:08And who started? Well, that's Obed Vargas. And you're, hold on. Simeone, obviously, obviously prioritizing Champions League. I think he would have been encouraged from what he saw from his team. And had Antoine Griezmann had a better night finishing, this game could have been 2-0 within the first 15, 20 minutes. He didn't. It wasn't. and now you have to go to camp now and try to recreate some sort of performance. I don't think Atletico Madrid has the personality to do so away from home. That's why I'm giving a 3-1 for Barcelona. PSG are playing Liverpool, meanwhile. Here's everybody's predictions.

35:42I'm wondering what they're going to say. Okay. Oh, here we are. Frank's gone for four. Craig's gone for three. I've gone for three. I've got Liverpool getting one. Ali's gone for two. PSG, so I don't really want to preview this game. Why don't we get Don on? Don Arn who says that Arnest Lott is going to keep his job because they're going to win the Champions League. I mean, it's hard to, it just is, unless PSG have a shocker over 180 minutes, and I mean a shocker, it's hard to put forward an argument how this shambolic Liverpool side with a manager that seems hanging by a thread, a defence that is all over the place, a midfield that just can't operate like it did last year.

36:25A front line with a completely out of form Mo Salah passenger. Might even be dropped for this game. Who knows? If there's extra bodies, I don't know what the injury count is. Who really in their right mind could put up an argument for Liverpool? I just can't. Who's more likely? I think the question to ask is who's more likely to have a shocker? If we're expecting that the only way that Liverpool advance is PSG having a shocker, then who's more likely to have a shocker between these two teams? Without argument, it has to be Liverpool. I'm not saying managers and fans will accept defeat. I'm not saying they're already accepting it before the games start.

37:05But in some sense, a family slot gets out of this. And I think they're going to lose. But if they're losing in a manner that's... If losing can be acceptable, I think this is where Liverpool are. I think that's something to at least get them to the next stage, possibly. the worry I think for Arne Slott is this could get really messy I mean especially after City I mean it could it might not but it could get really messy and that I think could probably spell the end for him if they lose which I think most people think but lose with some competitive edge to the game and it's quite narrow maybe not a massive issue for him but a heavy defeat heavy heavy which I think could happen I think he's gone last word to you Frank well I believe in miracle I love miracles but I would be very surprised to see a miracle as the guy said that's not even a surprise that we all predicted a big win from Paris Saint-Germain And when I saw Van Dijk the last game not following the guy behind him, when I see Slobodzai on the fourth goal not following the guy, and that's what's going to happen with Douay, Barcola, Dembélé and others.

38:32So I can't imagine that he can sort out the problems. And it's too much. And I'm expecting to see a shocker. Yeah. OK, thank you very much. which will, of course, be back on the next edition of the show to reflect on both of those Champions League ties.

38:54Rich Eisen here. The April 15th tax deadline is coming fast, but don't worry. Hand off your taxes to a TurboTax expert today. You know how April feels. Everything speeds up. Games matter. More hoops and hockey schedules tighten. Your phone won't stop buzzing. And somewhere in the middle of it all, there's that quiet little reminder. Taxes. You'll get to it tonight. or tomorrow, or after the weekend, and if you handle it the old way, you're refreshing your inbox like it's breaking news, waiting, wondering, hoping everything's squared away. That's a lot of mental bandwidth. With Intuit TurboTax Expert full service, you can match with a dedicated expert who understands your specific tax situation and handles your taxes for you, start to finish.

39:37You can do it all online or meet in person at one of their new tech-enabled store locations. Have your tax forms imported directly into the app and hand everything off to your TurboTax expert. While they work to get you every dollar you deserve, you can go about your normal routine, giving you time back to focus on what actually deserves your attention, like rooting for your team to make the playoffs. April 15th is not waiting, people. Visit TurboTax.com and hand off your taxes to a TurboTax expert today. Quick timeout, some breakfast intel you want to know about. Kodiak Frozen Power Waffles and Flapjacks are built for busy mornings.

40:14Heat 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. 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. Just taking a look at the significance of that result.

40:53They are too clear of Wrexham and they also have a game in hand. They have four games remaining. The rest have three. The exception of Ipswich, who are looking good, aren't they, to get that automatic promotion spot because Borough have just fallen apart of late. Poor Kay. Borough is going to have to go through the playoff it looks.

41:12And Salampton of course are not only looking to get promotion but also make it through to the final of the FA Cup. Just Manchester City in their way and the other one is Chelsea against Leeds. Both of those of course live on ESPN+. Managed to keep the big boys apart I see. What are you suggesting? Nothing. Okay. Meanwhile, big news here for the US, Ali. Yeah, it's a terrible, terrible to see for the player. Patrick Alleman goes down with a non-contact injury. It has been now confirmed that he has suffered an Achilles injury, Achilles tendon rupture, and obviously he's going to miss out on the World Cup.

41:50A player that was going to be in the plans for Mauricio Pochettino, perhaps not as a starter, but a guy coming off the bench with a big body that could potentially jump on a rebound or a set piece late to score an important goal for the US. Not quite the case now. They discussed that on Herc's birthday, wasn't it? Did you get some cake? I did not. He took it all home by himself. Selfish. Well, there you go. That's now available on ESPN+. That's it. That brings us to the end of today's show. Thank you very much for joining us. Frank LeBeouf is back. Thank goodness for that. To answer your questions on Extra Time, which is next.

42:30Welcome to Extertime. Frank, if you were the centre-back for Real Madrid tonight, how would you help Carreras against Elyse?

42:41Well, you have to be very close to him, you cover him, but you need the help of somebody else. And that's why Liverpool, for example, were very good with Trent Alexander-Arnold because you had Konate, but you are also Anderson helping him out. and that's the teamwork. It's not only about the CB covering, but it's a work you have to do with three guys because it's how it works. Otherwise, it's impossible with Michael Olizé especially, or Luis Diaz on the other side. I mean, that's insane. That's also the work of the midfielder ahead of Carreras and ahead of Trainer San Arno. You see Fede Valverde dropping in and double teaming Luis Diaz with Trenton-Arnold, which then forces Luis Diaz to play the ball backwards.

43:33You were not seeing the same recovery runs from Arda Guller from that left-sided position. And so now it's Carreras against the world. Chouameni's having to come out there. He gets himself out of position. Center back is trying to come out there as well. It attracts attention to Ulisse, which ends up in the second goal by Harry Kane because now everybody pays attention to Ulisse. but they're doing so in a disorganized manner, which then Alisa takes advantage of, rolls the ball to Harry Kane to nothing. Who's in charge of that? How much is that Arbelauer and how much is the players on the pitch?

44:04Well, I think when a game starts, the players have to take responsibility and decision making. So you're shouting at Kula, saying oi. Yeah, as a midfielder, I'm screaming at wide players to get back, because otherwise I've got to get my backside over there and cover. Yeah. right and that's leaving gaps and it's a bit it's too easy to say you send the centre back out because if the centre back goes out and and and the rest of the back you know the other two don't shuffle across there's a big gap so if once you know if one set and a half shuffles across and Alexander Arnold doesn't tuck in there's a huge gap for somebody to drive into so it's not as simple as that and it only takes one or two people not to be working hard enough to get disheveled all over the place.

44:48Frank? I don't believe that Berlora didn't work on that. It's impossible. I mean, when you have Olize on the right side and Luis Diaz on the left side, you have to work on that. And Ali was right. Valverde is used to do that and does it easily. But on the left side, Carrera was on his own. And the centre-back is not enough to help Carrera in that matter. But I'm pretty sure he worked on that. But some people don't do the job and it's going to be even worse that Schuermen is going to be, I think, out for the second leg because it was red carded or yellow carded for the second time. So they have to work on that.

45:29Otherwise, they're going to suffer. It's bonkers. These managers, some of them get paid, most of them get paid big bucks. You look at the same scenario at Liverpool against City at the weekend. you got Kerkes who's struggled all season and the player supposed to be on that left side to help him is Florian Wurz and Florian Wurz A is not I'm not suggesting he's got a bad attitude but he's not the smartest in getting back defending and also he was drifting inside quite a lot and Eketiki was coming out on the left and they were trying to link up and Kerkes had nobody and he's against Semenyo. Semenyo who's in good form, big, strong, physical, can drop a shoulder and yet a manager sees fit to play arguably your weakest defensive player on that side and then wonders why they get punished down that flank.

46:22It's bonkers. For Ali, should Abolo start playing Alexander-Arnold in a right wing role and have a better defender slotted in at right back? Right and so what are the options like here here's the thing so you you choose to play carvajal which is what frank just alluded to yeah right carvajal hasn't been all that great since coming back from his injury and with all the experience he has been noticeably late to challenges late to get himself in defensive positions late in being able to distribute the ball out of the back he just hasn't recovered from his injury, as bad an injury as that was. And so then the other option is, okay, well, I can put Fede Valverde back there, but then you lose his engine up and down the field and actually not only in wide areas, but more importantly in central areas where he can be a present both in the attacking half and in the defensive half.

47:21You are sacrificing him and you're wasting him playing out in a right back position. So you start running out of names and out of numbers and that's why you play Trent Alexander-Arnold. I didn't think that Trent Alexander-Arnold was the weak link today defensively. It was obviously Carreras. Now, he was sort of picked out of position whenever the first goal happened and that Luis Diaz was running behind him. But on the whole, you saw what he can give you in the assist that he puts across the box to Kylian Mbappe. And so, look, you just don't have many options if you're out of a lot. I don't think he's making a mistake in playing Trent Alexander-Arnold.

47:56I think the mistake is not protecting him and I think he's addressing that with Fedor Valverde. You have to get the same protection on the other side for Alvaro Carreras.

48:15I don't think he had a terrible game today. He made a big mistake when Vinicius Jr had the chance to score but otherwise no i didn't find him bad uh he had pretty good a pretty good game and uh it's not easy to to play against vinicius junior or mbappe uh what are the options for for for company and for the second leg i mean when you have ta and upa mccano you can travel on top of it you have nair the guy is still on fire so i have no worries about no worries about that uh Upamecano had a good season, so far from what I've seen, but I wouldn't be bothered by that if I was company, if I were company.

48:59Missing a chance isn't a centre-half having a bad game. Yeah, it was at the other end wasn't it? The header that gave Venetia Jr the chance. Yeah, one mistake. One swallow doesn't make a summer day. No, it doesn't Craig, but it could have cost him. It could have cost him. If I was Didier Deschamps, you know, you've got a Pomichano making one mistake, but you've got Ibrahim Adkinati. Yeah. They could play together. He's got a mistake several per game at the moment. Craig, how did you announce your retirement from football? I didn't. I don't do announcements. That's all I'm about. I just walked away.

49:39That was it? Yeah. No big announcement? No. I did announce, actually, I tell a lie. Oh. I did announce my retirement from international football. Okay. I didn't go on TV and announce it. What did you do? I just gave an interview with a reporter. Did you? And what reason did you give? What do you mean? Why did you retire from international football? Because I was too slow, too old, too injured. Okay, there we go. In retrospect, you didn't have to make an announcement. No, my dad told me to retire. Okay, yes, I remember you telling me the story. To my face. Yes. Well, you know, and I knew that deep down.

50:19Because once you can't do the things that you used to do, the game's up. At that level anyway. And you're just hanging yourself out to dry. But in terms of finishing playing, just off you go. Didn't Lehman say to Shaka in the tunnel, I thought you'd retire? Yeah. And that little tight tunnel at Highbrit. I thought you'd retire. Ali, when did you announce yours? How did you announce it? I don't do announcements, Dan. No? No, well, actually, I was in conversation to come and join you guys here at ESPN. Well, that was happening. Turn your back on the Philadelphia Union to do that. And I did. Yes.

50:54Actually, it was Chivas USA at the time then. Oh, wow. And so while this was happening and then that was happening, contract negotiation was going on. I said, you know what? I'm done because much like Craig, I felt like, yeah, I don't have it. And you know what I didn't want to be? I didn't want to be a cheerleader in a locker room. The veteran presence and all that, that just doesn't quite work for me. Frank, what about yourself? I came to the world of football without any announcements, so I decided to do the same for the exit. And I went to Qatar, so I guess it was a kind of an announcement of my pre-retirement, so I guess everybody understood what I was about to do.

51:42And then you were so rich, you didn't need to tell anyone anything. Exactly. And I'm wondering why I still talk to you. If I was that rich, I wouldn't be with you. I could say divorce, Frank, but I won't because happy me. Right.

52:01Wow. Oh, dear. For Frank, who would be your starting forward lineup for France? We're going to ask you this so much, aren't we? Don't ask. It's written down, it's my job to ask. Ignore that question and go to the next one. Have a bit of stomach. No, I'm not having stomach. Go the way that you think this show should go. Extra time, whatever you call it. I cut out those previews. Elisa and Mbappe, will they both make it?

52:31Yeah, yes, of course they will. I will put Mbappe, I will put Dembele on the right side. Sorry, Dembele on the right side, Mbappé on the left side, Hekiteke as a striker and Olysee behind Hekiteke. There we go. Aaron Ramsey just announced his retirement, Craig. Despite his amazing career, do you think Ramsey never reached his full potential because of the horrible injury he suffered at Stoke in 2010? I don't know. I remember doing that. That's when he broke his leg. Yeah, it's not just a broken leg. I believe it was a compound fracture. So I might be wrong, but I think the bone was out through the skin.

53:07and I said this at the time when I was working back on UK TV that I have so much admiration for any player not physically, because physically that would have been tough to come back from but if you've got the mental fortitude to come back from an injury as horrific as that can you imagine going into the first real challenge it doesn't matter how big your shin part is, can you imagine the mind, you've got to go you've got to commit again to that 50-50. And so, you know, I had a lot of, he was a really good player. Played at Juventus as well, had a great career. I heard Gareth Bale talking about him actually playing for Wales, so him and Bale were kind of the talisman, although Bale was obviously the headline star.

53:55But again, just to say, to come back from that type of broken leg and how bad that must have been mentally, must have so much mental strength, it's incredible. Good stuff, nice one, thank you very much guys. ESPN FC returns to your screens tomorrow. Of course, there's two remaining Champions League's tie. PSG taking on Liverpool in its Barca-Athlete. Stuart Robson, I'll cheer everyone up. We'll be joining us.

54:40We'll see you next time.

55:04premium wireless for$15 a month plan that I've been enjoying. It's not just for celebrities. So do like I did and have one of your assistant's assistants switch you to Mint Mobile today. I'm told it's super easy to do at mintmobile.com slash switch. Upfront payment of$45 for three-month plan equivalent to$15 per month required. Intro rate first three months only, then full price plan options available. Taxes and fees extra. Default terms at mintmobile.com.